Most of us are focused on the wrong things. Of course, Republicans and governors need to object to the requirement that we purchase government-approve products (i.e., from a government-approved insurance program). We do not have any choice but to challenge that and win, because otherwise, the federal government can require us to do anything. However, do not think this worries Obama or Pelosi. They could care less. There are several economic points of dishonesty in the healthcare bill that was just passed. It does not concern the President or the Speaker of the House what happens financially because of this bill. If we are not required to carry insurance, fine. They can live with that. They do not care if this is paid for. Don’t think for a second that being financially responsible is a part of their thought process.
Almost every contract I have signed has a severability clause, which means, if paragraph 4c of section II is determined to be unenforceable (or, in the case of this healthcare bill, if the government cannot force us to buy insurance), the rest of the contract remains intact. Democrats, for the most part, were not concerned about paying for this bill in the first place (hence the phoney claim that a half trillion would be taken out of Medicare in order to pay for half of this bill), similarly, the requirement that we buy insurance as a means of paying for this bill is not of any concern to them. That was how they got the private insurance companies onboard. “Look, we are going to make 30 million people buy your product; you like that, right?” So the insurance companies, for the most part, signed onto Obamacare, despite all of Obama’s angry anti-insurance company rhetoric.
Combined with this mandate are low fines; and, according to at least one source, the enforceability of the insurance mandate is weak, and perhaps non-existent (I have heard it both ways here).
Here’s the end game—encourage people to drop their insurance, encourage employers to drop their insurance, put budget busting requirement on insurance companies, so that, in less than 5 years, most of them will be put out of business.
What does the government do then with the remaining handful of insurers? They take them over. “Listen, you obviously do not know what you are doing; free enterprise has failed again; so we need to take you over. Besides, here is a lot of taxpayer money.” It is what the government did to FNMA, FHLMC, and to GM. Obama’s end-game is for the government to get its fingers into everything it can in just a few years.
There is something else in this bill which is essentially being ignored—the CBO claims that, in the second 10 years, there will be a trillion dollar plus going into the treasury. Now, if, in the first 10 years, there is only $138,000 increase to the treasury for approximately 6 years of benefits (a phoney number), how can this healthcare bill do better in the second decade? How can that be?
Easy—the costs are shifted over to the states. So, we will be dramatically taxed by the federal government for this healthcare bill; and then, the cost will be laid upon the states as an unfunded mandate, so that we will be taxed by the states to pay for this! Essentially, we will be double-taxed to pay for this bill. The state taxes will have to kick in when the states assume the cost of Obamacare.
What happens next? The states cannot borrow to pay for these new costs. They either raise taxes way beyond what we are used to (doubling our state taxes could happen); or they throw themselves at the mercy of the federal government, which is still taking in all of the taxes originally set up to pay for this.
State governments will go broke, drive their constituents broke, and private insurance companies will fold like we have never seen before.
What’s left to do? The federal government steps in to rescue the states, and moves toward a single-payer system.
Anyway, that is the plan, and that is why President Obama was able to sign Dennis Kucinich and the rest or the radical left onto this bill—they know the end game.
What I have described here is, what would happen as long as the Democrats maintain control of all of this. Obviously, this chess game becomes more complex when the other size moves its own chess pieces. The hope is, on the Democratic side is, Republicans do not repeal this bill; and Republicans fund the programs in the bill. When they don’t, they will be portrayed as being on the side of the insurance companies and not on the side of the people.
A retired math teacher who spends most of his time exegeting the Old Testament and, once a week, puts out an ezeen.
We do not have any choice but to challenge that and win, because otherwise, the federal government can require us to do anything. However, do not think this worries Obama or Pelosi. They could care less.
And how, pray tell, are we to “win”? Given the USSC turned it’s back on contractual law last year when they endorsed the White House plan to by-pass the legal holders of Chrysler’s bonds in favor of the lazy-good-for-nothing UAW workers, I’m all ears on how we’re going to “win”.
Even more ominous is if the government can require you to purchase something i.e. health care then does it logically follow that the government can also determine “who can and who can’t purchase something”? Does that sound familiar? http://www.sosssn.blogspot.com/
Better to die on our feet than live on our knees. How far do they want to push this? Would they be happy if the country were greatly weakened or destroyed in the struggle? Maybe.
Good points Gary. I agree, we conservatives just can’t argue about the financial part of this … it’s that it is super-constitutional if not unconstitutional, it goes against everything this country has stood for ( until Wilson ) and it must be undone.
The shear logic of this bill make no sense and therefore the ONLY conclusion can be made, it’s all cooked into the plan. Total undoable load of mandates and taxes and loopholes… by design, to unhinge the system.
The GOP must run on and deliver a sweeping agenda of aggressive repeal. Hit the democrats hard on everything and anything and no more across-the-isle crap. It’s time to fight for what is correct and right and fight back. Repeal of this bill, and if it gets vetoed, then cram through some stuff that will delay it until we can gain the POTUS in 2012.
The country is prepared for the GOP to get elected and buy our country time… by somehow stopping this cabal outright, or impeding their rush to ruin our country. This means blocking judicial appointments, adding amendments to must-pass spending bills that do damage to democrat projects, etc.
I do see a disconnect between what the mood is out here and what the GOP is picking up on. It’s time for aggressive push-back politics. This politics should be based upon principle. The constitution of the Untied States. Not so heavy on financial responsibility,… that is obviously part of it, but it is the pillars of freedom and responsibility and small government.
As a goal, I think a strong dialogue should be on what has occurred to our country since Wilson and FDR… and Johnson,… that big-government takeover of our daily lives might have had good intentions, but they’ve been ruinous for most and are unworkable going forward.
We need to have an active discussion on how whole segments of our citizens have been lured into feeding at the trough…. and that a lot of the rest of us are paying for it. So the politicians who set this all up are going to fight, and a lot of the citizens who like the way the systems has been working out for them are going to cry and wail. For them, they don’t want freedom and liberty if it means honest work or depending on family for help.
And then there is the media… always a helpful siren of doom and lies that work hand in hand with the lack of education from the last 30 years in school about our country and the American ideals.
yippie21 —
If you believe that people should not be forced to buy health insurance, then I am sure you are in agreement that hospitals and physicians should not be forced to provide any health care to the uninsured since, in 99% of the situations, they will not be able to pay the $163,944.78 bill from their car accident and seven days hospitalization.
You cons are not willing to give up the benefits of the current unfair system (where the uninsured get heath care that the rest of us pay for), but you want none of the detriments (i.e., insurance mandates) that go with keeping the system from complete collapse. You are arguing, in essence, that the U.S. Constitution gives you a constitutional right to gravy-train on the insured. Er, no, I don’t think so . . . .
You have some good points, but you might be over thinking this a tad.
Remember who these people are, where they came from and what is important to them.
The leaders of the party are from the sixties or were responsible for teaching the slightly younger generation the mantra of the sixties. Some of the people in charge today hate this nation- period. Mucking it up would tickle them.
The radicals on the left are broken up into two major sectors. The ideologues (west coast/east coast mostly), and the Chicago machine union backed center. The controlling group is the Chicago Machine who are, by far, the most corrupt bunch of thieves you can imagine. Even Capone would say, “I’d wouldn’t do that if I were you.” as the group execute the biggest robbery in the history of the nation. The left is out of money. No money for the unions, no money for their pockets, no money to pay for all the programs that guarantee voter loyalty. So, they are in the process of stealing money from the Treasury (your taxes, your children’s taxes, etc.) and they want to steal the money out of the healthcare industry and replace it with IOU’s that will never be honored. They’ll use the cash to keep up the Ponzi scheme for just a little longer.
Many of the professional politicians on both sides of the aisle are going along with it. Can you imagine a day when the checks quit coming? They can and it scares them to death. When I wrote the novel “REVOLT” (www.revoltthebook.com) that was one of the critical elements needed for some members of the Congress to become compliant and go along with the rogue President’s plans.
See, they know what we know. When the checks quit coming or the money is inflated to the point it is almost worthless, people get hungry. And when they get hungry enough they’ll go looking for the food or money to buy the food. Only the upper elites will have plenty of both. As much as I make fun of lawyers and politicians, and for good reason, even they got the basics behind the French Revolution and if did slip by them, today’s Greece didn’t.
During wartime a President has UNLIMITED powers including control of the economy
We can continue to be a humane society, and provide emergency health services to any who need them. What we don’t have to do is allow people to declare bankruptcy on the bills for those services.
If an individual doesn’t carry insurance and they get into a situtation that requires services, they may find that their restored health carries a debt that is inescapable. We don’t need mandates to get people to buy insurance, we need realistic incentives.
That boo hoo anecdotal story about the boy needing services that needed $15,000 worth of medical care, and immediately contemplating bankruptcy to avoid the bill, would think twice about their priorities in life if they couldn’t file for bankruptcy in such instances. And if it is a child uner age 18, that bill would follow the parents, not the child.
Now, B-Rob the Liar, Waster of Air and Time… be a good little dumb ass and go build your utopian socialist co-op
I shouldn’t waste my typing, but in response to B-Rob, look, The system as-is, is largely a reflection of regulation that grew out of LBJ’s Great Society and the Federal Government involvement. Why is Health insurance not allowed to be sold throughout the country? Why limited to states?
Mandates. The Federal Government mandates to many things to doctors and providers. The uninsured? How many of these folks are doing without fast food, a TV, air-conditioning? Most folks without insurance have made conscious choices to go into jobs that do not offer coverage, or stay in jobs that don’t offer coverage… they choose not to buy premiums when offered and they know all along, if something bad happens, the system is now set up that if you have some money, you’ll have to pay. If you don’t, you don’t.
So we have a lot of truly needy folks mixed in with an entire class that know that they’d be foolish to buy insurance or save up some money, because the Feds will provide for them, as long as they don’t have anything …on paper. They’ll get food stamps and credits and school lunches/breakfasts/dinners for their kids.. they’ll get rent help too.
So the system is perverse… it holds a whole class of people down… they’re doing what is prudent.. why save up money and buy insurance and try to work out of the hole you’re in? As soon as the Government finds you crawling out… all your assistance stops.
This must all stop. If we stop the subsidies; if we enact true reform that will promote folks to move up ( like the Clinton Welfare reforms of the late 90’s) then folks will do what makes sense. All this big government health care stuff is a double-down on all that has gone wrong with the great society. It is ruinous and causes great damage to the fabric of our country.
It separates out those that are working and paying taxes supporting a larger and larger class of under-employed/ unemployed class of individuals that suckle at the teat of all, controlled by the Government…. as long as they vote the right people into power,.. over and over.
Tort reform. Entitlement reform. Federal Government curtailed.
Still with the seminar talking points, BRob. Sad.
How about you lefties volnteer at an emergency room in a trauma center for a few nights? When you see the volume of drunks, druggies, illegals, etc. coming in you may grow up and realize medicine is expensive due to liberal’s behaviors more than anything.
BTW. Those of us in the field are sick of it. Can you take care of yourself? Get ready for a flood of healthcare professionals to call it quits rather than be a part of the left wing nightmare called Obamacare.