Business Crazies

Man, oh, man. I have to say, first, in the face of full disclosure, that I have no dog in the race, as they say, when it comes to talking about the costs of health care, since the state pays for most of mine. I am fully disabled and get a very small check from SSI. But that in no way means that I don't, or can't, have an opinion when it comes to something that encompasses a sixth of our GDP. And that will fundamentally change the very nature of health care, and the relationships we have with our doctors. I really like my doctor, even though I have to drive a long ways to see him. While he has assured me that he will not change the way he operates no matter what they do, I have some belief that he may not have any choice. And although we will have four years before anything actually occurs, I am still young enough that I hope to be around for about thirty years or more, and that will be quite a few years after this takes place. Actually though, the four years before anyone sees one benefit, well, that doesn't include the taxes that will go up--that will happen right away. How does that grab you? How about you go to buy a new car, and they tell you that the payments will start immediately, but you can't actually have the car for four years.  Would you go for that? I doubt it, and this bill is just as foolish. And those of you in the middle class, those who weren't supposed to see any increase in taxes? Just you wait...you will see more money taken out of your checks because there is no other way to really finance this bill. Our children and grand children cannot possibly pay off the debt we are leaving them, and we must get the deficit down as much as we can now, not to mention the fact that the Senate and the House both just passed the 'pay-go' law, saying that they cannot create any new programs, or pass any laws, unless they are payed for. I don't expect that one to last long, but they will have to come up with the money to pay for this new health care regardless, and the methods they are including in the bill are not going to be sufficient. The folks making over $250,000 a year, who are supposedly going to pay for the tax hike are, in most cases, small business owners who just happen to do their business taxes with their personal taxes, and that will absolutely kill any big jump in job creation, since small businesses are most of the employers of other people. And the ultra-rich? Those who don't actually have to work anymore? What's to prevent them from just leaving to live somewhere else, maybe buy an island and stay there? They will eventually get tired of shouldering the burden of all of us who don't actually pay any income tax, as they do now. And those of us who still believe in personal responsibility and personal freedom would certainly not blame them for doing so. 


On top of all of that, President Obama is trying to demonize the insurance companies, who make some of the smallest profit margins of any type of big corporation in this country, usually about 3%-4%. That's 3 cents on the dollar, folks, nothing to brag about. And Medicare, by far, denies more claims than ANY of the insurance companies do.  And please, tell me of one government program that is in the black most of, or even part of, the time. Medicare will be broke very soon, and Medicaid  in most of the states operates in the red at least most of the time. Amtrak is broke, the Post Office is millions in the red. I can't think of a single government program that makes money...not one! Yet some people seem to be willing and even anxious to have the government take over their health care. Talk about Russian Roulette!! 


















































 

Oh my, long time!

Well, my goodness, it's been a long time since I was here, and so much has happened, or is going on; I'm talking personally, and politically. I have been opening a store on Etsy.com, which is a website for crafters to sell their handmade items, and I had no real idea of how much work was involved! After I retook the pictures to get them clear, I started trying to figure out how to put them on the site. It was far easier than it looked, just time consuming.And very tiring, at that.But it's up and running, and I even made my first sale! YEA!! I also am trying to start an outside business making pendants with the pictures of people's pet on them. I have my business cards now, and some rack cards that I hope to get around to all of the pet stores in Springfield, and then to also hit the dog and cat shows in town this summer. All in all, quite a schedule of activities that I've set for myself this year.

Then, of course, we have all of the ridiculous goings on in Washington. D.C. Oh, where to start...Government Health Care; amd don't fool yourself, it is government run health care. The Progressives in D.C. want us to have the same type of health care that they have in France, or England, both of which are imploding under their own weight. France and England are trying to figure out how to switch over to health care more like ours, while Obama tries to take us to Socialized medicine. Actually, almost all of the countries with government run health care is trying to have it become more like ours, as it is now. The Prime Minister of Australia has told his people that he expects it to take around five years for their medical care to become more like that of America. I hope they hurry, as I have a dear friend there who has a form of lymphoma, and she can only get the MRI's needed to gauge the progress of the lymphoma once every year. And her medicine is strictly rationed. Also she has had more than one friend die from breast cancer, even when it was caught early, because the places to get chemo and radiation are so far apart, and the appointments take months to get. Now, I don't know about you, but I am old enough to really be concerned about rationed care, and whether or not some of us would be denied vital care if it were determined that we were a risk for continuing care needs, or that we were too olod to be of use to society any more. Oh, I know...you're going to say that none of that would happen, but if you read and listened to the words of some of Obama's advisers, you would see things differently, trust me. More about them later. But the trend to demonize the insurance companies for health care increases is ludicrous. The profit margin for insurers averages 3%-4%, that's all. Almost every other business has larger margins than that, at least among large corporations. Are there some people making huge bonuses? Yes. Are they all? No. Most of the folks involved in the insurance industry are hard-working, good people, just rying to get by like the rest of us. Maybe the CEOs and the board members make exorbitant salaries, and the top sales people get decent bonuses, but there are a lot of unemployed insurance people, too. Besides, when did it become so awful to do what you love, or what you're good at, and make a lot of money doing that? Isn't that the Great American Dream? To make a lot of money doing what you love, buy a home, work hard and live a good life? I know that I want to make a bunch of money, but if it doesn't happen, I'm still going to be happy, and also be happy for those who do make it in this difficult world. I don't resent rich people, and I don't want to take what they have, whether things, or money. But that seems to be what the government wants to do now, and if they can't tax the rich into poverty, well, then they just demonize them so that society will turn against them. What kind of people do we have in D.C.? Maybe it IS time that they all go home. Next November seems to be shaping up to be very interesting. 

Well, I seem to be all over the place tonight, so I'll close this, get some notes together, and be more selective next time. See you then. 

artdejour1.etsy.com