Soda Tax

WSJ.com reported Senate leaders are considering new federal taxes on soda and other sugary drinks to help pay for an overhaul of the nation's health-care system.

They just raised taxes on cigarettes to pay for health insurance. How many more taxes will Obama's Nanny State raise on the people he promised not to raise taxes on, to try to control what we consume. Or is this tax just for soda drinkers that earn in the top 5%.

The taxes would pay for only a fraction of the cost to expand health-insurance coverage to all Americans and would face strong opposition from the beverage industry. They also could spark a backlash from consumers who would have to pay several cents more for a soft drink.

Does it apply to diet soda, which contains many possibly dangerous chemicals.

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee is set to hear proposals from about a dozen experts about how to pay for the comprehensive health-care overhaul that President Barack Obama wants to enact this year.

Here is an idea. Don't pass Obama Care, and you won't have to pay for it.

Early estimates put the cost of the plan at around $1.2 trillion.

That is a LOT of soda.

The administration has so far only earmarked funds for about half of that amount.

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Class Warrior

Telegraph reported Wealthy Wall Street financiers and other business figures provided crucial support for Mr Obama during the election, backing him over the Republican candidate John McCain as the right leader to rescue the collapsing US economy. But it is now dawning on many among them that Mr Obama was serious about his campaign trail promises to bring root and branch reform to corporate America - and that they were more than just election rhetoric.

Never back someone who says he is going to hurt you, when you think he is just kidding.

The money is needed to pay for a national debt that will double over the next five years; and triple over the next 10 years to $17.3 trillion.

And there is not that much money available even if he confiscates everything they have. The people that he is promising free things to are going to pay for them, either with taxes or higher prices for goods they buy, or money that loses its buying power.

But the crackdown already faces fierce Democratic resistance. A top Obama fundraiser and hedge fund manager said: "I'm appalled at the anti-Wall Street rhetoric. It was OK on the campaign but now it's the real world.

News Flash. The campaign is the real world. A politician that says he will do one thing, when you think he will do something else, is not one you can trust.

I'm surprised that Obama is turning out to be so left-wing. He's a real class warrior."

And did he not reveal that in the campaign?

Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute, a free enterprise think tank, said Democrats in Congress were unnerved by the president's latest plan to raise $210 billion over 10 years from multinational corporations. The money is needed to pay for a national debt that will double over the next five years; and triple over the next 10 years to $17.3 trillion. But the crackdown already faces fierce Democratic resistance.

And even stiffer Republican resistance. But we are giving him too much power to do whatever he wants.

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