$100M Here....$100M There....

Something about this article from the WSJ just got my blood boiling. While it is easy to make fun of .0006% cost savings as compared to the overall deficit and make political hay, let’s look at a deeper, more fundamental issue.

If the (now-fired) CNN reporter wants to know why Americans turned out at TEAParties, then this story is a good reason why. While I applaud Pres. Obama for asking for these savings, how easy was it for these departments to find these savings? My guess…VERY easy. (My wife could have found $100 billion!) This story, if handled properly and repeated often, can be used as prime example why the Federal government cannot and should not be given anymore responsibility over our lives and dollars. Add these examples on top of the ridiculous earmarks for turtle crossings and pig fart studies and the American voter should be DISGUSTED with their government and be ASHAMED for the apathy for letting this happen.

Voters in MA. – Aren’t you ashamed of Frank, Kerry, Kennedy?
Voters in NV. – Aren’t you ashamed of Reid?
Voters in PA – Aren’t you ashamed of Spector, Murtha?
Voters in CA – Aren’t you just ashamed?

How easy it was for Washington to vilify Wall Street and the “greed” of investment bankers. How easy to point out the lavish lifestyles of executives whose companies received your “hard-earned tax dollars” and tell you that they are only interested in Main Street. To those hypocritical bastards…STFU!

It’s you I despise and detest! Wall Street is only doing what it knows how to do….make money, create wealth. You sanctimonious SOBs have violated the PUBLIC TRUST. If the EPA won’t declare the District of Columbia a toxic waste dump, then its left up to us, the voters, to clean it up in 14 months.

Shame on us…my fellow Americans…shame on us.

Isn't It Ironic?

As the Democrats wrangle over their Obamacare bills working their way through Congress, one fact seems to be emerging….that despite the President’s claim that if you like your current insurance plan, you will be able to keep it. Not so fast... apparently the President hasn’t read the 2,000 pages of legislation being proposed. This is a great article from Fortune and CNNMoney that once you actually READ the bills, a different picture emerges. The article highlights the “5 Freedoms You Lose” with Obamacare.

Isn’t it ironic that when it comes to Roe vs. Wade, the Democrats are all about Freedom and the Freedom to choose? They are all about the 14th Amendment and the Right to Privacy. Remember their concern over the Patriot Act and its “invasion of privacy” and the left-wing blogs filled with vitriol towards Bush and Cheney over taking away “cherished freedoms and rights”.

Isn’t it ironic that now, the same people so concerned about American’s “freedoms and rights”, are willing to ignore the fact that Obamacare will do just that?

Healthcare Debate – “Read My Lips”

Then candidate Obama made it a cornerstone of his campaign that people making under $250,000 per year (95% of Americans) would not see a “tax increase”. He would raise taxes on those “lucky” (his term) 5% that “benefitted” unfairly during the Bush years. Now with the healthcare debate raging, his promise to “tax the rich” is coming true.

Not only do he and the Dems plan letting the Bush tax cuts expire, but now they want to add a “surtax” to this “lucky” group in order to pay for nationalized healthcare. Unfortunately, most uninformed Americans look at this and say “about time!”…”tax the rich!”…”not going to effect me!” and go back to watching Jerry Springer or Entertainment Tonight.

However, the truth is far different. Many of the “lucky” 5% are small businesses that provide 90% of all new job creation. The Tax Foundation paints a far different picture of what the Democrats are up to. While the explanation may be somewhat complicated, it breaks down into simply this:

Businesses DO NOT pay taxes! – Tax is looked at as an expense. Increase expenses in business are dealt with in one of three ways:
a) To cover increases, prices must go up.
b) Other expenses cut (personnel, capital projects, etc.)
c) Reduce profits

A) If prices go up for the goods or service the business provides, is this not an unforced “tax” on the consumer?

B) Cutting other expenses – In most businesses (especially small business), the major expense is in personnel costs. Therefore, the area to make the most impact is to cut personnel expenses and/or benefits. The next option is to drop or delay capital projects or expansion. This means putting off a “shovel ready” project and potential employment.

C) Lastly, the business can choose to reduce profits. Yet, in today’s economy, profits are already being squeezed and the lifeblood of any business is cash profits. Without enough cash on hand, businesses can’t meet payroll, pay vendors, etc. and faces bankruptcy.

All 3 scenerios are hurtful to the economy, employment, and the long-term viability of the country. This “spread the wealth around” sounds good to those who are “less fortunate”, but is disasterous to the economy. Therefore, when it comes to the economy, the Democrats are either bumbling fools or smart enough to know they can play on the economic simplicity of the masses. My guess is the latter.

Wake Up Fools! Tax increases are coming for everybody, not just the “lucky”.

Yeah Friday!

Yesterday it was quite funny to watch the various clips from Democrats trying in vain to explain how to pay for the Federal Government takeover and how it was going to save money.

First was Nancy Peloser – “Our plan raises $600 million in new revenues, but will not raise taxes.” When asked about the difference, she stated, “I believe we can still squeeze the money out of the existing system.” (What she really means is that there will be at least $600 million in new taxes and then we’ll just take the profits of evil insurance companies.)

Next the “Blue Dog” Democratic Committee stated that they had absolutely no input in writing the House bill.

Finally, Sen. Max Baucas stating, “I don’t where we are going to get the money to pay for this…”

Remember, the sole purpose is “affordable” healthcare for everyone according to PresBO, but the Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan group charged with scoring proposed legislation stated that the proposals before Congress would NOT save money in the healthcare system and in fact would RAISE the cost of healthcare in the long run.

This should put the final nail in the coffin, but then again its not about “affordability” is it Miss Nancy, Dirty Harry, or PresBO? It’s about the POWER and CONTROL isn’t it? Huh?

BTW…recent poll states that 78% of Americans believe that there taxes will increase if healthcare reform is inacted. Maybe, there is hope after all….

Stay on them folks, we have them on the ropes, just a few more punches for the knockout…..

OTHER NEWS

Biden says, “We have to spend money to avoid bankruptcy.” Thanks Joe…that’s what I have been doing wrong all these years!!! Biden is making Dan Quayle look like Albert Einstein…

According to Steve Forbes, if the healthcare plan goes through as planned, people in states like NY, NJ, MA, CT will be paying 60% and above in income tax when you add Fed, State, County, City taxes together.

Funny of the Week – What is Denise Richards known for? Her FUNBAGS of course!

Denise Richards' Funbags from Denise Richards

Healthcare Debate – Dems Push “Plan”

Al Gore should have been busy planting trees on the White House and Capitol Hill to combat the dramatic rise in CO2 emissions from Democrats putting the full-court press on passing their so-called Healthcare Reform Act. The plan laid out in an 1100 page House bill (another fine example of government efficiency) by Nancy Peloser will spend another $1.5 trillion dollars of Chinese money to insure the “right” of healthcare to all Americans (and 12 million potential illegal future Democratic voters) and save the future of America!

The “god-like” President (fresh off his no-hitter at the All-Star game) put the full-court press on to get this thing passed before the all important Congressional vacation in August. Against a backdrop of a Nurses Organization (who endorsed his presidency last year), he laced his speech with more touchy-feely stories and how the “lucky” such as himself, should step up the plate and pay more.

Pres Obama, "I think the best way to fund it is for people like myself who have been very lucky, to pay a little bit more."

Earth to Obama….most people and small businesses that have been successful did not do so because of “luck”. It’s actually called “hard work”, or “sacrifice”, or “risk-taking” and they deserve the fruits of their labor. This comment is so indicative of the Democratic – Socialist philosophy that rules the Federal government.

Therefore it is obvious to the intelligent thinker, that this push for the federalization of healthcare is not about costs, choice, or availability, but simply “The Re-Distribution of Wealth” from the “lucky” to the “unlucky” and Power. Once the Democrats have more than 50% of the voting public on Federal entitlement programs, they can assure themselves of remaining in control.

Call, email your Congressman, Senator and stop this “Obamanation”!


Related Stories

AP Story - Obama "Lucky" and his push for Healthcare.

Streamlining healthcare - The goverment way...

A visual representation of how the Federal Gov't will provide healthcare for all and cut costs.

I feel soooo much better about our future now...ugh!

The Healthcare Debate – Define “Insurance”

Healthcare crisis…trillions of dollars…50 million uninsured…
As the debate of healthcare rages in the Congress and Democrats trying desperately trying to craft a healthcare bill before the world ends on August 1, has anyone stopped and actually defined “insurance”?

The dictionary defines insurance in this manner:…Insurance: the act, system, or business of insuring property, life, one's person, etc., against loss or harm arising in specified contingencies, as fire, accident, death, disablement, or the like, in consideration of a payment proportionate to the risk involved.

I think the key word here is “risk”. Then be definition, insurance is a hedge against risk or event in the future against some catastrophic situation.

- If you buy life insurance, you are protecting your family against the event of death and the loss of income and expenses that the event of death would bring.

- If you buy homeowner’s insurance, you are protecting your asset (home) against the unforeseen event of fire, weather, etc. that may cause huge financial outlays to repair or rebuild your home.

- If you buy car insurance, you are protecting your asset (car) against the unforeseen event of an accident or worse that would result in significant financial outlays to replace or repair your car.

But through the years as more and more companies provided healthcare benefits to their employees, the definition of health “insurance” came to mean no only hedges against expensive procedures such as surgery or cancer treatments, but also routine visits to the doctor’s office and prescription drugs. In the 60’s and 70’s when I was growing up, my family had major medical insurance that covered the “catastrophic” events such as hospital stays, surgery, or long-term treatments. But routine visits to the doctor’s office were paid for out of pocket. Now, we expect our “insurance” to cover the routine.

Would you expect your car insurance company to cover oil changes…or your homeowner’s insurance to cover painting the bedroom or cleaning the gutters? Then why do we expect health “insurance” to cover the routine as well? Most people understand the importance of preventive maintenance when it comes to our car or our homes and expect to pay out of pocket for that service.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were allowed for this purpose. A tax-free account that responsible persons could accumulate money to pay for the routine preventive measures in return for a lower premium to cover the major medical events. Two problems for Democrats….”tax-free” and “individual responsibility”. In the Democratic world, these two phrases are blasphemous.

Let’s keep and expand the HSAs where people can be responsible for there own routine maintenance and begin real and relevant discussions about controlling healthcare costs instead of the obvious power grab by Washington disguised as “healthcare” reform.

Other News

Sotomayor Hearings - Is she racist, empathetic? Doesn't matter folks, Dems have the votes...Comfirmed.

Obama Throws out 1st pitch at All-Star game...George Bush he ain't!
(Maybe a teleprompter got in his way...)

Dems Considering Probe into whether Cheney authorized CIA plan to "kill or capture" Al-Quaeda terrorists - Hello, Dems to Earth, Al-Quaeda are the bad guys... OBL must be loving this!

Healthcare Debate - Costs or Agenda?

In the rush to “solve the healthcare crisis” (as our esteemed President likes to put it) there have been many arguments put forth by members of both parties as how to “fix” the “crisis”. If the concern is so much about the affordability of healthcare, then why is the discussion been about political idealogy and not about getting to the root causes of the costs?

It is true that the costs of healthcare has significantly outpaced inflation in the last 25 years…but why? Is is due to the aging of America, the abuse of emergency room care, malpractice insurance costs, etc? The President can only seem to put the blame on insurance companies and their apparently evil desire to make a profit. From someone who doesn’t know the difference between an income statement and a balance sheet, that is a pretty bold statement! But what are the cost drivers?

In a company, if rising costs of doing business outpace the natural rate of inflation, best practices teach us to form project teams to perform deep analysis of why and where. Sometimes, the findings may lead to simple solutions (low-hanging fruit), while other findings lead to very complex solutions that require a careful and thoughtful approach that may lead to a change in strategy for the long-term. Whatever the case, the best decisions are made based objective data and not knee-jerk subjective “feelings”.

Unfortunately, I have not seen this best practice approach in any of the discussions. Therefore, in the absence of objective decision making, one can only assume that the debate is being driven by an agenda and fueled by subjective knee-jerk reactions. Unfortunately, unlike business, once a program is inacted in Washington, it never goes away no matter how ineffective it may be. With 16% of the Gross Domestic Product at stake, this “crisis” is simply too important to be rushed.

Any smart business would not make rash decisions with 16% of its production at stake and neither should our Government. Call your Congressman or Senator and urge them to take a rational approach and not be bullied into making a subjective decision that effects everyone’s lives by a President only seeking to capitalize on what’s left of his popularity. He promised Change that was not business as usual, its time to hold him to that promise.

Other News

The confirmation hearings on Sotomayor...important, but does it really matter what this woman thinks? The Democrats have the votes to confirm her. The only thing that matters to the Democrats is that she would uphold Roe vs. Wade.

Second Stimulus - What's wrong with the first? Oh, it gave tax breaks instead of spending ALL the money on important issues such as turtle crossings and pig farts...Congressman David Obey in TheHill.



Deficit Breaks $1 Trillion mark...something to tell the kids and grankids about!