Obama predicts economic disaster in the near future.

Over the weekend in speeches to live crowds and on the web in his weekly address the administration used some statistics in order to advance their health care reform proposals that have devastating economic meaning.

a staggering new report from the Treasury Department indicating that under the status quo around half of all Americans under 65 will lose their health coverage at some point over the next ten years.

Holy crap! Half of the work force is going to loose their jobs! OMFG! Sell your stock! Buy gold! Buy guns! Horde water and rations!

OK, calm down. Let's step back once again and crunch the numbers. Let's see. The estimated age distribution is...
(2009 est.)

• 0-14 years: 20.2% (male 31,639,127/female 30,305,704)
• 15-64 years: 67% (male 102,665,043/female 103,129,321)
• 65 years and over: 12.8% (male 16,901,232/female 22,571,696)

With the US population approximately at 300 million people, that means 200 million are between the ages of 15 and 65. So the president is predicting that 100 million people will lose their health care presumably by loosing their job. Wow! That cannot be a good economic environment.

But wait. He goes on to say that 'of those that loose their insurance, roughly one third will not have insurance for a year or more'. Oh? So those people who lost their jobs and insurance will find a job and get their insurance back from their new employer. How do we know they won't use COBRA to cover their coverage gap? Either way, they get their insurance back through employment and that's good. But that one third who go for more than a year? My God! What happens to them! Do they ever get their insurance back? Don't leave us hanging! I mean that one third turns out to be like.......33.5 million people! Wait? 33.5 million people? That is less than the 50 million who don't have coverage? and if you stagger out the 33.5 million over ten years then the number is roughly 3.3 million people per year who will loose their job for more than a year and become health care challenged, even with the availability of COBRA. So that means we are talking about 1% of the population.

We already crunched the numbers on the 50 million people reportedly without health care.

Obamacare: Crunching the Numbers

Much ado about very little

The upshot of that exercise saw that basically all of the proposed reforms would potentially help about 4% of the population. OK, let's go ahead and add in this new 1% that the administration has dug up with their doom and gloom predictions of the economy. 5%, let's stipulate that these reforms could potentially help 5% of the population. It still begs the question...... Is it worth letting the government take control of 20% of the U.S> GDP in order to help 5% of the population, when 90% of people with insurance are perfectly happy with their insurance?


If medicaid is so great, just put these 12 15 million people on medicaid and leave the rest of us alone!

Who is lying? State run media or the international press?

In some reluctant reporting by state run media outlets, ABC new became indignant that it had been cited as a source proclaiming that the size of the protest in Washington DC on Saturday reached somewhere between 1 and 2 million people.

ABC News Was Misquoted on Crowd Size

ABC News Reported D.C. Rally Size in Tens of Thousands, Not 1M to 1.5M as Activist Said.

They really went out of their way to diminsh the numbers. Howerver, across the pond, the international media was also reporting numbers in the range of more than one million.

A million march to US Capitol to protest against 'Obama the socialist'

State run media outlets have been complicit with the administrations effort to down play and out right ignore the protests and opposition of workaday middle Americans to the administrations plans for Health Care Reform. In advance of the weekend protest White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, when asked, stated the administration was "unaware" of plans for a protest. Good thing Joe Wilson was not present, or once again he would not have been able to prevent blurting out "Liar!" once again.

If you watched the NBC news special where they had special access to the White House you saw them boast about how they carefully monitor the big 3 cable news outlets. You know they watch Fox News, so how could they possibly think it believable that the administration had no idea about the planned protest? Are they really that out of touch?

And in an even more overt attempt to claim probable deniability the president left Washington to give a stump speech on Health Care Reform.

I wonder if he saw the huge crowd of the estimated one million people from his window seat on the Marine One helicopter that shuttled him from and back to the white house that day?

Inspiring isn't it?

Nothing says "Never forget 9/11" like painting the wall of a house that's being built. Who knows? Maybe the house will go to some down on his luck illegal immigrant who is looking to join an Al-Queda cell?






Never Forget!

I saw this happen in real time as I was stirring sugar into my coffee at work. I will Never Forget!

Right, Wing-Nut!: Socialized Medicine, Simpsons-Style!

Right, Wing-Nut!: Socialized Medicine, Simpsons-Style!

I love this post!

It is true. Doctors are smart people. Smart people know how to make money. Why do the dumb people think that the smart people will continue to do good work for poorer wages?

Remember the bumbling terrorists in Scotland? The attempt to explode a bomb in a Glasgow airport? Yeah, they were doctors recruited from Pakistan, because of the shortage of doctors in the UK. Hmmmmm..... I wonder why there is a shortage of doctors in the UK?

Take this day of service and shove it!

On 9/11, day of mourning becomes day of service

Only in our new era of insanity, in our new upside down world would a solemn day like 9/11 be thought of a day of service. If the intent was to stop and think about joining the militray or maybe think of something you can do to show support for our military, then......O.K. But, that is the farthest thing from the bill's intent.

Why not bestow the day with the honor it deserves. A National Holiday. Close the banks. Close the schools, and close the federal offices.

What? We have too many holidays? We can't have more than 10? Then let's toss labor day over the side? Why do we celebrate corrupt greedy unions anyways? Instead of not doing labor, let's do service on that day!

The real insult is that the intent is not to make you remember the 9/11 tragedy, it is to make you forget it. By morphing the day from what should rightfully be a holiday, into a recruitment tool for the likes of ACORN, they begin the process of having it's origin fade away.

It's only one of many remarkable acts of newspeak we increasingly observe.

The past is alterable

The past only exists in the human mind. The human mind is infinitely malleable.

George Orwell, "1984"

I am not against a day of service. I like the idea very much. Just not on 9/11. In fact, I put my whole hearted support behind the MLK Day effort to establish that day as a day of service. It makes much more sense to have a day of service on a day of celebration. A day that is intended to celebrate the birth of someone who is considered a great champion of unity. Service on a day of mourning is well... inappropriate.

Obamacare: Crunching the Numbers

Much ado about very little

OK. Tonight is the big night where Obama tries to reset the conversation. We are going to hear about the rising costs and the 46 Million people who are uninsured, and that we need a major overhaul of our entire health care system. He'll probably leave out the "everybody needs to sacrifice" part this time.

Let's step back for a second and think about this. There are 300 Million people in the United States. 46 Million of them are uninsured. That is 15% of the population. It has been reported that 18% of the uninsured are already eligible for medicaid but have not signed up. So they don't really count. They already have insurance coverage available to them. These reforms change nothing for the 8 million uninsured, but could be insured. It has been reported that 30% of the uninsured could get insurance from work, but elect not to. The preponderance of the 14 million who could get insurance from their employer are young healthy individuals who have calculated their risk versus the cost and decided that they'll keep their money and pay as they go when they do need health care services. Not something I would recommend for my children. The young rarely worry about catastrophic care because they think they are indestructable. It is highly doubtful that the $950 penalty the government is planning to impose on uninsured individuals will change the calculation enough to make them fork over the thousands they keep by not joining their employers insurance plan. Then there are at least, I repeat at least 12 million illegal aliens in the United States. Reportedly there are between 12 and 24 million illegal aliens in the United States. Let's use the low ball number of 12 million. The government has admitted that illegal aliens are counted in that 46 million people uninsured statistic. The democrats have reassured Americans that illegal aliens will not be eligible for the public option.

So, when you crunch these numbers it turns out that we are looking at a major government take over of health care in the name of helping 4% of the population. The Obama administration and the left wing of the democratic party has determined that changing everyone's heath care to help 4% of the U.S. population is the right thing to do. We need to risk government rationing of health care to help 4%. We need to risk the government controlling our lives in the name of health care cost reduction so that we can help 4% of the population.

If medicaid is so great, just put these 12 million people on medicaid and leave the rest of us alone!

Health care reform is entitlement reform

I do not know how she does it, but she does it. And, she did it again! Today in statements given to the press after a closed door meeting with president Obama, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, made a declaration in support of the health care reforms working their way through the Congress that ...

"Health care reform is entitlement reform"

You're damn right it is! And, that is what has those astro-turf, tea party, tea bagging skeptics so freaked out! We get it! We know! If this bill is passed, it is the single greatest entitlement ever handed out in this county. But who will pay for it?!?!?!?

Once again Nancy Pelosi has gone out on the limb and stated that we can defy the laws of economics, and that these reforms can happen without any impact to everyday workaday Americans. She's done this before without challenge when she stated

"Cap on Cost, No Cap on Benefit"

She stated the party line which is "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan". Yes, that is what the law says. However, if you think the scenario all the way through, you will realize that you only get to keep your plan until your employer dumps you over the side and selects the cheaper, tax subsidized public option.

Once you are on the public option the government will control every aspect of your life.

• they will decide if you are worthy of a test or a treatment.
• they will dictate what you can and cannot eat in the name of cost savings . (Drinking beer, eating at White Castle's, and ordering a Pizza is prohibited if your are on the public plan).
  
• they will dictate what you can do in the name of cost savings (riding ATV's, hunting, owning guns, and skiing are dangerous activities that contribute to the increased costs of health care and are forbidden if you are on the public option plan).

yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. That stuff is not in the bill. But let me tell you you that there will be subsequent bills afterwards if this current reform bill gets passed. There is no such thing as free lunch, and the all you can eat buffet is never is agood as you thought it would be. The buffet will be great for the first wave that goes through the funnel. But, once the law of supply and demand catches up to the promises being made by this administratation........

The bills to cut back (read 'ration') on health care will fly out of congress much fater that this 'reform act' being blocked by those damn obstructionist, tea party, tea bagging, astro-turf protesters,

Be careful of what you wish for.

Ted Undead

What Ted Kennedy Wants - WSJ

Ted Kennedy's death bed request to change the law he sought for is quite possibly the highest form of hypocrisy and abuse of power that I have witnessed in my life.

In 2004 when Senator Kennedy pushed to have the law in Massachusetts changed so that vacated senate seats would no longer be filled by appointment from the Governor, but by special election, it was clearly a politically motivated, self serving tactic. The panic in 'The Peoples Republic of Massachusetts" Democratic party was evident. Senator Kerry had become the Democrats nominee for president and would have to vacate his seat if elected president. The fear that then Governor Romney, a Republican, would have the power to name Senator Kerry's replacement was incomprehensible. And so, with imagery from the knights of camelot, the "liberal lion" rode from Washington to Beacon Hill to slay the dragon that threatened his party's grip on single party rule in the state of Massachusetts.

"Prodded by a personal appeal from Senator Edward M. Kennedy," reported the Boston Globe in 2004, "Democratic legislative leaders have agreed to take up a stalled bill creating a special election process to replace U.S. Senator John F. Kerry if he wins the presidency."

While it was clearly a partisan tactic to preserve the preponderance of power maintained by the Massachusetts democrats, it was principled. Clearly, having a representative to government elected by the people is preferable to one by political appointment. Even people who saw the ruse as nothing but a political ploy had difficulty with serious arguments against making the process more democratic! And so the law was changed.

But Now?

Now that the state has a Democratic Governor, Mr. Kennedy wants to revert to gubernatorial appointments

"I therefore am writing to urge you to work together to amend the law through the normal legislative process to provide for a temporary gubernatorial appointment until the special election occurs," writes the Senator.

I mean WOW! How do you disguise this type of hypocritical naked aggression? What principled argument do you make to justify this reversal of ideals? I have warned in various posts on this blog that we are witnessing a time where Chicago politics is going national. If thuggery and corruption are the tools necessary to get the job done, well then the democrats are just the party to do it. After all, it was Illinios Governor Blagojevich who taught us that a Senate seat "is a f***ing valuable thing, you just don't give it away for nothing".

In all probablity, the Senator will get his dying wish. Where the 'Liberal Lion' can be emboldedned when principle and the good of the people are arguments on his side he won't let those same arguments stop him when they are not.

So who might Obama's good buddy Governor Deval Patrick choose? You know?

x

Senator Caroline Kennedy (D-MA)

Obamamercial does not a townhall make: Manufactured Bliss

Today's New Hampshire infomercial for health care reform hosted by none other than his high holiness himself was touted as a town hall meeting by the AP and other mainstream media outlets. If you think a town hall meetings are more often a love fest of clapping, hand holding, give me an Amen type of event, then quite frankly you have never been to a real town hall meeting. More often than not they consist of several points of view all having a say in consideration for deliberation.

The hypocrisy of dismissing the real town hall meetings, while producing a made for television health care rally and calling it a town hall meeting is just a humorous side note. The scary thing is how he was able to rifle through a litany of in your face lies, and get nothing but enthusiastic applause. I know for some people, it's the reality they want to believe in, but it just is not the reality we know and see every day at bars, at the water cooler, and even sometimes on the nightly news.

From the AP article:

"Obama sought to dispel talk that his ultimate goal is a single-payer federal health care system, like that in countries such as Canada."

Sorry!. That is a straight up lie! If you don't believe what you read in print, then you can see it and believe it here, along with the follow up from Obama's insiders.

---

I first saw this video here http://www.michaelgraham.com/

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This event was so overproduced, and so overly sanitized that even the President seemed to be embarrassed.

"The encounter was so friendly, in fact, that by the end Obama was even asking for skeptical questioners to come forward — to no avail."

"Toward the end of the session, Obama went so far as to ask people to give him skeptical questions. The best he got were queries about why he doesn't chastise Congress more and where the nation would find the additional doctors and nurses it needs."

Manufactured Mandate? Manufactured Consensus? Manufactured Support? You won't see those words in the mainstream media.

"He singled out the charge that the Democratic health care legislation would create "death panels" to deny care to frail seniors. Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said the Democrats' legislation includes "death panels" that could deny care."

Focusing on this sound bite is a red herring. It is intended for you not to think through the implications of the proposed health care reform. Mainly because, if you thought through for a moment the idea of everyone getting every test they wanted, or every procedure they thought they needed on demand and immediately, you would see the logistic impossibilities. It hearkens back to Nancy Pelosi's promise of Cap on cost, No cap on benefits. Ultimately you have to reign in costs, and every other society that has attempted this social experiment has ultimately imposed some form of rationing. If you don't want to call them death panels, well fine, Obama doesn't like that term either. However, it amounts to the same thing.

Manufactured Rage?

The White House said yesterday that they believe the Tax Protest Tea Party's and the recent out cry over health care reform at local town hall meetings is manufactured? Are they kidding? Their let them eat cake, and head in the sand arrogance belies their belief that we are ALL STUPID SHEEP, but this is rediculous!

White House Brushes Off Health-Care Protests
-Wall Street Journal

Why is it that when ACORN quite literally buses in homeless people to the homes of AIG employees in Connecticut it's called community organizing and political action?

But when actual voters and actual tax payers show up to display their displeasure with proposed policy changes it's manufactured?

Obama knows all about manufactured rage, and here it is

Don't you love the outraged protesters admiring the homes before the choreographed protest begins? Don't you love that it looks as though there are more people from the media in the crowd than protesters? How did all those media people know to be there? and get such great footage? Do you remember seeing the reports on the nightly news? Those over produced sound bites that made the protest seem huge? Don't you love the glossy print protest signs they handed out?

If you can't connect the dots for yourself, then Glen Beck explains it plainly and factually here.

But when tens of thousands of people show up at tax protest across the country it gets zero coverage in the main stream media. Even though the tax day tea party's were organized, and like the ACORN AIG bus tour they knew where and when to be, there was no coverage!

And when Arlen Spectre holds a town hall meeting, the only coverage comes from cell phone cameras.

Where are the scripted chants? Where are the glossy protest placards? The white house can see that these are people merely reacting to what they hearing. These people are listening and considereing what they are being told, and when they reason that they are being lied to they react. Then they are dismissed as if the reactions were choreographed by a an organizer with a bull horn (like at the ACORN protests).

When did heads become tails?

More Pennsylvania town hall revolt here.
Another elected official jeered for what he says here.