War on the American Dream: Sapping America’s Potential
Rory Cooper /
Government Controlled Life
- Stimulus: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 significantly grew the size and scope of government, doubling the size of federal agencies—including Education and Energy—and moving America toward a government-mandated health care system, all while placing future generations further in debt.
- SCHIP: The State Children’s Health Insurance Program was recently expanded to include wealthy adults in a government health care program designed for low income children. The expansion is funded by a tobacco tax paid for predominantly by the poor and dependent on future smokers.
- Health Care: President Obama has made a significant down payment on a national health care plan that would force millions of Americans out of their private plans and into a government-run monopoly, providing lower quality care at a higher price to all.
- Housing: The Helping Families Save Their Home Act of 2009 actually destabilizes neighborhoods by allowing bankruptcy judges to unilaterally renegotiate your neighbor’s mortgage principal and interest rates, causing an unstable mortgage market and incentives for individual bankruptcy.
- Welfare: The stimulus bill abolished the welfare reform under President Clinton, adding nearly $800 billion in new means-tested welfare spending over the next decade. The cost amounts to over $10,000 for each family paying income tax.
- Land Use: President Obama wishes to impose federal “smart use” regulations on local zoning, housing, and transportation laws so American cities will be developed by his standards, causing housing prices and foreclosures to skyrocket. (more…)