Today the headlines were plastered with commentary about the House Democrat proposal to enact HCR on the back of a $560 Billion plus tax increase. We Shouted Out this a few nights ago, but when the 1001 page bill was released today, the world seemed to cave in. On RealClearPolitics we counted 7 articles at mid-day including this one from the WP, this one from Reuters and even this one in support?! of the idea. The argument that the latter posting by Mr. Reich makes is somewhat reasonable and cogent, but the leap of faith it takes to get from the beginning to the end is a segway more akin to magic that reasoned discourse. What is troubling to us here at TBM is that the arguments used to proffer this direct tax burden on 1% of the population, are now being used to bully, literally bully, others into paying their “fair share”.

So, what is the perspective here, stripping away the emotion attendant with these issues? Well two things are certain, and only two:

1. The HCR effort as designed by Obama and Company will require a substantial tax increase to fund and will, despite protestations by Mr. Obama, be revenue neutral.

2. The House and Senate seem to believe that the best mechanism to enact this increase is a selective, direct tax strategy aimed at first the ‘wealthy’, and second, ‘industry’.

What is next? Hard to say, but, this chessboard is unfolding quite badly for many people. HCR has taken on a life of its own.