Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Free Healthcare???

Where in the Constitution does it say that Americans have the right to FREE healthcare? Let me be clear: I do believe the current health insurance system needs reform. However, a government-run single payer system is not, I repeat, N.O.T. the answer. I hope you are not of the belief that the Obama administration and Democratic party (especially Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and their like) do not want a government-run single payer system. Although I wouldn't be surprised if you take them at their word...more than half of the citizens (and illegals) in this country are idiots...I mean, they voted for this guy. I'm just sayin'!! However, let's believe Obama when he said that if we were starting a system from scratch a single payer system would be his choice. And since we are not starting from scratch it would be extremely difficult to do because of the infrastructure already in place. This just in...we already have a single-payer system: Medicare. Medicare is run by the government...well, run, as in run like the US Postal service which is now considering eliminating Saturday delivery because they lost $7 BILLION last year and seemingly raise the price of stamps at least twice a year. This is the same government that "runs" Medicare which will be insolvent by 2017. The same government who has this track record: Amtrak, US Postal Service, Social Security (don't count on it for your retirement yet you keep paying into it), Medicare and Medicaid. Seriously??? And you think that at the very least the government should offer a public option?

I am interested to hear your thoughts on the healthcare debate and why you think we need reform.

"Too much information running through my brain".

"Too much information driving me insane". The Police had it right way back then. "Overkill. Overview. Over my dead body. Over me. Over you. Over everybody." Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Blogs. DirecTV. CNN. MSNBC. Online. 24/7 news. Blackberry. iPhone. Overkill. Overview. Over my dead body. Michael Jackson this, Michael Jackson that...

I was thinking about this as I was updating my Facebook status on my Blackberry while simultaneously receiving a Tweet from a Sales Blog I follow after checking my portfolio on Fidelity Mobile on my BB. Every second of every day we are bombarded with information -- most of it useless. And the scary thing is that it is getting worse. If you really want to freak out go rent "Eagle Eye" with Shia Lebouf if you haven't seen it yet. I saw it on HBO on Sunday night before True Blood. My feeling is that if this stuff isn't going on already, it will soon. Scary stuff. Very scary.

The thing about information in today's world is that it seems to take a life of its own. People throw shit out to see what sticks and nobody bothers to even verify anything anymore. Garbage in; garbage out. Nevertheless, I admit that I am in information addict. (At least I have taken the first step and admitted I have a problem). I don't have enough time to read everything I want to read on the Internet. I subscribe to way too much shit. My work and my family time have gotten in the way of my WSJ Online, ESPN Page 2, HealthLeaders, Inc., Fast Company, Food Network and Food & Wine (some culture is necessary). Who has time to live an uncaffeinated life anymore??? And football practice is starting soon...Carajo!

Seriously though...No, seriously. The great thing about information and the Internet specifically, is it allows us the ability to go back in time for "gotcha" moments. Particularly gotcha moments with politicians...(You didn't think that this blog posting was not going to somehow be about politics, did ya??? It always comes back to politics). Not only can you go back and read what some politician (usually a Liberal) said during specific issues, but you can actually see what they said on YouTube. Gotcha! I love it! Which, brings me to the issue at hand that has me boiling -- more stimulus by the government. I cannot for the life of me believe that they are already talking about another stimulus. For the one or two of you who are so kind and must have no life that follow my blog, you know how I felt about the "stimulus" that was slammed down our throats like a cheap bottle of tequila earlier this year. People also know I voted for the "other guy", or the lesser of two evils -- but boy, they ain't even in the same time zone. Funny thing what VP Joe Biden said recently that the administration misread how bad the economy was and how effective the stimulus would be. Ya think??? What happened to the Chinese math that was used to justify the stimulus that for every dollar spent it would yield $1.50 in growth. Really?

Read this for some sobering news. How do you think I feel now? How's that workin' out for everyone now??? So another (more) stimulus is the answer? We don't even know how we are going to pay for the first one amongst the many other things we have been spending taxpayer money on, like the auto companies, banks, AIG, etc. And to top it off...government healthcare! $1 Trillion later for that alone, which you know how terrible the government is at estimating anything. How will we pay for that? Good 'ol Rangel has the answer.

Here is my pledge...screw Obama and his administration and Congress. No benefit of the doubt. No, "let's give him a chance", "he's our President now and needs our support". Screw it! And screw all of them. Change is a coming...

Welcome to Obama, Inc.

I've been kind of busy with work, Lacrosse practice 4x a week, 2, 3 and even 4 games on the weekend, etc. I'm not complaining though -- life is good. Unfortunately for so many Americans, it is not so good -- not good at all. ADP just came out with their March jobs report and 742,000 private-sector jobs were cut in March. Instead of getting better, or not as bad, it just keeps getting worse.

It's hard to remain positive when everything you read, or hear, or see on TV is all negative. America, capitalism, liberty, and freedom as I know it is on assault. Not just in our country, which by the way is bad enough, but by the whole world it seems. I've always heard nobody likes the "guy" at the top, and frankly I subscribe to that point of view with regards to sports anyway. I can't stand the Yankees, Red Sox, Patriots (as a Dolfan, I never have though), Cowboys, Lakers, Celtics, etc. America is the "guy" at the top, and foreign governments and some of their citizens have always been envious of us as the leader of the free world. And secretly, and some not so secretly, are smiling at the mess we have gotten ourselves into. Make no mistake, WE have gotten ourselves into this mess because we all fell asleep at the wheel and let our government do whatever it wanted.

This is where it gets interesting though. The liberals believe it is greedy corporate America and Wall Street taking advantage of us. And the "failed Bush policies of the last 8 years" and the rich getting richer; yada, yada, yada. Maybe some of this is true, but I am sick of the populist rhetoric. On the other side, the Republicans blame Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Chuck Shumer. Well, if the shoe fits...The bottom line is that there is plenty of blame to go around. This complex mess we are in is simply because of two intertwined words: power and money. Not solely Wall Street executives and corporate CEO's, but more importantly, our federal government -- our U.S. Congress to be more specific. Do you know of any member of Congress that is not "rich"? If they weren't rich when they were "elected" to Congress they sure are when they leave -- although they don't leave...they do not ever leave. Therein lies the problem!

Capitalism has not failed us. Capitalism is not an inherent corrupt system as many in the liberal media would have you believe. If not for Capitalism, we would not have many of the things we have today. One question...when was the last time something of great value was invented in a Socialist or Communist country in which the government dictates what should be produced, how it should be produced and how much one is going to be paid for producing it? I'll let you get back to me on that one, because it is going to take a while...

Unfortunately, the current administration believes the government is the only thing that is going to get us out of this mess. The federal government is not our savior. The federal government is the problem. If you think the banks had too much power before, wait until the government owns the financial system. Nationalization of all important industries is the prize that this government has its eyes on. They will do it just as they have done with the stimulus package, the budget, AIG, and most recently GM. Under cover at night, covertly they take over a private company or vote on a bill (usually a HUGE spending bill) all under the guise of it was necessary to avert further damage to our economy. So we've gone from an administration labeled as "war mongers" to an administration of "fear mongers"? Well, the people wanted change, and they got it! For me though, it's not the change I can believe in!

Reading between the lines...

I don't know how many of you have noticed the small nuances in how President Obama has "changed" in how he describes certain situations, programs or promises. One that has recently come up on a few occasions and most recently when he was talking about his $3.55 Trillion (who's counting anymore) budget proposal, or whatever expletive you want to call it -- I have a few -- is when he describes energy independence. During the primaries and presidential election he spoke about green jobs, climate change and generally how terrible black energy (oil and coal) is to the environment. As President and during his recent press conference on the aforementioned budget, he said "Our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that is controlled by foreign dictators..." This is exactly how President Bush and Sarah Palin described energy independence. They said it because we import 70% of our oil at a cost of $700 billion per year from countries that don't like us very much, i.e., Saudi Arabia and Venezuela specifically; and we have it in our own country but are unable to drill for it. So my question to President Obama is if it would be okay if it weren't controlled by foreign dictators? That is essentially what he is saying by that statement right?

Does it not make sense to explore and develop our energy needs in our own country? We have natural gas, huge shale deposits, and oil in our oceans that can be extracted with current technology. We can create energy jobs that will develop energy TODAY. I think to depend on technology that currently does not exist for energy that may or may not work and to hang your hat solely on that is a huge mistake. Having the government be responsible for dictating future energy sources is a gamble that we cannot afford to take. Case in point is the hype of ethanol from corn. Remember, how that was the next big thing and how that was going to save our importing of oil??? How did that turn out? More energy and natural resources (water and corn) were required to develop ethanol than anybody talked about while hyping it as the next big thing. What happened to food prices as a result of corn prices skyrocketing? Farmers started to replace their food crops with corn crops for the development of ethanol. It is elementary economics -- supply and demand.

I believe that in order for us to be truly energy independent is to explore in our own country today and to provide incentives for the development of future energy sources like solar, wind, hydrogen and biofuels for tomorrow -- and let the marketplace determine what is best, not the government. It shouldn't be an all or nothing proposition. The Democrats (liberals) do not want to drill in our own country and the Republicans only want to drill. This is another reason why I despise this two-party corrupt system. It's either "all-in" or "fold"; yes or no; drill, baby drill or green energy only. I am tired of narrow minded, short-sighted politicians where every decision is political and based on their next re-election. Unfortunately 85% of this country are idiots and do not realize it's one big sham (or scam); or even scarier, don't care as long as they get theirs.

I propose a movement -- a grassroots movement, to take back OUR country and have true representation like our founding fathers envisioned and sacrificed so much for. If you care about your country and where it seems to be going (not good), and if you want government to get out of the way please join me. We are in a delicate time right now where every day brings us more bad news. How do you think Castro and Chavez came into power? With promises that they would end the corruption and give back to the people, among other things. The government was their savior. Sounding familiar? Check out this article.

Stand up and let your voice be heard. Scream if you have to...you probably will have to because nobody is listening and nobody cares anymore.

The Glorious Cause

Read these words. Feel these words. Heed these words. And reflect on what our Founding Fathers experienced in the glorious cause for liberty and freedom for all mankind.

Folks, we need to get back to the basics to what made this country the greatest country in the free world. We need a grass roots revolution to take back OUR country from the corrupt government...We the people, for the people, and by the people -- us.

"Our own Country's Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions -- The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny mediated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world, that a free man contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth." -- George Washington, 1776

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." -- Thomas Paine

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." -- Ben Franklin, 1766

"[L]iberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood." -- John Adams, 1765

"Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Beside, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us." -- Patrick Henry

"Our properties within our own territories [should not] be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1774

"These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their county; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered yet we have this consolation with us, the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value." -- Thomas Paine after the Declaration of Independence

"Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families." -- Benjamin Rush, 1773

Behind door number one....voila! A bag of goods!!

So Congress (mainly the Democrats) slammed this 1,075 pg behemoth of a bill down our throats like a cheap bottle of tequila -- with probably the same effects. It appears as though this fake stimulus bill is going to be signed by Obama on Monday. I say fake because it is not a "real stimulus" and it is not using "real money" -- it's using money that we don't have. More specifically, it's money that we are going to have to print (monetize) because not even the Chinese want a piece of this. This is simply liberal policy dressed up in the name of stimulus through scare tactics to the American taxpayers.

I actually laughed during Obama's speech the other night when he said there is not one single earmark or "pork" in the bill. It's one huge earmark, mixed in with some tax cuts. It's payback time for the liberal groups who helped elect him and it's the Democrats wet dream coming to reality after not being in the majority for so long. It's not only disingenious, but is an outright "stretching of the truth" when they say this is going to creat or save 4 million jobs through the liberal spending programs that have been covertly snuck into this bill. We can debate on wether some of these liberal spending programs have some social merit and are good for the future of our children and this country. But to include these programs under the guise of stimulus spending that is required to avert catastrophe is sneaky and underhanded -- even for Congress. These programs should be debated through the normal appropriations process for the new budget -- not slipped in while no one is looking (and did not have the opportunity to look at it). And whatever happened to Obama's campaign promise of transparency and allowing the public 5 days to review any legislation before signing it into law??? Is this the change you promised? It seems like more of the same to me.

The economy is in crisis...the financial system is in shambles. Foreclosures are increasing every day. More people are losing their jobs. People have been living above their means for a long time and so has our government -- wonder which came first??? Something has to be done, right?! Or does it? There is some debate as to whether or not the economy will lift itself out of its malaise without any intervention. I tend to think it will as long as we let the failures, well...fail. But let's consider that you believe some intervention is necessary by the government. We will agree to disagree.

The Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress have said from the beginning that this bill is about creating jobs. They predict it will create anywhere from 3.6 million jobs to 4.5 million jobs. I have not quite figured out how they got this number and frankly I am interested to see their formula -- but I digress. So let's get back to the issue of creating jobs. Small businesses are the backbone of the economy and there is much ado about nothing in this bill for small businesses. Here's a few things to consider....

Small Business:

Small businesses employ about half of U.S. workers. Of 116.3 million nonfarm private sector workers in 2005, small firms with fewer than 500 workers employed 58.6 million and large firms employed 57.7 million. Firms with fewer than 20 employees employed 21.3 million. While small firms create 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs, their share of employment remains steady since some firms grow into large firms as they create new jobs.

Of the 23 million nonfarm businesses in 2002, women owned 6.5 million businesses. These firms generated $940.8 billion in revenues, employed 7.1 million workers, and had $173.7 billion in payroll. In addition, another 2.7 million firms were owned equally by both women and men; these firms added another $731.4 billion in revenues and employed another 5.7 million workers.

• In 2007, there were 27.2 million small businesses in the United States, according to Office of Advocacy estimates.
• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
• Employ about half of all private sector employees.
• Pay nearly 45 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
• Have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the last decade.
• Create more than half of nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).
• Hire 40 percent of high tech workers (such as scientists, engineers, and computer workers).
• Made up 97.3 percent of all identified exporters and produced 28.9 percent of the known export value in FY 2006.
• Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms; these patents are twice as likely as large firm patents to be among the one percent most cited.

So my point is and the question everyone should be pondering is if this spending bill is about creating jobs (their words, not mine), and small business is the backbone of our economy, then why is there nothing here for small business?! Why doesn't his economic stimulus bill include his own campaign proposal to eliminate the capital-gains tax for small businesses? Mr. Obama's original promise to cancel the capital gains tax for small enterprises was highlighted on his campaign Web site under "Small Business Emergency Rescue Plan." Oh well, it's just another campaign promise that Obama has broken --it must be a presidential record in this short amount of time. Moreover, there are absolute negatives in the mix for small and mid-size firms, such as higher COBRA costs, expanded prevailing wage regulations on stimulus projects, and sneaky protectionist requirements.

In the end, it pays to keep in mind what Senator Mitch McConnell said, as quoted in the February 11 USA Today: "This paints a picture of the Europeanization of America. I do think it's important to focus on the larger question of, ‘Where are we going to leave the country in two years if we take all of these steps?'"

This ain't the change I believe in!

Cafe Cubano: "What do you think a stimulus is?"

Cafe Cubano: "What do you think a stimulus is?"