For the third straight month, the Department of Labor’s numbers show a struggling economy and dangerous hiring trend. In the month of June, the economy only added 80,000 jobs. Now the president has already begun to spin, but in a nation of over 300 million people the fact is America’s economy is at its weakest three-month period in two years. It must be difficult for the White House to say with a straight face, “The economy has now added private sector jobs for 28 straight months.”

But the president’s bag of tricks is only so deep. Rather than focusing on making America more competitive in the civilized world, the president has declared a desire to raise taxes on top earners. In arguing for higher taxes, the president ignores the fact that we cannot afford to raise taxes on anyone in this economy, especially small businesses and job creators. Instead of making America’s tax code fairer, flatter, and simpler, the president wants America to continue to have the highest corporate tax rate in the world.

Remember, the president promised to cut the deficit in half and that by this time unemployment would be at 5.6%. But his policies have resulted in adding $5.1 trillion dollars to our national debt along with a national unemployment rate of 8.2%. In Obama’s economy, disability claims out pace job creation. More shocking, America’s underemployment rate rose to 14.9 percent in June. A statistic that most Americans are still not familiar, underemployment measures Americans who have given up looking for work, cannot get enough work, or those who are overqualified for their current position.

And the president’s signature legislative achievement, his healthcare law, is the largest tax in American history. According to the latest Congressional Budget Office estimate, the law will add tax increases amounting to $1.7 trillion over ten years. And as one economist notes, 75% of the law’s cost will fall on Americans making less than $120,000 a year. Maybe if that solved our healthcare crisis one might be able to swallow the pill, but actuaries estimate that part of Medicare will go broke in just twelve years or sooner.

While Europe’s economy is on the brink of failure, President Obama continues following policies that put Europe’s economy there in the first place. With continuing lagging employment, distressed domestic energy production, and rising healthcare costs, one would expect that the independents and moderates who supported Obama in 2008 are starting to have a change of heart or at least you hope they are.

Americans are starting to pay close attention to healthcare. Complicated policy discussions are moving away from the rhetoric of yesterday, to fact-based conversations about the true causes of our federal debt. The president’s healthcare law has become a case study in America’s rising maturity. Regardless of party affiliation, Americans are viewing the president’s law as unsustainable and flawed.

Americans expect their lawmakers to put aside politics and look at the numbers. The fact is, Medicare will not be around to cover the cost of our retirees’ benefits. Medicare is going broke; actuaries estimate that part of the program will go broke in just twelve years or sooner. With 10,000 baby-boomers retiring every day and healthcare costs continuing to increase, an ever-decreasing pool of younger workers will be forced to square the responsibility of footing our senior generation’s healthcare costs.

It is not just seniors who will suffer at the hands of the president’s healthcare law. Because colleges are finding it difficult to comply with the law’s caps on benefits, many colleges are dropping their student insurance plans or raising the costs to once unthinkable levels.

The president’s healthcare law has become the largest tax increase in American history. According to the latest Congressional Budget Office estimate, the tax increases amount to $1.7 trillion over ten years.

Although the law was passed only because Americans were promised it was not a tax, the law will tax the middle-class like never before, hopefully not out of existence. The poor will suffer because the president’s law will create less coverage and less care. That’s why Congressman Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee Chairman, said, “There are 21 taxes in this bill, 12 of which hit people making less than $250,000 per year. That in and of itself is a violation of the President’s promise not to tax people making less than $250,000.”

For example, many middle-class Americans will see changes to their Health Saving Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), or Health Reimbursement Account (HRA). Under the president’s healthcare law, families will have these plans capped, taxed, or gutted. The law contains many more taxes and many other cost uncertainties. As one economist notes, 75% of the law’s cost will fall on Americans making less than $120,000 a year.

While the president’s team goes around “spiking the football,” Americans are well aware that their healthcare premiums are going to skyrocket. Americans will not tolerate Congress putting politics ahead of seniors, middle-class families, and college students. Currently, healthcare is on an unsustainable trajectory and Americans know it. The president’s healthcare law will not survive, mainly because it cannot survive.

Thomas Grier writes on constitutional law, campaigns and elections, and pro-growth policy. He holds degrees from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and Arizona State University. He lives in Arizona with his beautiful wife and two amazing children. Follow Thomas on Twitter.

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/healthcare-law/2012/07/05/opinion-healthcares-unsustainable-trajectory#ixzz1zoWswreM