Neal Asbury began his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America by reminding listeners that the country just got hit with a $500 billion tax increase, courtesy of Obamacare. And that the bad news gets worse when the Bush tax cuts end. Every American will see a $3,000 increase in taxes, or about five percent of the average family’s income.
Joining the show was first-time guest Republican Congressman Cory Gardner, a leading conservative voice in Colorado where he served in the state legislature for five years prior to being elected to Congress to represent the state’s 4th Congressional District. His first order of business after being sworn-in as a member of the United States House of Representatives was to co-sponsor a balanced budget amendment and vote to cut 5 percent from his congressional office budget. As a member of Congress, Cory serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction ranging over national energy policy to interstate and foreign communications.
“People don’t understand that Obamacare will cost every American thousands of dollars while creating uncertainty among small business. Uncertainty is the main reason that small businesses don’t hire. So we have to get big government out of the way of small business so they can hire,” said Congressman Gardner.
Gardner noted that our economy needs a successful energy plan, but the Obama administration’s inability to get a plan in motion, and cutting back on domestic energy exploration, are causing energy prices to soar. While he acknowledges that there is a role for Green energy, the Department of Energy’s plan has been a total failure, with $1.2 million being paid to create every Green energy job.
Gardner has successfully introduced two energy bills that received bipartisan support in Congress. He is concerned that gas prices will continue to climb, as will electricity rates.
“We’re living through Taxageddon, as taxes keep going up and the economic stimulus program is taking us nowhere. Now Obama has introduced a five-year plan, but if it’s anything like his past three year plan, we shouldn’t be expecting much. We need for the people of this country to speak up and elect a new senate and president. I think people agree that we don’t want to see the government take over our lives,” said Gardner.
Made in America’s next guest was Gretchen Hamel, the Executive Director of Public Notice returning for a second appearance. At Public Notice, Hamel leads a team of communications and policy experts in their effort to explain complex economic, regulatory, and budget issues to Americans.
Hamel told listeners that the U.S. is $16 trillion in debt, and that $5 trillion of it is held by foreign governments. She also noted that the nation’s debt grows by $2 trillion each year; fifty percent of which is held by China. In fact, America pays $476 billion in interest on this debt each year.
“When we owe nations money, we lose our pride and independence. What’s worse is that we lose our global voice. That doesn’t reflect our values,” said Hamel.
Hamel reminded listeners of the oft-asked question whether the next generation will be better off than the present one. The answer was always yes, until April 2010, when Americans no longer believed that their children will be better off than they are today.
“America cares about three main issues: our economy, jobs, and government spending,” added Hamel.
Neal and co-host Dr. Rich Roffman continued a discussion about Obamacare, with Neal expressing his belief that the Supreme Court ruling is punishing small business.
“First the Supreme Court considers Obamacare a tax, and now, thanks to some pathetic word play, the White House calls the mandate fines a penalty. But the dictionary defines penalty as: A punishment established by law or authority for a crime or offense. That’s right, small business is being punished for not accepting Obamacare, and that this lack of acceptance constitutes a crime,” said Asbury.
Asbury predicted that as businesses suffer under the yolk of new healthcare costs, they will be forced to pass these costs onto customers and employees, who are already under siege. For example, an employee earing $30,000 per year, the employer could be forced to spend $15,000 a year for his family’s healthcare insurance. They will be paying more for less coverage.
“If you read the transcript of the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare, you’ll see that even their lawyer calls it a tax. But that ignores the fact that Obamacare–2,400 pages long—now will have over 13,000 pages of new tax regulations for implementation, and calls for 21 new taxes, many of them targeted to corporations that hire,” said Dr. Roffman.
Asbury added that with the Obamacare provision that adds a $2,000 tax for every employee once the employee count hits 50, employers will simply hold down employment under 50, or even lay workers off so employment falls below the 50 threshold.
Joining the show was first time guest, Jake French, author of “Life Happens, Live It.” French developed his optimistic outlook on life despite the fact as a young man he experienced a severe spinal cord injury that left him a quadriplegic.
“I could have sat there feeling sorry for myself, or I could share my story with other people and inspire them. So I speak around the country encouraging people to move their life forward. Acknowledge that you’re in a bad place, but move on from there,” suggested French.
He has three messages for his audience: commit to a positive attitude; ignore negativity; and focus on the positive attributes that you have.
Once again, Asbury and co-host Dr. Rich Roffman introduced their weekly “Cronyism Report,” an ongoing look at how federal funding payouts are wasting taxpayer dollars.
“The Obama administration has spent $90 billion on Green energy projects, which is about 15 percent of the stimulus package. And they’ve gotten very little in return,” said Dr. Roffman. “In fact, most of it is lost in bad investment.”
He discussed the most recent disastrous Green energy investment, which was the $98.5 million loan guarantee that went to the Nevada Geothermal Power company. They spent $98 million, and the project looks like it is dead in the water.
Yet, Dr. Roffman notes that this shouldn’t have been a surprise since Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu was warned that the company had financial problems and growing debt. Dr. Roffman suggested that the fact Nevada Senator Harry Reid represents Nevada may have influenced the decision.
Each week Neal Asbury’s Made in America provides Neal’s insights into the week’s top news stories and their impact on the worlds of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and the overall economy. Neal’s analysis, together with co-host Dr. Richard Roffman, a veteran 30-year publisher with extensive domestic and international experience, takes a non-biased approach based on real life experience in business as an American manufacturer and exporter. Made in America airs nationally each Saturday from 7-8:00 PM on Radio America. Link to Made in America at http://www.nealasburysmadeinamerica.com.
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