Friday, November 20, 2009

HEALTH CARE VOTE TOMORROW


Here are some thoughts on the health care bill (Which one?) that's kicking around in congress. My question is why are we going to bring about this debacle without most of the congress people having read what they are voting on? This bill is a joke and will saddle us with debt for the foreseeable future.

These congress people are without a doubt a disgrace to the institution. I always look back in history to judge current politicians and the current ones don't stack up. As I listen to politicians from both parties I'm shocked by the lack of quality. Both parties seem to pander to the lowest denominator in all of us. The Dems give out money, favors, and then the much ballyhooed and loved Stupak amendment. The Republicans are inept and a nonentity. The Dems will pull the rug out from under them in conference when they ditch the amendement and restore federal funding for abortions, contrary to the wishes of most Americans. Talk about a bait and switch!

Let's look at some history. In 1935, debate began on the Clark amendment to the Social Security Act. It was about a private option vs. a government option for Social Security insurance. Senator Clark of Missouri was convinced that the private, free market option would outperform the government option in the market. He was right with a return on the government option of about 2% to 8% for the private option.

Allow me to quote from the book "New Deal or Raw Deal?" by Burton Folsom Jr. (If you read this book you will truly understand the New Deal and the damage it has done to America. This is a great book with a lot of information. Read it.

"When the Clark Amendment was debated before the Senate in 1935, the advocates of a government monopoly were on the defensive. One of them, Senator Robert LaFollette, Jr., of Wisconsin complained, 'If we shall adopt this amendment, the government having determined to set up a federal system of old age [insurance], will provide in its own bill creating that system, for competition, which in the end may destroy the federal system.' LaFollette was perceptive ...The Senate decided that workers ought to have a choice and voted 51-35 to make the Clark Amendment part of the social security law."

How did FDR respond? Check this out. "When the House passed a social security bill without the Clark amendment, Roosevelt and his supporters used a parliamentary tactic to gain victory. The House-Senate conference committee met to work out a compromise bill, and naturally the Clark Amendment was the main point of debate. The committee decided to submit a final bill to Roosevelt with the government monopoly intact. But they agreed to appoint a special joint legislative committee to study the Clark Amendment and report to Congress the next year on how best to provide for competition. But after the government monopoly was instituted, the promised meeting in 1936 was never held."

A similiar scenario will play out tomorrow in the Senate. We will have a bill that the majority of Americans don't want, jammed down our throats.

The question breaks down to whether a couple of Senators, notably Landrieu from Louisiana and Lincoln from Arkansas will listen to their constituents or to Harry Reid. The wrong vote could cost both of them their careers as their constituents are against this bill.

Thomas Paine was right, "These are the times that try men's souls."

10 comments:

The Malcontent said...

After last night's vote, I feel very sick as well. The problem with these Obamamorons is they they look at issues with blinders on. They are so enthroned with Obama that they can't see the forest thru the trees. It's ok to debate with them, but they don't want that, they look at us Conservatives as *nut cases*.. and I'm sorry but I can not deal with people like that. In my clear and 20/20 eyes, the Democrat party is following the lead of Jim Jones and the faithful at Jonestown. It is chilling to observe so many politicians gulping cyanide-laced kool-aid in fanatical unison. Americans will never forgive the Democrats for this attempt to force gigantic government expansion and debt upon them. The Democrat leadership has destroyed the party for a generation or more.
The Democrats have voted in unison to debate the bill. It seems that they have absolutely no understanding of how enraged the American people will be at this attempt to change America into a socialist state.
The socialist/democrats have just drawn the line in the sand.
They own this grievous disregard for the American people's wishes. They have no idea the payback they will be receiving. And they will deserve every bit of it. And they will live to regret it. This is the last straw.
There is really something wrong with those responsible for this incredible political folly. Whatever is wrong, they have sown and soon will become their Waterloo.

Anonymous said...

Mal you nailed it again.

Law and Order Teacher said...

Mal,
I hope you are right. These people have went across the line and I can only hope they reap what they sow. When did it become cool to be a lemming? When did it become cool to jump off the cliff with the rest of true believers? What a shame.

POL,
Thanks for the visit.

TAO said...

Oh yes, in the 90's the rage was deregulation so everyone went out and allowed Wall Street to consolidate banking and investments....and Wall Street became too big to fail...but failed anyway.

We bailed them out.

Right now you have healthcare where the government pays 46% of all medical expenses, and health insurance carriers, after you subtract the uninsured cover no more than 32%. As more and more folks seek emergency care without the means to pay, the cost of which will be borne by those with insurance premiums will continue to go up and fewer employers will be offering insurance to their employees.

Then if you really look at it and subtract all those employees who work for schools, law enforcement, local governments and some state governments who have access to health insurance but whos premiums are paid with tax dollars you realize that health insurers cover less that 25% of the population!

I don't like the current healthcare reform bill nor will I criticize the tactics of the democrats because they are no different than the prescription drug bill that passed under a Republican President and a Republican controlled Senate which included a whole lot of bribery...

Of course The Malcontent will claim that he is against that bill and the Republicans also...

Which is easy to do when the minority party is so irrelevant...

So, when DID it become so cool to become a lemming?

Seems to me that having your team in power was all it took! Thus being a lemming has been cool for quite sometime.

The CBO projected at the end of the Clinton years a budget surplus of 4.56 trillion dollars! Under Bush we went from a surplus to a deficit.....and a much higher swing than from plus to minus than what we are seeing as an increase in the deficit from the end of Bush's term to 2010 as projected by Obama...

But that is another issue another day...I believe I have given all of you enough to foam at the mouth about for now....

PRH said...

We is Doomed!

PRH said...

TAO...most of us don't foam at the mouth. We know liberals like you who love to suck off the Government tit from womb to grave are not worth arguing with.

We have better things to do with our time than to "argue with idiots"...have a nice socialist life.

TAO said...

PRH..

A government employee telling someone else about sucking from the government tit?

That's a HOOT!

Glad I am paying my taxes so you could have a cushy job and enjoyable retirement!

Remind me to think of you everytime I sign a check for my quarterly taxes!

Probably milking all your connections while on the taxpayers payroll now into a cushy contract job...

Yeah, socialists like me keep people like you from having to get real jobs and make a difference in the world...

You little moocher you...

Law and Order Teacher said...

TAO,
I don't find a whole lot to argue with here. The Repubs forfeited their right to any sanctimony on spending. I have some questions about your numbers, but I'll answer them on Truth's site in reply to your very interesting post.

Pat,
Thanks for the visit. Government running anything makes me nervous.

TAO said...

You know LAOT, you just got to wonder sometimes...

When we were busy deregulating everything, except what a woman can do with her body, did anyone wonder what would occur if this was bad legislation?

When Clinton left office we had a budget surplus and we couldn't move fast enough to squander that money...never once thinking about all the unfunded liabilities, social security, or medicare issues....

So, what did everyone think was going to happen? Thats why I blame Republicans for Obama!

We went for years talking about how we had whipped inflation, whipped recessions, and had finally overcome the laws of basic economics!

Did anyone think, "What happens if WE are WRONG?"

What happens? Well, you lose an election and the liberals take over THAT is what happens!

Then all the conservatives want to know why Americans got suckered into voting for the liberal?

Americans didn't vote so much FOR Obama as they cast their vote AGAINST what conservatives had just did to this country!

When conservatives get back to thinking about Main Street and individual citizens and get off the Wall Street and world domination stupidity then I will be glad to call myself a conservative once again....

Worshipping at the altar of big business is just as much about socialism nowadays as is anything that Obama has come up with!

Law and Order Teacher said...

TAO,
I get your angst. I would like to say that I saw all this coming but I was surprised too. I knew one thing though, when you spend more than you have that ain't good.

I really did question how everyone could own a house without the means to pay and I couldn't figure out how to do it.

Mostly I chalk it up to an unholy alliance between speculators and government officials who were stupid enough to think you can do social engineering on the taxpayers dime. When you try to legislate behavior it's bound to fail.

There's much to agree with in your comment. When conservatives act like conservatives they are right, when Repubs act like Dems they lose me.

Thanks for the visit.