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Breaking News
Dead Cows and Other Biden Health Care Whoppers
The Vice President doesn’t let facts get in the way of a bad analogy.
“What I want to do today is speak English with y’all,” Vice President Joe Biden told an audience of mostly older Americans at an event in Alexandria on Thursday afternoon’s meeting of his Middle Class Task Force.
Flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, White House Health czar Nancy-Ann DeParle and Barry Rand, CEO of AARP, Biden said he wanted to make sure people understood the health care debate in plain language, without the kind of wonky jargon that dominates discussions of such subjects.
In the course of doing so, he made some bizarre analogies and never allowed the facts to get in the way.
“Can we possibly afford to do nothing when health care costs have gone up 57 — if I’m not mistaken — percent just since 2002?” Biden asked rhetorically. “Now folks, if your milk went up 57 percent and no end in sight, guess what? There would be a lot of dead cows. No one buying milk. You can’t afford it.”
Beyond the fact that it’s hard to understand why the price of milk or the mortality rate of livestock would have anything to do with health care reform, Biden’s example makes no sense from an economic standpoint. Basic economic theory would hold that, if anything, cattle ranchers would respond to rising milk prices by breeding more cattle.
In his opening remarks and throughout the question and answer period, Biden kept pounding on the administration’s theme that the only way to control costs is to overhaul the health care system the way Democrats want to. That in fact, having the government provide free or heavily subsidized insurance to tens of millions of more people was actually the fiscally responsible thing to do.
“The status quo is simply not acceptable — it’s totally unacceptable,” Biden said. “And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if you wanted to keep it the way you have it now, we can’t do it financially. We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation.”
He said he understood that it may seem counterintuitive to some people.
“When I say that, people look at me and they say, ‘You’re telling me we have to spend money when we’re going bankrupt?’” Biden exclaimed. “The answer is yeah, that’s what I’m telling you.”
Biden noted that Medicare and Medicaid, unless changes are made, “will eventually grow larger than what our government spends on everything else in the world combined.”
“Not only is it immoral not to provide everybody with decent health care, which is my view, the president’s view, and the administration’s view,” he said. “It is also fiscally irresponsible.”
His comments had an added irony coming on Thursday, because earlier in the day, the director of the Congressional Budget Office testified that the Democratic health care proposals only make the health care cost issue much worse.
Democrat Kent Conrad, chairman of the Budget Committee, asked CBO director Doug Elmendorf: “From what you have seen from the products of the committees that have reported, do you see a successful effort being mounted to bend the long-term cost curve?”
Elmendorf responded, “No, Mr. Chairman.” He explained, “In the legislation that has been reported we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs.”
But in his remarks, Biden pushed back against the way the CBO assesses the cost of legislation, arguing that it failed to take into account savings from preventive care.
About the Author
Philip Klein is The American Spectator’s Washington correspondent. You can follow him on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/Philipaklein
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Pingback| 7.16.09 @ 7:17PM
“We have to spend money to keep from going bankrupt.” - streiff’s blog - RedState links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Aaron| 7.16.09 @ 7:36PM
He is a the best thing that happened to Obama. I'm surprised his speaking privileges haven't been revoked. To think, there are people in this country that think this man is brilliant! Someone has a bumper sticker that reads "I heart Joe". What do you think Obama's expression was when he was told that Biden was gonna be his V.P.? You know he didn't pick him.
Pingback| 7.16.09 @ 8:40PM
What do dead cows have to do with a discussion of health care? Just ask Joe Biden links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 7.16.09 @ 8:43PM
The American Spectator : Dead Cows and Other Biden Health Care … | Youth Political Bl links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Robert Rosencrans| 7.16.09 @ 9:00PM
There is a long history of misleading the public when it comes to "containing" health care costs.
Costs never go down when the government gets involved. They always go up. The original Medicare projections were for 9 billion in 1990. In 1990 the savings that were touted somehow disappeared and the actual costs were 100 billion, ten times as much.
As of 2007 Medicare costs the taxpayers over 400 billion and consumes 3.1% of GDP and consumes 15.2% of federal budget outlays. In 1998 the costs were just over 200 billion and consumed 2.4% of GDP and 12.7% of the federal budget outlays.
All three measures of costs are going up and doubling in some instances. By the way GDP is falling like a rock right now so these expenses are not sustainable unless the U.S. government wants the dollar to convert to the value of a peso.
The consolidation of health care through the federal government never saves money and never leads to any types of efficiencies. Those are two of the biggest lies encompassing the health care debate.
http://www.contingencies.org/julaug08/medicare.pdf
One other lie associated with the Democrats and health care concerns the issue of private health insurance. Obama and Pelosi have misled the public to their true intent of getting rid of private health insurance, effectively destroying the best health care system in the world.
This portion of an editorial from Investor's Business Daily shows that once the law is passed, no private health care can be issued after that point effectively putting millions out of work. If this evil plan sees the light of day, our economy will be wrecked for years, perhaps decades to come.
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=332548165656854
It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.
From the beginning, opponents of the public option plan have warned that if the government gets into the business of offering subsidized health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will wither. Drawn by a public option that will be 30% to 40% cheaper than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, employers will gladly scrap their private plans and go with Washington's coverage.
ds80| 7.16.09 @ 9:24PM
What was the State Run Media template of the last 8 years? Bush is a buffoon.
What is the State Run Media template today? Lovable ol' Joe Biden.
Bald hypocrisy on display. Except for the Wall Street Journal I haven't read a "mainstream" newspaper in decades - for exactly this reason. Way to go, guys: **great** business model. How's that circulation thing working for you?
ds80| 7.16.09 @ 9:27PM
[Biden] said he understood that it may seem counterintuitive to some people: we have to spend money when we're going bankrupt.
Got it: kinda like common sense being counterintuitive to Biden.
hudson duster| 7.16.09 @ 9:28PM
Like most Canadians, I have been listening to ideas like this about health care for my entire life. I particularly like hearing how they're going to "find savings" and be "cost effective", or how "preventative care" will save so much money, why, it'll be so much cheaper!!
Sure, all these things will help, but even added together they won't be enough. You're screwed...
Indiana Alex| 7.16.09 @ 9:59PM
It has absolutely nothing to do with health care. It's about transfering power to the federal government and enslaving the middle class so they are as dependent on the ruling aristocracy as the "poor" are now. It is so transparent. And so many know it's wrong, but they aren't sure why.
Sue| 7.16.09 @ 10:07PM
Everyone should read Amity Shales "The Forgotten Man." The parallels between Roosevelt's handling of the economic downturn in 1930's and Obama's handling of this downturn are frighteningly similar. Roosevelt tried to spend the Country's way out of a recession and caused the Great Depression. The only thing that saved his legacy was WW II. Roosevelt taxed and taxed the rich and they kept their money in their pockets as much as they could. Capital investment became a thing of the past as no one could trust the government policies and Roosevelt was always changing them; one day, isolationist, the next day not, one day on the gold standard; the next day not; support the farmers, kill pigs instead of feeding starving people. The book is an eye-opener and should be required reading for every high school senior.
I always wondered why my grandparents didn't adore Roosevelt like some of the old folks who I knew, did.
Amity Shales has the answer and it's not spend until you go bankrupt or worse, become so weak you can't even defend yourself.
Pingback| 7.16.09 @ 10:25PM
Congressional Budgetary Office: No savings in Dem health care plan. | Conservative P links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
mstahl16| 7.17.09 @ 12:02AM
I am an ER Dr. Aside from the immorality of requiring one man to be forcibly required to pay for another man's health care I can tell you this whole thing is a sick joke. Anyone who thinks there is any money to be saved by "preventive" health care is either a moron or disingenuous. In twenty five years of practice I ccan count on about three fingers the number of times I have actually seen patients who had diagnosis or treatment delayed by the lack of health insurance. I can tell you that getting "health insurance", especially the free government kind, actually promotes abuse of the of the ER. Probably 95% of the use of the ER for trivial complaints is by recipients of Medicaid, illegals and the children of illegals. What this is really about is Command and Control. I hope these politicians are happy when the most advanced medical system in the world is destroyed.
Pingback| 7.17.09 @ 7:32AM
Latte Links (7/17) | Caffeinated Thoughts links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Melvin| 7.17.09 @ 7:53AM
mstahl16, your statement is not quite completely true. The political elite will always be able to keep or seek their outstanding modern health care, and the great unwashed masses will be the ones dieing from sub-standard health care.
A politician unlike an ER doctor has never looked into the eyes of a dieing human being that could not be saved. If she or he had, they would not be so quick to pass this death sentence onto the American People.
To the politician we are not fellow human beings but rather revenue generating drones that keep them in the lap of luxury. Something like the anthill syndrome.
There is the royalty (politicians), that are constantly pampered and taken care of even though the workers (us) in the anthill are starving for lack of food (money), the soldiers (political staffers, ACORN) who protect the royalty at any cost and are willing to sacrifice themselves at any cost. So you see we are just mere faceless SSN numbers to these people, the human aspect of political representation is so far removed that the only thing that matters, is how they can creating new revenue generating streams now that the old ones are drying up and unable to keep up with the politicians thirst for power and glory.
It is a crying shame that Americans are even to fat and lazy to even mount a revolt.
Curly Smith| 7.17.09 @ 8:04AM
Actually, Biden was rather astute with his cow analogy "Now folks, if your milk went up 57 percent and no end in sight, guess what? There would be a lot of dead cows. No one buying milk. You can't afford it."
What he's saying is that the dairy farmers would eliminate large swaths of their herds if expenses outpaced revenues. The same would hold true for ObamaCare... when expenses vastly surpass revenues then drastic steps will be taken to reduce expenses and the first step will be a cost/benefit analysis. Why treat a 75 year-old man who likely won't generate enough future tax revenue to offset the expense of the treatment? Besides, the sooner the elderly die the sooner the Feds will get their hands on the estates thanks to soon to be revamped "death tax".
And, just so you know, the liabilities associated with Social Security and Medicare already greatly exceed the revenues so combined with ObamaCare you get "AARP - The Other White Meat".
Melvin| 7.17.09 @ 8:19AM
Confucius say, "Americans don't really own their estates they just lease them from the government."
stephanie| 7.17.09 @ 8:31AM
I want those bastards inside the beltway to have the same "healthcare" we will have. Has anyone asked the supreme leader if he and his wife and kids will have the same "coverage"?
ucfengr| 7.17.09 @ 8:31AM
"We can show these studies done by really first rate think tanks like the Rand Corporation and these studies funded by medical schools and hospitals and universities that say hey, look, if we can prevent people from becoming obese, what would happen is we would save the health care system billions of dollars," Biden said.
I'm wondering how VP Biden proposes to prevent people from becoming obese. Does the current health care proposal mandate exercise and a "proper" diet?
ds80| 7.17.09 @ 8:34AM
Curly Smith: why don't you look at the rest of the story? Milk prices up 57%, leading to more dead cows = more beef at a lower price.
Just listen to your Mengele/Sanger rhetoric:
"eliminate large swaths ... would hold true for ObamaCare"
"steps will be taken to reduce expenses... Why treat a 75 year-old man who likely won't generate enough future tax revenue?"
Curly Smith, here'a a tip: people are not cattle.
Mattled| 7.17.09 @ 8:44AM
ucfengr,
It will be food rationing for all---except for welfare recipients of course.
The MEDIA enable these frauds at every turn. Some of the posters here are right---except for the WSJ, you cannot, ever get an honest news story. Look at newsbusters once in a while---these "objective" reporters/anchors sound like Robert Gibbs and the DNC 99% of the time. The Omaba machine couldn't have asked for a better propaganda machine.
If you are not doing everything humanly possible, along with getting relatives, friends, kids, neighbors to turn off the TV sets and cancel papers/mags, you aren't doing enough.
The media was emboldened by Mark Foley in 2006, went all out for Omoba in 2008 and now they own him----they should be held accountable.
In other words, they should not be allowed to dictate the elections in 2009, 2010 or 2012.
Defeat the media------you defeat Libs and Obama---yes it is that simple.
Hank Rearden| 7.17.09 @ 8:56AM
"Immoral not to provide health coverage" is what Biden says!!! What is immoral is forcing (with the threat of imprisonment) 1/2 of the population to provide health care for all. All of the sudden just because someone can claim a need they are allowed access to someone elses' money. If the government was serious about health care reform, which they are not, they would begin with tort reform. However, this will never happen as 95% of Congress is made up of lawyers.
Louis Jenkins| 7.17.09 @ 9:11AM
Melvin says: "To the politician we are not fellow human beings but rather revenue generating drones that keep them in the lap of luxury. Something like the anthill syndrome."
Amen!! We are the great unwashed masses in fly over country. While Obama compares himself to Lincoln, he, and those before him of which Obama is the worst, have created a slave state. They have sought to build a great socialist society on the backs of the productive. Patrick Buchanon's recent article expressesly outlines the royal screwing that we have and will receive. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=104226 Truly humans are not cattle, but those charlatans in DC see us as nothing more than beasts of burden.
Indiana Alex: "And so many know it's wrong, but they aren't sure why". Kinda like porn, they can't define it but know it when they see it. So many of the great unwashed and unsure have no idea what is going on in the District of Crimminals. I have no idea why they weren't awake last Nov. Obama's methods and political alliances were as plain as the nose on his face.
Stephanie: Yes, Obama was asked that question on national TV and he said he wanted them "to have the best health care possible". I assume that will not include the National Health Care Plan we will be getting.
Biden's antics make me appreciate Cheney. At least Chaney spoke plainly, and when and if he lied, he made it believable. Biden is a joke and a pimple on the arse of a mule.
As the cartoon Obama Wicked Witch of the West says: "I'll get you my pretty, and your 401 K too!"
JerseyJ| 7.17.09 @ 9:17AM
mstahl16 observes ... "Anyone who thinks there is any money to be saved by "preventive" health care is either a moron or disingenuous."
Both actually. Those who believe the lies are the "useful idiots". Those who spew the lies are obviously the elitists.
We all know the government can't do anything more efficiently than we private citizens. Heck, my 12 year old knows that. So why would anyone believe that our "representatives" think the government can run things more efficiently? News flash ... they don't believe it any more than you do.
We need to wake people up to the fact that these guys are not bumbling idiots who truly believe what they're spouting, but rather marxists who are after the personal liberty of as many of us as possible. We've got to get the word out outside of conservative publications and blogs though and into the mainstream.
I recently set a goal to learn the political stance of at least one person a day. Friends, co-workers, neighbors, someone ... anyone. Each day I attempt to engage just 1 person politically to see what they think about healthcare or stimulus or cap & tax or whatever the crisis-du-jour is. If their ideals differ, I don't attempt to sway them but just discuss the issue. If their ideals align with my own, I've found another ally.
Overall, it leads to some interesting conversations and more than a few civil debates and even some cases of "hmmm ... I never thought of that".
Try it.
The Dr also states ... "I hope these politicians are happy when the most advanced medical system in the world is destroyed. "
I assure you, they will be extremely happy. That's their aim ... to usurp your liberty and ensure your dependence on them. Destroying the current system and replacing it with one they control is precisely what they're after.
Medicare and Medicaid are broke. Rather than libs admitting this and fixing the issues, they will create a larger and more "broke" system to cover up the failings of the original. Sort of like a kid spilling grape juice on mom's new couch and then lighting the house on fire to cover it up.
Dustoff| 7.17.09 @ 9:35AM
Doc.... I'm a Fire medic and a filght nurse in Wa state.
You hit it right on the head.
Gov health care is going to hurt us all.
JOE BIDEN| 7.17.09 @ 9:52AM
TRUST US??? WE HAVE ACHIEVE SO MUCH WITH EVERYTHING ELSE WE HAVE DONE SO FAR!!! We have not been wrong yet??? All other countries that have tried and failed (everyone of them) were not as smart as we are???
Why don't you cut the benefits for illegals or trumpt up lawsuits??? That would be a good start.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.17.09 @ 9:52AM
Could this be the reason we are moving to the socialism?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090717/us_nm/us_workplace_finances
Men and women handle their personal finances much differently, research shows, with men more likely to keep a close eye on their spending and investments and to pay their bills on time.
The gender gap emerged in the results of financial planning questionnaires filled out by some 3,500 U.S. workers nationwide for Financial Finesse Inc., an employee benefits company.
The data showed two-thirds of men but just one-third of women said they regularly pay their credit card balances in full, said Liz Davidson, chief executive of the company based in Manhattan Beach, California.
Also, 90 percent of men said they pay their bills on time each month but only 74 percent of women said so, it said.
It said 71 percent of men but 53 percent of women have a handle on their cash flow so they spend less than they earn each month.
More than half of men but just a third of women said they have an emergency fund to pay their bills for a few months if they lose their job, it said.
Forty percent of men but just 24 percent of women said they were confident their investments were allocated appropriately, while 73 percent of men but just 40 percent of women said they had a general knowledge of stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
ncatty| 7.17.09 @ 10:02AM
Why is Joe Biden considered a "blue collar Joe six pack" kind of guy? He was a lawyer and then became a US Senator at age 30. Did he ever lay a brick using his hands?
Michael Tomlinson| 7.17.09 @ 11:12AM
Biden, a typical intellectually and integrity challenged Democrat, like Obama is indifferent to the truth and facts when it comes to establishing the neo-fascist oligarchy Democrats want.
How do Obama Democrats propose to make their fat constituents lose weight – concentration camps? Perhaps they should use blubbery Barney Frank as a test case and show us how they’re going to slim down America to save money. “Uncle Joe” should also show us how Medicare and Medicaid saved money or maybe he could provide examples of when a Democrat so-called “savings” plan actually saved money?
To build confidence in this half-ass scheme wouldn’t it be wise for Obama Democrats to put in their bill that all members of the President’s administration, Congress, the Federal government and labor unions be enrolled in the program?
Pouring more cold water on the claims of Obama and his Democrat Congress the Democrat controlled CBO Director said:
“Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Elmendorf told lawmakers on Thursday legislation to expand health care coverage would increase federal healthcare costs "to a significant degree" and revenue will need to be found to keep from increasing the deficit (irrelevant to power mad Obama Democrats)
Elmendorf told the panel, ‘The coverage proposals in this legislation would expand federal spending on health care to a significant degree and in our analysis so far we don't see other provisions in this legislation reducing federal health spending by a corresponding degree.’”
When the Federal government is the largest third party payer (health care, college, etc.) costs skyrocket so wouldn’t it be cheaper for the Federal government to actually do nothing based on its record of failure?
Since Obama is obsessed with this scheme I have a simple plan to pay for it. Republicans should promote killing the SBA, PBS, NASA, legal aid and the Department of Education. They should also suggest more savings by having Obama fire all his Czars and contribute the funds of his shadow government to his national insurance plan. Also by trimming the executive branches budget by a minimum of ¼ even more money would become available to insure the uninsured. If Obama wants national health care we should help him by thinking outside the box instead of allowing him to repackage Democrat barf as gold.
Ultimately, I'd like Obama and Democrats to shove this health care plan up their a_ _ _ s by August. That would go a long way in insuring the health of the American people and our economy.
Howard| 7.17.09 @ 11:17AM
We have become a nation of morons. Led by Democratic Hollywood, education by Teacher Union lackeys, and lubricated by a Trial Lawyer parasitic class. So no wonder the average jackass is sitting at home watching Judge Judy eating Cheetos. Now, the isolated morons in Washington want every productive person to emulate the morons. Who is John Galt?
Barack Obama | 7.17.09 @ 11:23AM
"Your Destiny Is In Your Hands... No Excuses"
Obama's NAACP Speech (VIDEO):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/31951708#31951708
- Marcell
Marc Jeric| 7.17.09 @ 12:28PM
Up to now I considered Joe Biden just another bloviating gasbag; now I must revise my opinion - he is an intellectual moron.
As for the 50 million uninsured: 1) 25 million, mainly young, they have the money but do not want "to waste it"; they prefer rap music, marijuana, and partying. 2) 15 million are illegal aliens, relying on emergency wards free of charge. 3) Of the remaining 10 million, about 8 million are elligible for Medicaid but too lazy to apply. 4) About the other 2 million I do not know - maybe secret Islamic terrorist cells.
As for health care costs - now some $3 trillion/year; Tort reform would knock out $1 trillion right away - say, like in all other civilized countries, when you lose a court suit you automatically must pay the costs of the defendant. That is how we have 1,100,000 lawyers , and Germany, Japan, and Great Btitain together have only 35,000.
Ann_Ia| 7.17.09 @ 12:43PM
Stop referring to it as "care" .. there is no "care" there. Only more bureaucracy, possibly some help to some folks to pay medical bills, and a lot of job security to pencil pushers. Neither Biden nor Obama care about health "care". In fact, they will try to lessen "care" by telling us we didn't prevent our illnesses or we are too old to "expect" treatment. Their underlying theme is pretty obvious to some of us who DO speak English.
Mike Blair| 7.17.09 @ 12:49PM
"Amity Shales has the answer and it's not spend until you go bankrupt or worse, become so weak you can't even defend yourself".
Witness the Soviet Union. These children in Washington are going to ruin us all and eventually, when we're weak and spent enough, kill us all. God, please bring the grown-ups back!
Paul from SA| 7.17.09 @ 1:51PM
There is indeed something so wrong with our health care system: My (private) health insurance premiums have risen about 129% over the last 3 yrs and I'm in perfect health and have not seen a doctor. That includes a $4000 total annual out-of-pocket. Next year, I may be on Medicaid or the free gov't system.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sue 10:07,
I haven't read Amity Shlaes book yet, but I recently read 2 others, "Meltdown" and another outlining "Myths of the Great Depression" and both describe exactly what you're saying. Most people don't know FDR's policies made things worse. There was a slight improvement in the economy in the beginning due to massive stimuli, but it was unsustainable; it was fake like a house of cards. Most people don't know about the Depression within the Great Depression that started in 1937 when business failures and unemployment skyrocketed. Indeed, Obama is following a similar path and we are heading downward. We might see some areas improve in the near future, but it will be another fake boom and will be followed by another huge bust.
------------------------------------------------------------
The single major problem we have with health care -- that NOBODY wants to talk about -- is that hospitals are required to provied FREE healthcare for (so-called) emergencies. I have a poor friend who suffered a heart attack -- he had free surgery and all that comes with it -- and will die owing the doctors and hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I too am surprised Joe Biden has not been muzzled. Hillary must be biting her tongue. If only she got the nomination! Or if only she was the VP! Then she could be talking everyday. Obama covered her mouth with duct tape and put in the back closet.
Anthony| 7.17.09 @ 2:03PM
Sue is correct. After 10 years of FDR, the unemployment rate the day America went to war in WWII was 17%. Obama is catching up fast.
And the Democrat morons, led by Harry Reid and Pelosi, marched down to the FDR memorial a few years back when Bush was discussing how Social Security was bankrupt and needed reform.
Under Obama, America will be officially bankrupt: morally, intellectually, politically, spiritually and financially. End of story.
Pingback| 7.17.09 @ 2:16PM
In Jennifer’s Head » Blog Archive » “Free” Milk and Government Cheese links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 7.17.09 @ 2:55PM
They Don T Really Care About Us | All Days Long links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Chris| 7.17.09 @ 3:10PM
The obvious problem here is that the person well versed in healthcare issues is the Secretary of State, and the person who should be Secretary of State is trying to talk about issues that he does not, by his own admission, fully understand.
aware| 7.17.09 @ 3:38PM
When you look at the the leaders we have(political, educational, literary, business, entertainment, church[even the Preacher???!!!]) how could you NOT KNOW we are freaking doomed? Any one of them is a poster child for corruption.
Take a bunch of corrupt rat bastards and put them in charge of a corrupted operation and somehow you're supposed to get sweetness and light? What is the factual evidence to believing this will turn out good?
I notice that so far the usual trolls are absent in this thread, nice to know there is SOMETHING even the trolls draw the line on....like trying to convince us Biden is NOT a blithering idiot.
Marcell| 7.17.09 @ 3:42PM
What would you, or your parents do, if you or they lost the health insurance that you / they had?
Would you do as my step dad, who voted for both Bush's ( GW once), did, & change Parties after he had a stroke, lost his job & no longer had health insurance?
He is still recovering from the stroke; his right arm is parolllized.
With that said, I haven't mustered up enough strength to support the Dems bill, but I want them to keep pushing forward until they have a breakthrough, & the bill makes sense.
I am in perfect health today, but there will be a time when I may need health insurance, or there may be a day that I could lose the health insurance that I have, then what?
Conservatives are great at undermining their own prosperity by buying into the no spin... all spin, spin doctors propaganda, but health care is a life or death issue, so I am asking you to seriously think about it.
Universal healthcare might not make sense today, but the healthcare that we have today is not guaranteed.
Don't play the same game on yourselves that my dad did when he allowed the propaganda spinners to convince him to see very little value in liberal ideals, because God could humble you in a heart beat.
Please help them get the health care bill right. Even if it means finding ways to make private health insurance affordable.
Tha Crossroads| 7.17.09 @ 3:50PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpmr8Shy_UA
aware| 7.17.09 @ 4:07PM
Never mind about the troll comment, they couldn't stand it! I knew it was too good to be true!
Okay now convince me Biden wouldn't be an idiotic blowhard ANYWHERE he happens to be! Tell me how he is really a smart and honest guy. This I gotta see!
Bcronos | 7.17.09 @ 4:51PM
Indiana Alex got it absolutely correct above. Obama is trying to make the middle class as dependent on gov as the poor class is already. It amazes me how many people still think the Federal Govt is trying to help them rather than further enslave them.
Bcronos | 7.17.09 @ 5:08PM
Dear Marcell,
Why do you think it is my responsibility to pay for your health care? You can go buy a health care policy from hundreds of providers and pay for it yourself.
Yours Truly,
Take Responsibility for Yourself
txn4ever| 7.17.09 @ 5:36PM
Marcell,
I'm with you on the final point and that's getting it right. The real question that needs to be anwered is why is health insurnce so expensive? As usual, it's government mandates/regulation. Instead of allowing insurance companies to provide a la carte type options when purchasing health insurance, the government forces them to provide policies that require them to provide coverage for every ridiculous therapy in the known universe.
If health insurance companies were allowed to sale only what customers wanted and/or needed then insurance premiums would go way down. The free market works, I suggest we give it a try. It wouldn't cost us a dime more than we already pay.
Craig Doucette| 7.17.09 @ 6:46PM
There should be a hall of fame for the galactically stupid. Joe Biden could be the poster child.
Pingback| 7.17.09 @ 7:04PM
Say it ain’t so Joe! “We’ve Got To Spend Money So We Don’t Go Bankrupt:” The looming links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 7.17.09 @ 7:05PM
What Will Happen If Obama Death Care Does Not Pass links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Europe And America is DOOMED| 7.17.09 @ 7:08PM
Even God rejected them for their evil they worshiped BAAL, IDOL worshiping, all the things they have in Europe are stolen goods from Acient EGYPT, its all across Europe. All from Egypt.
The Sun with the cross infront, another scam, they call the Son of god.
A Dead Dollar| 7.17.09 @ 7:13PM
BIDEN is SAYING, America can no longer business as usal.
If health care is taking up 100% og GDP means there is no money for nothing else.
57% Milk cost, and rising.
Marcell| 7.17.09 @ 8:45PM
Our Jew hater seems to be trying to stifle this debate. My email is also being spam'd like mad with health care ads.
" You can't play me, you only can pay me."
silvernblackcell@yahoo.com
catladyjan| 7.18.09 @ 10:35AM
I work in state government.....and I can tell you based on my 23 years there YOU DO NOT WANT THE GOVERMENT INVOLVED IN YOUR HEALTH CARE....or anything else for that matter. Bureaucrats are complete idiots and just about every one of them has some sort of personality disorder.
Pingback| 7.18.09 @ 1:30PM
He is not God: Obama trips through a doorway « Jim Blazsik links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
2Guns AZ| 7.18.09 @ 6:34PM
And when was the last time the CBO ever was close in their estimates???
I remember someone stating that CBO is ALWAYS off by a factor of between 3 and 7. So the 1.5 Tril over ten years, is really going to be 4.5 to 10.5 T. Of course, this will be offset by the surcharge on the wealthy (how long will it take them to define wealthy as $50K a year?) that is perdicted to raise 600-700Bil over the same ten years.
As it stands, even if the CBO is dead nuts accurate, they are predicting a 1Trl deficit. And, its not gonna insure everyone without insurance now.
Want to see what's in store, just look at Mass's health insurance program, its broke and broken.
As previously, stated, what's needed is tort reform, which could save 100B/year by reducing Defensive Medicine.
dsammis| 7.18.09 @ 7:36PM
People have got to stop confusing health care and health insurance. The the latter is to avoid catastophic expense. The former is to pay for an oil change.
Ralph Woods| 7.19.09 @ 11:47AM
To be perfectly honest I have to admit Joe Biden is a complete idiot, although quite entertaining. Here in Arizona I have seen what the cost of milk is doing to cows. Price of milk way down, cows being shipped off , but not to greener pastures unforunately.
skep41| 7.19.09 @ 12:38PM
"hey, look, if we can prevent people from becoming obese, "
Madam Ceausescu in Romania once explained the shortage of food in that country by saying that Romanians were greedy and if more food were made available they would eat too much. Laura Tyson-Chicken, an important economic adviser to this administration did her doctoral dissertation praising that economy. Once the Obamunists start meddling in the production and distribution of food we can all look forward to losing some unneeded poundage like so many happy dieters have done in other Socialist societies like Zimbabwe and North Korea. The idea that these chowderheads are going to lower the cost of anything by confiscating it is so ludicrous it defines anyone who looks forward to the big savings as a total idiot. The numbers that are floated around are meaningless; economic collapse and hyper-inflation will mean that the health-care system will collapse with the rest of the economy.
August Review.com| 7.19.09 @ 4:14PM
By Patrick Wood, Editor
[Editor's note: members of the Trilateral Commission and companies with Commission representation appear in bold type.]
Since 1973, this writer has made inquiry as to the location and ownership of the vast stores of monetary gold (400 oz., .999 pure bars) in the world. There has not been a formal audit on Fort Knox, for instance, since the Eisenhower administration. Official statistics on gold holdings are often contradictory. Getting plain answers from any Central Bank in the world, including the Fed, is virtually impossible.
This paper points out a pattern of manipulation that has been clearly observed by many people. However, patterns do not exist in a vacuum, but rather they are evidence of the existence of a stable and consistent methodology. Clearly, more study needs to be done in identifying the finer parts of the methodology and its designers, but this is a good start!
When Richard Nixon canceled the Bretton Woods system in 1971, exchangeability of paper dollars for gold was terminated. In 1970 alone, available gold vs. dollars outstanding had shrunk from 55 to 22 percent, thus exerting pressure for investors to switch to gold to avoid further dilution of dollar assets.
Although the economic and financial experts swore that gold was an outmoded, ineffective and useless financial asset, cooler heads knew better. In recent years, these same experts have reversed field and are now proclaiming that gold is still, and always has been, a consistent monetary asset. Why the flip-flop?
The economic chaos in the world today is a direct result of policies set in motion to foster a New International Economic Order (NIEO). The NIEO was the explicit creation of the Trilateral Commission, founded by David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1973, and their early papers and task force reports clearly asserted their NIEO plans.
Members of the Trilateral Commission were instrumental in creating the European Union as well. The EU is the prototype of global governance that will soon exert its influence to reshuffle world relationships.
Since 1973, Trilateralists have dominated the Executive Branch of the U.S. government with politicians like Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Dick Cheney. This has led to domination of the world trade mechanisms like the World Bank and negotiation of free trade agreements.
Six out of eight presidents of the World Bank have been members of the Commission. Eight out of ten of the U.S. Trade Representatives (USTR) have been Commissioners.
Indeed, the Trilateral Commission has had undue influence and control over the development of globalization, and it was self-interested at best.
With today's total meltdown in economic and global financial markets, one must ask, "Are these people just plain stupid?"
The answer has to be "No", considering their great success at consistently dominating political and economic processes over a span of thirty-five years.
So what else is going on?
There is mounting evidence that there has been a larger plan underway to corner the global supply of gold, thus laying the groundwork for a global currency exclusively controlled by Trilaterals and their friends. By extension, economic and political mechanisms would be controlled to the same extent.
From a Trilateral perspective, the Bretton Woods system had two flaws:
Gold was rapidly being decentralized into non-Trilateral hands
It limited the arbitrary creation of paper money to finance projects launched by Trilateral-related global companies. (Read Trilaterals Over Washington (Sutton & Wood) for detailed documentation on this process)
The breakup of Bretton Woods and the resulting opportunities may have been the principal rationale for the creation of the Trilateral Commission in the first place.
Since 1973, there has been an overarching plan to quietly centralize gold into private hands, using incrementally created wealth made possible by rapidly inflating paper currencies.
This theory must be explored and tested, because if true, it represents not just the hijacking of America (already thoroughly demonstrated elsewhere in this writer's papers), but the hijacking of an entire planet!
In 1976, Antony Sutton wrote,
"The assault on gold today is an integral part of a planned move into a new economic order under the dominance of a single country. It was Nazi Germany in the 1940's; it is the United States in the 1970's. In brief, the war on gold that we observe today, and discuss below, is dollar imperialism, designed to maintain the U.S. dollar as the only world currency without competitors. The purpose is the formation of a world totalitarian state under Wall Street dominance." (The War on Gold, Antony C. Sutton, 1976, p. 63)
Sutton's view was limited because he had not yet discovered the Trilateral framework just created three years earlier in 1973. We can see now that the totalitarian state is still clearly in view, but the self-proposed rulers of this new arrangement will be members of the Trilateral Commission, and their monetary "enforcer" will be gold.
2008 Gold Hegemony
Bill Murphy is the chairman of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA), which has asserted for almost 10 years that a concentrated gold cartel has been manipulating the price of gold. Murphy and GATA are highly regarded around the world on their work to expose this cartel.
On September 10, 2008, Murphy made an opening statement at the 2008 Las Vegas Hard Assets Investment Conference, reprinted in full below. Murphy's perspective and argument does not include the Trilateral Commission, but the players in his narrative are largely members or former members of the Commission.
This leads this writer to connect some dots between 1973-1976 and 1998-2008.
In Murphy's comments, note that the famous bullion banks of 2008 include Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, all of which have at least one director or senior official sitting on the Trilateral Commission. In addition, the players Murphy names are members of the Commission.
As Sutton did in 1976, to imply a "war on gold" necessitates an eventual victory, a victor and a loser. It is already painfully obvious that the citizens of America are the losers: The middle class is being wiped out and we all hold a debased paper currency that is headed toward destruction.
The question is, who will the winner be? And what is the victor's intent over the conquered?
Bill Murphy's Opening Statements
The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee’s basic assertion for the past 9 ½ years is that there is a Gold Cartel out there suppressing the price of gold. It consists of the US Government, including the Fed and Treasury, various other central banks, and bullion banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase.
The motives of “the cabal” are to give support to the dollar, keep US interest rates lower than they should be, and to tone down the widely watched US barometer of US financial market health, that being the gold price. After all, whenever the price of gold soars, it congers up talk of too much inflation, a sinking dollar, or a crisis of some sort … all negative for Wall Street and the incumbent administration.
Therefore, “Shoot the Messenger” is The Gold Cartel’s key mission.
The suppression of the price of gold was the essence of Robert Rubin’s Strong Dollar Policy. What else did the US do to effect that policy? Talk? Jawbone?
It seems to have all started with Robert Rubin…
Before he was CEO of Goldman Sachs and then US Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin worked in London for Goldman Sachs. One of his duties was to oversee their gold trading operations. We know this because the CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold, Brian Hinchcliffe, a staunch GATA supporter, worked in London back then for Goldman Sachs and reported directly to Robert Rubin.
This was many years ago and interest rates in the US were very high, say from 6 to 12%. Rubin had Goldman Sachs borrow gold from the central banks to fund their basic operations. They could do so at about a 1 % interest rate. This was like FREE money, as long as the price of gold did not rise to any sustained degree for any length of time.
Soon other major financial institutions realized what GS was doing and copied them. Rubin continued these operations as the Goldman Sachs CEO and then took it to a new level as US Secretary Treasurer. That is how the gold price suppression became the lynchpin of his widely acclaimed “Strong Dollar Policy.” GATA’s Reg Howe caught on to this notion in a paper titled, “Gibson’s Paradox and The Gold Standard,” co-authored by Lawrence Summers in 1988. Summers, a professor at Harvard at the time, succeeded Rubin as US Treasury Secretary. The bottom line of Summer’s analysis is that “gold prices in a free market should move inversely to real interest rates.” Control gold and it will help to control interest rates.
Bullion banks such as Goldman and Morgan became The Gold Cartel’s hit men, trading the gold market from the short side and bombing the market in coordinated anti-trust fashion at the beck and call of our government, making a great deal of money in the process … as you have all witnessed the past couple of months.
In a brilliant piece a few weeks ago Ted Butler reported 3 U.S. banks held a short position of 7,787 contracts (778,700 ounces) of gold in July, and, astonishingly the same 3 U.S. banks held a short position of 86,398 contracts (8,639,800 ounces) in August, an eleven-fold increase. Gold then declined more than $150 per ounce once Secretary Paulson (note: Paulson is ex-CEO of Goldman Sachs) gave the order, just as he did in May 2006 when a similar order was given, according to a US Senator from the state of Washington. Both times, various bullion banks made vast amounts of money quickly as the US government facilitated their short positions by feeding considerable clandestine central bank gold into the physical market.
It was the concerted, concentrated action of certain BULLION BANKS, which tipped off GATA what was going on nearly a decade ago now.
It was this clandestine feeding of central bank gold into the marketplace which clued GATA into the gold price suppression scheme. Three GATA consultants, Reg Howe, Frank Veneroso and James Turk, using independent, sophisticated methodologies, came to the same conclusion years ago … that the central banks have far less gold than the 30,000 tonnes of gold they say they have. The GATA camp research shows they have less than half that amount in their vaults, the difference being the amount that has been fed into the physical market to suppress the price. Since demand for physical gold exceeds mine and scrap supply by well over than 1,000 tonnes per year, this central bank gold is vital to prevent the price from exploding.
GATA is not alone in recognizing the central banks are not accounting for their gold properly. GATA revealed an IMF paper which corroborates GATA’s claims that much of the central bank gold has been double counted and that the central banks are not properly accounting for the gold no longer in their possession.
ISSUES PAPER (RESTEG) # 11
TREATMENT OF GOLD SWAPS AND GOLD DEPOSITS (LOANS)
“14. Regarding the statistical treatment of gold swaps, its treatment should be consistent with that of other reverse transactions, as presented in paragraph 7 above. Thus, swapped gold should be excluded from both reserve assets and IIP (demonetization). This is a logical consequence, and overstating of reserve assets can be avoided. On the other hand, this results in a decrease in the financial assets of the monetary authorities.”
Gold swaps and gold leasing are at the heart of the gold price suppression scheme. For example, the US cannot sell its 8,133.5 tonnes of gold without an Act of Congress, but they could lease or swap it. In 2006 the President of the Bundesbank made an astonishing statement for a central banker: “We have been asked to negotiate with other central banks’ about potential swap deals involving gold.”
Is this stuff hush hush? I guess so. in January 1995, the Federal Reserve’s general counsel, J. Virgil Mattingly, told the Federal Open Market Committee, according to the committee’s minutes, that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund had undertaken “gold swaps.” When the GATA camp had Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning inquire Alan Greenspan what that was all about, Mattingly came back and said the Fed testimony was GARBLED … Right…
Recently GATA filed Freedom of Information Act requests to the Fed and Treasury about US gold swaps. The Fed redacted 300 pages of information and refused to send another 400 pages. Now, think about it … if the US gold is, and has been, just sitting in our vaults, without a true independent audit since the Eisenhower Administration, what is their to withhold?
As for GATA’s request to the Treasury about any Exchange Stabilization Fund activity into the gold market, they answered in the negative by referring to the Exchange STABILITY Fund. Can they be that lame?
Is the gold price manipulated? You don’t need to read through GATA’s countless evidence to appreciate what is going on. It is on the public record…
beginning with Alan Greenspan’s testimony before Congress in 1998:
“Central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise” … which is just what they have done!
The Reserve Bank of Australia confessed to the gold price suppression scheme in its annual report for 2003. “Foreign currency reserve assets and gold,” the RBA’s report said, “are held primarily to support intervention in the foreign exchange market.
Maybe the most brazen admission of the Western central bank scheme to suppress the gold price was made by the head of the monetary and economic department of the Bank for International Settlements, William S. White, in a speech to a BIS conference in Basel, Switzerland, in June 2005. There are five main purposes of central bank cooperation, White announced, and one of them is “the provision of international credits and joint efforts to influence asset prices (especially gold and foreign exchange) in circumstances where this might be thought useful.”
Barrick Gold, then the largest gold-mining company in the world, confessed to the gold price suppression scheme in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on February 28, 2003. On that date Barrick filed a motion to dismiss Blanchard & Co.’s anti-trust lawsuit against Barrick and its bullion banker, JP Morgan Chase, for rigging the gold market.
Barrick’s motion said that in borrowing gold from central banks and selling it, the company had become the agent of the central banks in the gold market, and, as the agent of the central banks, Barrick should share their sovereign immunity and be exempt from suit.
Is the gold price manipulated today? Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker wrote the following in his memoirs:
“Joint intervention in gold sales to prevent a steep rise in the price of gold (in the 1970s), however, was not undertaken. That was a mistake.” …
Robert Rubin and gang took heed … as are more and more in the mainstream financial world. Just last week, the highly regarded Don Coxe of the Bank of Montreal stated the following in an audio presentation last about recent market action to the bank’s clients:
“The Most Massive Intervention Of Government Into The Capital Markets, Or The Financial Markets, Since President Roosevelt Closed The Banks Back In 1933,”
It’s wake up time, finally.
Recently, there has been talk about the Working Group on Financial Markets (more commonly known as The Plunge Protection Team), which consists of the President, Treasury Secretary, and heads of the CFTC and SEC. Think about it … why are bureaucrats included in meetings about the markets except to look the other way regarding government intervention?
To give you an idea just how pervasive and insidious our markets have become, I bring your attention to the Counterparty Risk Management Group. Ever hear of it?
It consists of major players in the investment banking/hedge fund community in New York, including Goldman Sachs. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Deutsche Bank (all defendants in GATA’s Reg Howe’s suit against The Gold Cartel in 2001). There are a number of other participants such as the famed hedge fund of Paul Tudor Jones.
On July 27, 2005, E. Gerald Corrigan, former President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and now a Managing Director of Goldman Sachs, wrote:
The Report of the Counterparty Risk Management
Policy Group II
Addressing it to:
Mr. Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
(all roads always lead back to Goldman Sachs)
He stated; “since we know that financial disturbances and even financial shocks will occur in the future, and we know that no approaches to risk management or official supervision are fail-safe, we also know that we must preserve and strengthen the institutional arrangements whereby, at the point of crisis, industry groups and industry leaders, as well as supervisors, are prepared to work together in order to serve the larger and shared goal of financial stability.”
This Orwellian shared goal of financial stability, which began with the serious rigging of the gold price under Robert Rubin, has led us to the financial market mess we have today. It is wrong and must be stopped!
Is the cat out of the bag?
In the 2007 May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, Benn Steil presented his paper, The End of National Currency. Steil is Director of International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. In his report, Steil stated,
"So what about gold? A revived gold standard is out of the question. In the nineteenth century, governments spent less than ten percent of national income in a given year. Today, they routinely spend half or more, and so they would never subordinate spending to the stringent requirements of sustaining a commodity-based monetary system. But private gold banks already exist, allowing account holders to make international payments in the form of shares in actual gold bars. Although clearly a niche business at present, gold banking has grown dramatically in recent years, in tandem with the dollar's decline. A new gold-based international monetary system surely sounds far-fetched. But so, in 1900, did a monetary system without gold. Modern technology makes a revival of gold money, through private gold banks, possible even without government support."
This is hardly far-fetched. Zbigniew Brzezinski noted in 1972 that "the nation-state as a fundamental unit of man's organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force: International banks and multinational corporations are acting and planning in terms that are far in advance of the political concepts of the nation-state."
Cracks in the dam
Noted Romanian economist, Professor Antal Fekete, released a critical report on December 5, 2008, entitled "Red Alert: Gold Backwardation."
For the first time in history, gold futures sold below spot price and creates a potential crisis in gold delivery at the end of December. Fekete states,
"According to the December 3rd Comex delivery report, there are 11,759 notices to take delivery. This represents 1.1759 million ounces of gold, while the Comex-approved warehouses hold 2.9 million ounces. Thus 40% of the total amount will have to be delivered by December 31st. Since not all the gold in the warehouses is available for delivery, Comex supply of gold falls far short of the demand at present rates. Futures markets in gold are breaking down. Paper gold is progressively being discredited..."
"Gold going to permanent backwardation means that gold is no longer for sale at any price, whether it is quoted in dollars, yens, euros, or Swiss francs. The situation is exactly the same as it has been for years: gold is not for sale at any price quoted in Zimbabwe currency, however high the quote is. To put it differently, all offers to sell gold are being withdrawn, whether it concerns newly mined gold, scrap gold, bullion gold or coined gold. I dubbed this event that has cast its long shadow forward for many a year, the last contango in Washington ― contango being the name for the condition opposite to backwardation (namely, that of a positive basis), and Washington being the city where the Paper-mill of the Potomac, the Federal Reserve Board, is located. This is a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that the jig in Washington is up. The music has stopped on the players of ‘musical chairs’. Those who have no gold in hand are out of luck. They won’t get it now through the regular channels. If they want it, they will have to go to the black market."
Conclusion
If Fekete is correct, and he has seldom been wrong, then the trap is snapping shut on who will own the gold in 2009. Free-market supplies of gold are drying up, but the price is being kept low as global institutions sop up whatever crumbs are left.
Several very serious implications can be drawn:
The massive amounts of gold leased to bullion banks will ultimately be seized by these same banks as collateral against worthless paper loans made to the Central Banks.
Central Banks (including the Federal Reserve) could well be left to disintegrate in order to give way to a single global central bank controlled and fueled by the bullion banks who have Monopoly control over the world's gold.
These superbanks are all closely tied to the goals and membership of the Trilateral Commission, whose members have methodically carried out a monetary policy designed to bring about this eventuality.
For all practical intent, individuals will be frozen out of the gold market at any price.
Indeed, a global totalitarian state may be closer than we think; as the globalist's golden rule states, "He who has the gold, makes the rules."
Thom| 7.19.09 @ 5:11PM
No one asked the obvious, what drove up the cost of milk 57%? Government mandate? Carbon capture equipment installed on each cow, what? Milk has been priced supported by the government so long I can't remember when it wasn't.
jack| 7.20.09 @ 6:07AM
revolution could be the only solution. the ruling class and media are brain dead and favor socialists.
Richard Helfrich| 7.20.09 @ 8:43AM
Vice President Biden used to be an intelligent but misguided fool. Now he is just a misguided fool.
He is made in the image and likeness of The Messiah so what more could we expect.
Both these men have a penchant for the use of straw-man arguments in service of their Marxist objectives and both have a highly developed ability to conjure up crises for which they have grandiose solutions invariably dedicated to the destruction of freedom.
For those who support this kind of governmental behavior, freedom is too much to bear since it requires the acceptance of personal responsibility. Loss of freedom is of no consequence, then, because the loss frees us from the consequences of our own irresponsibility.
Richard Helfrich| 7.20.09 @ 8:45AM
Vice President Biden used to be an intelligent but misguided fool. Now he is just a misguided fool.
He is made in the image and likeness of The Messiah so what more could we expect.
Both these men have a penchant for the use of straw-man arguments in service of their Marxist objectives and both have a highly developed ability to conjure up crises for which they have grandiose solutions invariably dedicated to the destruction of freedom.
For those who support this kind of governmental behavior, freedom is too much to bear since it requires the acceptance of personal responsibility. Loss of freedom is of no consequence, then, because the loss frees us from the consequences of our own irresponsibility.
RichardHelfrich| 7.20.09 @ 8:46AM
Vice President Biden used to be an intelligent but misguided fool. Now he is just a misguided fool.
He is made in the image and likeness of The Messiah so what more could we expect.
Both these men have a penchant for the use of straw-man arguments in service of their Marxist objectives and both have a highly developed ability to conjure up crises for which they have grandiose solutions invariably dedicated to the destruction of freedom.
For those who support this kind of governmental behavior, freedom is too much to bear since it requires the acceptance of personal responsibility. Loss of freedom is of no consequence, then, because the loss frees us from the consequences of our own irresponsibility.
Richard Helfrich| 7.20.09 @ 9:04AM
Sorry for the duplicate posts but the submission page returned with a message saying my name and email entries were erroneous. I didn't get the posting message until after I reloaded the page/
Tailgunner| 7.20.09 @ 10:02PM
'Increasing screening tests among a broader and mostly healthy population, for instance, can cost more than would be saved treating a smaller population of people who are actually sick.'
Medicare just denied reimbursement for a new screening tool for colon cancer known as 'virtual CT' that uses CT scanning technology to replace painful sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy.
Virtual CT is noninvasive, simple, and by its nature picks up abnormalities in the entire abdomen unlike traditional practices.
The AMA endorses virtual CT as a tool that will increase screening and early detection and treatment of colon cancer.
The cost of virtual CT is close to half of traditional colonoscopy. Private insurance readily covers it.
Yet Medicare has officially denied coverage for this new, effective, inexpensive and lifesaving 'preventive medicine'.
Obama and Biden are lying through their teeth. All they want is total control over our lives through the ability to grant or deny care based on standards THEY set and constantly change.
Nationalized healthcare is a DEATH SENTENCE.
Tailgunner| 7.20.09 @ 10:17PM
Corrections:
It's called 'virtual colonoscopy' or ''virtual CT' and it's endorsed by the American Cancer Society, not (that I'm aware of) the AMA.
It's also about a quarter of the cost (not half) of traditional colon cancer screening procedures.
I apologize for the errors.
Pingback| 7.21.09 @ 12:18PM
The real reason behind the economic meltdown – government (particularly Democrats) « links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Curtice Mang| 7.25.09 @ 12:01AM
Joe Biden, in defending the Obama administration’s $787 billion stimulus plan, announced recently that we (the government) had to spend the money to avoid “going bankrupt as a nation.” Who knew that spending yourself silly is the way to financial health? Given that type of pretzel logic that seems to emanate from the White House on an almost daily basis anymore, here a few other announcements you can expect shortly:
1. In order to combat global warming, the White House announces a new energy plan to greatly increase carbon emissions. The new Floor and Trade plan establishes a minimum carbon level that all U. S. corporations will be required to emit. Even companies that currently have little or no carbon emissions will be required to meet the minimum emissions or face heavy penalties.
Vice President Joe Biden states that, “If each American has a carbon footprint the size of Shaquille O’Neal, we will be able to stomp out global warming.”
2. Iran’s nuclear ambitions took a hit today after the White House offers to simply give the country several nuclear warheads. As Joe Biden stated, “All parents know that to quiet a spoiled, screaming child you give them a lollypop. Today we provided Iran with the nuclear lollypops they have been screaming about. We expect no more problems with Iran.”
3. In its fight against the nation’s obesity problem, the Obama administration announces new taxes on vegetables and other healthy, low-fat foods. New regulations will also require restaurants to increase all portions and set guidelines for minimum calorie requirements per meal. In a corresponding move, Joey Chestnut, reining Nathan’s hot dog eating champion, has been tapped to be the new food czar.
4. In an effort to curb teenage sex, free condoms will be available to teens on request. (Oops. Sorry, we already do that.)
5. The White House takes a stand against homelessness with its new Will Work for Food program. All able-bodied men, women and children will be provided food (the high-fat, high calorie variety – see item # 3 above) in lieu of cash as payment for work. New federal regulations will define work as “not sleep”.
6. In an effort against smoking, Smoker-in-Chief Barack Obama announces subsidies to tobacco farmers. (Sorry again. We already do that too.)
7. Keeping his campaign promise to spread the wealth, the Obama administration announces new taxes on the rich. A newly added component to this plan includes increased taxes on all non-union members, thereby eliminating wealth as a determining factor for being considered rich. In keeping with tradition, any Democrat that meets these qualifications will still not be required to pay taxes.
Finally, look for Joe Biden’s memoirs to be released in time for the holidays. Entitled, “Joe Biden: The Audacity of a Dope”, and translated from his native language into English, it is sure to make for exhilarating reading.
Without getting all Chris Mathews about it, it does give one a tingling sensation when one thinks of the potential for this administration when logic need not be a component in their proposals for “change”.
Pingback| 7.28.09 @ 12:41PM
Obamarama in Healthcare: Let’s enjoy Barack’s gaffes, mistakes, blunders and the othe links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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