So much to write about! So little space!

ITEM 1. Oil Prices and Currency: In case you didn’t notice, gasoline prices have been inching upward as oil prices approach $70.00/barrel. No, folks, it’s not the greedy speculators or the greedy oil companies, or even greedy OPEC. It is the hidden tax in Obama’s massive spending spree. Anyone who has studied Economics 101 knows that the amount of debt we are currently incurring is unsustainable. The result will be inflation and its companion, a devalued dollar. This is what the Chinese are worried about. As the dollar devalues, the price of imported goods goes up. Oil is an imported good. Back in the oil spike of last summer, it took $1.57 to buy 1 Euro. The price of oil skyrocketed. When the economy turned south last fall, the dollar strengthened as Europe’s economy was worse than ours. It took $1.27 to buy 1 Euro. Then Obama started borrowing money. Now the Euro didn’t look so bad to investors. As of yesterday, it took $1.38 to buy 1 Euro, and the price of oil is starting to go back up, economy be damned. THAT’S WHY THINGS ARE GOING TO GET EXPENSIVE.

ITEM 2. Empathy: Obama’s test for the Supreme Court is empathy. He wants the Justice to have empathy for those in front of the court. Who’s empathy? The empathy for one party over another in a court means injustice…one man’s empathy is another man’s pain. What Obama wants is bias for the his liberal causes. I can assure you, there will be no empathy for the small businessman who is attempting to generate jobs. There will be no empathy for Christians. There will be no empathy for white males. There will be no empathy for families. There will be empathy only for those who Obama deems worthy. Take my word for it, that won’t be middle aged white people.

ITEM 3. Arbitron: This is the rating service for radio stations, like the Neilson ratings is for television. It used to be done by people filling in a daily diary as to what they listened to. You would send it in at the end of the week and Arbitron would you send you $25.00, more if you were a minority. The problem was people got lazy. Rather than doing it as they listened to the radio, or at the end of the day, the attempted to fill in the diary from memory at the end of the week just before sending it in to the company. To get around that problem, Arbitron developed a new system involving wearing something akin to a cell phone on around your waist. It listens to what you listen to, and registers it automatically. At the end of the week, the device is sent to the company. To its surprise, Arbitron discovered that minority and urban radio stations were listened to much less than the written diaries indicated, and conservative talk radio was listened to much more. The result, several states and the Federal government are now investigating Arbitron for racial discrimination attempting to show the sample used by Arbitron was slanted against minorities. Hey, when these folks don't like the message, they try to kill the messenger.

Had enough for today? Me, too. Go and have a Martini!

For Barack Obama, A Crack in the Veneer

For Barack Obama, the rubber of reality may finally be hitting the road. While his popularity is still high, his policies are not. No matter how you slice it, America is a center right country, and Americans aren’t liking what they are seeing.

The clearest evidence is being seen in California. The eighth largest economy in the world is in trouble with people and businesses deserting the state daily. It is $23 Billion, with a “B”, in debt. The public employees unions are running the state, and are strangling it. Some municipal firefighters make a wage and benefit package of up to $175,000.00/year, with many being able to reach full salary retirement after 20 years. One municipality recently filed for bankruptcy. The mayor said they were paying for 2 full time fire departments at the same time…one working…one retired. This mentality permeates the entire state. When the governor and legislature recently tried to cut wages to state funded home health care workers, President Obama threatened to cut off federal funds to the state.

In a stunning defeat for tax and spend liberal politics, California defeated five of six state sponsored revenue propositions. The measures were defeated in every county, including San Francisco. The only measure to pass was the one stating the obvious: lawmakers are now forbidden to give themselves raises when the state is in deficit.

California has no choice now but to go hat in hand to the Federal government for bailout money. That is lose/lose for an Obama administration whose natural tendencies would be to go along with it. Do you want your tax money bailing out state paid for studies observing the mating life otters? Sooner or later, the gravy train runs out of gravy.

Obama’s promise to tax only the wealthy rings hollow when the burden is shifted to the states, and the states have to raise taxes on everything and everybody. There is no free lunch.

Obama is also being hit with his ideological position on Gitmo. WE DON’T WANT THE TERRORISTS HERE IN THE UNITED STATES. Not even the Democratic legislators who whined and sobbed about Gitmo abuse want these dudes in their states. Start with the practical. Anyone at all familiar with the American prison system knows these guys are getting much better treatment where they are now than in any American prison within a state system. Would they get better treatment in Leavenworth of Sing-Sing?

But more importantly, it will give these guys more legitimate access to our court system, with the nation running the risk of the courts actually releasing these bad people onto our streets while costing the country millions upon millions of dollars in legal fees. That doesn’t even begin to the address the issue of whose minds these nut cases would affect within the prison population. Do you want an American prisoner released into our cities with criminal tendencies juiced up by these Muslim whackos? Not me!!

Finally, Americans will soon tire of government run anything. The specter of Washington deciding everything from what kind of car we should drive, to the temperature we keep our thermostats, to what we eat, to the type of house we should live in, to whether or not we should be entitled to an MRI, will grow old, and is growing old, real fast. Americans don’t like paying more for less, and that is true across every socio-economic class. And when the government gets involved, that is the usual result. Government only knows how to take.

So President Obama, go ahead and bail out California, take over General Motors and Chrysler; try telling a mourning family they can’t get certain medical procedures for mom or dad or grandma and grandpa or a child; increase the rate of late term abortions; force minority families out of private schools that your own children attend in the District by cutting vouchers; and let some terrorists out onto the streets of our great country…and let me know how that works out for you!

HEALTH CARE REFORM: A WORKABLE SOLUTION

So what we have to do is figure out a way to maintain the integrity and quality of our health care system while making sure affordable insurance is available to everyone. Since what I am going to propose is based partially on private insurance, insurance providers must base rates on a national pool rather than state pools, and the rates offered must be standard to all persons regardless of age or pre-existing condition. In addition, rates paid by companies who offer health care benefits cannot be less than those rates paid by individuals purchasing health care in the open market. This will eventually move insurance coverage costs from companies to individuals.

1) Everyone is responsible for the first $5,000.00 of medical expenses each year. This can be funded several ways: a) Insurance companies can offer policies to individuals to cover portions of the first $5,000.00 with premiums being tax deductible; b) People can take advantage of Health Savings Accounts contributions which are tax deductible; c) or folks can just wing it, and be subject to regular collections procedures for nonpayment.

2) Private insurance companies will then offer policies to all US citizens, and all US citizens over the age of 18 will be required to purchase health insurance. No health insurance, no driver’s license or income tax refund. These policies will be designed to cover health care costs between $5,000.00 and $500,000.00. Deductibles may vary, and citizens can use unused portion of the Health Savings Accounts to pay for the deductibles. Insurance companies must sell to all takers with only some variation in rates. Item 3 will relieve them of unlimited costs for those with pre-existing, serious conditions.

3) The Federal Government will offer a Medicare type program for all health care costs over the $500,000.00 with premiums paid as Medicare premiums are currently being paid. Deductibles should be imposed, and private insurance companies may offer supplemental policies just as they do in Medicare now for seniors. In addition, the government can incentivize private re-insurance companies from whom the government can buy re-insurance to spread the risk and get the liability off of the government balance sheet.

4) For the working poor and welfare classes, the government can expand its Medicaid programs to benefit these folks.

5) The Federal Government could work with private companies such as Walmart, Walgreens, and other such national entities for the establishment of clinics to handle routine type matters such as colds, flu, flu shots, and other routine wellness matters. Walmart is already doing this.

The above does a number of things. It makes individuals aware of the cost of health care which will help to drive the cost down for most services as people shop for the best deals. It gets the burden off corporations to supply health care benefits. It allows the professionals to handle the bulk of medical insurance in care as it currently does. It relieves the insurance companies of extraordinary medical expenses making it easier to insure everyone who needs the insurance. It spreads the risk among the entire population. And finally, it allows the government to provide a mechanism for catastrophic care with companies who specialize in re-insurance issues while getting the obligation off of the government books.

Think it will work? I do. If only I could get this to the people who make the decisions.