Eric Erickson Liberty Counsel 5/29/12

Obama and Democrats maintained that the individual mandate was within the scope of the Commerce Clause and also maintained that the penalty being utilized to enforce the mandate was NOTa tax.

The Supreme Court dealt with three clauses, Commerce Clause, Necessary and Proper Clause and the Tax and Spending Clause. Once Chief Justice Robert and the majority agreed on the Tax and Spending Clause the Chief Justice had an obligation to reset this case for oral argument. He did not.

Justice Kagan, whom as Solictor General had major particiation in the development of the government's case being worked up for submission to the Supreme Court had an obvious "conflict of interest" which was sufficient for her to recuse herself. She did not.

If Chief Justice Roberts's opinion was that the madate was a tax then the Anti- Injunction Act should have been triggered. It was not. The Anti Injunction Act states that the tax must first be applied before a suit can commence. The tax would not have applied until sometime after 2014. The ObamaCare tax is a tax on the middle class.

Why did Roberts rule as such?:

1.Roberts made the decision to demonstrate that the Supreme Court was above partisan politics.

2. Roberts by his decision forced this issue to the political arena and away from being a legal issue.

3. While Roberts expanded the taxation issue he curtailed the negative implication of the Commerce Clause.

What are some of the implications :

1. The left wing can no longer claim that the Supreme Court is a conservative court and new liberal appointee are need as a re-balance.

2. Democrats are now obligated to run on this new tax issue

3. Republicans need to shut down the individual mandate, force Democrats on the record of favoring the mandate and defund ObamaCare.

IMHO Chief Justice Roberts implemented bad law while ignoring his obligation to re-set this case for oral argument and/or to invoke the Anti Injunction Act. His actions clearly signal his desire to wash his hands of the matter. His actions to the contrary were cowardice.

Give it up. The ACA is here to stay, thank goodness. It's finally a start toward bringing health care costs under control and providing quality health care for ALL americans.

Originally Posted by DaleMN

Give it up. The ACA is here to stay, thank goodness. It's finally a start toward bringing health care costs under control and providing quality health care for ALL americans.

Hi DaleMN: From your lips to God's ears. However, given the fact of government control, excessive regulation will follow and with excessive regulation increased costs. I am afraid ObamaCare , if not repealed, is going to be the largest tax increase in the history of this country. All one has to do is to look back at the exponential increases following the implementatons of social security, Medicare, Medicaid, et al to recognize that the government is incapable of properly mnaging anything. Then look at the Food Stamp Program which is nw at over 44 million receipients and Obama's goal to raise that number in exchange for votes and ou can see the negative effect this is and will contin ue to have on this once great nation. Obama is getting his way for an American version of Europe.

Personally, I was more upset about the passing of ObamaCare because it reflected the effect that politics has on this branch's operations. Supreme Court appointees defend their appointment vis a vis being an elective office based on the belief that such appointees would remain above the political fray. Guess that isn't working well either.

I opine other can decide

I respectfully and totally disagree.

Originally Posted by DaleMN

I respectfully and totally disagree.

Then the only thing left to do is to play "The Legends" at Madden's

doesn't all tax legislation have to come out of the house and not the senate?

The Obamacare 2200-page boondoggle law can only worsen this already out-of-control problem:

Social Security Disability Fund Nears Collapse

The number of Americans receiving Social Security disability benefits has soared in recent years and is threatening to push the program into insolvency.

Federal funding from other sources, including incoming payroll taxes, covers 79 percent of disability insurance payments, which average $1,111 a month. But that leaves 21 percent uncovered if the disability insurance fund runs out of money.

Nearly 11 million Americans currently receive disability benefits, and last year the program cost taxpayers $132 billion — more than the combined annual budgets of the Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, Commerce, Labor, Justice, and the Interior.

About 1 in 18 working-age, nonretired Americans now receive disability payments, according to Pamela Villarreal, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis.

"The pot of money the Social Security Administration is using to cover disability insurance is projected to run dry in 2016," Businessweek reports. "That means that out-of-work disabled Americans, plus their spouses and children, who also qualify for benefits, would see their checks shrink 21 percent."

The disability rolls have grown 23 percent since 2007, in large part because of the bad economy[/U] for assistance.

The disability program formerly benefited people with debilitating conditions such as strokes and cancer. But Congress expanded the benefits pool to include such claimed ailments as depression, back pain, and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Exacerbating the financial pressure on the program: Disabled workers can go on Medicare after a two-year waiting period, regardless of their age, which encourages low-income workers without health insurance to try to qualify for disability — and to remain in the program once they do qualify. Disability status also makes recipients eligible for food stamps and other benefits. Fewer than 1 percent of those who start collecting benefits return to work.

But the Social Security Administration claims it doesn't have the funds to conduct periodic reviews of beneficiaries to see who is actually entitled to benefits, and currently has a backlog of 1.4 million reviews.

"That both parties are ignoring the issue aggravates Republican Senator Tom Coburn (Okla.), one of the few lawmakers who want the program overhauled," Businessweek observes.

Coburn says Congress could curb spending on the program by demanding more aggressive screening of applicants and more incentives for them to go back to work.

Until then, Villarreal says, the "Social Security disability system is fraught with poor incentives, high costs and an unsustainable future."

Read more on Newsmax.com: Soaring Disability Rolls Bankrupting System; Illegals Sneaking in From Terrorist Nations

Originally Posted by ilovetv

The Obamacare 2200-page boondoggle law can only worsen this already out-of-control problem:

Social Security Disability Fund Nears Collapse

The number of Americans receiving Social Security disability benefits has soared in recent years and is threatening to push the program into insolvency.

Federal funding from other sources, including incoming payroll taxes, covers 79 percent of disability insurance payments, which average $1,111 a month. But that leaves 21 percent uncovered if the disability insurance fund runs out of money.

Nearly 11 million Americans currently receive disability benefits, and last year the program cost taxpayers $132 billion — more than the combined annual budgets of the Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, Commerce, Labor, Justice, and the Interior.

About 1 in 18 working-age, nonretired Americans now receive disability payments, according to Pamela Villarreal, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis.

"The pot of money the Social Security Administration is using to cover disability insurance is projected to run dry in 2016," Businessweek reports. "That means that out-of-work disabled Americans, plus their spouses and children, who also qualify for benefits, would see their checks shrink 21 percent."

The disability rolls have grown 23 percent since 2007, in large part because of the bad economy[/U] for assistance.

The disability program formerly benefited people with debilitating conditions such as strokes and cancer. But Congress expanded the benefits pool to include such claimed ailments as depression, back pain, and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Exacerbating the financial pressure on the program: Disabled workers can go on Medicare after a two-year waiting period, regardless of their age, which encourages low-income workers without health insurance to try to qualify for disability — and to remain in the program once they do qualify. Disability status also makes recipients eligible for food stamps and other benefits. Fewer than 1 percent of those who start collecting benefits return to work.

But the Social Security Administration claims it doesn't have the funds to conduct periodic reviews of beneficiaries to see who is actually entitled to benefits, and currently has a backlog of 1.4 million reviews.

"That both parties are ignoring the issue aggravates Republican Senator Tom Coburn (Okla.), one of the few lawmakers who want the program overhauled," Businessweek observes.

Coburn says Congress could curb spending on the program by demanding more aggressive screening of applicants and more incentives for them to go back to work.

Until then, Villarreal says, the "Social Security disability system is fraught with poor incentives, high costs and an unsustainable future."

Read more on Newsmax.com: Soaring Disability Rolls Bankrupting System; Illegals Sneaking in From Terrorist Nations

Startling statistics and ObamaCare is projected to reach $500 billion. But the most startling statistic is that some people actually believe that all we need to do to fix it is to print more money

Originally Posted by rubicon

Then the only thing left to do is to play "The Legends" at Madden's

At Madden's it is "The Classic". I've played it several times and have only broke 90 once.