I seriously doubt you could get the votes to push that through. But on the other hand, if you proposed to pay people for not having kids you might have an outside chance, especially if there was enough money on the line.
Just as an aside, I would imagine it'd be tough to get thru a school day after hearing your parent/caretaker repeat over and over how they wish you'd die/go away/should have been aborted. I taught in public schools for 5 years, and the things I heard from some of the kids would almost make ya cry. But let's not forget, THESE are the Dems voting base. Promises of free ice cream DO get votes.
Kind of makes sense...all those years of getting berated and getting nothing, now vote for us and we'll give you the stuff you never had.... man talk about a complete brainwashing.
When you have (a) an infinite bankroll by doing more multi-generational theft and (b) the ability to regulate insurance companies out of business, there's no "competition." And you sound like you believe the spending projections and deficit-neutral garbage (i.e., accounting tricks). Look at all the other major government entitlement programs. The cost are growing exponentially and unfunded liabilities are staggering. They always cost MUCH more than projected. Make no mistake, this will exceed its budget...and it will be abused. The looter, Obama-worshipping masses you see yelling "yes we can" in Detroit, New Orleans, etc. will milk it to no end.
You raise some points on which, in my opinion, there is widespread misunderstanding. The two big entitlement programs are medicare and social security. It is quite true that medicare is a mess with out of control costs and lots of fraud. The cost problems are I think one of the aspects that the Obama administration was hoping to address through greater competition, negotiating with pharmacy companies, and clamping down on government sudsidies to providers of medicare advantage programs. However the problem with social security is of an entirely different nature. The program was brilliantly conceived, as it turns out, and would if we don't delay too long, only require minor tweaking to make the actuary part sound far into the future. But there is, nevertheless, a serious problem with social security. The government owes the trust fund a staggering amount of money and very soon social security will need to start collecting on that debt. But, of course the treasury has no money to pay off the debt and so they will have to pay it off with more borrowed money. And worse yet, there will no longer be a surplus for the government to borrow. What is certain to happen, I believe, is that the government will be forced to monetize ever increasing portions of the debt, and consequently we should see the return of double digit inflation. That means of course that social security will be cheated right along with all the other creditors. (Because of the government's fiscal irresponsibility there will no doubt have to be significant increases in the social security levy as well -- this might ultimately be as extreme as removing the income cap altogether.) Now returning to the medicare problem, it is my opinion that medicare is unsound because the US medical care delivery system operates as a government sanctioned cartel with tightly regulated access and no free competition. I don't like the idea of socialized medicine, but I do very much like the Obama approach which is basically a capitalist-free enterprise approach. The administrations plan, in contrast to the ridiculous way it has been characterized, is to introduce competition into the market place and take the first step toward breaking the cartel. More steps will be needed later of course. Passing the plan with the public option is absolutely critical to achieving the ultimate goal of bringing cost increases in line with those in the general economy. It is a rather well conceived program in my opinion, but if it passes without the public option it will be a goldmine for insurance companies and costs will rise rather than stabilize. Passing the public option is absolutely essential to cost control. If Obama should get the bill without a robust public option, I hope he will veto it.
On my wifes side there is this crazy hippy family that she has a distant relationship to. At a family function they were talking about the doom of global warming( one of them is a music professor at Hofstra I believe), they were also very fond of Obama-care. These are the only people I know who support it.
The Left is very much intent on destroying America. They want to march in as the conquering heroes with their Socialism when the collapse is finalized. I say they represent a lot of work for Mercenaries... the whole plan was kicked off before the failure of the Soviet and Chinese states was evident but somehow, they just keep on chugging along, the frigging Republicans are Marxists too and they don't even realize it...
Well if you could meet me in person that would be one, and I think its fair to say that Both obama and his wife would be for it, so there are at least three in favor out of 350 million or so. I very much like the original idea which was to introduce some competition with the public option but keep it strictly premium supported. I really like that innovative approach to bringing competition into the market -- it is a very capitalist, free enterprise idea.. I'm concerned, however, that the Obama plan will be so eviscerated by the time it gets to the Whitehouse that it will be worse than passing nothing. I am a capitalist that believes the only way capitalism can survive is if the government does its part to prevent corporations from establishing monopolies and cartels, which they naturally do if left to their own devices. And I have never understood why insurance companies were not brought under anti-trust laws years ago. One thing that has me puzzled is the opposition of the non-profit Blues. You would think that these kind public servants that operate these not for profit companies would be enthusiastic about a public option and be hoping that it would be so popular that they could get out of the public charity business altogether and go and do something they could make a profit at. It must be very disheartening to work so hard day after day and have only the good will of all those folks you've helped get well but not a lick of profit to show for it.
Piezoe, The only ones who support Oamacare specifically and Obama in general are those who cannot think for themselves. All they hear is âchangeâ and that is all they hear. They want and now expect a âfree lunch.â They feel they are entitled to the good life with no effort on their own. All things that are bad for our countryâs future to those with their eyes open. I suggest you widen your sphere of influence and talk to people who actually create jobs and own businesses and not the people who believe they deserve the good life and 100k a year for installing a bolt in a crappy car. Also ignore those who think it is societies job to take care of there every need. Those same business owners are the ones who are paying to help bring up the standard of living of the masses. Any successful businessperson who is not a socialist would agree with that IMHO. Only socialists increase taxes on those who create the jobs in a recession (hint business owners). It is a proven fact that 49 of 50 states have lost net jobs since the stimulus (that they didnât read had to be passed) and Obama was elected. A successful trader you would think certainly does not want to support those who wonât take care of themselves because self-sufficiency is one of our biggest mantras and benefits. I would respectfully ask you to think about what is and has been happening since he took office because it was obvious to those who could think themselves when he was campaigning what he planned to do if you could read between the lines. The funny part is some of those who elected him on faith and change are starting to realize he has no idea what he is doing. I know almost no one who supports him. I have yet to meet someone who can convince me with a logical argument supporting what he is doing is good for OUR future. Good trading. BM