Does affordable private health insurance exist? This question seems to no longer even be asked, with the assumption being made that it does not. However, economist Mark J. Perry points out that affordable private health insurance does in fact exist!
Go read his blog here. No really, if you haven't clicked the link to the left, then click this one. If you still haven't clicked yet, you are clearly too significantly influenced by the real "fear mongers", so have it as you will.
A “mixed economy” [socialism/capitalism] is a society in the process of committing suicide.
A nation cannot survive half-slave, half-free. Consider the condition of a nation in which every other social group becomes both the slave and the enslaved of every other group. Ask yourself how long such a condition can last and what its inevitable outcome will be.
Statism is a system of perpetual civil war. And that war in a “mixed economy” takes the form of “pressure group" warfare, each group fighting for legislation to extort its own advantage by force from all other groups.
STATISM is nothing more than gang rule.
We are already in a mixed economy. Giving the government control over another 1/6 of our economy tips the scales even further and the "pressure group warfare," as Rand calls it will only become greater and greater.
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
-10th Amendment to the US Constitution
How many of our legislators today even care that is this is one of the laws of our land?
Do you remember when President-elect Obama said his supposed "stimulus" package "will likely save or create three to four million jobs"? Today the US Department of Labor released October's unemployment statistics and it is not pretty. 10.2% unemployment is what the Keynesian stimulus has brought us. Obama claims he "created or saved" (as if you can actually calculate "saved") exactly 640,329 jobs. Okay, I'll give him that. Congratulations on blowing approximately $150-$200 billion of our dollars to reduce unemployment by about 0.4% (640,329 "saved or created" / 153.9MM workers)! The effect on employment of the President's destructive polices is far greater than even his own fuzzy-calculated 640,329 jobs number.
It is clear that the supposed stimulus and recovery package is neither. It must be repealed immediately. Hopefully we will see actual conservatives run for Congress this next election cycle that run on, amongst other things, repealing the stimulus pork package.
Graphically, here are two charts showing the unemployment rate under Obama's careful watch via Gateway Pundit:
Tuesday Diane Sawyer called out Al Gore on his global warming climate change whatever sounds best this week hypocrisy and Gore continued to lie without blinking (full transcript here). Unfortunately Sawyer didn't pursue the obvious question that should have come out of Gore's response.
After Sawyer referred to the finding in a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that methane is 20 times more damaging than CO2 (the report actually says 23 times more damaging), Gore respond:
Well, you know, there is a serious issue about the connection between the growing meat intensity of diets around the world and damage to the environment. That is a legitimate issue. And like a lot of people, I eat less meat now than I used to. I'm not a vegetarian, don't plan to become one, but it's a healthy choice to eat more vegetables than fruits. So it's not a laughable issue. Diet is an issue that's connected but the biggest issue by far is CO2.
So, to paraphrase, Al Gore basically said, "Blah blah blah. I hope you stopped paying attention so you don't hear what I'm actually going to say. Blah blah blah. I'm not going to stop eating meat even if methane is 23 times more damaging to the environment. Blah blah blah. Even though the UN says methane is 23 times more damaging the biggest issue by far is CO2 because that's how I make my fortune. Blah blah blah. . . ."
Of course, Sawyer didn't exactly start the interview on honest terms when she claimed early on that Al Gore "saved" 1,513 innocent little trees that could never be replanted. Except for the fact that had Al Gore's new book not been published, something essential like, I don't know, toilet paper could have used the recycled material that "saved" 1,513 trees. So in reality Gore's book removed resources from the market pool, which eventually did lead to 1,513 trees being ruthlessly slaughter, as there is not enough recyclable paper available to meet all paper needs. He is guilty of massacring 1,513 trees, though not directly. It's like he ordered the hit because he didn't want the blood (sap?) on his hands.
Look, I am all for Al Gore preaching his Earth doctrine using whatever fallacies he uses to sell it and making all the profit he can by doing it because I'm a capitalist and I believe in the consumer freely making their own choices. But the media being complicit in upholding his lies is just too much. Diane Sawyer started down the wrong path with the "trees saved", then tried to actually ask an honest question, but left Gore to preach his hypocrisy. With "questioning" like that from the World News Tonight anchor-elect, it is no wonder network news has a minimal audience these days. Which brings us back to consumer choices in what is left of our free market.
Maine is the 31st state to take gay "marriage" to the people and Maine is the 31st state whose people have rejected this special "right". It is very heartening to see the people of this country stand up for families and morality.
This morning I happened to read a quote from a man I revere as a prophet of God that is quite apropos:
And I, God said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man [not a separate man, but a complete man, which is husband and wife] in our image, after our likeness; and it was so.” What a beautiful partnership! Adam and Eve were married for eternity by the Lord. Such a marriage extends beyond the grave. All peoples should call for this kind of marriage. . . .
“This is a partnership. Then when they had created them in the image of God, to them was given the eternal command, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it’, and as they completed this magnificent creation, they looked it over and pronounced it ‘good, very good’—something that isn’t to be improved upon by our modern intellectuals; the male to till the ground, support the family, to give proper leadership; the woman to cooperate, to bear the children, and to rear and teach them. It was ‘good, very good.’
“And that’s the way the Lord organized it. This wasn’t an experiment. He knew what he was doing.”
The family as defined since the beginning of time is not an experiment. God knew exactly what he was doing when he blessed us with families. Regardless of the changing social winds, this is the standard. Thankfully the people of Maine are the latest to raise up in support of this standard.
It seems Americans continue to vote for the alternative for the alternative's sake. I'm not impressed. I will not be impressed until we send true conservatives with traditional American values to Washington. I think the Republican Party power brokers will see this as a shift in their direction. I believe they are wrong.
The true litmus test here will be if conservatives will vote with their beliefs. Doug Hoffman's rise from unknown conservative independent to nearly bucking the entire ridiculous two-party system should be seen by conservatives as the beginning, not the end due to his loss.
The time to follow through on the stand many of us have taken beginning with the tea parties is here. We must continue to support conservative candidates, not the Republicans or Democrats for the sake of their party affiliation. We can and we will win. If a goofy unknown guy like Doug Hoffman can come out of nowhere and nearly win a Congressional seat in New York, real conservatives and regular people like Hoffman can and will win all over the country.
Though I'm not impressed with Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell's election win, I am impressed with America by Doug Hoffman's 40%+ vote.
So repeat after me:
YOU ARE NOT WASTING YOUR VOTE WHEN VOTING YOUR CONSCIENCE!
Now say it again and again and again. Now practice it.
I don't particularly have time to write. I have a demanding job and a family. However, I feel like I have a duty to stand up for what I believe in, to stand for our freedom to choose our path. Therefore I will not be silent because what Thomas Jefferson said remains true:
"All tyranny need to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
"There is no practice more dangerous than that of borrowing money; for when money can be had in this way, repayment is seldom thought of in time, the interest becomes a loss, exertions to raise it be dent of industry cease, it comes easy and is spent freely, and many things [are] indulged in that would never be thought of if [they were] to be purchased by the sweat of the brow."
Does this sound familiar to what the government does with our money today?
From Americans for Tax Reform, this is a list of all the taxes this organizations has discovered in the 1900 page house bill with short descriptions and page numbers.
Employer Mandate Excise Tax (Page 275): If an employer does not pay 72.5 percent of a single employee’s health premium (65 percent of a family employee), the employer must pay an excise tax equal to 8 percent of average wages. Small employers (measured by payroll size) have smaller payroll tax rates of 0 percent (<$500,000), 2 percent ($500,000-$585,000), 4 percent ($585,000-$670,000), and 6 percent ($670,000-$750,000).
Individual Mandate Surtax (Page 296): If an individual fails to obtain qualifying coverage, he must pay an income surtax equal to the lesser of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) or the average premium. MAGI adds back in the foreign earned income exclusion and municipal bond interest.
Medicine Cabinet Tax (Page 324): Non-prescription medications would no longer be able to be purchased from health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs), or health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). Insulin excepted.
Cap on FSAs (Page 325): FSAs would face an annual cap of $2500 (currently uncapped).
Increased Additional Tax on Non-Qualified HSA Distributions (Page 326): Non-qualified distributions from HSAs would face an additional tax of 20 percent (current law is 10 percent). This disadvantages HSAs relative to other tax-free accounts (e.g. IRAs, 401(k)s, 529 plans, etc.)
Denial of Tax Deduction for Employer Health Plans Coordinating with Medicare Part D (Page 327): This would further erode private sector participation in delivery of Medicare services.
Surtax on Individuals and Small Businesses (Page 336): Imposes an income surtax of 5.4 percent on MAGI over $500,000 ($1 million married filing jointly). MAGI adds back in the itemized deduction for margin loan interest. This would raise the top marginal tax rate in 2011 from 39.6 percent under current law to 45 percent—a new effective top rate.
Excise Tax on Medical Devices (Page 339): Imposes a new excise tax on medical device manufacturers equal to 2.5 percent of the wholesale price. It excludes retail sales and unspecified medical devices sold to the general public.
Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting (Page 344): Requires that 1099-MISC forms be issued to corporations as well as persons for trade or business payments. Current law limits to just persons for small business compliance complexity reasons. Also expands reporting to exchanges of property.
Delay in Worldwide Allocation of Interest (Page 345): Delays for nine years the worldwide allocation of interest, a corporate tax relief provision from the American Jobs Creation Act
Limitation on Tax Treaty Benefits for Certain Payments (Page 346): Increases taxes on U.S. employers with overseas operations looking to avoid double taxation of earnings.
Codification of the “Economic Substance Doctrine” (Page 349): Empowers the IRS to disallow a perfectly legal tax deduction or other tax relief merely because the IRS deems that the motive of the taxpayer was not primarily business-related.
Application of “More Likely Than Not” Rule (Page 357): Publicly-traded partnerships and corporations with annual gross receipts in excess of $100 million have raised standards on penalties. If there is a tax underpayment by these taxpayers, they must be able to prove that the estimated tax paid would have more likely than not been sufficient to cover final tax liability.
Everyone will pay. So much for that class warfare campaign promise.
The commentaries expressed on this blog are the sole opinions of Scott A. Robinson, unless otherwise cited. No copying or reproduction of any content here without proper citation, photographic or otherwise, is authorized. Please email Scott if you wish to reproduce his work.
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