Post Scripts

State emission rules a costly burden for farmers
By JEFF NICHOLSON — Marysville Appeal Democrat

YUBA CITY — Jenming Gee, owner of Gee Agri Transport in Yuba City, said he’ll spend at least $350,000 this year alone on new vehicles and retrofitting old ones.
Chris Torres said his company, F&L Trucking in Princeton, has taken half a million dollars in losses in the past 10 years staying in compliance.

And they might be the lucky ones — certainly, they’re the most prepared.

“Not everybody can afford to buy new or retrofit,” Gee said. “As far as I’m concerned, those people are out of business.”

Hmmm…yet another reason to establish a new state of Jefferson. The reasons just keep pouring in!

Posted by Tina

CBO predictions are based on projections made given current law; at best they can act simply as indicators to guide for decision makers. Our President and our decision makers haven’t been very effective over the past five years. The fruits of their poor management are now in:

CBO is far more pessimistic about the long-term fiscal picture than it was last year. Where it predicted a gradual decline in publicly held debt over the next 25 years in its 2012 report, it now expects national debt to reach 100% of GDP by 2038, on its way to 250% by 2088. (It was 39% when President Bush left office.)

And after a couple annual declines, deficits start rising again, reaching 6.5% of GDP by 2038, which is higher than any year between World War II and Obama.

The CBO admits that such long-term forecasts are highly uncertain. But if anything, the results will be worse, since the budget office simply assumes, for example, that ObamaCare’s costs don’t explode and that all its dubious cost-cutting measures actually work.

Both are unlikely.

While the CBO largely blames the decision to extend most of the Bush tax cuts for the worsening long-term budget outlook, its own numbers make clear that out-of-control spending is the real culprit.

According the report, federal revenues are on track to hit 20% of GDP by 2038, which is well above the average of 17.4% over the past four decades.

We need legislators and a president with serious leadership qualities who are dedicated to reforming social programs, eliminating duplicate programs, fraud and waste, eliminating unnecessary departments and creating a sound fiscal budget.

That is the goal even if it takes seventy years!

This is why there is a shrinking middle class and job opportunities are few and far between.

Posted by Tina

Robert Costa of National Review informs the GOP in the House is “preparing to vote on a continuing resolution that simultaneously funds the federal government and defunds Obamacare”.

The final decision will be announced by leadership after Wednesday’s Republican conference meeting.

They apparently have a plan “B” planned knowing the chances are slim to none in the Senate…TIME TO CALL, FAX, AND EMAIL OUR SENATORS!

Posted by Tina

Correction: Buffet’s Still an Obamacare Supporter After All

I was wrong. Warren Buffet still loves Obamacare…and why not? He doesn’t need it and you can bet he is already poised to profit big time from its implementation. He’s a corporatist through and through. His comments about scrapping healthcare were taken out of context from an interview in March of 2010:

Omaha.com:

“I’ve never suggested nor thought Obamacare should be scrapped,” said Buffett, who has supported Obama’s political campaigns. “I support it. It relates to providing medical care for all Americans. That’s something I’ve thought should be done for a long, long time.”

It’s a shame the old guy doesn’t see, or doesn’t care about the train wreck his support has guaranteed for millions of Americans a lot less fortunate than he.

I have crossed out some of the quotes attributed to Buffet as being in reference to Obamacare. I have not deleted the quotes from the article that remain true for many Americans today. Buffet said what we had before Obaamcare was untenable…he can’t possibly believe that Obamacare will do anything but make matters worse.

Two items regarding Obamacare in the news caught my attention today. The first was the startling news that billionaire investor Warren Buffet, who backed Obamacare before it was passed, is now saying we should “scrap it and start over”:

“‘We have a health system that, in terms of costs, is really out of control,’ he added. ‘And if you take this line and you project what has been happening into the future, we will get less and less competitive. So we need something else.’

“Buffett insists that without changes to Obamacare average citizens will suffer.

“‘What we have now is untenable over time,’ said Buffett, an early supporter of President Obama. ‘That kind of a cost compared to the rest of the world is really like a tapeworm eating, you know, at our economic body.’

“Buffett does not believe that providing insurance for everyone is the first step to take in correcting our nation’s healthcare system.

“‘Attack the costs first, and then worry about expanding coverage,’ he said. ‘I would much rather see another plan that really attacks costs. And I think that’s what the American public wants to see. I mean, the American public is not behind this bill.'”

He’s got (some of) that right!

The second story illustrates just one of the many problems that make this law unworkable. It comes to us from Chicago, but you can bet the same thing is happening in towns and cities all across America. This is the sad tale of medical supply businesses being forced to close their doors because the new “cost saving” Medicare rules in Obamacare don’t adequately cover the cost of supplies needed by sick and aging Medicare patients. The owner says his profits will be cut by 85% citing one example of reimbursements for diabetic supplies that were cut by 72%.

Only a big government thinker could believe that it’s possible to make healthcare more affordable by creating a huge bureaucracy that attempts to control costs through regulation. The way to control cost is to eliminate the expensive, dictatorial, government middleman thereby creating competition among suppliers for the business. The buyer at the store is then free to negotiate with suppliers…he can say things like, “Gee I’d like to give you the business but Joe over at ABS will sell that item to me for $50 less per case…can’t you do better?” This is how costs are kept low.

The market, when not interfered with, will establish a fair price that is more affordable for everyone and the entrepreneurs that make these products will have incentive to find a way to make their product less expensive.

Warren Buffet (should be able to see) knew this before he endorsed Obamacare; hes a businessman! But better late than not at all.