Knock, Knock Neo

Liberty is on the ropes Neo. Time is against you. Harry Reid has released his 2,074 page, budget busting, health care socialization bill. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that Mr. Reid’s government-take-over bill will cost at least $848 billion while leaving 24 million persons uninsured. The actual price tag is likely to be much, much more than the projected $848 billion because the CBO is notorious for underestimating the cost of government run programs. For example Medicare's actual cost was more than 10 times the amount estimated by the CBO.

Mr. Reid’s bill forces people to buy insurance under threat of punishment (with fines and jail time possible). Mr. Reid’s government take-over bill reduces care for seniors, and creates new bureaucratic controls that will force many doctors to close shop or retire early. Mr. Reid’s bill imposes new taxes on the middle-class, the upper-middle class and on small businesses.

Harry Reid’s bill to socialize your health care can be stopped but there is very little time left to act. Call, email, or fax your senator right now and respectfully ask him or her to vote against cloture on the motion to proceed.

Think about it. Government is the negation of freedom. Freedom is your power and ability to follow your own free will and your own conscience. The government wants you to follow the will of some faceless bureaucrat.

When I recently asked Congressman James Clyburn, the third ranking Democrat in the House, to tell me "Where in the Constitution the federal government is authorized to regulate everyone's healthcare," he replied that most of what Congress does is not authorized by the Constitution, but they do it anyway. There you have it. Congress recognizes no limits on its power. It doesn't care about the Constitution, it doesn't care about your inalienable rights, it doesn't care about the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights, it doesn't even read the laws it writes.

America, this is not an academic issue. If this health care bill becomes law, life as you have known it, freedom as you have exercised it, privacy as you have enjoyed it, will cease to be.

When Congress takes away our freedoms, they will be gone forever. What will you do to prevent this from happening? - Judge Andrew Napolitano

Call, email, or fax your senator right now and respectfully ask him or her to vote against cloture on the motion to proceed. Ask you senator to vote no on any form of government-run health care. Act now. Time is against you Neo. The vote will probably take place this Saturday. Remember. Only you can prevent socialism.

http://www.libery101.us/

A Letter to President Obama

On January 23rd, 2009 I posted the following letter to President Obama. I am disapointed to report that not one of my humble suggestions has been followed. In fact, President Obama has pursued a policy that does the exact opposite of what I suggested. Unfortunately, President Obama's strategy has not worked and we are now suffering from double digit inflation, lingering recession, unprecedented debt, unprecedented government takeover or intervention into the private sector, and two misguided and protracted wars. And so, I respectfully and humbly resubmit, word for word, my letter from 1/23/2009 to President Obama.

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Dear President Obama,

Congratulations on your new job. I wish you well and hope that you will consider a few suggestions I have for what to do to end the recession and restore America to greatness. I offer these suggestions to you with humility and with great sincerity.

• Reduce taxes on everyone, rich and poor, to a flat rate of 10% or less, and eliminate all tax breaks and loopholes. No more progressive taxation. This will stimulate the economy, encourage productivity, reduce bureaucracy, virtually eliminate tax cheats, reduce tax crime, cut the IRS in half, and save everyone a lot of time. Gradually move to a low-rate, all-voluntary tax of some sort.
• Reduce corporate taxes so that they are the lowest in the world. This will quickly end the recession, drive productivity through the roof in virtually all business sectors, attract businesses to locate in the USA. Draw investments of all sorts from all over the world, create thousands and thousands and thousands of jobs, and keep America strong.
• Eliminate capital gain taxes. This will stimulate investment, stimulate trade, increase productivity, and help to heal the capital markets.
• Eliminate all subsidies including farm subsidies and energy subsidies. This will force businesses to compete on a level playing field without special favor. It will allow those businesses that are making the best use of limited resources to prevail while at the same time allowing unprofitable businesses that are wasting limited resources to fail. Eliminating subsidies will cause prices for food, energy, and other things to stay low and go lower as a result of improved market efficiencies from competition.
• Eliminate all corporate tax breaks. This will force businesses to focus on serving consumers rather than soliciting Congress. Put an end to corporate welfare.
• Gradually phase out and ultimately privatize virtually all “entitlements” e.g. social security, Medicare, etc. Stop the slide toward Socialism before it is too late. End the Nanny State.
• Get our army out of Iraq and Afghanistan ASAP and return our forces from any foreign bases that are not necessary for national defense. Destroy any enemy that attacks us but please end the “war on terror.” Terror is not an enemy; terror is a tactic.
• Eliminate all trade barriers and tariffs. This will increase our prosperity and make the world a safer place. This will inspire many other nations to do the same. Avoid trade protectionism.
• Make a Constitutional Amendment requiring a balanced federal budget (with an exception for real, and legally declared wars in which we are attacked by another nation). Stop borrowing and pay down the debt. Living within our means will ensure the long-term survival of our nation. Living within our means will ensure a better world for our posterity.
• Uphold the Constitution. The Constitution is not a living document. Uphold it with strict obedience. If you don't like it, then seek a super majority to change it.
• Appoint judges who are strict constructionists. If the law means whatever a judge wants it to mean then the rule of law is lost and so is the Republic.
• Sell all government owned property and government run entities that are not essential to national security or expressly authorized by the Constitution to the private sector. Apply the money to the National Debt. The private sector will make far better use of land and other assets than the ever inefficient and wasteful government.
• Eliminate all of the Federal “alphabet” agencies unless they are specifically authorized by the Constitution.
• Eliminate and outlaw all price controls. Price controls always cause market inefficiencies. Eliminating them will ensure market efficiencies and reduce waste.
• Phase out the Federal Reserve. Let interest rates float with the markets. Reestablish sound money. Avoid another Great Depression.
• Eliminate the minimum wage. The minimum wage costs jobs and cripples business development. Eliminating it will create new jobs and new opportunities for those just entering the workforce.
• Eliminate Sarbanes Oxley and hundreds of other value destroying regulations and pieces of bureaucratic legislation. Put the government back into the role of policing the market rather than crippling and trying to own and run the market.
• Eliminate affirmative action. The government’s role is to provide a level playing field with an equal opportunity for all to participate. The government’s role is not to guarantee the outcome. Guaranteed opportunity for all; guaranteed outcome for none.
• Overturn the Patriot act and restore habeas corpus and other constitutionally guaranteed rights. Uphold the Constitution.
• Make it a crime for Congress to pass “price gouging,” legislation, “windfall profits taxes” legislation, or any other arbitrary form of profit seizure. Let the market forces work so that citizens can enjoy the benefits of that most efficient of systems, capitalism. Don’t punish prosperity and more people will prosper.
• Overturn the Kelo Act and restore private property rights to their Constitutional standard. Freedom will soon be lost without solid property rights.
• Overturn all gun control laws that prevent honest citizens from purchasing, keeping, and bearing personal self-defense weapons and ammunition on their private property. The right to life means nothing if one is denied the ability to defend that life.
• Overturn McCain Feingold and all other unconstitutional legislation. Protect the First Amendment.
• Forbid the government from paying for faith-based initiatives or any other activities not authorized by the Constitution.
• Get the government completely out of the health care business and all other businesses not expressly permitted by the Constitution. Socialism never works. Don’t doom the American People to long lines and shortages.
• Eliminate all government monopolies that are not expressly permitted by the Constitution. Allow private industry to compete directly with constitutionally authorized government entities e.g. the post office, fire departments, and utilities. Competition makes every type of business more efficient.
• End the so called "war on drugs." Stop the madness.
• Create an easy to use guest worker program. This will destroy the illegal immigration black market, improve relationships with our neighbors to the south, make it easier to watch for terrorists, and save thousands of lives.
• Monitor and protect our borders but do not build an iron curtain on our border with Mexico.
• Allow drilling off our coasts and in Alaska. This will increase the world’s supply of energy, keep fuel prices lower, and create thousands of new private sector jobs.
• Privatize virtually all public schools and universities. Competition will ensure excellence, increase efficiencies, and increase teacher pay.
• Veto the Union card check law and overturn legislation that gives unions unfair negotiation advantages. This will increase prosperity, create jobs, and reduce violence and entitlement in our society.
• Never give a bailout or a stimulus package to any individual or firm. The market will self correct. The government created the housing and credit “bubble” with bad policy and socialistic interventions (Artificially low interest rates by the Fed, Freddy Mac, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve, Community Reinvestment Act, etc, etc). The government, by picking and choosing winners in the market, by bailing out failure, and by embracing nationalization and selective-socialism can only slow and prolong the recovery. No bailouts, and no stimulus packages. No more socialistic wealth redistribution.

I’m sure I’ll think of more things later. But, for now if you would please consider this short list I will be most grateful. Congratulations again on your new job and thanks for your service to our Country.

Sincerely,
Mark Van Schuyver, Citizen USA http://www.liberty101.us/

PS If you have time to read a good book, please consider reading F. A. Hayek's masterpiece, The Fatal Conceit. Thank you Mr. President.

Who Loses with Obamacare? You do.

President Obama praised Nancy Pelosi’s Affordable HealthCare for America bill claiming that this bill “Will provide stability and security for Americans who have insurance; quality, affordable options for those who don’t; and bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses, and our government while strengthening the financial health of Medicare.” But the independent and non-partisan agency in charge of running Medicare and Medicaid, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services beg to differ. According to their report this 1.2 trillion dollar health care “over hall” means that:

Cost will Go Up. Way up.
Health care costs will increase under Obama Care in calendar years 2010 through 2019 by a staggering $289 billion. The report finds that millions of American’s will lose their private health insurance, “We estimate that such actions would collectively reduce the number of people with employer-sponsored health coverage by about 12 million.”

Fines and Penalties will be Levied Upon the Uninsured
The Center’s for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate that 18 million American’s will choose not to be insured and to pay the penalty instead. According to the Heritage Foundation, “18 million Americans will either face jail time or be forced to pay a new tax they will receive no benefit from."

Welfare Roles will Expand Dramatically
Obama Care will force millions of Americans into Medicaid, in other words onto welfare. According to the Heritage Foundation “Those 21 million people who are gaining health insurance through Medicaid are going to have a very tough time finding a doctor who will treat them.”

Access for Seniors Will be Greatly Reduced
The report estimates that 8.5 million seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage. The Affordable HealthCare for America bill includes cuts in Medicare that will punish Seniors by reducing their access to medical care. These cuts are so deep that hospitals that provide services for Medicare patients will likely be unable to continue to do so.

It’s not too late to stop this rush toward a government take over of health care in America. Rather that a government run system that will increase costs and reduce consumer control we suggest free market solutions. For starters we should:

• Allow individuals to purchase insurance with pre-tax dollars so that individuals will be on equal footing with corporations. This will lower prices and reduce the number of uninsured.
• Allow individuals and small businesses to pool together to increase their purchasing power and be on equal footing with corporations. This will lower prices and reduce the number of uninsured.
• Allow the purchase of insurance across state and international boundaries. This will vastly increase competition and thus lower prices while inspiring innovation.
• Allow individuals to take their insurance with them when they change jobs. This will reduce the number of temporarily uninsured.
• Reform tort laws to discourage frivolous law suits. This will lower costs and improve services.
• Lower the corporate tax rate to 10% or less on all American businesses. This will make American health care providers and insurance providers far more competitive and will attract customers from abroad. Lower taxes will mean lower prices that will in turn reduce the number of uninsured.
• Forbid the government from taking money out of the Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security tax fund base. No more unfunded liabilities (these programs have amassed trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities).
• Gradually privatize Medicare (over a period of 20 years or so).

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be Tried in NYC

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11/2001 atrocities and four co-conspirators will be tried in civilian court in New York City. “In addition to claiming responsibility for the September 11 attacks, Mohammed has said he carried out other attacks and in 2002 beheaded kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.” Said Jeremy Pelofsky and James Vicini in their Reuters article.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder deflected hard questions from the press declaring, "I am confident in the ability of our courts to provide these defendants a fair trial, just as they have for over 200 years. I am quite confident that the outcomes in these cases will be successful ones." We can only hope that Holder is right. The risks are enormous. Consider the fact that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his accomplices Walid bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al Hawsawi were captured during military operations overseas and held as prisoners of war by the US Army. Their incarceration and harsh interrogation was carried out under military rules that were legal at the time. As alleged war criminals Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his crew were not entitled to the protections of the US civil court system e.g. Miranda Rights, etc. It was presumed that these alleged mass murderers and war criminals would be tried under military law. But now, all of a sudden, at the whim of a new and inexperienced president all that has changed.

President Obama has decided to transfer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his crew into the US civil court system. We believe that this is a big mistake. Consider the facts. There is no doubt that this trial will be a protracted affair that will cost millions of tax payer dollars while generating tons of free press for Al-Qaeda and its radical Islamic sympathizers. There is no doubt the attorneys appointed to defend Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his accomplices will take advantage of the differences between military rules and civil rules such as Miranda rights and that one phone call and that means these monsters might go free in New York City!

There is great risk that the judge, the jury, and the city of New York itself may be targeted by Al-Qaeda and or its radical Islamic sympathizers. And there is no doubt that the socialist left will use this protracted civil trial as a political tool and attempt to punish the CIA, the Military, and as many members of the Bush Administration as possible for as many things as possible.

President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder believe that these military trials should be held in civilian court. They are confident that this is the best way to seek justice against the admitted 9/11 mastermind and his alleged accomplices. We can only hope that President Obama and Attorney General Holder are right.

Jimmy Carter II?

Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. . . The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world. As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions - President Jimmy Carter, July 15, 1979

Is President Obama another Jimmy Carter? Are we headed for another Carter era with astonomical interest rates, an astonomical inflation rate, and astonomical  unemployment? Maybe so. Consider this small sample of the hope and change President Obama has thus far delivered:

• President Obama signed the nearly 1 trillion dollar “stimulus” package that has, as we predicted, utterly failed to stimulate the economy but has succeeded in rewarding special interest groups, increasing the size of government, inflating the money supply, tripling the national debt, and driving unemployment into double digits.
• Mr. Obama and his allies in Congress have nationalized the semi-private mortgage giants Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae.
• President Obama has assumed control of the banking industry.
• President Obama has taken over much of the Auto industry.
• Mr. Obama and his allies in congress are on the verge of completing a European style take over of the health care industry that will drive taxes through the roof, explode the national debt, and cost an estimated 1.2 trillion dollars over the next ten years.
• Mr. Obama has imposed trade barriers against China.
• President Obama’s Fed has printed trillions of dollars in fiat money that threaten to create hyper inflation and perhaps the destruction of the dollar.
• President Obama has pledged to increase taxes (repeal of the Bush tax cuts).
• President Obama has assumed control of the finance industry and is in the process of imposing new draconian regulations to “manage” the risk.
• On the international scene President Obama has escalated the war in Afghanistan by adding 17 thousand troops, is contemplating sending 40,000 more troops, and has yet to identify the mission.
• President Obama has failed to get us out of Iraq
• Mr. Obama has extended the hand of Jimmy Carter-like weakness to the despots of the world.

Although there are similarities in their world views, President Obama’s actions so far are as bad or worse than Jimmy Carter’s actions. We can only hope that President Obama will wake up and realize that the vast majority of the people of the USA do not share his vision of a socialist America.

Is Hyper-Inflation Inevitable?

CommonSenseLiberty posted this comment:

Good post, Mark. I would only add that we may not make it to the point where our grandchildren will inherit the debt. It seems to me that a currency crash is much more likely. The pressure on politicians to create more fiat money is going to be tremendous. I predict that they will fold and lead us into hyper-inflation. If time permits, I would like to hear your thoughts on the subject. - CommonSenseLiberty

Thanks CommonSenseLiberty. Thanks also for your great BLOG. Readers please check it out here: http://commonsenseliberty.wordpress.com/ Here’s my response . . .

 

Milton Friedman said, “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” Printing trillions of dollars out of thin air, as our government is doing is the quintessential recipe for hyperinflation. Those trillions of fiat dollars that the government has already printed are floating on the books in Fed-land just waiting to fly out the door as soon as demand rises. Meanwhile our currency is rapidly losing value and the world is losing faith in the dollar. We are, theoretically, on a crash course for hyperinflation and possibly for currency collapse.

In spite of this grim news I remain fairly optimistic. I’m guessing that we have about a 40% chance to avoid hyperinflation and a total currency meltdown in the near future. I know that this sounds like wishful thinking when you consider the amazing blunders our government has made, or is about to make including the following.

• Our government has nationalized Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae, assumed ownership or control of most of the financial industry, the banking industry, the financial insurance industry, most of the automobile industry, and is on the verge of taking over the health care industry.
• The Fed is holding interest rates at near zero while printing trillions dollars out of thin air and printing lots more to pay for the so-called economic stimulus packages that did not stimulate.
• Stimulus II is on the way! Keynesian economist Paul Krugman is urging President Obama to enact yet another “bigger economic stimulus package.” In layman’s terms, “If it’s not working do more of it.” Crazy as it sounds "Stimulus II" may very well happen.
• Our government is borrowing billions of dollars from China and other countries so that it can continue to spend beyond our means and make the payments on our astronomical and rapidly rising national debt.

Despite all this I am betting that we have about a 40% chance to avoid hyperinflation and a total currency meltdown in the near future for three reasons. First I do not believe that the majority of the American people really want socialism. I suspect that the overtly socialist policies of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid are not what voters expected when they threw the Republican bums out. There is a growing resistance to the tax, spend, borrow and print mentality of our current leaders. Fear of not getting re-elected and economic reality may slow the nanny-state juggernaut down a bit as we enter 2010. If the rush to socialism can be delayed until the 2010 elections the Republic has a chance for survival.

Second, the Fed (terrible, central planning entity that it is) has a plan to “sop up” these trillions of printed dollars. My economist friends tell me that it might work. No one knows for sure.

Third, the US economy is very powerful and difficult to destroy. Production is pretty good right now and if productivity rises rapidly it may help to absorb some of the printed trillions thereby mitigating some of the looming inflation.

And finally, lending restrictions are much stricter now that they were before the housing bubble burst. These tougher lending standards may restrict the flow of the stockpiled trillions somewhat, thereby reducing the chances of hyperinflation.

 

We might get by in the short term but if we continue down this socialistic path we will most certainly experience hyperinflation, currency collapse, economic decline, and the loss of our personal, political, and economic freedom in the not too distant future. Make no mistake President Obama and his allies in Congress are marching us double time along the Road to Serfdom. We've got precious little time to get back to the path of liberty and prosperity.

In Response to Jay from Canada

Jay asks,

I have a bit different perspective than most of you would, since I'm Canadian . . .but please allow me a question: (Literty101 said) “Washington will ultimately decide what doctors you can see, what treatments you deserve . . . and, when you're sick, will you be worth their cost?" Well, right now, doesn't your insurer do exactly that? Decide what doctors you can see and the rest of it? Thanks for your response. I don't mean to flame. – Jay

You make a good point Jay. Our health care system is far from perfect. Many people mistakenly believe that we have a free market health care system here in the USA but this is simply not true. In reality, we in the United States have a health care market that is 50% socialist because approximately 50% of the industry is government run (nationalized) via Medicare, Medicaid, SChip, Indian Health Care, V.A., and more. The other 50% of our health care market suffers from heavy government intervention. This remaining 50% of our health care market is anything but free. It is most accurately described as corporatist, national-socialist, or fascist. Some economists describe our heavily politicized market economy as a form of political capitalism, state capitalism, or mixed economy (i.e. part capitalist and part socialist). Austrian Economist von Mises refered to this sort of heavily government controlled market as a “hampered market.” Bottom line is that we do not have a free market capitalist health care system in the USA.

Government intervention has created, over the years, a perverse set of incentives that has resulted in many market distortions. These market distortions reduce innovation, destroy value for consumers, and drive costs up at an unnatural rate. One of the most significant market distortions is the tax exemption that employers receive for providing insurance for workers. This intervention (along with several other related interventions) has resulted in the removal of the patient from the negotiation process for prices and services. In other words big corporations negotiate prices and service limits with insurance companies. The patient does not even see the price at the time of purchase. Without price signals, the consumer has no “skin in the game.” Consumers order premium medications and services without little regard for price. This is one of the reasons why health care costs rise at a much higher rate than prices in other industries.

Most of our elected officials believe that the way to fix this and other problems in our health care system is to increase the amount of government intervention into the market. In my opinion the answer is not more government intervention but rather to get the government out of the health care business altogether. Here’s what I suggest for starters.

1. Allow individuals to purchase insurance with pre-tax dollars so that individuals will be on equal footing with corporations. This will lower prices and reduce the number of uninsured.
2. Allow individuals and small businesses to pool together to increase their purchasing power and be on equal footing with corporations. This will lower prices and reduce the number of uninsured.
3. Allow the purchase of insurance across state and international boundaries. This will vastly increase competition and thus lower prices while inspiring innovation.
4. Allow individuals to take their insurance with them when they change jobs. This will reduce the number of temporarily uninsured.
5. Reform tort laws to discourage frivolous law suits. This will lower costs and improve services.
6. Lower the corporate tax rate to 10% or less on all American businesses. This will make American health care providers and insurance providers far more competitive and will attract customers from abroad. Lower taxes will mean lower prices that will in turn reduce the number of uninsured.
7. Forbid the government from taking money out of the Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security tax fund base. No more unfunded liabilities (these programs have amassed trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities).
8. Gradually privatize Medicare (over a period of 20 years or so).

With the extreme waste, fraud, and general failure of Medicare and the other government run health care programs in America the government has proven that it cannot run health care programs efficiently. It is time for the government to get out of the market place and back into its constitutionally defined role as protector of freedom and free markets.

$1.05 trillion dollar Nanny State health care bill passes the House

With the passage of H.R. 3962 the government is now one step closer to a complete take-over of the private health care system in America. If Speaker Pilosi's bill becomes law it will bust our already broken budget and reduce our personal freedom by imposing unprecedented mandates with hefty fines on individuals and employers. This Nanny State health care overhaul will cost an estimated $1.05 trillion over the next decade.

If it becomes law this new government run healthcare scheme will raise taxes on small businesses and directly and/or indirectly on individuals rich and poor. The House’s government run health care scheme punishes the elderly by slashing projected spending on Medicare by an estimated $500 billion and by cutting payments to Medicare Advantage plans.

"Big government doesn't mean better health care," said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.). "This is not the reform families need. This is all about taking a giant first step toward a single-payer national health-care system. Washington will ultimately decide what doctors you can see, what treatments you deserve . . . and, when you're sick, will you be worth their cost?"

Nanny State medicine means much higher taxes, reduced innovation, long waiting lines, brain drain, and reduced services especially for seniors. Worse still, Nanny State medicine represents a massive reduction of your personal freedom. It puts government bureaucrats between you and your doctor. This bill takes away your right to make choices about your own health care. Nanny State medicine is a budget buster that will cost the nation jobs in the near term and dump a massive debt burden on your grandchildren.

The House Votes on Socialist Medicine. A Dark Day for America

Tonight, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will bring H.R. 3962 to a vote. This so-called “health care reform” bill is 1,990 pages of pure socialism. Sadly, this enormously destructive bill is very likely to pass. Wall Street Journal’s Betsy McCaughey reports on just a few of the outrageous things that this socialistic bill will force you to do:

An individual earning $44,000 before taxes who purchases his own insurance will have to pay a $5,300 premium and an estimated $2,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, for a total of $7,300 a year, which is 17% of his pre-tax income. A family earning $102,100 a year before taxes will have to pay a $15,000 premium plus an estimated $5,300 out-of-pocket, for a $20,300 total, or 20% of its pre-tax income. . .

When you file your taxes, you must include proof that you are in a qualified plan. If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars. . .

In addition to reducing future Medicare funding by an estimated $500 billion, the bill fundamentally changes how Medicare pays doctors and hospitals, permitting the government to dictate treatment decisions. . . .

Sec. 1161 (pp. 520-545) cuts payments to Medicare Advantage plans (used by 20% of seniors). . .  this will result in reductions in optional benefits such as vision and dental care. . . (complete)

The bottom line. Socialized medicine is bad for America. Socialized medicine means much higher taxes, stifled innovation, long waiting lines, brain drain, and reduced services especially for seniors. Worse still, the House version of socialist medicine, that will almost certainly pass tonight, represents a massive reduction of your personal freedom to the tune of approximately 6% of GDP that will now be fully controlled by the government. The vote is about to get underway. This night is shaping up to be a very dark day for America.

The Socialization of America

The socialization of America is well under way. In just 10 months President Obama and his allies have socialized huge sections of the private sector including the banking industry, the finance industry, and the automobile industry. And now the President and his supporters are just a few votes away from socializing the health care industry (about 16% of GDP in total, 50% of which is already socialized and suffering from enormous waste and fraud). If this trend continues it will not be long until America becomes a fully socialized country.

In case you are wondering, socialism has a 100% failure rate. Prominent examples of the failure of socialism include the former USSR, Cuba, and North Korea. If you measure success in terms of prosperity, i.e. food, shelter, clothing, health care, paychecks, and such there has never been a successful socialist society.

A free society, such as the one envisioned by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America is the opposite of a socialized society. A free society begins with the principle of self-ownership. According to this standard the individual is the sole proprietor of his or her own person, ideas, speech, body, and any property that he or she might come to possess through lawful means. In a free society one man or woman’s freedom ends where another man or woman’s nose begins. In other words a free society is a society grounded in property rights. The most fundamental property right of all being the right of self-proprietorship. In a free society the role of government is limited to the protection of individual rights.

President Obama’s double time march toward socialism is a cold slap in the face of freedom. His actions are a reminder that ultimately there is no middle ground between a slave state and a free society. If we are to be free we must choose between two opposites, socialism or capitalism. So, pick one

A) Socialism, i.e. statism, corporatism, progressivism, fascism, collectivism, mixed-economy, church-state, welfare-state, nanny-state, central planning, Marxism, economic interventionism, military interventionism, warfare state, and all other types of totalitarianism.

Or

B) Capitalism, i.e. a social system that operates under rule of law and is based on the recognition and protection of individual rights, including property rights, in which virtually all property is privately owned.

Freedom or slavery, which shall it be?