A Basis Is Seen for Some Health Plan Fears Among the Elderly - NYTimes.com

A Basis Is Seen for Some Health Plan Fears Among the Elderly - NYTimes.com

Seniors are rightly concerned about rationing. Yet, as I have suggested in previous writings, very few politicians are willing to engage in a full discussion of the inevitable need to ration services in a government-run health plan. Common sense says that rationing will happen if/when 40+ million are added to government managed insurance plans. It happens now, but the decisions are mostly in the private sector, outside of Medicare, Medicaid and the VA. I believe Americans are unwilling to trust their government with these decisions, particularly when politicians obfuscate the issue.

Given the current uproar over ObamaCare, it seems unlikely to pass Congress in its present form.

Op-Ed Columnist - Obama’s Trust Problem - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Obama’s Trust Problem - NYTimes.com:

I generally disagree with Paul Krugman because he has become a shill for the ultra-liberal wing of the Democrat Party. Perhaps he's still that, but in his column today he vents frustration with TeamObama's handling of several issues. As I read Krugman's views, it seems the"Messiah" is tripping on his robes.

Or is it that our President truly is a neophyte,as I have suggested before, and his inexperience is finally on display. I truly hope he becomes a better leader, particularly in foreign policy. Our enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan are savvy enough to smell blood and exploit Administration inattention. If TeamObama gets so wrapped up with health care reform that they are overtaken by events on the international stage, we are in big trouble.

"On the issue of health care itself, the inspiring figure progressives thought they had elected comes across, far too often, as a dry technocrat who talks of “bending the curve” but has only recently begun to make the moral case for reform. Mr. Obama’s explanations of his plan have gotten clearer, but he still seems unable to settle on a simple, pithy formula; his speeches and op-eds still read as if they were written by a committee.

Meanwhile, on such fraught questions as torture and indefinite detention, the president has dismayed progressives with his reluctance to challenge or change Bush administration policy."

"And then there’s the matter of the banks.

I don’t know if administration officials realize just how much damage they’ve done themselves with their kid-gloves treatment of the financial industry, just how badly the spectacle of government supported institutions paying giant bonuses is playing. But I’ve had many conversations with people who voted for Mr. Obama, yet dismiss the stimulus as a total waste of money. When I press them, it turns out that they’re really angry about the bailouts rather than the stimulus — but that’s a distinction lost on most voters."

Obama Admin. To End Cash for Clunkers on Monday - NYTimes.com

Obama Admin. To End Cash for Clunkers on Monday - NYTimes.com

Given the problems of administering the 'cash for clunkers' program, I cannot believe our government is anywhere near ready to add 40+ million people to a new health care plan option. Do you believe it? Government is intrinsically inefficient because it is normally behind the curve in technology and does not always hire the 'best and brightest."

Under Agreement, UBS to Give Up 4,450 Names - NYTimes.com

Under Agreement, UBS to Give Up 4,450 Names - NYTimes.com

Bravo for the Justice Department and the IRS! This is the type of enforcement action that is worthwhile!

I have no quarrel with people being rich or making large amounts of money, but when they illegally evade the taxes due on those monies when I and other taxpayers pay their proper share, they deserve to be prosecuted and pay all taxes due.

What the story doesn't reveal is how many years in the past will they attempt to collect taxes and penalties.

We also expect the names will be made very public along with the back taxes and penalties they must pay. If there's jail time after prosecution and conviction for those who don't pay, we'll also want to know that.

A follow-on story in the 8/20 NY Times has this to say:

"The current penalty for this type of failure to disclose assets is up to 50 percent of the highest annual balance of each account for each of the last three years — an amount that can quickly wipe out an investor and still leave him owing taxes and interest.

Investors who come forward before Sept. 23 face a reduced penalty, of 5 percent to 20 percent, depending in part on whether the wealth was inherited. They will also be hit with the penalty just once, on the highest balance in the accounts during the last six years.

The Justice Department has opened criminal investigations of 150 UBS clients, and is likely to bring more indictments on top of the four it brought in recent months. Only clients who are prosecuted are likely to have their names become public."

Now, if Justice can root out more of the fraud involved in Medicaid and Medicare...

More About the Inevitability of Rationing in ObamaCare

Rationing is inevitable. It happens now and will happen in the future. We have the right to know what the rules of rationing will be before any bill is passed. "Trust me" is not good enough, nor is TeamObama's rhetoric.

A Primer on the Details of Health Care Reform - NYTimes.com

A Primer on the Details of Health Care Reform - NYTimes.com

This story tries to explain the basics of the health plans roaming around Congress. I have read it carefully and its two pages do not clarify the situation much. Reading between the lines suggests to me that the most important and controversial details are left to future determinations by regulatory agencies.

What it does say, however, is that TeamObama's rhetoric is less than truthful. Perhaps that's the reason folks are so riled up about this massive change.

Charles Krauthammer has suggested the best kernels on which to reform the system to reduce costs. TeamObamaCare can lead to nothing less than rationing, higher taxes, or both.

Is Google Voice a Threat to AT&T? - NYTimes.com

Is Google Voice a Threat to AT&T? - NYTimes.com

Pogue lay out the sequence of events in the recent dustup over Google Voice on the iPhone and suggests that there will be no stopping GV on the iPhone. One way or another Google and the legions of 'free' programmers will thwart the best efforts of Apple/AT&T.

Verizon and the other cell providers are watching this passion play with glee.

An Email to flag@whitehouse.gov

I don't know the person in Vermont that wrote this, but it is worth the read because of the clever rebuttal of TeamObamaCare. Click on the link to view it.

Why Do We Tolerate Our Leadership?

Perhaps our real leaders refuse to stand forth and run for public office. Whatever the reason, Charlie Reese describes the outcome below.

I know this may be emotionally satisfying to some and objectionable to others, or simplistic to many. But our culture and conditions ARE shaped by leadership. We find ourselves in a mess because, IMHO, we have experienced a fundamental failure of leadership. I don't mean just the current crop in Washington, but for decades.

We deserve better. I know the forces and conditions we find in the world are powerful and difficult, but we deserve better.

In my view, the leaders of our military have stepped up to the task set before them. I wish I could say the same for our civilian leaders.

Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

"Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red .

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!"

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

The Wireless Internet Access Door is Opening

TechCrunch has a short summary about the FCC actions yesterday to probe the refusal by Apple to allow Google Voice and related apps on the iPhone.

This inquiry is a really a big deal for the wireless providers, far beyond the specific issues of the iPhone and AT&T's exclusive contract for selling and carrying traffic to/from iPhones. Google wants openness while the carriers want control of both apps and traffic to protect their revenues.

This will take a while to play out, but more rather than less openness will eventually prevail.

This policy game has played out in the past, the distant (pre-wireless, pre-internet past), when the old AT&T monopoly for all telephone services, including end-user devices was broken open by the Carterphone decision eliminating the prohibition against connecting non-AT&T/Western Electric devices to the network. AT&T obviously lost that battle and the wireless carriers, though not monopolies, eventually will lose this one too.

Technology, particularly software-driven advances, will prevail aginst the walled garden business model..