Elections Do Have Consequences!!

I received an email containing this message and felt it was too interesting not to share following the Election Day results. I guess the interesting thing for me is the fact that the majority of Americans think the country is on the wrong track yet we as a nation voted the keep the status quo in both the Executive and Legislative branches of government. With that said think about this.

 

Congratulations to the Democrats and Young People!

You now own it. The next terrorist attack, you own it.
Can't get a job after graduation, you own it.
Sky rocketing energy prices due to Obama's EPA shutting down the energy producing states, you own it.
A nuclear Iran, you own it.
Bowing to the Soviet Union, you own it.
Another severe recession, you own it.
A volatile border with Mexico, you own it.
Trouble getting good health care, you own it.
Higher health insurance costs and health care costs, you own it.
No budget, you own it.
Our allies mistrust, you own it.
Another trillion of debt, you own it.
More Benghazi situations, you own it.
No one willing to join the military, you own it.
Trouble getting a loan to buy a home, you own it.
More dependency on food stamps, you own it.
Trouble finding good employment, you own it.
Several part time jobs instead of a good job, you own it.
A World Government, you own it.
The UN governing the United States instead of ourselves, you own it.
A Senate that will not bring any legislation to the table rather it is "Dead on Arrival", you own it.
China controlling our world trade and trampling all over us, you own it.
Loss of our freedoms as we have known it in the past, you own it.
A dictatorship instead of a democracy that follows the Constitution, you own it.
Less take home pay and higher living costs, you own it.
Driving a car that looks like a toy, you own it.
More government corruption and lies, you own it.
More toleration of extreme and fanatical Islamists, you own it.
Terrorist attacks called work place incidents, you own it.
Your revenge instead of love of country, you own it.

President George Bush is out of it now and there is not another good man for you to vilify and lie about.
In a way, I am relieved that another good man will not be blamed when it was impossible to clean up this mess you voted for.

Have a good day. God bless the United States! God is our hope now.

See Ya,

Bill

New Rant for Y’all

Well I’m sitting here watching the first presidential debate and I thought I would just hit you with a short little rant!!

1.       Just a short note on taxes, you can raise more money by building a larger tax base far easier than by raising taxes – PERIOD. You can raise taxes on businesses, and small business owners but that just prevents them from hiring new people who in turn will be a bigger drain on government entitlements. So if you keep taxes low and allow those business owners to take that money and invest it, then they will hire new employees who will pay taxes thereby growing the tax base by generating more revenue in businesses and with more people earning an income instead of receiving entitlements.

2.       Yes we need regulations in the marketplace; but when they are so strict that they limit business at every step of the way, then they are too restrictive. Currently bureaucratic government regulatory efforts are stifling new business. This must change!!

3.       In the world of the never-ending nightmare, United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was once again shown to be running an ill-prepared-to-handle-the-world organization as exposed by the attack on the consulate in Benghazi. It seems that the company in charge of the security there (Blue Mountain Libya) could not get the support and aide from their parent company (Blue Mountain UK) and requested help from a third party but the state Department’s Contract Officer would not approve that and said the threat was not that bad. Now they will not let the FBI in to investigate the scene because they said it was too dangerous – imagine that!!

4.     When will liberals understand that the states are better prepared to handle what goes on with programs that serve their constituents more than the federal government? EXAMPLE…..I doubt the cost of living is the same in Texas as it is in Massachusetts. My family and I can live comfortable on $100,000.00 a year in Texas, but I bet I would be struggling in Boston. The same plan that will work in Massachusetts WILL NOT work for the entire nation as a whole. Oh and by the way, the plan in Massachusetts did not raise taxes; ObamaCare (did you know Microsoft Word autocorrects for ObamaCare) has at least 22 new taxes in it.

5.       By the way, while we keep talking about comprehensive bills addressing issues like medical care, immigration, energy, taxes, and others; the true way to address them is by individual bills that address specific issues, not one all encompassing, comprehensive bill. There has NEVER been a successful Comprehensive bill ever!!

Well that’s it for right now. I am going to watch the last 30 minutes of the debate and then take four aspirin and hit the sack before I get sick!!

Ya’ll hang in there; we just have a short time to go until we are done with the election!!

Where’s that Aspirin?

Bill

Some ObamaCare Taxes for You!!

Since its inception, ObamaCare has been advertised as saving Americans money while costing the taxpayer nothing. To be honest that sounds great but how can it be? Well, to put it honestly it can’t. The President and Democrat leaders in Congress sold this to the American Public with the claim that there would be no rise in taxes but that simply is a play on words.

While it might not be paid for simply by raising income taxes, the Congressional Budget Office has made it clear that there are at least 22 new or increased taxes that will affect us all. Here is a list of five new or expanded taxes for you to consider. By the way, according to the CBO, these five taxes alone will cost the American Public a minimum of $257 billion in the next decade.

1.       ObamaCare creates a new 2.3% tax on the gross sales of all medical equipment. And that means everything from pacemakers to prosthetics to Band-Aids to medicine to operating tables to bedpans to those little bowls they put under your chin to throw-up in – EVERYTHING! Guess who will be picking up the tab for those taxes? Each and every one of us will pay for those taxes through higher prices for each of these items. Minimum Total Cost to the Taxpayer – $20 billion.

2.       Currently, out-of-pocket medical expenses can be deducted from your income tax once they reach 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. Under ObamaCare they cannot be deducted until they reach 10% of your gross adjusted income. By the way, this mainly affects senior citizens. Minimum Total Cost to the Taxpayer – $15 billion.

3.       Flexible Spending Accounts or FSA’s have always been a great way for people to save and build money to pay for everything from braces to surgery to special-needs tuition. Currently, money put into an FSA is tax-free as an incentive for people to save and use this sort of fund. Under ObamaCare only the first $2,500 would be tax-free. Minimum Total Cost to the Taxpayer – $13 billion.

4.       Under ObamaCare, Capital Gains Tax Rates for ALL AMERICANS will rise from 15% to 20% in 2013 (conveniently after the election), while dividend tax rates will go up from 15% to 39.6%. Also under the ObamaCare Surtax the top Capital Gains Rates will go to 23.8% and the top Dividend Rate will go to 43.4%. This will affect anyone with investments, retirement accounts, and any other type of nest egg. Minimum Total Cost to the Taxpayer – $123 billion.

5.       Lastly, the new ObamaCare Medicaid payroll Tax. This will affect everyone earning an income and conveniently takes affect only after the 2012 election. Minimum Total Cost to the Taxpayer – $86 billion.

 So there you go, put into simple terms these are only five of the new or expanded taxes that ObamaCare will unleash on the American Taxpayers. So next time you here the President or any of his Liberal surrogates say that ObamaCare will save the taxpayer money just take a look at these five items.

A New Rant for Y’all

Okay folks, here is a new rant for you this week. I know you’ll love it!!

1.       Campaign finance numbers are in for June and here are the results:

a.       President Obama raised $46 million and spent $58 million.

b.      Mitt Romney raised $33 million and spent $27.5 million.

Results: Even in Campaign mode President Obama works at a deficit!!

2.       Congrats to ABC News for jumping the gun and removing all doubt that they are the left-leaning news source we all knew them to be. During the Friday morning news programs ABC reporter Brian Ross tried to tie the Aurora, Colorado shooter to the Tea Party. Outstanding job in quality reporting once again from a news source that claims to be a leading player in quality news – WHATEVER!!

3.       Another congrats goes out the New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg and PBS newsman Bill Moyer who is also a New York City resident. Both have already jumped the gun calling for stricter gun-control laws; however, what neither wants to talk about is the fact that they reside in a city with arguably the strictest gun-control laws in the country and still had to confiscate over 4,000 guns last year. Most of which were taken AFTER being used in a crime which means that there are probably many more illegal firearms throughout New York City. Nice job of using a tragic event to push a liberal idea that clearly has not worked in THEIR OWN HOMETOWN!!

4.       In the world of the never-ending nightmare, United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was heckled and had tomatoes thrown at her motorcade on her way out of Cairo, Egypt. And all of this occurred while the Arab mob heckled her to chants of “MONICA, MONICA!!” See, even in an Arab speaking country they can still pronounce Monica correctly – imagine that!!

 Well that’s it!! Yeah I know it’s a short rant this week but I got a lot going on what with early voting for the run-off and all.

But in a moment of seriousness, I would like to say God Bless the folks in Aurora. I think I speak for most folks when I say our prayers are with you all. And God Speed Sally Ride, you were a role model for little girls and a hero to us all.

 Until next time,

Bill

Gore Begot the Internet, Obama Begot the Hybrid?

This week Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood claimed that through the efforts of the Obama Administration the hybrid car industry had been jump-started. LaHood then startlingly asked the question of who would have thought you would have seen a Lexus Hybrid two years ago?

WELL…….ME!!!!

That’s because the Lexus Hybrid came out in 2005, which for those of you interested in statistics would mean that Lexus gave us their hybrid seven years ago. So, since seven years is more than two years I guess Secretary LaHood must not have gotten the memo. But who knows, Maybe President Obama was working hard as an Illinois state congressman to get the hybrid made.

And we thought Al Gore was a tremendous asset with his invention, The Internet?

Well Secretary LaHood needs to look a little closer at facts before he opens the old mouth. It was actually during the Clinton Administration that hybrids were first made a real priority by requiring that car companies develop useable hybrid models to help conserve energy and improve the environment. Yeah, I know you all never expected me to give credit to the Clinton administration for being involved in this, but there they are. Of course years later the time requirements were lengthened and/or lowered as the development of the hybrids met certain development issues that needed to be addressed and overcome.

As time went by though car companies like GM put these developments on the back burner and actually worked to slow the development of electric vehicles with their recall of and consequent destruction of their EV-1 electric car (which was very popular with consumers) and then the purchase of the most up-to-date battery manufacturer to stop the production of the batteries that would revolutionize hybrid and electric vehicles.

But while GM and Chrysler proceeded very slowly if at all, foreign auto manufacturers and Ford (through their partnership with Mazda) set out to produce these hybrids with the knowledge that an increase in world oil use would mean these vehicles would eventually be in more demand in the coming years. As a result of these companies and their diligent work, cars like the Toyota Prius and Ford Escort hybrid began to be common place on American roads in the last three or four years and have been in high demand during gas price hikes making them more of the norm on the road today.

So while a RINO like Ray LaHood might be impressed with, and in many ways helping to create the propaganda that the Obama Administration lives on, I guess they feel the need to make up some good news and achievements for their sad performance rather than try and run for reelection on the President’s tremendous record of achievements.

What’s that…Record…..Oh Yeah, I forgot. Never mind

Guess I’ll still be waiting for the hybrid F-150!

Where are my keys?

Bill

The Good, the Bad, and the ObamaCare!

Much has been written over the last few years about ObamaCare so it would stand to reason that more people would know more about the law. But then again much has been written and said about last Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare so it would stand to reason that there would be more Court Scholars there are out there by now. But in reality there are good parts, there are bad parts, and then there is the fact that no comprehensive bill will ever work – ObamaCare is no exception.

Both sides of the political aisle have their opinions on the subject and most people are only too happy to give their opinion. Having been in the Navy, on my own as an independent contractor and covered under my wife’s healthcare plan; I can honestly look at all the different methods of coverage and I have a fairly good idea of how they all work – Not well. But for the purposes of this blog entry, me the Republican, took a look at the law without the bloated partisan talking points and just looked at the facts from the website recommended by one of my Democrat friends.

So the good, everyone likes to start with the good. Most people will agree that many of these items are good and have needed to be handled many years ago.

1.       Keeping kids on parents insurance until they are 26.

2.       No denials of insurance based on pre-existing conditions.

3.       Better approval policies for the FDA of generic drugs.

4.       Prevention screenings that do not count against your deductable (some with a small or no co-pay).

5.       The eventual elimination of yearly and/or lifetime spending limits.

These are some good things that have needed to be done for a while and there are more; however, there are some that are not productive and will have a detrimental effect on the economy and people’s welfare.

1.       Insurance companies can’t refuse to cover children. This sounds like a great idea and it is; however, the law allowed companies to drop their independent children’s coverage by a certain date in 2011. Most of them did leaving independent children’s coverage to the government thereby limiting most families choices to Medicaid or out-of-pocket (this one I know from personal experience).

2.       Businesses with more than 50 employees will be required to offer employer sponsored health-insurance (government approved of course). How many small businesses will stifle expansion in the face of this mandate?

3.        Places a limit of $2,500.00 on tax free spending for a Flexible Spending Account (FSA). More people will be less likely to have an FSA as this has long been a benefit in that a person would be more interested in investing in an FSA due to its tax-free status.

4.       New taxes on Pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment to help pay for ObamaCare. Who actually pays those taxes, the company or the end-user?

5.       A new tax on healthcare companies based on market share. Making health care companies less likely to expand services for fear of increasing their tax load.

6.       A new tax of so-called “Cadillac” health plans. These are the very same plans John McCain proposed taxing during the 2008 election. The same tax that then candidate Obama said was going to wreak havoc on the middle-class and would cost American taxpayers billions of dollars. Of Course during the election Obama said it was a bad idea because it would affect the middle-class worker (aka Union Worker), and now he claims it only affects the “Fat-Cats”.

MISSING IN ACTION – and lastly, one thing that needed to be in the bill but wasn’t, Tort Reform. Talk to ANY doctor and they will explain it that clearly their biggest concern outside of the actual patient’s health is the fear of an unwarranted malpractice suit.

So there you have it, a short list of the good and the bad, both are abridged for this blog so don’t think this is a complete list or argument against ObamaCare. No doubt about it, Health Care Reform in this country is needed, but it must be done in steps that work for the greater good and not one giant comprehensive bill. There are good parts to ObamaCare and not so good. Yes nothing is perfect, but we should strive for something that is of benefit to the most people possible and one giant cookie cutter approach will NEVER work for the entire country.

Each of these items could be passed independently of each other but aligned to work in conjunction with each other. Using this approach compromises would be easier to come by, decisions would be much effortless to make, and the conclusions would provide for better feedback and be less stressful to correct. A single item can be corrected easy in government, but correcting a comprehensive bill is difficult at best as every item in some way affects another.

In short, there is a need to come together and create legislation that provides solid solutions consisting of insurance renovation, Medicaid/Medicare renovation, improved cost control systems, and Tort Reform. But like everything else with the present state of politics, the art of compromise and good governing has been lost on most of the current slate of elected officials on both sides of the political spectrum. Healthcare is a serious issue in the United States and desperately needs to be fixed, but ObamaCare is not that fix and regardless of what is written, there is still much to be done.

I need an aspirin now!

Bill

ObamaCare and the SCOTUS!

So this week we got the news that ObamaCare was constitutional because the individual mandate was legal based on it being exactly what President Obama promised us it was not – A TAX!

That’s right, the same thing the president ran around swearing it wasn’t is exactly the only way the Supreme Court said it could possibly be legal. But in reality is this what anyone wanted? NO!

Both Democrats and Republicans are going to claim some sort of victory but in reality NO ONE wins. The Democrats are faced with a law that may turn out to be the single greatest single rise in middle class taxes in history and slaps the very voters Obama said would not be affected; those making less than $250,000.00 a family.

To the Republicans the very fact that the law was left standing is hard to deal with; and not because it was constitutional, but because the constitutionality of it was so hard to find. In Chief Justice Roberts’s opinion he doesn’t even speak to the constitutionality of it until page 52 of his 63 page opinion. That alone shows that this was a result of much digging in the tax code to find something to stand on. And that much digging must have been a strain on the justice, I mean the IRS code is 70,000 plus pages.

But in reality what did the Supreme Court’s ruling actually do? Let’s look at the implementation.

Well, besides the preliminary groundwork for ObamaCare, little else has been done by the states or the federal government to prepare for the execution of ObamaCare. As a matter of fact, it’s doubtful anyone will move on it for a while; at least until November.

That’s because the Supreme Court’s ruling put the proverbial future of ObamaCare ball in our hands. That’s right; the voters are the ones who will make the decision. So regardless of whether you agree with ObamaCare or you are against it, it is up to you and every American to get out and vote this November to help determine the future of ObamaCare; as well as the future of America.

The sad part is that there are good provisions in ObamaCare; however, like all comprehensive bills ObamaCare tries to cover too much and runs all over itself with contradictions and miscalculations in funding and expenses. In short, there has never been a comprehensive bill that has ever accomplished what it was designed to do. ObamaCare is no different than any of those comprehensive bills and anything 2,700 pages can’t be good (unless it’s a Lord of the Rings Book).

Covering those with preexisting conditions and keeping children on their parent’s coverage until their 26 are two of the items the President will tout as positives of ObamaCare – and they are. But in actuality, both of these could have been done with a small five or ten page bill that could have passed a very simply. But these were two planks that the Pelosi/Reid team needed to use to make the entirety of the bill seem palatable.

To repair healthcare in America more needs to be done, but it cannot be done in one comprehensive bill. It must be done in a series of bills that work independently of each other while still working in-line with each other as well to benefit us all. This way there isn’t one large monstrosity that must constantly be amended but a series of laws that could be negated if they fail to work as designed.

Maybe this can be done once the elections are over in November, but until then we shall hear plenty on this subject and regardless of your feelings on this week’s ruling, the choice of whether ObamaCare stands or falls is in the hands of all of us voters in November.

Remember to Register to Vote!!

Bill