So what was it that our President was saying about this fabulous healthcare bill? Lower premiums? Saving money in the long run? Let's take a look at how it's actually going to play out. While it is true that the Affordable Healthcare Act will provide coverage for more people, the other promises that have been made regarding it cannot be true. Here's why. If you extend coverage to those who are currently uninsurable, or were, then the riskiness of covering people has increased a lot. Insurance companies no longer have a choice of who they can cover. They must insure anyone who applies for the insurance. This includes those with cancer, heart disease, and any other disease. The thing about insuring people who have pre-existing conditions is that it automatically increases the amount of money that the insurance is going to pay in benefits.
Now, just like any other company operating in the United States, insurance companies want to be profitable. No one opens a business hoping that they will just break even or lose money. Everyone I know who has opened a business wants to be profitable. So don't harp on big business because they want to make a profit.
Anyway, like I was saying, if a company's costs go up a lot they only have a couple of choices. 1) They can increase the premiums they charge for the insurance coverage 2) They can lower other expenses. They have already lowered expenses. I've experienced this first hand. Every insurance company has cut commissions in half or more to those selling health insurance. Many companies have also pulled out of a lot of areas to help cut costs. What about increasing premiums? Well, they have gone up as well. You can compare the new premium prices to a group plan. Most people think that group plans are inexpensive with great coverage. Why are they inexpensive? Because the company is either picking up all or part of the premium. If you were to have a group plan and pay the full premium, you wouldn't like it. An individual plan, however, is much more affordable assuming that you were healthy. That's essentially what's going on with the healthcare act. There are going to be subsidies, which is the government picking up a portion of the premium for those who qualify. This works just like the employer picking up a portion or all of the insurance premium for the employee. So to many people it is going to appear to be a better deal because they don't have to spend anything out of pocket, or very little compared to what they would have to spend otherwise. The premium is still the same, high. They just don't have to pay the whole thing. That's fine and dandy if the government had the money to do it. The fact is that healthcare is the most expensive thing that the government could have taken on. If you think Social Security is a problem, look at Medicare. The indebtedness of the United States government to Medicare far outweighs its indebtedness to Social Security. So they decided, "What the heck! We'll take on the entire nation's healthcare costs! It'll save us money!" That couldn't be further from the truth. Think of it this way. If the nation could only pay its bills for three weeks before defaulting, it can't afford to pay for anything else. The only way to fund this healthcare bill is to issue more debt. The nation's debt is going to go out of control from this and it's going to hurt.
The American people need to stop this entitlement stuff. We aren't owed anything! The way this nation was founded, we are to work hard and become self sufficient. Along the way, we help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. That's what makes a nation great! The desire to work hard and help others, especially our families. Entitlement is just selfishness and feeling robbed of something we thought we deserved and haven't attained yet. The truth is, nobody can change your life for you. If you want something, you're the one who needs to take action and go get it. There is always someone willing to assist you in the areas that you need help. Let's make America a better place by taking accountability for our own selves!
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Will the Bush Tax Extension Lower Unemployment?
So the government played this one smart. They extended the already existent Bush tax cuts. This was smart because of several things.
1) Businesses will be willing to hire more people because they know what their costs will be and do not have to cut any additional costs due to increased taxes.
2) As a result of businesses hiring more people, consumer spending will increase, thus allowing businesses to hire more people.
3) Investors will continue to invest in companies because their tax rate is not increasing. If the tax rate had increased, most people would just hold their stock until the rate lowered again.
I guess the real question is, by how much will this tax extension lower unemployment? After some lengthy analysis of the Great Depression unemployment rate and our current unemployment rate, I think it will be about 8.5% by the end of 2011. The interesting thing about the Great Depression unemployment chart vs. the current situation's chart is that they are nearly identical. They both go up steeply and then dip in the middle after the first peak. After that short dip they rise slightly, peak, and go back down until the next recession. After 2011, the unemployment rate will go down at a faster pace, due to the increased amount of spending available to individuals and businesses. According to the graph's, it will be about December 2013 before the unemployment rate goes down to 4.5% again. Hopefully I'm wrong and it will go down faster. If the president and congress can refrain from making any legislation that would hamper that progress, it may go down faster. This tax rate extension is a great step in that direction. Next on the agenda, control spending!
1) Businesses will be willing to hire more people because they know what their costs will be and do not have to cut any additional costs due to increased taxes.
2) As a result of businesses hiring more people, consumer spending will increase, thus allowing businesses to hire more people.
3) Investors will continue to invest in companies because their tax rate is not increasing. If the tax rate had increased, most people would just hold their stock until the rate lowered again.
I guess the real question is, by how much will this tax extension lower unemployment? After some lengthy analysis of the Great Depression unemployment rate and our current unemployment rate, I think it will be about 8.5% by the end of 2011. The interesting thing about the Great Depression unemployment chart vs. the current situation's chart is that they are nearly identical. They both go up steeply and then dip in the middle after the first peak. After that short dip they rise slightly, peak, and go back down until the next recession. After 2011, the unemployment rate will go down at a faster pace, due to the increased amount of spending available to individuals and businesses. According to the graph's, it will be about December 2013 before the unemployment rate goes down to 4.5% again. Hopefully I'm wrong and it will go down faster. If the president and congress can refrain from making any legislation that would hamper that progress, it may go down faster. This tax rate extension is a great step in that direction. Next on the agenda, control spending!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Affirmative Action
Recently I have thought about how so many people misunderstand the purpose of anti-discrimination laws. After the Civil War, Congress passed the 14th Amendment, which defines who is a citizen of the U.S. and that they have all of the same rights as everyone else. You can find the 14th Amendment at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution. It's intent seems clear to me. I don't understand where people got the idea that we should segregate according to race and allow certain privileges to the minorities that are "underprivileged". Everyone has the potential to make something of themselves. Let's get rid of the "underprivileged" idea.
Let's see how it works in society today. Because of affirmative action, the education and work place are screwed up. The problem is that it's essentially ignoring someone that is qualified for a position and replacing them with someone with less qualifications than that person. Not to say that people in the minority are all less qualified than the majority, because I personally know some very qualified individuals that are in the minority. Let me share an example of the problem with affirmative action. If I were to apply to a very competitive school because my grades are within the top 1% of high school graduates, I could possibly get looked over by the school just because of my race. In my place could be put someone that is within the top 10% of high school graduates. Research has been done to show that those students in the top 10% are unable to maintain the same competitiveness as the kids who were the top 1%. They then don't even apply for a less demanding school, so they go without a college education. This happens in the workplace too. Is this fair to those people that get skipped over because of their race?
I was also looking over some of the Civil Rights Acts throughout the years, and from what I can tell, they are only trying to prevent discrimination. They are not saying, "Let's make sure that there are a certain number of 'underprivileged' individuals in each sector of our country." Instead, they say that we don't want you to discriminate and not deny somebody a service, job, or education because of their race. Or even give somebody something because of their race. But isn't that what they've done essentially? By requiring employers and schools to hire or accept people with lower qualifications, they make it harder on everybody. Employers have to deal with discriminatory lawsuits, certain hiring questions, and someone always looking over their shoulder.
Why not just choose the most qualified individual? I know that in business I would want the most qualified person working for me. I wouldn't care what race they were as long as they produced good quality work. Wouldn't you? If you want to look at any of the Civil Rights Acts, you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act. I just hope that we can get rid of these stupid affirmative action laws and do the thing that makes sense, taking race out of the equation.
Let's see how it works in society today. Because of affirmative action, the education and work place are screwed up. The problem is that it's essentially ignoring someone that is qualified for a position and replacing them with someone with less qualifications than that person. Not to say that people in the minority are all less qualified than the majority, because I personally know some very qualified individuals that are in the minority. Let me share an example of the problem with affirmative action. If I were to apply to a very competitive school because my grades are within the top 1% of high school graduates, I could possibly get looked over by the school just because of my race. In my place could be put someone that is within the top 10% of high school graduates. Research has been done to show that those students in the top 10% are unable to maintain the same competitiveness as the kids who were the top 1%. They then don't even apply for a less demanding school, so they go without a college education. This happens in the workplace too. Is this fair to those people that get skipped over because of their race?
I was also looking over some of the Civil Rights Acts throughout the years, and from what I can tell, they are only trying to prevent discrimination. They are not saying, "Let's make sure that there are a certain number of 'underprivileged' individuals in each sector of our country." Instead, they say that we don't want you to discriminate and not deny somebody a service, job, or education because of their race. Or even give somebody something because of their race. But isn't that what they've done essentially? By requiring employers and schools to hire or accept people with lower qualifications, they make it harder on everybody. Employers have to deal with discriminatory lawsuits, certain hiring questions, and someone always looking over their shoulder.
Why not just choose the most qualified individual? I know that in business I would want the most qualified person working for me. I wouldn't care what race they were as long as they produced good quality work. Wouldn't you? If you want to look at any of the Civil Rights Acts, you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act. I just hope that we can get rid of these stupid affirmative action laws and do the thing that makes sense, taking race out of the equation.
Monday, March 22, 2010
It Finally Happened
Well, the health care bill was finally passed through the House. I think this is going to really hurt the economy. Let me tell you why.
1) The bill increases the medicare payroll tax that businesses and employees must pay.
2) 40% Excise Tax.
3) Medicare costs will be cut.
Now, think of how much money the government already takes out of your personal paycheck each time. If you're single, it's a huge percentage. If you're married, it's not as bad of a blow. One of the taxes that are on your paycheck stub are medicare taxes. The employer typically has to pay half of it as well for each employee. This is not any good for the economy. Both businesses and consumers have less cash to either invest or use to purchase goods.
The 40% excise tax is going to be charged to all insurance companies that have high-end plans. This will definitely affect the insurance premiums. I guarantee that they'll go up.
When the government cuts Medicare costs, those baby boomers will receive worse health benefits. If you didn't know, baby boomers are all retiring right now. Most of them won't have enough in retirement to live more than a year. Most insurance companies will not insure older people due to their high risk of high health care expenses. If the government cuts their health care, where do they get it from? I would think that they're the ones that need it the most.
I was told recently by a financial analyst that the current economy is just staying level. He said that it could go either way, up or down. I would guess that after this health bill being passed, the economy will depress further. Another ridiculous thing about this health bill is that everyone is going to be required to purchase health care. The good news is that it's not until 2014, so we've got 4 years to go.
If you want to get any sort of humor out of this health bill, they are going to be charging a 10% excise tax on indoor tanning services. I guess we won't be seeing as many orange people around. Those who do indoor tanning should get their tans in now before the price goes up, and while it's still winter-like conditions outside in most places.
1) The bill increases the medicare payroll tax that businesses and employees must pay.
2) 40% Excise Tax.
3) Medicare costs will be cut.
Now, think of how much money the government already takes out of your personal paycheck each time. If you're single, it's a huge percentage. If you're married, it's not as bad of a blow. One of the taxes that are on your paycheck stub are medicare taxes. The employer typically has to pay half of it as well for each employee. This is not any good for the economy. Both businesses and consumers have less cash to either invest or use to purchase goods.
The 40% excise tax is going to be charged to all insurance companies that have high-end plans. This will definitely affect the insurance premiums. I guarantee that they'll go up.
When the government cuts Medicare costs, those baby boomers will receive worse health benefits. If you didn't know, baby boomers are all retiring right now. Most of them won't have enough in retirement to live more than a year. Most insurance companies will not insure older people due to their high risk of high health care expenses. If the government cuts their health care, where do they get it from? I would think that they're the ones that need it the most.
I was told recently by a financial analyst that the current economy is just staying level. He said that it could go either way, up or down. I would guess that after this health bill being passed, the economy will depress further. Another ridiculous thing about this health bill is that everyone is going to be required to purchase health care. The good news is that it's not until 2014, so we've got 4 years to go.
If you want to get any sort of humor out of this health bill, they are going to be charging a 10% excise tax on indoor tanning services. I guess we won't be seeing as many orange people around. Those who do indoor tanning should get their tans in now before the price goes up, and while it's still winter-like conditions outside in most places.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Why does the Government get Involved?
So the Senate just passed the job-creation measure bill. My question is, what do they think they are going to accomplish by this? Let's break it down a little and see.
Short-term Effects
In the short run, there will be more jobs created through the highway trust fund, which will be focused on the transit system. Businesses will perhaps have a little bit more profitability due to more people working. Perhaps they will even start to hire some more employees. But what will happen when the government decides to stop the highway trust fund and have things go back to normal?
Long-term Effects
As soon as the government stops the program, the unemployment rate will increase again. As a result, businesses will receive less money from customers because there won't be as many people working. Businesses will respond to this by cutting jobs. That's the cost that they can control remember. Unemployment will continue to increase when this happens, putting us back where we were originally plus a $15 billion increase in the national debt.
Man, that sounds like a good idea! Let's do it! I honestly don't understand what these senators and congressmen are thinking. Aren't we supposed to learn from history? I guess that lesson was skipped in politician school. Why can't they just let the market work itself out? I suppose that would just be too easy.
Short-term Effects
In the short run, there will be more jobs created through the highway trust fund, which will be focused on the transit system. Businesses will perhaps have a little bit more profitability due to more people working. Perhaps they will even start to hire some more employees. But what will happen when the government decides to stop the highway trust fund and have things go back to normal?
Long-term Effects
As soon as the government stops the program, the unemployment rate will increase again. As a result, businesses will receive less money from customers because there won't be as many people working. Businesses will respond to this by cutting jobs. That's the cost that they can control remember. Unemployment will continue to increase when this happens, putting us back where we were originally plus a $15 billion increase in the national debt.
Man, that sounds like a good idea! Let's do it! I honestly don't understand what these senators and congressmen are thinking. Aren't we supposed to learn from history? I guess that lesson was skipped in politician school. Why can't they just let the market work itself out? I suppose that would just be too easy.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Is Obama the New FDR?
In history class we learn that FDR is one of America's heroes. We're taught that FDR brought us out of the Great Depression through his New Deal. Today, many people see President Barack Obama the same way, as an American hero. One who can bring us out of the recession that we are in and save this great nation.
FDR served for four terms as president of the United States. Throughout this period of time, FDR managed to implement a lot of new laws. The majority of these affected businesses. His idol was Mussolini, the Italian dictator that sided with Hitler during World War II. FDR wanted government control because it was, in his mind, the best way to run a country, as Mussolini had demonstrated with trains that ran on time. FDR hated big business. FDR thought that they were the reason for the depression. During one of his speeches FDR declared that they were, "unscrupulous money changers." (Reed, p. 9) At one point in time, FDR had a marginal tax of 94% for everyone that made over $25,000! Does this ring any bells to what Obama has done so far? He has openly declared that everything that Wall Street has done is basically criminal. That they had no right to prosper and others not. It is also clear to see that Obama has very socialist ideas regarding government's role. Obama has also proposed many taxes on big business, which will inadvertently affect the consumers.
During FDR's presidency, the Congress was majority Democrat. Hmm, just like today's Congress. When FDR demanded that something get done, the Congress happily passed it(until later on in the presidency when FDR asked extreme things to be passed). Obama does the same thing. Just think of the health bill that quickly passed through the Congress and Senate. There was no resistance to this bill in either sector. The Republicans had their hands tied behind their back. Democrats made sure of that.
One of the things that FDR did to greatly discourage the economy was to institute codes. These codes were executive orders to micromanage business and how it operated. FDR put the NRA(National Recovery Administration) in charge of enforcing these codes. These codes restricted business and discouraged investment on the part of corporations and investors. Who wants to invest in a company whose future growth is highly unknown because of government intervention? We saw a glimpse of this in the Obama administration regarding the spending of funds(e.g. AIG). Once Obama set AIG as an example of how not to use your money, relating to company parties and bonuses, every other business was afraid to spend money on anything that was not directly related to business operations. This resulted in even further economic recession because all of a sudden other businesses weren't providing any services to their customers.
The Great Depression lasted such a long time because it was really a depression inside of a depression. This was due to government intervention via New Deal laws. Once FDR put greater restrictions on businesses, the economy started to fail. Looking at today's economy, I see a potential second recession on its way. As soon as Obama passes the health bill, businesses are going to take a hit in increased health insurance expenses. When this happens, unemployment will probably increase again because businesses will want to cut expenses where they can control them. This just so happens to be labor. This will also affect the millions of Americans that currently don't have health insurance, like myself, that will be required to carry health insurance. Consumers will not have a desire to purchase as many goods because a chunk of their income will now be allocated to increased insurance costs. This limits what both businesses and consumers can do with their resources. That is why I think another recession will occur, because history repeats itself.
Somewhere during FDR's presidency he got power hungry. If something wasn't done the way he wanted it then he threw a fit. It takes us back to the statement, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." (Lord Acton) I believe that Obama is also seeking power. Every socialist wants it because if they don't have it then the market is going to run the economy and to them, that is the worst thing that could happen.
We have seen the U.S. economy very prosperous in recent years. How do you think it got there? It wasn't by government intervention in business. It was because of the free market that exists in America. One of my friends said to me today something that was so ironically true. He said that the U.S. is a capitalist nation when it prospers, but when it's in trouble we turn socialist and look for government bailouts. Let's stick to what our founding fathers said in the Constitution. Let's seek out life, liberty, and happiness. I know that those don't come by getting bailed out by the government. One great example of standing up for what is right is Ford Motor Company. In FDR's time they refused to participate in the codes that he established, and they prospered. If you look at automotive companies today that accepted bailout money from the government, you'll see that Ford is not among them. It seems that due to this factor, Ford has increased its market share and is doing much better than its competition. Coincidence? I'll let you decide.
Is Obama the new FDR? Looks like it so far.
FDR served for four terms as president of the United States. Throughout this period of time, FDR managed to implement a lot of new laws. The majority of these affected businesses. His idol was Mussolini, the Italian dictator that sided with Hitler during World War II. FDR wanted government control because it was, in his mind, the best way to run a country, as Mussolini had demonstrated with trains that ran on time. FDR hated big business. FDR thought that they were the reason for the depression. During one of his speeches FDR declared that they were, "unscrupulous money changers." (Reed, p. 9) At one point in time, FDR had a marginal tax of 94% for everyone that made over $25,000! Does this ring any bells to what Obama has done so far? He has openly declared that everything that Wall Street has done is basically criminal. That they had no right to prosper and others not. It is also clear to see that Obama has very socialist ideas regarding government's role. Obama has also proposed many taxes on big business, which will inadvertently affect the consumers.
During FDR's presidency, the Congress was majority Democrat. Hmm, just like today's Congress. When FDR demanded that something get done, the Congress happily passed it(until later on in the presidency when FDR asked extreme things to be passed). Obama does the same thing. Just think of the health bill that quickly passed through the Congress and Senate. There was no resistance to this bill in either sector. The Republicans had their hands tied behind their back. Democrats made sure of that.
One of the things that FDR did to greatly discourage the economy was to institute codes. These codes were executive orders to micromanage business and how it operated. FDR put the NRA(National Recovery Administration) in charge of enforcing these codes. These codes restricted business and discouraged investment on the part of corporations and investors. Who wants to invest in a company whose future growth is highly unknown because of government intervention? We saw a glimpse of this in the Obama administration regarding the spending of funds(e.g. AIG). Once Obama set AIG as an example of how not to use your money, relating to company parties and bonuses, every other business was afraid to spend money on anything that was not directly related to business operations. This resulted in even further economic recession because all of a sudden other businesses weren't providing any services to their customers.
The Great Depression lasted such a long time because it was really a depression inside of a depression. This was due to government intervention via New Deal laws. Once FDR put greater restrictions on businesses, the economy started to fail. Looking at today's economy, I see a potential second recession on its way. As soon as Obama passes the health bill, businesses are going to take a hit in increased health insurance expenses. When this happens, unemployment will probably increase again because businesses will want to cut expenses where they can control them. This just so happens to be labor. This will also affect the millions of Americans that currently don't have health insurance, like myself, that will be required to carry health insurance. Consumers will not have a desire to purchase as many goods because a chunk of their income will now be allocated to increased insurance costs. This limits what both businesses and consumers can do with their resources. That is why I think another recession will occur, because history repeats itself.
Somewhere during FDR's presidency he got power hungry. If something wasn't done the way he wanted it then he threw a fit. It takes us back to the statement, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." (Lord Acton) I believe that Obama is also seeking power. Every socialist wants it because if they don't have it then the market is going to run the economy and to them, that is the worst thing that could happen.
We have seen the U.S. economy very prosperous in recent years. How do you think it got there? It wasn't by government intervention in business. It was because of the free market that exists in America. One of my friends said to me today something that was so ironically true. He said that the U.S. is a capitalist nation when it prospers, but when it's in trouble we turn socialist and look for government bailouts. Let's stick to what our founding fathers said in the Constitution. Let's seek out life, liberty, and happiness. I know that those don't come by getting bailed out by the government. One great example of standing up for what is right is Ford Motor Company. In FDR's time they refused to participate in the codes that he established, and they prospered. If you look at automotive companies today that accepted bailout money from the government, you'll see that Ford is not among them. It seems that due to this factor, Ford has increased its market share and is doing much better than its competition. Coincidence? I'll let you decide.
Is Obama the new FDR? Looks like it so far.
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