The HealthCare Mess

Recently I watched the movie SICKO by Michael Moore.  And it has raised a few questions in my mind.

Some might consider these to be radical questions, others might think that I’m abandoning my conservative ideals.  But as I’ve stated before,  we are all living, walking contradictions.

We have the radical left-wing and the radical right-wing and then there are all of those in the middle.

I can’t get a government organized the way I want, so I have to settle for an imperfect union.  And that’s what politicians do too.  But despite my desire for a strict Libertarian form of Federal Government, I think in order to fix what we currently have, we may have to swing the other way when it comes to healthcare.

Before you accuse me of jumping on the Socialist Bandwagon, let’s look at what other Government run programs we have.  To name a few:

1. The Post Office.  Even at 44 cents it is still a bargain compared to the alternatives.  And the private sector has not come up with a lower cost alternative to First Class Mail.

2. Public Education. Dollar for Dollar, less than the Private Schools, and money is NOT the real reason some schools do a better job than others.  There are many, many other factors involved too.

3. Police & Fire Departments.  Funded by tax dollars, but very few complaints overall and there are not really any serious private sector options that compare.

What concerns me most is that the politicians that are either trying to pass or block a health care reform bill don’t have the guts for a radical change.  They are too concerned about getting reelected or getting financial contributions to take the big bold steps and throw out our current system.

If we were to eliminate the insurance companies and put all of us on the public dole, we could clean up this mess.  The arguments of a public option would be eliminated, because the public option would not be optional.

Yes, our taxes would increase, but our insurance premiums would be gone.  The cost of health care procedures and medicines would drop since there would be less layers of companies adding to the mix that are making profits.

The problem right now, is that the politicians are trying to be sly about this and appeal to everyone and go thru multiple steps before they end up at the final goal of a universal, government payed for, taxpayer-funded health care system for the citizens of the United States.

We need 60 Senators who will know that is less painful to rip a band-aid off quickly, than to drag it out the way they are doing right now.

100 years ago, before the mass and instant communication world we live in now, they could have done this, but today… I’m concerned that they will only apply more band aids and screw it up even more.

Where Does The Money Come From? Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I asked the question. Now it’s time for the results.

Either:

A. People don’t know where the money comes from to run our government.

B. People don’t care where the money comes from to run our government.

C. People don’t care to leave a comment in answer to the question: where does the money comes from to run our government.

So, times up.  I need to give you the answer.

All money that our government spends comes from the people.  And the people are you and me.

Taxes, fees, all have to come from somewhere and you and I are the only ones that have money to give.

The problem is, most people do not understand this, mostly because the federal government is financially broke and living on loans that will come due sometime in the future.  And because of the complex financial system we have in the United States, we will probably never run out of cash, because the Feds can always print more.  However, the value of the printed money is questionable.

As long as we continue to accept that a dollar is a dollar, we will continue.  Problem is we have received loans and investments from foreign countries and if they stop accepting that premise, we are sunk.

Don’t believe me?  Look around and you’ll see how at the State and City level of government, they have to balance their books or they have to cut expenditures.  California is a great and sad example of this right now.

For those of you who say we should increase business or corporate taxes, you apparently are not aware of where those businesses get their money to pay their taxes.  They get it from their customers, namely you and me.  If they didn’t get it from us, they would have to reduce their profit margins and it is easier to simply pass the tax to the customer.  In some businesses, it is the only way for them to survive.

Higher costs for doing business always have to be passed on to the customer as higher prices that you and I pay.  Not just taxes, but energy costs, raw material, employee wages, etc, are all reflected in the prices we pay for the things we spend our money on.

So, as you ask for more from your government, just remember who is paying for more.

You and me, my friend.  If you are willing to pay more in exchange for more “free” services from the government, please remember these words.  Your comments are always welcome.