Misguided government policies have already dealt vicious body blows to our economy, but that hasn’t stopped politicians this week from launching two new kicks to the groin: a national health insurance plan and a carbon emissions regulation system called “cap and trade.” Even if these plans could achieve their desired ends, which is highly unlikely, I would have hoped Washington would refrain from throwing more monkey wrenches into the economy until it shows some signs of resurgence. The last thing we need right now is to further encumber our economy with higher taxes and additional regulations.
The meteoric rise in health care costs, which has become an unending nightmare for U.S. businesses and consumers, is not an accident. This painful condition has arisen from excess government involvement in the system, tax provisions that encourage the over-utilization of health insurance, and government support of an out-of-control malpractice industry. Rather than allowing more bad policy to drive health care costs further upward, we should be looking at ways to allow market forces to rein them back in.
If left alone, the free market drives quality up and costs down. Government programs produce the opposite result. Despite the president’s claim that a federal plan will bring costs down, there is no historical precedent for such faith.
Simply providing more widespread health insurance, as the Obama plan offers, is not a solution. In fact, it will aggravate the problem. Since consumers no longer pay for routine medical expenses out of pocket, comprehensive health insurance creates a moral hazard for both patients and doctors. To maximize the value of the health insurance “benefit,” most workers opt for low deductibles and co-pays. Therefore, doctors learn that their patients are not concerned with the cost of care, and so they are free to bill insurance companies at the maximum allowable rates.
Given our current tax code, the simplest way to bring down medical costs would be to fully tax health care benefits as wages and simultaneously increase the personal deduction by an amount significant enough to neutralize the effect of the tax increase. This would do two things. First, the uninsured would get a huge pay increase, enabling them to buy reasonably priced catastrophic policies. Second, those currently insured could opt out of expensive employer-provided plans, trading premiums for extra wages, then buy a more economical plan. The savings would go right into their pockets.
The bottom line is that aggregate medical costs will never come down unless services are rationed more wisely. Rather than being used as a pre-payment plan for routine care, insurance should only cover unpredictable, catastrophic costs.
As a comparison, homeowners often carry fire insurance, but seldom maintenance insurance. You buy fire insurance to guard against a catastrophic loss, which is a low probability but high cost event. As a result, fire insurance is relatively affordable, since premiums paid by all those homeowners whose houses do not burn down more than pay for the losses on those few whose houses do.
On the other hand, no one carries home maintenance insurance to pay for a clogged drain or broken garage door. If insurance paid for the plumber visit every time a toilet overflowed, we would now have a plumbing crisis, and Congress would be looking to rein in runaway plumbing bills with “national plumbing insurance.”
In his press conference, President Obama claimed that government insurance would not drive private providers out of business. This is absurd. As the government provider will not have to produce a profit or accurately account for its contingent liabilities, it will provide insurance on an actuarially unsound basis. With taxpayer subsidies, the government provider can run losses indefinitely. If private insurers did this, they would either be shut down or go bankrupt. Therefore, the cost of government-provided health insurance will not be confined to the premiums paid, but will include the taxpayers’ bill to continually bail out the government provider.
When Medicare was first proposed back in 1966, it cost $3 billion per year, and the projection was for inflation-adjusted annual costs to rise to $12 billion by 1990. The actual cost in 1990 was $107 billion, and the 2009 estimate is a staggering $408 billion! So much for government estimates on health care.
As if this were not bad enough, today the House votes on “cap and trade” legislation. Disguised as an environmental bill, this proposal would merely be another gigantic tax. The lion’s share of the new revenue is already committed to politically connected special interests that will reap windfalls at everyone else’s expense. To make matters worse, the bill before Congress amounts to a blank slate, with the EPA empowered to draft the details in any manner they see fit. If Congress is going to shoot the economy in the knee, they should at least be required to pull the trigger themselves.
“Cap and trade” will do nothing to reduce pollution, yet it will drive up production costs throughout the economy – rendering us even less globally competitive that we are today. In addition to the huge cost of paying the tax, its enforcement involves the creation of an entire new bureaucracy, the costs of which will be borne by American consumers in the form of higher prices.
Years of reckless borrowing and spending have left us in a gigantic hole. Getting out of it requires that we make the most effective use of all available resources. We need labor and capital to operate as efficiently as possible so we can save and produce our way back to prosperity. Unfortunately, national health insurance and “cap and trade” are two steps in the wrong direction. Rather than getting us out of this hole, they will merely cave in the walls around us.
June 28th, 2009 at 9:27 am
It’s all written on toilet paper, none of it has any value!
Just keep staring at the pretty deck chairs!
June 28th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
“Misguided government policies have already dealt vicious body blows to our economy”
Hahha some reason after reading that I hear Mike Tyson’s punch Out, Body Blow Body Blow….
June 28th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
The CONservatives dealt the body blow to the economy with years of unbridled greed. Now, they are whining about caps on polluting our air and water because it might cut into CEO salaries and “gee, the rabble want health care-we can’t possibly afford that…” but we have to save the too big to fail monopolies that Reagan allowed. Wake up! PT Barnum said that you can fool some of the people, some of the time and some of the people all of the time. But, you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
LRRP 1968 Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 6:26 am
You are right, the so-called “conservatives” who are not anything of the sort started the rape. It only encouraged the whack-jobs we have running DC now.
They are NOT worried about lesser CEO salaries, are you kidding me? This will INCREASE CEO salaries when they run the last of our factories off to China, corporate profits will spike and they asswipes will rake it in by the Billions of dollars instead of hundreds of millions.
Meanwhile we’ll be in the dark starving because it will be illegal to put manure on the tomatoes in your garden, the the SWAT teams will be smashing your composter.
When they find out that riding a bicycle causes you exhale more CO2, that will be illegal too.
June 28th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
If I were selfish I’d be thrilled. My Eurpac account is way way up and the dividends are excellent , mine working out to about 17% annualized os far this year.
But as selfish as I can be I am so mad I am ready to storm DC. This will destroy what is left of this country
Mission Accomplished you traitorous scumbags. Your time will come and not by me, your adoring fans wil be the ones to suffer the most, the useful idiot democrat in the street will be out of a job and have no electrical power to watch TV, when then hypnosis wears off the msses you better watch out
June 28th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Brought to you by buddah
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|||||||||||PLEASE INFORM UR SENATORS OF THIS MAJOR FLAW IN THE BILL||||||||||
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car emissions are carbon monoxide NOT carbon dioxide.
but yet in section 711 page 530 in the 1092 page version it lists the greenhouse gasses.
carbon monoxide is not on the list so therefore cars dont pollute and this bill is unneseccary
please take thie time to read this urself in the bill but ive copied it and here it is
21 ‘‘(a) GREENHOUSE GASES.—For purposes of this title,
22 the following are greenhouse gases:
23 ‘‘(1) Carbon dioxide.
24 ‘‘(2) Methane.
25 ‘‘(3) Nitrous oxide.
VerDate Nov 24 2008 21:35 Jun 19, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00530 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2454.RH H2454 mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS
531
•HR 2454 RH
1 ‘‘(4) Sulfur hexafluoride.
2 ‘‘(5) Hydrofluorocarbons from a chemical manu3
facturing process at an industrial stationary source.
4 ‘‘(6) Any perfluorocarbon.
5 ‘‘(7) Nitrogen trifluoride.
6 ‘‘(8) Any other anthropogenic gas designated as
7 a greenhouse gas by the Administrator under this sec8
tion.
they saaid this bill was written with thwe help of scientists seems odd that they would leave out gasoline emmissions from the list of greenhouse gasses
June 28th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Where is the carbon monoxide?
June 29th, 2009 at 4:49 am
half of our useless government cant read let alone use a computer
June 29th, 2009 at 10:01 am
oh yeah for those who complained and wailed loudly about Bush, you aint seen nothin yet boys and girls with Obambi’s policys. with cap and trade/tax oil companies will have to import more oil. the left has left you wanting , and will not allow companies to drill in the US is a disgusting policy that will handcuff Amer. companys and people’s jobs. but the heck liberals just want you to all live in misery equally. but then rules dont apply to liberal elites.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
conservatives, demacraps ,republicians, liberal,left?,right?, how manny more names can you give criminals ? i myself are none of the above and will never be for these are the names of people that will burn in hell
June 30th, 2009 at 2:48 am
Prophecies of Thomas S. Gibson, Matthew Stephen, Tom Deckard, Dumitru Duduman, E. R. Lindsey and Chuck Youngbrandt (comments by me):
Bird flu kills millions, national quarantine declared (prepare by storing 3 to 6 months supply of food per person).
(False flag) terrorist attack hits 7 cities including NYC and Washington DC.
economic collapse, dollar collapse, high unemployment, food scarcity.
Riots and civil war in USA.
(North American Union with USA, Canada and Mexico, new Amero currency, new constitution, internet/free press/travel restricted, Homeland ID card or mark of the beast Homeland ID chip without which one cannot buy or sell, Christians, patriots, ex-military suspected as terrorists and interned or killed in FEMA concentration camps without trials. See Operation BlackJack.)
2 leaders in USA, 2 leaders in Europe and 2 leaders in Middle East are assasinated.
Bush Jr shot, Obama assasinated, Sarkozy assasinated.
WW3 starts by 2010.
US supports Israel in war probably with Iran, Syria and Lebanon.
US defends South Korea in North Korean war.
US defends Taiwan in Chineese invasion.
Exactly one year before great California earthquake where everything west of San Andreas fault falls into ocean causing world-wide tsunamis three signs will occur simultaneously 1) greatest Autstralian earthquake 2) Mediterranean volcano erupts causing tidal waves and 3) mild earthquake in California cracking wall of city halls of LA and San Francisco.
Great New Madrid earthquake empties Lake Michigan into Midwest and flows into Gulf of Mexico.
37 days after New Madrid earthquake, Russian subs nuke California, NY, Florida and Las Vegas.
Russia invades US from east, China and Japan from west, and Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua and others assist Russia/China/Japan in invasion.
70% of Americans die with earthquakes and war, USA occupied for 7 years after which USA wins back freedom with repentance of sins, godly leader, new invention and angelic help.
1/3 of humanity and 1/3 plants die from earthquakes, tsunamis and WW3.
The two witnesses, which are the church of Messiah and the man-child witness for 3.5 years in power and holiness after which the Syrian anti-christ put them to death for not taking the mark of the beast. The two witnesses are raised to life and many believe in Yahshua because of miracle.
Do not take mark of the beast or you will be judged by God severely and lose eternal life.
3.5 years later Yahshua returns to reign on earth as He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings
Preparation: Repent of sins and accept Yahshua ha’Maschiach as Lord and Savior, leave to places of refuge or leave America Babylon (Rev 18), store much food, medical supplies, consider buying solar panels, ham radio, water purifier, etc. and for dollar collapse consider buying physical gold, silver bullion/coins or investing in oil and food commodities BUT consider AVOIDING dollar, currencies undergoing quantative easing such as British pound, Japaneese Yen and Swiss franc, government bonds/bills, corporate bonds and stock market.
July 6th, 2009 at 1:32 am
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July 8th, 2009 at 9:01 am
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