Obama promises to slash spending by $2 trillion

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama unveiled a multi-trillion-dollar spending plan Thursday that would boost taxes on the wealthy, curtail Medicare, lay the groundwork for universal health care and leave a string of deficits dwarfing any in the nation's history.

In addition to sending Congress his $3.55 trillion budget plan for 2010, Obama proposed more immediate changes that would push spending to $3.94 trillion in the current year. That would result in a record deficit Obama projects will hit $1.75 trillion, reflecting the massive spending being undertaken to battle a severe recession and the worst financial crisis in seven decades.

As part of the effort to end the crisis, the administration proposes boosting the deficit by an additional $250 billion this year, enough to support as much as $750 billion in increased spending under the government's rescue program for banks and other financial institutions. That would more than double the $700 billion bank bailout passed by Congress last October.

Obama, in a morning briefing, spoke of "hard choices that lie ahead." He called his budget "an honest accounting of where we are and where we intend to go."

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/135/story/921959.html

[county worker]

1. This is what is makes me smile. The Grover Norquists of the right thought that they could spend

all the money in the treasury and give to their friends and any spending on social programs would be wiped out.

Obama has trumped them with increases in spending and taking back the money lost with Bush's tax cuts.

And if Obama can succeed in cutting the deficit in half it should spell the end of Reaganomics for a long long time.

[No Elephants]

11. If any moran still believes in Raygun's de-regulation and trickle down economics as

economies around the world collapse, they more than deserve to reap trickle down and de-regulation. And, if you don't believe the nation and the world, look at his home state.

[blues90]

2. Curtail Medicare ?

I can't say I like the sound of this.

I'll tell you what really bothers the hell out of me it that I smell this stink in the air that the older people can just go screw themselves and go die off quietly in the dark.

On top of this they want to rebuild DC and have the nerve to party hearty at the whitehouse while at the same time tell the people about hard choices that lie ahead , just who is going to actually confront these hard choices , certainly not anyone in the DC bubble or the white house.

And we are going to rescue the banks and wall street the very bastard criminals we took us here and the big three who are all too big to fail yet they promoted failure at every turn and chance they got.

I'd like to know when the people get to view this massive plan so they can figure out just how it will affect them so they can plan to stock up on canned goods and find a nice place to suffer and die.

Part of this ideology reminds me of the movie ( Wild in the streets) when it comes to the older people , you know those 60 or over instead of 30. Perhaps they can send me and the rest over 60 to fight in Afghanistan since there is nothing really here we can be re-trained for. We can bring our walkers and canes and rations of tainted cat food for a fucking treat.

[Kolesar]

3. curtailing payments to hospitals & insurance companies under Medicare &drug payments under Medicare

The other half of the money for expanding health care - $318 billion - would come from curtailing payments to hospitals and insurance companies under Medicare and drug payments under Medicaid.

--*--
The Medicare plan is sure to incite battles with doctors, hospitals, health insurance companies and drug manufacturers.

Some of the Medicare savings would come from scaling back payments to private insurance plans that serve older Americans, which many analysts believe to be inflated. Other proposals include charging upper-income beneficiaries a higher premium for Medicare's prescription drug coverage.

To raise the other half of the money for expanding health coverage, Obama wants to reduce the rate by which wealthier people can cut their taxes through deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, local taxes and other expenses to 28 cents on the dollar, rather than the 35 cents they can claim now. Even more money would be raised if the top rate reverts to 39.6 percent, as Obama wants.
--*--
I am glad you pointed this out, though!

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. Won't those insurance companies then cut benefits to the elderly?

:shrug:

[Kolesar]

9. "They" created this system within Medicare where "retirees" could be in an HMO

Presumably, the HMOs could offer a "better deal" to the retirees.

I *think* that is the program that the article is referring to.

[No Elephants]

13. In my limited experience, HMO's stink. I personally know two people who died bc their

HMO never had them tested soon enough, despite their repeated complaints. And a third, also in an HMO, came close to dying, but I told her to get ugly until they sent her to get tested.

I'm sure that kind of thing happens outside HMO's, too, but none of my friends or relatives outside HMO's has had that happen. (Full disclosure: I live in Boston, where GREAT medical care is available and most people are smart, and relatively demanding, consumers of medical care.)

[Kolesar]

15. HMOs drag out referrals as a means of cost avoidance

I had an experience that was not so tragic. My condolensces.

[Moosepoop]

4. Calm down.

It doesn't seem that the White House is interested in sending you off to Afghanistan with tainted cat food, nor in having you "find a nice place to suffer and die."

Administration officials and outside experts say the most likely path to revamping the health system is to begin with Medicare, the federal program for retirees and people with disabilities, and Medicaid, which serves the poor. Together, the two programs cover about 100 million people at a cost of $561 billion in 2007. Making policy changes in those programs -- such as rewarding physicians who computerize their medical records or paying doctors for results rather than procedures -- could improve care while generating long-term savings, experts say.

Obama's budget request would create "running room for health reform," the official said, by reducing spending on some health programs so the administration would have money to devote to initiatives to expand coverage. The biggest target is bonus payments to insurance companies that run managed-care programs under Medicare, known as Medicare Advantage.

The Bush-era program has attracted nearly a quarter of Medicare beneficiaries to private health insurance plans that cover a package of services such as doctor visits, prescription drugs and eyeglasses. But the government pays the plans 13 to 17 percent more than it pays for traditional fee-for-service coverage, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on Medicare financing issues.

Officials also are debating whether to permit people as young as 55 to purchase coverage through Medicare. That age group is particularly vulnerable in today's weakened economy, as many have lost jobs or seen insurance premiums rise rapidly. The cost would depend on whether recipients received a discount or were required to pay the full price.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/21/AR2009022100911_pf.html

[Kolesar]

10. Officials are debating whether to permit people as young as 55 to purchase coverage thru Medicare

Officials also are debating whether to permit people as young as 55 to purchase coverage through Medicare. That age group is particularly vulnerable in today's weakened economy, as many have lost jobs or seen insurance premiums rise rapidly. The cost would depend on whether recipients received a discount or were required to pay the full price.

WOW...our congressional candidate proposed that back in 2006

[No Elephants]

12. Some of those things sound okay, some don't. For instance,

paying docs for results rather "procedures" could backfire big time.

[LaPera]

5. Dems prez (Clinton & Obama) always having to clean up the republicans huge spending & deficits!

[SpartanDem]

6. delete

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. No

;)

[No Elephants]

14. How biased is Andrew Taylor, the author of the article in the

thread header?

Sample:

"a bold proposal that would transfer wealth from rich taxpayers to the middle class and the poor."

When only the rich get one tax cut after another and Buffet's tax rate ends up lower than that of his secretary, has Taylor been talking about transfers of wealth to make the rich richer? How about when the rich bilk investors, like pension plans?

Here's another example:

"The plan is filled with political land mines including an initiative to combat global warming that would hit consumers with considerably higher utility bills."

Did Taylor say similar things about Dummya's proposal/plea to transfer billions to big business within 48 hours with no strings whatever attached?

As newspapers go under, we are going to be getting more and more "news" from Reuters, UPI and and Taylor's boss, AP. We'd better start holding their feet to the fire soon or we're screwn. Again.