Why the Obama administration is in trouble

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303339504575565811875371180.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

Had the elitists in DC been paying attention on any level, the incumbents would not be in the position they now find themselves in.  There has never been sufficient Citizen demand for HCR to justify the political effort, but Congress chose to ignore that and instead told us to shut up and sit down because they knew what was
best for us.

They lied to us about costs; they lied to us about coverage; they lied to us about choices; they lied to us about rationing; they lied to us about the impact on deficits; they lied to us about availability; they lied to us about who makes treatment decisions; they lied to us about posting the act on the Internet for our review before it was passed and before it would be
signed by the president; they lied to us about special interests crafting it; they lied to us about transparency; they used faulty logic to cost justify it as though we were too dumb to notice; they lied to us about federal funding for abortions; they broke major pieces of the legislation into separate acts to make it look more affordable: as if we were too blind or too dumb to
notice:  and for this we should be thankful?  For this we should return them to office?

They took a Trillion dollars we don’t have, allocated 91% of it to sustain or expand governmentand government; scheduled it’s disbursement for maximum impact at the mid-term elections; and lied that it was going to stimulate the restoration of our economy.  They made up asinine numbers of ‘jobs saved or created’ and when that didn’t flush changed
it to ‘jobs impacted’ whatever that is supposed to mean.  They lied that spending this borrowed money ould prevent unemployment from going over 8%. We told them they were lying and they called us racists for our efforts.

To advance their progressive agenda they manipulated our financial system removing long-proven qualification safeguards for borrowers; they foolishly made capital abundant and nearly free to create a predictable and devastating real estate bubble that nearly destroyed the global financial system and then blamed everyone but themselves (Barney Frank and Chris Dodd we know who you are): they broke the chain of accountability and responsibility by permitting bundled derivatives; they eliminated risk from the irresponsible
profit takers and transferred it to the American taxpayer via Freddie, Fannie
and AIG.  They restructured the American financial structure to punish their enemies and reward their friends; they stole Chrysler and GM from the lawful shareholders without just compensation; they extorted the bondholders; they suborned the bankruptcy laws of the US;
they gifted the auto manufactures to their Union supporters and foreign competitors; and then accepted millions of dollars in political contributions from these companies that are still surviving solely on taxpayer bailouts.

The Fed has been running the currency printing presses since January 2009 around the clock; they threatened the bankers and financiers that if they made risky investments (like cash flow bridge loans to small business) that they would be punished to the full extent of the law, essential shutting down the small business job incubators; they lent money from the Fed to banks at near zero interest so the banks could buy Treasuries  and thereby monetize the debt (immediately after promising not to do so); they publically castigated private sector
financial institutions but ignored identical behavior at Freddie and Fannie.  They took absolute control of government education loans and in the process gave themselves the power to direct those funds to students of their choosing without oversight or appeal.  They crafted unknowable legislation to ‘reform’ our financial system and in the process granted themselves absolute power over any privately-owned business: to modify it, destroy it, disembowel it again without oversight or appeal.  The same deviants Barnie Frank and Chris Dodd, who destroyed the financial system, were entrusted to reform it.

They gave us a disaster in the Gulf when they sold a lease that netted the federal government $2.3 BILLION but failed to provide any oversight to assure and verify compliance with Federal laws in place since March 2009 even though candidate Obama in 2007 acknowledged terminal deficiencies in MMS.  Those regulations require the federal government to have spill containment and correction resources on site when drilling is under way; but there was none.  To add insult to injury, the president denied permission for assistance offered by the world’s most qualified and experienced crews and equipment from 35 different countries rather than temporarily suspend the Jones Act and theoretically threaten a handful of Union jobs of his 2008 political contributors; giving the oil pollution time to reach the ecologically fragile rookeries and shell fish habitats. Then, over the advice of his ‘panel of experts’ the president slapped a moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf pending an investigation, knowing that it would send 12,000 high paying oil platform workers from the Gulf that needed that income to recover from the disaster- off to Brazil to sites funded by the IMF at Obama’s request and partially owned by one of Obama’s wealthiest
and most powerful political contributors: George Soros.

In 2008 a sufficient number of voters decided to vote for ‘change’ thinking that it couldn’t get any worse, only to learn that it could (and did) get infinitely worse.  Not only did we elect a president with no leadership experience, but he lacked respect for and any comprehension of the Constitution, free enterprise, free markets, job creation, finance, American history and the fact that free people anywhere in  the world enjoy freedom solely at the expense of American blood, sweat, and treasure.  And for that he thinks he should apologize.  What an insult to all Americans past, present, and future!

Let us all pray that we don’t make the same mistake again.  Let us pray that we weed-out all those federal officers who neither know nor respect the Constitution; and let us pray that we
replace them with humble, honest, public servants who do.  Otherwise we will be no better off than before.

Gerrymandering violates the COTUS

According to the COTUS, representation is solely a function of population.  There are no valid political party considerations, there are no valid social considerations.  To grotesquely configure districts to accomplish political or social objectives (as is now considered the ‘normal’ spoils of politics) is a gross perversion of the electoral process.  It is no different than stuffing the ballot box or otherwise attempting to pre-determine election results.  Anyone attempting gerrymandering should be subject to the strictest penalties available under law because it undermines the very foundation of our Constitutional Republic.

Any effort at redistricting should be to adjust for gross population shifts and should be absolutely blind to any other considerations.  ‘Equal justice under law’ requires that every Citizen be afforded equal representation in Congress.  Elected representatives should be focused on the needs of every constituent according to the COTUS, not some artificial or personal political agenda.  The COTUS defines the authorities and responsibilities delegated
to the federal government.  We elect a government to meet those responsibilities within the strictly limited delineated authorities; and to ‘preserve, protect, and defend the COTUS’:  only this and nothing more.

The COTUS does not validate any concept of ‘popular mandate’; ‘political mandate’; or ‘elections have consequences’.  These are simply perversions of the administration of our Constitutional Republic.  It is time for Citizens to demand an end to gerrymandering; and to demand an end to the abuse of the COTUS by power-mad, elitist representatives who manipulate our political processes for their personal gain and personal aggrandizement.

Why Healthcare costs keep rising

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/10/04/newsmaker_interview_with_ceci_connolly_107400.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_in_the_United_States 

Healthcare in the US is so expensive.

MLR: Medical Loss Ratio may just explain why medical costs are skyrocketing in America.  MLR is the ratio of claims expense paid to premiums revenue received.  The State and federal governments require the ratio to be in the 80% to 85% range: ostensibly to ‘prevent insurance companies from making too much money” by effectively mandating how much premiums can exceed costs.

So, if a procedure costs $100, it means the insurance company has $15 to cover overhead and profit. If a procedure costs $1000, they have $150 to work with; and for a $10,000 procedure, it’s $1500.  Are you beginning to see how we get $1 tissues?

Under this system, who is motivated to keep costs down?  It isn’t the insurance company because for them, 15% of a big number is better than 15% of a little number.  It isn’t the healthcare facility, or the doctor for the same reasons.  The patient doesn’t particularly care as long as their insurance covers it; and most don’t have a clue how much their medical insurance costs when it is employer-provided (60%) or government provided (28%).  Less than 10% buy their own.  As long as the insurance company is able to pass the costs on to the patient, they don’t care how much it costs.

In a free market, the scope and the cost of healthcare would be determined by fair and open competition. Insurance companies and healthcare providers would derive their profit by constantly driving costs lower.  Lazik eye surgery is an excellent example because it is not covered by insurance.  As more practitioners get into the business, competition drives the price down even as quality is continuously improved to differentiate one supplier from another in order to attract paying patients. 

Without collusion between the government, healthcare and insurance interests to continually increase costs, the free market continually reduces costs while increasing quality and convenience. Because the buyer is paying for the service out of his own pocket, he is
motivated to find the best value; and as is always the case it is that which creates competition.  Unfortunately this is NOT how the majority of the healthcare industry works.

How did we get to this point?  Insurance companies are highly regulated by State and Federal authorities.  Clearly there has been collusion between the regulators and the regulated to take advantage of the sick and infirm at their weakest and most vulnerable.  The genius stroke is to do so in such a manner as the victim is duped into believing that the metric that exploits them is the vehicle by which they are separated from their funds.

It’s the classic con: fleece the pigeon but make them feel good about it.

The Medical Loss Ratio epitomizes the state of the healthcare industry in America today: runaway costs, enriching everyone but the patient while making it appear that a benevolent government is protecting their interests even as it exacts it’s share of the spoils in the form of generous political contributions to keep the con working.

Government mandated healthcare is simply a heavy-handed effort to force the entire populace to participate while simultaneously changing the rules to give the government, not insurers or the providers, the upper hand and thereby take control of this con.

This is what happens when Citizens trade liberty for the appearance of security.  This is what our Constitution was originally crafted to protect us from.  And this is just one example of why we must restore Constitutional governance in America.

Privatization of Social Security

1. Some folks don’t want Social Security to be privatized, which means they are responsible for their own retirement savings (though they must participate by government mandate and there would be regulations and controls on the individual (to guarantee their mandatory contributions) and the investment broker (to limit the riskiness of investments, administrative costs, etc)).


2. Don’t people realize that Congress has stolen every penny paid into Social Security over the past 70 years?

3. Don’t people realize that therefore the government doesn’t have any money to pay Social Security benefits that have accrued and are due?

a. The Fed is simply printing worthless script to cover Social Security benefits now, but that can’t continue as more and more Baby Boomers become eligible to draw on the benefit that they have paid into all their working lives.

b. Sooner or later the worthless script being printed to cover the exploding federal debt; and the exploding federal entitlement will become just that: worthless script.

I don’t have a solution, but if insanity is ‘continuing to do the same thing, but expecting a different results’, it seems to me that leaving Social Security in the hands of those who have stolen every penny of it, qualifies as insanity.

I’m guessing that folks who don’t want Social Security privatized are afraid that bankers might do what the government has already done.

Those who argue against privatization of Social Security are refusing to acknowledge that Social Security doesn’t exist anymore and hasn’t since the mid-1960’s when Congress took all the money out of the Social Security Trust Fund and moved it to the General Fund so they could waste it on their pet projects (which most likely assured their comfortable retirement income).

Those of us trying to live on the false image of Social Security are doing no more than “whistling past the grave yard”; praying that the inevitable destruction of the dollar, (due to years of printing worthless script), won’t hit until after we die and no longer need the benefits that we have paid so dearly for our entire lives.

Will those who hate business ever get to the realization that what they hate about business is not from the conduct of business itself, but the abuse that business is able to accomplish as a result of unfair advantage purchased through political contributions? They may not care about the difference, but business is what has brought mankind the kind of prosperity and ease that subsistence farming and hunter-gathering could never accomplish. Government corruption is what enables businesses to exploit people and to take taxpayer money unfairly through government subsidies, worthless grants, useless foreign aid to despots, senseless wars, excess, non-competitive compensation to unions; excessive cost for healthcare (that has existed and expanded on government subsidy for more than 50 years): the list is endless.

Any business that relies on government subsidy to exist obviously does not warrant existing on it's own merit.  The beauty of the free market is that such businesses are permitted to perish.  When one has poison-ivy growing in the yard, no sensible person attempts to pluck each leaf to protect themselves: they find the root, up-root the plant and the problem is permanently eliminated.

Our Founders understood human nature: they realized that delegated authority will always be abused (it’s Man’s sinful nature [that liberals hate to acknowledge]). Because human nature guarantees that delegated authority will always be abused the Founders specified in the Constitution that the federal government would have very strictly limited authority; and NO authority to directly tax Citizens.

If we limit our elected representatives to the authorities and responsibilities originally delineated in the COTUS; the rape of the American people; and the destruction of the American Dream will be stopped.

The cure for 'structural unemployment'

A response to Paul Krugman
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/opinion/27krugman.html


So, Mr. Krugman, suggesting another World War to solve the 'structural unemployment problem'? Sorry, the world is a different place and the nature of war has changed. Time to look for more productive solutions.

The US Treasury is empty. The Fed is printing toilet paper as fast as the presses can go. We don't have any money, and what there is, gets less valuable with each passing moment. The government cannot finance another wasteful and ineffective spending spree.

No one has sufficient understanding or control over the future to know what programs or policies to implement to restore our economy: that’s why Central-planning solutions have never worked. Therefore the federal government needs to concentrate on removing all non-essential obstructions to entrepreneurialism; and on eliminating all non-value-added costs that they have imposed on American business for the past 100 years. American business has been continually streamlining their processes for 40 years. It’s time for governments (federal, state, and local) to catch-up. The free market will reveal the ‘natural’ opportunities when it is freed of the suffocating detritus that accumulated when American business did not have to compete for consumers.

The most promising solution is to repeal the 16th Amendment and implement the Fair Tax as presently structured. With the stroke of a pen, everyone who is employed gets a 23% boost in their take-home pay; US exports become 23% more competitive in the global market; monthly pre-bate checks provide an offset for the taxes on essentials and provides cash flow to every household; and the Trillions of dollars sheltered off-shore can come back into our economy to fund the expansion that results from improved export posture.

The only way our economy is going to get better is for Americans to become more productive. The only way to become more productive is to become more competitive in the global market. Therefore we have to eliminate the non-value added costs that accrued during our 25 year, post WWII monopoly on global manufacturing capacity.

Longer-term we need to restore the historic American ideals of individual resourcefulness, entrepreneurialism, and accountability; even as we erase the deadly acceptance socialism promoted so disastrously over the past 50 years.

Productivity is the only key to Prosperity

This is in response to a Jesse Jackson Op-Ed in the Chicago Sun Times


http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/2655308,CST-EDT-jesse31.article

Jesse, it’s comforting to see that your incomprehension of reality extends beyond race. Labor brought as much to the prosperity of America as you have brought to understanding between the races: thuggery, extortion, and destruction: nothing more.

Henry Ford, not the labor unions, created the Middle Class. He accomplished that by eliminating waste in the manufacturing process. He was able to eliminate so much waste that he was able to empower workers to be so productive that he could double their wage; cut the work week from 60 hours to 40 hours; all while improving the quality of his products and cutting the selling price in half (or less). That was accomplished by one factor and one factor only: relentless pursuit of productivity solely by eliminating waste in every form.

The labor unions have done nothing but destroy productivity. Their ability to do so was empowered solely by the manufacturing capacity monopoly that America enjoyed between 1946 and 1970 as a result of global manufacturing capacity being destroyed during WWII. Without competition, unions could make any idiotic, destructive, non-productive demand of their choosing (and happily did so). The only drawback was that Americans had to pay more for everything, but they had no alternative.

By 1970 there was sufficient foreign manufacturing capacity that they could start competing for American consumers. The labor unions and government created modern Detroit, Akron, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Flint, et al by sucking the life-blood out of American business. Productivity is the key to prosperity and no amount of liberal drivel will alter that.

Idiotic union work rules that destroyed productivity; coupled with idiotic government mandates and social engineering follies multiplied non-value added costs that make it impossible for American manufacturers to compete using American labor in American cities. Every new mandate; every new cost; every new restriction; every new entitlement chipped away at domestic employment until we are where we are today.

The financial collapse was solely the doing of liberals in Congress and the White House; not conservatives; though they contributed by not un-doing the destructive practices being implemented. The Barney Franks and Chris Dodds forced banks to lend to people totally unable or unwilling to repay their loans. The Fed (liberals all) made credit so cheap and so readily available that it created one bubble after the next as speculators drove prices far beyond intrinsic value: be it tech stocks or real estate. This was exacerbated by Fannie and Freddie that transferred all risk from the private sector to the backs of the taxpayers. The coup de grace was nationalization of AIG that took all liability and stuffed it on the taxpayer.

The BP catastrophe was caused by the failure of the federal government to assure that regulations in place since March of 2000 were implemented. Had they been implemented, the well failure would not have occurred; and had there been a blow-out, on site containment and recovery equipment required by the same regulations would have mitigated the damage so it would never have reached the shore. Keep in mind that the federal government netted $2.3 Billion from the lease that included the Deepwater Horizon site: that should have paid for at least some supervision and oversight. Keep in mind too that president Obama noted in 2008 that the MMS was rotten, yet Billions of dollars and two years later, he still had done NOTHING to correct the problems that he admitted were there. The Gulf disaster is solely the fault of the federal government’s failure to enforce regulations long established. Also note that the cleanup could have been started 3 MONTHS earlier than it did had the president not stupidly refused to make an exception to the Jones Act to permit highly capable and supremely experienced foreign men and equipment from 30 different countries to participate in the clean up: all to “protect” a handful of union jobs.

To add insult to injury, the president then arbitrarily slapped a moratorium on all deep water drilling (which was forced on the industry by making shallow water sites arbitrarily off limits) in the Gulf: driving the rigs and the jobs to foreign destinations. The icing: the president lied about the recommendations of his “expert panel” who unanimously counseled against a deep water drilling moratorium: More government interference destroying jobs.

How many real, productive jobs have been created by PUSH, the UAW, SEIU and AFSCME? The answer is “not a single one”. These organizations exist solely to suck the lifeblood out of employers (and employees) by doing everything in their power to destroy productivity. That in turn destroys jobs as is indisputably proven by the extinction of fruitful jobs over the past 40 years.

If those 570,000 registered voters would get their heads out of their butts and their hands out of other people’s pockets and instead use their God-given abilities to create real jobs based on providing top quality products and services in the most waste-free productive manner possible, there would be reason to hope for a better tomorrow. As long as they continue to be manipulated and lied-to by PUSH, UAW, SEIU, AFSCME and Congress et al they will continue to sink lower into the abyss.

America wasn’t built by government make-work projects or union featherbedders; it wasn’t built as a welfare state; nor was it built by rainbow coalitions of social malcontents. It was built by individuals ecstatically overcome by the opportunity to accomplish their dreams and to reap any rewards there-from; driven by the reality that if they failed to produce a useful product or service they would be back where they started: with nothing.

Our Founders were wise about human nature and that is why they created a federal government with very little responsibility; less authority; and prohibited to directly tax Citizens for the revenue to run a limited government.

The first, and necessary, step to restore America is to restore Constitutional governance. Anything less is counter-productive, and only productivity earns prosperity.

Fundament Restoration is what is required.

The critical issues to the Tea Party Movement are not Republican or Democrat: they are economic and Constitutional. America is in a mess because the federal government, over the past 70 years, under both political parties, has engaged in policies, programs, and entitlements that they have no Constitutional (ie Legal) authority to implement.


Gov. Christie is fortunate that he is dealing with problems with fairly straight-forward and achievable solutions (though admittedly solutions that all of his predecessors have lacked the courage to implement).

The Congress on the other hand has been stealing from the American people and their forced "contributions" to Social Security and Medicare for generations. In addition, Congress has been using these vehicles to promise expansive benefits far exceeding receipts (notwithstanding that the sleazy Congress stole them anyway).

As Boomers reach "retirement age", after "contributing" to mandatory government insurance programs for 50 years or more, they are finding the cupboard bare. Long nothing more than a Ponzi scheme, SS and Medicare are now forced to pay the piper and there are no resources to do that with. Where Christie is faced with $Billion problems, the federal government is facing $100 Trillion in problems.

Making matters worse, we are saddled with a president and his administration who have never held nor created a real job in their lives. Without any real-world experience they are mesmerized with idiotic wealth re-distribution schemes learned from ivory-tower outhouse philosophers that have failed every time they've been attempted since the beginning of time.

There are indeed hard choices that must be made, and expanding entitlements knowing that there is no imaginable way to pay for them simply makes an impossible problem even worse: So clearly so that any rational person should be questioning the ulterior motives of this administration.

We don't need "fundamental transformation" we need fundamental Restoration of Constitutional governance.