This was his discussion just before Obamana gave his speech in Europe before his election.
Now that we are 18 months beyond that speech I wonder what he gained by it.
Sarkozy of France now seems the stronger leader, especially on Iran, so perhaps that was the result but for all his apologizing for America I don't think much has happened yet (expect for his Nobel Peace Prize) to have made his denigration of our nation worthwhile.
We will see.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Socialized medicine
First an anecdote
I am all for having other people pay for me HOWEVER now that I have become more successful in my later years I realize that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
I was overhearing two people talk at a bar the other night. The lady was talking to her male friend.
She works hard as a waitress and pulls in around $400 a week.
The other day her friend was bragging that she wa laid off and was collecting $450 tax free.
She wanted to get some of that for herself.
She was upset that she, an honest hardworking waitress, was getting screwed by her collecting friend.
As a small business owner I saw this a lot as the laziest people would collect while the hard working people at my company often made less while working.
While there certainly are people who need assistance the government does a really bad job of separating the ones who need and deserve the help from those who do not.
Now there is a proposal not so much to reform our current system but to replace it with a massive government run program that will again put government in the role of trying to decide who does and who does not deserve something. I just do not see them being able to do this as well as the individual.
See this article for
http://tinyurl.com/m7u87f
Instead of moving into something new why don't they fix the current messes.
Government programs that need reform NOW since they are rapidly going broke
Medicare
US Post Office
Social Security
In my family when we were in tough financial times we didn't go out and buy more stuff. We worked hard to fix the problem and then got back to our future plans.
The Govt needs to take the same approach as any other frugal family and not take on more spending in the face of an economic meltdown.
Everyone agrees that we do need health care reform but let's reform it, not replace it.
- make policies simpler
- Increase across state competition of insurance companies
- Share information on which doctors and insurance companies are best.
- Institute real Tort reform
All these points are conspicuously absent from the current HR bill which NO WAY needs to be more than 50-100 pages and certainly MUST be read and understood by our representatives before consideration. How about a test on the contents of the bill. If you fail the test you can't vote on it.
I am all for having other people pay for me HOWEVER now that I have become more successful in my later years I realize that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
I was overhearing two people talk at a bar the other night. The lady was talking to her male friend.
She works hard as a waitress and pulls in around $400 a week.
The other day her friend was bragging that she wa laid off and was collecting $450 tax free.
She wanted to get some of that for herself.
She was upset that she, an honest hardworking waitress, was getting screwed by her collecting friend.
As a small business owner I saw this a lot as the laziest people would collect while the hard working people at my company often made less while working.
While there certainly are people who need assistance the government does a really bad job of separating the ones who need and deserve the help from those who do not.
Now there is a proposal not so much to reform our current system but to replace it with a massive government run program that will again put government in the role of trying to decide who does and who does not deserve something. I just do not see them being able to do this as well as the individual.
See this article for
http://tinyurl.com/m7u87f
Instead of moving into something new why don't they fix the current messes.
Government programs that need reform NOW since they are rapidly going broke
Medicare
US Post Office
Social Security
In my family when we were in tough financial times we didn't go out and buy more stuff. We worked hard to fix the problem and then got back to our future plans.
The Govt needs to take the same approach as any other frugal family and not take on more spending in the face of an economic meltdown.
Everyone agrees that we do need health care reform but let's reform it, not replace it.
- make policies simpler
- Increase across state competition of insurance companies
- Share information on which doctors and insurance companies are best.
- Institute real Tort reform
All these points are conspicuously absent from the current HR bill which NO WAY needs to be more than 50-100 pages and certainly MUST be read and understood by our representatives before consideration. How about a test on the contents of the bill. If you fail the test you can't vote on it.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Socialism and Capitalism
Leszek Kolakowski's comment when he heard that Hungarian philosopher Georg Lukacs had said that even the worst socialism was preferable to the best capitalism: "Ah yes, the advantages of Albania over Sweden are self-evident."
From A Hitchens article seen here
http://www.slate.com/id/2223212/
From A Hitchens article seen here
http://www.slate.com/id/2223212/
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