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{"id":13576,"date":"2011-12-27T07:08:42","date_gmt":"2011-12-27T13:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.occasionalplanet.org\/?p=13576"},"modified":"2013-02-04T12:23:41","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T18:23:41","slug":"obamas-facebook-like-maneuvers-confound-liberals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2011\/12\/27\/obamas-facebook-like-maneuvers-confound-liberals\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama\u2019s Facebook-like maneuvers confound liberals"},"content":{"rendered":"
It might seem like an odd analogy, but the more that I view some of the policy changes by President Barack Obama, the more they seem to bear a similarity to the changes implemented by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. While I\u2019m just an occasional Facebook user, I can\u2019t help but notice how significant changes occur overnight, with no advance warning or even foreshadowing. Generally they are confusing, at least in the beginning, and tend to frustrate the Facebook base.<\/p>\n
Our non-profit organization sponsors events for students. I can\u2019t help but notice how when we invite students to the events through Facebook, the responses that are available to invitees change frequently, for no apparent reason and with no clear explanation. An example would be how Facebook formerly made it easy for an invitee to respond \u201cmaybe;\u201d now they\u2019ve complicated it without explanation.<\/p>\n
I knew this \u201cpulling the rug out from underneath us\u201d reminded me of something. Unfortunately, it is the way in which President Barack Obama seems to turn on a dime on important policy issues. Some people theorize that it\u2019s because he chooses to negotiate with himself before he negotiates with political opponents. Whatever the motivation, it\u2019s frustrating, because you wake up in the morning and find that like Facebook, he has made changes without explanation or forewarning.<\/p>\n
A few examples include:<\/p>\n
1. Abandoning the public option in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009. The public option was the linchpin of insurance reform, because it essentially meant that insurance companies would have to compete against the efficiency of government-run program that, by definition, would save money because it was not profit-driven. One day the public option was part of President Obama\u2019s plan; the next day, it mysteriously disappeared.<\/p>\n
2. Reducing the payroll tax, more accurately called premiums for Social Security, in the middle of the 2010 year-end lame duck session with Congress, a Democratic Congress at that. No one was asking for the cut even if it would help working people, because it would also hurt them by downgrading the long-term solvency of Social Security.<\/p>\n
The payroll tax is regressive in nature; it takes the same percentage of out of a paycheck for someone earning $1,000 a year as someone earning 100 times as much. After that it gets worse, because following the first $106,800,\u00a0 the tax is not applied to earnings. Most wage earners have all their income subject to Social Security and Medicare withholding. But if your name is Albert Pujols, and you will be paid $252 million over the next ten years, you will pay into Social Security from only four-tenths of one percent of your income. The remaining $250,932,000 that he earns between now and 2021 will not be subject to payroll withholding.<\/p>\n