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More Blog Posts by Shawn Macomber
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/11/25/not-that-itll-really-matter-to
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Bob| 11.25.09 @ 2:20PM
Then you are recommending that we get rid of Medicare as well? After all, you would consider that to be unconstitutional. Right? Now try to get elected without the senior vote.
Shawn, you should think through your arguments before you make them....
BOB | 11.25.09 @ 3:45PM
TOOOT! I AM BOB THE ALL KNOWING,BOB THE MAGNIFICENT, BOB THE MAGNANIMOUS, BOB THE CEO OF 162.5 FORTUNE 162.5 COMPANIES! I RAN AIG WHEN AIG WAS RUN PROPERLY! MY HANDS ARE CLEAN ON THAT ONE! HONESTLY! DO NOT STARE AT THE FUNNEL THAT SITS ATOP MY HEAD TOOTING AND BLOWING SMOKE! TOOT!
SHAWN, YOU PIDDLY PIPSQUEAK PONTIFICAL! HOW DARE YOU WRITE YOUR OPINION IN AN OPINION WEB SITE! YOU HAVE NO FACTS, DATA OR GRAPHS SUPPORTING YOUR OPINION! TOOOOOOOT! I AM THE KEEPER OF FACTS, DATA AND GRAPHS, SO I KNOW THIS! ITS A FACT! TOOTY TOOT TOOT!
SOCIAL SECURITY WAS PASSED OVER 70 YEARS AGO AND IS NOW ENTRENCHED IN OUR SYSTEM! TOOT! SO WHAT ARE YA GUNNA DO ABOUT IT! TOOOOOOOOT! JUST BECAUSE WHAT YOU SO GLIBLY CALL OBAMACARE IS A BIG, FAT, GREASY BUDGET BUSTING, SLOP-CALL OF A GOVERNMENT PROGRAM, DOESN'T MEAN IT'S UNCONSTITUTIONAL! TOOOOT! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, YOU STUPID MAN, THAT A WONDERFUL MAN LIKE PRESIDENT OBAMA, A HARVARD LAW GRADUATE WHO IS SMARTER THAN GOD, KNOWS THE CONSTITUTION ! HE'S A CONSTITUTIONAL SCHOLAR, FOR GOD'S SAKE! HE AND HE ALONE, PLUS A FEW HINDERED ULTRA-LIBERAL JUDGES THAT HAVE SCREWED THE CONSTITUTION INTO UNRECOGNIZABLE PUDDLE OF COW SPIT, DECIDE WHAT IS CONSTITUTIONAL! TOOOOOOTWEEEET!
UH OH! MY FUNNEL IS TWEETING! TOOOTWEEEET! YOU HAVE MADE THE KNOWLEDGE GOD MAD! THAT'S ME, BY THE WAY! UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO TRASH THE OVER 70 YEAR OLD PROGRAM THAT IS SCREWED ITSELF INTO OUR GOVERNMENT SYSTEM (EVEN THOUGH REPUBLICANS HAVE TRIED TO REDESIGN IT) THAN YOU SHOULD SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE! HEAR ME! TOOOOTWEEEET! TWEET TWEET!
SHAWN, GIVE IT UP! YOU HAVE NO IDEAS OR KNOWLEDGE COMPARED TO ME, OBAMA, THAT GORGEOUS MAN, DAVID BROOKS - I'M NOT GAY, I SWEAR! AND IT WOULDN'T BOTHER ME IF I WAS, SO THERE :-p - AND OTHER THINKERS, LIKE KEITH "THE SEXY SQUIRREL" OLBERMAN! AGAIN, I'M NOT GAY, JUST SOPHISTICATED! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? STOP LOOKING AT ME THAT WAY! TWEET TWEEEEEEEEET TOOOOTWEEET! I'M NOT!
JUST GO AND WRITE YOUR UNFACTUAL, UNSOPHISTICATED DRIBBLE! I HAVE A NAIL APPOINTMENT! WHAT? WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME THAT WAY?! IT'S A MANICURE! SEE, MAN IS ITS FIRST SYLLABLE! WHAT? OKAY, NOW YOU'RE JUST BEING SILLY! WHAT?! SILLY IS A PERFECTLY MANLY WORD! STOP LOOKING AT ME THAT WAY! JUST GO! TWEEET! YOU PATHETIC POLTROON!
Truth to Power| 11.25.09 @ 10:02PM
Wow. Not quite as puffed up as the real Bob but pretty darn close. You need to capture the combination of a pretentious Ivy League gas bag with a guy who has a substandard secondary education (see President Obama if you need some ideas). The overbearing insults are just right. The gay stuff though is apparently not right since in Bob's story he has a wife who supplies him with convenient keen insights on various things. As an example today Bob wouldn't know what to think about tort reform if it weren't for her. Lucky she was there. The fact that he is an older guy who hates Christians, uses the term "homophobia" (does anybody know the Greek word for disgust?) while feeling very strongly about gay marriage is just some kind of queer coincidence. I bet he is very neat too. Something doesn't add up about a guy hanging out someplace where he hates the people and thinks that they are irrelevant with no political power. Who would do such a thing? A troll. What a waste of a human being.
Dan Phillips | 11.25.09 @ 6:28PM
Bob, Medicare absolutely is unconstitutional. Nothing in the Constitution authorizes it. Try making the case that Medicare is constitutional instead of arguing electoral politics.
Dan Phillips | 11.25.09 @ 6:37PM
On that note, 80 to 90 % of what the Federal Government does is unconstitutional.
ggoblue| 11.27.09 @ 1:03PM
boy this is quite a little flame war. ill save bandwidth and distill it down. fu-- off bob.
Shawn Macomber| 11.25.09 @ 2:49PM
That WOULD have been my recommendation before I learned my blog thoughts had to pass muster with the senior vote! A real near-miss. Pandering to begin in 5, 4, 3, 2...
Bob| 11.25.09 @ 3:14PM
Could you speak a bit louder? My hearing isn't what it used to be.....
Dixie Pixie| 11.25.09 @ 2:56PM
Burger King called about the past due notice. The nice lady said it did not matter if you had eaten your monthly quota of hamburgers or not the bill would be the same. Once assigned to a defined sales area by the Federal government the quota can only be changed by the Federal Whole Life Panel.
The IRS has been notified about the nonpayment
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.25.09 @ 5:16PM
Hello, Bob
Since you asked, yes I would re-invent medical insurance for seniors.
I would TROT down and give New York Life (mutual) Insurance Company a million dollar grant to structure senior care and do the actuarial on it.
I would then tell them that "the cost is no object", but plug in incentives so that seniors can take cash in lieu of services, and give seniors alternative loneliness offset resources rather than having their hand held by trained physicians who are in such demand elsewhere.
Hospitals:
Provide "rehab centers" when full hospital resources are not needed for a particular patient.
(perhaps set up a graduated "assisted living" environment combined with a "grandparents for baby sitters" and pay the seniors well for that service.)
Have the government quit stealing from the SS and Medicare trust funds.
Shoot 80% of the lawyers (smile)
Provide adequate medication for the mentally ill such as the "Bobs" of the country.
Pay the Mutual Life Insurance companies very well to administer the program, and outlaw unions within those companies.
Save three hundred billion per year in fraud due to listless gubmint bureacrats' oversight.
Bob| 11.25.09 @ 6:24PM
Actually, Ken, on this issue I'm in fairly broad agreement with you -- except, I would place the
"Ken's" of this country under psychiatric care.
As I've stated on several occasions for many months, the ONLY thing I'd have the government cover is what they require people to do -- i.e., reimburse doctors and hospitals for the care required by our laws. Otherwise, I'd let consumers by the level of coverage they desire and have them live by the results. Again, if they don't buy a policy that covers cancer, they might die -- but that's OK in a country that supports individual freedoms.
As to tort reform, my wife works in a hospital and can verify the negative effects of lawsuits. There needs to be limits here. We also need to get rid of insurance anti-trust exemptions. Don't you agree?
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.25.09 @ 7:58PM
Bob,
Now that frightens me.
That you would agree with me on anything ...frightens me.
Look guy,
I have been CEO of two fortune companies during my life.
Today, I run a publicly traded company...every single day. We have some 51 teams in 51 offices from coast to coast.
Several thousand contributors here know exactly who and what I am and what I stand for.
(They joined with us at TEAM AMERICA)
Fortunately, I type 70 words per minute, and think much faster. (I drop in here for three point five minutes several times per day, because I love our country.)
I have several thousand stockholders who depend upon my "sanity" every day of the week...heh, so far...so good.
I believe our seniors as a group are a national treasure we are wasting.
Please do not agree with me.
Bob| 11.26.09 @ 7:27AM
Ken, I have been a consistent fiscal conservative and believe in individual responsibility which is why we agree on this issue. When I find misstatements about things concerning economics and the facts, I will respond with numbers and data to disprove the point. It does not help to facilitate lies like tax cuts stimulate the economy. In the long run they create debt which inevitably hurts our country. We will also disagree strongly on social issues on which I am quite Libertarian. I also happen to believe in education, including Ivy League schools.
You might take a look at how you categorize people as either totally for, or totally against, your position. We happen to agree on most fiscal issues -- and I have not changed.
Aaron| 11.26.09 @ 3:55PM
Ken, this sounds awfully expensive. Who on earth would pay for something like this?
MLI would no doubt take all the money you gave them and promptly give the old, sick people as little as possible. They would then turn and give their CEO's and executives exorbitant bonuses and huge salaries.
If you can get this passed, I'm going to work for Mutual Life Insurance post-haste!
D.R.| 11.29.09 @ 2:31PM
Well Aaron,
Do a little research on the number of unusual and weird studies funded by our government. I recently attended a discussion forum on such studies. What makes it worse is these studies have blatant and obvious flaws such as a lack of data. (One such "study" looked at three, yes three, people who had other underlining issues.) Another relied totally on self reported data, of which the study it self reported a less than 27% compliance, in another small sampling (larger than the previously mentioned by six times, but still statistically small compared to the population it was "studying.")
Therefor I propose that we eliminate funding such ill-conceived and ill-implemented studies and we just might have the funding needed for Ken's plan with money to boot to guarantee no CITIZEN is "left behind."
Roy| 11.25.09 @ 6:22PM
Eh. I would have to think that in this postmodern day and age, where words mean what you want them to mean, there are a million ways around this.
1) the "recipient of federal funds" dodge. Currently used mainly on employers, but I would not come anywhere near putting it past Obama to apply it to individuals. Or he could just say employers lose their federal funds unless they establish such a mandate.
2) or more likely, just route it through state governments. Either you establish such a state level mandate, or you stop getting federal money(though you don't get to stop paying taxes for the federal money going to other states). States would roll over as they do in every other area.
So even if the SC did declare it unconstitutional it wouldn't help much or for long.
Allan| 11.25.09 @ 8:10PM
Medicare has no basis in this discussion as it is not required that individuals have or pay into Medicare.
Suppose you go through life sitting on your front porch, never having a job, never trying to get a job and not really interested in a job. When, pray tell, would you be forced to pay Medicare taxes? The answer is never.
Your positions and judgment are clouded by your strange desire for employment - where your employer must participate in Medicare and you too if you want the job.
There are no individual insurance requirements mandated by government anywhere in the nation at this time.
Dan Phillips | 11.26.09 @ 10:40AM
Allan, the current health care legislation is not unconstitutional just because of the reductionist reason of the health insurance mandate. It is unconstitutional because the Feds have no constitutional authority to do much of any of it.
Medicare belongs in the discussion because it is similarly unauthorized. Advocating following the Constitution is a radical position these days, but you can't pick and chose your constitutionalism. If you assert the unconstitutionality of health insurance mandates then you can rest assured that liberals like Bob will ask you if you also think Medicare is unconstitutional. The answer has to be yes. First because its true, and second because your complaints against the current legislation lose credibility if you look like you are picking and choosing your constitutional concerns.
Embrace your radicalism. If you think following the constitution is important then that makes you a radical in this day and age.
Dan Phillips | 11.26.09 @ 10:40AM
Allan, the current health care legislation is not unconstitutional just because of the reductionist reason of the health insurance mandate. It is unconstitutional because the Feds have no constitutional authority to do much of any of it.
Medicare belongs in the discussion because it is similarly unauthorized. Advocating following the Constitution is a radical position these days, but you can't pick and chose your constitutionalism. If you assert the unconstitutionality of health insurance mandates then you can rest assured that liberals like Bob will ask you if you also think Medicare is unconstitutional. The answer has to be yes. First because its true, and second because your complaints against the current legislation lose credibility if you look like you are picking and choosing your constitutional concerns.
Embrace your radicalism. If you think following the constitution is important then that makes you a radical in this day and age.
Allan| 11.25.09 @ 8:14PM
"... mandated by the federal government" is how it should read.
States do have that power but the feds do not.
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.25.09 @ 8:32PM
Allan...
Please try to keep from answering yourself. Take a pill.
Tomorrow...eat some turkey you did not earn, and pray God, that your betters don't believe you ...if you survive to get old.
Aaron| 11.26.09 @ 7:59PM
There are plenty of Fed programs that are unconstitutional. FEMA, the IRS, the FBI, CIA, Dept of Homeland Security, the FDA, the FCC, the SEC, etc etc. If we went around with a magic wand removing parts of the Fed that are not deemed unconstitutional, the United States would literally collapse as capitalism would turn on itself.
Dan Phillips | 11.26.09 @ 9:22PM
"the United States would literally collapse"
Well, I guess if I was a liberal I would believe that. But I'm not, so I don't.
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.27.09 @ 4:51PM
Aaron
You are misinformed on several key points above.
In terms of executive pay at the Mutual Life Insurance Companies...if you truly want to inform yourself, these days with a couple of clicks you can read all their salaries and incentive packages right on line.
They are well compensated, as they should be with the hours and responsibility they carry and the size of the employee groups they manage very well.
For instance, their counterparts in most other companies of like size and complexity are compensated more by a factor of five to seven.
Second:
The annual cost to taxpayers would be perhaps half of what it is today.
One reason for that is their magnificent investing ability and acumen demonstrated for over a hundred and fifty years.
Another reason is that any and all "profits" are rolled right back to their policy owners. They have no stockholders.
For example, a whole Life policy I bought 40 years ago for a flat $20 per month ($240 per year)
I have invested $9,600 in that policy..total.
The cash value and (tax free) accrued dividends are worth right at $100,000 today, and I can cash it ALL in with one phone call....
(and I can guarantee you they bought no worthless derivatives.)
If I retired and rolled that cash into a joint and survivor fixed annuity...I, or my widow, would get a monthly check of just under a $1,000 per month for life.
(I have paid SS taxes of some $400 per month for forty years and might equal the same payout.)
And these Mutual company guys have NEVER defaulted during their entire histories.
See Aaron, you and many others didn't even have a glimpse of an idea, until today, exactly HOW wasteful and fiscally inept any government operation is.
Heck, even the US military contracts out their food service to the troops for that precise reason.
Flee| 11.27.09 @ 10:00PM
Has the government ever thought of spending some of their billions on setting up govt hospitals around the country for all the Dems, illegal aliens, abortion demanding, welfare mothers, etc... to utilize and leave the private health care system to those of us that would care to use it? It seems to me they could simply accept whatever amount of payment all who chose to go to the govt hospitals or no payment at all. I am sure there would be 1000's of young doctors craving to work in these govt facilities out of their sense of caring for their fellow man. This would leave Republican and others that wish to spend, or not, their hard earned $ on health insurance and care to deal with the mean old insurance companies. No more complaints about pre-existing conditions or cancelled coverage. Food for thought after Thanksgiving.
philfl63| 11.27.09 @ 10:22PM
Get rid of Medicare, Social Security, and all federal welfare. I am tired of paying for other people's freight. And yes, it is all unconstitutional.