Unbelievable! How much money can our government actually go through before they realize that there is not a grove of money trees on the South Lawn? CNN reports, "All told, the government estimates some 64 million Americans will receive the one-time stimulus checks this year, at a cost of $13 billion to the federal budget." 13 billion dollars. Like it is simply pocket change, that is the amount being offered to a large body of retirees and disabled persons on fixed incomes. (http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/07/seniors.stimulus/index.html)
There was no overall inflation this year, in fact, many expenses have deflated this past year, so there was no cost of living increase. Now I know it is hard to live on a fixed income and I am sure I will have a better understanding of it while living in those shoes. But I do know that the reasoning behind the offering of this money does not match the payoff.
1. We are paying this because there was no cost of living increase in payments. Okay, but if there are no significant changes in the inflation index, it does not cost more to live.
2. I heard today that it is being offered to help offset the sagging housing market because many seniors sell their homes and will lose money. Okay. But are they trying to tell us that $250 will make up for the losses experienced on selling a home? Gimme a break!
Could it be that it is being released just in time to try to appease a very large group of people who are very concerned over the looming health care debate? 13 billion dollars used to be shocking to people 30 years ago - it was still considered a very large number. Now it seems to be a disposable amount! Sorry Mom and Dad, but what it costs the nation doesn't seem a good trade off for the small gain it brings you. After all, we all want free money, but Dad taught me long ago that there is no such thing - somebody, somewhere pays for it!
I am concerned for our children and grandchildren who are going to be left with nothing but a suffocating national debt to a myriad of foreign nations! Our national debt is currently over 11 trillion dollars! And what is our answer? "Let's throw some more money at it!" It is pure insanity! What does 11 trillion dollars look like? $11,000,000,000,000.00. We simply get lost in all the zeros. This is our NATIONAL DEBT! Not our deficit, that is different. Our deficit adds to our debt every year. I think that our congressmen and women have simply gotten lost in all those numbers.
And the proposed health plans are going to cost us even more. What's more is that we cannot pay for what we are doing now, and they want to add more to bucket? Granted, we need to address some of the problems in our current health care system - but the thought of totally revamping the best care in the world is ludicrous.
There are some who have told me that the best is "no good at all" if some people cannot receive that care. Again, I agree that some elements of our health care system need to be addressed, but a total and radical overhaul to make our system more like that of the socialist nations would be crazy.
I had the opportunity to live in Holland for nearly four years while in the military and experienced socialized medicine firsthand. Adam was born in Utrecht, Netherlands, where Dawn stayed in an open, concrete walled bay with 14 other women. The patients in several bays shared a common bathroom and shower for the entire floor. We had a Dutch neighbor who was a friend and happened to be a highly specialized "in vitro surgeon" who earned about the same wages I was making as an E-5, Staff Sergeant in the US Air Force. He hoped to be able to move to America some day to practice medicine with the best equipment available.
The stories go on, but I don't want to put to sleep those of you who made it this far. I am concerned that these proposals our government is considering will drive our costs up while diminishing the great quality of medicine we enjoy in this country. There are some great concepts being tossed around that do not require a total overhaul of the system and I hope that common sense and reason will be the order of the day.
After all, if I were to go into extreme debt and never bring in more than I spent, there would be an abundance of agencies knocking on my door and taking all that I have to try to offset that debt. One day, they will come knocking on the door of America! Then what?
Greg, I could not agree more. But it's Free, it's Free!!! What I struggle with is our young in this "Great Country" that is being drawn into such insanity and they believe it's ok??? Huh?? I'm confused!! Did you see the most recent "Unhealth Care Bill" figures?? WOW!!
ReplyDeleteWell, those who voted for "CHANGE" are seeing it 1st hand! Our only hope in the near future is for the 2010 election and hopefully turn this non-sense around with new memebers in the Senate and Congress and get those 30 year+ morrons out!!
Here is a few comments from our states congresswoman Ms. Lynn Jenkins:
The United States spends more than any other nation on health care.(By the way, this is a "NOW" figure not what we are going to spend) I agree with President Obama and Democrats in Congress that reining in health care spending should be one of the priorities when reforming health care. Unfortunately, H.R. 3200, the current proposal in the House, is not the right solution. In fact, the Office of the Actuary (OCAT) at the Department of Health and Human Services released an analysis this week that found that health care spending would increase by an additional $750 billion over the next ten years because of H.R. 3200.
The President’s budget chief, Peter Orzag, said that, “The single most important thing we can do to improve the long-term fiscal health of our nation is slow the growth rate of health care costs.” With the news a couple weeks ago that the 2009 budget deficit was a record $1.42 trillion.
Seven Months After Stimulus - 49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs
President Obama claimed his economic stimulus bill that became law in February would create 3.5 million jobs. Unfortunately, since then, the nation has lost 2.7 million jobs.
Congress is in the midst of working on legislation to extend unemployment benefits to folks in states with unemployment rates above 8.5 percent. I voted against the legislation in the House because it would not have helped any unemployed Kansans, but it would have raised taxes on the very people Kansans need to get back to work – employers.
Hope all is well and we'll be your way Thanksgiving.
Love Ya,
Don & Kim
It is hard for me to imagine how easily we can spend money that we don't even have. In fact, we spend all kinds of money other people have that isn't really ours to begin with! They used to call that stealing.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing you guys again. Thanksgiving isn't that far away. Can you believe that? Christmas is less than two months away!