The Crisis Will Hatch Universal Health Care Next
Jun 8, 2009 Political
Never let a good crisis go to waste. So far the Obama administration has not let this sentiment go to waste because it has pushed a number of things through at break neck speed all under the blanket of the crisis. The stimulus, the omnibus, the bailout of auto companies (and subsequent loss of taxpayer money in bankruptcy) are all the result of the crisis, emergencies that cannot wait. The time is now.
We have not spent very much of the allocated stimulus and things are starting to improve though we will have a way to go. We should rescind the rest of the spending and let things work themselves out.
No, we will spend that money (unwisely) and the Obama folks will continue. Next up on the plate is universal health care. The Democrats want every person in the country covered and they have a number of ways of doing it. All of them will mean tax increases and those increases will affect everyone.
Obama wants to tax the wealthy. He is pushing for a cap on tax deductions (and an increase in the marginal tax rate) for the wealthiest of taxpayers so that they will pay more into the government. That money will be redistributed to pay for health care. The cost will be staggering, the quality of care will decrease and everyone will be affected by the tax on the wealthy. Plus, there is no guarantee they government will spend the money on health care. Look at how the government has raped Social Security.
One plan on the table is to require all employers to provide health care coverage or pay part of the costs. This will only result in an increase in the price of goods. Employers ALWAYS pass costs on to consumers so everyone will end up paying. The plan also mandates insurance. People will be required to get health care coverage. You can be a billionaire and able to afford health expenses out of pocket but you will be required to get coverage.
I want to know where in the Constitution it says I HAVE to have health care coverage. Where is that mandate located?
Universal health care is socialized medicine where bean counters get to decide what treatment is best or if you should receive it. Despite the claims, other countries that have socialized medicine are not in good shape. Would you want to get sick in Cuba? Would you want to wait for bypass surgery in England or Canada? Some people might like the system but those who do are the people who are not responsible enough to take care of themselves.
We have socialized medicine in this country. Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA (as well as military health system) are all government run. The VA and military are items provided as part of the work contract but they are overburdened with administrative red tape and administrators. The health care provided to our troops is top notch and many of the innovations are later used in the civilian world but the red tape is a nightmare.
Liberals went nuts over problems at Walter Reed (a political stunt to embarrass George Bush) but this is the same system they want to give to you.
We cannot afford the cost. If you think health care is expensive now just wait until it is free. We need to revamp the way things are done in the open market and make it a more competitive atmosphere. We need to remove some of the restrictions placed on companies and we need to allow individuals and small business to pool resources in order to get group rates.
What we do not need is government running health care. The federal government could not organize a child’s birthday party and if it did the cost would be three times required and taxes would be raised to pay for it.
The same government that wants all your records electronic and wants to administer health care is the one that published our nuclear secrets.
If we want well run health care perhaps we should have Wal Mart take it over. The Wal Mart people actually know how to run a business and keep costs down.
Related items:
Ludwig von Mises Institute
Heritage Foundation
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Tags: crisis, health care, taxes, waste, wealthy
Democrats Look At National Sales Tax
May 27, 2009 Political
The Democrats never met a tax they didn’t hike and in these times of excessive spending and out of control government they need to find a new revenue source which is nothing more than a euphemism for taxes. Barack Obama vowed that 95% of us would not see a tax increase, not a dime. Then they raised tobacco taxes. One can debate the evil of tobacco use and whether people quitting is a good thing but the reality is that this was a tax increase mostly on those he said would not pay more.
There are many schemes in the works that will raise taxes of all the people he promised would not see a tax increase. The Cap and Trade will raise the cost of people’s energy because the tax increase to the businesses will be passed down to the consumers. There will be an increase in the gasoline tax or a mileage tax. And Obama is considering taxing the health care benefit provided by some employers. Astute political observers will note that this is the plan John McCain had and that Obama vehemently opposed. He said his plan was better. Looks like he does not think so now. For the record, I am opposed to the idea no matter whose it is.
There is a tax on the table that will certainly cost everyone and that includes the poorest of the poor. This is a national sales tax or a value added tax (VAT).
A VAT is a tax on the transfer of goods and services that ultimately is borne by the consumer. Highly visible, it would increase the cost of just about everything, from a carton of eggs to a visit with a lawyer. It is also hugely regressive, falling heavily on the poor. But VAT advocates say those negatives could be offset by using the proceeds to pay for health care for every American — a tangible benefit that would be highly valuable to low-income families. Washington Post
The article discusses a number of interesting things. Rahm Emanuel’s brother is consulting on this and an admission that Obama’s plan to increase taxes on the rich will NOT pay for what he wants.
He likes the idea of the VAT if they can figure a way for him to keep his promise. I don’t know how one would do that. People who sell goods have no idea how much a person makes so how could the determine who pays it and who does not?
The VAT is a terrible idea. The proponents of it claim that a 10% tax would be wonderful and result in fewer people paying income taxes and a 25% VAT would give them all they want. Of course that means for every $100 you spend on something there will be a tax of $25. A $30,000 car will cost an additional $7,500 to the consumer
The other problem is that government never gets rid of a tax. There will be the VAT and income taxes. The VAT might bring in a lot of money and they will want more so they will raise the percentage they take. It will be a mess and everyone will end up paying despite what Obama promised.
I do not think adding another tax is the answer to our problems. We need to get a handle on out of control spending and we need to limit government. We also need to revamp the tax code so that everyone pays a flat rate on income. The idea that Congress can keep spending and then show up with its hand out looking for more of our money is getting old.
But hold onto your hats because this will be on the table along with a number of other taxes. Obama promised not to tax 95% of the people but that will not happen and many people will be paying more in taxes.
It is absolutely impossible to pay for all this spending without taxing far more people than he promised when he wanted to be in the White House.
Now that he is there it is a different story. Bill Clinton did the same thing.
Some people never learn.
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New York Needs Money, Raise Taxes
May 21, 2009 Political
New York is one of those liberal states that is broke, much like California and Maryland (though Maryland does well because of its proximity to DC). Politicians in New York have been trying to raise taxes to ease their deficit but they have done little to curb spending.
Now New York has a plan to raise 100 million dollars a year. The politicians want to add a one cent tax on each can of non diet soda. Once again the politicians are slipping a tax in on people. But Big Dog, it is only a penny and that means it is less than a quarter for a case of soda. Besides, this will get people to stop drinking sugary drinks and improve their health.
Right. The idea here is that New York needs money so it will add a tax on a product in hopes that people will use less of the product. Let’s suppose that a number of people stop drinking sugary soda, how will that help the deficit? This is like the inane argument that an increase in tobacco tax is needed to fund children’s health care and will make more smokers quit. If they quit, who will fund the children’s health care?
No society ever taxed itself into prosperity and raising taxes during an economic downturn is foolish. People will react with their feet. Those who live near other states will shop in them. I shop in Delaware for some things because there is no state tax there. It only makes sense to stop at the store when I am up there for business and get what I need because I will pay less.
New Yorkers are hosed with taxes in every aspect of their lives just as those in California are and it is obvious that this tactic does not work. Taxing soda or anything else will do nothing to help the situation and will change people’s habits with regard to shopping.
Those habit changes will be detrimental to the state’s budget.
Cut spending and cut taxes. It works every time it is tried.
Source:
Daily News
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The Unpleasant Truth
May 5, 2009 Political
Well, if you had even a rudimentary brainstem, you had to see this coming- well, if you were not a liberal, you had to see this coming. The Chinese no longer want to buy our T-Bills, the government bonds that Barama has been borrowing against in order to pay for his little spending spree.
Addiction psychiatrists call what is happening, “Refresh the Joy”, by which they describe the urge of compulsive buying, usually seen in Lottery winners who constantly need to buy stuff to re- energize their pleasure. Sooner or later, they DO run out of money, or in Barama’s case, sugar daddies. This is the truth- there is no more money- the Chinese have cut up our credit card, and the Saudis are not far behind.
Barama went to the well too often, or to paraphrase Rhomboid Emmanuel, we’re gonna have to waste a few crises. There are no more people who will lend us any money, and truth be told, we have nothing that anyone wants right now- we no longer manufacture anything of any material value except cars, and we can see how well that is going. Our manufacturing base, the true base of any economy, has vanished over the years, leaving a hole you could pitch Al Sharpton through. No more good textiles, no more good steel, all of the manufacturing infrastructure has vanished- outsourced to the cheapest bidder- never a good outcome in the long run.
I could lay the blame at the feet of the unions, and they do deserve some of the blame, but NAFTA, and CAFTA, and the “Global Economy” that the last three Presidents have touted have done their dead- level best to wreak havoc on our economy. The minute that companies found that they could have a world full of workers they could get at starvation wages, they jumped at the chance to relocate to a less- taxed, less unionized, less worker overhead environment in a heartbeat.
You see, Corporations have no soul, except that of the CEO and Board of Directors, and to rely on their uncertain loyalty while the government and public cusses them and penalizes them and taxes them to within an inch of their life, only makes them relocate even faster. There is no national loyalty anymore, unfortunately- why should there be? Just loyalty to the bottom line, and as one market’s wages come up, these companies will relocate yet again to try and retain their market share.
So now Barama has no other option but to tax people- a lot- a lot of people, a lot of taxes, in order to just pay the vig, and he will. A lot. Oh, he’ll put on his unhappy face, so you know he feels your pain, but he will still do it- “Give ’til it Hurts” used to be a motto, and he will expect that of everyone he can get ahold of. Some companies have already skipped out- Haliburton, every liberal’s whipping boy, has relo’ed to Dubai, and I am sure there are others who saw the taxes on the wall, flung there by the Democratic Party.
I have to say, I have no good idea of how to get out of this situation, but I DO know it is not by spending more money. AIG could have, and should have been broken apart, and the various divisions sold- most of them were solid, it was only the division relegated to dealing with the sub prime loans that was the problem. It should have gone to bankruptcy re- organization, or written off as loss, and we the taxpayers would not have had to dole out 150 billion dollars.
GM, and Chrysler should have gone straight to bankruptcy- no bail out at all. The banks should stand or fall on their own. Sure some people would get hurt- but not the whole nation, as is the case now. Pain, even that felt financially, is a wonderful teacher- it teaches us that an economy based solely on spending is a hollow economy, rotten to the core, and we must somehow find our way back to being a producer of substance, because a true, solid economy is based on what a country can and does produce.
I saw this in a newspaper, and thought it worth passing along- There are about 40 million people in the U.S. over the age of fifty. The crisis would be solved if Barama gave each one of these over fifty people a million dollars, with three conditions attached: One- Quit your job- forty million job openings, job crisis solved. Two- pay off your mortgage, or buy a new home- housing crisis solved. Three- buy a new American car- forty million cars sold, auto crisis solved, all for less than Barama has used up until now.
I don’t know about you, but that would work for me, and it would have been faster than this garbage he’s trying now.
And THAT’S an Unpleasant Truth.
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Where Does The Money Go?
May 5, 2009 Political
Where did the last war appropriations go?
The Democrats are asking for 94.2 BILLION dollars in emergency funds. Most of the money will go for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which begs the question; What happened to all the money that they already appropriated for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Obama asked for a lot of money (83.4 BILLION) to finish out the year and indicated that this is what was needed and now we are being told they need even more?
Were not these the same Democrats who has seizures every time George Bush asked for more money for the wars? I was under the impression that the sainted won knew what he wanted and that he would be drawing down our efforts and now we see that they want even more money. This is not right and it will only add to our deficit.
Don’t get me wrong, if the troops need the money then they should get it but who is running this show and why do they need so much more after they received a great deal only a few weeks ago?
Did the Democrats use it to pay off their buddies who oppose the war? Are they spending it on ACORN? Where did the money go?
Never let a crisis like the ginned up Swine Flu crisis go to waste
Of course they have 2 BILLION dollars thrown in there to combat the flu. I told you that this Swine Flu was another crisis they could not let go to waste. They are going to pass it on to the drug companies and the researchers. They hyped up this thing and now they are taking advantage of it.
They should submit the flu request as a separate item. This is the same old DC, wrap it all into one and pass it. Don’t let the crisis go to waste.
How much does it cost to close a prison
Then there is 80 MILLION dollars to close Gitmo. Why in the name of all that is holy do they need that kind of money? The place has an operating budget and Obama wants to get rid of the terrorist scum living there. I know he is having difficulty finding them homes and he is reverting to the Bush policies that he bashed so often but why does he need this money?
It cannot be that tough to close down the prison once the criminals are gone. Once you ship them off to the people who are going to give them homes (everyone loves Obama so that should be no problem) then all they have to do is close the place down. Pack stuff up and bring our troops home.
Why was this not included when he decided to close the place? Did they just figure out it would cost something to do that or did they just figure that Gitmo would be a good place to launder money?
This seems fishy to me. I would not be surprised if Obama is using the money to build the terrorists their own little community in the US so they will have a place to go.
These people keep on spending and the bill is going to come due. The Chinese are not buying much of our debt and the piper will want to be paid.
Economic collapse awaits with hyperinflation that will make Carter look like a financial genius.
This article indicates Obama’s request for the 80 MILLION was denied but the story discusses even more spending on things like the Pakistan economy…
Source:
Breitbart
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Tags: flu crisis, gitmo, Obama, spending bills, taxes, war funding