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President Obama, looking to recoup billions in expected losses from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, will announce a plan Thursday to impose fees on the country’s biggest financial institutions, a senior administration official told CNN. The fee on financial institutions would raise up to $120 billion to ensure that taxpayers who bailed out banks are paid back, the official said Tuesday. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, would not discuss on Monday how a possible bank fee would fit into Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget, but Gibbs said it is the president’s “goal” to ensure the “money that taxpayers put up will be paid back in full.” This information was reported by CNN.
Now here’s the tripe which is a Belgian’ dish that features cow stomachs as the main ingredient. Tripe is a synonym for Bologna or the other “B” term that means worthless untruth. Carry on.
As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world. The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account.
The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion, not the $455 billion previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the “2008 Financial Report of the United States Government” as released by the U.S. Department of Treasury.
The difference between the $455 billion “official” budget deficit numbers and the $5.1 trillion budget deficit cited by “2008 Financial Report of the United States Government” is that the official budget deficit is calculated on a cash basis, where all tax receipts, including Social Security tax receipts, are used to pay government liabilities as they occur. But the numbers in the 2008 report are calculated on a GAAP basis (“Generally Accepted Accounting Practices”) that include year-for-year changes in the net present value of unfunded liabilities in social insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
Under cash accounting, the government makes no provision for future Social Security and Medicare benefits in the year in which those benefits accrue.
“As bad as 2008 was, the $455 billion budget deficit on a cash basis and the $5.1 trillion federal budget deficit on a GAAP accounting basis does not reflect any significant money [from] the financial bailout or Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, which was approved after the close of the fiscal year,” economist John Williams, who publishes the Internet website Shadow Government Statistics, told WND. This is all according to those cited and Jerome R. Corsi for the WorldNetDaily.
Now to the Reetzality. President Obama is lying when he says he’s going to recoup the money for the taxpayers. What tells us this? Again, math and common sense. We are running a terrifying deficit and have built horrific debt numbers. Fatal numbers in Reetzality. Basic math and common sense reveal that nobody is getting paid back anything. Here’s the revealing analogy.
It is akin to lending your friend, maybe enemy is a better example, a thousand dollars. Then the friend goes and spends it all which concerns you, just like the American people are concerned about federal borrowing and spending. Then the friend goes and borrows more money from somebody else. Let’s say China or Japan or England is the “somebody else.” The friend spends all the money from the somebody else’s loan. Now the friend loans another somebody else (the banks) some of the money he got from the first somebody else (China, Japan, England) and actually gets some of it paid back, which your friend again spends. Then the friend decides to take some of the first somebody else’s (the banks’) money through extortion (the bank fees) and he gives it to a fourth somebody else (AIG, Chrysler and GM). Then you find out that the third somebody else, (the banks) which you work with, is going to raise your price because of the extortion (bank fees). Then your friend, (Obama) tells you that he’s getting some of your money back. Get it?
If you do, then you know your friend is definitely not getting some of your money back. What your friend is doing is slowing the rate at which he goes bankrupt and that, my readers, is not getting your money back. The audacity of this tripe is amazing.
Imagine a friend who is spiraling into bankruptcy, that you lent money to, telling you that he is getting some of your money back because he made a move which slows his descent into bankruptcy. That’s what Obama is doing. He’s lying. Blatantly. Or in the alternative, he’s entirely ignorant. Pick. And to make matters worse, he’s not even acknowledging that the bank fees are going to be passed on to the consumer and limit the availability of money which means tighter credit. So, going back to the analogy, the friend you lent money to is not only not paying you back, not only not getting in a better position to pay you back, but is also imposing additional costs on you, let’s call it a service fee for your loan. And I thought the borrower paid the service fees, not the lender? What do I know?
And he does this all with a straight face. I’ll give him this: The utter tripe is comical, down right laughable. Unfortunately, the consequences are terrifying and to make matters worse, more vile, because it’s not just us buffoons who have to pay the cost for our buffoonery, it’s our kids and their kids. And our kids aren’t buffoons, at least not yet. We’ll see if they, like us, pick folks who lead them to cliff and then over it. On the other hand, by the time our kids get their opportunity to pick an ignorant lemming to lead them, there may not be much downside, they’ll likely be starting from the bottom with no other cliffs to be led off of. I think we owe our children an apology. Obama owes us a resignation. Most of Washington does.
That’s my Reetzality for the Day.
Thanks for the read.
Brett Reetz
Post Script: I apologize for the meek output of late. I am working on a new format where I will be uploading my Reetzalities in video form. We’ll see how you like me in person.
WASHINGTON — President Obama acknowledged the deep partisan divisions gripping Congress, but he urged Republican and Democratic leaders Tuesday to cooperate on legislation that creates jobs.
Amazing. Obama actually believes that Washington creates jobs. Techically it can create a job, meaning that Washington can spend money and create “a” job. However, also technically, it costs more jobs than the one created to create the government job. This truth is based upon the negative multiplier effect that government spending has, at best about a .8. I’ve gone through this before but I’ll go again, every dollar the government spends shrinks the economy by twenty cents. Thus, every job the government “creates” takes away more than one job in greater economy. It’s basic economics folks, proven over and over again in history.
And yet, Obama thinks the absence of bi-partisan cooperation is the cause for the shrinking job market. No Mr. Obama, you are once again wrong but you do have a great excuse given that you never worked in the private sector, never made a bottom line, let affirmative action rather than your ability lift you through life, and your “caused by others” narcisism. But, excuse or no excuse, you are still wrong. In fact, it is the opposite of what you are thinking. The absence of bipartisanship is saving jobs and serving, at least a little, as a sea anchor to the free fall of our economy. Those in the private sector (the ones that pay for your fantasies) are relieved that health care failed. They are relieved that cap and trade is a long shot. They are relieved that conservatives are likely to take back the house and senate in November. They are relieved but not thrilled. They are not thrilled because your plans and policies continue to loom on the horizon like a bad storm.
Mr. Obama I would strongly suggest that you open a lemonade stand and work it on weekends. I believe you will have time to do so since you don’t write or read the bills that you telemarket and infomercial. But in truth, it would serve you well to learn the basics of private enterprise and business and a lemonade stand is great start. You’ll have a bottom line, the cost of the stand, the lemonade, cups, and labor. You’ll have income from the sales. And if you do it right, you will learn that increasing costs decreases profitability. And that’s what your missing Mr. Obama. The agenda that you telemarket and infomercial sends the message that costs are going up, that government is going to be doing a lot more “taking.” In response to your messages, the private sector tightens its belt, stops spending, stops hiring, stops lending, stops risking. Picture you lemonade stand Mr. Obama. What if you we’re going to expand and build a second lemonade stand but lemons were going to be taxed? Further, what if the tax would increase the price and the increased price would decrease sales? Decreased sales would decrease income which would certainly decrease your appetite for expansion and risk. See my point Mr. Obama. You need to work in a lemonade stand. Working in a lemondae stand would educate you on why your agenda is so inconsistent with a growing economy. I swear, I’m serious. And don’t feel bad, all work is noble for the most part. I worked in one and taught me a ton about the realities of business and the economy. I think I was six years old when I learned it. It’s never too late to start Mr. Obama. Go for it. Get out there and sell some lemonade, learn the ropes of the private sector and then go back to your employer, us, and do the right thing based upon your new higher education. And indeed it is a higher education because it taught me way more than your “poison” Ivy league farce taught you.
You know what they say Mr. Obama, “If it rains lemons, make lemonade.” Go for it Obama. It will do us all a bunch of good.
Captain Obonga to the Rescue!
I am so relieved. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Captain Obonga. I had no idea that the government, that failed to prevent a terrorist on the watch list whose father reported him as a radical without a passport from getting on a plane headed to Detroit with a bomb hidden in his underwear, no idea whatsoever that that government could fix everything else. The next thing you know they’ll be joking that the government can’t even keep strangers out of White House dinners? But you set me straight Captain Obonga. Thank you.
O.K., on a more serious note (although the first note was serious, I just utilized humor to demonstrate the seriousness, now I’ll get rid of the humor) was that a speech or what? Shoot, here comes the humor again. Captain Obonga is going to do everything. Pheewww! Say good bye to worries my little friends, I mean you American People. You “they” people.
O.K., O.K. O.K., I took a serious pill, so here goes, firm, fair and frank. The State of the Union address was a rambling cacophony of lies, misrepresentations, false promises, insincerity, rewriting of recent history, bragging, blaming, arrogance, ignorance, condescension, and otherwise consistent with a complete ripper of a marijuana fest. Thus, the “Obonga” nick name. We’ll call it a “BS”-afest instead.
Folks, he’s going to raise our taxes either directly or indirectly and has already done so with his deficit spending. Wait, small correction-maybe. He may have only raised our childrens’ taxes. Folks, he’s not going to endorse nuclear energy or off shore drilling. Folks, he has no desire to assist small business. He doesn’t even respect business for what it does. He said that all student loans would be forgiven in twenty years but in ten years if a graduate goes into public service. That’s right, we need more social workers and bureaucrats in our future than business people because social workers and bureaucrats are just so damn critical. See folks, this is another window into Captain Obonga’s soul. He values government more than the private sector. And he doesn’t understand basic values either; like paying off your debt. What in the world would justify a person to stop paying a debt if it’s not paid off? Shoot, that’s that pesky “keep your word” stuff. God that’s irritating. So what’s the big deal? I cut a deal, borrow some money for a four year degree which I actually spend six getting, drag the payments out for twenty years and then tell the lender that Captain Obonga told me I didn’t have to pay anymore after twenty years. Wait, wait, wait. I thought of something. Why don’t I just grab a public sector job in let’s say year nine, work it for a year, stop paying which is absolutely justified since I’ll be doing something so critical to America, actually serving the public for America, like for example, collecting tolls on a turnpike, and then, when I’m free of my promise to re-pay my student loan, I quit my cherished public sector job and go into the private sector and stick the tax payer with the rest of my debt. So many possibilities.
O.K. Folks, now I’m really going to be serious, actually I have been. I was just using humor to exemplify how much of a joke the State of the Union Address was. Our president has never made a bottom line, hangs out with communists and terrorists, loves Government, big government, is a progressive democrat, wants to socialize medicine, (He said he’s not quitting in his pursuit of his anti-American Agenda (He didn’t say “anti-American” but it is)), has no understanding of the economy, nothing is his fault, and after listening to his speech, wants to run everything.
Prior to his address, it was suggested that the Obama Administration was going to do a “re-set” on its agenda due to the rapidly growing trend against them. The pundits got it half right. Obama did do a reset but not on his agenda. He did a reset on the focus button so that the picture we see is different than before, blurred; but the content, the actual content, is exactly the same.
Beware folks, this guy does not like us “they” people. But he’s afraid of us and that’s why he reached out last night and spun the focus button. He changed the focus to hide. What he didn’t change was the content of his ambitions which are very un-American. Only our ability to see it was changed. But folks, you need not worry. I know this guy and his ambitions will come back into focus sooner than you think, definitely by November.
That’s my Reetzality for the day.
NOTE: I use the “Captain” title to remind folks of the Titanic, you know that unsinkable ocean liner that sank on its first voyage. Of course, America could never be like the Titanic.
Obama's Economic Plan!
So I, little not too old me, will lay it out for you Mr. President. Here’s how you create jobs and restore our economy and maybe save your presidency too:
1. Freeze government spending. The private sector being savvy in economics, unlike you Mr. President, is terrified of the exploding national debt and the falling value of the dollar based upon the national debt. So freeze spending for the duration of your term and take that worry off the table for a while.
2. Freeze depreciation schedules and allow American businesses to make capital expenditures that they can expense (write off) immediately rather than expense over a long term depreciation schedule. This will stimulate capital investment which will increase employment and manufacturing.
3. Extend the Bush tax cuts. By letting them expire you take money out of the free market economy that would stimulate the economy. In the alternative, by letting them expire, smart thinking private sector folks are hunkering down and preparing for the tax storm by not spending. Another choice that will have great impact on job creation.
4. Go further than extending the Bush tax cuts, actually cut taxes more. It’s ridiculously burdensome for folks to pay half of their income to one government or another and it cuts into their spending and investment. So let the folks keep their productivity and stimulate the economy.
5. Kill socialized medicine and “cap and trade” legislation. Both are huge job killers. Actually, just the fear of them is killing jobs.
That’s it Mr. President. There’s your five point solution and it will work. But I’m no fool. I know you don’t want to fix the economy. What you want Mr. President (and you know that more and more people know that this is what you want) is to redistribute wealth, cripple the economy and create more dependent need that will vote for your ilk. Even the Black Caucus is angry at you for not pursuing a viable agenda to stimulate the economy. And your arrogance, to ride into the White House on the backs of the working poor, the needy, and the dependent, and then turn on them and hurt them more. Be careful Mr. President, public education has done a good number on American intelligence, but it hasn’t made us American’s completely stupid. We can see what you’re doing. You want proof? Check your cascading poll numbers. See what I mean.
So you’ve got a choice Mr. President. Do you want to blindly and arrogantly follow your ideology? Do you want to be a one term president like Jimmy Carter? Or do you want to do the right thing, the American thing, and give us back our economic freedom so that we can prosper like we always do when left to our own druthers without the government albatross hanging around our neck.
It’s your choice Mr. President. I implore you Mr. President to follow my advice because presently you’re only appearing ignorant, but your getting close to appearing bad. And maybe you are bad, bad to the core, but who knows? You’re the stage manager for that revelation so carry on. No matter what you are, you won’t defeat the god given American spirit that made us great and by the way, despite your contempt for all that made us great, typical of a liberal, you attack that which you rely upon, that which you need, and that which you depend upon. Because Mr. President, take note, you kill the host, the parasites die too. (A metaphor, only a metaphor).
Lo and Behold, we have another Washington failure to enlighten us. Washington just announced that they are going to suspend the “cash for clunkers’ program stating that they underestimated the demand. It will be suspended on Thursday night, July 30, 2009, at midnight. The program was supposed to stay in effect until November 1, 2009. Washington is concerned that demand will quickly use up the $1 Billion dollars budgeted for rebates to folks who trade in fuel in-efficient cars for fuel efficient cars. The program began last Friday and by Wednesday, 22,782 vehicles had been purchased. $96 Million dollars has been spent. However, auto dealers raised concerns about large backlogs in the processing of the deals in the government system, prompting its suspension. A survey of 2,000 auto dealers by the National Automobile Dealers Association found about 25,000 deals had not yet been approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which administers the program. There is a concern that auto dealers may have already surpassed the 250,000 vehicles funded by the $1 Billion program.
Let’s put this in perspective. “Cash for Clunkers” is a $1 Billion dollar program employed to fix the shrinking number of automobile sales. It is run by the government. The government underestimated the demand. The government didn’t provide an efficient bureaucracy to run the program. The program lasted six days. So let us be clear. The government screwed this one up. The government underestimated, failed to properly allocate the required resources, and pulled the plug in SIX DAYS!
Let’s put this in further perspective. Similar to the “Cash for Clunker” underestimate, Vice President Biden stated that they had underestimated the severity of the economic crisis while previously claiming that it was the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Evidently, the current economic crisis’ magnitude lies somewhere between the “worst economic crisis since the depression” and the Great Depression. I’m not sure where that is actually. And the stimulus package isn’t working, unless government growth was the objective. It’s succeeding at that, even though government growth wasn’t the stated objective of the Stimulus Plan, that’s for sure.
So now Washington is zero for two. The stimulus package is failing and the “Cash for Clunkers” program failed. Mind you, we are talking about only a relative $800 billion with these two programs.
And they want us to trust them with health care which is (pick an Obama estimate of the day) around 18 percent of our economy. The cost of Obama’s health care reform is estimated by Obama to be $1.5 Trillion.
These two initial failures in process are proof that the government is incompetent and therefore absolutely unable to manage our health care. Wake up folks, take off the rose colored glasses, stop drinking the cool-aid and stop demeaning your intellect by supporting Obama-Care. It won’t work and today, we’ve received more redundant evidence of this truth. They cannot properly plan or run a billion dollar program and they expect us to trust them with a $1.5 trillion dollar health care reform program. Impossible. So wake up and let your elected officials know that you do not want them to risk our economy and our freedom of health care choice under the false premise that they can do it. They can’t. They won’t. It’s that simple. History teaches us that over and over and over again. History again taught us this today with the failure of “Cash for for Clunkers.”
It is said that “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over again, getting the same result while expecting a different result. Therefore, it is insane to believe that government will get this one right. Medicare and Medicaid Fraud are out of control. Millions of the Stimulus fund is unaccounted for presently. An estimated $350 million is unaccounted for under the Bush TARP program. Government is simply incompetent when they undertake private sector activities. Why? Because when you take competition and consequence out of the equation, private sector activities fail, always, every time. It’s like running a car without gas. No can do.
So wake up America and stop being insane. Stop thinking that repeated, endless and endemic government failure will somehow end at the steps of Health Care Reform. It won’t and we will suffer greatly if we don’t stop it.
That’s my Reetzality for the Day. Brett Reetz
Tonight, President Obama was indulged by ABC with a one sided infomercial. I took the time to listen to the entire infomercial. I took notes, recording every question and every answer. Don’t believe me? Check me out. There were eighteen questions. Here’s the problem, there were only four true answers.
1.The president said that yes there will be a public health insurance company. 2.The president said that yes there will be rationing although he called it reallocation. 3.The president said that yes there will be new taxes. 4.The president said that yes, employers that don’t provide health insurance will be penalized.
He has a four for eighteen record in answering questions There was a bleak scarcity of information. Instead our President did nothing more than speak in terms of ideals, desires, and platitudes. He offered no real tangible solutions. Not a single one. As a lawyer I know when somebody answers a question and I know when someone doesn’t. I also have a extremely sensitive B.S. barometer.
For the constant reader, I have provided a summary of his farcical performance as a foot note of sorts. Satisfactory questions, unsatisfactory answers. That was the theme of the event. And we are talking about anywhere from twelve to sixteen percent of our economy, and yet no details. He did allude to being more comfortable with the devil we know than the devil we don’t know. I’ll give him this, he’s right about that. But not to worry, look what our government has done with the TARP money, the Stimulus package, the bail outs of the auto industry, the bail outs of Wall Street. No need to look at any details in any of these government actions, the devil is entirely out of the closet on every one. The devil ain’t in the details of any of these things, the devil is in the actions. And that’s where the devil is in President Obama’s health care initiative because there are no details for the devil to hide in. The devil will reside in the reality that those who are self reliant will pay for those who are not. The devil will reside in the reality that the quality of health care will be reduced. The devil will reside in the increased deficit and new taxes. The devil will reside in the rationing that is absolutely a fact. If you increase demand and don’t increase supply, there will be shortages and there will be rationing. Picture a picnic planned for four children but eight children arrive. You’ve only got a single package of hot dogs. There will be a relative scarcity of hot dogs and the allotments to each child will be reduced. It’s simple math, a science that Washington ignores. Something President Obama ignores, something that offends him.
The bottom line is that the only details he provided was that YES there will be a public health insurance company and YES there will be tax increases and YES there will be rationing (he doesn’t say “rationing”, he says “reallocation”) and YES there will be penalties to employers who don’t provide health insurance.
So don’t buy into this scam. It’s goal is not to improve health care, it is to control it, period. So if you want your health care to be run like Amtrak, the Post Office, the IRS, INS, DOA, DOE, INS, ICE, pick a department, any government entity, then sign on. But if you want to take responsibility for yourself and your family, write your congressman and tell him to stop insulting our intelligence, our independence, and most of all our principles.
That’s my REETZALITY for the Day.
Foot note of Questions with commentary.
First question: Would you seek out extraordinary health care for a family member or would you defer to the system you are imposing?
Answer: He never answered the question.
Second question: Will there be limits on health care?
Answer: We will solve our health care problems in a “uniquely American way” based upon principles. People will have have choices of necessary and adequate treatment, all people will have choices. We need a system that drives down costs with evidence based care. We will pay for health care based on quality not quantity. We will make rules. We will create incentives. He never answered the question.
Third question: How will do what you proposed in question number two?
Answer: Take Mayo Clinic where teams work together. It’s 1/3 less expensive (not true). Teams work together there providing smart care. He never answered the question.
Fourth question: There are examples of the private sector reforming health care. Mayo Clinic, Safeway Food Stores are examples. Why not let the private sector do it?
Answer: There are no initiatives from the private sector. The average family has seen premiums double. Costs are inflating. It will cost twice as much in ten years. Businesses are cutting back health care. It’s bad that costs are getting passed on. Great examples of good care are not spreading through the system. Government is already involved with Medicare and Medicaid. We need rules. The key is to figure out how to take that involvement and build on what works. We need a serious health care initiative. He never answered the question.
Fifth Question: How do we do it?
Answer: People are more comfortable with the devil they know than the devil they don’t. Seniors love Medicare. Children love government health care. We know that works. We don’t lack knowledge, we lack political will. Genuine change comes from American people. I think it is that moment. He never answered the question.
Sixth Question: Patients don’t have access to insurance or primary care, what is the administration going to do to provide primary care rather than ER treatment. How do we reorient the system.
Answer: We need more people committed to primary care. We need to train, physicians and nurse practitioners. We need to change incentives to become family physicians. It is more lucrative to be a specialist. We need Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements and incentives to be create more family practitioner.
Seventh Question: I am a medical student and I will have three hundred thousand in debt when I graduate. If I’m go into general practice it will be hard to pay back. How are you going to encourage students like me to go into general practice, family practice to provide more preventive care?
Answer: We will have a loan forgiveness program for those who go into general practice. He did not answer the part of the question regarding more preventive care. He did not do the numbers on supply and demand. He gave half an answer which is not a complete answer thus; He never answered the question.
Eighth Question: There are forty six million un-insured and only so many doctors, won’t covering everybody overwhelm the supply?
Answer: There are no overnight solution. We need more incentives. We need to eliminate paper work and bureaucracy because doctors hate it. We need more nurses. We need to increase prevention and wellness programs. No details. He never answered the question.
Ninth Question: How can we reduce the cycle of lots of tests and treatment and how do we insure patient choice?
Answer: We need to determine what is necessary and what is not. Somebody has to enforce this. We need healers not bean counters. I’m working with doctors. You can keep your plan if you want to. There is great danger in inaction. We will have an Exchange where essentially people can compare there coverage with a host of different plans and people can sign up which will help people without insurance to get insurance. Doctors will be reimbursed the same way but with changes that reward quality rather than the number of procedures. We will reduce readmission rates which is a sign that health care is not that good, but if the right incentives are employed, it will work. He never answered the question.
Tenth Question: 28% of Medicare is spent in last year of life. How do we deal with this reality?
Answer: We see too many patients with no hope of recovery only treated to delay their deaths. We can’t afford to pay for all treatments when somebody is hopeless. We have choices to make. We have choices to make when it comes to “end of life” care. We need outside criteria for prolonging life of elderly, and consideration for specifics. The first thing to understand is that we actually have some choices to make as we deal with our own end of life care. I’m not suggesting a big government program. I am not suggesting subjective judgment. We need rules that provide good quality care for all people. I don’t want bureaucracy making the decisions but it already is being made by Medicare and Medicaid and private insurance. We have cultural decisions. Some of the waste in the system needs to be addressed like additional tests or drugs that maybe isn’t going to help. Those kinds of decisions, with the doctor and patient and everybody aligned. We won’t solve every problem. Ultimately decisions are between physicians and patients but we can make decisions. Now decisions are made by skewed science, policy, insurance companies. He never answered the question.
Eleventh Question: Will there be Government insurance, a Public option, and can we afford it.
Answer: We’ve been sort of circling around the first question, if you’re happy you keep it. We do want some restrictions on insurance. Pre-existing exclusions should end. We need more regulation. Insurance companies will have a larger customer pool. Insurance companies can still be profitable. The system is out of whack so if we do nothing costs keep going up. We need to reduce costs. Information technology, prevention, we need. We need to pay for it when we do it so it doesn’t increase the deficit. Two thirds of the cost can be covered by reallocating dollars already in the health care system but not going for good stuff. 170 billion is spent on subsidies for insurers. We can use money to train doctors. 1/3 of cost will come from new revenue. We will cap itemized deductions if you make over 250 k. These are hard dollars. The OMB numbers do not count all the prevention savings from paper work or bureaucracy. OMB doesn’t count evidence based medicine. (?) OBM didn’t count credits. Expect to save money, expect big savings. The Congressional Budget Office doesn’t give credit for doctors to operate smarter. He never answered the question.
Twelfth Question: How do we pay for it. The numbers suggest it will cost one and a half trillion. There are three hundred to six hundred billion more dollars needed than your estimated costs and estimated savings?
Answer: There are host of ideas. It’s a big challenge. We can use tax benefits, cap deductions, use sur charges on high income individuals, make other cuts. It’s not an easy problem, especially in tough economic times, but one thing I’m absolutely counting on, we will meet our challenges. The stars are aligned. Doctors, patients, AARP, drug companies and insurance companies are interested. We will reduce costs. We have to have courage and the willingness to cooperate and compromise to make this happen. It won’t be smooth ride. The health care may seem dead, but if we keep our eye on the prize, we can’t afford not to act. He never answered the question.
Thirteenth Question: Will there be public health insurance?
Answer: There will be an exchange. Yes there will be a public option. You will get the same coverage as federal employees. You can compare plans. One option among multiple options is a public option. The public option will keep administrative costs low and that can serve as competition. Some argue that it is not a level playing field. Not if the government can just print money. (but that’s what they do) What we’ve said is we can set up a public option with lower administrative costs. The government will abide by the same rules as the private sector. We will create incentives for private insurers. Private insurers will have more customers. There are a whole series of ways we can design it. If you are eligible for a private plan, then you can’t go to public plan. We will have a firewall. We will create incentives for Employers. We will have a “play or pay” penalty. If you don’t cover employees you get a penalty. He answered. Yes, there will be a public insurance company.
Question Fourteen: How can we know that the government handling health care isn’t going to increase my taxes.
Answer: We have to change or we’ll go broke. We will reallocate (ration). We are going to need additional revenue by capping itemized deductions for those making more than 250 thousand a year. Individual costs savings will be offset by any new taxes. He answered the question. Yes we will have new taxes.
Question fifteen: Are you going to tax health care benefits?
Answer: We will cap the deduction at a certain level. He answered. New taxes.
Question Sixteen: What about other industrial nations’ health care that provide better health care cheaper? Why not copy them?
Answer: Your absolutely right and we don’t have better outcomes. We need to have a “uniquely American solution.
Question Seventeen: I don’t have insurance because I make too much money and don’t qualify for Massachusetts health care, what will your plan to do to keep me from falling through the cracks?
Answer: Self employed people can utilize the exchange and buy public insurance which will be competing. We will subsidize folks who can’t afford it.
Question Eighteen: Why not train the unemployed people to be nurses and doctors?
Answer: We should? We need to cut down on the bureaucracy which will create more focus on treatment rather than bean counting.
