Surprise! Surprise? $340 Billion More in Health Care Costs

We already knew that the fictitious figure of just under a trillion dollars wasn't holding up when we found it didn't include doctor's costs. Now the next independent study to come out has added another $340 billion to the cost. It's looking more like a trillion and a half -- how high can it go?

Second observation has to do with the front page stories of our local newspaper one day last week. Three of the four stories had to do with "programs" benefiting various entities such as Tenneco Corp. of Grass Lake with other plants in the area. As I recall about $1.8 million in a grant from the Michigan Development bunch was enough of a bribe for them to add a little to it and they plan to hire 185 people. As I'm looking at this story I'm thinking how much did this cost the neighbors of those 185?

Question: Have you ever heard of anyone who got a subsidy or a grant thanking the citizens for their largesse? Didn't think so.

The other stories included the highway work and Mark Schauer's pleasure at seeing orange barrels on the highway and taking credit for them. Again, does he ever think of thanking the folks who paid the taxes to make the project possible?

The third story had to do with schools and I need not go into detail on that. We are all aware of the proximity of the school and out pocketbooks. The part that was a tiny bit of a surprise was that the teachers apparently voted to be sure they got all of the percentage points of their raises and have 31 teachers lose their jobs rather than have everyone get 1% less for a couple of years. How kind.

Third-why were all the signs protesting giving strength to officers of the law written in Spanish?

And what did Obama mean when he said that Arizona has to be very careful not to step on the rights of citizens, not use profiling while doing a job that wouldn't be necessary if the federal government were doing its job of protecting its citizens? It was one of the more laid back and casual statements he has made in a long time.

Have a good weekend-
God bless............