A couple of commentators today indicated that if states opt out of the health care reform they would still have to pay the federal taxes to cover the costs of those who do take advantage of the public option. Well, I would hope that wouldn't be true. I would think that if they think they can force people to buy something that's one thing, but to tell them they have to pay for something they didn't want in the first place but need to pay for others who do want it would be a travesty.
Now I'm looking for a way to formulate the language in a referendum which would take care of the issue. However, this is going to have to wait a few days. We need to find out how smart the people in Virginia, New Jersey and New York are plus the 19th district in Michigan before we take our next step. One thing at a time sometimes works.
Couple of other observations: In the old days the economists told us that 4% unemployment was full employment. Now we are hearing talk that 10% is going to be our new full employment figure. That cannot mean anything but trouble. If that many people are not working how are they expecting to raise the ordinary taxes for day to day expenses? Not only is less money coming in, the unemployed will be a drain on programs set up to help our unemployed and their children. I wonder how many more millions will be added to those who don't have health care coverage if that happens. This is a mess!
Also in today's news we hear that Chrysler is going to jettison Jeep. I see why Roger Penske was unable to get the full backing for Saturn given the manufacturing facilities interaction with other GM models. I'm not sure if this is duplicated at Chrysler, but if it isn't or if it's just a hurdle to be jumped I predict the people who love Jeep will do their best to buy that part of Chrysler. I've know several people who love the Jeep product so much that they don't mind being called a member of a cult. There is definitely a Jeep cult in this country. This might be fun to watch.
One last observation to try to get your head wrapped around--if health care is 1/6 of the economy and government costs 1/6 we're looking at a full third in only two spending areas. The budget numbers just 5 years ago called for 10% to pay interest on the national debt which has nearly doubled in less than one year but since interest rates are down now we'll leave it where it is. Defense was just over 15% and I'm not sure where it is right now, but what I do know is that with all those fixed costs where are we going to get the money for education, all of the other so-called "discretionary" spending that each one of us can make our own lists starting with what is important to us.
Without a graph or chart to demonstrate what these numbers mean is just too much to try to visualize. We'll get on this, but for now let's just try to agree that government is just too darn big on all levels and the Tea party people have it right: Taxed Enough Already!
God bless..........
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment