Bush left Obama such a bad deal...?

I haven't been blogging much lately because I am busy trying to build up the funds so we can survive if we ever can retire.  But I heard Karl Rove on Fox News today, and he brought up some very interesting facts.  Hoping he will forgive me for any possible mis-statements, I have I reproduced his chart here to illustrate my point.

One of the chants we frequently hear from the Obama administration is that they were left such a bad deal by President Bush.  They would have us believe that all our woes are due to Bush, and they are fighting to recover.  But let's take a look at the facts.

First, let's go back even further to the hand dealt President Bush by the Clinton administration.  The budget left in President Clinton's final year increased discretionary non-security spending by 16% per year.  Without complaint, the Bush administration set about to cut that to 6% in the very first budget first budget, and by the end of his term President Bush had actually cut it to match the growth of inflation - essentially, he flat lined it! 

When President Obama took office, one of his first acts was to increase discretionary non-security spending by 10% - in the middle of the fiscal year!  Furthermore, the following expenditures (in $1,000,000,000's) are now either already in place or on the way:

$787 - Economic Stimulus Package
$350 - Bank Rescue Package (Approved under bush, Obama agreed, spent this year)
$33 - Expansion of children health insurance
$410 - Omnibus spending bill
$80 - Auto company bailout
$821 - Cap and Trade bill
$1,000 (One trillion) - healthcare bill proposal

So what is the result?  Let's start by taking out the Economic Stimulus and Bank Rescue packages, because their approvals span both administrations.  Not even including the proposed healthcare legislation, that's $1,344bn in spending approved by this administration.  In case you didn't notice, that is a $922,000,000,000 more than President Bush.  Doesn't look like he is trying to save much, does it? 

Furthermore, we have all seen the failure of the Economic Stimulus package, but Mr. Obama refuses to heed calls to return any of that money that is still around.  If you add  back some of that $787bn that could be reclaimed back in, let's say a little less than half, and assume that the healthcare bill will pass early next year, even paired down to a mere $800bn cost, we are looking at a total "unprescedented" one-year increase of almost $2 trilliion over the amount spent by President Bush!

I think it is time to place the blame squarely on the shoulders where it belongs, and that is Barack Obama.

Killing the Goose?

There is an old story about killing the "Goose that laid the Golden Egg". The particular goose that concerns us is small business. Back in the UK we learned that RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), now a partly government-owned bank, has been criticized for reducing its lending to small businesses, despite promises given to the government when it was partly taken over.

This apparent lack of interest in small business has forced many companies to explore other options. John Wright, national chairman of the (UK) Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Figures from the British Bankers Association indicate that more firms are dipping into their savings, which shows that many small businesses might be put off from going through a torturous application procedure for a loan or overdraft extension, which ultimately might not be successful."

This situation cannot last forever. Capital is the lifeblood of small business, and just as in the US, small business is the lifeblood of the economy. In fact, doesn't this story sound familiar? Americans have heard similar stories, and the result will be the same. With all the banks that have been given subsidies or even taken over, some safeguards must be put in place (in both countries!) to assure a fair share of capital is made available to small business on an equitable basis.

Healthcare Reform Meetings

While the Administration continues to carp about how bad a situation they were handed and how they want to save money, they are pushing for $2T in new spending between healthcare and reform and energy policies. But perhaps the most worrisome trend in all this is their insistence that all dissent is by special interest and radical groups.

Mr. Obama would have us believe that no one who opposes him is an ordinary citizen. Instead they are classified as disruptive. There are some indications that names are being taken and even reports of threats from as early as the campaign trail. I am not here to say that this has or has not taken place, but there are reports, and I urge everyone to do their own research on this to see for themselves.

But it is clear that the Administration is at the very least attempting to downplay the dissenting comments being received at some of their town hall meetings. Will they continue to bury their heads in the sand and try to ignore those of us who are saying "no"? Or will they see that these people, who now some might even call brave people, who are willing to show up at these meetings to voice their own views are just like you and me?

I don't know about you, but no one tells us what to support or even to do this blog. We write about what we feel is important and state what we believe. If you agree, maybe you will let folks know. If not, that's fine, too. But no one - no one - should be made to feel afraid to speak out, because the last time I checked, we still are supposed to have the right to free speech.

Open Letter to the AARP

I have just seen a report on Fox News about last night's "town hall" meeting held by an AARP representative to discuss the current healthcare proposals. I found the entire incident so appaling that I just sent them the letter below, which I share here in hopes that anyone else who is a member and feels strongly about this might also comment:

Your website states, "...AARP's policies are determined not by the staff in Washington, D.C., but by AARP members. We gather members' ideas from town meetings, phone calls, letters, emails, surveys and polls...." Yet, the nasty display that I saw aired this morning of an AARP update session conducted by a rude lady hardly underlines this point. Adding more fuel to the fire, your PR representative who was just on Fox News failed to acknowledge any of these principles and dismissed the whole incident without apology.

I am ashamed to be represented by AARP if this is the way you will do so. Could it be that you are allowing your insurance business to dictate your policy rather than the wishes of your members? Let's be clear: my wife and I are just two ordinary members of your organization, and we DO NOT SUPPORT the new healthcare proposal.

We have no general axes to grind, and no one tells us what to say or do. This is us saying that the healthcare proposal is flawed. We'd rather have the current system than anything approaching this bill.

So do not think that you are representing us when you support this bill. And I hope that instead of maintaining this arrogant stance, you will re-evaluate your position and support the wishes of your membership, as you say you do.

I doubt I will get a reply, but if you agree, please pass this around.

A Better Healthcare Proposal

Newt Gingrich has just posted what I consider to be a much better alternative to the current plan to repair our current healthcare system. Although I am sure he is much better followed than I am, I also want to post it here:

Six Straightforward Steps to Better Healthcare

To create a system that delivers more choices of higher quality health care at lower cost we need to take the following six straightforward steps:

1. Stop Paying the Crooks. First, we must dramatically reduce healthcare fraud within our current healthcare system. Outright fraud -- criminal activity -- accounts for as much as 10 percent of all healthcare spending. That is more than $200 billion every year. Medicare alone could account for as much as $40 billion a year. (Read about our latest CHT Press book, Stop Paying the Crooks, edited by Jim Frogue.)
2. Move from a Paper-based to an Electronic Health System. As it stands now, it is simply impossible to keep up with fraud in a paper-based system. An electronic system would free tens of billions of dollars to be spent on investing on the kind of modern system that will transform healthcare. In addition, it would dramatically increase our ability to eliminate costly medical errors and to accelerate the adoption of new solutions and breakthroughs.
3. Tax Reform. The savings realized through very deliberately and very systematically eliminating fraud could be used to provide tax incentives and vouchers that would help cover those Americans who currently can’t afford coverage. In addition, we need to expand tax incentives for insurance provided by small employers and the self-employed. Finally, elimination of capital gains taxes for investments in health-solution companies can greatly impact the creation advancement of new solutions that create better health at lower cost.
4. Create a Health-Based Health System. In essence, we must create a system that focuses on improving individual health. The best way to accomplish this is to find out what solutions are actually working today that save lives and save money and then design public policy to encourage their widespread adoption. For example, according to the Dartmouth Health Atlas, if the 6,000 hospitals in the country provided the same standard of care of the Intermountain or Mayo health clinics, Medicare alone would save 30 percent of total spending every year. We need to make best practices the minimum practice. We need the federal government and other healthcare stakeholders to consistently migrate to best practices that ensure quality, safety and better outcomes.
5. Reform Our Health Justice System. Currently, the U.S. civil justice system is the most expensive in the world -- about double the average cost in virtually every other industrialized nation. But for all of the money spent, our civil justice system neither effectively compensates persons injured from medical negligence nor encourages the elimination of medical errors. Because physicians fear malpractice suits, defensive medicine (redundant, wasteful treatment designed to avoid lawsuits, not treat the patient) has become pervasive. CHT is developing a number of bold health-justice reforms including a “safe harbor” for physicians who followed clinical best practices in the treatment of a patient. Visit CHT's Health Justice project page to learn more.
6. Invest in Scientific Research and Breakthroughs. We must accelerate and focus national efforts, re-engineer care delivery, and ultimately prevent diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease and diabetes which are financially crippling our healthcare system.

Learn more about this realistic and innovative approach at the Center for Health Transformation website.

Health Plan Details Explained

In case you had any question about how the proposed Obama health plan will work, the chart recently posted on the capitol hill newspaper website, www.rollcall.com, explains it in clear terms. Clear, that is, if you are a bureaucrat.

(A full size version can be found here.)

Mr. Obama still contends that those against this plan are out to get him or just want to bring him down. But this particular proposal transcends party lines. One look at the chart, said to have been prepared to explain how the processes will flow, leaves the viewer dumbfounded and with an obvious sense of the bureaucratic layers of cost that would be required to manage such a plan.

Yes - health care needs to be reformed. But not this way. And if this is the only way, I'll happy continue the current system. This plan must be stopped, and it can only be stopped by spreading the word so that everyone knows the truth.

Could the youngest MP bring down Brown's government?

After a whopping defeat in the Norwich North by-election by 27 year-old Conservative candidate, Ms. Chloe Smith, Labour was forced to concede a seat previously held by Ian Gibson. Her 7,000+ vote majority cannot be ignored, because it could very well be a preview of what is yet to come in the next general election. Her win now makes Ms. Smith, a University of York graduate, the youngest MP in Parliament (possibly very good news), and is causing a lot of turmoil in the ranks of Labour.

In a move that angered many supporters, Mr. Gibson, who had previously held the seat with a majority of over 5,000 votes, was forced to bow out of the election due to his implication with the expenses scandal. It now appears that the voters may maintain a long memory after learning of the excessive expense abuses widely reported earlier this Summer. And this is what has a number of senior Labour figures and back-benchers concerned. Some are again calling for consideration of a leadership change, so things are getting quite interesting.

Yes, it almost reminds one of Ms. Thatcher's plight when Conservative party leaders decided that a change was necessary to hold control. Have Labour finally realised that if such a change is not done now, it could be too late to save their leadership in the next elections?

One thing is certain - any defeats such as that brought about by Ms. Smith deal a powerful blow to the Brown Government. Conservatives now have the best opportunity ever to capitalise on the current situation. We will enjoy watching to see if they are able to make it happen.

Stopping the Government Healthcare Plan

President Obama wants to spend $1,000,000,000,000 on a new health care system that not a single supporter has been able to show will actually reduce costs. Yes, that's a lot of zeroes, folks. I do not believe this is a good idea, and I hope you will agree to help us defeat this ill-conceived plan.

Regardless of your feelings about Mr. Obama, do you really want the government running health care? He says he wants to reduce costs - but the simplest way to reduce costs, which will cost the government and taxpayers nothing, is to put a cap on malpractice judgements. Yet, he has openly opposed any cap such as this, so what are we to believe?

We have experienced socialized medicine first hand, and here in the UK it is not a pretty sight. It takes weeks to get tests that would be considered essential to us in the US, and often people are denied treatment based on broad guidelines set by a government committee. But this bill goes even further, calling for counselling of seniors on steps that could be taken to shorten their lives to get them out of the system and save money!

If you want to be subject to these kinds of regulations, with the costs that inevitably will continue to grow along with them, then you can simply ignore this issue. But if you have any question in your mind as to if we should spend a trillion dollars on this proposal, then call your congressional representatives today and urge them to defeat HR 3200. Too much is at stake to allow such a questionable proposal become law!

*** Major Points in this Bill ***

House Bill 3200 will:

1. Create a government run insurance program that likely will add over 100 million people onto the backs of taxpayers (Lewin Group).

2. Mandate that everyone buy over-priced health insurance that is created by politicians and lobbyists - a huge profit gain for insurance companies. It is estimated that insurance costs will GO UP by up to 95%. This plan has failed in Massachusetts where there are still 2.6% uninsured, premiums have gone up at rates higher than the rest of the country and the state is now spending an additional $1.5 billion in taxpayer money on health care!

3. Create government rationing that will allow insurance company profits to grow and allow government to avoid paying benefits (Campaign for Liberty).

4. Create government committees that will tell doctors what medical tests and treatments they CAN and CANNOT order and punish them financially if they don't "comply" (See: www.doctorsforpatientfreedom.com).

5. Prevent you from buying private insurance that is not "government-approved" after 2013 (On page 16 of bill - See: http://www.aapsonline.org/newsoftheday/00351)

6. Create a massive bureacracy that will interfere in the relationship you have with your doctors.

7. Add to the national debt and increase government spending by at least $1.5 trillion over ten years!

8. Cut spending for Medicare patients by $400 billion over ten years!

9. Force seniors to attend "counseling sessions" about alternatives for "end of life care", or more often if they get sick (House bill, p. 425-430).

Déjà vu

Here we go again. Iran has detained embassy personnel on trumped-up charges trying to justify kidnapping and interfering with diplomacy. This time it is the British, who are being accused of pushing the current anti-government protests going on in the country.

But we have heard it all before. Once again, an Iranian government has chosen to create yet more problems, locking up diplomatic personnel, instead of negotiating with them in good faith. Where will this stop?

Medical malpractice reform

Mr. Obama was elected on a platform of change. But where is the change, when he advocates keeping the existing malpractice system in place? Malpractice reform is sorely needed to assure that our best medical practitioners are not run out of business by big insurance claims.

The Administration would have you believe that this enables us to assure a better quality of medical care. But that has not worked in the past, and what assurance do we have that it will do so in the past? The only way to assure good care is to assure good medical practitioners. When we allow our best to be run away by unfounded lawsuits and huge judgements, we harm our system. This is one of the problems we have today, and without this change, it will continue in the future.

Interfering and rude?

The British ambassador to Tehran has been summoned before the Iranian government to receive a warning that the British government are being "interfering and rude" over the current crisis. But like most Western nations, British remarks about the upheaval clearly underway in that troubled country have been mild. In fact, compared to some of the other EU countries, they could even be considered rather tame.

The problem is, that the West is in a quandary. Do we wish for the devil we know or the one we don't? Either way, Iran will continue to be a problem, but it is at least interesting to watch this process to see where it takes the country.

We can only hope that widespread bloodshed will be avoided. So far the protesters have shown no interest in violence, but the government supporters have not been so kind.

A Fair Election?

One must at least consider the process of yesterday's election in Iran that lead to a "landslide victory" for President Ahmadinejad. Protests in the street will most likely be unsuccessful in leading to any change or even recount, because the Ayatollah has now officially "blessed" the process. But the process itself may yet be the undoing of the Regime. The original election cards marked by the voters are never seen by anyone except the government who then tally them and present the results to the world. Perhaps the President did win fair and square - but can he prove it?

Still in charge...for now

Gordon Brown seems to have survived last evening's crucial meeting with his fellow Labour MPs through a reported display of uncharacteristic humbleness in which he promised an attempt to rectify past mistakes. There are still large numbers of his clan who do not believe that he can lead them to a victory in the next election, but for now, at least, they are holding their protests.

But Mr. Brown may not yet be out of trouble, as Conservatives are continuing to call for an election. An upcoming vote in a few weeks will offer some interesting insight when we see if any of the Labour back-benchers might join the Conservatives in simply wishing it all to be decided.

Meanwhile a completely new Cabinet meets this morning, tested and proven only to the extent of their loyalty to the PM. They profess to be ready to get down to business, but inexperienced in their new positions, it will remain to be seen how effective they can be early on in dealing with the country's continuing problems.

A Government "Falling Apart Before Our Eyes?"

A time of great political upheaval has fallen upon the United Kingdom, the outcome of which is yet to be written. An almost perfect storm of the recent monumental economic woes with all it's accompanying damage, accentuated by a growing scandal over the expense claims of Members of Parliament (MP's), has created an increasingly untenable position for Gordon Brown's Labour government.

Last week was a particularly disaster with with at one point 3 cabinet members resigning in 3 days. The most damaging perhaps was the public letter published in The Times by promising young Work and Pensions Secretary, James Purnell, MP, who in resigning his cabinet post stated that "Gordon Brown's continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more likely not less likely". This prompted Conservative Leader David Cameron's remark that "what we are watching is a government falling apart in front of our eyes".

Further troubles ended the week with big losses by Labour in the local elections and a complete disaster over the weekend when Conservatives took a large share of the European Parliament seats. Even the ultra-conservative British National Party managed to gain a seat in the election backlash that clearly showed the distrust of the British voters of all the major parties.

Today Mr. Brown is trying to recoup, but he will face serious questions by his party's MP's tonight about why only 15% of those polled in this most recent election voted Labour. Some say it is time for the "men in grey suits" to advise Mr. Brown that his continued presence is detrimental, but so far he holds on with the an almost sureal tenacity.

This is a truly interesting time to be in the UK, observing all this strife first hand. Only time will tell the final outcome, but my guess is that sooner or later Mr. Cameron will finally have his chance.

One for Mr. President

Let's get this one out of the way up front - as a conservative, I am not a fan of Barack Obama for reasons that will no doubt become obvious later in my posts. However in all fairness, I cannot let last week's Mid-East speech by Mr. Obama go by without notice.

One of the concerns we had early on as the US mulled the prospect of intervention in Iraq was the seeming lack of understanding brought to the table by the previous administration. Having done business in the Middle East, I learned long ago that success depends on an understanding of the unique ways the people there negotiate and do business. And it seemed to me that if a simple business person could learn this, the Administration could surely do so. But in fact, although it seems as if Iraq at least may have been pulled back from the brink, an almost embarrassing lack of this understanding was almost the demise of the whole plan.

Mr. Obama, however, is of a different lot. Last week's speech showed much thought in consulting all those requried to not only understand what best to say but even how to present it in multiple terms that would make sense to his diverse audience, even from a religious basis. Some will say he was pandering, but in my view it was an excellent beginning. Because what he accomplished was the beginning of a building of confidence in the region which can pay off big in the long term.

So whatever I may think about his domestic policies and liberal tendancies, I must give credit where it is due, and in this case it certainly is due. Now the stage is set for action, and this is the most difficult part. We can only hope that Mr. Obama can build on this oratory success with concrete changes that will eventually lead to a new, more peaceful era. And if he can accomplish this, there is little doubt that he will have earned a well deserved place in history.