Another tragedy born out of the Tragic shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords as she fights for her life and of the 6 others killed and others wounded is the fractured souls in the media putting blame for this on the Tea Party and Sarah Palin. Some going so far as to say Palin and the Tea Party are militant because in speeches they have used the words “Targeted” and “Reload”. I think many of the media need to look more at themselves for helping to create this discord in America. We all need to face the fact that U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords fights for her life after a mad gunman shot her on Saturday.
Even some in the Democrat party have joined the media to try to pin the blame for her attack on the tea party movement and conservatives like Sarah Palin, despite the fact that the we have learned that the shooter was both deranged and fascinated by left-wing politics. Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva, told Mother Jones magazine within hours after the rampage that the “political tone and tenor” created by Palin and the tea party movement had set the stage for the shooting. He went so far saying, Palin's “apparatus” had put Giffords' and his own life at risk. “Both Gabby and I were targeted in the apparatus in that cycle [saying] these people are ‘enemies.” I say these people and the media better take a better look at themselves. They are hyping this type of behavior and trying to split and tear America apart.
The NY Times was not far behind in jumping on this band wagon, insinuating that the conservative criticism of President Barack Obama and his policies may have been at the root of this weekend's violence, noting that " it was hard to separate what had happened from the heated nature of the debate that has swirled around Mr. Obama and Democratic policies of the past two years." They went so far as to suggest that tea party criticisms of Obama's healthcare plan, the debate over Arizona's new rules on police handling of illegal immigrants, and even the fact Giffords were Jewish could have played a role. They joined in the tale that Palin's political action committee had targeted Giffords for defeat may have played a role.
Judson Phillips, the founder of Tea Party Nation, noted on his website that Giffords is “a liberal,” but added, “that does not matter now. No one should be a victim of violence because of their political beliefs.” He is absolutely correct in this. This is a free country where we are free to express our beliefs and no one should be faulted for those beliefs and no harm should come to you because of your beliefs.
The profile that has been obtained of the accused shooter, 22-year-old Jared Loughner, is that of a deranged young man whose mind was deeply disturbed, but who also tinkered with both anarchist ideas and left-wing politics. He had identified among his favorite books "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf," and the fiction classic "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" — hardly the reading list of a conservative supporter.
He is "described by friends and former classmates as a loner, prone to dressing in black regalia of boots, trench coat and baggy pants even on the hottest days. He was removed from Pima Community College "for causing disruptions in classrooms and the library, college officials said. His dispute with college officials prompted him to post a bizarre YouTube video declaring the college illegal under the U.S. Constitution and culminated in his suspension from campus." His rants against the government that have surfaced on the Internet don't suggest he had a conservative perspective on big government. Instead Loughner 's MySpace featured a photo "showing a close-up picture of an automatic handgun sitting atop a book or paper titled 'United States History.'" Another video shows a masked man burning the American flag. "I can't trust the current government because of fabrications," Loughner wrote in a YouTube slideshow. "The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar."
I blame many in the Media for blowing tragedies out of proportion. The media needs to tone this down, don’t they realize that they are the ones are causing a tear in our society. I have watched the media trying to cause many uproars over the past several years. Why can’t they accept the fact that there are some crazy people out in society? Those out their blaming the Tea Party and many in the conservative movement are actually guilty of doing what they are blaming on others. Is it acceptable to condemn vitriol in politics while contributing to it in the same breath? Can this be what passes for restoring civility to our nation's discourse?
The Tea Party, Sarah Palin and Conservatives are no more responsible for Mr. Loughner's attempted assassination of Congresswoman Giffords than the liberals were for John Hinckley Jr.'s attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. America, let’s get a grip on ourselves. We need to come together in times of tragedy and not allow our media to try and incite more violence and split us apart as a nation. We have enough enemies around the world – speak out against the media and it’s rhetoric, don’t let them create a voice for you. This was a tragic event orchestrated by a deranged soul – let’s face that fact, pull together as a nation and make our society better.
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Monday, January 10, 2011
Monday, October 18, 2010
A Broken Machine
Small business is crucial to the American economy. These businesses have helped kick start our economy after the past several recessions. So why is this not taking place now? What has affected the make-up of our economic machine? It could be many reasons – the recent scandal in the mortgage industry with foreclosures is now leading the way to a apparent downfall, one that could send the whole economy reeling again to the likes of what we witnessed in 2008. Also contributing could be all the government tinkering over the past decade and a half. It is quite possible and very apparent that we simply broke it. We allowed greed to let the government make decisions that essentially broke our capitalistic economic machine. A machine that had run well for us over the past hundred years or so.
Several years ago when so many businesses – large and small – were making money like gangbusters, we all got greedy. Housing prices were skyrocketing, people were spending freely and everyone was buying things they really could not afford trading away a future. Credit was handed out like free candy at a record breaking pace. People were buying homes and getting loans on things they could not afford and should never have been able to obtain. Homes that really should have been worth about $200,000 were now selling for $350,000 or more. Interest rates were kept artificially low and so even more credit was handed out. Hell – money was being thrown around so much some people were really starting to believe that money was growing on trees. Everyone was getting credit, credit for everything they had dreamed about. If someone didn’t qualify, the banks created new ways for them to be able to get credit. We allowed our government and corporations to break the machine – we broke the machine!
Then when everything came crashing down – no one was spared. We all in some way contributed to the mess because we allowed our government and ourselves to fail. When the machine broke this time, there were not any spare parts to fix it. There was no way to put a band aid on this. People lost their homes – many who should have never owned them in the first place – people lost their possessions, businesses began to fail due to lost sales, mismanagement and bad loans and so many people lost their jobs – jobs that will take many years to recover. What were we all thinking? We listened to a government tell us things were fine, they said inflation was in check (that was minus food and gas, two items that skyrocketed in this timeframe). They said look – People can buy overpriced homes and cars and get credit for them.
Think about this now – how can family of four, making about $70,000 per year total income afford a $400,000 home, two car payments and all the other associated family expenses? This was happening all across America. Back in 1999, I bought a home in Las Vegas for $108,000m sold it in 2002 for $149,000 and as I followed is it sold again in 2005 for $350,000 – at one time the value had shot up to $400,000. Then what happens – the machine starts to make rumbling sounds and finally breaks down – crashes! That home now has a value of about $100,000 – 11 years later it is worth less than what is was brand new. It should have never been worth $350,000, Las Vegas’ economic make-up centered on tourism and the casinos, the city could not sustain that. But we let our government tell us different. We did not pay attention to what the politicians we elected were doing because we were greedy. We trusted the people we elected – yet we did not pay attention to what they were doing once they got in office.
So why is small business not pulling us out of this mess this time? It is because we broke the machine, we abused it, we did not take care of it, we allowed others to borrow it, tinker with it and they abused it. We messed it up pretty good. Now – we really need to face the facts – we can no longer fix it, we don’t have the right parts available. We need to build a new machine and learn to take care of it, put it on a maintenance schedule to keep it running smoothly.
There are so many people out of work, unemployment continues to hover around 10%. No one has cash to spend. We were all dependent on credit. People out of work, pay raises are slow to come or still non existent, hundreds of thousands lost their homes and jobs and businesses. Now we are also looking at a Mortgage Industry that has foreclosures on hold and many possible lawsuits lining up due to the crisis. Small businesses thrived on people being able to spend. Small business is now stuck in a rut along with many larger businesses.
President Obama has come up with many short term ideas but unfortunately his administration and the congress as a whole can not come up with the necessary solutions to get the economic machine back on track. They are unwilling to face the fact that we as a whole actually broke it. The government broke it, corporate America really broke it and we as Americans broke it. The bail out money given to all these companies did not help – the corporations used it to clear the red ink from their books and invest it in higher yielding shares and reaped the profits. With the profits, they did not invest it in hiring but are holding it within. Sure, now some of these corporations are paying back the money but we as Americans are the losers in this process. They borrowed our money, they made profits off it and they keep the rewards of those profits. Tell me – how did this help the economy? It didn’t not one bit, unemployment rose and is still hovering near 10%.
I still applaud Ford Motor Company. They did not take any bailout money, they went back and figure out what they needed to do and turned things around and made a profit at doing it the right way. Sure car sales went up at some of the other car manufacturers once the cash for clunkers was in place, but as soon as it expired, sales slowed again. The same happened in the housing industry, once the incentives were removed housing sales slumped. To top it off the government and the economist wondered why this happened – are you sure we have the right people running things?
The process is a simple one, the answer is not so simple. To keep business growing and to sustain that growth, people need to buy your product, your sales have to keep growing. At issue is the fact that so many people are out of work and so many people have less money that no one is spending. It used to be we spent more than we saved in this country – now we are saving more and there is less to spend. Credit is harder to come by and people are buying more with cash. All this contributes to lower sales. This all should be common sense to our government officials – we elected them in part because we believed they had some common sense. So to tackle this whole issue we all have to start with common sense. We first have to face the fact – We Broke the Machine.
Now – we faced that fact. Unfortunately so many of our elected officials have not. We have to face the fact that this will be a long process – not good news but it is a fact we need to face. So far our elected officials have not faced that fact. We also need to face the fact that we need to build a new economic machine – one we all agree we will take care of and nurture – many of our elected officials refuse to want to do this.
Some things are starting to turn around, but not enough to help us out of this mess. Several banks are still failing, some have seen the errors of their ways and have cut back on issuing credit, making it much harder to qualify. This is making it harder on many small businesses who rely on short term loans to stay afloat and other loans to expand. So many of these businesses no longer can qualify. They no longer have the sales to generate enough capital to show the banks they are able to repay the loans.
A big key to this whole process is finding a solution that will lead to middle class Americans increasing their spending. A substantial part of the process will also involve spending with hard cash and much less credit. Doing it this way is a longer healing process, but it would be more sustained and much more credible. This will be one of the pains of rebuilding the Machine. With so many people out of work we must face the fact that this process will be long and tedious. Many people will need to be retrained for new jobs and roles in other fields – a situation for which we as a country are simply not prepared.
The big fact we need to face is that we do not have the right people in power to take care of this job. We need to quit looking at which party is at fault – both parties help mess this up and neither seems to have the answers. The leadership is poor. We do not have a winning team in place and now the draft is approaching (election) a chance to get valuable replacement players that are willing to take us to the next level, willing to put in the true work it is going to take to get a new Machine built. This all starts in your own communities, with your local poloticians all the way up to the national level. Many localities are still run by the same families that contributed to this mess in the first place. People who are descendents of people who have been in power in some instances for a few hundred years, they are elected just because of their name. Not a good deal – this is not any better than voting along party lines. This country was not meant to be a two party system but we have now made it that way.
Further bailout packages to corporations is not the answer. We need to find a way to get money into the hands of the people so they can spend again and get companies to start growing. If we don’t build this machine correctly and maintain it, we are going to end up in this mess again. We need to build the Machine the right way, make it work and take care of it. It will be a long process for everyone, but working together we can do this. America was built on the backs of hard working Americans – we can not forget this. Hard work is what made us, hard work is what will get the Machine built and hard work is what will sustain growth.
With the elections coming up – remember this. Now is your opportunity to make a change for the better. Get people in office that will work hard for us, for the belief in America! Ignore the party lines, look at what each candidate has to truly offer. IT is our time to make a change and let our voice be heard. We must all remember that our government is – “By the people and for the people” it should not dictate to us, we should dictate to it. _ Just My Explosion of Thought!
Several years ago when so many businesses – large and small – were making money like gangbusters, we all got greedy. Housing prices were skyrocketing, people were spending freely and everyone was buying things they really could not afford trading away a future. Credit was handed out like free candy at a record breaking pace. People were buying homes and getting loans on things they could not afford and should never have been able to obtain. Homes that really should have been worth about $200,000 were now selling for $350,000 or more. Interest rates were kept artificially low and so even more credit was handed out. Hell – money was being thrown around so much some people were really starting to believe that money was growing on trees. Everyone was getting credit, credit for everything they had dreamed about. If someone didn’t qualify, the banks created new ways for them to be able to get credit. We allowed our government and corporations to break the machine – we broke the machine!
Then when everything came crashing down – no one was spared. We all in some way contributed to the mess because we allowed our government and ourselves to fail. When the machine broke this time, there were not any spare parts to fix it. There was no way to put a band aid on this. People lost their homes – many who should have never owned them in the first place – people lost their possessions, businesses began to fail due to lost sales, mismanagement and bad loans and so many people lost their jobs – jobs that will take many years to recover. What were we all thinking? We listened to a government tell us things were fine, they said inflation was in check (that was minus food and gas, two items that skyrocketed in this timeframe). They said look – People can buy overpriced homes and cars and get credit for them.
Think about this now – how can family of four, making about $70,000 per year total income afford a $400,000 home, two car payments and all the other associated family expenses? This was happening all across America. Back in 1999, I bought a home in Las Vegas for $108,000m sold it in 2002 for $149,000 and as I followed is it sold again in 2005 for $350,000 – at one time the value had shot up to $400,000. Then what happens – the machine starts to make rumbling sounds and finally breaks down – crashes! That home now has a value of about $100,000 – 11 years later it is worth less than what is was brand new. It should have never been worth $350,000, Las Vegas’ economic make-up centered on tourism and the casinos, the city could not sustain that. But we let our government tell us different. We did not pay attention to what the politicians we elected were doing because we were greedy. We trusted the people we elected – yet we did not pay attention to what they were doing once they got in office.
So why is small business not pulling us out of this mess this time? It is because we broke the machine, we abused it, we did not take care of it, we allowed others to borrow it, tinker with it and they abused it. We messed it up pretty good. Now – we really need to face the facts – we can no longer fix it, we don’t have the right parts available. We need to build a new machine and learn to take care of it, put it on a maintenance schedule to keep it running smoothly.
There are so many people out of work, unemployment continues to hover around 10%. No one has cash to spend. We were all dependent on credit. People out of work, pay raises are slow to come or still non existent, hundreds of thousands lost their homes and jobs and businesses. Now we are also looking at a Mortgage Industry that has foreclosures on hold and many possible lawsuits lining up due to the crisis. Small businesses thrived on people being able to spend. Small business is now stuck in a rut along with many larger businesses.
President Obama has come up with many short term ideas but unfortunately his administration and the congress as a whole can not come up with the necessary solutions to get the economic machine back on track. They are unwilling to face the fact that we as a whole actually broke it. The government broke it, corporate America really broke it and we as Americans broke it. The bail out money given to all these companies did not help – the corporations used it to clear the red ink from their books and invest it in higher yielding shares and reaped the profits. With the profits, they did not invest it in hiring but are holding it within. Sure, now some of these corporations are paying back the money but we as Americans are the losers in this process. They borrowed our money, they made profits off it and they keep the rewards of those profits. Tell me – how did this help the economy? It didn’t not one bit, unemployment rose and is still hovering near 10%.
I still applaud Ford Motor Company. They did not take any bailout money, they went back and figure out what they needed to do and turned things around and made a profit at doing it the right way. Sure car sales went up at some of the other car manufacturers once the cash for clunkers was in place, but as soon as it expired, sales slowed again. The same happened in the housing industry, once the incentives were removed housing sales slumped. To top it off the government and the economist wondered why this happened – are you sure we have the right people running things?
The process is a simple one, the answer is not so simple. To keep business growing and to sustain that growth, people need to buy your product, your sales have to keep growing. At issue is the fact that so many people are out of work and so many people have less money that no one is spending. It used to be we spent more than we saved in this country – now we are saving more and there is less to spend. Credit is harder to come by and people are buying more with cash. All this contributes to lower sales. This all should be common sense to our government officials – we elected them in part because we believed they had some common sense. So to tackle this whole issue we all have to start with common sense. We first have to face the fact – We Broke the Machine.
Now – we faced that fact. Unfortunately so many of our elected officials have not. We have to face the fact that this will be a long process – not good news but it is a fact we need to face. So far our elected officials have not faced that fact. We also need to face the fact that we need to build a new economic machine – one we all agree we will take care of and nurture – many of our elected officials refuse to want to do this.
Some things are starting to turn around, but not enough to help us out of this mess. Several banks are still failing, some have seen the errors of their ways and have cut back on issuing credit, making it much harder to qualify. This is making it harder on many small businesses who rely on short term loans to stay afloat and other loans to expand. So many of these businesses no longer can qualify. They no longer have the sales to generate enough capital to show the banks they are able to repay the loans.
A big key to this whole process is finding a solution that will lead to middle class Americans increasing their spending. A substantial part of the process will also involve spending with hard cash and much less credit. Doing it this way is a longer healing process, but it would be more sustained and much more credible. This will be one of the pains of rebuilding the Machine. With so many people out of work we must face the fact that this process will be long and tedious. Many people will need to be retrained for new jobs and roles in other fields – a situation for which we as a country are simply not prepared.
The big fact we need to face is that we do not have the right people in power to take care of this job. We need to quit looking at which party is at fault – both parties help mess this up and neither seems to have the answers. The leadership is poor. We do not have a winning team in place and now the draft is approaching (election) a chance to get valuable replacement players that are willing to take us to the next level, willing to put in the true work it is going to take to get a new Machine built. This all starts in your own communities, with your local poloticians all the way up to the national level. Many localities are still run by the same families that contributed to this mess in the first place. People who are descendents of people who have been in power in some instances for a few hundred years, they are elected just because of their name. Not a good deal – this is not any better than voting along party lines. This country was not meant to be a two party system but we have now made it that way.
Further bailout packages to corporations is not the answer. We need to find a way to get money into the hands of the people so they can spend again and get companies to start growing. If we don’t build this machine correctly and maintain it, we are going to end up in this mess again. We need to build the Machine the right way, make it work and take care of it. It will be a long process for everyone, but working together we can do this. America was built on the backs of hard working Americans – we can not forget this. Hard work is what made us, hard work is what will get the Machine built and hard work is what will sustain growth.
With the elections coming up – remember this. Now is your opportunity to make a change for the better. Get people in office that will work hard for us, for the belief in America! Ignore the party lines, look at what each candidate has to truly offer. IT is our time to make a change and let our voice be heard. We must all remember that our government is – “By the people and for the people” it should not dictate to us, we should dictate to it. _ Just My Explosion of Thought!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Our National Debt - America's Embarrassment
Our government’s spending is very much out of control. To date our National debt is well over $8 trillion dollars. Our government continues to spend away our future and the future of our children and grandchildren, They have borrowed heavily from other government programs such as Social Security and various other federal trust funds without a hint of how it will ever be paid back.
President Obama has felt the pressure and is speaking to a commission that was formed to discover and investigate ways to help reduce the deficit. Over the next ten years the deficit of our country is expected to balloon to well over $20 trillion dollars with no real relief or ideas to reduce it currently in site. The future looks quite bleak. Foreign investors may soon be demanding higher interest rates to America to keep funding this debt. The US is borrowing more and more just to keep up with interest payments. If interest rates were to spike suddenly it could cause our economy, which is just starting to show small signs of life, to spiral downward.
In order to keep the debt under control, some form of spending cuts, spending freezes and the unspeakable tax increases will be necessary. Should we, as Americans, be worried? I for one think so and I think we should make our voice be heard in the next elections. So many political officials (I call them this because they are not really representing the true wants of their constituents) are more concerned about getting their votes and they can not make the hard decisions that are really a necessity due to the large amount of debt that our government carries. Unfortunately, we as American are going to have to bite the bullet on this issue.
Newsweek last week made a bold statement saying “America’s Back!” Unfortunately this is quite a misstatement and an untruth to the American people. With the great debt, sluggish improvement to the unemployment rate, continued increases in foreclosures and a lack of true job creations by private industry, many Americans are still suffering through this economic downturn. We are seeing some slight improvement in some areas of retail sales, but it has not been enough to spurn the job creation necessary for our economy to really begin to grow. Something needs to be done and we need to get it going quickly.
Years ago I sat on a board of directors of a Homeowners Association. We had some serious financial issues facing us due to years of mismanagement Management and past boards doing and voting for things only because they look popular and kept those people on the board. They had borrowed heavily from their reserve fund to cover cost overruns from year to year, they had multiple repair projects that were due to be started, maintenance projects were needed around the property and utility rates had increased and were not planned for in the budget. For the previous 6 or 7 years, the condo fee had either been reduced or not increased while during this time they were operating at a loss and only survived because a reserve fund for capital improvements was established years before they came on board – they borrowed to pay for all the losses from year to year. Many thought this was great – no condo fee increases – less money out of their pockets, so they thought. After I came on board and was made the treasurer, I met with the accountant, I did not have the real knowledge to see everything that was going on but had sat and chaired several oversight committees and saw many discrepancies. The accountant explained to me the issues and the fines we faced if we did not put a plan together for the next few years to repay the reserve fund money that was borrowed to pay off losses. There are laws that regulated these set aside funds and something had to be done. I worked with the accountant and presented a plan to the rest of the board to get us back on the right track. We implemented an 8% condo fee increase for the next year and 5% for the following year, at the same time we put together a realistic budget with cost savings and a repayment plan. We cut our trash contract by thousands of dollars and reduced staff. We also put in place a plan to increase the condo fee consistent with the inflation rate and allowed for no borrowing from the reserve fund. At first it was an unpopular decision but eventually after we explained what was going on, it became more acceptable. I was told I would not be reelected to the board due to this, but remarkably I was elected by quite a wide margin. Over the next few years the reserve fund was repaid and we were no longer operating at a loss. When I left and a new board was in place, they adopted the same formula we came up with.
America, we need to do the same thing here. Our government has borrowed heavily from our reserve funds (Social Security and other programs) and this all has to be repaid. This is a reserve for our future and the future of our children. In the short term it will seem painful, but if we act now and get things going, in 5 to 10 years we will be back to respectability around the world and show them why we are leaders. We need to dictate to our government – and it is our government – that this is what we want. We need to look at various ways to cut costs, maintain services, reduce spending on entitlement programs and reign in our government officials. As painful as people may think this sounds, we also need to look at various ways to generate additional money to pay down the debt by increase some taxes. This money should be specifically earmarked to pay down the national debt. We can look at increasing taxes on gasoline by a modest amount – maybe .02 - .03 per gallon. Oil companies say this will increase their costs – I don’t really get that one, it is a tax that Americans will pay at the pump that is specifically earmarked to reduce the deficit. It is not taxing them in the least – wouldn’t that be a shame. This would be a fair tax across the board because all Americans who drive would pay it. We can look at a 2% increase on income taxes to all those who make over $250,000 per year for a period of at least 5 years and at the same time look at cutting taxes on the less wealthy – those with a family of 4 or more making less than $70,000 per year. We should also look at reducing or cutting aid to foreign countries for the next 5 years – why are we borrowing money to give aid to other countries? Federal government hiring should be frozen for the next 3 years and tax breaks to some larger corporations should be reviewed and cut back. To get us back on track, we all need to work together; we all need to chip in some way at least for the short term. If we all work together as a nation we can and will accomplish this enormous feat. We need to realize how serious a situation our country is in.
Obama continues to remind us that he inherited this. He did inherit some of it, but he has helped to greatly contribute to it also by his administration’s continued spending and corporate takeovers. He has failed to stimulate job creations mainly because he has failed to face the answer on how to recover from this recession. In order for us to start to see real growth, new jobs and reduced unemployment, Americans need to feel good about themselves and about their futures. Americans need to feel comfortable about spending again in order to get the economy moving at a healthy pace. Once this happens, companies will start spending again, they will start creating new jobs and increase hiring. Let’s all face it, there is no easy solutions to all of this and we will all need to pull together to work this one out. We need to elect the right people, not vote along party lines – research and vote for the person that understands what is going on, someone that will stand up for you and help get this country back to greatness. This country was built upon the backs of our hardworking forefathers, all working together, doing their part – let’s not forget that! – my explosion of thought!
President Obama has felt the pressure and is speaking to a commission that was formed to discover and investigate ways to help reduce the deficit. Over the next ten years the deficit of our country is expected to balloon to well over $20 trillion dollars with no real relief or ideas to reduce it currently in site. The future looks quite bleak. Foreign investors may soon be demanding higher interest rates to America to keep funding this debt. The US is borrowing more and more just to keep up with interest payments. If interest rates were to spike suddenly it could cause our economy, which is just starting to show small signs of life, to spiral downward.
In order to keep the debt under control, some form of spending cuts, spending freezes and the unspeakable tax increases will be necessary. Should we, as Americans, be worried? I for one think so and I think we should make our voice be heard in the next elections. So many political officials (I call them this because they are not really representing the true wants of their constituents) are more concerned about getting their votes and they can not make the hard decisions that are really a necessity due to the large amount of debt that our government carries. Unfortunately, we as American are going to have to bite the bullet on this issue.
Newsweek last week made a bold statement saying “America’s Back!” Unfortunately this is quite a misstatement and an untruth to the American people. With the great debt, sluggish improvement to the unemployment rate, continued increases in foreclosures and a lack of true job creations by private industry, many Americans are still suffering through this economic downturn. We are seeing some slight improvement in some areas of retail sales, but it has not been enough to spurn the job creation necessary for our economy to really begin to grow. Something needs to be done and we need to get it going quickly.
Years ago I sat on a board of directors of a Homeowners Association. We had some serious financial issues facing us due to years of mismanagement Management and past boards doing and voting for things only because they look popular and kept those people on the board. They had borrowed heavily from their reserve fund to cover cost overruns from year to year, they had multiple repair projects that were due to be started, maintenance projects were needed around the property and utility rates had increased and were not planned for in the budget. For the previous 6 or 7 years, the condo fee had either been reduced or not increased while during this time they were operating at a loss and only survived because a reserve fund for capital improvements was established years before they came on board – they borrowed to pay for all the losses from year to year. Many thought this was great – no condo fee increases – less money out of their pockets, so they thought. After I came on board and was made the treasurer, I met with the accountant, I did not have the real knowledge to see everything that was going on but had sat and chaired several oversight committees and saw many discrepancies. The accountant explained to me the issues and the fines we faced if we did not put a plan together for the next few years to repay the reserve fund money that was borrowed to pay off losses. There are laws that regulated these set aside funds and something had to be done. I worked with the accountant and presented a plan to the rest of the board to get us back on the right track. We implemented an 8% condo fee increase for the next year and 5% for the following year, at the same time we put together a realistic budget with cost savings and a repayment plan. We cut our trash contract by thousands of dollars and reduced staff. We also put in place a plan to increase the condo fee consistent with the inflation rate and allowed for no borrowing from the reserve fund. At first it was an unpopular decision but eventually after we explained what was going on, it became more acceptable. I was told I would not be reelected to the board due to this, but remarkably I was elected by quite a wide margin. Over the next few years the reserve fund was repaid and we were no longer operating at a loss. When I left and a new board was in place, they adopted the same formula we came up with.
America, we need to do the same thing here. Our government has borrowed heavily from our reserve funds (Social Security and other programs) and this all has to be repaid. This is a reserve for our future and the future of our children. In the short term it will seem painful, but if we act now and get things going, in 5 to 10 years we will be back to respectability around the world and show them why we are leaders. We need to dictate to our government – and it is our government – that this is what we want. We need to look at various ways to cut costs, maintain services, reduce spending on entitlement programs and reign in our government officials. As painful as people may think this sounds, we also need to look at various ways to generate additional money to pay down the debt by increase some taxes. This money should be specifically earmarked to pay down the national debt. We can look at increasing taxes on gasoline by a modest amount – maybe .02 - .03 per gallon. Oil companies say this will increase their costs – I don’t really get that one, it is a tax that Americans will pay at the pump that is specifically earmarked to reduce the deficit. It is not taxing them in the least – wouldn’t that be a shame. This would be a fair tax across the board because all Americans who drive would pay it. We can look at a 2% increase on income taxes to all those who make over $250,000 per year for a period of at least 5 years and at the same time look at cutting taxes on the less wealthy – those with a family of 4 or more making less than $70,000 per year. We should also look at reducing or cutting aid to foreign countries for the next 5 years – why are we borrowing money to give aid to other countries? Federal government hiring should be frozen for the next 3 years and tax breaks to some larger corporations should be reviewed and cut back. To get us back on track, we all need to work together; we all need to chip in some way at least for the short term. If we all work together as a nation we can and will accomplish this enormous feat. We need to realize how serious a situation our country is in.
Obama continues to remind us that he inherited this. He did inherit some of it, but he has helped to greatly contribute to it also by his administration’s continued spending and corporate takeovers. He has failed to stimulate job creations mainly because he has failed to face the answer on how to recover from this recession. In order for us to start to see real growth, new jobs and reduced unemployment, Americans need to feel good about themselves and about their futures. Americans need to feel comfortable about spending again in order to get the economy moving at a healthy pace. Once this happens, companies will start spending again, they will start creating new jobs and increase hiring. Let’s all face it, there is no easy solutions to all of this and we will all need to pull together to work this one out. We need to elect the right people, not vote along party lines – research and vote for the person that understands what is going on, someone that will stand up for you and help get this country back to greatness. This country was built upon the backs of our hardworking forefathers, all working together, doing their part – let’s not forget that! – my explosion of thought!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Health Care reform forced down American's throats
President Obama’s enjoyed a victory on health care reform Sunday night — but the win was a split decision for Democrats, not a knockout. House Democrats, who have endured months of draining debate and attacks from tea party activists, including a deriding jeers from a group of protesters outside the chamber Sunday, were more relieved than overjoyed — and many may have been casting votes, for their own political extinction. Out of regard to the very possible consequences for House Democrats, the White House publicly refrained from expressions of jubilation or even relief.
President Obama commented: It's a victory for the American people, and it's a victory for common sense." How is it a victory for the American people when many independent polls showed that most American’s were against it. A “victory for common sense” what a phrase, who’s common sense does this refer to? They say this will not incur any cost to the Federal Government – that is very true. Guess who is paying for it – the American Middle Class – the same group of people who always get beat down. Now when I say middle class, I am not speaking about those families who make over $200,000/year. In my mind, that is not the true middle class. The true middle class getting hurt here are those with a family of 4 or 5 that make between $45,000 - $90,000 per year. That is the group that continually gets beat down and struggles to move up the ladder. Number one is that in my book, if you have a family of 4 and make under $55,000 per year, you should be in the poverty class.
Now the Senate must now pass a set of complicated reconciliation packages to defuse political fallout from the "Cornhusker Kickback” ($100 million in Medicaid funds for Nebraska which was removed from the bill after so much bad publicity) and other controversial deals made to get the bill passed there — and postpone an excise tax on high-end “Cadillac” health plans (this tax hits many middle class American who currently have good insurance through their employer). Still alive is special spending for Connecticut and Montana that was included in the health care bill that the Senate approved in December. The projects from Montana and Connecticut were items President Barack Obama wanted removed. There was push back from two influential committee chairmen, Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, and to guarantee their votes, their projects have survived. Many democrats in the House went along with the vote in hopes that the Senate will follow through and reconcile some of the provisions. If they do not accomplish this in the Senate, the law still takes effect with all the current provisions intact.
Attorneys general in 11 states have warned that lawsuits will be filed to stop the federal government overstepping its constitutional powers and usurping states' sovereignty. States are concerned that the burden of providing health care will fall on them without enough support from the federal government. Ten of the attorneys general have plans to band together in a collective lawsuit on behalf of Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.
In Virginia, Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, is formulating plans to file a lawsuit in federal court in Richmond, Virginia. He stated that Congress lacks authority under its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce to force people to buy insurance. The bill also conflicts with a state law that says Virginians cannot be required to buy insurance, he added. "If a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person by definition is not engaging in commerce," Cuccinelli said in recorded comments. "If you are not engaging in commerce, how can the federal government regulate you?"
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, many pending lawsuits, bills and resolutions have been introduced in at least 36 state legislatures that seek to limit or oppose various aspects of the reform plan through laws or state constitutional amendments.
I do not understand all of the provisions of this Bill, but I do sense that some of them will be quite costly to the American Middle Class. What will the effects of this Bill passage be in 2 years, 5 years and 10 years down the road? It does not look good for the stability of our children and of our children’s children. Out grandchildren will most likely take the brunt of the fallout. Change for changes sake is not a good way to proceed.
President Obama commented: It's a victory for the American people, and it's a victory for common sense." How is it a victory for the American people when many independent polls showed that most American’s were against it. A “victory for common sense” what a phrase, who’s common sense does this refer to? They say this will not incur any cost to the Federal Government – that is very true. Guess who is paying for it – the American Middle Class – the same group of people who always get beat down. Now when I say middle class, I am not speaking about those families who make over $200,000/year. In my mind, that is not the true middle class. The true middle class getting hurt here are those with a family of 4 or 5 that make between $45,000 - $90,000 per year. That is the group that continually gets beat down and struggles to move up the ladder. Number one is that in my book, if you have a family of 4 and make under $55,000 per year, you should be in the poverty class.
Now the Senate must now pass a set of complicated reconciliation packages to defuse political fallout from the "Cornhusker Kickback” ($100 million in Medicaid funds for Nebraska which was removed from the bill after so much bad publicity) and other controversial deals made to get the bill passed there — and postpone an excise tax on high-end “Cadillac” health plans (this tax hits many middle class American who currently have good insurance through their employer). Still alive is special spending for Connecticut and Montana that was included in the health care bill that the Senate approved in December. The projects from Montana and Connecticut were items President Barack Obama wanted removed. There was push back from two influential committee chairmen, Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, and to guarantee their votes, their projects have survived. Many democrats in the House went along with the vote in hopes that the Senate will follow through and reconcile some of the provisions. If they do not accomplish this in the Senate, the law still takes effect with all the current provisions intact.
Attorneys general in 11 states have warned that lawsuits will be filed to stop the federal government overstepping its constitutional powers and usurping states' sovereignty. States are concerned that the burden of providing health care will fall on them without enough support from the federal government. Ten of the attorneys general have plans to band together in a collective lawsuit on behalf of Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.
In Virginia, Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, is formulating plans to file a lawsuit in federal court in Richmond, Virginia. He stated that Congress lacks authority under its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce to force people to buy insurance. The bill also conflicts with a state law that says Virginians cannot be required to buy insurance, he added. "If a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person by definition is not engaging in commerce," Cuccinelli said in recorded comments. "If you are not engaging in commerce, how can the federal government regulate you?"
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, many pending lawsuits, bills and resolutions have been introduced in at least 36 state legislatures that seek to limit or oppose various aspects of the reform plan through laws or state constitutional amendments.
I do not understand all of the provisions of this Bill, but I do sense that some of them will be quite costly to the American Middle Class. What will the effects of this Bill passage be in 2 years, 5 years and 10 years down the road? It does not look good for the stability of our children and of our children’s children. Out grandchildren will most likely take the brunt of the fallout. Change for changes sake is not a good way to proceed.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
President Obama on Kanye
Why all the hype over what the PResident said about Kanye. Is is so wrong for him to speak his mind and the truth. There is no excuse for what Kanye did to Taylor Swift ont he the MTV award show. He was outright wrong. Not only was this an embarrassment to Taylor but Beyonce was also embarrassed and shocked. So when the PResident says Kanye was a Jackass - he is only saying with millions of others have already said or are still thinking.
As a public official, you need alwasy to watch what you are saying, so many snoops out in the worls just waiting to latch on to one little slip up(such as the ABC people who reported this). I don't see a need for the President to appologize for this. I believe it would even be ok if he said it directly to Kanye. Kanye has done a lot in the music world, he has so much talent. To do this just tarnishes what he has accomplished. He is a Jackass.
The president's comments were spoken right before an interview for CNBC: "I thought that was really inappropriate," Obama says. "What are you butting in (for)? ... The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She's getting her award. What's he doing up there?"
A questioner chimes in, "Why would he do it?"
"He's a jackass," Obama replies, which is met with laughter from several people.
Nothing wrong about this in my book. He spoke his opinion. It was his explosion of thought. Quite frankly I agree with what he said. Kanye's father lives right here in St. Mary's County MD, I wonder what he thinks. I am sure his dad spoke to him about respect.
As a public official, you need alwasy to watch what you are saying, so many snoops out in the worls just waiting to latch on to one little slip up(such as the ABC people who reported this). I don't see a need for the President to appologize for this. I believe it would even be ok if he said it directly to Kanye. Kanye has done a lot in the music world, he has so much talent. To do this just tarnishes what he has accomplished. He is a Jackass.
The president's comments were spoken right before an interview for CNBC: "I thought that was really inappropriate," Obama says. "What are you butting in (for)? ... The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She's getting her award. What's he doing up there?"
A questioner chimes in, "Why would he do it?"
"He's a jackass," Obama replies, which is met with laughter from several people.
Nothing wrong about this in my book. He spoke his opinion. It was his explosion of thought. Quite frankly I agree with what he said. Kanye's father lives right here in St. Mary's County MD, I wonder what he thinks. I am sure his dad spoke to him about respect.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Patience, Politics and the Stimulus
President Obama is more and more emphasizing the politics of patience as he tries to maintain the trust and support of the American people. It is still quite uncertain if this will work - polls show mounting anxiety about Obama's policies including his $787 billion stimulus package. This stimulus package has not had as big impact so far as was his original plan. The outlandish spending has pushed the federal deficit to the remarkable level of more than $1 trillion this year.
What is startling to many voters is that unemployment keeps climbing upward. It has hit 9.5 percent, the highest mark in over 25 years and I still predict the rate to hit 11 percent in the next 3 or 4 months. Obama and his advisers had predicted that his stimulus package would hold unemployment at or below 8 percent. Was he too ambitious? Did he rush this package out without enough research and understanding just to show he was capable of moving quickly?
Last week, Obama's leaning to more patience became quite apparent. While pushing for immediate congressional action on healthcare, he admitted there isn't a cure all. He is now willing to accept that this Healthcare Bill will not be voted on before the Congress breaks for the summer recess.
While speaking to reporters in Washington, he spoke some of the unemployment rate: "This has been a more severe recession than we've seen since the Great Depression, so how unemployment numbers are going to respond is not yet clear. My expectation is that we will probably continue to see unemployment tick up for several months. And the challenge for this administration is to make sure that even as we are stabilizing the financial system, we understand that the most important thing in the economy is: Are people able to find good jobs that pay good wages?"
While speaking in Michigan, which is has been hit by the nation's highest jobless rate of 15.2 percent, Obama said he inherited such a mess that it will take a long time before the overall economy shows much improvement. He claimed he is an activist and his Republican critics as do-nothing complainers. "I love these folks who helped get us into this mess and then suddenly say, 'Well, this is Obama's economy,' " the president argued. "That's fine—give it to me. My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and carp and gripe." This mess we are in goes back quite far and is not all the fault of the Republicans. Many of the policies followed plans made by the Clinton administration while he was in office.
What the Democrats are worried about is that the unemployment rate in several key states—including Michigan, Ohio, Florida, and Indiana—has already soared to well over 10 percent, and they know the big fear is that this is an indication of things to come nationally. Republicans and some economist go further, arguing that these states show that Obama's prescriptions are not only failing but are starting to make matters worse.
Some Americans do understand that it took us years to get into this mess, and it will take a while to get us out. But there is a growing number of Americans that are much more restless and anxious than Obama once thought. A recent CBS News poll shows that sixty percent of Americans say Obama's stimulus package has made no difference in the economy, 21 percent say it has had a positive impact, and 15 percent say it has made the economy worse. Fifty-seven percent say the country is on the wrong track, up from 50 percent in June.
The President is also asking for more time to solve several other problems. He is now urging for more patience in Afghanistan, where his surge of troops and more aggressive combat operations against terrorists are increasing casualties and the cost. This is now becoming more his war, just as Iraq was George Bush’s. He is asking for patience in Iran, wanting now to carefully evaluate the new reform movement before doing anything more dramatic. He wants patience in dealing with immigration, which he has now put on the back burner in Congress because of deep divisions over the issue. He is begging for patience in dealing with the tensions and hatreds between Israel and the Palestinians. He wants more understanding of why Gitmo will not be closing down quite as soon as he had promised it would. Is he now just starting to realize to complexities of running this country? Does he understand now that he needs to evaluate things more carefully before rushing into something blind? I have mentioned many times before he needs to slow down and smell the roses, sit back and evaluate before just doing something. He wanted to show us he could accomplish things quickly, but in the process he has created more of a mess.
A boss once told me it is better to do something and ask for forgiveness later. That may work for small things, but sometimes it is better to examine the angles and make sure what you do gets’ done right. There is less of a mess and things tend to go more smoothly.
Ed Gillespie, a prominent GOP strategist and former White House counselor to President George W. Bush said about Obama: "he has got to stop overpromising and underperforming." The fear in the White House is that many more Americans are starting to notice the difference. Many of Obama’s supporters said he would do wonders - well he has - he has spent more in 6 months than all of the other’s combined. What does this do to our future when the American Taxpayer has to repay all this in a few years. When the middle class again see their taxes increase, the backbone of America beaten down again. Again just my opinion – My Explosion of Thought!
What is startling to many voters is that unemployment keeps climbing upward. It has hit 9.5 percent, the highest mark in over 25 years and I still predict the rate to hit 11 percent in the next 3 or 4 months. Obama and his advisers had predicted that his stimulus package would hold unemployment at or below 8 percent. Was he too ambitious? Did he rush this package out without enough research and understanding just to show he was capable of moving quickly?
Last week, Obama's leaning to more patience became quite apparent. While pushing for immediate congressional action on healthcare, he admitted there isn't a cure all. He is now willing to accept that this Healthcare Bill will not be voted on before the Congress breaks for the summer recess.
While speaking to reporters in Washington, he spoke some of the unemployment rate: "This has been a more severe recession than we've seen since the Great Depression, so how unemployment numbers are going to respond is not yet clear. My expectation is that we will probably continue to see unemployment tick up for several months. And the challenge for this administration is to make sure that even as we are stabilizing the financial system, we understand that the most important thing in the economy is: Are people able to find good jobs that pay good wages?"
While speaking in Michigan, which is has been hit by the nation's highest jobless rate of 15.2 percent, Obama said he inherited such a mess that it will take a long time before the overall economy shows much improvement. He claimed he is an activist and his Republican critics as do-nothing complainers. "I love these folks who helped get us into this mess and then suddenly say, 'Well, this is Obama's economy,' " the president argued. "That's fine—give it to me. My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and carp and gripe." This mess we are in goes back quite far and is not all the fault of the Republicans. Many of the policies followed plans made by the Clinton administration while he was in office.
What the Democrats are worried about is that the unemployment rate in several key states—including Michigan, Ohio, Florida, and Indiana—has already soared to well over 10 percent, and they know the big fear is that this is an indication of things to come nationally. Republicans and some economist go further, arguing that these states show that Obama's prescriptions are not only failing but are starting to make matters worse.
Some Americans do understand that it took us years to get into this mess, and it will take a while to get us out. But there is a growing number of Americans that are much more restless and anxious than Obama once thought. A recent CBS News poll shows that sixty percent of Americans say Obama's stimulus package has made no difference in the economy, 21 percent say it has had a positive impact, and 15 percent say it has made the economy worse. Fifty-seven percent say the country is on the wrong track, up from 50 percent in June.
The President is also asking for more time to solve several other problems. He is now urging for more patience in Afghanistan, where his surge of troops and more aggressive combat operations against terrorists are increasing casualties and the cost. This is now becoming more his war, just as Iraq was George Bush’s. He is asking for patience in Iran, wanting now to carefully evaluate the new reform movement before doing anything more dramatic. He wants patience in dealing with immigration, which he has now put on the back burner in Congress because of deep divisions over the issue. He is begging for patience in dealing with the tensions and hatreds between Israel and the Palestinians. He wants more understanding of why Gitmo will not be closing down quite as soon as he had promised it would. Is he now just starting to realize to complexities of running this country? Does he understand now that he needs to evaluate things more carefully before rushing into something blind? I have mentioned many times before he needs to slow down and smell the roses, sit back and evaluate before just doing something. He wanted to show us he could accomplish things quickly, but in the process he has created more of a mess.
A boss once told me it is better to do something and ask for forgiveness later. That may work for small things, but sometimes it is better to examine the angles and make sure what you do gets’ done right. There is less of a mess and things tend to go more smoothly.
Ed Gillespie, a prominent GOP strategist and former White House counselor to President George W. Bush said about Obama: "he has got to stop overpromising and underperforming." The fear in the White House is that many more Americans are starting to notice the difference. Many of Obama’s supporters said he would do wonders - well he has - he has spent more in 6 months than all of the other’s combined. What does this do to our future when the American Taxpayer has to repay all this in a few years. When the middle class again see their taxes increase, the backbone of America beaten down again. Again just my opinion – My Explosion of Thought!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Health Care and The Hard-Line Questions
On Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page Health Care document was released, it didn't take long to run into an "What the #*@*" moment when examining the House's "health care for all Americans" bill. You only have to read to page 16 where there is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal. That is correct – ILLEGAL!
The House Ways and Means Committee confirmed the language on this. The provision would absolutely outlaw individual private coverage. If you look under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
In essence we can keep our current coverage, just as promised — with some major exceptions: If you currently have private individual coverage, you won't be able to change it. Those who want to leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.
The opponents of the public option plan have been warning that if the government gets into the business of offering some form of health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will suffer greatly. With a public option that will be 30% to 40% less costly than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, many employers will gladly scrap private plans and go with the Government’s coverage option.
It has been estimated by a few nonpartisan groups, that up to 120 million or more Americans could lose their group coverage at work and end up in a Government program. Private carrierswill be left with about 50 million or fewer customers. This could cause great stress in the insurance market and cause most companies for wither away.
What wasn't known until the proposed document was released is that this Health Care Bill will in itself kill the market for private individual coverage. Without any new policies being allowed to be written after the public option becomes law it will crash the insurance markets.
This legislation will also likely end health savings accounts, a primary goal that Democrats have had for years. They have wanted to crush that option because nothing gives individuals more control over their medical care, and the government less, than HSAs.
This will not be an option for many of us but an actual Government mandate. A free society of people should be outraged at this advance of socio-communism, for this is what it represents. Our Government does not have the constitutional or moral authority to outlaw private markets in which people voluntarily participate. It should not be killing business opportunities, limiting choices, or legislating major changes in Americans' lives. We need to step up and speak out – Health Care may need some reform – but not like this. Why don’t we see the press speaking out more – this brings me to my other beef.
President Obama is an eloquent and wonderful speaker – that is when his speeches are well scripted and rehearsed. At his last press conference – why didn’t the press speak out more. Why did they not ask the hard and unscripted questions. Why do they allow this President to walk all over them and they only be allowed to ask what is scripted in advance. They sit nice and quietly in the press conference and when it is time for questioning, a few select press associates are allowed to ask a question. They are notified in advance on who the President will call on and what questions they will be allowed to ask. Why not ask about what is going on in Iraq? Why do we need so many more troops sent to Afghanistan? Why does it appear that Afghanistan is now becoming President Obama’s war as Iraq was President Bush’s war. He is not bringing home our troops, only transferring them to another location. Why is this Health Care Bill(over 1000 pages long) being rammed down our throats? Why does it have to be approved so quickly? What is hidden in it? More of the above – that was only page 16 – imagine what is in the other 900 and some odd pages. The American Press is so enamored by this President they have become a bunch of woosies, they have lost their backbone. Ask the hard-line questions and make him give us answers. After all this is just my opinion – My Explosion of Thought!
The House Ways and Means Committee confirmed the language on this. The provision would absolutely outlaw individual private coverage. If you look under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
In essence we can keep our current coverage, just as promised — with some major exceptions: If you currently have private individual coverage, you won't be able to change it. Those who want to leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.
The opponents of the public option plan have been warning that if the government gets into the business of offering some form of health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will suffer greatly. With a public option that will be 30% to 40% less costly than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, many employers will gladly scrap private plans and go with the Government’s coverage option.
It has been estimated by a few nonpartisan groups, that up to 120 million or more Americans could lose their group coverage at work and end up in a Government program. Private carrierswill be left with about 50 million or fewer customers. This could cause great stress in the insurance market and cause most companies for wither away.
What wasn't known until the proposed document was released is that this Health Care Bill will in itself kill the market for private individual coverage. Without any new policies being allowed to be written after the public option becomes law it will crash the insurance markets.
This legislation will also likely end health savings accounts, a primary goal that Democrats have had for years. They have wanted to crush that option because nothing gives individuals more control over their medical care, and the government less, than HSAs.
This will not be an option for many of us but an actual Government mandate. A free society of people should be outraged at this advance of socio-communism, for this is what it represents. Our Government does not have the constitutional or moral authority to outlaw private markets in which people voluntarily participate. It should not be killing business opportunities, limiting choices, or legislating major changes in Americans' lives. We need to step up and speak out – Health Care may need some reform – but not like this. Why don’t we see the press speaking out more – this brings me to my other beef.
President Obama is an eloquent and wonderful speaker – that is when his speeches are well scripted and rehearsed. At his last press conference – why didn’t the press speak out more. Why did they not ask the hard and unscripted questions. Why do they allow this President to walk all over them and they only be allowed to ask what is scripted in advance. They sit nice and quietly in the press conference and when it is time for questioning, a few select press associates are allowed to ask a question. They are notified in advance on who the President will call on and what questions they will be allowed to ask. Why not ask about what is going on in Iraq? Why do we need so many more troops sent to Afghanistan? Why does it appear that Afghanistan is now becoming President Obama’s war as Iraq was President Bush’s war. He is not bringing home our troops, only transferring them to another location. Why is this Health Care Bill(over 1000 pages long) being rammed down our throats? Why does it have to be approved so quickly? What is hidden in it? More of the above – that was only page 16 – imagine what is in the other 900 and some odd pages. The American Press is so enamored by this President they have become a bunch of woosies, they have lost their backbone. Ask the hard-line questions and make him give us answers. After all this is just my opinion – My Explosion of Thought!
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