Day: March 2, 2010

The Meeting Of Minds

We had the health summit or should we call it the “Bullsh*t At Blair House”?  It was a joke on the American people……NOTHING…I repeat….NOTHING! was accomplished with the exception of a reiteration of talking points that have been thrown around for almost a year…..NOTHING was ever to be accomplished in this massive waste of time and energy….If only the American people had cared enough to pay attention…….

Do you remember back in ’08 and the election between Obama and McCain….they both had a plan for health care….Obama’s went up in smoke in the past year and then there was McCain’s….in case you forgot…let me refresh your memory…..

OVERALL. Begin taxing employer-sponsored health benefits as income, instead providing a tax credit of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to increase incentives for insurance coverage. Contain costs through payment changes to providers and tort reform.

INSURANCE POOLS. Work with states to create a federally supported Guaranteed Access Plan for people denied coverage due to pre-existing medical conditions. Financial assistance would go to those below a certain income leve

CHANGES TO PRIVATE INSURANCE. Promote competition by allowing insurance to be sold across state lines. Encourage multiyear insurance products.

COST CONTAINMENT. Adopt malpractice reforms that limit frivolous lawsuits and excessive damages. Promote less expensive alternatives such as walk-in clinics in retail outlets. Invest in prevention and care of chronic illnesses. Increase competition by permitting the sale of nationwide insurance not regulated by states.

COST OF THE REFORMS. $1.3 trillion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center; campaign says cost containment measures will pay for it.

Read over it……I case you missed it….McCain’s plan sounds a lot like the Senate bill….and yet he can find nothing that he can support….so was he lying during the campaign?  Or maybe he just follows others lead?  Anyway, this shows just how STUPID the whole debate thing so far…..

There is more……I have heard Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as the new face of the GOP and an economic whiz kid…I have even heard some pundits say that this is the future of the GOP and the fiscal conservatism…..is that so?  Well this piece from the American Conservative:

An alternative budget proposal submitted by Congressman Paul Ryan (Wis.), the House Budget Committee’s Republican ranking member, would increase the federal budget deficit even more than President Obama’s bloated budget — nearly $1 trillion more — according to a February 24 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Ryan’s “alternative policy scenario” would make no serious spending cuts, but it would institute three new tax cuts. CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf explained to Ryan that “the three changes to the tax policy assumptions are estimated to increase deficits relative to the baseline projections by $9 billion in 2010 and $3.4 trillion over the 2011-2020 period, mostly from lower revenues but also from increased outlays for refundable tax credits.”

Ironically, the House Republican website boasts its “Alternative Budget” for last year’s budget (fiscal 2010) would spend less than Obama. “Under the Republican plan, deficits are $3.3 trillion lower for the 10-year budget period and fall below 3.0 percent of GDP over the 10-year period.” Ryan also postured against the recent vote to increase the national debt by $1.9 trillion, claiming:

We know irrefutably we’re going to bequeath this mountain of deficit and debt onto the next generation. Both of our parties share in the blame. No one party corners a virtue on fiscal responsibility. But we’re going to together have to come down here and fix this problem once and for all, and this doesn’t do it. This bill raises the debt limit by $1.9 trillion. It’s a fiscal cop-out so that we can talk tough in the election about how we did this and that, while we bequeathed the next generation an inferior standard of living.

Can the mental midgets now see just how moronic all this partisan bullsh*t is?  What part of the two sections above do you NOT understand?  Please let me know and I will try to make you understand those parts in doubt…..

It Is All Entitlement’s Fault

Inkwell Institute

Budget Deficit Series #1

We all know by now that the #1 buzzword is DEFICIT around the Hill….Repubs and some Dems are talking and talking and are saying nothing constructive….that is why we have to have a “commission” to find an answer to the problem….

The answer is just so simple….WE SPEND TOO MUCH…….but the solution will be the same as always…they will recommend cuts in social services and entitlements….do not they always have the same answers?

Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are the problem areas, according to the conservatives….the entitlements are spinning out of control……reform them and all will be fine……sound familiar?

Yep, the Repubs have been trying to kill entitlements since the day they became law…..they keep chipping away at them with the help of the Dems and soon we can kiss any entitlement programs good-bye…..

It amuses me that defense spending is NEVER considered when cuts or reform is talked about…..

Here is an idea…..with about a trillion dollars spent on war, that money could be spent sure up entitlements…but then that would be wrong because defense contracts are the life’s blood of America……I mean $60 toilet seats and $100 hammers are fine and needed, at least according to those people that keep scaring the public about national security…….

It is sad that ANY representative of the people would consider attacks on the citizens and services provided for them as in the best interest of the country……but then the middle class has NEVER been really important to the Repubs….only in slogans and campaigns once elected they are there just as an obstacle to be overcome…..or ignored……

Think I am mistaken?  Then watch the recommendations that will come out of the newest presidential commission on the deficit…then tell me that I am wrong…..