Now he tells us

NY Post:

As a Senate health committee passed a different version of a health-care reform bill - a milestone for the issue - Obama said on NBC, "The American people have to realize that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Who knew? (Our President Barack Obama breaks another campaign promise.)

The Democrats want to take away your healthcare choices, ration your access--and yes, it's a scam.

More: Go back to the drawing board. Thomas Donahue, USA Today. Obama takes the hatchet to small business. VDH:

Everyone is angry at the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street, but under Obama ironies abound: Banks and investment houses, whose recklessness largely caused this problem, have been lumped in with the small-business person as the kindred “wealthy” who make over $200,000 a year. The family dentist, neighborhood contractor, and owner of the local insurance firm feel neither wealthy nor culpable in the fashion of AIG or Lehman Brothers. If one wishes to stimulate the economy, it makes no sense to conflate productive small businesses with financial-sector zillionaires as enemies of the people.

Team Obama also talks of taxation as if it was slicing salami — a little slice here for new FICA taxes on income above $250,000 (or is it $200,000 or is it $150,000?), another little piece cut off for new income-tax rates of about 40 percent, an additional chop for a surcharge for health care, and then let the poor states have a go with more whacks for increased sales and income taxes. The result is that though each slice may seem tiny in itself, in the aggregate there is not much salami left. Paying out 50 percent of one’s income in taxes may not be socialism, but paying out 70 percent surely is.

For the wheat farmer, electrical contractor, and 20-person law firm, the strategic calculus now goes something like this: “I think I just lost about 20 percent of next year’s income to pay for more income, health-care, state, sales, and payroll taxes, so I won’t be buying that tractor, doing any more Saturday jobs, or hiring that new litigator.” Worse still, many may add, “I will begin reducing or hiding income, avoiding taxes, and dealing in barter to save my business — rather than paying for vast new dubious entitlements for someone else.” These reactions may be unfounded, even wrong, but they are based on logical conclusions nonetheless, considering the promiscuous rhetoric of taxation that emanates daily from the Democratic Congress and the White House.

But gold-plated union health benefits may be exempt from these onerous taxes. Good summary of the bill by Ross Kaminsky

More: Yes, Peter Singer is an advocate of infanticide. Chris Muir illustrates the day.