Obamacare 2

Some quotes I found tremendously disturbing from the anointed one last night.

“Now, the truth is that, unless you have a — what's called a single-payer system, in which everybody is automatically covered, then you're probably not going to reach every single individual”

The avowed stance of the left has been and continues to be that not enough people have access to health care and that 1 person without it is too many. I believe that he and the other Dems are actively working towards a single payer/socialist system. Once this version is passed and the insurance industry starts to crumble (and it will) the Dems will complain complete nationalized healthcare for every American is the next logical step in the process.

He goes on to say “no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition”

While this sounds good in a sound bite, the reality is that he’s freezing insurance company’s ability to operate with the sound business principles it takes to stay profitable. If a business is not profitable, under any system, socialist or capitalist, it cannot continue to operate. In the novel “Atlas Shrugged” there is a scene where the government declares a freeze in every aspect of every business pending review by a government appointed board with a Czar. The law prohibits companies from producing less, selling less and firing anyone or allowing anyone to quit without federal oversight or permission. All this does to businesses (in the novel) is quicken industry’s collapse and the resultant collapse of that society. Obama’s similar limitation on the freedoms of the insurance industry does NOTHING but move us further toward a single payer/socialist healthcare system.

And in the biggest big brother moment of the speech he is asked, “Do you think…the American people are going to have to give anything up in order for this to happen?”

Obama’s A: “They're going to have to give up paying for things that don't make them healthier.”

He makes a similar statement later about a nutritionist seeing a diabetic to “make sure” he eats like he’s supposed to eat. Couple this with the momentum for sin taxes on junk foods, sodas and other things and sooner or later they’re going to try and do all of our thinking for us. But what disturbs me is that right now we seem willing to let them.

We are on a rocket sled to hell with this program and the fuse is being lit as we speak. The only way to stop it is to call your Congressional representatives and give them hell for taking us down this path.

Obamacare

I continue to be fascinated by the number of otherwise reasonably intelligent people who are duped by the whole “we need socialized healthcare” mantra being spouted by members of the Left.

A Democrat Senator from Nebraska named Conrad asked the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) chair whether what he sees in the current plan will actually “bend the curve”. (BTW, “bend the Curve” is Obama’s term for how applying federal pressure will make the market costs go down and save us money in the long run bringing lower health care costs and lower deficits in years to come.) The answer was “No, Mr. Chairman. On the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs.” He goes on to say “Over time, accumulating debt (from budget deficits and increased national debt) would cause substantial harm to the economy.”

Meanwhile liberals everywhere are trumpeting the greatness of socialized medicine in Europe. As an example… I was listening to a radio show where one of the show members went to Europe during the 4th of July break they took. Their kid got sick so they took him to a hospital in a small European town. The healthcare for the kid was free and the prescription was filled for about $4. So socialized healthcare is great right?

Umm…no.

What the host of this show forgot to mention was that the citizens of that country PAID for that healthcare while the show host dished out nothing.

For example, in France, through taxes the government forces about 19% of the average income from a family for their “nationalized healthcare plan”. So 1/5th of a family’s income is going towards paying for state run healthcare, not just for the family, but for ANYONE. The part you DON’T hear is that the plan is so bad the citizenry, in order to get better coverage and freedom of choice, is forced to get private insurance. For the average French tax-paying family this means 13% MORE of their income goes towards healthcare.

And like ALL tax based spending plans it depends entirely on those who are WORKING to pay for it. Worse than that, for the French working class the progressive tax rates means those who earn the most are paying the bulk of THAT while the bottom percentages pay nothing (just like we’re proposing/doing here). Couple this with the fact that France currently has a 10% unemployment rate and you have to ask is it any wonder France is shedding jobs, companies and people?

This brings me back to the United States plan currently sitting before congress.
Congress currently plans to pay for “Obamacare” with a healthcare surtax. And when added to what we already pay in taxes (state, local and et cetera) this raises us above FRANCE for the top marginal tax rate (according to CBO). Even worse…if the planned “savings” in the other areas that “bending the curve” promises to produce do not materialize by 2012, the surtax legislation gives congress the power to raise the rates even further to compensate.

The House Ways and Means committee has cleared their portion of the “Obamacare” program by Okaying the measure to raise taxes on couples making more than $350,000. Never mind that this figure encompasses a HUGE percentage of small businesses in this country that pay taxes not as corporations but as individuals. Never mind that this tax burden will cause the economy to shed jobs at a shocking rate heretofore unseen in this recession (nationally we’re at 9.5% unemployment, in Michigan it’s 15.2% and rising). And again…never mind the fact that those job losses will mean less income to the government forcing them to raise taxes even further, this time on a wider range of people.

How can ANYONE, left or right think this is good for America?

All facts and figures used here were gathered by reading stories on AP and Reuters news services.

Kudos To A Democrat!

I don’t do this often but I am sending out Kudos to a Democrat Congressman. His name is Alan Grayson (D-Fl).

In May of this year he was questioning they Inspector General of the Federal Reserve, Elizabeth Coleman and asked her where the Trillions were going and how they were being spent. Her answer was that she didn’t know and was not investigating it.

So he asked about the Fed’s expansion of its own “balance sheet” by more than a Trillion dollars. She said she had not reached any conclusions as to why it has happened and has no idea who got the money.

Grayson then asked about the “off balance sheet” transactions totaling into the trillions guaranteeing Citigroup and BoA and AGAIN Ms Coleman had no idea.

Grayson was appropriately shocked to find out that no one was keeping track of these HUGE loans and guarantees. He is audibly flabbergasted. You can watch this HERE

So, KUDOS go to you, Congressman Grayson. Keep up the good work! I wish more of your colleagues on EITHER side of the aisle would ask more questions like that. Now you and everyone else in Congress need to take it a step farther and DEMAND answers on these things.