I'm A Super.com

While on Facebook, I recently came in contact with a friend of a friend (yes, I don’t know this person), who has political views somewhat different from my own.

We began talking about Public healthcare in America via private message, and decided that we could gain some new perspective from one another by learning about ‘the opposition’ from the opposition. We’ve had a friendly conversation thus far over facebook, and I thought I’d provide our commentary here. I don’t provide any of this information for ridicule. It’s informational, as it provides insight into both sides of the debate.

What is provided below is unedited. I can’t speak for the other party, but as for me, mine was written quickly. It may not be as articulate as it could be, but I feel it gets the point across.

Updates will occur on this thread as our Facebook conversation progresses:

For public healthcare:
I want an affordable, accessible healthcare system for all citizens of the United States. It is not affordable for uninsured people to go to the emergency room if they have a medical problem. they usually default on their bill which drives up medical costs.

I don’t think private insurance should go by the wayside but, I agree with Obama that there needs to be competition to keep them from overcharging consumers and doctors. Even in this recession, the “earnings” for insurance companies are still rising. Not Acceptable.

Here in Washington, we have a state insurance plan that people can use that is inexpensive but not always accessible because there are only so many spots available and when they’re gone , they’re gone. This year due to budget cuts, many people lost coverage. If we had the ability to get into the system for government employees that Obama talked about in his campaign speeches, medical costs would go down just because people would not be using the emergency room as a clinic.

Why are you against a public healthcare system?

Against public healthcare:
I’m against a public healthcare system that is pieced together using money we don’t have on bill’s we haven’t read with provisions that are unconstitutional.

The government shouldn’t be allowed to create competition in a marketplace. Since the government has free-range access to an unlimited amount of money, they can borrow, borrow and borrow, offering services at a fraction of the cost a real company can. this creates an unfair marketplace in which the government will undoubtedly quickly drive private carriers out of business.

It’s nice that Obama uses talking points and phrases like “There will still be private insurance available for those who want it…” and “we don’t want to remove or replace the existing private insurance”. Unfortunately, the bill’s he’s attempting to have passed (which, by the way, he hasn’t read. I can back this up.) don’t reflect his spoken position.

However, what if the plan were implimented AS the Obama administration says it is (not as the bill is drafted, which is much, much worse). How is one more option (A goverment health plan) going to increase competition enough to lower costs? There are hundreds if not thousands of independent healthcare providers in the United States. If it’s not going to create unfair, unmatchable competition, then it’ll just be one more competitor with no power to drive down costs.

You mentioned that in Washington (If you’re talking about State, I used to live near *****) people are being dropped from the state sponsored plan due to budget cuts. As the legislation is written, it is financially unsustainable. Especially as time goes on, the plan grows, and so do it’s participants. Budget cuts will either toss people from the plan, or they’ll simply have to dump the plan completely. Are we not in the same position when it comes to Social Security?

I also agree that medical costs are ridiculous. I just don’t feel that creating a government bureaucracy is the most adequate solution to that problem.

The United States actually already offers a government run healthcare system to Veterans. And as you may or may not be aware (It depends on whether you have family in the military, I’d imagine), the VA is a complete and total mess.

The US has demonstrated that it is currently unable to administrate a successful public healthcare system for a small group of citizens who, in my opinion, DESERVE that care.

Do we make an effort to correct that broken system? No. Do we mention how we will integrate that existing system into this new, proposed healthcare system? No.

So, I become confused when people tell me they support the President in his current Agenda.

I can appreciate a person finding a public healthcare system to be a desirable thing. But a reasonable person should be able to say: “You know, I want this. Unfortunately, the way they’re going about it is wrong. It’s going to hurt people. They’re rushing it, it’s expensive, they have no way to pay for it, it exploits my freedoms and honestly, it’s just not the way it should be. even though I support the concept, I can’t support the president in taking yet more shortcuts that will only hurt us in the long run”.

Unfortunately, supporters of Public Health can’t do that. They want their fix, and they want it now, even if it’s broken, because “it’s a start”. But any genuinely politically aware person should know that things put into law in the United States don’t get fixed. They only get worse over time, not better.

In my opinion, supporters of public healthcare should take a step back and determine whether or not the costs (figurative and literal) of this program is worth the benefit, despite it’s excessive and even dangerous flaws.

Comments Welcome
Last updated 9:34 MST 7/28/2009

Disclaimer: This is independent research. Check with someone smarter than me before going and screwing up your life.

Remember how our paychecks suddenly got a little heavier, as our federal taxes decreased?

The reason for that is that President Obama’s first stimulus act (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) included a $400 tax credit (Making Work Pay Credit) for the 2009 tax year. Unlike a lot of tax credit’s we see however, this one was included at the employer level, paid out over the year in the form of tax deductions. In other words, you’re getting a $400 tax credit, but rather than take it off your 2009 tax bill, they’re giving it back by giving you more of your withholding money.

However, it was a poorly planned tax credit. Unfortunately, in a variety of circumstances, average-joe families may have several hundred dollars in money they’ll need to take out of their 2009 refund, or worse yet, if they usually break even, they’ll end up owing it back.

Situations in which you may be overpaid (Consumerist, CNN, other):

• Anyone who holds more than one job
  • You will get paid the Making Work Pay Credit twice, up to $400 ($800 for a joint filer) from your first employer and up to $400 ($800 for a joint filer) from your second employer
• Joint filers whose spouses work
  • Each spouse will end up being paid the credit for married couples by each of their employers. There’s a twist, too. Because of the way the withholding tables were set up, each working spouse may be paid up to $600 this year – instead of up to the $800, Mezistrano said. In other words, the husband would receive $600 at his job and the wife $600 at her job, for a total of $1,200. Since they’re only entitled to $800 total as a couple, that means they would have to pay $400 back to the IRS – or see their refund reduced by that amount
• Anyone who receives income from a rental property or investment, such as interest and dividends.
  • Your employer only knows about the income you earn at the company. If you receive other income that increases your modified adjusted gross income – or even pushes you past the income limits for the credit – you may end up owing the IRS some or all of the credit you received in your paycheck
• The credit phases out for couples who file jointly and have adjusted gross income between $150,000 and $190,000. So if one of you is getting it withheld, you’ll just end up owing it back at the end of that year, because you never actually qualified to receive it
• Anyone who started receiving their credit at the end of Febuary or anytime in March.
  • The withholding tables are structured so that payments starting in April will add up to $400 for single filers and $800 for joint filers by year end. If payments start sooner than that a tax filer may actually receive a bit more than he’s due by Dec. 31 Conversely, if your employer doesn’t start your payments until the end of April or in May – there’s no penalty if an employer doesn’t meet the April 1 deadline – you may end up getting a little less of a credit than you’re entitled to, in which case you can claim the rest when you file your 2009 tax return

• If anyone is like me, there could also be in trouble (maybe). Last year, before this tax credit, I made a change in my withholding, claiming many more dependents than I actually had to help get a more accurate withholding scheme. Getting more money in my check each money, while still withholding enough to not owe the IRS anything. This is recommended by the IRS. Unfortunately, once this tax-credit is applied, my withholding is so low that I still may not actually meet my 2009 tax withholding obligation. If I don’t change my withholding to withhold more money, I could potentially end up owing money to the IRS for the first time at the end of this year.

http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/dont_mess_with_taxes/2009/03/making-work-pay-withholding-considerations.html

http://consumerist.com/5192031/good-news-you-got-a-tax-cut-bad-news-you-might-want-to-adjust-your-withholding

Well, apparently Google hates Barack Obama because right now, searching images.google.com for “Obama” returns nothing:

Interesting. Makes you wonder what bug they were fixing that accidentally broke a search term for Obama. But I’m sure Google doesn’t mess with their search results…

This is a short comment I made on facebook. Unfortunately, it was a truthful and significant concern of mine, and I felt like sharing it here.

More people than ever wrote, called, and even protested the first 600 billion dollar stimulus.

It was a historic, record-breaking uprising people hadn’t seen since Vietnam.
And yet, it was passed by our representatives. Not only was it passed, but it got passed with pork pork pork with raceways and Puerto Rican toys.

This time, 900 billion dollars. Even more pork. Less civil uprising, likely because civilians have come to think their efforts are worthless.

I used to think that “if people would just start acting” things could change. However, I’m beginning to think the opportunity for change initiated by The People has passed. Maybe their efforts would be worthless… and it’s not just a misguided perception. I’m starting to wonder whether, my cynicism aside, the people’s power is actually gone, rather than simply fading. These are truly sad thoughts for me, when I consider my future, and the future of my children.

According to the NTIA, the DTV Coupon program is out of $$$. This means that everyone who continues to order coupons will be placed on a waiting list.

From the DTV2009.gov official transition website: