First off, the economy is on it's way to recovery and it's because of the stimulus (which I was against but understood at the time that the public could not stomach the consequences of not passing the stimulus). Has it created jobs? Yes it has and that's why unemployment and job losses have slowed considerably since the recession began. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/economy-recovering-paulson-greenspan-agree-2010-02-07 Second, when the economy is stagnate or declining it's standard policy for governments to stimulate the economy with government programs, jobs, and initiatives, all of which require more than usual in government spending. In a thriving economy it is also standard policy for the government to cut back on it's own spending and to reign in costs, something the Bush administration failed to do (which is why government spending under him sky rocketed). http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aFUXFe61jqYQ Pay attention to the date of this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/23/b...-have-helped-ease-recession.html?pagewanted=1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficit_spending Thirdly, Obama does want to let Bush's tax cuts (which at the time the CBO estimated would cause about a trillion dollar deficit) expire, however, he only wants to let it expire on those making $150-$250k or more. So no taxes will not be raised. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-budget-lets-bush-tax-cuts-expire-2010-02-01 And lastly, Obama has already proposed a government spending freeze starting in October of this year to address the growing deficit issue. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/25/AR2010012503549.html Are there competing view points? Yes, are they the mainstream view points? I'd say no. It's pretty easy complain about Obamas time line of getting things done/fixed especially when you are the one that created the mess in the first place.
(tac...)No need to get defensive. I'm not pro-bama. I'm not pro health care legislation either. I have read the 3001 (read the legislations refered to in texts also) pages of the last legislation attempt. I understand enough of it to know that it's not being drafted with the American public in mind, nothing ever is now days. What needs to happen is never ever going to happen. Namely: malpractice insurance, pharmaceuticals, health insurance, hospital profit margins....all need oversight and regulation. I don't even care what side of the isle weakend and/or eliminated the healthcare cost safeguards. But something needs to be done to stop the spiraling costs. What is being proposed is nothing short of a theft by congress in favor of fattening already deep pockets. We need to fire the ass hats and fire them fast before we have no ability to do so. I'm sick of watching the trusted ( I use that term extreemly loosely) officials do nothing more than exasserbate an intolerable situation by being part of the problem and not addressing any of the issues that are the causes and cionditions. PS: paying for anything that comes down the pike from here on out is up to you and your's. Because this work-fingers-to -the-bone guy is tapped out for the rest of my days. The stimulous did nothing to improve my situation and the only jobs created in Oregon are in the way of not firing state employees, therefore counted as jobs created. Our state has eaten up every stimulous resource for it's own jobs.....all filled internally BTW. IMHO: anyone that believes the stimulous has helped, is not living on the margins and hasn't even experienced any of the fubarred economics yet. Clue: it's all bullshit....standard issue bullshit. I wouldn't be surprised that the government is making serious bank selling seats on those big assed ships being built in china http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tLTb4P1HD8
For better or worse I think you're right. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100321/NEWS0108/303210022/Driehaus Yes on health care I guess Obama was able to either nix the abortion thing totally or convince them it'll change later. For cincy it's bad news. I like Driehaus (Dem) but hate Chabot (Rep). This probably means that Chabot will return next election. Oh and if anyone gets bored, read the comments on the cincinnati.com article. We have some serious racists or trolls in this town.
we'll destroy ourselves before: [video=youtube;5tLTb4P1HD8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tLTb4P1HD8[/video]
He is issuing an executive order saying that no government subsidies are allowed for abortions. That was already in the bill but not good enough for Stupak, so Obama will issue an executive order which basically reinforces what's already in the bill.
As long as healthcare is going to be mandetory, what keeps healthcare costs in check? Yeah, this will help......the healthcare industry. Mandetory auto insurance did nothing to control costs, why should this be any different? Nothing is going to be done to address the causes. Just another bandaid for a festering wound. Now the industry doesn't have to worry about being regulated with cost controls to bring costs down. I forsee another bailout in the making. FYI: I am not a republican or democrat. I'm against this sham because it does nothing to solve anything that's seriously wrong with our healthcare.
That's been my take on the whole government for years now. may I interest you in a foil hat? The 'classic' is on sale this week only.
Patience! It takes baby steps to get it right, despite what others may have you believe, this was just a small step in the overall big picture of health care reform. Very few Americans will start to feel/see the affects of this bill until 2014. If costs continue to rise then the alternatives will be a public option and hopefully a single payer option. But you are correct, there are a lot of things to fix in the health care biz. Hospitals overcharge patients all the time and insurance companies pay them with no questions asked. Medicare and medicade fraud is also a big issue as well as tort reform. There is plenty of work to be done for sure but what work or progress has there been done in the past to address the rising costs of health care?
David Frum, a conservative who gets it: http://www.frumforum.com/waterloo That said, this bill isn't perfect but it's a step in the right direction.
Nobody who supports the bill has still answered my question. If the patriot act was bad enough to get your blood pressure up then why isn't the IRS holding your personal and medical information just as bad (especially with the person who's running it)?
I'm not a huge fan of Frum, after he dismantled the old fiscal conservative movement and brought us "neo-conservatism", but he totally got it right there. The winners are the talking heads who make their money stoking the irrational anger of their listeners in the hate-talk echo chamber. I'm not a fan of the amount of money this will cost, but toward the end, I was hoping they would pass it just to spite all those idiots out there who don't even know really what they are against in this bill, but don't mind being used as yelling heads to be put in front of cameras, to stoke the fever of the echo chamber further. I don't care if the IRS knows I'm having treatements for boils on my bumm, but I don't want them to know because of a spycam in my ceiling watching me while I fap!
I think I agree. I'd like to see more taxes levied on the top 5% earners though; their effective tax rate is lower than someone making 60-200k. It's pretty disgusting. The middle class shouldn't have to pay for this.
The IRS will have your medical information? Citation please. The bill does send a good chunk of money towards the IRS but it's used for several things; first it helps the IRS to enforce the insurance mandate, second it is used to calculate who qualifies for affordability credits.
Hey, look. Even Ben Stein, former speechwriter for Nixon (you know, the guy who with Henry Kaiser set this whole health insurance crap in motion), supports what this bill is doing:
I'm re-reading a summary of the bill now trying to find things I like about it. As a former Russian general said when NATO was moving into their former territories "When the prospect for rape is inevitable, might as well lay back and try to enjoy it."
You're not going to answer the question? Every person is going to be required to have an elec. stored medical record by 2014. Will everyone's record be there, maybe not and certainly not in 2014/2015. But if you think the IRS won't have access to that information soon after, you're naive. Are they going to audit everyone when people fill out their tax returns next year?
^^^ Which is all fine and good, I think everybody supports every one of those measures (with possibly the exception of covering kids until age 26, WTF?). Anyway, the real issue is how we're going to pay for it, and who is going to pay for it. Because don't fool yourself, the total cost of the bill will balloon. The estimates are conservative, and the insurance companies are going to pass these costs on in some way. My guess is that my premiums are going to go through the roof.
Insurance will not, repeat, will not, suffer a blow to the bottom line.That's what us taxpayers are for.....to take the hit. I gotta baaaaad bad feeling about this one.
