As predictable as the sunrise.

We've been saying this for months on the Right. I've said it here on several occasions. There is no way to pay for this thing without raising taxes.

So now we have to have a fight over whether a Value Added Tax (VAT) is a tax. Obama is fond of not calling other taxes "taxes".  Let me be clear...it's a tax.

A VAT is "a general consumption tax for the production and distribution of goods and services, added as a percentage charge based on price that reflects the incremental value added by a given activity."

In other words, instead of taxing only the finished product, like a pack of gum, the VAT is levied at each earlier stage of production, like manufacturing, assembly, etc. 

Each producer pays the tax based on the "value added" to the product at their stage. 

Of course, ultimately each level of taxation is built into the cost of the finished product, the pack of gum, and you and I end up paying for it.

That's a tax no matter how you slice it.

Anyway, the point is that throughout this debate the liberal talking heads have been lying to us about the financial problems 'caused' by health care spending, thus the need to reform it. It was always about the deficit. They claimed that health care spending was primarily if not exclusively responsible for it. They claimed that only a comprehensive, full-scale reform package would solve the problem.

All knowingly false.

The problem, as always, is unchecked spending. The problem, according to the Honorable Margaret Thatcher, with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money. The problem with spending is that eventually you have to make up the difference. The problem with that is the only way to do it is by raising taxes, or stop spending...but that sure as hell ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

From Ed's conversation with Chuck Blahous at the Hudson Institute:

We need either to get serious about tackling rising spending – meaning both Social Security reform, and health reform that reduces rather than expands federal commitments – or the American people are going to be taxed like they’ve never been taxed before.

"Taxed like they've never been taxed before."

That's what ObamaCare is. That's the only way it can happen. 

We're entering a world of shit. Gear up.

Russ