Day: October 27, 2009

When All Else Fails…..Tax The Bastards!

Daily Agitator

Thirty years ago when the government started its assault on tobacco, I said then that we have not seen the end of it if it was to be successful…..back in the day, I did not think that any bad would come to the tobacco industry for they had the “clout”…I was mistaken….and then they came for trans fats….and again I was mistaken……now they are coming at sugar….in the form of a tax on the sodas and such……

And back during the start of the tobacco tax, I said, that if they succeeded then there would be NO stopping them elsewhere….looks like I was a seer and did not know it…..

And then I was listening to the news on XM Radio and heard the magic word, Tax”  and this time they were calling for a tax on red meat….atr first I thought I was once again mistaken….after a little Googling for the helluva it I found this on taxmeat.com:

PETA is calling on members of Congress to support a “sin” tax on meat. Why? Among other reasons, meat is the number one cause of global warming, a looming environmental disaster that threatens the United States with billions of dollars in damages from rising sea levels, worsening storms, and increased droughts. A tax on meat would help prevent future global warming-related natural disasters by encouraging a decrease in meat consumption.

A 10-cent tax on every pound of chicken, turkey, pig, fish, and cow flesh sold in grocery stores and restaurants would also help reduce Americans’ skyrocketing annual health care costs by encouraging people to eat less meat. According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians are less prone than meat-eaters to develop heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer or to become obese. Revenue from the tax could be used to fund education programs about the health and environmental benefits of reducing meat consumption.

There goes the burgers on the barbie thingy!

Okay, dipsticks…when is enough enough?  I would have said that this was not possible….but then I think back to my disbelief on the tobacco tax so many years ago and I wonder…..

I wonder where all this intervention in people’s personal lives and decisions will cease….just like the seatbelt thing…Americans want to drive 80 mph into a tree and walk away….they are trying to protect people from themselves…..who and when did we give them this option?

Once again I would like to ask where will this stop?  What will be next?  Salt is bad for your health, when will it be the next thing in the bull’s eye of taxes?

Obama Pounces On Health Insurance Lobby

And if you believe that piece of fantasy, then I have some land in Florida that I will sell by the gallon…..

Recently the insurance lobby left the fold, so to speak, and issued a report saying that if the Baucus bill or one similar is passed then insurance premiums will go up and very considerably.  This report has been proven to be erroneous but it is still quoted as gospel by those on the Right.  This report is about as reliable as those coming from the Lewin Group, which is funded by the insurance industry…so to say that their findings would be cooked is an understatement.

In his defense Obama hit the airways:

This is the unsustainable path we’re on, and it’s the path the insurers want to keep us on. In fact, the insurance industry is rolling out the big guns and breaking open their massive war chest – to marshal their forces for one last fight to save the status quo. They’re filling the airwaves with deceptive and dishonest ads. They’re flooding Capitol Hill with lobbyists and campaign contributions.  And they’re funding studies designed to mislead the American people. […]

It’s smoke and mirrors. It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, “Take one of these, and call us in a decade.” Well, not this time. The fact is, the insurance industry is making this last-ditch effort to stop reform even as costs continue to rise and our health care dollars continue to be poured into their profits, bonuses, and administrative costs that do nothing to make us healthy – that often actually go toward figuring out how to avoid covering people. And they’re earning these profits and bonuses while enjoying a privileged exception from our anti-trust laws, a matter that Congress is rightfully reviewing.

Which his statements made me smile….why?…..he is attacking the industry for our behalf…but is he?

He has waffled on his statement in the past, that he would NOT sign a bill that did not have a public option in it…..now he saying that it is not necessary for a reform bill but that he would prefer that it contained an option.

There is more…..the Congress seems to be reluctant to lift the anti-trust exemption of insurance companies that give them a virtual free ride to run rough shod over the consumer.  This exemption allows insurance to be a virtual monopoly which in turn allows them to control the health insurance market…lets them fix prices, eliminate competition and make obscene profits with no need to justify the mistreatment of the insured.

Now that there is a bill in the Senate with a public option (well, sort of) the question now is, will the White House and the Dems truly go after the insurance anti-trust exemption?  If they do I am sure it will be the same sort of watered down bill that gave us the “public option”.  The industry has too much money on the buying of friends in the Congress to ever let something like this get in their way.