The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology. Those, who do not understand monetary sovereignty, do not understand economics. Cutting the federal deficit is the most ignorant and damaging step the federal government could take. It ranks ahead of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
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Rep. Fred Upton(Republican) said, “If we pass this bill with a sizable vote, and I think that we will, it will put enormous pressure on the Senate to do perhaps the same thing.” “This bill” is the attempt to repeal the health care bill. He went on to say, “But then, after that, we’re going to go after this bill piece by piece.”
So, he expects to fail in his attempt to repeal the entire bill, but then he will try to gut it. If he is successful in either attempt, here is what will happen to you:
–Your children may be denied health insurance because they have a pre-existing condition.
–Your insurance company might put a ceiling on the claims you can submit, during your lifetime.
–You can be charged extra for an emergency room visit to a hospital not in your insurance company’s network.
–You will lose coverage of your children through age 26.
–Your coverage can be cancelled if you get sick.
–When you are a senior, you will not receive free screening for cancer, the biggest killer of Amercians.
–Millions of Americans will lose insurance coverage.
And other bad stuff too numerous to mention.
So why do the Republicans want to do this to the American public? Four reasons:
1. Through time, this bill will gain in popularity, and become known as a signature Democratic initiative, on a par with Social Security, Medicare and the civil rights bills. Since most recent Republican initiatives have been to go to war with Iraq based on a lie, deport undocumented aliens and the Bush tax cuts, the Republicans are desperate either to come up with something great or to destroy whatever the Democrats do. They need an issue, and this is all they can think of (Heaven forbid they come up with something beneficial to the lives, health and finances of the general public.)
2. The stated belief the “individual mandate” is onerous or illegal, in that you can’t penalize people for not buying something. Really? Try driving in my state, Illinois, without buying significant amounts of liability insurance. Try buying anything without paying the retailer sales tax. (And unless you think this is just a tax, it isn’t. The retailer actually makes a profit on it, because he pays against total sales, while he receives a rounded up amount from each sale.) True, the self-styled “originalists” on the Supreme Court may rule against it, because it does not meet their right wing agenda, but this will just open the door to a single payer option, which the right wing will hate even more.
3. Pandering to the Tea Party. Unfortunately for the Republicans, the bloom is going off the Tea Party rose, and soon Sarah Palin and the rest of the gang will be remembered laughingly in the same terms as the infamous “Know Nothing” party, which the Tea Party closely resembles. See: Know Nothing party
4. The bill is “too costly” or “unsustainable” or will force tax increases on taxpayers. Those who have read the posts on this blog have learned that taxpayers do not pay for spending by a Monetarily Sovereign government, taxes will not need to be increased, there is nothing that is unsustainable for the federal government, and all the talk about affordability is utter nonsense. If you have not read the posts, you can begin with: Introduction and work your way forward.
Although I have spend most of my life voting Republican (because I didn’t like the “tax” part of the Democrats’ tax ‘n’ spend policies), I find myself drifting leftward, partly because of the mean-spirited, hate filled, ultra-political beast the Republican party has become. So it will be entertaining to watch the Republicans try to destroy one of the great human initiatives in American history. Yes, the health care bill is not perfect. I’ll repeat that: The health care bill is not perfect. But it’s an excellent start toward doing what any great nation must do – protect its citizens – whether against foreign invaders, poverty, illiteracy or sickness. It’s the reason we have a government.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com
No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind me of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”
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#Monetary Sovereignty - Mitchell 
I feel compelled to point out some of the flaws in your logic as well as your typical hyperventilating on this topic.
1) Popularity. You have been and continue to be embarrassingly wrong on this bills popularity. No one can predict he future but given your track record…meh. Iraq…whatever. They join the family of nations and no one will care or remember that virtually every damn intelligence agency in the world was wrong. That isn’t a lie.
2) I think this will be upheld eventually. Regardless, it was Obama who claimed this wasn’t a tax. In their briefs they claimed it was and got slammed for it. See, they were lying before. And if it isn’t a tax then they are compelling citizens to do things. Rodger, you don’t have to drive a car. You do have to have health insurance according to the Feds. That is the noticeable distinction.
3) I’ll take a pass on the Tea Party. I have no love for them but will defend their right to disagree on government spending and size. That is their general theme. For us it is wrong but for most (including Dems when they aren’t in power) it is correct.
4) Agree sort of. The problem is that Obama LIED when he claimed that it would make healthcare more affordable. That is the driver behind the whole bill for most and it is a lie.
Closing Paragraph: Were you asleep for the past 30 years? I just watched video of Bush’s limo being pelted during his first inauguration. Politics ain’t bean bag. Speaking of politics here is what our President thinks about debt limits (floor speech 3/20/06):
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
At the time, Senator Obama was urging Congress not to tolerate an increase that would bring the debt ceiling to $9 trillion. Under President Obama, the debt ceiling has been raised to $14.3 trillion. Even without counting most unfunded liabilities, the national debt is now calculated to be nearing $14.1 trillion. It increases about $4.22 billion per day (each citizen’s share stands at roughly $45K). Thus, Democrats will soon demand that the debt ceiling be raised, lest the sky fall. When they do, they will be asking for a significant boost in a ceiling that is already 60 percent higher than the one Barack Obama said was “a sign of leadership failure” five years ago.
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As VP Biden put it upon the signing, this is the last pillar in the completing the New Deal social safety net. The GOP hates every bit of the New Deal and is committed to undoing it. Two ideologies pitted against each other.
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Unless the Monetarily Sovereign goverment foots the bill, I do not see how this bill can work. Many aspects of the bill simply, do not seem to have any operational reality. I do agree, that the government can and should provide affordable health care.
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The government should foot the bill. That would insure people while stimulating the economy — a twofold advantage.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
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Thanks for not hyperventilating, Matt.
1. Popularity. The Republicans made the bill initially unpopular. Now wait to see what happens when they ask people to give up the benefits of this “unpopular” bill.
2. No one says Obama hasn’t lied. He does so, often. Your “no one has to have a car” is disingenuous, more so because you know it.
3. I defend the Tea Party’s Constitutional right to disagree on whether the earth is round. But that doesn’t mean they are any different from that Know Nothing party. Look it up. The similarities are amazing.
4. The stated lie was “affordability.” The real reason was coverage. As I said, Obama lies to get what he wants. All presidents do, though starting a war based on a lie is a bit more serious than spending money. Hey, the Democrats did it too. Remember Johnson?
Perhaps I should have said the Republicans seem to me to be mean-spirited. Their positions on health care insurance, undocumented aliens and abortion make me feel that way. They just seem more interested in letter of the law rather than in people. Maybe I’m just one of those bleeding hearts they like to complain about.
And as for Obama complaining about the deficit, he’s dead wrong, and I’ve said so. I don’t know whether he’s being politic or just plain ignorant. So far, he’s been spending like he understands the realities, and he went along with the reduced taxes, so maybe he’s just saying what he has to, in order to accomplish what he needs to.
Thanks for your comments.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
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