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!!