Posts Tagged ‘epic fail obama’

Canadian Health Care Warning

June 6, 2010

Canada’s socialist health care system certainly served as a warning for those willing to heed it in the push to do similar mischief here in the U.S. Unfortunately, the voices of fiscal responsibility were drowned out by cries of “Hope ‘n’ Change.” The warning persists, however. Reuters headlined this week “Soaring costs force Canada to reassess health model.”

Reuters reports, “Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada’s provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.” Despite the fact that the system is preferred by 82 percent of Canadians, “popular” must be taken with a grain of salt. Ask those who have been denied care, or those who languish on months- or years-long waiting lists for procedures routine in the U.S. (at least for now), or those who travel to the U.S. for the best care (as did Danny Williams, Premiere of Newfoundland and Labrador). Lives have been shortened and the quality of life has deteriorated under Canada’s “popular” system.

Furthermore, costs are exploding. Ontario estimates that in 12 years health care could consume 70 percent of its budget. Provinces now spend about 40 percent of their budgets on health care versus roughly 7 percent in the 1970s. It’s as if we Americans can see the future being played out before our eyes.

SOURCE

Don’t trust the free market: Epic fail obama

May 29, 2010

Obama’s autocratic tendencies become more obvious each day. Dr. Donald Berwick, nominated by Barack Obama to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is “romantic about” Britain’s socialized National Health System (NHS). In July 2008 he wrote an article published in the British Medical Journal, comparing the U.S. health care system unfavorably to the British system, and giving a list of 10 suggestions to the NHS. The first was this:

Please don’t put your faith in market forces [emphasis in original]. It’s a popular idea: that Adam Smith’s invisible hand would do a better job of designing care than leaders with plans can. I find little evidence that market forces relying on consumers choosing among an array of products, with competitors fighting it out, leads to the healthcare system you want and need. In the U.S., competition is a major reason for our duplicative, supply driven, fragmented care system.”

In case Berwick hasn’t seen the reports on the NHS since the publication of his article, it’s deep in debt and delivering substandard service, with new critical reports published almost daily. Adam Smith’s invisible hand gave the U.S. the best medical care in the world. The people know this, which is why the vast majority reject ObamaCare, the American NHS wannabe.

Nevertheless, the administration wants to cram ObamaCare down our throats. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked a federal judge to dismiss Virginia’s lawsuit alleging Congress overstepped its constitutional bounds with the new health care “reform” law by requiring people to buy health coverage or pay a fee. In making her motion, Sebelius argued Congress “acted well within its authority under the Commerce Clause.” This argument has been used ever since the Warren Court to continually expand the powers of the federal government into areas never intended by the Framers. Let’s hope that this is expeditiously decided in favor of original intent. Cases such as this demonstrate why we need an independent, co-equal judiciary, instead of one that will rubber stamp decisions of an autocratic executive and a complicit legislature.

SOURCE

Democrats Help Themselves to More of Your Money

May 29, 2010

“We have new ideas about how to spend government money wisely.” So said Vice President Joe “BFD” Biden this week while discussing the $787 billion “stimulus” passed by Congress last year. He continued, “I’m very proud to say that there’s been virtually no — knock on wood — virtually no fraud associated with the $787 billion program overall.” Unless you consider that most of the money spent so far has gone to Democrat constituents, that is.

The occasion of Biden’s comments was a Middle Class Task Force roundtable discussion on Wednesday with the aim of pushing the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010. The bill would extend the Sept. 30, 2010 expiration date of the Emergency Contingency Fund, which in turn is part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program created by The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. (Say that three times fast.) The extension would cost $2.4 billion over 10 years, but, hey, it’s all about “jobs,” which is apparently why we’re stuck at 9.9 percent unemployment.

The price tag for the overall bill could be as high as $190 billion, the bulk of which Democrats aren’t concerned about how to pay for. Paygo rules don’t apply because, of course, this is another “emergency,” a tune that will change before November as Democrats crow about their fiscal responsibility. The Wall Street Journal calls it a “grab bag of political payoffs, corporate welfare and transfer payments,” including $65 billion for Medicare physician payments, $47 billion for unemployment insurance, $24 billion in Medicaid payments to the states (though this provision may be removed), and $1 billion for summer jobs for teens, to name a few.

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) recently bragged on the House floor that such payments are “one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus” because “every unemployment dollar spent returns $1.64 of economic benefits.” Sounds like we should be cheering higher unemployment.

Speaking of spending, Barack Obama sent legislation to Congress this week seeking a new kind of line-item veto. The Associated Press reports, “The legislation would award Obama and his successors the ability to take two months or more to scrutinize spending bills that have already been signed into law for pork barrel projects and other dubious programs. He could then send Congress a package of spending cuts for a mandatory up-or-down vote on whether to accept or reject them.”

Though this serves to make Obama look tough on spending, toothpaste is pretty hard to put back in the tube.

As for the private sector, thanks to Democrat spendthrifts, it’s shrinking while the public sector grows. “Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year,” according to USA Today. “At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.”

“The truth of the matter is that the Recovery Act is working,” Joe Biden declared. All too well, as a matter of fact.

SOURCE

1200 Troops to 1969 mile border: Epic fail obama

May 26, 2010

The impostor in chiefs latest gambit for increasing poll numbers prior to the November elections? Put a band aid on what, metaphorically, is a shotgun wound to the torso. That, and throw more money at the problem.

Friend and fellow blogger Texas Fred has called what is happening down there an invasion, and he is correct. 1200 National Guardsmen being deployed along a border that stretches nearly 2,000 miles? Simply not enough, period. Then, what will be the ROE’s? Will they be unarmed, as was the situation under Bush?

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a disaster waiting to happen. The old goat RINO, John McCain, remember him, the amnesty guy that wanted to be President? Now that it’s election time, he sure has changed his tune. Imagine that… Just about everything that’s going on right now in politics, is geared to one thing. Maintaining the status quo. Which means keeping the same people in power that are wrecking this nation.

Obama lied: Duh!

May 23, 2010

Well? How long until we hear some forlorn mother screaming before the cameras that “obama lied and my son died!” Or does that only work for left wing loony’s?

The impostor in chiefs never ending statements that his signature piece obamacare legislation would not result in Americans losing their health care coverage, was, like so much that comes out of his pie hole, a lie.

President Obama guaranteed Americans that after health reform became law they could keep their insurance plans and their doctors. It’s clear that this promise cannot be kept. Insurers and physicians are already reshaping their businesses as a result of Mr. Obama’s plan.

The health-reform law caps how much insurers can spend on expenses and take for profits. Starting next year, health plans will have a regulated “floor” on their medical-loss ratios, which is the amount of revenue they spend on medical claims. Insurers can only spend 20% of their premiums on running their plans if they offer policies directly to consumers or to small employers. The spending cap is 15% for policies sold to large employers.

This regulation is going to have its biggest impact on insurance sold directly to consumers—what’s referred to as the “individual market.” These policies cost more to market. They also have higher medical costs, owing partly to selection by less healthy consumers.

Finally, individual policies have high start-up costs. If insurers cannot spend more of their revenue getting plans on track, fewer new policies will be offered.

Full story HERE.

How’s that change working out for you?

“The bottom line: Defensive business arrangements designed to blunt ObamaCare’s economic impacts will mean less patient choice.” Same source.

World Economy: Are we in for a ride like no other?

May 20, 2010

During the power outages that kept me from the important things in life, like blogging (jk). I started thinking about things on a Macro level. As in the economy. The similarities between the seventies and now are worrisome to say the least.

Our government keeps insisting that things are getting better. Yet everyday there are more and more reports that unemployment is still rising, and lay offs are also again on the rise. Supposedly, inflation is not happening. Yet, all of my bills are growing, and prices are continuing to surge. Even adjusting for the upcoming holiday fuel is rising in price well beyond what it plausibly should be. The power came back on, and here is what I found. The bane of times past…

Why I Expect Serious Stagflation – Robert P. Murphy – Mises Daily

Soros Says Fed in a Bind Beware Stagflation Bursting of Bond

Stagflation in 2010 May Look Like Reruns of the 1970s

Stagflation Versus Hyperinflation – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com

Transition From Crisis To Stagflation

World Currency Watch: FOREX Market, FOREX Trading BLOG

Bah Humbug: Stagflation is around the corner | Economists’ Forum


Understanding the present push toward totalitarian government

May 17, 2010

Exclusive in-depth investigation, part 3–what is ‘government 2.0’?

With the development and advancement of the Internet, malevolent forces that have joined together in a big government/big corporation conglomeration have a powerful and effective tool by which to obtain their objectives–ultimate power and huge sums of money.

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais).

In Part One of this investigation we discovered that the Obama Administration is preparing to expand the size and scope of government to unprecedented levels.  In Part Two we uncovered a report, issued by the Rand Corporation and commissioned by the U.S. Army and the Administration in Washington, to put into place a new national police force that will have unprecedented powers to enforce the new initiatives of this oppressive regime–Obama’s 4th Reich.

Today we examine how these malevolent forces are presently using the Internet to violate every known principle of liberty as set forth in the Constitution and place each citizen under constant surveillance reminiscent of George Orwell’s nightmare, 1984.

The Internet is tailor-made for totalitarians.  The manner in which the web has been configured, allowing tracking cookies and other such spy-ware, is a tyrant’s dream.  While it can be used for great good, in the wrong hands it can become a tool for government and corporate snoops, spying on ordinary citizens, and then using the information gathered to coerce, intimidate, and corral the herds of the populace into submission.

Some of this, of course, is already being done.  Google and other search engine corporations are known for privacy violations and their reckless attitude toward the rights of citizens.  Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, as we shall see, are also major offenders.

But the key to understanding the present push toward totalitarian government can be found in numerous statements issued by the Obama Administration contending that there is no inherent right to privacy on the Internet, not even with regard to email.

The Canadian government echoed this sentiment when it stated that there is no right to privacy with the Internet, because ‘that’s the way it was designed.’

In conjunction with the notion that there is no inherent right to private communication on the Internet is the push by the Obama  Administration to make having Broadband Internet ‘a basic human right.’

The Left has been advancing such a notion for several years now.  During the 2008 Presidential campaign Democratic candidate John Edwards was asked in a TV interview to describe the things he considers to be ‘inherent, basic human rights.’  At the top of the his list was ‘Internet access,’ while failing to mention a single guaranteed right contained in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution.

This is no accident.  By making Broadband Internet access a human right, thus expanding the scope of Internet communication to nearly everyone on the planet, the notion cited above that ‘there is no inherent right to privacy on the Internet’ takes on an entirely different tone.

The moguls of big government and big corporations want everyone communicating on the Internet so that they can monitor the thoughts and activities of citizens, leading to preemptive action if necessary, to control the population.

And that brings us to something called ‘Government 2.0.’ And there is even already a concerted effort to wage war on those who would attempt to oppose it.

The basic thrust of the concept of Gov. 2.0 is to bring together the brightest minds on the planet, along with the moguls of government and corporations, to take both the government and the Internet to an entirely new level, based upon the world-wide web.

One of the investigative sources for this series, who shall remain anonymous, stated the following:

So, a burgeoning, massive database appears to already be forming, beyond the “Evil Empire,” Google.
There’s Web 2.0. Now there’s “Gov 2.0.”
Blogs, photos, or seemingly innocent opinions…recorded as isolated incidents, are to be gathered
from numerous social networks and indeed, across the Internet. The massive power of the ongoing
“collective.” Once gathered & indexed they can be sorted in powerful ways to spur further
investigations and enable its use, years later… “evidence” as ammunition or tools for political coercion.

So, who are some of the main players invited by the Obama White House to be part of the start-up of Government 2.0?

We will name the names in the next segment.

For commentary on the issues of the day, visit my blog at The Liberty Sphere.

SOURCE

Mothers Against Debt (MAD)

May 17, 2010

A Message from Mothers Against Debt (MAD): From Transparency Czarina Amy Oliver,

This what we have done to our children with our reckless spending and massive national debt. Sadly this video is already out of date. Since this video was made, our national debt has climbed another $1700.

Please share this wonderful, but frightening video with as many people as you know. It’s about time we start talking about the massive amount of crippling debt we are enslaving our children and grandchildren with.

Don’t Be Like California (Or Greece): Writing about the fairly frightening similarities between Greece and California over at Reason Online, Tim Cavanaugh asks, “What do Europe’s most bankrupt nation-state and America’s most bankrupt united state have in common, aside from being bankrupt?”

Good question. Cavanaugh continues:

…it turns out that Greece, that sun-drenched paradise on the Aegean, and California, that sun-warmed El Dorado on the Pacific, are the worst places to do business in their respective economic zones.”

So how did California come to resemble a fiscally-wrecked European social-welfare state that needs a massive bailout? Independence Institute Senior Fellow Barry Poulson gave a heads up last year in the Denver Post

:

The Golden State’s GANN Amendment, a precursor of TABOR, limited the growth of state revenue and spending to the sum of inflation and population growth. In the late 1980s, the California legislature abandoned the GANN Amendment. As a result, state spending in California increased more rapidly than personal income and taxes were increased to one of the highest levels in the country. Business investment and jobs left the state for other states with better tax climates.

The moral of the story is of course, don’t be like California.

RSVP’s Welcome for the 8th Annual ATF Party! Registration for the most politically incorrect event of the year is now open – this year’s Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms party! The event is set for Saturday, July 17th at the swank Kiowa Creek Sporting Club. This year’s guest speaker is the brilliant and always straight shooting editor-in-chief at Reason Magazine, Nick Gillespie. Come on out and drink, smoke, and shoot with us… while it’s still legal! RSVP here online or call us at 303.279.6536.

What Fresh Obama Care Hell Is This? So here’s a nasty little surprise from deep in the bowels of Obama Care:

Section 9006 of the health care bill — just a few lines buried in the 2,409-page document — mandates that beginning in 2012 all companies will have to issue 1099 tax forms not just to contract workers but to any individual or corporation from which they buy more than $600 in goods or services in a tax year. The stealth change radically alters the nature of 1099s and means businesses will have to issue millions of new tax documents each year.

It’s things like this that help explain Nancy Pelosi’s motivation when she said, “But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.” Look for more unbelievably bad tidbits to emerge now that the “fog of controversy” has been lifted from the Obama Care bill.

Free People, Free Markets – the Tuesday Night edition: Many of you asked for a Principles of Liberty course to take place on a weeknight, instead of on Saturdays. You also asked that we hold the class somewhere in the south metro area, instead of here at the Independence Institute offices in Golden. Well, you’re in luck! The Spring Free People, Free Markets classes will be held on 5 consecutive Tuesdays at 6:30pm, starting May 18th, down in the Denver Tech Center. Classes will be at the Colorado Contractors Association building at the intersection of I-25 and Arapahoe Road (map). For more information, click here for the official class flyer.

Again, that’s five consecutive Tuesdays, May 18th to June 15th from 6:30 to 9:30 in the Denver Tech Center. Call us at 303.279.6536 to RSVP!

Must See TV: A higher education marks an important chapter in one’s life, but what happens when this chapter is being distorted by a demonstrable lack of intellectual diversity and debate? Author Robert Maranto joins me to discuss a number of the problems, the scope, and reforms for higher education that are in his new book The Politically Correct University. Jessica Peck-Cory of Independence Institute steps up to discuss some of the issues surrounding the civic direction of CU at Boulder. Don’t miss this important discussion on the issues of higher ed this Friday night at 8:30PM on KBDI Channel 12; repeated the following Tuesday evening at 5PM.

Must hear podcast: Is there anything that reasonably can be done to change the overwhelming Left-leaning bias of faculties at American colleges? Lead editor of the new insightful volume The Politically Correct University, University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform professor Bob Maranto discusses the problem and possible solutions with Education Policy Center analyst Ben DeGrow.

Perspective: In this week’s op-ed, health care policy analyst Brian Schwartz questions your “compassionate” politics. Brian wonders when it became compassionate to take other people’s money away and give it to charity, rather than your own. Forced charity is not really charity.

Until next week…

Straight on

Jon Caldara

www.independenceinstitute.org

Exclusive in-depth investigation–naming the snakes in Obama’s 4th Reich–Part 2

May 17, 2010

The in-depth investigation into secret plans for government to collaborate with large corporations to dominate society has revealed Obama’s Pandora’s box.  When one opens the box they will discover an assortment of snakes–venomous individuals and entities in both the private and public sector who are currently laying the groundwork for a 4th Reich–modeled after Germany’s Third Reich before and during WWII.

It is time to begin naming the snakes, and there are many.

First, consider this.  In order for a fascist regime (big government and big business forming an alliance to totally dominate society from top to bottom) to exist and be successful, it needs a police force to maintain order and to enforce the edicts handed down by the ruling class.

Citizens normally resist when they finally wake up to the fact that their government has become an oppressive, malevolent force.  Thus, an apparatus must be put into place to minimize such civil unrest.

Rumors have been afloat for months alluding to the possibility that Barack Obama has begun to lay the groundwork for such a police force.  Some have seen it in the healthcare bill.  Others have seen it in Cap and Trade legislation.  Still others have insisted that the U.S. military has been training a special domestic force to help police with ‘crowd control’ in the event of massive civil unrest–the program called ‘Consequence Management Response Force.’

And then there was the report that Obama had revised an Executive Order issued initially by Ronald Reagan, the revision of which would allow INTERPOL to operate on U.S. soil with immunity from the restrictions and requirements of the Constitution.

Each time such suggestions have been made, vehement denials have proceeded in response.

Fair enough.

But when one takes a cold, hard look at what the Obama government and the U.S. Army–in conjunction with a large corporation–have been doing with regard to a new police force, it is difficult to explain it all away and even more difficult to engage in denials.

FULL STORY

obama: viertes Reich ?

May 16, 2010

EXCLUSIVE IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION–Obama’s Secret Plan for the 4th Reich? Part 1

I have major information in my possession that proves beyond doubt that this regime is planning a massive push for complete government control over every aspect of our lives–globally.  The information is disturbing, frightening, and overwhelming…and there is a LOT of it!

The information will be revealed in a series of articles at Conservative Examiner, beginning TODAY.

I urge you, I beg you to read this and pass it along. As you will see as we progress through the series, ALL of the allegations made against Obama and others near him can be proved and documented.  A fascist government is on the way, a collaboration of big government and big corporations.  Be prepared to be shocked at the proof we have uncovered.

The above is from my good friend and blogger Anthony at, The Liberty Sphere.