Does the Back & Forth on Medicare Give You a Headache?

The current debate about the future of Medicare is often reduced to sound bites.  Here are a couple of recent blog posts that might help Involved Voters dig a bit deeper.

From Ed Kilgore at Washington Monthly's Political Animal Blog: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_08/waldman_boils_it_all_down_on_m039279.php

From Kevin Drum at Mother Jones: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/08/programming-note-ryan-2013-not-ryan-2012

So, what is government's role when it comes to ensuring access to health and stemming the growth of health care costs?  And what's the value that for-profit insurance companies add?

Michigan Primary, Tuesday August 8

Prepping for the August 7 primary: get a copy of your ballot at michigan.gov/vote.

Check out the candidates in contested races: http://www.lenconnect.com/news/x814445365/Walberg-opponent-Marquez-speaks-at-forum-in-Adrian and

http://annarborchronicle.com/tag/washtenaw-county-water-resources-commissioner/ and

http://www.annarbor.com/news/circuit-judge-candidates-to-square-off-at-july-31-forum-at-washtenaw-community-college/

Now you're ready.  Vote!

Republicans United in Preserving Tax Cuts for the Super-Rich Despite Increasing the Deficit

Today, House Republicans united to pass legislation extending all of the Bush tax cuts for one year, defeating along the way a Democratic proposal to allow Bush tax cuts benefiting only the wealthiest two percent of earners to expire.

If it seems unbelievable that Republicans would ignore the deficit and hold extension of the tax breaks for middle income people hostage, try to wrap your head around what Mitt Romney is proposing.  Blogger Kevin Drum's analysis can be found here: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/08/mitt-romneys-plan-screw-middle-class  Are Republicans thinking that we won't believe they'd increase the tax burden on middle income Americans to off-set the cost of tax breaks for the super-rich?

From the Congressional Research Service, July 18, 2012:

Compared with permanently extending all of the Bush tax cuts (with more than $7,000 billion in total deficits), (the Obama Administration's) proposal is projected to increase tax revenues by $312 billion over five years and by $789 billion over 10 years. The 10-year reduction in estimated debt service is $140 billion. In total, (the Obama Administration's) proposal could reduce budget deficits by $931 billion over 10 years.

The Obama Administration has proposed to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012 for high-income taxpayers (single taxpayers with income more than $200,000 and married taxpayers with income more than $250,000—the richest 2% of taxpayers) and permanently extend the tax cuts for other taxpayers (the middle-income tax cuts). The specific proposals are to reinstate the 39.6% tax rate, reinstate the 36% tax rate for high-income taxpayers, reinstate PEP (personal exemption phase-out) and Pease (another phase out) for high-income taxpayers , and increase the long-term capital gains and qualified dividend tax rate to 20% for high-income taxpayers.

Mitt Praises Benefits of Universal Health Care

It seems that candidate Romney is impressed with Israel's health care system.  So, why can we in the USA have universal health care, too?

Blogger Kevin Drum has the story here: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/07/mitt-romney-praises-socialized-healthcare-long-its-not-american


Israel spends 8% of GDP on health care; the US spends 18%.  In Israel they have a choice of 4 free health care systems and everyone is covered.  Can they do it because the rich aren't too selfish to pay their fair share of taxes?  Can they do it because there are no insurance company middle-men focused on profits?

AMEND - Because Only People are People

Involved Voters who are sick to death of the constant, vicious political ads resulting from the unlimited funding from undisclosed donors allowed by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision will want to consider participating in Public Citizen's effort to change all that.

Here's a link to the Democracy is for People campaign.  Find out what you can do.

One of those obvious "out of context" ploys

Does Mitt Romney really think we are dumb enough to fall for this one?  If a quote like the one he's attributing to the President seems off the wall, it's because the context is missing.  What  the "that" means is obvious from what precedes and follows it.

Kevin Drum says it well here:
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/07/no-obama-isnt-taking-credit-building-your-business

Actions Speak Louder Than Words - Mark Ouimet's Voting Record

Involved voters in Michigan's 52nd House District, it's time to do some research on the man who won the election in 2010.  Find out if Mark Ouimet's votes on issues of importance to you were what you expected and wanted them to be.  I recommend this Project Vote Smart site for easy searching:
http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/89557/mark-ouimet

Would it surprise you to know that Mark Ouimet's score on the Michigan Tea Party Scorecard - Release 3 - Jan 2011 thru Mar 2012 tied for closest to the Tea Party's Ideal House Vote at 77%?   Source: http://www.michiganvotes.org/VotingIndex.aspx?ID=736

Note: The Tea Party Scorecard only includes votes on core tea party issues, primarily fiscal responsibility, limited government, and private sector job creation. Unanimous and party-line votes are largely excluded to highlight the differences between members of the same party rather than differences between the parties. "Messy" bills with complex, competing content were also excluded as no clear "correct" vote could be assigned. The Scorecard is administered by the Independent Tea Party Patriots in Clarkston.

How many times did Mark Ouimet's vote differ from that of the majority of Republicans in the House based on roll call votes taken from 1/1/2011 to 7/12/2012?  10 times out of 1105 votes.  That's less than 1% of the time.  Check for yourself at www.michiganvotes.org.

When you see Mark Ouimet, ask him about his voting record.  If you took him at his word and got fooled in 2010, you can make a different choice in 2012.