United Liberty

During the debate over health care, stimulus programs and generally more government spending, it’s easy to overlook the long-term economic issues. CNN Money highlights the fiscal issues presented by Medicare and Social Security, though not the long-term unfunded liabilities, and the cost of bailouts that are ticking time bombs for the country:

The first is the debt held by the public. That’s money owed to those who have bought U.S. Treasurys, most notably big bond mutual funds and foreign governments. Debt held by the public today is roughly $8 trillion and rising.

The second number is the money the federal government owes to government trust funds, such as those for Medicare and Social Security. The government has used revenue collected for those programs to cover other outlays. Currently, the debt to the trust funds is approaching $5 trillion.

The two combined is the total gross debt that’s accounted for. But deficit hawks also worry about what’s not on the books.
[…]
“Our budget doesn’t have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on it, even though it’s owned lock, stock and barrel by the American taxpayer,” said Rudolph Penner, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) during a conference held by the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform.

Last year, the CBO did start to account for both companies as if they were federal agencies on the budget. But the White House Budget Office only includes some potential costs because the future of the two companies is still under consideration. Last week, a Republican congressman introduced a bill that would require the two agencies be put on the budget.

CNN has released a new poll that shows a significant jump in opposition to ObamaCare, from a plurality of 49% opposing it in mid-November to 61% opposing it today. The poll also shows that 79% of Americans believe that the bill would cause budget deficits to increase, and they have cause to believe that, and 85% believe that it would cause their taxes to go up, and they have cause to believe that as well.

Yet, Americans that have legitimate concerns about this bill are maligned and compared to supporters of slavery by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). If anything causes this bill to fail, and I hope it goes down in flames, it will be the arrogance of Democratic leaders and President Obama.

H/T: Real Clear Politics

According to a new CNN poll, Americans oppose President Barack Obama’s health care proposals and believe Congress should keep working reform:

Nearly six in ten Americans want Congress to continue working on health care reform bills that have been passed through various committees, according to a new national poll.

Fifty-nine percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey say lawmakers should continue working on the legislation, a rise of 6 points since August. But only a quarter say those bills should be passed pretty much as is, with a third suggesting that Congress should make major changes. The poll also indicates that one in four say lawmakers should start from scratch and 15 percent want Congress to stop all work on health care reform.

The survey’s release Friday morning comes one day before the full House of Representatives is expected to hold a floor vote on the Democrats health care reform bill.
[…]
According to the poll, 45 percent support President Barack Obama’s proposals to reform health care, with 53 percent opposed to his plans. This is the first time since the president’s early September prime time address a joint session of Congress on health care that a majority of people questioned in a CNN survey oppose Obama’s proposals.

Congress may or may not vote on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill today, which has been endorsed by President Obama.

Check back for updates later, and possibly, our live-blog if it looks like a vote will be taken.

You may be hearing about a snap poll from CNN taken right after President Obama’s speech last night that shows a gain in support for his health care proposal, from 53% to 67% in favor.

While it is true that the president picked up support in the poll, what you won’t hear is how that poll oversampled Democratic voters by a wide margin:

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted just before and just after the president’s speech, with 427 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The sample of speech-watchers in this poll was 45 percent Democratic and 18 percent Republican. Our best estimate of the number of Democrats in the voting age population as a whole indicates that the sample is about 8-10 points more Democratic than the population as a whole.

I’ve heard this poll referenced several times already by the media. No one is mentioning the oversample of Democrats.

Appearing on CNN this week, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. defended the public option health care plan by comparing it…

To the post office!

Jackson argues that the post office keeps the costs of stamps down, so “we don’t have to pay $100 to send an over-night letter” using FedEx or DHL. According to Triple J, the public option will have the same effect.

To be blunt, this is a mind blowingly stupid things to say.

Watch:

Two cable news personalities — CNN’s Anderson Cooper and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow — have hit ratings lows within a week of each other.

Tuesday night’s Rachel Maddow was seen by only 789,000 viewers, a series-low performance since her show debuted last summer.

Friday’s Anderson Cooper 360 was the anchor’s least-watched show since Barack Obama’s inauguration, with 622,000 viewers.