Monday, July 27, 2009

What's Really Going On -- A Cram Course

O Duce is cramming us into slavery. If you want to get the "cram course" on the mechanics of what he's doing, here it is:

Getting it yet?

What's that you say? You feel used like a dirty rug? That would be correct. (H/T Newsbusters)

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Who Recommends It?

And what are those side effects again?

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Sunday, July 19, 2009

Ronald Reagan: We Do Not Want Socialized Medicine

Nothing has changed. Except right on plan, everyone has forgotten what Norman Thomas said.

Just substitute Obama and Pelosi for the unfamiliar names on the bills and he has it nailed. (H/T Jonah.)

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The Hill Commenters Take On Health Care

Wow. What are they smoking over at the The Hill site today? Perhaps you missed the provision for euthanasia counseling for instance? Check out this excellent sampling of commenters on what a farce the health care "debate" is (Read More to continue):

13: Perhaps JoeP doesn't know about the provision requiring counseling the aged on euthanasia at least every 5 years (more frequently if they are sick) and therefore doesn't get Linda's reference to President Kevorkian.

Maybe a few of O's defenders are unaware that O openly lied when he said you could keep your plan and your doctor (refer to page 16).

And yes, Pelosi, Reid and O constantly lie to the American people. When the government creates 31+ agencies to control health care, can anyone believe this would be deficit neutral?

When a government can only get $0.35 of every dollar spent for welfare to the actual intended recipients, can anyone believe the government can efficiently administer health care control?

Can a government who has stolen from the social security fund for years to the point of bankrupting it, manage your health care?

Look at any and every government program you know. Is it run well? Does it serve Americans well? Or is it ripe with fraud, inefficiency, bureaucracy, and surly "customer service"?

Lastly - time is not the problem with Congress actually reading bills. I submit they can't stand the stench within these bills and therefore delegate their sworn duties to their underlings. In addition, they want to ram a lot of things through that they will later claim they knew nothing about.

Time is only an issue because they want to make sure the American people don't have long enough to digest the legislation and organize dissent.

Comment by katablog.com — July 19, 2009 @ 9:32 am

18. We should all oppose ANY health care legislation that does not also cover members of Congress and ALL public sector employees, federal, state and local! "OBAMACARE, If It Ain't Good Enough For My Congressman, It Ain't Good Enough For Me!"

Comment by NCBob — July 19, 2009 @ 10:39 am

20: This raises a question in my mind about one of the premises of the whole effort — the need to cover the uninsured. The Census Bureau's raw number of 47 million uninsured is thrown around a lot, but a surprisingly large proportion of these are not too badly off — only 25% are below the poverty line, and fully 47% are at 200% of the poverty line or better. (21% are not citizens, but that is a different issue.) 63% are under age 34.

So, given that dependent children can be covered by Medicaid, there seems to be a strong implication that many of the uninsured are healthy young adults who have made the rational decision not to pay for insurance. And it is rational — in the event of a health catastrophe, the system will not let them die in the street, and health premiums are designed to make them pay for the more intensive older users.

So here is my question — is this whole thing a scam directed at getting the young and healthy into the system to force them to subsidize: (1) Geezers, and (2) Every treatment that can lobby legislatures for mandatory inclusion?

Health care is not my area, except for an interest in innovation, but why wouldn't the whole problem be solved by equalizing the tax treatment of employer and private insurance plans, ensuring the availability of catastrophe insurance, encouraging innovation and the free market, and sending Congress home?

Comment by JVDeLong — July 19, 2009 @ 10:50 am

21. Washington is basically out of it's collective mind. Rep or Dem, no matter. They scurry around, a mass of frenetic energy, while exacerbating the problems that we face.

The biggest favour that they could do for the American people is dismantle a large part of themselves. We don't need new programs, we need them to get out of our lives.

Everything that they touch, goes south, costs insane amounts of money, produces nothing positive and erodes the quality of our lives.

I have never been more unimpressed in my entire adult life than with the bunch that is currently in office.

Comment by JR — July 19, 2009 @ 11:09 am

22. If the administration and Congress are so certain this is the best plan for all us peasants out here (4 out of 5 whom can and have been figuring out how to insure ourselves without government intervention), let them all be required to go on the plan they're proposing.

They won't. It's garbage, and they know it. Obama has said that he wouldn't put his own kids on ObamaCare.

Hypocrites - every last one. Throw the bums out in 2010.

Comment by Good Lt. — July 19, 2009 @ 11:24 am

26. Reform health care ? Why ? The always expanding list of "rights" of Americans is unmatched by responsibility. Reforming the legal profession would be money better spent, since much of the health care cost of this country goes to trial lawyers. Government is less efficient than the private sector. Period. Most Americans can't name any government run programs which they are happy with - or very few anyway.

Americans trust of Congress is at an all time low - so we're going to turn to them for the answers ? And every single time the words "rush" or "hurry" are used to describe the legislative process, you can bet that the legislation is filled with something the politicians don't want us to know about(if they even bothered to read the bill before they voted on it).

Comment by DaveinPhoenix — July 19, 2009 @ 12:05 pm

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Friday, July 17, 2009

Health Care Rally Today

Well today (Friday 7/17) is the health care rally in front of Betsy Markey's local congressional office at College and Mountain in down town Fort Collins at 10am. Be there with your signs!

And check out this impressive little screed I just ran across. Here's a snippet touching on both unemployment and heath care "reform":

Why are those 15 million people unemployed? For the most part, they’re looking for jobs, but no one will hire them. Companies very much want to hire more people, and expand – no business wishes to remain stagnant. The decision to refrain from hiring people is a tough one. Business owners don’t make it because they’re cruel and like to laugh at people in the unemployment lines. One of the reasons the economy is contracting is because money – the avatar of time, resources, and entrepreneurship – is being forced to go where it doesn’t want to go. Businesses that should fail are being propped up by reckless deficit spending. The shadow of titanic tax increases to come, including those needed to fund Obama’s adventure in health insurance, looms fearfully large on the horizon – and when money is frightened, it hides.

Hiring people to fill job openings is not the same thing as handing them a check and announcing they’re employed. The health care “crisis,” to the extent one exists, cannot be solved by signing a bill and declaring everyone has health insurance now. Businessmen live at the intersection of theory and reality, while politicians angrily deny that intersection exists at all. That’s one reason I much prefer dealing with businessmen.

Nice, huh? And as he points out earlier in the piece, Barack now owns the unemployment problem: Did you know that with the $787B in Barack's "stimulus" package he could employ every unemployed person in America for a year at $52,000 per year? Or two years at $26,000 per year? But no, that money is slated to scratch the backs of his corrupt political cronies. Do the math. If only we still taught math in this country...

And of course you know that Joe Biden says that we're going bankrupt so we have to spend more money to avoid bankruptcy. Only people that have the power to counterfeit would even consider mouthing such an insanity.

UPDATE: FYI, slow Joe's quote was: “Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, that's what I’m telling you.” Just remember. He's just one heartbeat away. God help us.

And here's a link to some pics from the rally.

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Monday, July 13, 2009

Jaguars -- An Economic Thought Experiment

If you've gone to government schools like most folks, you may be completely befuddled by inflation -- even while watching your household budget disintegrate on the shoals of rising prices. And how does it all fit together with the banking and economic crisis.

Here's a tantalizing and brief article that will at least make you realize that all is perhaps not as you've been brainwashed to believe. Click through and RTWT -- it's not a lot longer than this snippet:

I am tired of hearing people insist that the Fed can expand credit all it wants. Sometimes an analogy clarifies a subject, so let’s try one.

It may sound crazy, but suppose the government were to decide that the health of the nation depends upon producing Jaguar automobiles and providing them to as many people as possible. To facilitate that goal, it begins operating Jaguar plants all over the country, subsidizing production with tax money. To everyone’s delight, it offers these luxury cars for sale at 50 percent off the old price. People flock to the showrooms and buy. Later, sales slow down, so the government cuts the price in half again. More people rush in and buy.

Sales again slow, so it lowers the price to $900 each. People return to the stores to buy two or three, or half a dozen. Why not? Look how cheap they are! Buyers give Jaguars to their kids and park an extra one on the lawn.

Finally, the country is awash in Jaguars. Alas, sales slow again, and the government panics. It must move more Jaguars, or, according to its theory — ironically now made fact — the economy will recede. People are working three days a week just to pay their taxes so the government can keep producing more Jaguars. If Jaguars stop moving, the economy will stop. So the government begins giving Jaguars away. A few more cars move out of the showrooms, but then it ends. Nobody wants any more Jaguars. They don’t care if they’re free. They can’t find a use for them. Production of Jaguars ceases. It takes years to work through the overhanging supply of Jaguars. Tax collections collapse, the factories close, and unemployment soars. The economy is wrecked. People can’t afford to buy gasoline, so many of the Jaguars rust away to worthlessness. The number of Jaguars — at best — returns to the level it was before the program began.

The same thing can happen with credit.

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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Ray Harvey On Mises.org!

Time to click over to Mises.org and read Ray Harvey's excellent "Wind or Nuclear?".

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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Obamageddon

No need for further comment. Just watch it.

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Monday, July 6, 2009

You're Probably Making Investment Decisions ...

... based on assuming that this man -- and other economic illiterates that continue to rely on him like Obama -- knows what he's talking about.

What on God's green earth are you thinking?

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Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy 4th Of July ... And We Stand With The Iranian People

I have a long list of grievances with McCain but he usually gets it right in defense of liberty. And he has done so here. Start watching at the 3:00 mark if you're short on time.

And then go read Ray Harvey's post on what happened to those "privileged white men" to whom we owe so much. How's that brainwashing been working out for you? Electing a president who supports tyranny both abroad and now ever increasingly at home? You think you won't end up like this. But you're wrong. And sheep who call themselves people have always been on the wrong side of history.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Peter Schiff On CNBC Yesterday

Looks like they're ending the recent nutty shutout.

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