Do that to me one more time, once is never enough....

kbot · Post by **kbot** » 10-02-2013 10:53 AM

I was listening to a replay of Obama's speech and he was talking about the shutdown generally and then focusing on how wehave this wonderful new healthcare law, and how easy it is sto sign-up. And, if you need assistance, you dial the 800 number and you get assistance in 150-odd languages, and I'm wondering "What PLANET is this guy on????"

Cherry Kelly · Post by **Cherry Kelly** » 10-02-2013 12:15 PM

really had to chuckle reading highlight info links to "NON-Essential" gov't workers. OH MY only 6.6% of EPA is considered "essential" -- does this give anyone an idea about ESSENTIAL?? And how bloated these departments really are?

Consider - if gov't is ONLY shutting down these Non-Essentials - doesn't that mean we should permanently get rid of "Non Essentials"? If something or someone is not essential to keeping things running - then we really don't need them at all and should put such jobs as NON-Government ones. Privatize them.

BUT of course we have to have media hype!

Riddick · Post by **Riddick** » 10-02-2013 05:10 PM

kbot wrote: I was listening to a replay of Obama's speech and he was talking about the shutdown generally and then focusing on how wehave this wonderful new healthcare law, and how easy it is sto sign-up. And, if you need assistance, you dial the 800 number and you get assistance in 150-odd languages, and I'm wondering "What PLANET is this guy on????"

"Planet Obama" is where. So what if there's any number of reports from people saying they can't even get through to sign up, and even if they can, timely aid from the 800 help line is less than forthcoming? That's just the worst kind of unreliable hearsay - OTOH, when the President of the United States tells you something, you can know it's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth...

That is to say, for the purposes of "The Narrative" when he's exposing a greater truth, everything else takes second place - Thus, facts, details, they're open to interpretation - So you say you find the sign-up site is anything but easy to navigate and the whole process is convoluted? Well, what else is THAT but "User Error!" Don't blame the administration for your OWN incompetence folks.

Besides, so you DO have a problem: nothing but the best of multilingual help is just a toll-free call away, ainit? Of course, there again, if the system is overloaded, that's because all too many Americans lack even the most basic of comprehension skills. Certainly that has nothing to do with THIS administration - by default, the blame for that and any other systemic fault gets put on the previous one.

As a cardinal rule any time during life on "Planet Obama", if and when your personal experiences and those of friends and family say something different, just remember folks: Barry's the President, and you're not. If you can't trust the President, who can you trust? Simply take heed of all he says, put full faith in his proclamations, have a little patience and in time, everything'll be fine, just fine...

...Und DAT is ALL da people need to know!

voguy · Post by **voguy** » 10-02-2013 06:19 PM

Cherry Kelly wrote: really had to chuckle reading highlight info links to "NON-Essential" gov't workers. OH MY only 6.6% of EPA is considered "essential" -- does this give anyone an idea about ESSENTIAL?? And how bloated these departments really are?

A economist from a local university was on TV today talking about this, and the fact that any private business could not operate the way the fed does. Business needs a 50-72% return. The fed returns less than 11%. Meaning, if they were private they would be bankrupt in 10 days.

When you send a dollar to Washington, only 17% goes to the intended purpose. The rest is waste.

voguy · Post by **voguy** » 10-02-2013 06:20 PM

kbot · Post by **kbot** » 10-02-2013 07:01 PM

So, my tells me tonight that my son's place of employment received a visit from some department in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts....

In the town where we live, we have a motel that has been providing temporary housing for people from various communities who are homeless for some reason or another. The church I belong to has been helping by taking collections for assistance with food and clothing. This has been for the past coupe of years now, and it's not all that uncommon to have local motels "assisting" the state with this.

So, today, some guy from some dept in the state apparently has been going around to the local businesses, asking if the employees would agree to have their pay cut, with their money going to support the people living in the local motels.

Nice, huh?

It's bad enough that people have already been told that their hours are being reduced because of Obamacare. Now employees are being asked to give-up a portion of their weekly pay in order to support those who are already receiving state assistance, assistance from local churches, and perhaps federal assistance of some type.

Needless to say, this isn't going over very well.......

kbot · Post by **kbot** » 10-02-2013 07:09 PM

voguy wrote: A economist from a local university was on TV today talking about this, and the fact that any private business could not operate the way the fed does. Business needs a 50-72% return. The fed returns less than 11%. Meaning, if they were private they would be bankrupt in 10 days.

When you send a dollar to Washington, only 17% goes to the intended purpose. The rest is waste.

Government is a cottage industry on steroids, especially where the concept of "the nanny state" is concerned.

Riddick · Post by **Riddick** » 10-02-2013 08:32 PM

voguy wrote: A economist from a local university was on TV today talking about this, and the fact that any private business could not operate the way the fed does. Business needs a 50-72% return. The fed returns less than 11%. Meaning, if they were private they would be bankrupt in 10 days.

When you send a dollar to Washington, only 17% goes to the intended purpose. The rest is waste.

And the waste piles up like pure pork fat residing around the waist, eh?

So far as it never ends, kinda makes you wonder where it's all going, that is to say, how's Washington going to function when all that lard makes it impossible to move, much less get anything of real purpose done? Is the IMF gonna have to come with a crane, bust out a wall and carry the patient off to a clinic for a gastric bypass procedure?

So much as an 83% smaller stomach should cut down the waste around the waist eventually, maybe they'll apply liposuction to help speed up the reduction, all right along with prescribing a severely restricted diet: just bare-bones, no dressing things up, nothing fancy or to excess, and most of all, no more "Greecy" goodies.

Imagine the squeals from the federal pigpen over their heavenly hog trough being cut off eh? More than enough to scare tails straight, I'd say! Not to say lotsa folks outside the Beltway won't be ill at ease from the stomach pinch as well -

Still, if DC doesn't wanna see how endlessly extending the debt limit without SOME serious "waist management" to go along with it isn't healthy, you can better believe in time IMF clinicians will come a'callin', with an imposed trip to their surgical table AND their fat farm following in short order.

voguy · Post by **voguy** » 10-02-2013 08:41 PM

It's interesting, KBOT, that the government coined the phrase "too big to fail". They now say that about themselves.

Diogenes · Post by **Diogenes** » 10-02-2013 09:18 PM

Good news:

http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/02/obama ... s/?print=1

Riddick · Post by **Riddick** » 10-02-2013 09:23 PM

voguy wrote: It's interesting, KBOT, that the government coined the phrase "too big to fail". They now say that about themselves.

Which, like TBTF businesses, absolves it from responsibility for any stupid moves. In turn so much as the lines keep blurring between the two, it's safe to say the cost of stupid moves by BigBiz and BigGov separately or in tandem will be borne by the American taxpayer -

But then that pretty much goes WITHOUT saying doesn't it?

Just like taxpayers can expect to hear, "No bailout for YOU!"

Riddick · Post by **Riddick** » 10-02-2013 10:25 PM

BETTER GET A BUCKET, I'M GONNA THROW UP
An article mash-up with bits and pieces from here and here

One doesn’t have to believe that ObamaCare has “death panels” to know that handing this much power to the federal government means a whole lot of unintended consequences, abuse, fraud, and waste...

Maybe you’d better sit down for this shocker: The U.S. government controls its costs the way Monty Python’s famous Mr. Creosote controlled his weight:

And like Mr. Creosote, it will be that extra tiny little bit of spending that finally causes the U.S. treasury to explode in a gory death. Instead of the mint that blows up Mr. Creosote, it will be a dollar bill that blows up the U.S. government.

So when you hear the arguments over how much Obama’s health care “reform” will cost, realize that it isn’t a matter of whether it will cost $1 trillion, or $1.5 trillion, or $3.5 trillion; it’s a matter of whether it will cost one of those numbers times a factor of at least 10 or more.

Under current law, the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run. The president and Democrats have been pitching this plan as a cost-saving measure... (BUT) the numbers being used by Democrats to close the gap between what the bill will cost and how they plan to pay for it are simply not adding up.

There is another aspect to this reform measure that few are talking about: history. Every single entitlement program ever created by the federal government has cost the taxpayer more than advertised — in some cases, astronomically more.

Medicare is a perfect example. When the program was created in 1965, it cost taxpayers around $3 billion. At that time, the House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost $12 billion by 1990 — and that number was adjusted for a predicted rate of inflation. The actual cost of the program in 1990 was $107 billion. And today, Medicare costs the U.S. taxpayer $440 billion.

Medicare started off as a stop-gap measure to provide only safety-net health-care coverage to seniors who couldn’t find their own coverage. It has grown in 40 years to crowd out all other insurers except coverage provided by employers — and as anyone on Medicare can tell you, coordination of benefit issues between Medicare and private insurers usually leaves the insured worse off than with either alone.

Why do federal government programs grow like weeds and expand like Mr. Creosote from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life? Power corrupts. These programs provide all sorts of opportunities for favor-peddling, influence buying, and lobbyist interest... (AND) once they take root, they are all but impossible to kill.

kbot · Post by **kbot** » 10-03-2013 05:52 AM

voguy wrote: It's interesting, KBOT, that the government coined the phrase "too big to fail". They now say that about themselves.

Well they are the country's largest employer, after all........ And from appearances (Obamacare) the government employee roster will only get larger as more people will be required to administer the program to the millions of new enrolleees.

And then there will be people needed to review claims, deny claims, process claims. Forget the government's primary role of protecting its citizenry Our government has found that it is much more lucrative to get into the health insurance and social work business.

Think of this....... we'll have a whole system working for the government, where the government paid (and probably somewhere down the line) government employed physician sees patients, orders tests, treatments and a range of services to be performed at government-owned and operated medical facilities, again, by government employees, all of whom in turn, bill the government's insurance plan for reimbursement.

It'll give a whole new meaning to the scene when the healthcare worker comes into your room with a bright cheery smile on his/ her face, declaring "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help", and they're holding an enema bag. "Turn on your left side and relax!!!!!!"

kbot · Post by **kbot** » 10-03-2013 05:54 AM

Riddick wrote: BETTER GET A BUCKET, I'M GONNA THROW UP
There is another aspect to this reform measure that few are talking about: history. Every single entitlement program ever created by the federal government has cost the taxpayer more than advertised — in some cases, astronomically more.

Medicare is a perfect example. When the program was created in 1965, it cost taxpayers around billion. At that time, the House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost billion by 1990 — and that number was adjusted for a predicted rate of inflation. The actual cost of the program in 1990 was 7 billion. And today, Medicare costs the U.S. taxpayer 0 billion.

Medicare started off as a stop-gap measure to provide only safety-net health-care coverage to seniors who couldn’t find their own coverage. It has grown in 40 years to crowd out all other insurers except coverage provided by employers — and as anyone on Medicare can tell you, coordination of benefit issues between Medicare and private insurers usually leaves the insured worse off than with either alone.

[/LIST]

You'd think a Harvard-educated scholar would know that........

Cherry Kelly · Post by **Cherry Kelly** » 10-03-2013 10:01 AM

When we talk about the higher Medicare -- we need to remember the fraud foisted upon the program. Literally millions every year - if not more - fraud claims for medical that never occurred. Over the years numerous times we've seen (well those who do read the "HIDDEN" news items) cases and cases of fraud claims that US gov't - Medicare paid out. Even for DECEASED seniors. The accounting office just paid the bills sent - without investigating. By the time they did investigate- the monies had disappeared. Where - overseas and offshore accounts. In one case over half of the claims were for deceased people. They did catch that Dr. Another case involved nine Drs who as it turned out weren't, and the monies - went to Nigeria. In two other cases were Dr's from CA who had their diplomas pulled - who moved to other states and continued with the fraud and not discovered for something like 8-9 years.

Then of course we have all those IOUS from other gov't agencies...