Those health care insurers received another reminder of what it means to get in bed with big government as Moody’s Investor’s Service analysts have downgraded the industry’s outlook yesterday, noting that the administration’s changes to the rules make it difficult to know if insurers will end up with the customer base they need to make the economics of ObamaCare work out.
Sen. Mitch McConnell ( McNamee/Getty Photo)
Not a smart move – I believe Freedom Works, a grassroots organization founded in 1984 to advocate for lower taxes and less government, is making a mistake in endorsing Tea Party favorite Matt Bevin over Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky. While I have not always been enamored with McConnell’s positions, the timing is all wrong. McConnell is a savvy campaigner with adequate funds to win, but the party doesn’t need a high-profile squabble in the run-up to the mid-terms at a time the GOP has a legitimate shot at regaining the Senate. Bevin currently lags behind McConnell by 22 points.
Gov. Scott Walker (CSMonitor.com Photo)
“What do you do with a surplus?” – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) answered his own question during his state-of-the-state address this week, saying you “give it back to the people who earned it. It’s your money.” Calling for a special session to provide some $800 million in tax cuts, “I ask you (the legislature) to work with me over the next few weeks to return the vast majority of the new surplus (some $900 million) to the hard working taxpayers.” Walker’s reforms and stewardship is credited with turning around a $3.6 billion deficit situation in Wisconsin.
Pretending to be king – Repeating a vow he made in an Oct. 24, 2011 speech in Nevada in which he insisted he couldn’t wait for Congress to do its job, President Obama said, “Where they won’t act, I will. I’ve told my administration to keep looking every single day for actions we can take without Congress …” Ignoring remarks about his “Imperial Presidency,” he’s now talking about making 2014 a “year of action,” in which he will issue more executive orders to continue his radical agenda.
Meanwhile – Real Clear Politics reports 62.7 per cent believe the country is going in the wrong direction and 74 per cent say it feels like the country is still in a recession, according to a Fox News poll released this week.
“Government is not the solution to our problems;
government is the problem.”
President Ronald Reagan
I received an e-mail from Arizona Sen. John McCain yesterday telling me about his plan to Repeal and Replace ObamaCare. He asked me to sign his petition. This is the same McCain who said, “We Republicans have to have a plan rather than the fool’s errand of repealing ObamaCare,” during an interview with Fox’s Neil Cavuto last October, as he dismissed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’ effort to do just that. McCain admitted to Cavuto he had failed in his effort to reach across the aisle, saying, “I’ve been trying to carve out a compromise … and I can’t tell you we’ve achieved any progress.” I won’t be signing McCain’s petition as I already signed the “fool’s errand” petition Senator Cruz sent me.
Stephen Moore (WSJ Photo)
I have long been an admirer of Stephen Moore, a leading spokesman on the economy and fiscal policy, ever since 1999 when he founded the Club for Growth. The Heritage Foundation announced that he will join the organization as its chief economist. Moore left the Club for Growth in 2004 and joined the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal in 2005 after a short stint with the Free Enterprise Fund, a 501(c)(4) organization he founded. Readers of the WSJ and regular viewers of Fox News and Fox Business News are surely familiar with Moore’s work. He has the unique ability to explain complex fiscal issues to average Americans. At Heritage Moore will focus on developing solutions to critical economic issues. I’m sure he will continue to make TV appearances and submit newspaper op-ed pieces in his new position. If you aren’t familiar with Heritage, you should check them out.
