So maybe I was wrong, healthcare was just on hiatus to allow for the burial of MJ. Its back on the table and it looks like the Democrats have found a way to make up that short fall between cost and funding - tax what they consider to be the "super-rich" an inordinate amount, generating unseen revenue in order to pay for a socialized system. Is this what it has come down to in our country? Do people specifically the governing apparatus of our country understand what this will mean? This is going to hit small businesses especially hard - they demonize these people by linking them up with the Wall-Street honchos and the CEO's of the world but this hits at the core of America's entreprenurial spirit and our local and regionalized business who employ so many. The already struggling car dealer, the similarly struggling contractor and on and on until they have to start cutting jobs - but that wont matter because these people will have healthcare - paid for by those who will start to lose money. I read a story that I linked up in an earlier post about Norway and their healthcare system and studies that have been done. It rewards complacency, it rewards anti-innovation.
This really scares me, it truly does. This could amount to over 55% tax cumulatively on these households and small businesses THIS IS HIGHWAY ROBBERY. How can you expect growth in a climate like that, especially for those who look to earn money like that - it will be even harder to live the American dream if taxes are that high and the rate of inflation stays at what it is - despite our recent deflationary trend with the amount of money we are spending and printing at the same time/borrowing inflation is sure to skyrocket. While Dick Durbin has said his chamber is unlikely to back the taxes on the "superwealthy" its scary when you consider Obamas popularity and the way that most democratic leaders worship the ground he walks on. They also want to add a surcharge on capital gains taxes as well. It is getting ridiculous to pay for something that could be solved by getting costs under control and reforming the health care system not overhauling it and making it a government entity. This is not what we do in America, this is European this is scary. Tom Donohue the President of the US Chamber of Congress said it best "when did our country begin to punish success". It is a scary time people. Any bill over a thousand pages long is bound to smell of patronage, kickbacks and pork something both parties know all too well.
This except gives me hope
Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, said he’s “not hearing a lot” of support for a surtax on wealthy Americans. People in his state don’t like the millionaire’s tax “because they are looking someday to get there themselves,” Nelson told reporters on July 13. “It’s the American way.”
Maybe I was wrong - maybe the American dream is still alive and it has not transformed into one of complacency and being cared for by a big brother state. But you never know - the eerie predictions of George Orwell and Karl Marx sometimes creep into my head as I look at recent happenings in America. While we have strived for egalitarianism, we have lost an edge, we have lost our hides - we have traded them in for a cellofane skin that can be punctured by the smallest pointed remark. Our Cowboy days are done boys and girls - John Wayne is a distant memory, feelings a sense of security have replaced our renegade spirit to make a name for ourselves in any way possible. Healthcare is an example of that and finding a way to pay for that could turn out to be an egregious mess. I dont want to be taxed in the future when I acheive dreams of making big big bucks, to pay for someone who thought "eh I dont really have to work that hard to acheive the things that will make my life O.K. here - I can just sit around and be content". Because after reading that article about Norway and what has happened there - it is a very distinct possiblity
This is a good summary of what is going on right now
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aUVZeh_GVBYM
Picture up top was released by House Republicans on the possible beauraucratic mess that would accompany Health Care reform
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