Obama's Return to Health Care - A Case of Chicago Arrogance?

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Tomorrow Obama has scheduled a bi-partisan meeting on health care. Unfortunately, he has already taken the Senate and House Democratic bills and combined them into what he calls a template for a final bill. We are talking about over 1000 pages consolidated into a template. That is rather absurd. But giving the president the benefit of the doubt, so he has a template.



However, he has already said, before the meeting took place, that if the Republicans don't do what he wants them to do he will force his bill through Congress using a reconciliation act. Now that seems to take away any interest in bi-partisanship, any intent to negotiate, and any concern for the public will which is obvious from the elections in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts or the polls showing the vast majority of Americans do not want a wholesale overhaul of health care. The public just wants the problems fixed.



As for the reconciliation procedure to circumvent the Senate rules, it was established for the sole purpose of establishing a mechanism to deal with contentious budget issues, not general policy. To date it has only been used for budget issues. The Byrd rule within the reconciliation procedure says no bill may be considered that will increase the national debt at the end of ten years.



With all the confusion over the impact of health care reform, and the dependence on certain budget assumptions by the White House regarding unemployment and tax revenues over the next ten years, does anyone really think this White House can be wrong on every economic and budget projection to date and not be wrong on a ten year health care projection. Not to mention that the health care reform goes way beyond a budget bill and impacts on federal policy and programs in many none budgetary ways.



So, what does it all mean? First, in the interest of transparency which Obama hails as a first step toward getting this done, the President must reveal his deals with the unions contained in this bill. He must also reveal how the auto bailout has already given the unions a multi-billion dollar payoff for health benefits. Then he must reveal any secret deals made between the White House, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in particular, to protect the union benefits far exceeding normal health care benefits and pharmaceutical corporations to protect them from foreign competition. Finally, he must reveal any deal with the Trial Lawyers that might prevent tort reform from being included in the package.



One last item. Our health care system is built around a maze of stock ownership positions as most health care providers are private corporations. Also in the interest of transparency the White House should disclose those investment houses they have discussed health care reform with and what promises might have been made to the Goldman Sachs, JP Morgans and banks regarding their investment in these health care special interests. Far more than the insurance companies stand to gain big bucks from the Obama plan and the involvement of Wall Street in the White House plan must also be disclosed.



There is no way the president will allow the truth about any of those questions to come out as they would undermine any bi-partisan efforts and result in outrage by the public, Republicans and moderate Democrats. Obama as much as said it already by threatening to shove the bill down our throats with the misapplication of the reconciliation procedure.



Now if the Republicans do not press for answers on these issues they are just as delinquent as the White House. The Republicans must have an alternative to the Obama plan, and they must demand answers in the interest of transparency on these issues.

It is clear Obama's Chicago gang has no concern for the public will and events starting tomorrow will demonstrate if the Democrats and Republicans chose to ignore the public as well. If our elected officials do not listen to the mood of the public, and pay attention to all those polls they claim they do not read, then we know they are serving special interests and not the public interest.

The Administration and Congress are at a crossroads. They have to decide whether their campaign funds are more important than the public good. They need to pass a health care bill that reduces the cost and improves the service without impacting on the national debt. Will they serve the public interest or the special interests. We may soon know.

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Wake Up Washington! Are Obama & Congress Listening to the People?

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It has now been a full year since the Democrats extended their control over all of Washington. People seem to have forgotten that Nancy Pelosi has been in control of the House for three years now. We have now had four elections in this era of change, Obama, New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts and finally those folks in our capitol figured out people want results, not hyperbole.



Not only that but aside from Obama, who promised change but had no idea what to give us, the last three elections have shown a return to American values, not Republican and not Democrat. Over and over the people have clearly said give us a responsible president and congress who understand that deficit spending and increasing our national debt so all people benefit is the agenda.

No it is not just about jobs, although they are tied in to responsible fiscal government, it is also about reducing the debt and not increasing the deficit. It is about helping all Americans, not just Democrats, or Republicans, or liberals, or conservatives, or unions, or management. Most Americans expect the Constitution and our president and congress to work for the good of all Americans.

How did the Washington gang respond over the past year? Well, in the words of Wanda Sykes, as if all of Washington, DC was on medicinal marijuana. It seemed as if all of the politicians were on a different planet, in the Twilight Zone, dead drunk or stoned.



First Obama supported and then completed the implementation of the bank bailout bill which cost $700 billion. The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts were another $100 billion. The AIG insurance bailout took another $180 billion. The auto industry bailout was $100 billion. The stimulus bill was another $789 billion but CBO said it could cost $3.27 trillion over ten years.

The president sought a cap and trade bill that would raise energy costs and taxes by billions of dollars. A secret analysis of the Obama bill prepared by the U.S. Department of Treasury says the total in new taxes would be between $100 billion to $200 billion a year. At the upper end of the administration's estimate, the cost per American household would be an extra $1,761 a year.



Stop it!

A health care reform bill was slammed together over the entire year with a price tag of $1.1 trillion and did not even include the cost of about a dozen new programs required in the legislation. Millions of dollars in new taxes and fees that would be passed on to the taxpayers would be spent every year though the benefits would not start until 2013. What kind of nonsense is that?

Stop it!

Obama also wants Climate Change at a cost of $46.7 billion, Education spending increased $81.1 trillion, and after a year in office proposed a new budget for 2011 of $3.8 trillion with a deficit of over $1.6 trillion.

Hasn't anyone been listening?



I mean Obama promised to save unions over $60 billion in taxes on luxury health benefits in his health care program. Add this to the billions of dollars the auto unions preserved in the bankruptcy of GMC and Chrysler and the unions have benefited by billions of dollars already, and over $100 billion in health care gets approved.

Yet what about jobs? The only jobs only legislation proposed, none has been approved except the supposed impact of everything else on jobs, has a price tag of just $90 billion. He proposed more money be spent saving unions than he wants to spend on all the small businesses in America who generate the jobs so desperately needed in America.

We spent trillions of dollars to save the banks so money would be available to small business. Trillions more were spent by the Federal Reserve making cheap money available to banks. Yet no money is available for credit to small business to generate the jobs.

Only a fraction of expenditures are targeted for small business from all the government deficit spending. Is anyone in our nation's capitol listening to the people? Words in Washington no longer have meaning and promises seem meant to be broken. All the while the Independent movement who expects to be heard gets angrier.

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Today the News Dominated the People, Not the People Dominated the News

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Today I watched in awe as the news dominated the world, not people dominated the news. In a way it was refreshing but it was also a stark reminder that mankind remains vulnerable to allowing their ego to become the center of the universe, especially in the world of politics, while missing much of what is important in the world.



For example, take today's stories that were not expected. After a month of the Obama administration claiming the economy and jobs situation had turned the corner toward recovery such soothsayers of good tidings were dealt a series of crushing reminders that we are not in control of our own destiny. It all started last week when Obama turned on the business sector and blasted companies for executive bonuses and taking advantage of the government.



Today came an unemployment report on job losses far worse than anticipated. Then came the next in a series of recalls from Toyota sending shocks waves through the domestic auto market and international money markets. Just last month Toyota became the number one auto seller in the world. No one is talking about it but most Toyotas sold in America are made in America so if the Japanese giant loses huge market share which is likely and probable, it will most certainly shut down the US operations first further accelerating the economic disaster for America.



The reaction to Obama's new budget this week finally surfaced, and it was a resounding dud with the record spending increases and ominous increase in our national debt. His budget says our budget deficit will reach a record $1.565 trillion this year, equal to 10.6% of the entire GDP, Gross Domestic Product, and the highest since World War II. Obama's long delayed concern for American jobs and our economy are doing little to reassure people the administration has a clue in managing the economy. The young president has stumbled through bank bailouts, insurance and auto bailouts, housing and mortgage bailouts, a non-stimulus and those incredible executive bonuses.



AIG, one of Obama's least discussed bailouts and actions, announced they were paying out another $100 million in bonuses to people who drove the company to the brink of bankruptcy, an action approved by the Obama management team. While Congress and the president twiddle their thumbs Wall Street, unions, auto companies and who knows who else pick apart the scraps left of America.



Finally came the action by Congress today to raise the national debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion to over $14 trillion, the highest in history, an emergency action to accommodate Obama's spending frenzy. It is the first time the national debt will equal the entire annual GDP of America and Obama says it will climb to $26 trillion over the next ten years.



As the world absorbed this rash of unexpected developments today the stock market wiped out all the gains over the past month dropping nearly 300 points and barely closing above 10,000 mark. Tomorrow the unemployment rate is likely to increase, not decrease as Obama projected, so the economic adjustments may be far from over.



Tomorrow begins the Tea Party national convention in Nashville, with Sarah Palin headlining the speakers this weekend, and I predict the horrible response of the media and both political parties to this independent movement will make it a far stronger force as it emerges from the convention. Right now it is a loose coalition but it could easily become a national force and stands as the greatest threat to back room politics and old time politicians, including our Ivy League president, in our nation's history.



For a year the media ignored the people's populist revolt and ever since the victories over the establishment in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts the past few weeks the political parties, Democrats and Republicans, and President Obama have tried to claim ownership of this independent movement. How stupid? The Tea Party movement is the only thing keeping our nation from being controlled by crooks and con artists disguised as politicians and media.

Today an earthquake of 6.0 magnitude hit a few miles off the coast of Northern California following another a couple of weeks ago of 6.5 magnitude. So far they have not reached the California fault lines but they are powerful enough that it could be an indication of imminent danger. For comparison the Haiti quake was 7.0 magnitude.



If you are into natural disaster monitoring consider this. Between January 17, 2010 and today there have been 1,719 earthquakes in the Yellowstone National Park region of Wyoming ranging up to a 3.8 force. That is the second largest earthquake swarm ever recorded at Yellowstone and continues today. Underground at Yellowstone lies one of the largest magma pools of lava in the world measuring as much as a staggering 50-90 miles wide. Scientifically it is called a supervolcano and about 2.1 million years ago the area blew up and caused 2,500 times as much volcanic ash as the Mt. St. Helens eruption in 1980.



Other strange news today included the missionaries in Haiti who went to court expecting to be released and wound up being formally charged with kidnapping and conspiracy to steal children from Haiti. The guru who led a sweat lodge ceremony about a year ago in Sedona, Arizona that killed 3 and sent 18 more people to the hospital was charged with manslaughter. I have participated with Native Americans in many sweat lodge ceremonies, a spiritual ritual of the original Americans, and what he did was an insult to the culture and spirituality of Indian cultures.



The list goes on and on but that is enough for now. You get the impression that higher forces took control of events for the day to give us a break from the non-stop political nonsense we face and also to give us a warning that we are so preoccupied with what we want that we are losing sight of what really counts. Maybe we should be paying more attention to Mother Earth and Father Creator and less to our own needs and desires? If you need more read my last article on the Seven Cardinal Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins.

White House Aides Hit Airways as Obama Budget Hits America

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You always know when the president or congress are trying to pull a fast one on the public. There are two tactics that indicate a major deception is underway. One is if they release information Friday night, after the work week, after the news deadlines, after the people are out for the evening, and when the top reporters have the night off. A second is if they send a herd of babbling politicians and spokespeople out to blanket the news media to super-pitch a new idea, policy, strategy or something to the public.



My common sense rule is if they need to send out the pitchmen then something in the deal smells. If an idea can't stand on it's own merit, if it needs a constant explanation from politicians, if the public just can't get it, then something must be wrong with it. You've heard Obama and his White House gang lament over and over how health care is too complicated for the public, they didn't understand it enough, or they were misled by misinformation from the opposing side.



In Iowa vernacular, that is defined as hogwash. For those of you not growing up in Iowa the definition of hogwash is a noun 1. refuse given to hogs; swill, 2. any worthless stuff, 3. meaningless or insincere talk, writing, etc.; nonsense; bunk.

The Obama budget is a masterpiece in worthless junk and probably doesn't even make a good doorstop. Let me cut through the crap and give you a capsule overview. The Obama budget is the death knell of our nation as we know it.



The assumptions are from the same prognosticators who told us a year ago the unemployment rate would remain below 8%. The same voodoo high priests who told us the Obama stimulus bill would actually stimulate something. The same fortune tellers who said the bank, insurance, auto and Wall Street bailouts were in the public interest.



Near as I can tell the Obama budget may or may not say the nation will be bankrupt in about 10 years. It might say record setting deficit spending, all Bush's fault mind you, will set a record about every six months and the national debt will most likely have to be updated every day. Here is what it looks like updated in real time. Copy and paste the following link for a real scare.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/#

While entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare make up much of the budget there will be no proposals to reduce the cost, eliminate fraud and reduce overhead unless we agree to spend another trillion dollars on health care. If they know we have $5 billion in legal fees for paying off attorneys and another $500 million a year in fraud why not get rid of the problems?



There will be no revenue streams for new money for the government yet we could become energy independent and make money for the government if we drilled for oil and natural gas reserves and encouraged new, more efficient ways to extract them from our land, not foreign countries.



While we have incentives for new energy systems in cars, which work but the car will cost about $60,000 -$100,000, there are no incentives for car companies to make the current internal combustion engine more efficient. We already know the current oil powered engine can be 80% more efficient, thus extending the life of available oil reserves by possibly over 100 years. That would make it long after the current deficit crisis is over and we would continue to have tax revenues from oil. If Obama gets us to convert to non-oil sources how will he make up the billions more in lost tax revenue? Under the Obama cap and trade program the private, Wall Street investors will make the money, not the government. Gored by Gore again.



Anyway, it is great to hear so many Administration non-economists and professional apologists hit the airways and be interviewed by a news media with less expertise, understanding or comprehension of the disastrous consequences of increasing deficits and national debt. White House aides Axelrod or Gibbs being interviewed by a news media White House correspondent is like asking Julia Child for help with football strategy. And anyone in their right mind even thinking of interviewing VP Joe Biden, the godfather of the credit card industry, on the fairness of Obamanomics is, well, insane. Just ask MSNBC.



Let's face it, Obama's Treasury Secretary did not even know Goldman Sachs and a bevy of tainted banks would get $60 billion from AIG when the White House bailed them out. If they can't even keep track of $60 billion how can they know about trillions? Or did they really know about the $60 billion? Come to think of it, when Congress held the hearings spanking the little butts of the big banks for stealing all that money from us, why didn't anyone ask if the president knew about the deal?

This budget cannot even be financed, the deficit side that is, when China and Russia are the largest purchasers of our debt and the Obama administration has infuriated both of them with our haphazard approach to foreign policy.

As I study this maze of governmental gobbledygook it reminds me of the annual National Enquirer report on fortune tellers and psychics telling us everything that will happen in the next year as far as the enlightened ones are concerned. Our White House and Congress seemed to be filled with soothsaying enlightened ones and I say it is time to turn out the lights!



Finally, if I were an advocate of conspiracy theories I would say Obama, the Rothschild's very own Chosen One, has finally figured out a way to make America subservient to the New World Order as bankrupting our nation would make us hostages to the international shadow world ending a 200 year quest by the Illuminati to get control of the US Treasury.

I guess this is really what we should expect when we get a new administration with all that experience. But then conspiracy theories are not real, are they?