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British author George Orwell was a man of bracing intellectual honesty, a man whose prose was as hard and clear as a driving rain. A man who believed that elected officials were put on this planet for this sole purpose, to butcher the English language so as to cover up with a multitude of spins, "to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."
Specifically, Orwell believed that elected officials purposely wrote legislation in language that's as transparent as a bucket of molasses so as to hide the truth of what they were doing, legislation that hurts the common man and woman. His "Politics and the English Language" is a must-read for what is going on today.
Such offensive opacity is a pre-existing condition of the bills coming out of Congressional skunk works today, from health reform to financial reform to stimulus---see below for some examples. Remember what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, that we need to pass health reform to see what's in it, legislation that will change your financial lives. Remember that many Congressmen told Fox Business they in fact did not read the health reform bill.
To get you prepared for what youâ??re about to read out of DC, here is Orwellâ??s "translation" of a passage from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 9:11, into government-speak. The original: â??I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.â?
Hereâ??s how Orwell says this would have transmogrified in a bureaucrat's polluted stream of consciousness: â??Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.â? That is of a piece with what is coming out of DC, regulation that, while technically accurate, keeps us barefoot and clueless. Which is why companies are on a hiring strike, and why they are not creating jobs as they live in fear that such regulatory vaporware will vaporize profits.
Companies are hoarding an estimated $1 trillion in capital, according to Wall Street estimates. Thatâ??s likely due to fear of higher taxes as the Bush tax cuts expire and an adhesive anxiety over economic uncertainty out of DC, from legislation such as health reform, EPA carbon regulations, financial reform, and more. Companies are sitting tight--annual private fixed nonresidential corporate investment is down 19%, or $327 billion, since the recession began, Wall Street estimates show.
According to Bureau of Labor statistics, the US has lost a net 7.4 million jobs since the recession began. And strikingly, about 65% of the drop in jobs since the recession began comes from lack of job creation, not just layoffs, as companies are afraid to hire, says James Sherk, senior policy analyst in Labor Economics at the Heritage Foundation, based on data from the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics and National Bureau of Economic Research.
Meanwhile, the federal debt is now heading higher than $19 trillion by 2015. The world will end not with a bang, but with an ulcer, said T.S. Eliot.
Government money doesnâ??t grow on the government money tree, Fox Business viewer Tom Scott says. The government can print money, but it canâ??t print way to wealth. Itâ??s like paying your Visa bill by running up your Mastercard bill, viewer Scott says.
More Americans are reliant on the US government than ever before. â??Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon," said British author E.M. Forster. It doesnâ??t teach you how to be self-sufficient, to go out and buy your spoon and your cereal.
And any increase in government expenditures are passed through to taxpayers in the form of higher taxes, higher interest costs on US Treasurys (which need to offer ever higher yields to lure in investors in a bond glut), and a devalued currency. Measured by CPI, a 2005 dollar is worth only 42% of a 1980 dollar. The Treasury is paying back investors with devalued currency. Despite what the Keynesians will preach, government spending takes money out of the economy that the private sector needs. University of Maryland Professor Carmen Reinhart, a member of both the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Center for Economic Policy, says when the federal debt is above 90% GDP, that debt cuts one percentage point out of GDP. Our debt is veering higher than 90% of GDP. Hereâ??s how the Congressional Budget Office put it in June 2009--again, a tough slog, but the nuggets are there:
â??The rising debt would reduce the size of the domestic capital stock (businessesâ?? equipment and structures as well as housing) and decrease U.S. ownership of assets in other countries while increasing foreign ownership of assets in the United States." And this too, said the CBO: "Those changes would slow the growth of gross national product (GNP) and, as the debt burden rose, could eventually lead to a decline in economic output.â?
Has your head exploded yet? It will after you read the followingâ??once youâ??re done, youâ??ll see why businesses are frozen solid, panicked. This comes courtesy of Fox News analyst James Farrell:
Health reform obfuscation #1: * The House-passed health care reform bill defined â??primary care servicesâ? â?? what most people would refer to as a â??check upâ? â?? as: â??The term â??primary care servicesâ?? means evaluation and management services, without regard to the specialty of the physician furnishing the services, that are procedure codes (for services covered under title XVIII) for services in the category designated Evaluation and Management in the Health Care Common Procedure Coding System (established by the Secretary under section 1848(c)(5) as of December 31, 2009, and as subsequently modified by the Secretary).â?
* The Senate changed this in Section 5501(a)(2)(B) to: â??The term â??primary care servicesâ?? means services identified, as of January 1, 2009, by the following HCPCS codes (and as subsequently modified by the Secretary): (i) 99201 through 99215. (ii) 99304 through 99340. (iii) 99341 through 99350.â? *Footnote: The health care reform bill says the Secretary of HHS must define and promulgate â??uniform definitions of standard insurance terms and medical terms â?¦ so that consumers may compare health insurance coverage and understand the terms of coverage (or exception to such coverage)â?¦.â? [Section 2715(b)]
EMac note: One can only hope that the Health Secretaryâ??s â??uniform definitions of standard insurance terms and medical termsâ? will more clearly define â??check upâ? that wonâ??t leave you grinding your teeth into Tic Tacs.
Health reform obfuscation #2: A. Definition of indoor tanning tax
SEC. 5000B. IMPOSITION OF TAX ON INDOOR TANNING SERVICES.
(a) IN GENERAL.â??There is hereby imposed on any indoor tanning service a tax equal to 10 percent of the amount paid for such service (determined without regard to this section), whether paid by insurance or otherwise.
(b) INDOOR TANNING SERVICE.â??For purposes of this sectionâ?? (1) IN GENERAL.â??The term â??indoor tanning serviceâ?? means a service employing any electronic product designed to incorporate 1 or more ultraviolet lamps and intended for the irradiation of an individual by ultraviolet radiation, with wavelengths in air between 200 and 400 nanometers, to induce skin tanning.
(2) EXCLUSION OF PHOTOTHERAPY SERVICES.â??Such term does not include any phototherapy service performed by a licensed medical professional.
(c) PAYMENT OF TAX.â??
(1) IN GENERAL.â??The tax imposed by this section shall be paid by the individual on whom the service is performed.
(2) COLLECTION.â??Every person receiving a payment for services on which a tax is imposed under subsection (a) shall collect the amount of the tax from the individual on whom the service is performed and remit such tax quarterly to the Secretary at such time and in such manner as provided by the Secretary.
(3) SECONDARY LIABILITY.â??Where any tax imposed by subsection (a) is not paid at the time payments for indoor tanning services are made, then to the extent that such tax is not collected, such tax shall be paid by the person who performs the service.â??â??
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.â??The amendments made by this section shall apply to services performed on or after July 1, 2010.â?
Translation: Going to an indoor tanning facility on or after July 1, 2010 just became 10% more expensive. If you do not pay the tax, the owner has to.
Financial Reform bill obfuscation #1:
* Defines â??residential mortgage loanâ? as â??any consumer credit transaction that is secured by a mortgage, deed of trust, or other equivalent consensual security interest on a dwelling or on residential real property that includes a dwelling, other than a consumer credit transaction under an open end credit plan or an extension of credit relating to a plan described in section 101(53D) of title 11, United States Code.â? (Section 1074). The same legislation that requires approximately 60 words to define a residential mortgage loan also requires the establishment of a Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, which is charged with creating model documents for mortgage borrowers to understand mortgages in plain language:
â??The Bureau shall publish a single, integrated disclosure for mortgage loan transactions (including real estate settlement cost statements) which includes the disclosure requirements of this title in conjunction with the disclosure requirements of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 that, taken together, may apply to a transaction that is subject to both or either provisions of law. The purpose of such model disclosure shall be to facilitate compliance with the disclosure requirements of this title and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974, and to aid the borrower or lessee in understanding the transaction by utilizing readily understandable language to simplify the technical nature of the disclosures.â??â?? (Section 1099).
Elizabeth MacDonald is the stocks editor for Fox Business Network. She is recognized as one of the top prize-winning business journalists in the country, and has received 14 awards, including the top prize in business journalism, the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business Journalism, and the Newswomen's Club of New York Front Page Award for Excellence in Investigative Journalism.
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