Thanks Obama

Monday 5 July 2010 - Filed under Uncategorized

The cost of passports, both new and renewals, are set to dramatically rise in mid July. New passports will now cost adults $135 instead of $100, and renewals will be $110 instead of $75. Why the dramatic rise? Jennifer Waters via The Wall Street Journal:

The covers are considerably thicker than the old-style passport, and the pages adorned with historic Americana sketches. There is an international symbol on the cover that alerts screeners that it’s an e-passport.

Wait, what? Thicker passport covers to accommodate RFID chips, which any self respecting American will disable immediately upon receipt so as to not be electronically monitored by big brother as you travel (because it isn’t the government’s fucking business where you go for business or pleasure), a symbol on the cover, and illustrations raise the cost of passport production by 35%? Extra pages for those who travel frequently, a service which used to be free, will also cost significantly more. $82 more to be exact. I call bullshit.

This seems more like an underhanded attempt to fund expensive government programs like Obamacare and more government expansion like the new consumer protection agency being implemented to save Americans from those eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil capitalists than a simple rise in production costs.

We should expect the cost of all legitimate government products and services to dramatically rise so that Obama can save face in stating that he won’t raise taxes on those making less than $250k. He may not technically raise income taxes, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t pay in one form or another, and pay dearly. A renewed passport for a frequent traveler will now cost $117 more than previously. That’s 256% more.

Production cost my ass.

2010-07-05  »  madlibertarianguy