Relevant Healthcare Numbers

This article from Hot Air lists some pretty good numbers to keep in mind as we discuss and debate the possibility of "Universal Healthcare."

Some highlights that caught my attention involved the "Health Care Ranking" for the U.S. by the World Health Organization. What was relevant was his statement that "no U.S. citizens travel" to higher ranked countries when they have a life-threatening illness. Especially check out the link on how the ranking system works.

Also of importance is the information on how our current government-run health systems are working out right now. Massive fraud, extremely high costs and no real funding. And they want to expand this? Incredible.

Check out all of the links to see the source for the numbers. A well researched, well put together article.

Why Slow is Better Than Fast

I wish our Congress worked slower. Seriously. It would be much better for the country if Congress went slow instead of fast. Slow is deliberate. Slow is contemplative. Slow is unhurried and just-in-time. Slow allows us to consider the ramifications of the bills (if passed) and determine whether we want to live with the outcome or leave well enough alone.

This article at Reason dares to ask, "What would happen if we do nothing, instead of rushing in?" The author gives some good examples of bills with unintended consequences.

One he only mentions in passing, though, is the BS bill. Remember, this is a bill needed to save America. How are we doing? Not so good, acutally. The unemployment rate is almost 2 percentage points higher than projected with the stimulus package. And, get this, the current unemployment is about 1 percentage point higher than if the stimulus bill had not passed.

Seems like we've discussed before how the BS package has enormous waste and little actual stimulus. Of course, if Congress had actually read the bill before they passed it, they might have noticed this.

The Wall Street Journal's Take on Obama

After reading this article and this article from the Wall Street Journal, it seems our fears about the Obama BS package are justified.

The first article notes that the economy has continued to slip, and even accelerated its slide, with the announcement of the new BS economic plan. Maybe that's because investors read the Congressional Budget Office report stating the stimulus doesn't spend the money fast enough to make a difference and may stunt future growth. It's enough to scare me off from buying anything new, and I live in a 2 income household.

The second article appears to be rather dry, giving statistic after statistic about how the crashing stock market means we have a 20% chance of a depression. However, the last paragraph is very telling. The author reports he believes the economy will recover "despite" the spending past, not because of it.

My big question is, who are the Democrats in Washington listening to? It's certainly not the expert economists and it's not their constituents. I'll say before what I've said in the past, the Democrats used the recession as an excuse to push through a HUGE amount of earmarked spending they know wouldn't have gotten through otherwise.

I'm so mad, I want to cuss.

Just How Bad is The BS Package?

Well, based on recent facts (about a week ago), enormous amounts from the BS Package will be plowed into... non stimulus items. And, looking at the list, it seems most of these other items are projects and causes near and dear to the heart of many "progressives."

This includes:

• $650 million for digital-TV coupons - Since when did TV stimulate anything?
• $5.2 billion for community-development block grants and “neighborhood stabilization activities,” - ACORN will be eligible to apply for these.
• $600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids
• $450 million for NASA (carve-out for “climate-research missions”)
• $600 million for NOAA (carve-out for “climate modeling”) - They definitely need more money for climate modeling and climate research to explain why "global climate change" seems to be slowing or reversing course (not predicted by their models).
• $2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million just for global-warming research)
• $2 billion for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois (because less CO2 is better? Yeah, right. See link below.)
• $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects - Try telling them that, based on science, it's not CO2, it's the SUN!
  

Take a look here for the full list. Yeah, keep trying to sell this BS as a 'stimulus package, progressives.

Even the Brits Can See We've Gone Wrong

This article quickly covers just how bad the BS package is, with a quick run down of why it sucks so badly. The British writer describes, with great clarity, the big mistake Obama and the Democrats made.

Obama is backing the most primitive interpretation of Keynes’s theories: that any form of government spending amounts to an economic stimulus. He is almost blind to supply-side economics, which suggests that if you want to encourage profitable job creation, you should concentrate on reducing companies’ payroll taxes – and then leave individual businesses to decide how best to employ the funds released.

Instead, the young president seems to want to take us back to some of the failed policies of the 1930s, under the mistaken impression that they were a great triumph. He illustrates with dreadful clarity George Santayana’s most-quoted aphorism: those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

Of course, any thinking person can see the Democrats are more worried about their pet programs than they are about helping the nation.

Too bad the rest of us have to pay for their lack of intellect.

Hat Tip Hot Air.

Partisan Politics Could Kill the BS

Pelosi is my hero, but not for the reason you may think. Somehow, she has managed to find one sure-fire way to ruin the chances for the BS package. And that's good, because this spending package is not needed. The economy has to retract a bit.

If the Pelosi and the Democrats were serious about passing a bill to help Americans, they would have listened to all ideas. They would have reviewed history to see what works and what doesn't.

Instead, we have the Democratic leadership pushing through a bill without even completely listening to their own party. We have a party trying to push through a stimulus package that the public does not want and that most certainly will HURT the US economy in the long term.

So Pelosi, for helping make the BS fail, thank you.