February 2, 2015

CBO – Obamacare is Costing Much Less Than Originally Predicted

Here is a bit of news that is bound to piss Republicans off – Obamacare is costing much less than the CBO original predicted.

In January 2010, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the federal health spending would total a bit more than $11 trillion between 2011 and 2020.

Today, the Congressional Budget Office thinks it made a mistake. Costs are coming in lower-than-expected, and the CBO’s newest projections suggest the federal government will spend $600 billion less on health care than they predicted back in 2010.

So far, so good: projections are always wrong by at least a bit, and it’s nice to have the extra $600 billion in America’s pocket.

But here’s the incredible thing: as Paul Van de Water, a health care expert at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, points out, the January 2010 projection didn’t include any of the spending associated with Obamacare. The latest projections include all of the spending associated with Obamacare.

Poll – Scott Walker Leading Republican Wannabes for President in 2016

Scott Walker – the man who went on a mission to dismantle the unions in his state of Wisconsin, a state with a dismal economic outlook due to weak job growth since Walker became governor – now has his eyes set in the White House, and according to this new poll, Walker is leading all the potential Republican wannabes for the 2016 presidential election.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is surging, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is an also-ran and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is dominating in a new poll of Iowans likely to vote in the nation’s first presidential nominating contest.

The Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, taken Monday through Thursday, shows Walker leading a wide-open Republican race with 15 percent, up from just 4 percent in the same poll in October. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was at 14 percent and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, stood at 10 percent.

Bush trailed with 8 percent and increasingly is viewed negatively by likely Republican caucus-goers. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is in even worse shape, with support from just 4 percent. More troubling for Christie: He’s viewed unfavorably by 54 percent, among the highest negative ratings in the potential field. At 9 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson pulls more support than either Bush or Christie.