Health reform via tax breaks

So....my last post was meant to shock and awe you. Not sure it accomplished much as no one seems to have posted anything. However, it was my goal to get you out of your seat and on the phone to your congressman/woman and tell them HELL NO regarding Cap and Trade and/or the Health Care bill. As of yesterday the Congress said it would not get to health care reform before the summer recess. HOORAY! OK enough celebrating. It's time to get active. Call you Congressman/woman and Senators and tell them stop the politics and start making sense. Without a doubt we need something done with health care. The government is the main culprit in rising costs so I have little expectation for them to solve the problem. In fact I would expect it to get worse because of their meddling. That was until last night. An idea came to me. I'm not sure if it makes sense or not to be completely honest. I was thinking about the health care problems we are facing as a nation. I'm not a bleeding heart but I don't think it's correct, moral, or fair for people to not have affordable health care. We hear about people who loose their health care because they become too expensive or they have a pre-existing condition. You'd have to be a complete cold hearted non-human to not feel sympathy for people in those situations. However, I do not agree with the current purposed fixes to those problems. I just can't see how they will help. I see more damage being done by the current formats of each of the bills. For example, one Democrat bill actually states that IF you decide to leave a company and get self employeed you will be OBLIGED to sign up for the state run health care insurance and you won't EVER be able to switch to private health care. As someone who is self employeed that is a very scary concept. I will have no options.

Anyway, as I was saying, an idea came to me last night and I'm going to put it out there for all to critique. So here it is. We, as a nation, pay for "univeral health care" with a tax cut. WHAT!? I know I know....that doesn't make sense right? Wait for it....Wait for it....NOW....

1. Oblige all employeers to offer full medical and dental to it's employees.
2. Employeers as well as employees share the cost burden.
3. The split will never exceed 50/50 employee to employeer but can have the employeer taking a larger share so for example it could be 40/50
4. If employees do not like the health insurance plan or provider offered to them via their employeer they are not obliged to sign up for it.
5. Allow insurance providers tax incentives to create "pools" of people who are either self employeed or are employeed but do not care for the plan or provider being offered by their employeer.
6. HERE IS THE TAX BREAK IS MENTIONED.....All insurance and medical payments are completely tax deductible by both employeers and employees + 5%. This means for every $1.00 spent by your employer or by you for you health care insurance or for any health care costs you get to deduct $1.05 from you taxes at the end of the year.
7. The tax deduction can only be used to zero out your taxes. It can not get you a refund. So if you spent more money on health care than your total tax liability you can only claim deductions up to the point where you have no taxes to pay.

Here are some of the benefits from such a program:

1. No large beaucracy needs to be created or an existing one made larger. Because you make health care a tax issue it's handled though the already existing IRS. All you might have to do is one more mindless calculation on you yearly tax form.
2. You have complete freedom of choice allowing the market to create competitive programs.
3. The government is not competing with private industry.
4. Cut the waste. Under a government run program you would pay taxes to the government for health care they would provide to you. We all know how that will work but in addition it's like paying someone to pay you. Which makes no sense at all.
5. It removes all politics from the disussion.
6. It creates jobs. More people getting affordable health care equals more jobs. By the way it's private sector jobs that are being created.

Let me know what you think.

I blame you....

It's been a month since my last post because I've been struggling with how to put in words my thoughts. I don't want to come across angry or hostile but it's how I feel right now. I don't want to be overly dramatic but it is difficult not to be. Saying things are bad right now is an understatement. Our government OWNS private industry. The government creates laws that have no logic or sense to them. They can't even be bothered to read what they vote on. They raise our taxes without ever voting for a tax raise via stealth mechanisms like the new energy bill or by becoming a shareholder in the top banks and auto manufacturers. The government fights to have indited not for profit organizations to be active members of the upcoming census but won't fight to protect our tax dollars from the very same indited entity. We allow our government to put non elected officials, Czars, who are not beholden to anyone including us in charge of policies that ONLY elected officials have any business making. Our government is now dictating to private industry, how much pay individuals should receive and whether to hire or fire personnel. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Our society and government is rotting from the inside out and as plainly stated as I can be this is OUR fault. I blame the last 3 or 4 generations of Americans. Maybe the world is correct when they disparage us. Maybe we are all fat and stupid. I mean LOOK at what is going on and ask YOURSELF.....what have you personally done to stop it? When was the last time you publicly took a unpopular stand? When did you last attend a town hall meeting and speak you mind? When did you last VOTE? Times like we have right now don't happen over night. No one politician or on political party to blame. Point the finger all you want but when you live in a democracy you have no one to blame but yourself. The events that are unfolding today are a result of your apathy. You whine that you don't vote because your vote doesn't count. Well it surely won't if you don't vote that's for certain. You complain that you can't afford health care then do nothing to stop frivolous lawsuits a for millions of dollars for a unnecessary surgery gone wrong. You whine about prescription drugs being to expensive and then down load music illegally. All you do is whine and moan, never lifting a finger to do more than you need to for your own personal sphere. I got news for you this is EXACTLY why politicians come to your "rescue". They make promises to take care of you to make your life more simple. All you need to do is promise to give them authority over you. These promises they know are fluff and lies but you buy into. Would someone please explain to me how it's even remotely possible for the government to get socialized health care right when there is 99 TRILLION US DOLLARS of unfunded obligations for Social Security and Medicare? The government knows about this, YOU know about this and yet you STILL insist that government can provide you with affordable health care. Or take the energy bill. The ONLY way "green" energy can compete with standard existing energy is via a tax raise on the current energy production. HOW DOES THIS MAKE SENSE TO YOU? HOW CAN YOU SIT THERE AND LISTEN TO LIES ABOUT NO NEW TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS. IF THIS ENERGY BILL PASS YOU WILL BE PAYING THE GOVERNMENT A TAX FOR USING ELECTRICITY MADE BY A COAL BURNING PLANT OR PAYING FOR HIGHER RATES AT A SUBSIDIZED "GREEN" PLANT? Oh and by the way the higher taxes you pay on your coal burning plant electricity go to building more "green" power plants which directly compete with the coal burning one. WHAT? But just sit there. Leave all these problems and many more for the next generation. Leave it for the children that are being born today to solve. Most of you 50+ won't be alive when they're 30+ so it doesn't matter to you. You 50+ age group which are currently in power and who will soon be passing the torch on to your children don't get it. You've condemned you children and grandchildren. Your grandchildren if they're smart will put your children in the street. How far removed do you believe we are from Iran? Those people in the streets of Tehran have more spine than you all do. They know when they aren't being counted and decry it and some even sacrifice their lives for it. Now I know I've been generalizing whole groups of people. There are clearly some out there that have recognized the errors made and are taking actions. The are peacefully protesting the wrongs done. The problem is there aren't really very many. Still most couldn't care less that they are loosing their rights. Not so long ago during a discussion about how the government is now a shareholder in GM and how in doing so they have effectively raised your taxes without ever taking a vote I got the following response: "So? I don't see how that's a problem. The car still costs the same?" Does it really? The government takes your money without your vote and it costs the same? Your rights have been taken and you don't even know it nor do you care about it. So continue voting along party lines for the same incumbent. Tell yourself he/she is working for you. Tell yourself there is nothing you can do. Believe it because it's getting to the point where you won't be able to do anything about it if you wanted to. Did you call your Congressman/woman and demand they vote NO on the energy bill? Did you even know about the energy bill? Will you call your Senator and demand they vote NO on the energy bill? Most of you probably won't. You're too busy with important stuff like TV, movies and getting dinner ready. I COMPLETELY understand. Just remember when you're older and grayer and my kids put you on the street you had a chance to fix it, you FAILED, and you deserve what you get. PROTEST TODAY with a phone call. PROTEST TOMORROW with a vote. November 2010 will be here before you know it.

Did you blink AGAIN!?

I came across this when researching the earlier post and thought....WOW....too good to pass up. Here's what B.H. thought should've happened to the Gitmo detainees:

"In terms of the issue of Guantanamo, look, this is a very difficult issue. It's difficult in my country; it's difficult internationally. We have a facility that contains some people who are very difficult to deal with. Some of them probably should not have been detained in those facilities in the first place. They should have been processed and tried and convicted. If they weren't convicted, then they should not have been languishing in a facility like that, that became a symbol for many around the world of us not sticking to our ideals and our traditions and rule of law."

This was his response to a question at the press conference held in Dresden on June 5th, 2009 with German Chancellor Merkel. I linked to quote directly to the White House website so as prevent people from denying he actually said it later. What part of that statement really jumps out and grabs your attention? For me it's the "They should have been processed and tried and convicted." sentence. He later mentions how this was a symbol of our lack of "sticking to our ideals and our traditions and rule of law." EXCUSE ME!? Chalk it up to B.H. being off teleprompter and making an error in speaking his mind or possibly just plain not thinking before he spoke. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Isn't that one of the core principles that makes America unique in the world. Essentially B.H. said they should've been found guilty as a result of the trial and that by not doing that OR freeing violent people on society we were betraying our values. Uh-huh....does that make sense to anyone out there? It sure doesn't make any sense to me.

Stop blinking or you'll miss it all!

Did you blink and miss it? I know I almost did but I was halfway into the blink with my eyes only half shut. I almost didn't believe what my ears had heard. If my eyes would've been completely closed I might have thought, that can't possibly be B.H. Obama it had to have been an impersonator. NOPE! B.H. actually, for the first time, publicly began setting the stage for the play called "Gitmo Aint Closing This Year". I heard it's going to be a musical in which B.H. stars as an up-n-comer charismatic man who promised gold at the end of the rainbow to his passionate followers. The climatic ending has B.H. running away with his Czars, the followers cash and leaving behind broken dreams, empty promises and a ruined nation. Wait WHAT? In Dresden Obama said:

"I don't anticipate that it's going to be resolved anytime in the next two or three months. I think it's going to be a longer process of evaluation,"

Google that quote and make your own judgement call but I'd put my money on Gitmo not closing by the end of the year. B.H. is beginning to prepare his supporters for the let down 6 months early. Before some of you start in with the excuse making remember he didn't need to UNI-LATERALLY (yeah that word cuts both ways and I'm using it to needle the Dems) go it ALONE attitude in signing an executive order to close Gitmo by years end on his second day as President without consulting our ALLIES. Oh gee you mean the Europeans didn't show up to help out with the closing of Gitmo after publicly calling for it's closure for years? This is what you get when you vote into office someone with NO experience. Lots of big ideas and promises all of which come crashing down once applied to reality just like his promises to have all combat troops out of Iraq in 16 months from office. Which once he took office became 18 - 19 months leaving a 35-50,000 troop "transitional force" behind until 2011. The transitional forces mission will be, and I quote B.H.:

"we will retain a transitional force to carry out three distinct functions: training, equipping, and advising Iraqi Security Forces as long as they remain non-sectarian; conducting targeted counter-terrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq."

That quote in itself when put up against B.H.'s claim to have all combat troops out of Iraq shows B.H.'s lack of understanding of the word COMBAT. To protect civilian and military efforts wouldn't involve COMBAT? To conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions wouldn't involve COMBAT? So this extension of the closing of Gitmo is just another let down to those that voted for hope and change and is another I TOLD YOU SO to all of the rest of us. Funny how everyday that passes B.H. sounds more and more like G.W.

It's safe to say we've been lied to.

The Democrats are in a lot of trouble. They've made a lot of promises and so far it's looking like they're slowing backing out of all of them. Obama is quickly looking like he'll be a one term president. Don't get me wrong I'm not excessively happy about that because that will likely mean the Republicans will pick up the presidency in 2012 and in 2010 might get some seats in Congress back. Right now I don't see how either party is really in it for WE THE PEOPLE. However, I do think we should be happy to see Obama, Pelosi and Reed go home if possible. I've not been very impressed with the Republicans but the damage that those three are planning on doing to us is by far worse than anything Bush ever did. At this point based on recent events I feel it save to call them LIARS.

They need to raise taxes on the middle class when they promised not to. Many of these taxes come in a hidden form. Two examples of hidden tax hikes on middle America are Cap and Trade, CAFE standards.

Cap and Trade is expected to raise the cost of the average American electric bill by $1400.00 a year. All companies with factories will also have to raise the costs of their products to cover the added costs of high electric bills but also the Carbon Tax which they too will need to pay for their Carbon footprint.

The CAFE standards aren't initally evident to most people I talk to as a tax on them. However, when you consider that the Obama admin now OWNS a portion of Chrysler and GM it begins to become obvious. Why the Obama admin would reduce the time frame from the Bush plan of a 35.5 m/g car from 2020 to 2016? Increasing fuel efficiency increases the cost of the car. Increasing the cost of the car means that the amount of money the government gets from the sale of every car goes up. I know you're thinking WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?! It's simple math though really. As the government OWNS shares of the car companies they get a percentage of the sales via dividend checks. So the more money into the company the more money the government gets. It's expected that the CAFE standards will raise the cost of cars by a minimum of $1300.00. If you buy a Chrysler and the cost of that car is $1300.00 more expensive next year than this year $104.00 goes to the government. The government OWNS 8% of Chrysler.

With their health care plan they anticipate putting the government in direct competition with the private health insurance companies. Apart from this being destructive to the economy they are essentially going to raise your taxes to pay for this plan and in addition to paying higher taxes you'll need to find the money to pay for their plan. You the hard working American will need to pay for those that can't pay for their own insurance via higher taxes. Then in addition the government will require you to have a health insurance plan. So you'll either have to buy from the government plan or from a private plan. We all know that the government plan will be cheaper than the private plan because they have the advantage of raising your taxes to cover their shortfalls or they can just operate on deficient spending like all other government programs. If private insurance companies tried that they'd go out of business. So here once again Obama lied. He will raise your taxes he just won't call it a tax raise. To me I personally view any increased cash flow to the government a tax raise. Call me crazy.

Then there is the expiration of the Bush tax cuts next year. Maybe you didn't get a big tax cut. However, a cut is still a cut. Next year when the Bush tax plan expires that cut will vanish effectively raising your taxes to the levels prior to the Bush plan. So the Dems haven't created a new tax plan they just wait out the cut to expire thereby raising your taxes.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other point to discuss which I'll get into next week. I think it's save to say that on taxes Obama and the other Dems lied. Middle America is going to be paying higher taxes under their watch.

ecoAmerica

When I first heard about it I thought....geeeee....didn't I blog about this not so long ago. In fact I did. ecoAmerica believes:

"Our engagement marketing approach creates new audience and consumer opportunities.... By harnessing our audience understanding and developing measurably successful programs, we create partnerships that reach out to new people and create lasting behavior changes that benefit our project partners..."

OK maybe the scariest couple of words in that paragraph are "lasting behavior changes". So they believe that by using marketing techniques they can sway their audience to their point of view to benefit their project partners....oh and by the way the environment too. Lets see if I have this straight....they're going to make money by helping other companies sell to the public that global warming is man made and if you buy their partners products you'll help prevent it. In doing so they expect to be able to influence your behavior for the long term. Wow! Quality! Nice to see they're not afraid to admit what I've been saying for years.....environmentalism is about money not the environment.

The best though is from their "research".

Climate and Energy Media Center (new program)
The Climate and Energy Media Center is a plan for a media “war room” that would repudiate the climate deniers; help change the framing on climate change from a long-term catastrophe to a near term economic and national security opportunity; and work to make climate change relevant by connecting climate and weather with Americans' everyday lives. Fresh polling data from Pew and Rasmussen indicate the increasing need for this program - global warming still ranks last out among the
top 20% public priorities and for the first time, more Americans attributed global warming to natural causes (44%) than human activity (41%). Since October, Bob Perkowitz and David Fenton have fleshed out the strategy and organization of the operation. Because this project requires a significant capital investment to launch – we won’t move forward until we have raised at least $1,000,000 for it. We have secured about $300,000 of initial pledges and are working with ACP/WE, EDF, NRDC, Open Society and others to secure necessary additional funding, but we have not secured any additional commitments at this point.

These people have no shame. Rather than letting science frame the debate they'd rather use slogans and rhetoric. For those that don't think that there's big money in the environmental movement you've just been given a cold slap in the face with this group. They basically state they must spend money to convince the public. Sorry I thought science would do that? No?

Bigger than Barnum

I can't wait for the big show to kick off. I really hope that the Dems do start a in depth investigation of the torture that took place under the Bush Admin. It's just what we need as a nation. It will set us straight in the eyes of the world. No longer will we be viewed as a tyrannical superpower. We need to bring light to those dark days and watch the roaches scatter. Sarcasm aside, I'm serious. I'll TiVo the whole show. Why? Well I know what the outcome will be or at least I think I know what it will be. You see the Dems, claiming morale superiority, have beaten the Repubs with the torture stick for about 6 years now. Now that they have both houses and the presidency they are on the hook. Just like they were with the "vote for us and we'll get you out of Iraq" and here we are going on 3 years since they've had control of both houses and we're still in Iraq. This is no different. They made a lot of noise last Fall just before the election about vote for me and we'll have trails and now people want to hold them to it. Obama knows better. That's why he initially said there won't be any trials. Which is why he released the CIA documents. He had hoped that by releasing those documents he would placate his base and avoid having to actually investigate the individuals that were involved. What a colossal blunder releasing those documents have been. In releasing those documents he made an enemy of the intelligence community. Not only has the release of those documents put us in greater risk by showing our hand to the enemy it will also make the intel community skittish about taking risks for the nation. Now with the potential of being brought to trail for offering legal opinions and for following orders the intel community will be even less likely to actively protect us. They will become what they were prior to 9-11 a reactive organization rather than a proactive one. Who can blame them?

So WHY am I looking forward to the trials and investigations and the testimony on the Hill? Well, to chase the roaches back into their holes. In this case it's Pelosi, Reed and the rest of the screaming mimi's. Some of the young and new blood on the Hill are idealist and might yet still have some delusions about cleaning house. The old guard though knows, or should know, better. Here's my predictions for any trails regarding torture. I would bet that the people in charge of the interrogations of captive terrorist practiced some CYA. For those that don't know CYA means Cover Your Ass. My guess is that Pelosi and Reed and all the rest were fully briefed on what practices were not only in the Bush Admins opinion legal but which were actually being used or going to be used. Now Pelosi can claim all she wants that knowing something might be used is not the same thing as something being used. That just doesn't cut it. No American will buy that line except the truly dense, blind followers. Furthermore, by releasing those documents Obama all but guaranteed that some staffer, lawyer, or interrogator practicing some good CYA will squirrel or has squirreled away documents, recordings, and/or video tapes which will show that the screaming mimi's were implicit in the aggressive interrogation techniques. Using this evidence of their innocence if they are brought to trial. Time and time again this has happened during show trials. Just like when the Dems created the Un-American Activities Committee to seek out Communists (which by the way was originally created to seek out the KKK but then again the KKK was run by the Dems and by their voter base so they switched their focus to Communists) this too will blow up in their faces.

The American Center for Law and Justice has filed a Freedom of Information request to get the memo of the briefing that Pelosi received back in 2002 regarding water boarding. If they get the memo I have a strong suspicion it will show that Pelosi and other Dems knew about it and accepted it. The Dems should've known better than to light the pyre while standing in it when burning witches. Obviously, they did not and will suffer for it. When it comes out that some of these terrorists gave up information that saved lives they will burn for it. When it comes out that they knew about these techniques being used and then feigned indignation to further their political goals (like they did with denying any sort of WMD materials were in Iraq oh yeah except for the nearly 800 tons of yellow cake that our government knew about since 1992 but hey lets pretend that doesn't exist). When people begin to connect the dots and see that to further their political careers they denied knowing about water boarding, helped close GitMo, and remove water boarding from the table of interrogations and in doing so put all Americans at greater risk they will burn.

All of the Dems talk is just that TALK. They don't want trials. They could've started an active investigation into the water boarding over 2 years ago. They haven't, didn't and won't. They fear what will come out. They know that once the public finds out about the scam they've been running there will be a house cleaning in the next election. Just like they never mounted any serious effect to cut funding for the war in Iraq they won't mount any serious effort to hold hearings about water boarding. They know it will be their political death to so. Just as it would've been if the Dems were actually successful in cutting funding for the war in Iraq.

So bring on the trials! Let's air the dirty laundry! This will bring down the Obama administration and cost him the next election. It will ruin the Dem party and will cost them both houses within 2-4 years. I hope that with an already weaken Republican party prior to any hearings and a destroyed Dem party after the hearing a serious 3rd party might gain enough seats to have meaning. I do not necessarily like a particular 3rd party but I believe a 3rd party with some teeth might help restore some balance to D.C. The shift to the left by both parties is appalling. Over the last 10 years or so the Republicans shifted away from the right and picked up the ideals of the Dems while the Dems began picking up the ideals of Marx and Lenin. Now is the time for a new 3rd party that will shift the other two parties back towards their center left and center right homes. So let's get ready for the show and POSSIBLY a new political awakening of the silent American center right majority. Enjoy!