Considering our nation’s deficit as it is has been projected to be $1.7 trillion for this year, and the public’s total outstanding debt is over $11 trillion, one has to wonder how Obama and his big government minions in Congress intend to fund this socialization of our health system. Well, no, we really don’t have to wonder, do we?

CBO has scored the House healthcare overhaul bill at $1.5 trillion over 10 years, according to sources. House Ways and Means Democrats plan to help pay for the bill by raising taxes on people earning $250,000 or more and taxing sugary beverages, sources said.

The tax on sugary drinks is expected to raise about $50 billion. A previous Ways and Means paper revealed Democrats were considering raising taxes on the wealthy through a 2 percent surtax that would raise $256 billion.

The House will not pay for the measure by taxing employer-based healthcare benefits, suggesting a merger of the House and Senate bills will be difficult. The Senate Finance Committee wants to keep its offsets within the health arena if possible and is weighing capping the value of employer-based coverage eligible for the tax exclusion.

Instead, the House will make Medicare cuts in the neighborhood of $500 billion and raise another $350 billion from an employer mandate. The specifics of the offsets are still somewhat in flux. Raising the Medicare payroll tax is another big-ticket item that appears to be on the table.

Translation: Taxes are going up and Medicare is going down. Congress is placing a tax on sugary drinks, such as soda, and increasing taxes on our nation’s job creation sector. They’ll drive up unemployment through these initiatives and implement the job-killing cap-and-trade legislation at the same time. You can expect unemployment to skyrocket, taxes to go up, the deficit to balloon, and the national debt to continue its never-ending expansion.

Oh, and just in case you thought this was the bad news for today, word comes from Washington that yet another multi-billion (or trillion) dollar “stimulus package” is being considered by Congressional Democrats. You know, because the first one was such a raving success. If at first you fail entirely, spend and spend some more.