Aug. 22, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today responded to Barack Obama’s claim of reforming the Medicare system when he said on the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Aug. 18, “My plan saves money on Medicare by cracking down on fraud and waste in insurance company subsidies”:

“Obama himself is the waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare debate. He is wasting the American people’s time with fraudulent political claims, and abusing seniors through a campaign of fear.

“The $500 billion cut out of Medicare in Obamacare was based on the lie that the Administration would find the $50 billion of waste, fraud and abuse in the system — some 100 percent of all the medical fraud in the system — every year for 10 years. CBO actually scored it for them.  They’ve come nowhere near that goal, making Obama’s claim of deficit neutrality in his law nothing more than a big lie, and meaning that to pay for Obamacare, the money will have to come from somewhere.

“As it stands, the Medicare trust fund — consisting of hundreds of billions of IOU treasuries — will be exhausted in 2024. After that, only 87 percent of benefits will be paid, declining to 67 percent by 2045. And that’s if the Administration’s rosy economic projections come true over the next 10 years, which includes revenues to the Treasury rising to $4.8 trillion by 2022 from today’s level of $2.4 trillion.

“That figure is based on about 3 percent average annual growth every year for the next ten years; no recessions. We’re only growing by 1.5 percent annualized at the moment. Far short of the estimate, meaning revenue projections will most certainly fall way short of expectations.

“Under Obama’s approach, this in turn means his Independent Payments Advisory Board will most certainly be called on to ration Medicare to seniors in the coming years as the recession proves to be more resilient than we’d like. As opposed to Congress making these decisions, seniors will be at the mercy of a bunch of faceless bureaucrats. That’s one reason why we must repeal Obamacare, but overall, that’s the reason we need real entitlement reform right now from Congress. The cost of the program far exceeds its revenues, and if allowed to continue, will bankrupt the Treasury.

“Obama’s approach has been to pretend to reform Medicare while creating a Soviet-style rationing board to do his dirty work. Medicare as we know it will be dead before the next decade runs out, unless action is taken now. Obama’s prescription is to do nothing now, and pretend the problem away, which guarantees the very result that many seniors fear.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 16, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the House of Representatives not to renew the $12 billion wind tax credit this year:

“The idea that we’re going to power the world’s preeminent economic and industrial superpower on 12^th Century windmill technology is so ludicrous as to not even merit serious consideration. But the Ivory Tower elites in Washington, D.C., have insisted that we do so, and as a result now taxpayers are on the hook for $12 billion a year for this fool’s errand. Congress needs to act now to repeal the tax credit.

“In the meantime, we need an honest evaluation by the Department of Energy of the true costs of producing energy. According to Department of Energy’s estimates, in 2017 it will cost anywhere from $97 to $139 per megawatt hour to produce coal. This estimate is used to make it appear that wind at $96 per megawatt hour in 2017 will be viable.

“But the only way they get there is by regulating coal to death. The Department of Energy has engaged in blatant propaganda. This report reveals Obama’s callous disdain and disrespect for the millions of families who earn their living through the production of coal or through the reasonably priced power that coal generates. 

“Coal only costs about $30 to $35 per megawatt hour to produce. The only way the Department of Energy’s 2017 projection can show wind to be viable is to triple the cost of coal.  Their cooked numbers include all of the regulatory costs that the EPA is and will be imposing on miners and coal-burning plants for new technologies by then.

“This is what Obama meant when in 2008 he said, ‘if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.’

“Wind should be free to compete in the marketplace along with other forms of energy. But anyone who argues that it should be subsidized is just breaking wind. If it cannot compete on a cost basis without subsidies and without using the power of government to squash competitors, then it is not viable.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 16, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the House of Representatives not to renew the $12 billion wind tax credit this year:

“The idea that we’re going to power the world’s preeminent economic and industrial superpower on 12^th Century windmill technology is so ludicrous as to not even merit serious consideration. But the Ivory Tower elites in Washington, D.C., have insisted that we do so, and as a result now taxpayers are on the hook for $12 billion a year for this fool’s errand. Congress needs to act now to repeal the tax credit.

“Wind should be free to compete in the marketplace along with other forms of energy. But anyone who argues that it should be subsidized is just breaking wind. If it cannot compete on a cost basis without subsidies and without using the power of government to squash competitors, then it is not viable.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 13, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson to in a statement responded to the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate:

“The Ryan nomination guarantees that the fiscal cliff our nation stands on the precipice of, with a $16 trillion national debt, will be front and center in the presidential campaign going forward. Americans for Limited Government looks forward to engaging in that important debate in the coming months, which will ultimately determine our nation’s economic fate.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 9, 2012, Fairfax, VA— Today on the campaign trail Barack Obama said, “I believe in this American industry, and now the American auto industry has come roaring back. Now I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every industry [emphasis added].” Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson responded:

“Obama has declared war on the private ownership and financing of American industry. Obama handed over much of Chrysler and GM to the autoworkers union while destroying bondholders’ stake in the companies.

“That is hardly a model for job growth in America, and reeks of Soviet-style industrial planning. Both of these companies were effectively seized by the U.S. Treasury in 2009 while the normal bankruptcy process was disrupted to benefit Obama political cronies.

“Obama’s revelation that he wants to this with every industry should send a chill down the spines of every person looking for a job in America. Does he want to nationalize every industry?”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 9, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today released the following statement responding to research from Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee Jeff Sessions (R-AL) showing that more than 107 million Americans are on some form of means-tested government welfare:

“Obama’s legacy is an America that is less well off, more impoverished, and increasingly dependent on a government that has dwindling resources and a $16 trillion debt that is too big to be repaid. He will go down in history as the president that put us back on welfare.

“Since Obama has taken office, eligibility for Medicaid, food stamps, the earned income tax credit, the making work pay tax credit, and unemployment benefits have increased by millions—until today when there are more than 107 million Americans dependent on the government for sustenance. That is an increase of roughly 10 million in less than four years.

“To add insult to injury, Obama then unilaterally dismantled the work requirements that were the heart of the 1990’s welfare reform via an arbitrary executive order. This is a man who wants Americans to be dependent on government. What a disgrace.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 3, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson applauds the state of Maine for challenging the Obama Administration on Medicaid funding:

“The state of Maine is taking the right step in boldly challenging the Obama Administration’s threat to cut off all federal Medicaid funding due to the state’s decision to lower their Medicaid liabilities. The Supreme Court got one thing right in the much-maligned Obamacare ruling by Chief Justice Roberts: the states cannot be coerced into accepting escalating Medicaid costs by the federal government.

“Maine Governor Paul LePage is smartly taking the state flexibility that seven Justices affirmed and applying it to other aspects of Obamacare’s Medicaid requirements.

“It is time for every state to join Maine in declaring their right to determine their own Medicaid eligibility requirements without coercion from Obama and his Washington, D.C., cronies.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug. 3, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today responded to the Department of Labor’s unemployment report for July:

“The economic bad news of Obama’s failed economic plan keeps cascading down on the American people.  Today’s unemployment rate of 8.3 percent is shocking in that it is not higher.  With the nation’s economy staggering as it only grows by .125 percent each month, factory orders down in June for the second month in a row, and only 58.4 percent of the working-age population in the labor force, it is clear the American people are suffering.  Yet, Obama continues a campaign against the very job creators who our nation needs to ramp up hiring to lift our nation back to the heights we used to take for granted.

“It is incredible that after a ‘recovery’ that Obama says has worked, we still have an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent.  I’d hate to see what this president would consider a failure.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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Aug.1, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging both houses of Congress not to repeal the $62 billion of budget cuts scheduled to take effect in 2013:

“A year ago, the $2.1 trillion increase in the debt ceiling was accepted — the largest in American history — because of the promise of offsetting spending cuts. A supercommittee was formed to find the cuts, but if it failed, $62 billion of cuts were at least guaranteed for the 2013 fiscal year. That was what Congress agreed to, but now members claim they did not even know what they were voting on. Others claim the impact of a 1.6 percent overall cut to the federal budget will be devastating.

“What is devastating is the draining impact that the $15.8 trillion national debt, which will grow to $25 trillion by 2022, is having on the economy. The deeper we go into debt, the more capital is diverted away from the private sector and into the useless paper trade of U.S. treasuries.

“The only way to get a handle on that is to get on the path to balancing the budget, and that must include significant cuts to the budget. The fact is, since 2007, when the deficit was only $160 billion, spending has increased by over $1 trillion, and lo and behold, now we’re running trillion dollar deficits every year. We need to cut at least a trillion, and Congress cannot even handle $62 billion of cuts for a single year?

“Any member who votes to break the sequester cuts without any offsetting cuts in return will be breaking faith with the American people, who have voted time and again for no more debt. Enough is enough. If the Republicans accept the Keynesian premise that spending must always grow for the economy to grow, they will have lost all credibility.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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