Archive for July, 2009
An Employer Mandate That Destroys Jobs and Punishes Employers
Summary: America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009” (H.R. 3200)
An Employer Mandate That Destroys Jobs and Punishes Employers Already Offering Coverage
The legislation levies a destructive employer mandate combined with a punitive payroll tax of up to an additional 8 percent on any employer with more that $249,999 in payroll. Payroll taxes are an especially onerous tax, because employers pay it whether or not their business is having a profitable year. The proposal in the House bill makes a bad tax even worse. The taxes punish wage and job growth since the tax increases as payroll increases. Simply put, this is a tax on that will destroy jobs and devastate the economy.
A New Tax on Job Creators (the surtax)
Another new tax on small business is another new burden on small businesses. The surtax imposes an additional tax on some businesses reducing after tax profits at a time when small businesses are struggling to find capital. Because 75 percent of small businesses are structured as pass through entities, they pay their business taxes at the individual level. More than one-third of small businesses who employ 20-250 employees would face the tax. The businesses most likely to face this tax employ 33.5 million American workers, more than one-quarter of the American workforce.
A “BIG” Price Tag for the Minimum Plan
The chief obstacle for small employers finding affordable health insurance is cost. On average, small employers already pay 18 percent more than big business for the same benefits. The legislation calls for a political board to determine what constitutes “coverage” and the decision of that board will be used to define whether an employer offers an “acceptable” plan. This bill does nothing to ensure that the new plans will be less costly than what small employers are paying today. Congress must focus on creating quality benefit plans that are affordable.
Exchange That Sets a Floor, Not a Ceiling
Today, among firms with 1-199 workers, 86 percent of those who offer coverage can only offer one plan. Small business desperately needs more choices and a more efficient marketplace to purchase health insurance. The exchange concept might be an appropriate answer to these needs. However, the benefits required to be included in the plans must be a ceiling rather than a floor. Allowing states to add additional requirements, as H.R. 3200 does would be costly and leave small employers vulnerable to the same inefficiencies they suffer from today.
Insurance Market That Falls Short For the Small Business Marketplace
The legislation limits the exchange to only a few small businesses leaving the overall small group market with fewer, rather than more options to shop for health insurance. The legislation splits employers between non-group (one person), smaller small businesses (2-20 employees), and the remainder of small businesses (21-50 employees, in most cases), which creates smaller pools and greater segmentation. Congress must guarantee date-certain entry into the exchange within 3 years.
A Politically Powerful Insurance Czar
The Health Choices Commissioner will have unbridled authority to institute rules and regulations that greatly affect small employers, including the ability to define who is and is not a full-time and part-time employee. Thresholds set forth by an unelected commissioner would be subject to continual changes, leaving small business owners in constant fear of ever-changing compliance requirements.
Government-Run Healthcare Option
We oppose the public plan option. A government-run plan cannot compete fairly with the private market. We believe that with proper reforms, the private market can meet the challenge and be held accountable to provide greater competition and lower-cost solutions for small businesses and their employees.
From NFIB the voice of Small Business
I’m a long-time member of NFIB, part of the NFIB Hawaii leadership counsel. Locally and Nationally, NFIB polls its members, and lobbies on behalf of the interests of Small Business. -aloha! Linda
Government is the Solution
Have a Question? The Answer is Government.
Whatever the question, Government can fix it, cure it, and make it holy.
Whatever the problem Government is the sum, product and end result.
Planning on getting sick? Government has a health plan for you!
Working for an income? Government is happy to relieve you of your earnings.
US Debt Clock
from Ravo's blog at Opera.com
“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”
Cicero 55 BC
click here to see US Debt Clock.org
Don’t just watch the numbers change, ask your congressmen why your indebtedness at their whim is so exaggerated.
-from DvS email
Remember 1987?
I had forgotten all of this. Do you remember when the senators were giving Ollie North such a bad time? This brings it all into perspective doesn’t it?
It was 1987.
At a lecture the other day, they were playing an old news video of Lt.Col. Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings during the Reagan Administration.
There was Ollie in front of God and country getting the third degree, but what he said was stunning!
He was being drilled by a senator; ‘Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?
Ollie replied, ‘Yes, I did, Sir.’
The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience ‘Isn’t that just a little excessive?’
‘No, sir,’ continued Ollie.
‘No? And why not?’ the senator asked.
‘Because the lives of my family and I were threatened, sir.’
‘Threatened? By whom?’ the senator questioned.
‘By a terrorist, sir’ Ollie answered.
‘Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?’
‘His name is Osama bin Laden, sir’ Ollie replied.
At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn’t pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn’t. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued. Why are you so afraid of this man?’ the senator asked.
‘Because, sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of’, Ollie answered.
‘And what do you recommend we do about him?’ asked the senator.
‘Well, sir, if it were up to me, I would recommend that an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth.’
The senator disagreed with this approach, and that was all that was shown of the clip.
By the way, that senator was Al Gore!
Also: Terrorist pilot Mohammad Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, Israel had to agree to release so-called ‘political prisoners.’
However, the Israelis would not release any with blood on their hands, The American President at the time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, ‘insisted’ that all prisoners be released.
Thus Mohammad Atta was freed and eventually thanked us by flying an airplane into Tower One of the World Trade Center . Many of the American TV networks reported this at the time that the terrorists were first identified.
It was censored in the US from all later reports.
This has been kept alive and moving since 9/11. In memory of all those who perished that morning; the passengers and the pilots on the United Air and AA flights, the workers in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and all the innocent bystanders. Our prayers go out to the friends and families of the deceased.
Declaration of Independence 56 Signers
Whatever happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army.
Another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.
Eleven were merchants,
Nine were farmers and large plantation owners;
Men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy.
He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly.
He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding.
His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters.
He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire.
The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed.
The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying.
Their 13 children fled for their lives.
His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste.
For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.
So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It’s not much to ask for the price they paid!
Remember: freedom is never free!
-email from DvS
Hepsy's Kuleana 