Health Care Passed

[AMoore]

cjbcpa wrote:

ccm911 wrote:

I can not believe that I actually am in agreement with A. Moore!

All of you right wingers, where were you when Bush/Cheney started their illegal war and were lining the pockets of their buddies in Haliburton? Or when they all but looked away as Wall Street thugs ran amok?

Oh, I see how this works. If the money is spent to help the less fortunate, then we are dangling precariously on the verge of "gasp!", Socialism, or even worse, Communism.

But if the same money is spent on War and Fat Cats, then all is well in the snuggly world of Capitalism.

And the funny thing is.... most of these Tea Party idiots look like they are staight out of the Trailer park, and will most likely need these government services about which they bitch!

Face it Republicans...YOU LOST!!!! Get over it.

Looks like the right hasn't cornered the market on wingnuts.

I've reread the thread and am unable to find a reference to Bush/Cheney, Republicans, Wall Street, the Tea Party or Halliburton. For a brief moment, it looked like we were on the cusp of having a civil discourse, but alas it was not to be.

There are things I don't like in the health care bill for a lot of reasons but it comes down primarily to my pocketbook and I will make no apologies for that. This legislation will create an extremely intrusive central government (fully 20% of our GDP when completely rolled out). That combined with the debt we will be forced to incur because of this and the impact of other decisions, by both the left and the right, creates a very real risk that another inflationary meltdown may be in our future. At a minimum, a sharp curtailing of all these "benefits" that people seem to think come for free. There were real issues that should have been addressed and weren't such as tort reform, real competitive markets for insurance, negotiated pricing with drug companies, etc. What a wasted opportunity.

Now, I am fully capable of spending my own money, I don't need any help from the government. However, I add it up like this, not scientific, but close enough to make a point:

35.00% marginal tax bracket, like a lot of 'toter's I'll venture
6.25% FICA tax on my payroll
.55% Medicare tax estimate for someone in the 35% bracket (for the time being, talk of lifting cap, the it's 1.65%)
1.95% State tax, less Federal benefit
1.65% Phila city tax, less Federal benefit
1.50% Annual sales tax (If I spend only 25% of my annual income on taxable items)
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46.90%
2.60% Property taxes, less Federal benefit, this % goes down as income goes up, but only if property tax growth is less

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49.50%

So the government in all its forms takes roughly half of every extra dollar I make. Probably more if I was a heavy beer drinker and cigar smoker, Aaron ;-)

How much is enough. Apparently not 50% because I didn't include the new ADDITIONAL 3.8% tax on dividend, interest and capital gains. Good luck to all the retirees, they will really need the prescription drug benefit now.

So where's the incentive to succeed in our system anymore? Apparently no one has an obligation to act like an adult. Get into trouble and Uncle Sam will come to the rescue and protect you from yourself. Lost your job, TWO years of benefits. Signed a bad mortgage contract, we'll give you a do-over so you won't have to live up to your obligations. Spend like a drunken sailor your whole life and forget to salt something away for your golden years, We'll provide health care and pension income for life. (I'm being somewhat facetious to make a point to all you literalists.)

These are all great programs, but they've gotten way out of hand. It's no longer a social safety net, its a beach side hammock and its sucking the life out of my spirit.

Chris,

I think we are getting off point and are now focusing on taxation generally. I agree we are taxed too much. Healthcare reform legislation will have a tiny impact on your overall tax burden. There are less beneficial and more wasteful programs out there that we should be attacking. How much was spent on deposing Sadaam Hussein, the dictator of one of the most secular nations in the Middle East, that posed less of a threat to our country than the numerous nations that actually harbored terrorists that have done us harm and intend to harm us in the future? How much money is being spent in Iraq to wipe out the new terrorists that occupy Iraq as a result of the War?

Getting back to the issue, there is obviously disagreement as to whether this reform will lower the defecit or increase it. Ultimately, this will determine the extent of taxation. Nonetheless, it seems people are focusing on this reform as just another entitlement program designed to address the needs of the poor, who may be poor as a result of their own poor decision making. Actually, they already had healthcare. I, however, believe the working poor and their children should have access to healthcare. I also believe that most people who have healthcare have no concept of what type of coverage they actually have. I'd hate to see any of my RTR bretheren get stuck with a deadly but curable disease, think they have adequate healthcare, only to find out that it is capped.