Obama now wants to add Long Term Care

Obama, once again, is trying to expand the role of government.  The article states it best.

Moving to broaden the scope of the proposed healthcare overhaul, President Obama threw his support yesterday behind the creation of a program to help families struggling with long-term care costs.

The voluntary insurance program, sponsored by Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, would pay a modest daily cash benefit of at least $50 that people could use for a range of in-home services or nursing home expenses.

If you do the math, this could cost tax-payers $18250 per person per year.  Once we offer a benefit like this, we won’t be able to take it away.  Now how much do you suppose the government is going to charge for such a benefit?  A measely $780 per year.  And I bet there’s a provision in there that if you can’t afford to pay that, you won’t have to pay anything at all.

Obama is expanding the welfare society.  I always thought that social security was supposed to take care of these types of things.  Most retirees collect about $18000 to $24000 a year from social security.  The purpose of social security was to be social insurance to protect people from financial hardship.  Why do we need another bill that does the exact same thing?  If you’re disabled, you get disability from Social Security.

How viable is this plan?  It’s not viable at all. Look at the example we have in Social Security.  It’s completely underfunded.  If Obama pushes for this Long Term Care proposal, it will also be underfunded.  Like all politicians, Obama over promises and will under deliver.

Since the government version would only cost $780 per year per person, it is much less than private insurance which is currently around $2000 to $5000 per person per year.  What else does that tell us?  It means that the government is not collecting enough to cover the costs.  The only reason they give us the low price tag is for all of the sheeple to say, “Oh, there is an affordable solution.”  The problem is that it’s just not sustainable.

Obama continues to weaken the economy.  He’s taking a very micro-economic approach.  He needs to look at the macro aspect.  He is hurting business, and in turn, hurting individual people.  He may think he knows all, but he’s just dumb.

Obama’s Cap and Trade Bill and Light Bulbs

The passage of the new climate bill is a terrible thing as it is the largest tax placed on Americans.  While the concept might seem great, the cost of cap and trade is passed on to the consumer.  The purpose of the bill was to help us get away from  foreign oil.  It will actually do the opposite.

When oil producers have to pay a tax, it increases their costs.  Those costs get passed on to us.  Once the costs get too high, the only thing the domestic producers will be able to do is shut down refineries and reduce production.   This bill is going to raise the cost of oil so much that we’re going to start importing oil again.

Besides this effect, it doesn’t help that 300 pages were added to the bill at the very last minute.  How many of the democratic congress men actually read the bill?  To top it off, Obama’s “Energy Czar” hasn’t even read the bill.  Jimmie, from the Sundries Shack has a nice opinion on that.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Aiming to keep the focus on climate change legislation, President Barack Obama put a plug in for administration efforts to make lamps and lighting equipment use less energy.

“I know light bulbs may not seem sexy, but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is used to light our homes and businesses,” the president said, standing alongside Energy Secretary Steven Chu at the White House.

And by “better” the administration means “whatever crappy expensive new lighting General Electric happens to be making that might possibly eke out an infinitesimal energy savings, damn the cost to you or your employer”.

Now Obama wants to regulate your lightbulb. I knew that we would have big government with Obama, but this is more than I would have thought.  If Obama would let capitalism run its course, we would have more efficient bulbs.  It is not government that is the creator of new ideas, it is the entrepreneur.  As Obama and his government get more mixed in with business, they will continue to stifle the economy.

Obama pointed out the following in the article.

He pointed to the state of California as an example of what stricter energy efficiency standards could achieve. In the late 1970’s, California enacted tougher energy policies, which the president said, helped create millions of jobs. Today, he said, Californians consume 40 percent less energy per person than the national average.

Ya, California is an example of all that is good. <Sarcasm>  Does that also include their $24 Billion in deficits this year?  Government should be small.  It should mind its own business and let the people take care of themselves.

Obama tax on work cell phones?

It came out over the weekend that the IRS and the Obama administration are looking to tax the use of work cell phones as a fringe benefit.  This is after all of the talk of Obama wanting to tax health benefits that are paid by employers.  What happened to Obama’s promise to not increase taxes for those of us making less than $250,000 a year?  Obama tells us another lie, and the people keep buying his crap.

We have to look further into the issue.  Why is Obama wanting all of these taxes?  It’s not really a matter of want.  Obama actually needs these taxes.  He needs these taxes if he is going to fund his government run health care program.  All of the sheeple out there think this Obama health care is going to be great.  They think it’s going to be free or less expensive.  While you may not pay money when you visit the doctor, they’re paying for it with higher taxes.  That’s the only way things like this work.

While I generally dislike taxes, this type of tax would be more regressive than progressive, affecting those that make less money.  As Stacey Higginbotham puts it, “Cell phones are no longer the status symbols of the privileged few who work in international finance or software sales.”

Keep your health plan, keep your bailouts, and keep your hands out of my pocketbook.

Obama to Appoint Pay Czar

According to a Wall Street Journal article, Obama is set to appoint a Pay Czar.  The responsibilities of this person would be to oversee the executive-compensation guidelines for firms receiving aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).  By doing so, Obama takes us another step closer to socialism.  Previously, salaries for some employees were capped while bonuses for others were nixed.  As we saw with the AIG Bonus fiasco, what was rightfully promised to employees was taken away to serve a political purpose.

When the government steps in and tells us how much we can earn, that’s just wrong.  The market should be allowed to determine what is acceptable.  When someone works hard, they should be rewarded appropriately.  While many blame the Wall Street Banks for the downfall of the financial system, they are not the only ones.  There are many parties to blame, including, “We the People.”  Because we always want things our way, we caused this mess.  The Government did one better by forcing the banks to participate in the Community Reinvestment Act.  This basically forced banks to make bad loans.

By allowing the government to regulate pay, we invite them to regulate other things in our lives.  Obama’s already taken the next step by telling us that we can only drive a certain type of car.  One that gets 35.5 miles per gallon.  Next thing you know, Obama will be telling us what to wear, what to listen to, and what to watch on TV.  Obama will then tell us what we can look at on the internet.  Government should stay out of our personal lives.

Pay should be determined by the free market.  If you do a poor job, you get paid less.  If you do well, you get rewarded.  If someone will do the same job as you, but for less, that person will get the job.  It’s as simple as that.  That is the way the United States has operated in the past, that’s the way we should continue to operate.

Obama is acting like the Union, but in reverse.  Instead of demanding a “minimum” wage, he’s limiting it.  It’s bad enough that he wants to take all of our money through taxes.  Obama is dumb.

Obama and GM (Government Motors)

Bondholders of GM soundly rejected the offer placed before them, to swap their debt for 10 percent of the new company. I am one of those bondholders and the numbers presented just did not make sense. Bondholders hold $27 Billion in GM Debt. The UAW Trust has $20 Billion owed to them. The Government has loaned an additional $20 Billion to GM. But under the proposal required by the Obama Administration, the bondholders would receive 10 percent, the UAW Trust would receive 39 percent, the Government would receive 50 percent, and existing shareholders would receive 1 percent.

Just taking a ratio of the numbers, the bondholders are getting screwed. It is not surprising since Obama seems to be against industry. Looking at the numbers alone, bondholders should receive 40 percent, UAW Trust 29 percent, Government 29 percent, and existing shareholders 2 percent.

But yesterday during negotiations, the UAW Trust agreed to only take 17.5 percent with the option of an additional 2.5 percent through warrants. This leaves an additional 19 percent to be split, on the table. But according to the government, the most GM can offer bondholders is 10 percent of the company. This is a guarantee fail. Instead of offering the bondholders the additional 19 percent, bringing it up to a total of 29 percent, the remainder goes to the government.

So if the bondholders were to approve the debt swap, they would still only get 10 percent, UAW 20 percent, Government 69 percent, and existing shareholders 1 percent. We’ve talked about socialism. This seems more like communism. The Government is placing demands on a private entity and will take 69 percent of the company.

If Obama lets his plan happen, things will get tougher for the lower and middle class. The largest of the bondholders are banks. If banks are not able to recover their money, how likely are they to provide future loans or to purchase debt? If the Government can come in and take over a company, I don’t want to have any part of it. Why would I buy their stock? Why would I buy their debt?

We’ve seen how the Government runs things. Government and business don’t mix. The government runs the postal service. The government runs the VA hospitals. The government runs the DMV. Now we want to let the government run an automobile company?

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