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Obama's Progressive Health Care Pitch Draws Cheers
The biggest applause that President Barack Obama received on Thursday, while speaking about health care reform at Southwest High School in Green Bay, came when he said that health care coverage should not be denied due to pre-existing conditions, that there ought to be a public health insurance option for all, and that taxes should be raised on the well-to-do to finance changes in the health care system. In other words, some of the most progressive elements of his speech drew the most enthusiastic response from the crowd.
Here are those excerpts:
* So what we’re working on is the creation of something called a Health Insurance Exchange – which would allow you to one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and prices, and choose the plan that’s best for you. None of these plans would be able to deny coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition, and all should include an affordable, basic benefit package.
* I also strongly believe that one of the options in the Exchange should be a public insurance option – because if the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honest and help keep prices down.
* And I’ll be honest – even with these savings, reform will require additional sources of revenue. That’s why I’ve proposed that we scale back how much the highest-income Americans can deduct on their taxes back to the rate from the Reagan years – and use that money to help finance health care.
One question, though, is how hard Obama will press Congress to produce a bill to his liking. His speech today was an indicator that he may well be able to rally public support outside the Beltway for a strong package. How far will he go inside Washington?
Ream the Rich!!
Or: "Are The Rich Really Stupid Dupes, There For The 'Taking'?"
by James W. Harris
"Adios, New York!" or, Golisano Shrugs
"Tax the rich!" is an oft-heard slogan these days.
But what happens when you do that? Surprise: the rich don't just stand around waiting to be robbed by politicians and their leech constituencies. They take protective actions. They fight back. They change investments, hire lawyers to find exemptions. They cut back on work. Or... they take their businesses, jobs, incomes, and they move.
Tom Golisano, board chairman of Paychex, Inc. and one of the richest men in New York, has had enough of high taxes and wasteful spending in that state.
So, like Ayn Rand's Atlas, Golisano is shrugging. He explained why in an editorial entitled "Adios, New York" in the New York Post:
"Politicians like to talk about incentives -- for businesses to relocate, for example, or to get folks to buy local. After reviewing the new [New York state] budget, I have identified the most compelling incentive of all: a major tax break immediately available to all New Yorkers. To be eligible, you need do only one thing: move out of New York state.
"Last week I spent 90 minutes doing a couple of simple things -- registering to vote, changing my driver's license, filling out a domicile certificate and signing a homestead certificate -- in Florida. Combined with spending 184 days a year outside New York, these simple procedures will save me over $5 million in New York taxes annually."
"... Bottom line? By domiciling in Florida, which has no personal-income tax, I will save $13,800 every day. That's a pretty strong incentive.
"Like I said, I love New York. But I'm not going to pay any more for the waste, corruption and inefficiency that is New York state government."
Tax the rich -- and watch them leave. And watch the rest of society grow poorer.
So, if we buy the idea that we can tax the rich at the national level, to pay for all our egalitarian "playfield levelling" ideas, are THEY going to just roll over and expose their bloated underbelly so we can unbuckle their money-belt and relieve them of what we decide is "excess"?
Some of the upper middle-income.., maybe, if they can't readily afford to relocate offshore.
The truly wealthy?
Doubtful. VERY doubtful.
Don't kid yourselves about this. And don't allow yourself to be duped by political rhetoric that claims D.C. is going to force "The Rich" to fund their healthcare schemes.
Given that D.C. Already has you and me bailing out the Wall Street bankers and investors, Detroit auto-makers and just about all their other high-roller, big contributing fat-cat pals, you can bet your bottom dollar (which'll end up being worth about 4 cents) that at the end of the day, it'll end up being me & thee who'll be stuck with the bill for this plan, regardless of the sales pitch the beltway-bandits and their media toadies feed us in order to gain our support.
I find it extremely
I find it extremely difficult to feel any sympathy what so ever for someone who, by relocating, will save more in taxes in a single year than I will earn in my lifetime. Booo Hooo Hoooo!
Yes it would be totally outrageous for their tax rate to rise near the level it was when Reagan was pres. Or how about if it was raised at the same rate as their "compensation" has increased over the past several years, while the rest of us (hard working Americans) have been struggling just to keep our heads above water.
I've seen statistics that while our pay has barely (or *not*) kept up with inflation, the pay of the average CEO has been increasing at about 20% a year. I have *never* gotten anywhere near a 20% increase! Just what have they done to *deserve* such rich compensation. Oh wait, I know, the more jobs they ship overseas, the more their own pay increases. Raise their taxes enough to provide a living for those people whose jobs they've eliminated!
So what about the point?
OK, you hate the rich. That could have been said in 4 words, rather than 3 paragraphs. You think they should be punished for being rich by being made decidedly Less rich. That could have been said more concisely as well. And I didn't hear them or anybody else asking you for sympathy.
But what about the point?
DO you think the REALLY Rich are going to sit still and be taxed for the full tab of Obama's healthcare scheme? Or is the necessary taxation going to Have To fall well below the truly rich, and land on middle and upper-middle income Americans?
Obama's Progressive Health Care Pitch Draws Cheers
The stealth-care system has some extremely bad pre-existing conditions that has killed millions of Americans, so why should we keep that?