Time to Leave the Country

This year, nearly half of US households will escape the federal income tax. That's a pretty sweet deal if you can get it, but for those who pick up the slack, redistribution feels more like robbery.

As the IRS gets tougher on the more productive segment of our population, more Americans are severing U.S. Ties.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of people who renounced U.S. citizenship or permanent residency in the fourth quarter of 2009 (the most recent period for which data are available) was twice as large as the total number expatriations in 2008.

There are complicated reasons for this development, but as tax day approaches, this news might encourage more Americans to think about looking for greener pastures.

Which nations enjoy the most economic freedom? Here are the top 5, according to the Heritage Foundation:

• Hong Kong
• Singapore
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Ireland

Sadly, the U.S. of A. is only #8.

The Heritage Foundation's 2010 Index of Economic Freedom was determined on the basis of ten components: business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom (based on tax rates), government spending, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom (determined by government influence), property rights, freedom from corruption, labor freedom.

Question of the day:

If you were to leave the United States to go live somewhere else, where would you go?

The Democrats' War on Personal Responsibility

One of the most obnoxious features of the Democrats' health care agenda is the threat of jail time for those who choose not to purchase a government-approved health insurance policy. Under the Pelosi Plan, if you're self-insured, if you pay for medical care out of pocket, or if you choose to take your chances and rely on your good health — you're a criminal. Be prepared for a visit from the IRS. And if Queen Nancy gets her way, you might even end up behind bars for up to five years.

Sounds a lot like tyranny to me. Senator Orrin Hatch agrees:

Hatch said if the federal government starts ordering Americans to purchase specific products without being able to plausibly justify that mandate through the Commerce Clause of the Constitution which empowers Congress to regulate interstate commerce, it will mean “we’ve lost our freedoms, and that means the federal government can do anything it wants to do to us.”

Obama, self-proclaimed tough guy, isn't comfortable addressing this issue head on:

TAPPER: But as the Senate puts its bill — its final bill together and as a House and Senate prepare to vote on a — on a — after the conference committee, they should know, does the president think jail time is inappropriate...

OBAMA: Well, I'm — I'm not sure that's the biggest question that they're asking right now...

Obama prefers to frame the issue as a question of personal responsibility:

I think the general broad principle is simply that people who are paying for their health insurance aren't subsidizing folks who simply choose not to until they get sick and then suddenly they expect free health insurance. That's — that's basic concept of responsibility that I think most Americans abide by.

...I think I put out the principle that penalties are appropriate for people who try to free ride the system and force others to pay for their health insurance.

Interesting. Somehow Obama managed to set aside his concern for personal responsibility when he approved the "largest one-year increase in government handouts in American history." Those who free ride the welfare system are some of the biggest winners in Obama's taxpayer-funded lottery:

[The] "stimulus" bill abolishes the limits on the amount of federal money for the so-called Emergency Fund, which ships welfare cash to states.

"Out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated such sums as are necessary for payment to the Emergency Fund," ...In other words, the only limit on welfare payments would be the Treasury itself.

A President committed to personal responsibility would be inclined to take the Federal Government out of the equation altogether, leaving individuals free to decide whether to purchase health insurance, seek help from charity, or pay for health care out of pocket.

Thomas Sowell addresses the issue with perfectly transparent clarity:

What did we do, back during the years when most Americans had no medical insurance? I did what most people did. I depended on a “single payer” — myself. When I didn’t have the money, I paid off my medical bills in installments.

The birth of my first child was not covered by medical insurance. I paid off the bill, month by month, until the time finally came when I could tell my wife that the baby was now ours, free and clear.

In a country where everything imaginable is bought and paid for on credit, why is it suddenly a national crisis if some people cannot pay cash up front for medical treatment?

Personal responsibility is clearly not the issue at the heart of the Democrats push for health care reform. As William Jacobson notes, the Democrats' perverse health care agenda is a "once-in-a-lifetime chance for the Democrats to achieve a permanent, economically-enslaved majority."

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Pelosi: It is "Very Fair" to Jail People For Not Buying Health Insurance

h/t: hospicenurse54

More

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Very good: Another liberal blasts ObamaCare

100% Taxation: Key To Permanent Democratic Majority

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Pelosi: Buy a $15,000 Policy or Go to Jail

If Feds Can Force Us to Buy Health Insurance ‘Then There’s Literally Nothing the Federal Government Can’t Force Us to Do.

Just Say No To Timothy Geithner

Timothy Geithner is Barack Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary.  As Treasury Secretary, Geithner would be in charge of the IRS.

At the Senate confirmation hearings, it was revealed through documentary evidence that Geithner had not paid $43,000 in self-employment taxes.  Geithner settled his outstanding taxes only after he had been nominated to the Treasury post.  What did Geithner say when this was pointed out?  "These were careless mistakes.  They were avoidable mistakes.  But they were unintentional.  I should have been more careful."  

Presto!  He's off the hook.

Even key Republicans have predicted that Geithner, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is unlikely to encounter serious obstacles on his path to the Treasury Department!  Are they joking? They're going to confirm as Treasury Secretary a man who can't pay his own taxes?  

My opinion: You Republican senators who vote to confirm Geithner should pack up and go back home—we don't need you, you're worthless. 

More

Obama's Treasury secretary owed taxes, but it's OK

Geithner's apology makes it worse.

Gender-Selection Abortions

Death to Free Speech in the Netherlands