Aaron,
I'm not attacking you. This stuff just makes my blood boil as you can obviously tell. I just wanted a response to TARP and the mortgage deal and that is what you gave me.

I don't consider myself to be in trouble either. If I have financial doubts I will throw away my TV and pick up a 3rd job with the free time I gain in doing so.

As I said before, I also hate war for virtually any reason.

That is all the energy I can spend whining and getting fired up for one day so I'll roll over like the good little conservative I am and just focus on making more money so they can do whatever they choose with it

Thanks Aaron I was afraid I was going to have to go against my vow to not get involved in this again

quote:

Originally posted by NaPalm:
Aaron,
I'm not attacking you. This stuff just makes my blood boil as you can obviously tell. I just wanted a response to TARP and the mortgage deal and that is what you gave me.

I don't consider myself to be in trouble either. If I have financial doubts I will throw away my TV and pick up a 3rd job with the free time I gain in doing so.

As I said before, I also hate war for virtually any reason.

That is all the energy I can spend whining and getting fired up for one day so I'll roll over like the good little conservative I am and just focus on making more money so they can do whatever they choose with it

Crap here we go, Nate 10 banks have paid back 68 billion dollars in TARP funds. More banks are getting set to pay. Will it all be paid back no. Can they account for it all, NO. There was a lack of oversite, although how many billions of dollars are unaccounted for from the war?

You didn't attack me Nate, I enjoy your posts too, just like Paul said.

Who is asking for Socialized medicine? Who is asking Socialized anything? Our system isn't broken just cause it has taken a down turn... typical libs, over reacting. As Rahm would say Never let a serious crisis go to waste

Want to lower the cost of health care... put laws and policies in place to protect the docs and orgs from petty lawsuits and slimball lawyers (wait, thats what politicians are, fialed trial laywers). Our System provides the best service in the world! the vast majority of Americans recieve great healthcare. This whole idea of gov run healthcare is to protect the few that don't (or neglect to) have coverage (people without jobs, illegal, stupid or what not). I've known a many of Canadian, and I haven't met one that is happy with their healthcare system and taxation.

"we" elected him, But his policies are far more left than what he campaigned and what 'most' Americans want.

There is an aweful lot of 'slight of hand' games going on... I wonder where he learned his politics, Chicago maybe?

Not Bitchen, just disappointed as I think a lot more Americans are becoming... Wake Up!

Just cause he/they got your vote doesn't mean you have to support him/them on EVERYTHING... thats just silly

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron:
Remember Justin, just like the Union, we are the government.

You are missing my point, or maybe I am not making it right.

For Example, I am an elected official of the union in which I am a member. (similarly to being a citizen of a larger community or country) I have members whom I have never seen come to a meeting or engage in any involvment come to me and tell me, "You are screwing me, the union is screwing me." However the leadership listens to the 100 members that come to every meeting, driving the 4000 members of the union in the direction that they want to go.

This might be oversimplification, however I see this first hand. As an elected official, I work for the members that direct me. I don't lead them. I execute their wishes. I cannot assume what the 3900 guys who don't call, show, or participate want. I listen to the 100 who are there every month.

You and I are the government. We determine how we go, depending on our levels of involvement. Take control, or hang on for the ride.

I went ballistic (sorry) on another thread where I begged someone to tell me exactly how-much-it'd-$cost me per party if taxes went up or they went down. The answer "figure-it-out-yer-self" is all I got. (nobody responded) So here's my starting point. The Fed and $Money supply and reserves.

PS..I developed my own spreadsheet with it's own set of variables, got it's own results. I'm somewhat satisfied with the answers but not so inclined to share them just yet.

OK Tone, here goes.

1. We pay for socialized healthcare right now. Just ask my buddy, He's a trooper who does OT shifts down at Harbor View. Take a walk through the ER and look around. No-one (relatively speaking) down there has insurance. Folks come from all around, in order to get their medical treatment knowing it will just get lumped over to those of us who pay the premiums hour by hour. Big Healthcare doesn't waste their time going after this riff raff for re-imbursement. They go where the money is collectively. And there we are, the middle class insured workers, footing the bill.

2.Lowering the cost of health care may be in all of our best interest, but the two sides see it from different angles. Look at the problem That is undeniably that the un insured are stressing the system. The insured pick up the tab. It is the way it has always been. Quit using the buzz words like Socialized, I know its tempting because it gets folks all worked up. Why doesn't private health care want the government to offer an alternative? Profit, don't fool yourself. Its always profit. Competition lowers the profit margin. This explains why your insurance company will not pay claims for preventative care, for it is much more profitable to treat disease than to prevent it. Step back and take a look at the entire forest Tone show, not just the flock of trees.....

3. I will agree with your statement about Americans being dissatisfied with Obama when his approval gets somewhere in the nether regions of 22%. Not to try to compare him in any way to Dubya, but that was where his was the day he left office, the same day most on this board praised him as being one of the best weve had.

4. As for slight of hand, you couldn't be more right. But don't look at the politicians, look a little deeper, at the money behind them. Two words. Wall Street.

5. He got my vote. Do I support him on everything? No, (unless I'm arguing on this board, then I might fibb a little here and there just to get Daddy angry) Of course I'm beginning to think you might just be a little more fisherman than a conservative. Just my opinion though...

1. I understand this, I can afford healthcare now and so can most, however some might have to forgo the fancy truck to haul their bike around in but thats what some would call a sacrifice. 'we' will foot the either way but if you add government to the mix, it will certainly add a lot more cost for 'us' to foot the bill... don't think so? Name one efficiently ran gov anything?
2. Call it what you want, socialized, nationalized, euro-style, f'n garbage... it is what it is. but it sounds 'Socialized' to me. this admin somehow thinks that we will be able to turn this all over with just us footing the bill for the start up costs... then it will run itself. Are you Kidding me!? (using the word socialized is like you throughing around Dubya's fails to prove a point )
3. you've even stated that america is more middle road (although slightly left in your eyes). His Policies are pretty far from middle, and it is in my opinion that the majority of Media is still in bed with him (which I think that is just wrong no matter what party they are in. what happened to objective reporting?) and thats why the polls are still good however, I have seen more recent critism in the media as of late, therefore I think they are waking up and so will more of the people. he will never see as harsh of treatment as GB or Palin and her family. I don't think we will ever see BO's %'s like dubya, if we do, We will all want that gun you posted cause everything is in the tank...
4. VICTORY!!!
5.I lean a certain direction... And right now I don't care for where we are heading...

My bet for the next pres (in 4 or 8yrs) is that it will be a repub History has proven this (D, R, D,R,D,R and so on). BO and the Dem majority will wear out there welcome, just like the rest of them, pushing stuff to far one way or the other. If one of these parties figures it out (middle is better, then slowly ease your policies in) we will see a ONE party system... just my .o2

To much Change...

Aaron .News flash! Conservatives hate war too.
But the question I would love to ask all Liberals is. How may people should die under a single persons regime before we do what we can to stop the killing. 500,000?? 6,000,000?????

quote:

Originally posted by ted:
Aaron .News flash! Conservatives hate war too.
But the question I would love to ask all Liberals is. How may people should die under a single persons regime before we do what we can to stop the killing. 500,000?? 6,000,000?????

Ask George Bush, I'm sure he had a number, oh wait were you talking foreign persons?

I'm all for taking care of the worlds people Ted, as soon as we have all of ours squared away.

Ya know I was there in 1963 (Kennedy) and 1969 (man lands on moon) and in Seattle in the 1970's (Turn out the lights). I was there (TV) in 1991 when Iraq invaded Kuwait...not really cause I was building the machines that guided those cruse missiles into the heartland of Iraq and I was there ten years latter when Jr (Bush) declared WAR on a Sovereign Nation (Iraq) but as I recall little Bush sat in a chair (URL-GOES-HERE) while school children recited XXXX? on 9-11 and New York burned.

Bush Jr was (is) a joke! and we all suffered for his administration. We suffered when he stopped stem cell research, we suffered when he unilaterally imposed his doctrine upon the world, we suffered for his lack of reading the daily news. We suffered.

Some might say "It's my duty to obey orders" but I say "It's my duty to question'em". To the former I say it's a one-way-no-responsibility-matrix - don't-ask-don't-tell to the latter I say it's a two-way-I'll-obey-but-did-you-say-what-I-think-you-said" thing?

What sort of nation are we looking for >> The blind-leading-the-blind or something else.

Reference Mat'l: http://www.mcall.com/business/...4747592.story?page=2

"Bush called this a "final atrocity" by Hussein against his own people. Though Bush rarely refers to it in public, he also has accused Hussein of trying to kill his father and mother, and his wife Laura, during a visit by members of the Bush family to Kuwait in 1993."

And yet we still have a "Snake Oil" salesman for a president.

quote:

Originally posted by Workman #21:
Ya know I was there in 1963 (Kennedy) and 1969 (man lands on moon) and in Seattle in the 1970's (Turn out the lights). I was there (TV) in 1991 when Iraq invaded Kuwait...not really cause I was building the machines that guided those cruse missiles into the heartland of Iraq and I was there ten years latter when Jr (Bush) declared WAR on a Sovereign Nation (Iraq) but as I recall little Bush sat in a chair (URL-GOES-HERE) while school children recited XXXX? on 9-11 and New York burned.

Bush Jr was (is) a joke! and we all suffered for his administration. We suffered when he stopped stem cell research, we suffered when he unilaterally imposed his doctrine upon the world, we suffered for his lack of reading the daily news. We suffered.

Some might say "It's my duty to obey orders" but I say "It's my duty to question'em". To the former I say it's a one-way-no-responsibility-matrix - don't-ask-don't-tell to the latter I say it's a two-way-I'll-obey-but-did-you-say-what-I-think-you-said" thing?

What sort of nation are we looking for >> The blind-leading-the-blind or something else.

Reference Mat'l: http://www.mcall.com/business/...4747592.story?page=2

"Bush called this a "final atrocity" by Hussein against his own people. Though Bush rarely refers to it in public, he also has accused Hussein of trying to kill his father and mother, and his wife Laura, during a visit by members of the Bush family to Kuwait in 1993."

------------------------------------------------
With all do respect to my elders MR Workman- Your entire statement about Presisent Bush is a joke! You probaly would of been a very good trial lawyer... twisting the facts into something you want it to be... You write like a true PRO arm chair quaterback.. You could probaly make ALL PRO status with that smoke and mirror statement! Please MR Workman write me another story showcasing your natural talent-
Thanks for making me LAUGH OUT LOUD!!! TRA-742

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron:
OK Tone, here goes.

1. We pay for socialized healthcare right now. Just ask my buddy, He's a trooper who does OT shifts down at Harbor View. Take a walk through the ER and look around. No-one (relatively speaking) down there has insurance. Folks come from all around, in order to get their medical treatment knowing it will just get lumped over to those of us who pay the premiums hour by hour. Big Healthcare doesn't waste their time going after this riff raff for re-imbursement. They go where the money is collectively. And there we are, the middle class insured workers, footing the bill.

2.Lowering the cost of health care may be in all of our best interest, but the two sides see it from different angles. Look at the problem That is undeniably that the un insured are stressing the system. The insured pick up the tab. It is the way it has always been. Quit using the buzz words like Socialized, I know its tempting because it gets folks all worked up. Why doesn't private health care want the government to offer an alternative? Profit, don't fool yourself. Its always profit. Competition lowers the profit margin. This explains why your insurance company will not pay claims for preventative care, for it is much more profitable to treat disease than to prevent it. Step back and take a look at the entire forest Tone show, not just the flock of trees.....

3. I will agree with your statement about Americans being dissatisfied with Obama when his approval gets somewhere in the nether regions of 22%. Not to try to compare him in any way to Dubya, but that was where his was the day he left office, the same day most on this board praised him as being one of the best weve had.

4. As for slight of hand, you couldn't be more right. But don't look at the politicians, look a little deeper, at the money behind them. Two words. Wall Street.

5. He got my vote. Do I support him on everything? No, (unless I'm arguing on this board, then I might fibb a little here and there just to get Daddy angry) Of course I'm beginning to think you might just be a little more fisherman than a conservative. Just my opinion though...

OK Aaron I actually have time to respond.

1. The thing is, right now you have the option to be billed for your medical care, and you can pay it however you want. I have a personal example of this. The company I work for is very small, It consists of my Boss, Myself, and another guy. One day a month or so ago, my boss was repairing a bandsaw at work and he ended up getting his finger stuck between the saw blade and wheel of the saw, nothing huge, but it required a few stitches. So instead of dealing with the L&I mess, he just opted to be billed and pay for it that way. He got the bill in the mail and of course it was outrageous, as expected. It was like $2100 for 3 stitches and a 2 hour ER wait. He said no way he is paying that much for that, so he has already got it knocked down to $1700, and is waiting for a breakdown so he can get it knocked down even more. When your paying cash, you have the ability to do that, and avoid paying for the crap the comes through the ER doors. When you have the "Everything must be on insurance" irresponsible mentality, things will be more expensive for everybody later.

2. This idea that the uninsured are the only thing causing this mess is simply rediculous. Lawsuits are a HUGE reason medical care is priced so high. A kid goes in to the ER with a brusied leg after falling off of his bike. Instead of a doctor saying, throw some ice on it, and take it easy for a day or two, for legal reasons they take x-rays, and further unnecessary tests, so they dont get a malpractice suit in the future. Who pays for the tests and X-rays?? Well somebody does... Also the illegal immigrant problem accounts conservatively at 15% of the uninsured population, and I can gaurantee they dont pay their bills when they have no record of residency on the books. Socialized is not a "buzz word", its becoming reality by definition. I wouldnt give a crap if the government came in a offered a healthcare plan, provided it played by the same rules as the private sector. We all know that could never happen, because even though the government is "not for profit" they still would have operating cost far higher than any private company, its called bureaucracy, and its a huge waster of money. So instead, the government goes under the guise of being more affordable, but reams the taxpayers on one end, while making it look more affordable on the other. Sorry Aaron, but that is more morrally bankrupt than an insurance company making a profit.

3. Obama right now has the mainstream media on his side which is huge. Bush never had the mainstream media on his side. What it comes down to, and history will note it, just like Jimmy Carter, is Obama is already a far worse president than Bush ever was. He stood there mindlessly (or in the pocket of the mullahs) while the the population of IRAN stood up to the islamo-fascist theocracy, only to have it end in beatings and so called torture he has been "so-adamantly" against. All it would have taken was for him to say "I support the people of Iran in their struggle against tyranny" and Revolution would have been assured. North Korea is now prodding and poking at us, and Obama is sitting there doing nothing, allowing nuclear material to enter the country with our navy sitting there not doing a damn thing. He is spending more in % of GDP than all the other presidents in at least the last 50 years combined. He is telling that he wants you to not have a choice in who you get your healthcare from, you must get it from the government, and everything about you will be on file at some government agency. Running businesses from the oval office. Telling you to sell your old car so he can scrap it. and now possibly killing a huge amount of our economy in the name of the crock that is "climate change". All of this is Huge, and people appear to be waking up a little bit.

4. Though we agree, slight of hand, you couldnt be more wrong. The politicians want power. Wall street doesnt mean a damn thing to ya when you already have all the power(and even more) than the law gives you.

5. I voted for Bush, not cause he was my guy, but cause he was the best option at the time. That doesnt mean I agreed with everything he did. Overall history will judge GWB as a good president when all of the garbage wears off, and Im pretty sure that by the time the Obama term ends, people will be wishing bush was president again.

quote:

Originally posted by Workman #21:
Ya know I was there in 1963 (Kennedy) and 1969 (man lands on moon) and in Seattle in the 1970's (Turn out the lights). I was there (TV) in 1991 when Iraq invaded Kuwait...not really cause I was building the machines that guided those cruse missiles into the heartland of Iraq and I was there ten years latter when Jr (Bush) declared WAR on a Sovereign Nation (Iraq) but as I recall little Bush sat in a chair (URL-GOES-HERE) while school children recited XXXX? on 9-11 and New York burned.

Bush Jr was (is) a joke! and we all suffered for his administration. We suffered when he stopped stem cell research, we suffered when he unilaterally imposed his doctrine upon the world, we suffered for his lack of reading the daily news. We suffered.

Some might say "It's my duty to obey orders" but I say "It's my duty to question'em". To the former I say it's a one-way-no-responsibility-matrix - don't-ask-don't-tell to the latter I say it's a two-way-I'll-obey-but-did-you-say-what-I-think-you-said" thing?

What sort of nation are we looking for >> The blind-leading-the-blind or something else.

Reference Mat'l: http://www.mcall.com/business/...4747592.story?page=2

"Bush called this a "final atrocity" by Hussein against his own people. Though Bush rarely refers to it in public, he also has accused Hussein of trying to kill his father and mother, and his wife Laura, during a visit by members of the Bush family to Kuwait in 1993."

So he continued to read to the school children for another 15min?(until the 2nd plane hit), what was he supposed to do, freak out??? Stand in the parking lot??? Stand in another room somewhere??? Im pretty sure the issue was they were getting more info on what was going on, and they didnt want to cause a huge mess. You were there when it happened! I dont even remember the first 15 minutes, I was too busy staring at the TV! Whatta joke.

I didnt suffer over the whole 8 years of bush as much as I have suffered under the first 6 months of Obama. The only thing bush did was say that the government couldnt fund stem cell research, he didnt ban it. Getting both congress and the UN's approval was hardly unilateral, almost everybody was for it at the time. How exactly did YOU suffer under bush????? Id like to hear it cause I cant really find anybody that actually suffered anything under GWB.

Right now we have a situation of the Blind following the Messiah, in a cult like structure, people need to stop drinking the Kool-Aid and start thinking for themselves.

Justin,are you serious? What should George have done? Lets see,..how about get on AirForce one,get on the phone and find out exactly what the f$$*@ck was going on? Cheney was already in the bunker by then. George Bush was probably the worst/dumbest president this country ever had. he was put on the ticket by the big money power brokers/oilmen because he had the right name and pedigree to get elected and he would be easy to influence and would do what they wanted. Dick Chenny was put in as VP to run the show and make sure that George did what the money boys wanted. Bush never had any success in his life at anything until the good ole boys took charge of him. He was perfect for them.They had the perfect FOX to run the henhouse.
Under George, big oil had record profits quarter after quarter.Derivitive and hedge fund managers ran wall street and came up with mystical ways to suck all the money out of the system with no oversite. Attaboy George,GREAT JOB !!
OK Justin,a little history lesson here,bailout nation happened under Bush.The collapse of the financil market happened uner Bush. The new President was handed a lit stick of dinamite in a package of dogshit and told to get it fixed in 3 moths or it was all his fault..RIGHT
Justin, the right wing leaders want 2 things from you,your vote and for to to keep spewing mindless crap to any one that will listen. There is no more trickle down,they took the money to the Camens and left us holding the bag.
And one last thing,I am sick of hearing how Bush"kept us safe from the terrorists" 9-11 happened on his watch,though I am sure that you were about to say that was Clinton's fault.

quote:

Originally posted by Alex:
Justin,are you serious? What should George have done? Lets see,..how about get on AirForce one,get on the phone and find out exactly what the f$$*@ck was going on? Cheney was already in the bunker by then. George Bush was probably the worst/dumbest president this country ever had. he was put on the ticket by the big money power brokers/oilmen because he had the right name and pedigree to get elected and he would be easy to influence and would do what they wanted. Dick Chenny was put in as VP to run the show and make sure that George did what the money boys wanted. Bush never had any success in his life at anything until the good ole boys took charge of him. He was perfect for them.They had the perfect FOX to run the henhouse.
Under George, big oil had record profits quarter after quarter.Derivitive and hedge fund managers ran wall street and came up with mystical ways to suck all the money out of the system with no oversite. Attaboy George,GREAT JOB !!
OK Justin,a little history lesson here,bailout nation happened under Bush.The collapse of the financil market happened uner Bush. The new President was handed a lit stick of dinamite in a package of dogshit and told to get it fixed in 3 moths or it was all his fault..RIGHT
Justin, the right wing leaders want 2 things from you,your vote and for to to keep spewing mindless crap to any one that will listen. There is no more trickle down,they took the money to the Camens and left us holding the bag.
And one last thing,I am sick of hearing how Bush"kept us safe from the terrorists" 9-11 happened on his watch,though I am sure that you were about to say that was Clinton's fault.

Wow man you baffle me with that intellect....

Obviously you werent around on 9/11/01, because if you were, you wouldnt have known what was going on. Nobody knew it was a terrorist attack until the second plane hit the trade center, everybody thought it was a freak accident at first. It wouldnt have made a difference if he was on Air Force One 15 minutes earlier than he was. You say he was probably the "worst/dumbest" president we ever had, and yet, you have nothing to back that statement up, just typical liberal garbage, spout a bunch of sh*t, and dont back it up with any facts... at least Paul and Aaron try to. Even if it was true that he was put on the ticket by "big money power brokers/oilmen" he was still elected by the american people twice, whether you like it or not. Im not even going to argue the FOX news point because it is useless, every other news network and news paper is in the commie bag. Oil companies had huge profits, thats what happens when you sell a lot of something, you get record profits, and the oil companies were selling huge amounts of oil. Dont blame demand on the oil companies, blame it on yourself and everybody else that bought an oil product while the economy was doing excellent. The comment on the Hedge fund managers is so laughable, its clear you have absolutely no idea how economies work, only hatred for those who do well. Your partially right about the bailout, in that it started under bush, and people like me were completely against it, that is just an example on how much GWB wasnt a fiscal conservative. But the fact is, what bush set aside for the original bailout is only a fraction of what the "supreme leader" has spent already, dont believe me, look it up. The financial market issue had as much to do with bush as it did with every president since jimmy carter and the Community Reinvestment Act. People in Oversight positions like Barney Frank were the ones who really Messed things up by not doing their job. What it comes down to is government should have never been involved in the lending industry, we wouldnt have had a problem. Your right Obama was handed a pile of Dogshit with a stick of Dynamite, but instead of getting a bucket of water and putting out the spark, or even at least pissing on it, he went and took a huge diarrhea shit on the pile and made it worse without even touching the stick of dynamite.
Again, the last line about the terrorism and bush just shows your ignorance. The Islamo-Fascism problem, just like many other problems, started under mister-commie himself jimmy carter. Clinton had Osama in the crosshairs and did nothing. But nobody knew that 9/11 was going to happen, if clinton knew, im sure he would have pulled the trigger. Bush was a hawk on terrorism, many other attacks were foiled.

quote:

Originally posted by Alex:
Justin,are you serious? What should George have done? Lets see,..how about get on AirForce one,get on the phone and find out exactly what the f$$*@ck was going on? Cheney was already in the bunker by then. George Bush was probably the worst/dumbest president this country ever had. he was put on the ticket by the big money power brokers/oilmen because he had the right name and pedigree to get elected and he would be easy to influence and would do what they wanted. Dick Chenny was put in as VP to run the show and make sure that George did what the money boys wanted. Bush never had any success in his life at anything until the good ole boys took charge of him. He was perfect for them.They had the perfect FOX to run the henhouse.
Under George, big oil had record profits quarter after quarter.Derivitive and hedge fund managers ran wall street and came up with mystical ways to suck all the money out of the system with no oversite. Attaboy George,GREAT JOB !!
OK Justin,a little history lesson here,bailout nation happened under Bush.The collapse of the financil market happened uner Bush. The new President was handed a lit stick of dinamite in a package of dogshit and told to get it fixed in 3 moths or it was all his fault..RIGHT
Justin, the right wing leaders want 2 things from you,your vote and for to to keep spewing mindless crap to any one that will listen. There is no more trickle down,they took the money to the Camens and left us holding the bag.
And one last thing,I am sick of hearing how Bush"kept us safe from the terrorists" 9-11 happened on his watch,though I am sure that you were about to say that was Clinton's fault.

----------------------------------

Alex I can help you. You are clearly a follower and not a leader. There are many different books available out there that can help you. I suggest you start with this one:
Rich Dad Poor Dad- Your in deep so your going to have to take baby steps one at a time but for you I got to start at the beginning and rebuild everything. Your way of thinking is the standard liberal weak way of looking at things. After you read that book I have another one that should bring you up to midpack and a third that just might put you on the podium. I promise you once the poor me attitude is gone then you should be able to see things more clearly... LOL!!

More paybacks for Union Dups
June 26 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate proposal to impose taxes for the first time on “gold-plated” health plans may bypass generous employee benefits negotiated by unions.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the chief congressional advocate of taxing some employer-provided benefits to help pay for an overhaul of the U.S. health system, says any change should exempt perks secured in existing collective- bargaining agreements, which can be in place for as long as five years.

The exception, which could make the proposal more politically palatable to Democrats from heavily unionized states such as Michigan, is adding controversy to an already contentious debate. It would shield the 12.4 percent of American workers who belong to unions from being taxed while exposing some other middle-income workers to the levy.

“I can’t think of any other aspect of the individual income tax that treats benefits of different people differently because of who they work for,” said Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, a Washington research group that often criticizes Democrats’ economic proposals. Edwards said the carve-out “smacks of political favoritism.”

Baucus, a Montana Democrat, is proposing to tax Americans whose health insurance is valued at a higher rate than what is offered to federal employees. About 40 percent of insured Americans have costlier benefits, and Baucus has said he is trying to set the level at which taxes would be imposed high enough so fewer people are affected.