Emperor's Rants and Observations

Our spending problem is the bloated Military Budget, Corporate Subsidies, tax advantages for the rich, and preferential treatment of some types of income over income earned by labor.

We also have an income problem. We have the lowest federal tax rates since 1950. Tax cuts made the rich richer, the poor poorer, and the middle class in insurmountable debt. Lower taxes didn’t create jobs or strengthen the economy, at least not in the U.S. We need new tax brackets for each millionaires and billionaires.

The rabid right is willing to destroy the economy, push us into default on our debt in order to further their political goal of preventing election of Obama to a second term. That has been their sole goal from day one, at any cost to America or Americans.

Cutting government spending now will be disastrous for the private sector. “Why cutting government spending now would be disastrous.” http://bit.ly/bvTEuS

There are other alternatives as well: Budget of the Congressional Progressive Caucus: Fiscal Year 2012: Read the People’s Budget http://bit.ly/g7aep8 and my own 2 cents Nobody asked me, but here’s my solutions. http://bit.ly/bvTEuS

The best way to solve our debit and deficit problems is to revitalize the economy and create good living wage jobs. What has this congress done to improve the economy or create private sector jobs? Nothing, because that’s not in GOP’s best political interest. Our unemployment is high because the rabid right wants it that way.

TAKE TWO ASPIRIN AND CALL ME WHEN YOUR CANCER IS STAGE 4
by Ann Coulter July 22, 2009

We already have near-universal health coverage in the form of Medicare, Medicaid, veterans’ hospitals, emergency rooms and tax-deductible employer-provided health care — all government creations.

Medicare for the elderly and disabled. Medicaid for the indigent. Veteran hospitals for service connected injuries and indigent veterans. Emergency rooms overloaded with non-emergencies by people who don’t have insurance, or who have insurance but won’t pay for doctor visits (which drives up the costs for all of us). Tax deductions that still don’t help small businesses, their employees and the self employed obtain affordable health insurance for themselves and their families. Even the most conservative estimates put the uninsured at over 30 million, yeah, that sounds like “near-universal health coverage”. That doesn’t even factor in the number of under-insured that have huge deductibles or only hospitalization coverage. As the economy worsens, the unemployment rises, and along with it the number of uninsured continues to grow.

Now the Democrats want to force us all into one gigantic national health insurance plan that will cover every real and mythical ailment that has a powerful lobby. But if you have a rare medical condition without a lobbying arm, you’ll be out of luck.

Nobody is being “forced” into anything. If you have insurance and you like it, then stay with it. What is it about “option” in the term “Public OPTION” that Ms. Coulter and others don’t understand? Who are two of the most powerful lobby’s in D.C.? The pharmaceutical and insurance industries. Who is spending hundreds of millions of ill gotten gains on stopping health care reform? You guessed it, those two very powerful industries. One has to wonder if Ms. Coulter has a speaking gig lined up with those groups at their next gathering. I hear the pay is significant.

Third-party payer schemes are always a disaster — less service for twice the price! If you want good service at a good price, be sure to be the one holding the credit card. Under “universal health care,” no one but government bureaucrats will be allowed to hold the credit card.

So it’s better to have private insurance companies make the decision for what doctor you can see, where, and when? It’s better to have private insurance companies dictate what procedures they will pay for, how much and to who? Insurance companies make money by not providing service. They make money by taking our money, investing it to make even larger profits while they delay or refuse to pay all together. They are betting we won’t get sick enough to need health care, and if we do need it they are betting we’ll die before they have to pay too much. Yeah free enterprise. The U.S. Government is the only entity large enough to provide competition to challenge the insurance industry to provide better service and protection for their clients. If the private insurance companies are so great, then only a small minority will select the public option.

From: Organizing for America

Last week, Republican Senator Jim DeMint made it pretty clear why the opponents of health care reform are fighting so hard. As he told a special interest attack group, “If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.” Here’s how the President responded:

Think about that. This isn’t about me. This isn’t about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America’s families, breaking America’s businesses and breaking America’s economy. And we can’t afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care. Not this time, not now. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake.

With Congress only days away from finalizing their plans for reform, it’s time to stand with the President and fight back against this disastrous brand of old-style politics. So we need as many people as possible to publicly support the President’s principles for health care reform and call on Congress to act.

Before the first full votes in Congress, we’ll publish the signatures in newspaper ads across the nation, to make sure your voice is heard.

Watch President Obama’s full response, then add your name to support reform.

Or if you’ve already signed, please forward this message to all your friends and neighbors so they can join you.

Sign the declaration

The President is more dedicated than ever to passing health care reform that satisfies the three requirements he’s been talking about for months: Health care reform must reduce costs, guarantee choice — including the choice of a strong public insurance option — and ensure all Americans have quality, affordable health care.

If we do not reform our broken health care system this year, we will shackle future generations with spiraling costs and deteriorating care. The cost of inaction is simply more than this country can afford.

But the special interests who profit from the status quo won’t go down without a fight. The ads, the smears, and the attacks — targeting both President Obama and members of Congress who support reform — will only get worse. So it’s crucial that we show huge backing before Congress finalizes their plans this month.

Stand with President Obama on health care reform:

http://my.barackobama.com/hcdeclare

Barack Obama
Charges: Beyond a few token acts of bipartisan marketing, Barry’s major duty in the Senate was to avoid legislating, so he could pretend Washington-outsider status and nullify attacks on his non-existent policy positions….
Sarah Palin
Charges: If you want to know why the rest of the world is scared of Americans, consider the fact that after two terms of disastrous rule by a small-minded ignoramus, 46% of us apparently thought the problem was that he wasn’t quite stupid enough….

THE BEAST 50 MOST LOATHSOME PEOPLE IN AMERICA, 2008

I predict 99.99% of readers will find something they vehemently disagree with in this list.