What About Cutting the Cost

Americans wanted someone to do something about healthcare because the costs are through the roof. The average family pays almost as much as a car payment for healthcare. The costs keep rising and what do we hear from our leaders? The costs will be going up so they can take it over. That's right. We can't afford it now but according to congress we can pay more. The issues that I and others have outlined that raise the cost of healthcare and could be addressed to lower it, haven't even been discussed. It doesn't seem to matter what the people need.

After looking over the current offering, the people are starting to run. The polling numbers are quickly turning against congress.

Poll: Americans no longer believe in health 'crisis'
Support for government solution plummets from only months ago

A poll released today shows Americans' belief in the current health care system has risen dramatically in the last year, and support for a socialized solution to a health care "crisis" has nearly evaporated.

The latest results from Rasmussen Reports show 49 percent of Americans now rate the quality of U.S. health care system as good or excellent, to only 27 percent that still argue it's poor.

The favorable numbers reflect a 20-point jump from prior to the presidential election, when a June 2008 Rasmussen poll showed only 29 percent rated the health care system so well and 37 percent rated it poor.

Furthermore, the more government reform of health care has been in the national spotlight, the more Americans have grown to appreciate a private health care industry.

The 49 percent rating the U.S. system as good or excellent reflects a rise from 29 percent last year, to 35 percent in May and 44 percent at the beginning of October.

"Those opposed to Mr. Obama's reform appear to have momentum on their side," writes pollster Scott Rasmussen in a Wall Street Journal editorial. "It appears that the prospect of changing health care has made the existing system look better to a lot of people."

Read the rest


Have you let your congress critters know where you stand on healthcare?

Have you made up your mind about healthcare?

I have made 27 posts about Healthcare since June. I have pointed to real issues and solutions as well as mistakes and problems. There has been some things worthy of a good laugh and other things that have made me very mad. We have seen bills passed in congress that nobody read. Do we really want to make a change of this size with no trial period and no evidence that it would work?

Shouldn't we test out something this big? I want proof it works. I question if congress even has any authority under the constitution to do this. I can find no grounds for such an action. Some have pointed to the preamble as there authority.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I see promote as a synonym for encourage or press for. I don't see it as take over and force. We should also note that this was written as a focus on state unity under a common government and not personal unity and needs as some would wish it to suggest. The US constitution was written to help a small group of independent states defend and promote themselves. The federal government was carefully crafted as a balance of state interests and populous needs. We have moved a long way away from the government envisioned by our founders.

It might be your last chance to speak your peace about healthcare reform. Use the button on my side bar to write your senator and tell them and there staff what you think should be done about healthcare. Encourage them to actually read the bill. encourage them to push for a amendment that tests this proposal before it goes nation wide. I think this will ultimately cost us more and give us less. Tell me why you think I am right or wrong.

Not Your Father's Union

Unions have changed a lot since my father and grandfather entered the work force. We now see unions actually attacking the traditional values they once were instituted to secure.

Big Labor and Big Government Are Officially the Same Thing

Who do the words “union members” bring to mind? United Auto Workers building cars in Detroit? Teamsters truckers hauling freight? Steel workers in Pennsylvania?
Not any more. Newly released numbers show that the actual face of today’s union movement is the teller at your local Department of Motorized Vehicles.
Preliminary estimates of union membership this year show that most union members now work for the government. The overall unionization rate between January and September 2009 stood at 12.4%, unchanged from last year. However, this difference masks a large difference between unions in the private and public sectors.
Union membership has fallen to 7.3% of private sector workers – the lowest rate since Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act into law. But it is a completely different story in the public sector: 37.6% of government employees belong to unions, up almost a percentage point since last year. Those 7.9 million unionized government employees are 51% of all union members nationwide. Most union members today now work for Uncle Sam.
So when unions start lobbying, taxpayers should hold onto their wallet. Government employees don’t strike to get higher wages from a private business – they strike to get higher wages from you. Their pay is funded through your tax dollars. For government employee union members to get more your taxes need to go up. So that is what unions now lobby for. Just take a look at what the labor movement is doing to taxpayers on the Pacific Coast:
In Oregon the labor movement is donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund two ballot initiative campaigns to raise personal income and business taxes. The unions want tax hikes instead of cuts in the gold-plated medical benefits for state workers.
In California the Service Employees International Union spent $1 million on a television ad campaign pressing for higher oil, gas, and liquor taxes instead of spending reductions.
Washington State Democrats, however, have so far resisted the labor movement’s call for higher taxes. In response labor unions are threatening to fund primary campaigns against the Democrats who oppose the tax hikes.
This is not your father’s labor movement. Unions today want higher taxes and bigger government because they are the government.

What once saved middle America now wishes to rob her.

Still Watching?

It seems the race for the 23rd District seat in New York may not be over. I pointed to this as the race to watch and it is still worth watching. Yeah, I know the Conservative Party candidate Hoffman conceded but it is still possible that he may win and Owens may lose. The election results are still not in and the winner isn't official. Owens may have been sworn in but he may find himself tossed out.

Democrat Bill Owens, who was sworn into Congress last week and immediately voted for controversial health care legislation, still hasn't been certified the winner by local elections officials. His lead over Conservative Doug Hoffman has narrowed to 3,026 votes with about 5,800 absentee ballots received so far that have yet to be counted, according to a routine recanvassing of the votes.

The final outcome rests on uncounted absentee ballots, and more than 10,000 were sent out.

"Well 20/20 hindsight, if I knew this information on election night, I would not have conceded," Hoffman told Fox News' Neil Cavuto. "On election night with a 6,000 deficit in the voting, the 10,000 absentee ballots did not look plausible with a three-way race."

The county Boards of Election in the 23rd District are still recanvassing votes and it could be the end of November before a final count is certified in the special election. If the count overturns the election, Owens could be removed from office.

Owens was sworn in Friday, in time to cast a vote on a historic health care overhaul bill, helping House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reach the majority she needed to pass it. The House passed the legislation 220-215.

The state Board of Elections wrote to the House clerk last week explaining that the state hasn't certified the election because there wasn't an official winner yet.

Since he still leads by about 3,000 votes and the Hoffman campaign hasn't contested the race, Owens' swearing-in was legal.

But if recanvassing produces a different result, the Democratic-led House would have to determine how to proceed and whether Owens must be replaced by Hoffman.

Wouldn't it be a hoot if Owens is tossed. I'm looking forward to the end of the month to see how this turns out.

Article

This and That

First, I would like to offer my sympathies to the families of those effected by the Fort Hood Shooting. There appears to be much blame to go around, so we will need to wait and see how it all comes out.

For those of you completely overwhelmed by the shootings, the house passed the Healthcare Reform bill 220-215. All Republicans except the freshman from New Orleans voted against it. It looks like it will be extremely tough in the senate. Start your emailing and phone calls.

The DC Sniper finally got what he deserved. Lethal injection may be far to easy for a murderer of this caliper. He tormented millions yet leaves in relative peace.

The White house tossed another under the bus, Anita Dunn. How many America Haters has Obama placed in his staff? We the people are having to vet the staff because BO wont.

Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., called Monday for an international coalition to block gasoline deliveries to Iran because of its rejection of a U.N. plan to curb its enriched uranium stockpile. Since a major portion of Iran's gas is refined outside the country, why not use this for leverage. None of the other sanctions seem to have any effect. Perhaps this will cause enough pain to get them to the negotiating table.

I have been working long and crazy hours. Things need to be repaired and schedules need to be kept up. Hopefully, with all the changes, we will find a way to make it all work.

Where's Mine?

I have been waiting for a while to point this out. It has been bothering me for a long time so I thought I would bother you some.

The Stimulus Bill that was passed by the Obama Administration is reported to cost us $787billion.

There are almost 308million people in the US.

Small Businesses produce about 85% of the Jobs in America.

There are almost 23million small businesses in the US.

The Stimulus bill cost us almost $2600 per person. This does not include future interest on this additional debt. If 47% of Americans don't pay any taxes then the actual cost per person is $5600 per person who pays taxes. (This is skewed farther by able bodied workers who pay taxes.)

If the Stinulus would have been distributed to small businesses, each business would have gotten $34,250. This money could have provided one job at a living wage for one year for every small business, adjusting for employer side taxes and expenses. That would have created 23million jobs. Notice that the employer and the employee are immediately contributing back in the form of payroll taxes minimizing the net cost of the stimulus package. Don't forget to imagine 23million significant wage earners as consumers in the system. Now we are talking real stimulus.

If the US is statisticly suffering from 10% unemployment then putting the money to work by giving it to small business for job creation would have cut unemployment by 7.4%. Mathematically we would be at 2.6% unemployment.

Does anyone still think those in Washington DC have a clue on how to get the most bang out of our buck. Don't allow them to take anything more from us.

Keep saying NO to Healthcare.

Continued Government Failure

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature, It is now official you are ALL corrupt morons: The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before.. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure. You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??