Double Whammy

by Peter Schiff

Misguided government policies have already dealt vicious body blows to our economy, but that hasn’t stopped politicians this week from launching two new kicks to the groin: a national health insurance plan and a carbon emissions regulation system called “cap and trade.” Even if these plans could achieve their desired ends, which is highly unlikely, I would have hoped Washington would refrain from throwing more monkey wrenches into the economy until it shows some signs of resurgence. The last thing we need right now is to further encumber our economy with higher taxes and additional regulations.

The meteoric rise in health care costs, which has become an unending nightmare for U.S. businesses and consumers, is not an accident. This painful condition has arisen from excess government involvement in the system, tax provisions that encourage the over-utilization of health insurance, and government support of an out-of-control malpractice industry. Rather than allowing more bad policy to drive health care costs further upward, we should be looking at ways to allow market forces to rein them back in.

If left alone, the free market drives quality up and costs down. Government programs produce the opposite result. Despite the president’s claim that a federal plan will bring costs down, there is no historical precedent for such faith.

Simply providing more widespread health insurance, as the Obama plan offers, is not a solution. In fact, it will aggravate the problem. Since consumers no longer pay for routine medical expenses out of pocket, comprehensive health insurance creates a moral hazard for both patients and doctors. To maximize the value of the health insurance “benefit,” most workers opt for low deductibles and co-pays. Therefore, doctors learn that their patients are not concerned with the cost of care, and so they are free to bill insurance companies at the maximum allowable rates.

Given our current tax code, the simplest way to bring down medical costs would be to fully tax health care benefits as wages and simultaneously increase the personal deduction by an amount significant enough to neutralize the effect of the tax increase. This would do two things. First, the uninsured would get a huge pay increase, enabling them to buy reasonably priced catastrophic policies. Second, those currently insured could opt out of expensive employer-provided plans, trading premiums for extra wages, then buy a more economical plan. The savings would go right into their pockets.

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A Recent History of The US Economy

Daniel Hannan’s 2009 EU Elections Results Speech

Enjoy

Civil Liberties and the Winds of ‘Change’

The latest threat to our freedom is coming from the “progressives”

by Justin Raimondo, June 12, 2009

Remember back in the bad old  days, when the Bush administration and its amen corner in the flag-lapel button- wearing media were riding high, and Andrew Sullivan was denouncing anyone who opposed Bush’s crazed foreign policy as being part of a pro-terrorist “fifth column“? The atmosphere of those times is something everyone — or practically everyone — would like to forget. Because that’s when all the brave “liberals” and their “progressive” and even “radical” brethren were cowering over the covers, and under the bed, silent as the few who dared to speak out — Susan Sontag, Michael Moore, Phil Donahue, and,  of course, the writers for this web site — were pilloried as being accessories to the murder of those who died on 9/11.

Back then, it was the left that was being demonized, and the methodology of the War Party was pretty gruesome to behold: like a wolf pack on the rampage, they would glom on to some lone wacko, or marginal group of wackos, who would be held up as exemplars of a broader tendency within the anti-Bush anti-war opposition. I remember an account of an antiwar rally by Andrew Sullivan that homed in on the fact that someone was hawking the edges of the crowd with copies of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Aha! screeched the Inquisitor-in-chief, an office Sullivan appointed himself to before the smoke had cleared from the ruins of the World Trade Building — the antiwar movement is anti-Semitic!

As unreasonable and downright weird as this seems, in retrospect there was a method to this madness: the rhetoric of Sullivan and his fellow “war-bloggers” was rich with implications of treason. After all, what nation allows an “fifth column” to operate openly during wartime? Civil liberties are the first items to be thrown overboard when the ship of state starts listing, a fact easily borne out by the history of this country, from the Alien and Sedition Acts to the PATRIOT Act. The pro-war right-wing was clearly trying to create an atmosphere where no one would dare to speak out, for fear of the consequences — and, if anyone did speak out, they were intent on laying the political as well as the legal groundwork for shutting them up forthwith.

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Peter Schiff on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Peter Schiff
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Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Newt Gingrich Unedited Interview

Ron Paul – I won’t back down

Amazing Video. Go Ron!

Obama’s Candor Refreshing; His Policies, Not So Much

by Adam Kokesh, June 06, 2009

President Obama delivered a speech yesterday at Cairo University that has already been noted around the world as unique for its candor. It has been translated into thirteen languages and stirred emotions throughout the Middle East. There were a number of issues that he raised that we do not hear about very often from politicians in Washington, let alone the President himself. Unfortunately, his policies are all too typical of the establishment.

He buttered up the audience with praise of Muslims’ contributions to civilization before he went straight into Afghanistan. “We did not go by choice, we went because of necessity. . . . Make no mistake: We do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan.” Perhaps there was a necessity to pursue some legitimate target after 9/11, which he invoked, but the disproportionate nature of the attack was a choice, the perpetuation of the occupation for eight years now is a choice, and Obama’s surge of thirty thousand troops in Afghanistan is HIS choice.

Regarding Afghanistan, he said, “We seek no military bases there.” This must be in contrast to his plan for Iraq which will leave 50,000 troops there indefinitely on 14 permanent bases. “Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice.” So is his commitment to maintaining the occupation indefinitely. This is the one place we have gotten lots of change from Obama on his foreign policy. First, he wanted to end the war in Iraq. Then he wanted to end it in 12 months. Then it was 16. Then 16 months and a “residual force.” Then, after taking office and meeting with generals on the ground in  early March, he extended his plan again, this time to 19 months, to coincide with his first midterm election. I do not believe that was coincidence.

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Gerald Celente’s Predictions – 2010 Economy will restart deterioration after temporary reprieve.

My easy recipe for preventing or stopping the common cold.

Use this recipe to end colds before they get started. For example, last night as I was about to go to bed I realized I had a slight sore throat. The kind you always hope won’t turn into a cold, but when you wake up you are no longer in denial. So I went to the fridge and made this…

Blackstrap Orange Juice

Ingredients
1 Cup of Orange Juice
2 Tablespoons of Blackstrap Molasses

Combine Ingredients in Glass and Drink.

No more sore throat. And I have lots of vitamins and minerals.   No mystery of why.  Take a look at the Nutrition I got from this drink.

Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Manganese, Iron, Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Vitamin B6, Potassium, and Thiamin

Angel talks about Campaign for Liberty and HR1207

Hope for preserving liberty and our country!

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