Charlie's Chatter

As I write this on Saturday night, February 20th, it looks more and more certain that the House of Representatives will soon pass the bill passed by the Senate last year. This is supposed to be followed by a reconciliation bill of some type which both the House and the Senate will then pass. So apparently some kind of “health care reform” legislation will pass and be signed into law by Obama. If so, get ready for the deluge, and start saving more money for your children and grandchildren. Of course you will only be able to do that by spending less money.
      Although I have not as yet found any complete details on the proposed “reconciled” bill, I do know what the House and Senate passed last year. And I have recently read some hints and tips on what would probably be in the final “reconciled” bill. It will be a huge hodgepodge of rules, regulations and taxes, with a lot of “pork” thrown in. Yeh, sure, most of the “pork” will be at least roughly related to “health care”. But “pork” it will be nevertheless, such as building a new Veteran’s Administration Hospital in one Congressman’s district instead of just permanently closing the existing and old one as previously planned. Various taxes will go into effect first, with the so-called “benefits” coming in later, and then only gradually. Unions will probably still benefit from an exemption from the so-called “cadillac tax” on their existing health insurance, at least for several years. And gosh knows what went on behind closed doors, especially when Obama recently spent much time speaking to various congressmen and congresswomen. What did he promise them in order to get them to vote “Yes”? (Dennis Kucinich got a ride on Air Force One. Wow!) Perhaps worst of all will be the cost of the monstrous bill. The claimed “cost” should be about 940 billion dollars over 10 years, at least according to the CBO (Congressional Budget Office). Give me a break.
      In 1965 when Medicare was passed, it was estimated that by 1990 Medicare Part A would cost the federal government $9.1 billion. In reality, 1990 spending was $67 billion – seven times greater. Also in 1965, Medicare Part B was supposed to be funded through a $3 premium and $500 million in federal revenue. In 2008, Medicare Part B required $146.8 billion in government revenue – a 4300 percent increase.
      By the way, if you think that “health care reform” legislation will make medical care more affordable and accessible, while still being of high quality, think again. Except for a few people, (mostly those who are below middle-class in income), costs will go up, one way or another. And the accessibility of quality medical care will slowly but surely go down. Only the wealthy will not suffer, but that itself is okay; after all, what is wealth for except to be able to invest, to buy more stuff and to leave more money for your children and grandchildren?
      Earlier today, when Obama spoke to the Democrats, he encouraged them to vote “yes” by saying, “Don’t do it for me. Don’t do it for the Democratic Party. Do it for the American people. They’re the ones looking for action right now”. Obama himself, when he does sign any health care “reform” bill into law, will of course claim “victory for the American people”. That’s the talk of a typical demagogue, a smooth-tongued devil. Well, Obama did say during the presidential campaign that he wanted to “transform” America. He will transform it alright. Down into the depths. Yes, Obama and others will use the word “victory” when a health care “reform” bill is passed. It will be victory all right – victory for those in power who want more control over our lives, and victory for those who want United States civilization to degrade even further.
      What will come next? I can only make an educated guess. Kicking out the Democrats in this November’s election will not help much, if at all. Most Republicans are almost as bad as the Democrats. So I suggest saving money, try to get your children and grandchildren to learn Spanish (or Arabic), and learn in what direction Mecca lies so that you, your children and grandchildren will be ready to bow down towards Mecca five times a day for their prayers to Allah.

Perhaps the best examples of demagogues today are provided by Obama and some members of his administration. A demagogue is generally a politician who attempts to gain political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public—typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda. In the heat of the now intense debate on “health care reform” legislation, Obama and some members of his administration are providing excellent examples. The latest examples occurred last week when Obama gave a speech on “health care reform” in Pennsylvania. According to this report, Obama said the following:

(Health Insurers) will keep on doing this for as long as they can get away with it. This is no secret. They’re telling their investors this – ‘We are in the money. We are going to keep on making big profits even though a lot of folks are going to be put under hardship’.

Way to go Obama! Blame the high cost of medical care on the insurance companies. What a damn demagogue – an apparently effective demagogue because of his smooth and clever tongue. As I reported on several pages on my web site, (for which this page is a starting point), by far the major reason for the large increase in medical costs over the past few decades has been the very large increase in medical tests, procedures, equipment and drugs over those same few decades. In fact, I estimate that at least 90 percent of all the medical tests, treatments, equipment and drugs that are available today did not even exist 60 years ago! That is by far the major reason for the high increase in total medical care costs. Many if not most Americans are not aware of that. And our Dear Leader, who is perhaps aware of that, will not tell us about that since that will not give him the power and adulation that he wants. I am so mad about this that I can’t help but curse. That same report said that the Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius wrote to insurance company executives demanding that they justify premium hikes. Hey, Ms. Sebelius, how about justifying your own demagoguery! Surely she knows that the insurance companies are regulated by the various States, often heavily, and that often includes regulation of the rates that they can charge. But no, never mind that fact. Let’s just keep the American people misinformed with demagoguery so that the power of Obama and his administration can be enhanced.
      When it comes to the total cost of medical care, I am well aware of the fact that health insurance is only slighly useful at best, somewhat harmful at worst. In effect, as I have reported on my web site, much health insurance is waste. At the expense of oversimplification, this is mostly because not a single health insurance company worker provides us with actual medical care. Medical care is provided only by doctors, nurses, their assistants and almost all people who work in doctors’ offices, hospitals, clinics and drug companies. On the other hand, to publicly demonize health insurance companies and their profits is pure demagoguery. Health insurance company profits make up less than one percent of all the money spent on “heatlh care”, as reported in this article which I previously referenced, and also in this article. Of note in the latter article is this passage:

Whatever their sins, insurers are mainly intermediaries; they pass along the costs of the delivery system. In 2009, the largest 14 insurers had profits of roughly $9 billion; that approached 0.4 percent of total health spending of $2.472 trillion. This hardly explains high health costs. What people need to know is that Obama’s plan evades health care’s major problems and would worsen the budget outlook. It’s a big new spending program when government hasn’t paid for the spending programs it already has.

Hey, Mister Obama, what about tort reform and malpractice lawyers? These latter claim that they are not the problem because they claim that they add less than one percent to our total “health care” costs. But so do health insurance company profits. Why then not demonize malpractice lawyers Mister Obama? Is is because you yourself are a lawyer? And don’t give me this bullcrap about how Obamacare provides some tort reform; the most that one piece of proposed legislation does is to provide a few billion dollars for some kind of small “test program” on the issue of tort reform.

United States armed forces and some civilian employees have now spent over nine years in Afghanistan. And there we remain. Osama bin Laden remains at large. Although the Taliban were chased from most of Afghanistan nine years ago, the Taliban continue to cause big problems in the country. A so-called “democratic” government has been set up years ago, with Hamid Karzai first elected as president in 2004, and then re-elected in 2009. But all of this does not seem to have produced much progress to me. The country and its government is said to be rife with corruption. And opium production continues at a large pace. Taliban incursions and attacks still occur frequently. Tribal leaders often have more power than the government. And Osama bin Laden remains free.
      But fear not. I just read that the Afghanistan government has recently set up an endangered species act. Nine months after it created its first list of protected endangered species, the Afghanistan government has added 15 more to the list, including what has been billed as “the world’s least-known bird.” Ain’t that great? Clearly this is evidence of a government that not only knows what the “right thing” is, but actually does it !   (Yeh, right.)
      The “species” that I would like the Afghanistan government to protect are ordinary Afghanistan citizens. Protect them from corrupt tribal leaders, corrupt government officials, and the Taliban. Of most importance I would like to see the human female species protected. Women need to be protected from the harsh impediments of Islam and its culture in Afghanistan, such as those which require them to be completely covered from head to toe when in public, and those which prevent them from becoming educated, truly free and with the same rights as men.

Wow! I just read that our Dear Leader Obama is again proposing another government plan to help us out! This time he is again showing us his concern about the high dropout rate of students from high schools. And in doing so he is proposing yet another government “plan”. Never mind that last year Obama described a “Race to the Top” program — a $5 billion pot of money states would compete for in order to, among other things, reduce the dropout rate and improve performance in low-performing schools. Never mind that most previous government “plans”, to include those at the State level, apparently have never worked despite all the money expended in those plans. Never mind that Bush signed into law the “No Child Left Behind” act in 2002, an act which has since increased federal funding for schools by many billions of dollars. I guess that bill did not work either.
      Well, I’m sure that Obama, being very intelligent, knows how to do it right. According to the article that I read, Obama is proposing four different methods to “improve” our high schools which have high dropout rates. One method is to fire the principal and at least half the staff. I guess by the “staff” is meant those in administrative positions and NOT teachers. A second method is to “Restart” the school by opening it as a charter school or a school under the management of an education organization with expertise in running schools. Hmm… I wonder what kind of “education organization” has expertise in running schools? Could it be some progressive “social engineering” organization with good political connections? A third method is to “transform” the school by firing the principal but retaining — and retooling — personnel to implement “comprehensive instructional reform strategies.” Wow! Don’t you just love the phrase “comprehensive instructional reform strategies”? I sure wonder exactly what those are! But never mind. I’m sure Obama and his administration not only know what they are, but will even determine some of them, all to the benefit of our low-performing high schools.
      Yeh, right. Obama’s latest “proposals” don’t say a damn thing about all the teachers’ unions and the teachers themselves. Oh no, whatever we do we must not get in the way of the teachers’ unions. Never mind that many high school principals, who wish to fire clearly incompetent teachers, can almost never do so because of objections from a teachers’ union. So yeh, in such a case, fire the principal. The unions can not be touched in any negative fashion by Obama because he is so much in favor of them. The jerk. Gosh, I fear more and more for the United States, given Obama as our Dear Leader.