Day: October 30, 2009

Has GOP Finally Found A Hook?

Looks like the GOP has found that long elusive hook for their opposition to any health reform…..took the dimwits long enough…..they seem to have stumbled onto the “hook” finally….

All summer long they were shooting their wads at reform….death panels…..socialism….government run……fascism…..on and on….a whole litany of non-existent fears….and with each “new” attack the party would pull a few more people from the rolls of the pro-reform camp.

After a long summer of craziness…..that elusive issue has made it to their attacks……

I know…..I know…..would I please get to the point and stop dragging this out…..what the Hell did they find that would help their cause and attacks on health reform?

One word…ABORTION!

But I bet you thought that that issue had been settled earlier in the summer, right?  Think again!  The NY Times is reporting in yesterday’s edition:

Abortion opponents in both the House and the Senate are seeking to block the millions of middle- and lower-income people who might receive federal insurance subsidies to help them buy health coverage from using the money on plans that cover abortion. And the abortion opponents are getting enough support from moderate Democrats that both sides say the outcome is too close to call. Opponents of abortion cite as precedent a 30-year-old ban on the use of taxpayer money to pay for elective abortions.

With each attack, whether true or misleading, more and more Americans are being peeled off of the side of change….and as this happens, it appears that the country could be moving into a more conservative posture…(a future post in the making)….but will this issue bring down the health reform bill?  Probably not, but stranger things have happened…..abortion was attempt to be used this past summer and the Dems adjusted their wording to silence the opposition on the matter, but now……it is BACK!

But with that said…it needs to be pointed out that they, Republicans,  were standing on the pier and the ship went right pass them….they missed the boat and continue to miss the boat….

But after a summer of calling Dems socialists/Nazis/Death dealers/etc…..a whole litany of lies and misinformation…letting the conservs on radio and TV lead the opposition and to set the agenda…..I have but one thing to say to the GOP…….

Are you dipsticks ignorant or just plain stupid?  Why do I ask?  All the bills that have come out of both chambers and all the committees have increased taxation…..I mean you idiots tried to scare the public with made up crap….why not use something that really exist?  Like…….. TAXES!

If this is the best you morons can do…then the Dems do not have a whole lot to worry about in 2010……I mean if you cannot use one of your tired old attacks, especially when it would be spot on for a change, then maybe you need to make the talking heads on the air waves your leaders….because the ones you have no are IMPOTENT!

GOP Bitch Slaps AARP

As I approach my twilight years (always wanted to use that term) I am bombarded with ads and flyers and deals and on and on……..from the King of the elderly….AARP…..I have resisted joining because of the TV ads for their Medicare plan …..somehow it does not sit well with me that they are pushing United Health, which is one of the biggest screwers of the consumer…..

CQ Politics is reporting:

House Republicans trying to thwart Democrats’ plans for a health care overhaul are questioning the motives of AARP, the 40-million-member seniors’ organization that the GOP accuses of putting its own interests ahead of its members’.By attacking AARP, the Republicans are wagering that seniors who fear that proposed changes to Medicare will hurt them can be turned into a potent force against an overhaul — even if their biggest advocacy group is friendly to many of the Democrats’ ideas.

House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana and Dave Reichert, R-Wash., fired new salvos at AARP. Reichert said that the group, which collects royalties when its members buy AARP-endorsed coverage from private insurers, is helping Democrats kill off a private-sector version of Medicare called Medicare Advantage so it can collect more commissions from seniors who would be forced to find new arrangements.

I truly wish I could come to the defense of AARP in this matter…..but alas…I cannot…

A New “Robber Baron”?

Recently I gave a lecture nad we had a helluva battle of words…..it seems those students studying finance believe that what is best for business id best for the country….I did not agree and a war of ideas ensued…..

I tried to point out that we have seen all this financial tap dancing before….back at the century of the 20th century they were called “robber barons”……

Robber baron is a term that revived in the 19th century in the United States as a reference to businessmen and bankers who dominated their respective industries and amassed huge personal fortunes, typically as a direct result of pursuing various anti-competitive or unfair business practices. The term may now be used in relation to any businessman or banker who is perceived to have used questionable business practices or scams in order to become powerful or wealthy (placing them in power of everything having controlled most business affairs.)

A pretty good definition and thought I would ask……sound familiar?

What many on Wall Street do not realize that Main Street is getting more angry with every new deal that they see coming out of Washington….they see the wealthy getting wealthier while the people struggle and fail dealing with their lives…..they (the people) see businesses that made awful decisions get money to make the same type of decisions again….while Main Street gets a foreclosure notice….Main Street sees the politicians covering Wall Streets butt while they in turn screw the people in the same region of the body.

And the financial media desperately tries to convince Main Street daily that all is well within the economy…..and in the same voice tells Main Street that there is NO consumer confidence……

All this leads one to believe that their is a new generation of Robber Barons that are manipulating the economy for their benefit and the people pay the price in their daily lioves as well as the bailouts that have done NOTHING to help Main Street.

And there is Washington…..NOTHING is being done on the scale of the bailouts of the wealthy for Main Street…..the anger persists and is growing…but will the people forget all this suffering once the economy rebounds?  My guess is they will forget…..until the Robber Barons find another way to make more money, put the economy in jeopardy and gets their pound of flesh from the taxpayer……..NOTHING changes…they just re-label it and try to hide the fact that the wealthy get the gold and the people get the shaft (to resurrect an old saying).

A Robber Baron by any other name is still a thief!  And Wall Street is full of thieves!