Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Tilting at Windmills

Meh:

"Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are winning praise for a bill to kill the Affordable Care Act's tax on health insurance."

From whom? Certainly not their party's leadership, which has been conspicuously quiet on the matter.

Do go on, though, gentlemen:

"Higher insurance costs, fewer jobs and smaller paychecks is not what President Obama promised when he signed the largest expansion of government into law nearly three years ago, but that’s exactly what’s already happening"

That's funny, I seem to recall his promise to lower insurance costs by "3000%" as well. And of course, regular IB readers have known all this for years.

So why now?

Ah:

"The bill's introduction comes alongside a new industry report saying the coverage tax will cost 146,000 to 262,000 jobs by 2022, with the majority of losses hitting small businesses."

Which are, as most reasonably economically fluent folks know, the backbone of our economy.

So there's that.

The problem, of course, is that the Supremes have already given the tax their imprimatur, bestowing upon it a pretty significant legitimacy. Oh, sure, we'd love to see this pass, but then what?

Do they really think President Obama will sign it?

More likely, it's a way to keep the public's disenchantment with the train-wreck as high as possible, which isn't necessarily a bad idea. But I really woudn't hold my breath for it to bear fruit.

[Hat Tip: FoIB Holly R]
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