It doesn't matter to me what people call it. If a program lowers the % GDP that is due to healthcare costs and raises life expextancy as well certain other stats such as cancer survival rate, etc. then it is just smart economically.
[quote who="stevendedalus" reply="20" id="1901198"]Bankruptcy, however low the percentage nationally--and I question it is as low as you say--50% of bankruptcies are due to medical bills.[/quote] It used to be before the mortgage mess, but so many of the foreclosures now are due to second homes, investments and job loss so I don't know how that % has changed.
[quote who="Daiwa" reply="24" id="1901188"]Not sure what you think AIG has to do with healthcare. [/quote] They are an insurance holding company...for which the taxpayer(government) now has an 80% ownership stake
[quote]Now all the feds have to do is say, "OK, kids, play time is over. Now, hand over the keys."[/quote] Didn't they already get the key from AIG?
[quote]n the process, this movement has taken a once independent, joyful, generous and compassionate profession focused on the needs and welfare of patients and morphed it into a business, an 'industry' like any other, with business values & ethics (just look what those have done for us lately).[/quote] Seems to me what has morphed the medical field is the big business mentality of things and not the process of moving towards government control.
Keep in mind you're looking at futures prices of crude oil and retail prices of refined products generally lag several weeks so you will usually see prices on the downside higher than they were on the upside. Add in tight credit which means higher interest rates on retail outlets that need to borrow to buy inventory, We also have refineries that are just getting back into production after the recent hurricanes and have to raise both gasoline and heating oil stocks at the same time.</p
[quote]I can say anything, but making the government do it is another matter. When we amend the constitution, we tell the government what to do.[/quote] Like I said the people are telling the government what they FEEL they should be responsible for.
[quote]It's not the responsibility of the federal government to provide healthcare[/quote] For the people, by the people. It is the responsibilty of the government to serve the people. And in November when the people vote they are telling the government exactly what they feel they are responsibility for. So you may think this or that is not their responsibilty but in Nov.the people will be at least trying to tell the government what they should be responsible for.
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[quote]What pisses me off is that the Democrats could have been the heros in this and sold out to give poor prople houses for nothing[/quote] They did but the key is keeping CRA, because CRA keeps the big banks from sucking up some of the smaller ones. I'm in a rural area and all the good banks are the small ones. They reinvest in the community instead of taking the locals deposits and sending them into overseas investments. Its not about the poor, Its about rural areas having small b
JoeUser Forums
[quote]You left out the refinance loans. you know the stuff that we are bailing out along with the ARM's and so on[/quote] The first category I mentioned in the first sentence were refinances . Put on your specs and scroll up. In any case we are bailing out illiquid derivatives and if you read the news you will find articles about auction rate securities. These are deriatives which are backed by all kinds of bonds ranging from mbs's to muni bonds to corporate bonds. The bailou
[quote]Why do some believe that instituations like banks were somehow dumb enough to do this on their own knowing the consequences?[/quote] Because they were shoveling off the crap to others. The thing they didn't foresee was the foreign investors shovelling the crap back at us and then refusing to invest more.
[quote]What about Vouchers? (That was what I was hinting at)[/quote] I think school funding needs to stay at the local or state level. Why should people get vouchers? How about those who don't have kids. Should they get a total tax refund for the portion of their taxes that goes to the public school system? If people don't like their local school systems maybe they should get actively involved instead of just complaining and looking for another tax break.
[quote]The problem is not weakness, it's the instant gratification culture. Get now, pay later. This is building up to a lot of money, which hurts us everywhere. That's right, the people are to blame. There are some legitimate foreclosures, but I'm willing to bet that a LOT of them are the instant gratification blowouts.[/quote] What you are forgetting is that it is not only the borrowers but also the lenders who are part of this culture. The haves wanted instant gratificat
JoeUser Forums
[quote]Because most of the bad loans are what we call no doc loans.[/quote] Most nodoc loans are made for refinancing homes or for business loans in which asset values or expected rental income are used as the basis for qualification. They have been most widely used for construction loans, rental properties, luxury homes and refinancing. They are most commonly used by businesses, investors, trusts, and wealthy individuals.
[quote]we'd better be able to compete & export - you don't do that by taxing businesses even more[/quote] Im not saying to tax them more. Im saying to spread out the tax liability. The same goes for federal income tax. There are both individuals and businesses that don't pay any taxes and others that pay a larger percentage. We'd be better able to compete and export if we addresssed several problems not just taxation. Many countries use a VAT and refund the VAT on exports so its n
[quote]Furthermore, the assumption that lowering tax rates lowers federal revenues has been shown to be wrong [/quote] The problem is debt. Countries that have low tax rates have less debt to service. They also export more so have wealth flowing in. The only thing the last round of tax cuts gave this country is more debt which is about to make the current economic decline even more painful,
[quote]If we raise the corporate income tax back to the level of the 1950s, that gives us an extra $500 billion.[/quote] They need to make the business tax more broad based. A lot of the larger companies are given better shelters and more special interest tax breaks than the smaller companies. We're in a tough situation though. We can't lower taxes because the national debt is so high and congress has been incapable of lowering spending. They have been too busy passing bills that buy
[quote]even the 'so called' experts can't even figure this one out to narrow down a complete individual source. [/quote] Because there is no single source. There are many individuals who are involved including businessmen, investors, and politicians from both sides of the fence.
[quote]Why make it equal? Why not just point the finger where it belongs?[/quote] That is exactly why I said I blame specific politicians from both parties. I watch the news, including congressional hearings to learn as much as I can about who has been involved. I do not put all Democrats in one bag and Republicans in another. There are honest and dishonest politicians in both parties. There are some that are involved and there are some that are not. There are some who deserve critici
[quote]but everyone knows the Democrats have more blame on this than anyone[/quote] The Republican know this...The democrats think otherwise.....and people like myself put equal blame on the parties but mostly blame specific politicians from both parties.
[quote]Even if the Democrats were trying to make it easier for them to buy homes. [/quote] The Bush administration was doing the same thing. He stuffed his cabinet full of FANNIE/FREDDIE revolving door directors when he first got into office and had HUD loosen up things even more......Do you forget how much he boast about home ownership numbers every time he had a chance. Look at his first HUD director Mel Martinez. The damn guy used HUD to buy himself a Florida Senate seat. Look at M
[quote]Yes both the banks for lending and the people for borrowing were wrong, but the people should have known better. [/quote] Well it gets even better though. Banks like Comerica sold unweary investors auction rate securities that have all kinds of bad loans tied to them including mortgages. They sold them as low risk long term securities however they are higher yield hence high risk normally sold as short term investments and they are now illiquid. Lehman and others also stuffed t
[quote]Why is it then not allowed to try different things to see what works and what does not?[/quote] If you scroll up you will see that I'm not against home schooling. That I am IN FACT for people making their own choice.
[quote]McCain is borderline Democrat, and Obama is a Socialist. Neither of them fit what I want as a President.[/quote] They are both clueless. But I'll stick with Michael Bloomberg's rather comical assessment. Half of the republicans would vote for Leon Trotsky if he was on the GOP side of the ballot and half of the Democrats would vote for Ayn Rand if she was on the Democratic side.
[quote]if both parties would have at least recognized the problems[/quote] They did. But they both decided to hide it in their own ways. [quote]singing about what a nice sunny day it was[/quote] Thats what the stock market is all about. Neither party is on the publics side. One day a lot of people will wake up and realize this.