Click here to listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on KTBB AM & FM, Friday, March 26, 2010.
Years ago, I worked with a guy named Dennis. Dennis was a spendthrift. Whatever was the newest, coolest thing to have, Dennis had first.
One day, Dennis showed up with a brand new Mercedes-Benz. A bunch of us stood out in the parking lot looking at it and the inevitable guy discussion arose along the lines of how German cars drive compared to American cars, how Mercedes compares to BMW, how much maintenance a Mercedes needs compared to an American luxury car and so on and so forth.
Nowhere in the discussion did any of us say to Dennis what we were all thinking. Dennis couldn’t afford a Mercedes. And that thought led to the next one, namely, what idiot loaned Dennis the money to buy a Mercedes?
Dennis and his Mercedes come to mind as I contemplate the signing into law of the 2,700 page health care bill earlier this week.
We who have long opposed this legislation are pretty upset. We’re upset not only that it passed, we’re upset by the way that it passed – a partisan, sordid, filthy procedural exercise that would break the hearts of the Founders.
We’re upset because many believe that it is only a portent of things to come. As a commenter named L. Miles said in his comment to last week’s post, why stop with ObamaCare? Why not ObamaHousing, ObamaGroceries and ObamaClothing? He has a point. If you act on the belief that health care is a right, based on the fact that health care is a basic human need, it logically follows that food, clothing and shelter are also rights and should be provided through a government entitlement.
I think that ObamaCare is one of the worst ideas ever to make it through Congress. Others think it’s a giant step forward.
But neither side of that debate matters. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in favor of ObamaCare of if you hate it. It matters no more when discussing ObamaCare than our discussion of the pros and cons of German auto engineering mattered when we saw Dennis’s Mercedes.
What mattered with Dennis was that Dennis couldn’t afford a Mercedes. What matters with ObamaCare is exactly the same thing.
We can’t afford it.
When has a federal spending program ever met its original cost projections? Name me one instance. Every time the Congress passes a spending bill, the costs exceed the projections, usually by an order of magnitude.
Right now, before ObamaCare, the Treasury (and that means you and me) is borrowing forty cents of every dollar it spends. It’s exactly as if a household is taking a cash advance on the MasterCard every month in order to make the payments on the VISA.
In February, Berkshire-Hathaway, headed by Warren Buffett, issued two-year corporate bonds for less than the rate for two-year U.S. Treasury bonds. This is the market saying that a company with an octogenarian CEO is a better credit risk than the United States government.
How long would you last if you had to borrow forty cents to pay for an item from the Dollar Value Menu at McDonald’s? How long could you go if you had to borrow $130 every month in order to make your $325 car payment? If someone did loan you the $130 this month, to whom would you go next month?
If you did find a string of people to loan you the money for your car payments month after month, how would they react if you showed up in a brand new car, having never repaid the money you borrowed for the previous car?
That’s where we are with ObamaCare. It doesn’t matter whether it’s good or bad just as it wouldn’t matter if the new car was better than the old car.
What matters is that money for ObamaCare will have to be borrowed while we’re already borrowing to pay interest on the money we’ve already borrowed.
So spare me the arguments pro or con on ObamaCare. None of them matter.
With or without ObamaCare, but especially with it, we’re on a path to financial ruin. And the point of no return is at hand.
That’s what matters.
We couldn’t afford the war in Iraq.
We couldn’t afford Bush’s increase in Medicare spending
Why the concern now?
We went to war in Iraq because they attacked us. Would you have said “Ah, let’s not go over there, we don’t have the money. Let them keep bombing us as much as they want, because we don’t have the money to stop them.” If you really believe that, then you need to move somewhere else. And yes, we did need healthcare reform, so Bush did what he had to do. Yes, we still need reform, but this is crossing WAY over the lines.
Iraq did not attack us LOL.
Marxist-Socialist theory is not based on reality and could be caused by a mental disease or by a wicked human trait: envy and/or covetousness. We are wasting our time trying to argue with these people.
Luke White, I have to agree that iraq never attacked us. We went there because they allegedly had WMD’s which were never found. What a huge waste of money. As far as Bush doing what he “had to do” in re: to Medicare/ Medicaid, is that seriously your argument? Can you explain to me why he had to do that?
L. Miles, I agree w/ you about Marxism, but I am curious where you were when Geo. Bush was spending big bucks. Perhaps you were on here arguing against it. If so kudos to you.
Until we have true fiscal conservatism in our leaders this will continue regardless of the party in power.
Aren’t you always suspicious when someone uses a distraction of “your side is just as guilty” when there is a difference between a nicotine addiction to cigarette smoking and a heroine addiction? One is unhealthy most of the time; the other is deadly, all of the time. The fact is, Socialists/Marxists for 100 years have pushed ever higher government spending (welfare), regulation (autocracy-fascism), and taxes (progressive) to slowly enslave the population, and on purpose. I know very few big government (foolish) Republicans that have this goal or belief system. The problem is that Conservative principles of fiscal responsibility are HARD to carry out if you are a weak politician subject to the constant propaganda of the ultra-liberal saturated media that infects Washington, DC. A strong, articulate, fiscally responsible, true conservative citizen representative (as opposed to professional politician) is constantly painted as a cruel, hateful, and uncompassionate ignoramus.
Anyone with a brain should be able to recognize that taxing, regulating, and spending ourselves into oblivion will never work and it is insane to think so because it has never worked in all of history. So what is going on? The fact is that the Socialists/Marxists have NO INTENTION of paying down the debt or reducing deficit spending, now or ever. The rest of the world is stupid to continue to loan us money (buy our debt) with this philosophy being dominate in our government. With the Obama Administration we are now speeding up by a factor of FOUR our plunge into bankruptcy and hyper-inflation. As this takes place (and it surely will) EVERYONE will be much poorer and more dependent on government largesse: hence the final enslavement of America and the collapse of Western, so-called, democracies. These Marxists are narcissistic in the extreme and believe that we (the people) are idiots that need to be herded like sheep by utilizing their unique wisdom and brilliance.
Bureaucracies are US
I’m always suspicious when someone makes excuses.
So what is fiscal responsibility is hard to carry out because the mean ole’ media is picking on us. We should demand it and hold those who do not follow it responsible. We need to clean our own house first. Any republican that voted to bail out the banks is not a true conservative and is certaintly not a capitalist-oriented person. A true conservative party will never emerge and be strong if we do not hold responsible those who are supposedly conservative but do not act or vote like it.
Paul, there are alot of Dennis’s out in the world. I am a Bankruptcy and Collections Paralegal. The majority of the accounts that are sent to me are from people who could not afford the loans and banks and credit unions who did not do their research because if they had they would have known the individual could not afford the loan. It’s seldom that people file for Bankruptcy because of just medical expenses. On another note, I am a single mother raising two children. I have to pay for my health insurance and I’m glad I can get health insurance. I go to work every day, pay my bills, provide for my children and it is hard. Many single parents are in the same position. Not once have I asked for a government hand out. Don’t buy what you can’t afford! It’s that simple! This administration is not listening to the people of the United States and they are spending money we don’t have but what’s new? I just choose not to pay attention anymore and take care of what’s important providing for my children.
Here are some favorite Democrat lies and half-truth talking points that are intended to muddy the waters. A fiscal Conservative does not share these ideas.
WMD was a deliberate Bush Lie and was a manufactured excuse to invade Iraq.
Iraq War was illegitimate and a waste of money.
Blame America first for world-wide radical Islamic terrorism. We have no right to try to stop it.
Bush had no proposal to reduce Medicare or health care costs.
Bush did not warn us about the housing crisis or have a proposal to fix it.
Bush was primarily responsible for the spending spree of Congress.
Bush is to blame for everything you can think of.
The ultra-liberal Socialist (mean ole’) media is just doing their job and Conservative should stop whining.
Until Republicans “clean their house” they have no right to complain. They are just as irresponsible as the Democrats.
Republicans are weak, have no ideas, and don’t care about the poor.
Conservatives can’t trust the Republicans and need a third party to represent them.
Why would a fiscal conservative have a lot to say about the evil Republicans and not one word about the despicable track record and tactics of the blatant Socialist/Marxist Democrats and Media that dominate Washington, DC? What happened to a fair exposure of the facts? Facts are not excuses.
Many (not all) Republicans have strayed from their conservative roots because they were unfortunately infected by the Washington culture. The RINOs have fooled a lot of voters, also. Have the Republicans learned their lesson? I hope so. Let the voter beware!
I am elated at the current unanimous stand of the Republicans in the House and Senate against the Obama health care monstrosity that is now law (the most expensive law ever passed). There is now a huge movement among Republicans, Conservatives, and Independents to run these Socialists out of Washington and I think we should applaud it. We need to encourage this movement because the carbon-energy taxes, amnesty for illegal aliens, and the VAT taxes are on the horizon and nothing we say will matter to the Socialist Democrats who dominate Congress.
We are now being ruled by Washington techno-autocrats that write these BILLS that no one reads, debates, or understand, that are passed by a Democrat dominated Congress that ignores the will of THE PEOPLE, and that the President signs into law. What happened to the Representative Republic that was started in 1776? We don’t have much time left to re-secure our God given liberties and elect a Congress and President that respects and upholds the Constitution. THAT is the most important issue at hand!
Bureaucracies are US
Dorinda, do you take the child tax credit Uncle Sam offers? How is that not a handout when people who work just as hard as you are not allowed it because they have no kids?
How about we add a really simple statement to yours? THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT HAVE ONE PENNY. THEY GET WHAT THEY SPEND FROM YOU AND ME. WHAT PART OF SPENDING 980 BILLION ON HEALTH CARE DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND AS A BUDGET BUSTER? WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT WOULD HEAP THIS KIND OF DEBT ON HIS OR HER CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN? WE CAN’T AFFORD ANY MORE SPENDING…PERIOD.
It soooo matters. Why? Because it has already begun. The government is taking over student loans, colleges and universities are encouraging students to sign up for food stamps, the government is making it easier for you to get help on your home loan and the list goes on and on with things we don’t even hear about. Keep one thing in mind in all of this. The government has no money that doesn’t come from you the taxpayer. You are the financier for any and all government programs. If your generation can’t pay for it the bill will be passed on to subsequent generations. You are nothing more than a source of income for the government.
Let me just point out one small incident that may not cost you tax dollars (although I’m certain that somehow it will)but will cost you the last ounce of freedom that you presently possess and that is the president’s easing restrictions of off shore drilling. This is about jobs. I have screamed for a year that if we would ease restrictions on the oil and gas and coal industries we could put all the unemployed to work and earn enough revenues to pay off our national debt not just from taxes, but from energy independence. Now the president accomodates by doing just that. Why? Because it will get him and his cronies votes. His intention has never been to be a one term president. He intends to make history once again and become the first emperor of the United States.