Healthcare Reform Imminent – Important Post – Please Distribute

Posted in Government Failures, Healthcare Reform with tags , , , , , on December 15, 2009 by angrywoodchuck

Contact your Senators now.  We are out of time, this healthcare bill is going to pass. 

Click here, put in your address and it will tell you who to contact for your area.

A sample letter for you to cut and paste…

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Sir/Madam:
This healthcare bill is the cornerstone upon which the failure of this Republic will be built.  Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid…all of these government run programs are running unimanginable deficits and now you wish to add another with Universal Healthcare. 
Your vote to support this bill will speak volumes about your disregard to future generations and will bankrupt unborn generations the day you vote for it.  Future medicines and life saving medical equipment that will not only help Americans, but help people all over the world will never be developed.  By instituting price (cost as you like to call it) controls will only discourage investment into future medicines and technologies.  For this many will suffer and die needlessly.  This will occur on your watch.  This will be your legacy.
Sincerely,

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The passing of this bill will be marked in history generations from now as one of the greatest failures of our generation.  Government is already bankrupting this country with Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Public Labor Unions, meanwhile any entity the government controls like the Post Office, run losses in the billions.

Now they will take over our healthcare.  Expect the same level of mismanagement.

What keeping costs down really means….

When they say they will keep “costs” down, what they mean is the “price” which is what we are charged for it.

The costs of developing a new life saving medicine or new surgical equipment can never be reduced, only the price.  If a car costs $10,000 to manufacture, but sells for $15,000 – reducing the sales price to $11,000 doesn’t change the $10,000 in costs it took to build the car.  It only means the car company will make $1,000 instead of $5,000 on the sale of the car.

When you force companies to lower their price, they have less money to invest in the costs of research and development.  In the case of cars, it was the profit in cars that allowed car companies to create air bags, anti-lock brakes, traction control, safety glass, better tires, etc…  If  you take away the profits, they have less money to develop improvements.  Imagine cars without air bags or anti-lock brakes.  How many people would have died except for their air bag or anti-lock brakes saving their lives?  If the government had tried to keep the “costs” of buying a car down, more people would be dead now because airbags and anti-lock brakes would never have been developed.

The same is true in medicine and surgical care.  If you force pharmaceutical companies to make less in profits, then they don’t have the money to research and develop new medicines.  They make billions in profits because it takes billions in research to come up with the medicine.  There is nothing wrong with this.  They bring to us a medicine that helps people live better and live longer and as time passes that medicine gets cheaper and cheaper and more and more people have access to it.  However, if that medicine had never been developed, then nobody would have access to it…ever.

With the passing of this bill, we will in one day eliminate the development of life saving drugs and medical care that you yourself may one day die from because they don’t exist, but would have, had government not tried to control the PRICE of medical care.

We are condemning ourselves and our future generations to a reduced standard of care, the absence of medicines that would have saved or improved the lives of millions, all because an ideological few are on a crusade to feel important about themselves.

I often say that government removes our freedoms and destroys our liberties one brick at a time. 

This bill is a wrecking ball.

Healthcare: Polling the Polls

Posted in Healthcare Reform with tags , , , , on December 13, 2009 by angrywoodchuck

My rule of thumb on polls is that whatever your desired outcome, someone can create a poll to support it.  As many have said before me, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

I decided to “poll the polls” and see just how scattered the polling conclusions are.

I noticed a couple of things doing this very quick and informal poll polling.  How do people subconsciously process a headline that proclaims “49% of Americans Support Healthcare Reform.” In this headline, less than half of the people polled support healthcare, and yet they use the word “support” even though the supporters are in the minority.  It may well be the brain locks onto and retains “support healthcare reform” regardless of what the number is in front of it, sort of subtle brainwashing.

Another poll from the Maine Public Broadcasting Network was a little more disturbing.  It stated, “A new poll finds that Maine AARP members support elements of the health care reform bill passed by the U.S. Senate.”  Elements? Why would they use the qualifier, “elements” of the health care reform bill?  Everyone on the planet will support various “elements” of any bill.  The title of a bill is an element.  The author of a bill is an element.  I would agree 100% with those elements of any bill, but that has nothing to do with whether or not I support the bill itself.

This is misleading, and in my mind, sort of desperate.  It may have well been that a majority of the AARP members in Maine did not support healthcare reform at all, but we’ll never know because the article never says.

It simply says that “82% support a provision requiring insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care” and “78%…approve Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower…drug prices.”  That says nothing about whether or not Maine AARP members support the other 99% of the bill.

It seemed that all in all, most people believe the system needs reform but they are generally happy with what they have now and they don’t believe the government is capable of providing universal health care without bankrupting the country.

The Psychology of Global Warming Visionaries

Posted in Global Warming with tags , , , on December 10, 2009 by angrywoodchuck

Is it a bad thing to want to change how we live so we are less wasteful, more efficient and protect the environment – not for environment’s sake so much as for our own sake, since we have to live here?

No.

Is it wrong to mislead the public and use “truth through omission” tactics by presenting only the data that supports an agenda that wants these changes in our society no matter how much one has to fraud and lie to the public?

Yes.

I am sure the ranks of those who support all manner of environmental controls and use global warming as a basis for their desires on businesses and on us are made of two types of people:

  • People who actually believe the earth is warming.
  • People who don’t know if it is or isn’t but don’t care either way. 

Of those who don’t care either way, there are two types of people:

  • People who stand to profit by the rules, regulations and hype of climate change.
  • People who may not profit, but simply believe in a means to an end.

The means to an end is that an unfounded belief in global warming is not a bad thing in itself, so why not force the changes on everyone for their own good regardless of whether global warming is fact or fiction.

The people who make up the second bullet points, those who do not care either way but simply believe in a means to an end are the most dangerous. 

These are the people who believe they know better than you do, and that they will make your decisions for you.  Their desire to be self-important, to “leave a mark” on the world, and to present themselves as “holier than thou” do not need facts, evidence or proof to support their ideological visions. 

They are visionaries, they wrongly hold themselves up to the same level as Martin Luther King Jr., or John F. Kennedy or Gandhi.  These global warming visionaries have a dream, and their dream is to control everyone and every business by forcing their dream onto us.  They see it as a mission to make us believe in their dream and to understand that regardless of the exorbitant costs, the extensive collateral damage, the numerous unintended consequences or the countless moral hazards of their dream, that their dream must be fulfilled. 

Their dream is righteous and their dream is just.

Hitler, Stalin and Mao were all visionaries too.  They did not care about all of the costs, damages or consequences of imposing their dream on others either.  However, their dream was much less attractive than the dream of global warming visionaries, and the damages they created were felt very quickly.  The damages imposed by global warming visionaries could continue for countless generations before anyone figured out whether they were wrong or right.

Global warming visionaries dream of all their wants.  They want to rid the earth of pollution, they want the elimination of toxins and global warming, they want to save all the animals from extinction and to convert all energy sources over to green ones.  These wants, these dreams are easily sold to everyone because this is something we can all agree that we want.  Regardless of whether or not we believe in global warming, we want this.  I want this too.  However…

We can not just look at the benefits of any given idea, or vision.  We must look at the costs.  When you add up the monetary costs, the collateral damage, the unintended consequences and the moral hazards of any given idea, you may discover the costs to achieve the vision far exceed the benefits of that vision.

These self-important visionaries only report the benefits, never the costs.  And the benefits sound so wonderful, so serene and desirable, they are a siren song that lulls us into believing that we must share in the dream of these self-important visionaries who though lacking any credible evidence to support many of their claims, just make the world sound so wonderful if we follow them.

We must understand reality.  We live in reality, in a world of gray.  There are few absolutes.  Benefits always come with costs.  In business and our daily lives, we have limited resources such as time and money.  Therefore we must sacrifice each of these every single day to achieve the benefits of what we want, but we have neither enough money nor enough time to achieve everything we want, so we achieve that which is most important.  We prioritize.  We sacrifice.  We meet somewhere in the middle, in that gray area that lives between all that we want and all that we can actually achieve based on our time and our money.

The wants and costs of global warming are no different.  We must ask ourselves, what are the costs?  Where is the gray area?  Who decides when the costs are too high for the wants?

This is the lead post on several I will be doing on global warming.

People Sign Petition to Bankrupt U.S. Economy-I’m Not Kidding

Posted in Government Failures with tags , , , , , , , , on December 7, 2009 by angrywoodchuck

In the following video, Mark Dice asks random people on the street to sign a petition to increase our current inflation rate of about 4% to 100%, and to increase it an additional 100% over the next five years.  This would effectively destroy our currency, bankrupt the country and send our standard of living into the stone age.

People signed it.

Our educational system does not teach anyone the basic economics needed to understand how our country is run.  So much so, that we can convince people to sign a petition that destroys the country.

HOA Condemns A 90 Year Old War Vet

Posted in Government Failures with tags , , , , on December 4, 2009 by angrywoodchuck

A 90 year old WWII, Korean War and Vietnam war vet who earned The Medal of Honor is not allowed to put a flag pole on his lawn and fly the American flag.  Amazing.  I wrote a letter to the HOA condeming their actions and an email to the law firm representing them.  Feel free to do the same…

__________________________________________________________________________________________
December 4, 2009
His Majesty Glenn Wilson
11800 N Downs Sq
Henrico, VA 23238-3474
Dear King Wilson,
In regards to your actions against Col. Van T. Barfoot, I must ask, where is your common sense, sir?  Have you lost your mind? This country is going to hell from the lack of common sense in people like you.
The heads of HOA’s like yours act like little third-world despots doling out your orders in your own private little governments.  I am a 36 year old accountant living in California and whenever I hear about little tin gods like you bossing people around and never applying basic common sense, I am utterly amazed and appalled.
This man is 90 years old.  He fought in the Korean War, Vietnam and WWII.  The man won The Medal of Honor for laying his life on the line in defense of a country that allows little people like you to pretend you’re big people.
Have some respect.  The day when you rout out three enemy machine gun nests, get in front of three enemy tanks and fire a Bazooka to disable one of them, take 17 prisoners, destroy a German fieldpiece with a demolition charge and carry wounded soldiers to safety…all in one day…you can fly a flag anywhere you want too.
Give the man the respect he deserves.  It’s just a flag pole flying an American flag, you need to relax and reevaluate what’s important in your life.
And remember, you’re just an average guy named Glenn.  That’s all you are.
Patriotically,
An average guy named…
And an American Patriot
P.S. In case you forgot, December 7 was the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Try to live up to the minimum standards of a proud American, at least on that day.  Try hard.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

To read the article, click here.
To contact the HOA and their law firm, click here.
To see Colonel Barfoot’s Medal of Honor, click here.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

An excerpt from his Medal of Honor citation…

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 23 May 1944, near Carano, Italy. With his platoon heavily engaged during an assault against forces well entrenched on commanding ground, 2d Lt. Barfoot (then Tech. Sgt.) moved off alone upon the enemy left flank. He crawled to the proximity of 1 machinegun nest and made a direct hit on it with a hand grenade, killing 2 and wounding 3 Germans. He continued along the German defense line to another machinegun emplacement, and with his tommygun killed 2 and captured 3 soldiers. Members of another enemy machinegun crew then abandoned their position and gave themselves up to Sgt. Barfoot. Leaving the prisoners for his support squad to pick up, he proceeded to mop up positions in the immediate area, capturing more prisoners and bringing his total count to 17. Later that day, after he had reorganized his men and consolidated the newly captured ground, the enemy launched a fierce armored counterattack directly at his platoon positions. Securing a bazooka, Sgt. Barfoot took up an exposed position directly in front of 3 advancing Mark VI tanks. From a distance of 75 yards his first shot destroyed the track of the leading tank, effectively disabling it, while the other 2 changed direction toward the flank. As the crew of the disabled tank dismounted, Sgt. Barfoot killed 3 of them with his tommygun. He continued onward into enemy terrain and destroyed a recently abandoned German fieldpiece with a demolition charge placed in the breech. While returning to his platoon position, Sgt. Barfoot, though greatly fatigued by his Herculean efforts, assisted 2 of his seriously wounded men 1,700 yards to a position of safety. Sgt. Barfoot’s extraordinary heroism, demonstration of magnificent valor, and aggressive determination in the face of pointblank fire are a perpetual inspiration to his fellow soldiers.”

Some minor changes…

Posted in Personal Message on December 3, 2009 by angrywoodchuck

As you may have noticed, it’s snowing on my blog.  Not sure if I am sold on the look but I’ll keep it around for a bit, it’s in keeping with the festive time of year.

I also spent a little after-tax dollars on upgrading the site so you won’t see any more pesky advertisements.  Hope everyone likes the improvements.

A.W. Chuck

Headlines – The Devil’s Playground For Editors

Posted in Government Failures with tags , , , , , , on December 3, 2009 by angrywoodchuck

Above is the headline from today’s MSNBC article on last weeks jobs reports.  Here is the lead-in paragraph…

WASHINGTON – The tally of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly for the fifth straight week, a hopeful sign that the job market is slowly improving.

Wow.  That sounds so great.  For many of us, that’s about all we read.  The headline and the first couple paragraphs.

Which is why if you really want to know why there was an “unexpected drop” in jobless claims, you have to go waaaaay down here….follow the red arrow everyone…then read the rest of my post on the bottom.

OH! Oh, I see!  What you meant to say in your headline that you clearly forgot was that the “unexpected drop” in jobless claims was because the unemployment offices were closed for two days out of the week and it’s really hard to file claims when the doors are locked.

OH!  Well now, that makes sense.  And really, that shouldn’t be that unexpected either, should it?

And how much should we bet that this week’s filings are one of the worst on record, as everyone from last week piles into this week?

Headlines…one of the easiest sneakiest ways to manipulate what you think.  If you hadn’t read the whole article you would have walked around all day thinking wonderful thoughts of economic recovery.  You need to know the reality…not the fantasy.  Making real world, real life decisions based on the fantasy in a world of reality can come back to bite you.

Spin vs. Fact and GDP Contracts Net -.2%

Posted in Government Failures with tags , , , , , , , , on December 2, 2009 by angrywoodchuck

The Spin (consumer spending increased!)

“Though cautious, consumers are holding up despite high personal debt, a tight job market and hard-to-get credit. A government report out Wednesday is expected to show consumer spending rose 0.5 percent in October, compared with a 0.5 percent drop in September. Incomes, the fuel for future spending, are expected to edge up 0.2 percent, after being flat.”

The Facts

Consumer spending rose .5%.  What does that mean?  That means if you spent $1,000 last month, then this month you increased your spending by $5.00. Five bucks.  Wow.  A $5 buck increase for every $1,000 in spending doesn’t sound like a recovery to me.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Spin (stock market surging!)

“Over the past few months, though, the stock market has surged. A rally on Monday carried the Dow up 133 points to its highest point in just over a year.”

The Facts

The stock market is based on stock prices.  Stock prices are based on how well companies are performing. If stocks go up, then companies are making more profits which means the economy is recovering.  At least, that is what they want you to think.  Unfortunately this is a fallacy of causation.

Companies can make more profits in two ways. They can increase sales, or they can cut costs.  One way to cut costs is to lay off a lot of workers.  That means you are squeezing more productivity out of fewer people.  So even with the same sales, or even declining sales, when you decrease costs, the area between your cost and your sales is your profit.  So the more you cut costs, the larger that “profit” area gets.  As long as you can cut costs faster than your sales are declining, it will still look like your profits are going up.   And yet, the media use this as an example of economic recovery even though clearly, it does not necessarily mean that.

On the news they will say, “higher productivity” led to increased profits.  This is a sneaky  use of the word, “productive” which is like “produce.”  This doesn’t mean the company “produced” more because of more demand for their product, which would be a sign of economic improvement, it just means that each employee has been forced to be more productive in their job because there is less of them at the company.  So again, higher productivity can still mean the company is experiencing declining sales, i.e., poor economic conditions.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Spin (GDP rose 3.5%! The economy is recovering!)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the government released a 3.5% increase in GDP.  This was all over the government “cheer-leading-pom-pom” news as a sign the economy is recovering.

The Facts

The 3.5% GDP has been revised down, which is not unusual.  The new GDP is 2.8%. Somehow I bet we won’t hear much about how it was revised down in the news.

In my prior post I did some quick math to show how 3.5% was really only 0.5%.  Let’s review:

  • Cash-for-Clunkers and the federal home buying incentives made up 1.5% of the GDP
  • Inventories are in decline, but they declined less in Q3 which made up another 1% of the GDP
  • Government spending was 0.5% of the GDP

So, removing government spending and a “slow down” in the decline of inventories, you are left with only 0.5% GDP.  Hardly a recovery.

Now that GDP has been revised down to 2.8%, what you really have is a negative -0.2% contraction.

Those stubborn facts.  Always getting in the way of our government’s pom-pom propaganda.

$12,000,000,000,000

Posted in Government Failures, National Debt with tags , , , , , , , , on December 1, 2009 by angrywoodchuck

That’s what we owe.

Let’s be clear.  We consume more than we produce.  Our entire country is running off a credit card called China.  If China stops lending to us, our debts come due and we are in serious trouble.  How does it make you feel that the entire economic stability of our country is in the hands of a foreign nation?

The two trailers below are for films every American should be tied to a chair and forced to watch, just to understand how bad it really is.  They are available on YouTube for free, so you only need to invest your time.

The films are non-partisan…both Republicans and Democrats have built this noose we’ll end up hanging ourselves with.  One film was done by FRONTLINE, the other was a Sundance Film Festival selection.

Safe Mortgages Collapsing

Posted in Housing Market with tags , , , , , , , , on November 30, 2009 by angrywoodchuck

After reading this L.A. times article from Saturday, I have to ask myself, why is the government surprised that conforming loans, the “safe bet investment” 30 year fixed rate loans that have been the bread and butter of mortgage loans for generations, are suddenly going into foreclosure?

They seem shocked by this.  I’m not.  It makes perfect sense to me.

The reasons even the “safest” loans are no longer safe are simple… 

  • Unemployment – The article is right that unemployment is playing a factor, I’ll agree with that. 
  • Strategic Defaults – What the article didn’t mention are strategic defaults. People that put down 20%-30% on the house have long since lost their down payment from their plummeting home value.  And when you lose your down payment, and then continue to watch the house decline in value, you start to consider handing the house over to the bank and walking away.

The incentives to walk away are much stronger than the penalties.

Homeowners with safe mortgages (and of course unsafe like sub-prime and Alt-A) are deciding more and more that the decline in the value of their house is worth being foreclosed on and renting for several years while they save money for a new house that will be much cheaper in a few years.  In fact, if they use an FHA loan in the future, even with a foreclosure on their record, they will only have to wait 3 years to qualify.

So think about it…dump a house that’s losing value by the day, find a much cheaper but nice rental and save lots of money every month, and then buy back into the housing market in 3 years with a big down payment when cheap houses are saturating the market and the buyer is calling all the shots.

And consider that as home prices continue to decline, this idea sounds better and better to more and more home owners that are underwater on their mortgages.  This will generate more and more people to perform a strategic default, which in turn creates more foreclosures which adds fuel to the decline in prices, which makes this idea sound better and better to more and more home owners that are underwater….you get the idea.  A nice, classic example of a vicious cycle.

Sounds good to me.  Sounds great to them.