Fear factors, & a simple response

Linda K. Brown wrote a nice, simple, and to the point rebuttal to the myths that are being spread about the proposed healthcare reforms.

Please send this to your local paper, your crazy GOP representative, or any other place where these myths are being published.

If you're really afraid of a giant government who does not represent your best interests, do nothing and let the crazies succeed. If you want your government to answer to you, then take real positive action. Allowing the insurance industry to win just makes us weaker, and ensures we will not get ahead of our financial crisis. Healthcare reform is the best way to ensure every American is doing their part to contribute to the economy.

Representative Chaffetz does not want to hear the truth

Had an interesting call with a staff member of Representative Chaffetz' office. If you call to share your views, you are ridiculed, told you are wrong, and told that everyone who calls the office opposes any public healthcare options.

Being me, I wasn't pleased with that reply and spent the next twenty minutes pointing out the facts about public healthcare. The kind that works in every other prosperous nation on earth. It was responded to with near screaming about how "the French don't look healthy. I've never seen a French person that looks good." She also told me that no insurance company gets into the business to make a profit, and that they don't make that much money. Then argued that "almost all hospitals are operating in the red."

I told her it was interesting that I could pull up the financial reports of every publicly traded insurance company and see their massive profit margins, excessive executive pay, and prove everything she said wrong. I told her about the internet, and how you can search each insurance company and examine their financial statements.

Then it was time for gloves off. I pointed out that Congressman Chaffetz has not represented anyone in his time in office, but simply just wants to vote against everything like a political puppet. She called me rude. To which I said, "you can tell me that I am out of touch with reality, insult an entire nation, and yell at me that my research, friends, and family are lies, then have the audacity to call my very true statement rude. What has the representative done to contribute to anything he has voted against, or provide reasonable alternatives?"

The conversation turned. Now the "I'm right because I have a script" turned into, let's discuss things that the representative believes would help. The basic solution was, having local chamber of commerce collectively negotiate lower insurance rates for small businesses and individuals. When I asked how that reduced insurance company overheads and reduced their profits, she asked if I would support rules that would make all the insurance companies non-profit.

Wait, can the U.S. Government force businesses to be non-profit? I suppose they could, but then is the aid to Rep. Chaffetz proposing government takeover of the insurance companies?

Hmm, semantics I suppose. It's okay for the government to force businesses to not make money, but we're afraid of giving our government the ability to provide affordable healthcare.

Trying to force the insurance companies to play by new rules will only result in rising costs. Public healthcare is not socialism, but the government telling private industry how they can operate does seem a bit totalitarian to me. Now who's fighting for freedom? Not Representative Chaffetz and the GOP.

Istanbul, not Constantinople

Just a cross-post that combined my two passions, marketing and politics. Hope you enjoy.

When we talk about government waste, this is the real definition. Not investments in infrastructure and public improvements that our current administration is undertaking.

When politics becomes a game of "who's running the homeowners' association" they are not helping anyone. Government's role is to protect the people and provide the basis for a society. Not to subsidize marketing efforts for corporations and manipulative entrepreneurs.

Healthcare reform - It is necessary

First, a couple of facts:

The private insurance system in America is more socialism than public healthcare because the few pay for the many. If you're upset about paying for other people's healthcare, you must oppose our current system in which if you are paying premiums, co-pays, etc. you are paying mostly the costs of the uninsured. All rates are higher because of the problem of hospitals and doctors having to recoup their costs from uninsured and bankruptcies.

Second, almost 60% of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills. Over 75% of those families were insured. The lesson: playing by the rules and being responsible does not work. That means the system is broken. That would be like showing up for work, doing your job, and having them hand you a bill rather than a paycheck.

America needs healthcare reform, and it needs to stop being run by for-profit unregulated corporate giants. The myths about "social healthcare" are nonsense. It works around the globe, and provides better quality of life for residents in nearly every country on earth. France has public healthcare, it's cheaper than American premiums, and has more choice than the American system. Rather than listening to ignorant talking heads who are just trying to improve ratings, here is a great grid to show highlights of Single payer vs. public option.

Become informed, don't listen to the sensationalism.

Jason Chaffetz is still a big friggin idiot

Between life being extraordinarily busy, and my growing frustration with humanity so easily led astray by so-called conservative philosophies, I haven't taken the time to write anything here for far too long. But I just wanted to point out that Jason Chaffetz is indeed a complete liar and tool of special interests. 

Today's Salt Lake Tribune reports on a Congressman Chaffetz who now is okay with earmarks, as long as they're good ones. The freshman wants to call good earmarks "Congressionally Directed Spending." Proving that he has no integrity whatsoever, he claims this is a reform effort. 

Jason, renaming something is not reform. It is an elimination of transparency and creative marketing to fool the public. Next time you're in the neighborhood, why don't you give me a call and I can explain what your job is. Maybe then you can actually show up in Washington and do something productive rather than wasting everyone's tax dollars with your "marketing efforts."

The irony is so thick, this will require a chainsaw

If the ridiculousness of the right-wing stays on trend this way, we are going to have pie tosses & seltzer water by Senators in giant shoes by the end of next year. Now they are calling for people to teabag Democratic congressman & The White House to oppose the deficit spending of the Obama administration.

REALLY??

Have these nutjobs really forgotten that Bush inherited a surplus and raped that to the highest deficit levels we've seen in decades. While he destroyed our financial position we also began experiencing the worst recession and highest unemployment since the Great Depression?

This shows the real power and danger of the right-wing. People who are suffering the worst economic fate possible are being convinced to protest against a president that actually will create growth in our country. 

The point of the original Boston Tea Party was "no taxation without representation" which is exactly what we had the past 8 years. We had a government that took our taxes, but gave nothing back. The irony is so thick here. Obama is making government responsible for its constituents, and its spending. 

Problem is, it seems as if common sense is not what that portion of the population wants. They want nonsense, and they are getting it in abundance.

Oh yeah... Also I should point out that this whole "teabag" concept was created by wealthy corporate lobbyists. 

Why's everybody picking on poor Chaffetz?

In my usual fashion, I'm slow to getting around to the next blog post. But figured I needed to since there has been so much great conversation about our esteemed friend Jason Chaffetz.

Why is our freshman Congressman being picked on so much? Because he deserves it.

For a guy who criticized Chris Cannon and the Republican leadership so much to get into office, he sure isn't doing much to oppose the corruption and inaction of his party.

On March 27, the infamous cot-sleeper sent a letter stating his opposition to the President's plan for climate control. The "cap & trade tax" as it is being called would increase costs to utility companies, but what is debatable is how much, if at all, it would affect residential energy users. But Chaffetz was quick to distribute scare tactics to everyone. Simply because he is one of our nation's most partisan puppets.

I'm not going to get involved in the debate of the details of the budget proposal, but simply illustrate how flawed Congressman Chaffetz argument is. Let's keep this nice and simple.

According to his "research" (which is heavily assumptive and highly disputable) the increased energy costs for the state of Utah is $3.01 billion. Chaffetz simply takes this number, and divides it by the population to illustrate how much each person will be affected. To which he points out that it divides out to $1,115.47 per person, or, almost $290 per month, per family (again, simply estimating that a family is 3.01 people). 

Here's the obvious problem. Who uses power, and how much is used? Looking at only the population ignores that there are offices, stores, and other buildings that use power. So you must add every Walmart, shopping mall, restaurant, sports arena, etc. to the number that $3.01 billion is divided by. Now, do we really think that the average Utahn consumes the same amount of power as a Walmart Supercenter, or the Energy Solutions Arena? How about Trax, which consumes electricity to power their trains? All considered, a residential household's average power consumption is dwarfed by these businesses. 

Commercial and industrial buildings account for much more energy use than a household. So if we just thought about it for a second, we'd realize that the $290 per family would be considerably less, even if the estimates are correct. Then we'd also need to consider the larger mansions, apartment buildings, and other structures that would create a large variability in energy consumption.

So obviously, the figures that Chaffetz is proposing are nothing more than a fear tactic to promote his horribly partisan beliefs. When we ignore the facts is when we are mislead as a nation. Tell Congressman Chaffetz to do his job and represent us, not try to scare us into supporting partisan politics.