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To: JohnM who wrote (193075)	7/2/2012 4:35:40 PM
From: JohnM	Respond to of 541728

Is Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Really The Largest Tax Hike In The History Of The World? (CHART) Health Care Before The Court Brian Beutler July 2, 2012, 2:58 PM Before the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, the principal GOP lines of attack against the law were hyperbolic, but subjective: government takeover of health care, unconstitutional overreach, etc. From the moment the Court determined the law stands as an exercise of Congress’ taxing power, though, Republicans have gone empirical. They now say that if the mandate is a tax, then it’s one of the greatest tax hikes in history. In the wake of the decision, Rush Limbaugh said, “what we now have is the biggest tax increase in the history of the world.” But when you compare the projected revenue effect of the individual mandate to the actual revenue effects of other, actually large tax increases, the claim becomes laughable. We used the Treasury Department’s four-year data on the revenue effects of large tax increases signed by Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton; along with CBO projections of the revenue effect of the mandate adjusted for its GDP projections during the mandate’s first four years. The mandate is tiny by comparison. Not, as Scott Walker warned, a “massive tax increase on the people of Wisconsin and America.” As others have noted, even if you include the sum total of all the revenue-raising provisions in the ACA — and there are many taxes in it — it’s still smaller than the Reagan, Bush and Clinton tax increases.

To: JohnM who wrote (193075)	7/2/2012 6:59:36 PM
From: Sam	Respond to of 541728

For sure the attacks on Romney and Bain as outsourcers will resonate with people in Ohio and Michigan. The outsourcing trend affected them more than most other states, although all rust belt states were hit hard by it. The unions have to share a part of the blame, but the nexus of attitudes of management bears the largest share. They were happy enough to take all the credit for good times, but hit their workers and workers' families the hardest in bad times. As usual, it wasn't "share the pain," it was "pack it up, lay 'em off and move it out," leaving towns and cities to rot. Frankly, Walkers' methods in WI are analogous to what management did back in the 70s-90s. Even when unions were willing to negotiate on pay and benefits, it was "No dice, it is my way or the highway." Although in the unions' case, it was "My way and the highway, your jobs are going away." What Bain was doing wasn't unique or especially imaginative. It was the management mindset of the day, the "solution" to competing with bicycle wages in an automobile economy. Never mind that auto economy would be wrecked as a result.

To: JohnM who wrote (193075)	7/2/2012 7:59:12 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541728

'World News' Political Insights: Bain Attack Takes Toll on Romney, But Dems Worry About Money Race By Rick Klein \| ABC OTUS News news.yahoo.com ANALYSIS President Obama's unhappy June came to a happy close - and he had more than the Supreme Court to thank for that. The presidential race has been essentially tied for an uncommon length of time. No dynamic - not glum economic news, not a special election loss, not a series of off-message surrogates - has been able to shake that. But over the last two months, even as national polls have shown little movement in the race, something different has been happening in the battleground states. It's as if there's a parallel campaign in the states that are likely to determine the presidency, one with its own rhythms and realities. In those states, President Obama has been pulling ahead. The gaps aren't huge, but taken together, the numbers strongly suggest that Democrats' relentless attacks on Mitt Romney's business record at Bain Capital have been taking a toll. Quinnipiac University polling last week in the three big classic swing states show the president with narrow but identifiable leads. He's up four points in Florida, seven in Ohio, and six in Pennsylvania. [Related: Bill Clinton criticizes Obama's Bain attacks] Among the things that those states have in common is that voters there have seen an avalanche of early advertising focused on questioning Romney's business record. The Super PAC supporting Obama's reelection effort has already dumped $10 million into Bain-related ads, in a series of ads that have run in five major battleground states since the middle of May. "If Romney wins, the middle class loses," one ad from Priorities USA Action declares. The Obama campaign has picked up the same theme in paid advertising. Campaign officials say they've spent only about $200,000 on Bain ads so far, but that number will grow fast, and the campaign's attempts to push reports of Bain companies sending work overseas show that aides recognize the potency of these lines of attack. [Related: Romney a job creator 'in Singapor and China,' Biden says] Last week's Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found a third of those polled in battleground states said they think more negatively about Romney as a result of hearing about his business experience. Those saying the opposite were outnumbered nearly 2-1, despite the fact that his time at Bain is perhaps his most salient selling point to voters. The Romney campaign is waking up to that reality. The campaign has grown more aggressive in refuting Bain-related news stories and advertising. More importantly, Romney's counter-assault on Obama has barely begun. To the surprise of many political observers, his fundraising team is already on pace to match or even exceed Obama's, despite the president's huge 2008 advantage and the powers of incumbency. When outside groups are factored in, Obama aides say they could be outspent by 25 percent or more this year. That's one reason for the urgency in the president's plea to major donors, in a fundraising call to donors made aboard Air Force One on Friday. "I just hope you guys haven't become disillusioned," the president said, according to The Daily Beast, which reviewed an audiotape of the call. "If things continue as they have so far, I'll be the first sitting president in modern history to be outspent in his reelection campaign." Obama's Supreme Court victories may color the national landscape, but the money chase is creating its own reality in the parallel, battleground-state campaign. Early in June, Democrats saw a rough month coming and took heart in the fact that they had five months left to turn things around. Now, with four months left, the mood has shifted, along with the concern: Their success in defining Romney has to last a whole lot longer, with a whole lot more money set to flow from the other side.