Washington's Wake

Posts Tagged ‘Obamacare’

This week has been a pretty wild one for the healthcare debate. There are so many things that are going through my head on this, but the one consistent thing is, “For God’s sake, I hope they don’t have the votes.”

I’ve heard many people say it, including Rush Limbaugh yesterday, that we can’t really count on Stupak and those dozen democrats to hold their ground. I think that’s a very good point. It is possible they will, but it seems more likely that they’ll be bought off with some-something that gives them cover.

Nancy Pelosi, with all of them, had 220 votes. But let’s say she lost them. She has also lost some votes to death and now, the third resignation or retirement with the whole Massa sex scandal. I believe that the death vote gets taken out of the total entirely – I’m not quite clear on the resignations count, whether they drop the total votes needed to 215, or it’s still 217.

Regardless, her votes are dwindling, and the public is solidifying in opposition, and the election is drawing closer and closer. It seems to me that they have at best 3 more bites at the apple, simply due to the time factor. Honestly, I’m unwilling to think they’re smart enough to give it up until they are broken completely. Including a possible lame-duck congress move.

But anyways right now, without any expert knowledge it sounds like she has about 203 votes and needs at least 215. My understanding is she probably doesn’t have that many, and that she’s a lot more than the apparent dozen votes short. I’m not optimistic or pessimistic, but realistically, it does look like a long shot for Pelosi to push that through. If she does, I will give her this much credit, she might be the most hideous and evil Speaker ever, but man, she is good at getting her way.

Ahh yes, it’s so nice to see that we were told by HRH The Sun King that the “Cash for Clunkers” would so help out the economy that it was a hugely brilliant plan despite the incompetence and ineptitude of its implementation.

After trashing Edmunds.com, you know, the car website, as people that don’t know anything about cars, HRH The Sun King’s people absolutely knew that this Clunker thing was going to go gangbusters.

“We found out that motor vehicle output added 1.7% to economic growth in the third quarter — the largest contribution to quarterly growth in over a decade.”

I hate to say it and sound like a broken record but, yet again the numbers were wrong. Not only were they off by more than a little bit, they were off by almost 50%.

on the back of autos contributing 0.81 point to growth. That was a direct result of the August “Cash for Clunkers” program that subsidized new auto purchases.

What truly galls me is that these morons can’t calculate something simple like a trade in program for cars, and yet somehow magically they’re all of a sudden going to be able to get things right on health care? I’m supposed to trust my health and well being to idiots that couldn’t calculate how selling cars affects the national economy?

The 2010 elections can’t get here quick enough.

Oh and don’t forget, they owned two thirds of the American car manufacturers and still couldn’t get their numbers right. How pathetic is that?

I was thinking about a comment I read on Hotair.com

… I work for the medical device industry and I am telling you that our CEO has already contacted us and let us know, in no uncertain terms, that this will mean job cuts, and deep ones at that…  I cannot emphasize enough how devastating this will be for innovation and medical advances in this country. How willing will the government be to pay for the necessary equipment to keep premature children alive? …

I snipped out a good deal of that, but I want to focus on this thought, Obamacare is focused on reducing inefficiencies and waste – and cost. Obviously the most wasteful inefficient expensive thing is a person. If they could just get rid of people they could easily save money.

Now that might sound sort of caustic and sarcastic, to some degree it is, but think of this – in Europe and most countries with socialized medical care, they define babies very differently than we do. “Live born” doesn’t mean what it means here. So,  to keep ‘premature children alive’ is actually the WRONG way to look at it. They won’t define them as babies at all. It won’t count toward infant mortality rate, and it’ll mean an instant improvement in the numbers.

An infant isn’t dying if you don’t define it as an infant until it reaches a certain weight/gestation. Therefore, you aren’t killing them or ‘letting them die’ — they don’t even exist. It’s just a miscarriage.

THAT is what i’m afraid of more than anything. That they’ll use language games to hide things that are beyond despicably evil.

While many of us debate the minutia of the various bills and proposals, dissect the monetary costs, discuss the cultural price tag and wallow in an overwhelming sense of foreboding, Massachusetts is already living some of the consequences of this foolishness.

Today on Boston.com it was reported that the commonwealth is upwards of $200M short in tax receipts. Now, this is not directly related to the Mass healthcare debacle that is unfolding daily, but it is an indirect result. You see, our healthcare mandates have pushed up expenses quite a bit and to cover that, the moron governor pushed through a 25% tax increase from 5% to 6.25%. The opponents continually pointed out that it would not raise the revenue that they forecast, but the governor and his troglodytes in the legislature pushed it through anyways.

The result, predictably enough, significantly less revenue than expected.

Why?

I’m not an expert, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that Rep. Michael Rodriguez isn’t the exception when he drives across the border to New Hampshire to buy his liquor without the sales tax. People change their behavior when you charge them more. This isn’t just a rule of taxation, it’s a fundamental rule of economics.

If I were to run a business like Taxachusetts is run, I would expect to double revenue if I doubled the price of my widget. “Gee, wow, I made $1,000 selling these for $1 each.. I need $10,000 — so i’ll just sell them for $10 each.”

Do you really think 1000 people will buy the widget for 10x more? I suppose, if it’s insanely awesome, they might, but more than likely, if i do that, my revenue will drop to almost nothing.

All of the healthcare proposals on the table are completely unrealistic. Government can try to raise taxes to pay for the monstrosity, but in the end, people will avoid the taxes, and revenues WILL fall. Then we’ll not only be worried about paying for the stupid healthcare shenanigans, but any and all other services we’ve come to rely on.

It’s even worse, really, because there are even wider repercussions of  these insane policies…

First of all, people will work less. Why work more for the US Govt? Why not just sit back and rake in the welfare? It’s not like you won’t have health insurance or a paycheck.

Another unavoidable effect of confiscatory taxation is that the best and the brightest will relocate, either out of the country, or to the parts of the country where the tax code and business situation is the friendliest.  This will leave the dregs and the scum running the places most in need of the best. There is a reason why the most Liberal areas are shrinking at the fastest rate.

You’ll notice that all of these things are indirect results, but they are real and provable. The types of policies being pursued in this country right now are destructive to the economy, destructive to the social fabric and most certainly unsustainable for any length of time.

All of this starts us down a convoluted path, where every niggling little bit of economic spewtum is examined for it’s usefulness to government. Agencies are required to track all behaviors, because ultimately all behavior is economic behavior.  I was reading on hotair.com about tax exemptions for pets - and that is really the next logical step isn’t it? The government starts offering lollipops on the bank counter. Everyone loves a little gift, it makes them feel like everything is good.  yes, it’s a republican proposal, but that’s really just a symptom of the larger problem. This isn’t about the cat or the dog, or the behavior, this is about tossing a bone to the tax payer to keep them from boiling. Government, Republican and Democrat, now use whatever they can do bribe the electorate.

Healthcare is the final step. Once you have power over a person’s life…and death… there is no need to bribe. Take what you need by gunpoint and demand what you want.

Massachusetts will pretend to make ‘tough choices’ and ‘do the right thing’ but in the end, nothing will change, people who are smart will leave, and the commonwealth will grow more and more a cesspool where no rational person will want to live.

Ultimately, THAT is what this healthcare debate is about. Do we want to be a gray lifeless totalitarian cesspool state or not?

Swastikas? She is seeing swastikas now.

Sounds like delusional paranoia to me. Maybe she needs a therapist, not glasses, or both.

Found this, and related commentary at Wizbang

What would Fonzbama do?

Nancy, Harry, Happy Days.
Sonia, Timmy, Happy Days.
Good Al Franken, Happy Days.
Rob Gibbs comes,
News cycle hums,
Ready to lie to you.

These days are all,
Happy and Free. (Those Happy Days)
These days are all,
Share them with me. (oh baby)
Goodbye green cash, hi IOU.
There’s nothing can stop me ‘cuz I own you.
Feels so right, it can’t be wrong.
Taxin’ and Spendin’ all week long.

Nancy, Harry, Happy Days.
Sonia, Timmy, Happy Days.
Good Al Franken, Happy Days.
Obamacare, What a way,
to take everything from you.

These days are all,
Share them with me. (Those Happy Days)
These days are all,
Happy and Free. (oh baby)
These Happy Days aren’t your’s they’re mine.
These Happy Days aren’t your’s – just mine, Happy Days.