I know it is usually TEOTWAWKI (The end of the world as we know it). But in this case it is TEOTUSAAWKI (The end of the USA as we know it).
Yes, I’m going to go there. I told myself to stop writing about depressing topics here, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
So here are my disjointed thoughts…
First of all, I’m going to take back something I’m sure I have said here. If I ever said that there is basically no difference between the Republicans and Democrats, I completely take it back. I voted for McCain (reluctantly), but I’m quite sure we would not have seen this complete in your face, screw you American citizens display that we have seen over the past few days if he had won. Sorry to use that kind of language, but what else can you say? It was such a blatant display of disrespect and disregard for the wishes of the country that the only other way to describe it would be to use profanity.
I keep thinking about all the young people and others who voted for Obama thinking they were getting something pure and great and above the political fray. A uniter who would do great things and move America forward. Who offered a transparent government. Who would let people examine laws before they were signed. Who would broadcast the discussions. What percentage of them are disillusioned? What percentage feel completely hoodwinked? What percentage are angry? I can’t imagine many of them are very happy. They did not get what they thought they were electing.
What do all the government teachers tell their students today about a representative republic and the process of making laws? But I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. Our country is run on almost every level by people who do whatever it takes to do what they want. Government, banks, etc. Why should we be surprised if the federal government just chooses to ignore the Constitution?
If that doesn’t concern and scare you, you aren’t paying attention.
And then we get people like this who are excited about their free healthcare:
“It’s just going to be like Christmas,” said DeCarlo Flythe, who lost health coverage for his family when he was laid off almost three years ago. “It’s going to be great. You know, no worries (about) the bills. We are going to go ahead and pay our co-pay and be alright.”
Norman Rucker said he hasn’t had health insurance in almost 10 years because his employers haven’t offered it.
“I’m not a person who gets sick a lot, so I didn’t think I’d need any medicine” said Rucker, who racked up about $100,000 in hospital bills over that period by going to the emergency room whenever he needed care. “I’m trying to pay them off. Collection agencies call me all the time.”
Rucker’s wife has insurance, but the couple couldn’t afford to put him on the policy. Now, he’s excited he may also have coverage because of health care reform.
“It’ll make the world better. It’ll make us all better, actually,” he said.
EXCEPT WHO IS GOING TO BE PAYING FOR ALL THE BILLS YOU RUN UP!??!?!?!??!?!
Yes, I am shouting. This stuff just drives me nuts. It is like the money is just going to appear from nowhere and pay all those bills that they run up in the future.
You know, I got into a lot of trouble by writing about my frustration with coupons and such to get grocery deals. I was trying to make people see that someone somewhere is paying for those great loss leaders and megadeals at CVS or Walgreens. I lost readers over that post. People deleted me from their sidebar and people who had been online friends have not spoken to me since. But I stand by my main point.
NOTHING IS FREE. SOMEONE SOMEWHERE IS PAYING FOR IT.
The same thing with healthcare. Why do all these people think they are going to get something for nothing?
I can tell you who won’t be paying for it. It won’t be me. And I suspect there are many others who will adopt the same strategy. What strategy is that? Opting out.
Why would David and I work harder to just get taxed more? Why would we ever try to expand our business to add more employees? It isn’t worth it.
We’ve been looking at houses and wanting to move into something bigger. But I have to say that lately we’ve actually talked about staying here or even downsizing. There is no way in the world I am going to slave away all day to send more and more money to the government. I will simply opt out of the system as much as possible. Yes, we’ll pay our bills and taxes. But we certainly won’t do anything that will contribute any more than absolutely necessary. And as more and more people lose faith in the system, I suspect that they will make similar choices.
It really may be the beginning of TEOTUSAAWKI. It may take decades, but this country has changed. I agreed with Rush that I hoped Obama would fail to accomplish what he was going to try to do. (I lost readers over that comment too.) And I also agree with Rush that the country is hanging by a thread.
Thank God this is not our ultimate home and we have something better to look forward to!
Anyone else want to vent?
My dentist has the same ideas that you do. He isn’t going to expand his practice. It just isn’t worth it. He says he’ll practice a few more years and then go into teaching. Too bad. He’s a really great dentist. He runs a small business and will be the prime target for paying for “free” healthcare. He won’t be participating. I’ve heard other similar stories. Just think of all those jobs he could’ve created if he had been encouraged to expand, not discouraged by the government.
My rant: You can’t use the excuse of the Commerce Clause to force someone to engage in commerce so that you can regulate it.
“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” Margaret Thatcher
Hopefully, this will go to the Supreme Court and justice will prevail. I agree with sem: the government cannot mandate purchase of a commerical product. I keep wondering about those groups who do not buy insurance by reason of conviction, such as the Plain Sects and also through that ministry called Samaritan (which functions in a way quite similar to the Amish, though more institutionalize, from what I can tell). Is the government going to try and overrule religious convictions?
With that said, I vented yesterday. I wish I could say that made me feel better, but it didn’t.
The end of the U.S. started at least one hundred years ago; President Wilson trampled all over the Constitution more than once. There have also been many periods of downright nasty politics. This is just another big nail in the coffin as it slides down the plank.
Image has gotten ahead of substance in our time; that’s the only explanation I can think of for why some people believe that governments/businesses/rich people have infinite resources just waiting to be plundered and divvied up.
I remember that I recommended the book “The Incredible Secret Money Machine” by Don Lancaster, a while back. One of his maxims was “Never, ever hire employees”; hire out that work to another business instead. Even in the Seventies managing employee-related paperwork and issues were more trouble than they were worth.
Minimizing taxable property and income is indeed one of the few options we have left.
Wow, I never thought about all that couponing/rebating stuff like that before.
I have no thoughts on this topic yet because I am still trying to absorb it all and what it means.
I’m curious though. I do understand that, of course, someone will be paying for it all and, no, there will not be healthcare growing on trees. But is it really the end of our country? IDK.
I agree wholeheartedly. As an amputee, my ability to walk is dependent on a piece of machinery paid for by my insurance company. I have been an amputee for nearly 25 years (since I was 16) and have seen technology greatly improve prosthetics. However, that technology increased because insurance companies (and those few individuals who could pay out of pocket) were willing to pay for the new technologies. My current prosthesis–the best I’ve had–had a price tag of $60,000. There is NO WAY my husband and I can pay for any part of that by ourselves and the thought of going to an inferior leg makes crutches look good. My back has permanent damage from the years of walking on those legs. I am afraid that we will see technology in health care come to a halt. The taxes that will be needed to pay for this “legislation” will mean that the small company my husband works for will have to discontinue health care for its employees.
The whole thing is wrong—and sad.
Ann:
Unequivocably…yes. The way this bill is structured, private insurance companies will not be able to compete or withstand the new regulations. This will put private insurance out of business within 2-3 years. This was the plan all along. That means you will have to buy insurance from the government(socialized medicine) because they will be the only game in town. Again, this was the plan. That’s why Kucinich finally flipped. The Bill is already giving him what he wants: Single Payer insurance. None of them had actually read the Bill, including the President. Well, I take that back. John Boehner and Paul Ryan had definitely already read the Bill…and voted against it.
You will be REQUIRED to buy insurance or face penalities which will be enforced by the IRS. They will be adding 16,500 jobs in the IRS just to do this. This does not include all of the other expansion of the public sector to the point where there are more people at the government trough than in the private sector. This will, in addition to the Amnesty nightmare on the horizon, ensure more Democrat votes because that’s who will keep them fat and happy. While the rest of us strain under the weight of a massive and bloated government that seeks to penalize us for being responsible.
I’m in the “so stressed that I can’t stand thinking about it” category. So I’m just not. I’m trying to remember that we still have it better than most of the world who doesn’t have access to reliable food, water, and basic vaccines. And I’m going to try and eat healthy and take care of us so we hopefully don’t need too much. And I’m going to pray for a miracle.
I’m hoping that there’s a plausible argument somewhere that will have the Supreme Court striking this down. I don’t think it’ll be a Commerce Clause argument or an unfunded mandate argument, unfortunately, because conservatives lost those battles at the Supreme Court years ago. But maybe there’s something out there… here’s hoping.
My biggest concern (besides the fact that I may not be able to get pregnant again if I want to because I don’t know how fertility clinics are affected by this) is that this thing will simply bankrupt our government and cause its collapse. But that’s also unthinkable, so I will now juststop up my ears and start singing “la la la” to myself…
Could not agree with you more, even about the couponing nonsense (girlfriend, I loved that post). There are so many thoughts in my head right now and I’m sorry that I don’t have the time to write them all here. 😯 I do enjoy reading your posts, though. Keep up the good work.
We have seen this coming for some time. One of family members owned a business for 20+ years. NAFTA ruined their business, along with more and more federally mandated paperwork, guidelines, HR issues and payroll taxes. Then, on a personal note, the harder we worked, and the more money we made, the BIGGER (yes, I’m shouting) our taxes were. We purposefully put our monies in things that we could control. We don’t mind paying our share, we just don’t think our share should be 40% of our income!!! While we have lived a good life, we know it has been through God’s grace, our hard work, going without so we could have a retirement and savings for hard times, and not by anything the government has done for us. We are NOT going to work hard again, nor work to support a socialist system.
Also, we live in TN, a state who already almost went bankrupt due to a public health plan. It didn’t work here, and it ain’t gonna won’t work on the national level.
Thank you!!! You have hit the nail square on the head. I am so upset with this blatant disregard for the citizens of this country I don’t even know what to do with myself at times!! Out and out lies, complete disregard for our constitution and complete disregard for the will of the people..I keep wondering how these people manage to stay in office…but then I remember…they are in complete control! What a scary place our country has become. I heard a Democrat congressman say regarding the polls that the people of the United States were merely misinformed about the new health law and thus our opinions were merely misinformed opinions….interpreted that means….They don’t care what we think because they know best….how dare they!! 😡
My husband and I working toward doing just that~downsizing and learning to do as much for ourselves as we can so that we can live on a smaller income and thus decrease our taxes. We are self-employed too, and the taxes already are suffocating. I can’t imagine what they will be like in the future. We’ve got our house up for sale and are looking for a smaller house on a piece of land. It seems backward that the only way we can see to get ahead is to actually earn less money, but where’s the incentive? There isn’t any if it all or mostly ends up in taxes.
Carol G said:
It shouldn’t surprise us that this is their view since they view the average American as stupid and in need of their help in order to make it through the day.
I understand that there are some people in this country who do need help. It would be much better if it came through the community and places of worship rather than a bureaucracy hundreds or thousands of miles away.
I am so saddened by so many things; and like you feel the SAME WAY so I’m in your Amen corner Sallie.
Here’s another kicker for you to ponder; you know I’m a NC teacher for now right? Well we got no raise this year, no money for supplies, etc. in my county/state. But yesterday I had to sit thru a 1 hour meeting about taking a “safe schools” survey—and guess what? If I complete my survey, my name will be entered into a drawing for $500 each week for the next 4 weeks.
Made me so flippin’ mad. I mean, you can’t buy me pencils and pens to teach my kids with, but you can give people $500 for a survey contest
The world has lost all sense of priorities.
The people against the bill just didn’t know what was in it? That’s rich coming from a member of Congress. It would be easier to count the Congressmen that HAD actually read the bill than those that had not. I have a close friend who reads everything. As soon as the bill was posted she got to work and sent me bits of it as she she went through it. After awhile, it was too depressing to read. The radical left is on the march. Are we going to sit on the sidelines and watch or are going to engage them and turn back the tide?
A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling ‘Stop!’
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Yes, there is less and less incentive to work hard anymore, that is for sure.
This morning I was pondering all this and thinking about the projected 20-50% increase in insurance premiums. If ours goes up the middle of that amount (say 30%) this fall, we will be paying almost $1000 a month to insure the three of us. If it went up again the next year, then we would be paying in the $1200-$1500 range a month.
And then I felt the kick in the stomach. We may actually lose our health insurance because we will be priced out. I had not truly felt the truth of that. I knew it mentally but somehow had not fully felt it.
But if Obama’s goal is to put insurance companies out of business over the next few years to force a public option, I suspect David and I will be priced out before the public option would even start. How ironic to go from the ranks of the insured to uninsured because they are trying to “help” me.
And these costs will also be passed along to employees. I wonder how many companies will simply tell their employees that they either have to pay it all themselves or go without.
Sad and disturbing times, my friends. 🙁
I got up Monday morning and cried for a bit. It’s all just so frustrating and tragic, and I feel so hated by our Democrat overlords.
And I wonder what else is coming…a VAT which will further kill the economy…amnesty for illegal aliens which will further kill the economy…the nationalization of 401K accounts? (For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, Google it…)
One of my biggest frustrations is that every single time there have been tax cuts, whether nationally or in my state of CA, the economy has surged. The Democrats know this, but they don’t want to do it because they want the control over spending the money and they want a dependent population. (And…I could go on.) We could have an economy bouncing back by now if they’d only enacted large tax cuts and spending cuts last year. Instead they are driving the economy further and further into the ground, with this Obamacare monstrosity likely to bankrupt our nation.
I mostly stopped blogging about politics since Obama was elected because it’s so darn depressing…part of me wants to continue helping inform the public, but if I blogged politics it would be negative almost 24 hours a day, so I mostly write on lighter topics now. Thanks for giving us a place to commiserate, Sallie.
(And I can’t believe you lost readers over your comments on coupons!! I use grocery store coupons…but you’re totally right about the economics. Some people sure seem to have thin skins.)
Best wishes,
Laura
I have a hunch that was it next is amnesty for illegal aliens…so the Democrats can win the elections again. More genius from the party of corruption.
I agree. Amnesty is coming soon to a country near you. You could bet the farm on it.
I actually saw 2 news reports on this today. It’s started! 😡
Yes, I lost readers. People were really upset about the coupons post. On the one hand I understand. It probably hit close to home. There are a lot of women out there who are very into it and are proud of what they accomplish with it. My intention wasn’t to make them out to be bad people but to raise awareness of how ridiculous it is that we have to go to such lengths and that it isn’t free.
I try not to write about politics much any longer. It is too depressing, as you said. I could write something about politics or the economy every day. I just don’t. I don’t want to live there all the time in my head.
I totally agree with your 100%. I am putting all my hopes on the state lawsuits against the constitutionality of the health care bill, and to vote out all the Democrats in November. My concern is will people still be as angry in November? Or will they continue to be hookwicked by the PR of the Democrats? I am so upset but I am also educating my friends. So many of them were not following it closely and once I educated them on the cons of the health care, they changed their tune. So we must do all we can to educate, educate and educate other people so they do not follow Obama blindly. I’m glad that you share your feelings with us. Good to know there are at least many of us out there who feel the same way.
By way of update – I just saw an article on what this bill means to be companies like Caterpillar. They will spend a few million just on the new issues from the bill. So, bottom line, no matter what size your company is, the costs will raise everything – taxes, insurance rates, hiring less people due to costs of all this, etc. Don’t get me started on UPS – they applied for a bailout and it looks like they either got it, or about to. Can you see the steam coming out of my ears yet? 👿