Why will socialized health care work?

What I want to know is why people think that socialized health care will work.  I mean let's break this problem down into it's components, the actual problem and the solution.

What I am told is that the problem we are facing are rising health care costs.  Over the last few years health care costs have continued to rise and are going to increase at a more rapid pace.  I am not going to say that this doesn't happen, because it does, but let's take a look at the reasons that health care costs have been rising.  Health care costs can be split into two different categories from my point of view, medical insurance and out-of-pocket, or a-la-carte, expenses.  First, the insurance costs go up because insurance companies have to make a profit and their costs go up because of both administrative costs and reimbursement costs.  Let's say that administrative costs only need to go up when there is a raise in the minimum wage or there is added red tape, and therefore could be pretty much static.  That leaves us with the reimbursement costs being the main factor in the rise of medical insurance rates.  There are also two main factors in the rise of reimbursement costs, rising cost of service and increase in the number of services performed.  We'll say that reimbursement costs are equivalent to costs incurred by someone paying out-of-pocket.

Okay, we've looked at the problem, so let's take a look at the solution.  The proposed governmental solution is one of socialized health care in the form of a tax based public insurance option.  In other words, everybody pays into this system and is helping to support it.  Well, gee, if it is another insurance option, isn't it still affected by reimbursement costs.  Why, yes, yes it is.  And the only way that an insurance company can cut those costs are by decreasing the number of services performed or to lower the cost of service.  To decrease the number of services performed, the government could put in age restrictions or just other restrictions on procedures.  And to lower the cost of service, the government can put caps on the price of services performed.  Are either of those options going to make health care better?

What I'm not saying is that insurance companies are the best option.  What I am saying is that a government run insurance company isn't a better option.  What our Nation was founded on is Capitalism and competition breeds lower prices and innovation.

Follow up: An Open Letter to our Nation's Leadership

I hope this is okay to repost. I feel it is very important so I wanted to give everyone a chance to read it. This is the letter that started the online petition that I posted last week.

I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?

Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.

An Open Letter to our Nation's Leadership - The Petition Site

I found this petition about our government yesterday and thought it was fitting to post for all the people unhappy with OUR government. Be it the Democratic President or Republican Senators or just the laws or stimulus packages that were enacted without even being fully read. The officials we elect are supposed to help us, not help themselves. And I'm fully aware that internet petitions don't really mean anything or do anything, but if it can help spread ideas and get people thinking about how to fix some of the problems in our country, that is even better. I love the United States of American and am proud to be a citizen, and I want to be a part of a better America.

An Open Letter to our Nation's Leadership - The Petition Site

Socialized Electricity, everybody give to the poor

This article was just posted on Pacific Business News.

HECO plans credits for low-income customers - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

Hawaiian Electric Co. has proposed raising rates on all customers to help cut the electric bills of low-income households.

The utility filed an application Thursday with the state Public Utilities Commission to offer so-called “lifeline rates” in the form of fixed monthly bill credits to qualifying families.

The proposed credit amounts are: $25 on Oahu, $30 on Maui, and $35 on the Big Island, Molokai and Lanai.

All ratepayers would pay a monthly surcharge to cover the cost of the credit program.

If approved, the surcharge for a typical monthly residential electric bill is estimated to be up to 31 cents on Oahu; up to 77 cents in Maui County; and up to $1.54 on the Big Island.

“We started developing this proposal late last year, but it’s especially timely now given the economic challenges our community is facing, and the need to help those most vulnerable,” Dick Rosenblum, HECO’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

The credits would be available to customers currently enrolled in one of three government assistance programs: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Medicaid, and Supplemental Security Income.

HECO committed to develop the program as part of an energy agreement signed in October 2008 with the state as part of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.

I know it is just 31 cents on Oahu, but it is the principle of the matter. Do we have any say in what policies natural monopolies are enacting. I guess they can use the political swing to their advantage whenever they see fit.

Congratulations Hawaii...not the worst Pork spenders

According to the new report released by the Citizens Against Government Waste (or CAGW for short,) Hawaii ranks as the second worst per capita pork spenders in the Nation. The good news is that we aren't the worst.

According to the CAGW site,

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization representing more than one million members and supporters nationwide. CAGW's mission is to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the federal government. Founded in 1984 by the late industrialist J. Peter Grace and syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, CAGW is the legacy of the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, also known as the Grace Commission.

This story makes me wonder, does CAGW also stand for Citizens Against Global Warming?

First they came...

Very good poem written by Pastor Martin Niemöller that will probably apply to every era.

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant

Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up

Bothering me: Outrageous Salaries for CEOs

In a new post, Seth's Blog: The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing), Seth Godin speaks about how CEOs are getting too much money. This is something that has bothered me recently. I mean, really, how many people are worth $50 million. If you look at all the lower positions where people are fighting for lower paying jobs, there are a ton of qualified individuals. When was it that MBAs became so rare?
Maybe now with it being an "employers-market" we can get away with paying CEOs only $5 million instead of 50.

ed. Here are some great ideas from BusinessPundit on the issue.

Obama: Out of Touch, but Popular

I watched the last half of the Obama interview on the Tonight Show last night. People that say he's not suave guy is just fooling themselves. He is a very personable, easy-going, smooth-talking character. Just darn likable, if you take the politics out of it. But because he is likable doesn't make him a great (or even a good) president. He has calmed down his out of control spending ever so slightly and has settled on left-wing in talk but still pushes his (Pelosi's?) extreme agenda through his actions.

That is what makes me think that he is just out of touch. I don't know what they learn in Chicago, but it doesn't seem to be about thinking things through (No, not a ding against Chicago-ans, just of the political bunch.) The economy is doing bad and that is something we all know about. So why keep pushing frivolous spending such as $2.4B USD for electric vehicles, continuing subisidies for corn based ethanol, and multi-billion dollars to many other programs. It is just ludicrous. Not only that, but the Federal Reserve is going to create $1 trillion out of thin air.

It is just so frustrating to see everything skewed so far to the political left. Personally I am more of a moderate and didn't exactly like the previous administration either. But take a step back and look at what you are doing before you rush in to frivolous off the cuff spending. Politicians need to look back at history and see what hurts and what helps. The can even look at the lives of the common citizen for help. When we (the common man) are in trouble financially, we save and spend money on the things that have a good ROI. That is what our politicians need to see.

Sorry about my little rant. Now back to working with FoxPro.

EU to Strike Another Blow to the "Evil" Microsoft

This is in response to an article on DailyTech, DailyTech - EU to Require Microsoft to Offer Competitors' Browsers With Windows. I am sick of the EU pushing around Microsoft and making them lower the quality of their products in order to make things more "fair." Taking a good product and pulling it down to the lowest common denominator. Sure, you can hate Microsoft for the way it was in the 90's and a lot of people do. But they way they do business now days is totally legit. Don't take away features that are included in the Operating System just because there are competitors. I mean, come on, if there are better products or better price points people will use those products.

I see some correlation between this and the way the US is headed. Socialism. Woops, did I really say that. Now me, I grew up as a Liberal and now days I am more of a moderate. You know, I can see what people like about socialism, the lowest common denominator is taken care of and everyone lives a "happier life." But what about the person that wants to change their position in life? The person that grew up in the lower or lower-middle class and has dreams of being rich. That person wants to work hard and change their life. Well Socialism works against that and won't allow for the outliers. Sort of like a bell-curve on life.

USDA Urges EPA to Increase Amount of Ethanol in Gasoline

Reading my morning dose of DailyTech, I came upon an article about the government wanting to INCREASE the amount of ethanol in gas. And just when I thought the economy was getting bad enough to STOP subsidies of corn ethanol, this comes around. Here in Hawaii, I haven't seen a gas station that doesn't have E10. I live with it because there is no other choice. But if the government wants to increase that amount, I say screw 'em; it's a horrible idea. Got the following quote from a user gstrickler:

Corn based ethanol is good for drinking (e.g. Bourbon), but it's a terrible fuel. In addition to the above reasons, corn requires huge amounts of water to grow and the increase in corn production for ethanol has accelerated the lowering of the ground water table in the massive Ogallala aquifer.

Corn based ethanol uses up precious farm land, uses huge amounts of water, and only produces about 30% more energy that it takes to produce (and that's considered a generous estimate, it may be closer to break even).

Stop the insanity! No subsidies for corn, corn based ethanol, or cornstarch/HFCS. Tell your congresspersons to end the subsidies on corn, end the taxes on sugar cane, and end or delay the ethanol blend requirements. That will affect the ethanol and alternative fuel markets as well as the sugar and sweetener market and food prices.

The corn growers and corn based ethanol distillers may not like it, but until they can demonstrate a viable way to make cellulosic ethanol, the only ethanol made from corn should be in liquor stores.

Also from Wallstats.com: Death and Taxes

Reprint: The Fall of GM - a visual guide

I found this from the businesspundit blog. It just so happens to be a very good explanation.


Source: Wallstats.com

Don't tase me bro - the modern day activist

I'm sure everybody has read the story about the student who got tased by police when he disrupted a talk given by Senator John Kerry. I've been reading about people who agree with the treatment of the situation and people who disagree, and there are many at varying levels of agreement. I think most people are going too far to the extreme on either side. However, there are a few level headed individuals out there. The following post describes my feelings the most on the subject, coming from a poser named Morris:

After reading the posts before mine I am surprised that so many people seem to see freedom of speech so much differently then I do. I have always taken free speech to mean the ability to have reasoned discourse without the interference or the retaliation of the government.
Free speech in public places and venues has always been restricted in many ways. Sometimes the restriction is one of courtesy, sometimes one of reason( yelling fire in a theater for example), and sometimes one of prudence(yelling racial slurs in a primarily minority neighborhood), but almost always limited.During the Kerry forum, speech or whatever it was, the gentleman chose to inject himself into to the focus and resist removal. This is a fairly time honored technique to call attention to yourself or your cause, when no one other then your friends will listen to you. This technique has always had its drawbacks however, one of which is forcible removal by the police. In the past this achieved in various ways all of which use varying levels of violence.
However he seems to have achieved his goal. Thanks to YouTube he has been the subject of much discussion, nationally. He made all the news wires, blogs, and oped pages, which I am sure was his intent. So I find the cost of his speech (his tasing) to be close to free as compared to what he got. He seems to have suffered no lasting harm, he is at home doing whatever it is that he does when he is there. He can bask in his newfound fame and can be glad that he has not had to pay the price others have paid for their "free speech", torture and murder.
Nothing worth having is ever free. Thats what I have learned about "free speech" in my lifetime. So when we exercise it we should be prepared for what it will cost. The officers involved will most likely be sued or otherwise punished for their participation in this event and will most likely suffer more than the student is likely to. The University will suffer a loss in reputation and possibly some financial loss if there is a lawsuit. The student will have an arrest report and legal fees. And in the end there will be another new event to capture the public attention and this event will be forgotten by everyone except those who were involved.

I'm not saying that I support the student's cause, but I admire him somewhat. He stood up for what he believed in and he accomplished his goal. Sure he was a prankster, but for this 'prank', I'm sure he was able to get people to think. I don't agree with him playing to the camera like he did though, as it made his cause look like a circus act. At the end of the day, not many will really remember what he was trying to say, but everybody will remember his clownishness.