Promises We Wish Obama Had NOT Kept
68The Other Side of the Coin
Most of the coverage dealing with President Obama's campaign promises tends to point out those promises he has not kept. From the conservative viewpoint, however, we'd be a lot less disgruntled if he'd failed to keep a few of those promises he has kept. For example:
1. Eliminating oil and gas Tax Code loopholes.
President Obama’s 2011 budget proposes to eliminate nine different tax deductions that primarily benefit oil and gas companies. The problem here is that liberals refer to these deductions as "subsidies" that "give government money" to the energy companies.
Horse puckey. For one thing, there is no such thing as government money except for the counterfeit stuff they print all the time. The rest of it is our money, stolen from individuals and corporations alike before being renamed Government Issue. Lower tax rates on oil companies, loopholes if you're a GTL (Great Tax Lover), actually help the drilling rigs move faster, pull up more oil...
...but that might lead to U.S. energy independence, and we can't have that, eh?
2. Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. (Part of Obamacare.)
As a consumer, this sounds all warm-fuzzy-feeling. To a former commercial insurance underwriter like yours truly, this screams DISASTER. The instant you start telling any insurance carrier what it must cover, you've guaranteed the eventual bankruptcy of that company.
Plenty of pundits out there complain endlessly about "obscene profits" made by the insurance companies. What they ignorantly fail to realize is that while those profits may run into the billions of dollars, even a slight shift in underwriting results can doom the biggest company on Earth. Last year, your carrier paid out 61 cents in claims for every dollar received in premiums? And this year, they're running at 63 cents out for every dollar in? Doesn't sound bad, not much of a difference...you think?
That could, and often is, enough to sound the death knell...and (trust me on this) being forced to cover pre-existing conditions will produce one heckuva lot bigger difference than just two cents on the dollar
3. Work with schools to create more healthful environments for children.
This is Michelle Obama's pet monkey, the Fat Police attempting to prohibit fast food in schools, produce a nation of wunderkind in one swell foop. It's not entirely in place yet (thank goodness), but schools nationwide are already under pressure to reduce available sugar on school premises (in soft drinks, for example), and there's a chunk of money in the President's proposed budget for 2011 that shores up the Michelle-O-Mission as well.
4. Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
I've written about this one before. No, I'm not against gay rights--but I am strongly in favor of our fighting forces being able to concentrate on their deadly missions without distractions. When warriors specializing in small-unit combat such as the Marines tell us that repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell is going to lead to problems, I believe them.
We may or may not hear about such problems for a period of time--possibly even years--but that doesn't mean the problems don't exist. Repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell may not rank with Obamacare when it comes to promises we wish Obama had not kept, but it's definitely on the list.
5. Create a White House Office on Urban Policy.
Did you even know about this one? I have to confess it flew right under my radar until about five minutes ago. Two problems here: The White House telling Mayors how to run their towns--how centralized is that?!--plus, any time the Feds say "Create a--" they mean "spend more".
6. Create an artist corps for schools.
Yep, there's that "Create a--" again. Am I the only one who sees the idea of paying crappy artists who can't cut it commercially to fingerpaint with the kids when our nation's drowning in debt? Were Van Gogh alive today, this might have been enough for him to cut off his own entire head, not just one lousy ear.
7. Enhance Earth mapping.
Call me paranoid, but "better Earth mapping" means--in my book--greater government capacity to look right through the roof into my living room. Could be I need to keep my own promise to myself, enhance mole digging.
Of course, this close to the Mexican border, even that would be a problem. Any observer of my digging, should such take place, would instantly and logically (though incorrectly) assume I was working on a drug running tunnel, in cahoots with the cartels or some such.
8. Fund a major expansion of AmeriCorps.
"Fund" (spend) a "major expansion" (spend a lot)...all you need to know, doncha think? But just in case that's not quite clear enough, it boils down to bumping up federal (your tax dollar) jobs in AmeriCorps from a total of 75,000 to 250,000.
Yep. 175,000 new jobs without one single bit of real production.
Vampires are real.
9. Sign a "universal" health care bill.
The Creature from the Barack Lagoon i.e. Obamacare. With its unconstitutional individual mandate, willy-nilly waivers for both corporations and entire states, creation of a private army beholden only to the President, and scads of other goodies Pelosi had to pass to find out what's in it.... Oh yeah. This is is a power grab bigger than the acquisition of Seward's Folly, the Louisiana Purchase, and the annexation of Texas combined.
Barack's B.S. Bingo
10. Require states to provide incentives for utilities to reduce energy consumption.
Once again, two definite problems here. Firstly, "Require states..." I purely distrust any federal bossing around of the sovereign states. Now, if the states were going to "Require the feds....". Yeah, I could live with that. Secondly, the primary incentive promoted by the Obama administration...really sucks. It's called decoupling.
What that means in plain English is this: You cut down your electricity usage to save money...but your monthly bill doesn't drop a dime. Why? Because the utility company automatically jacked your rate up to keep its income flowing in without any drop whatsoever.
In sneaky-speak, that's decoupling. In common parlance, it's screwing the consumer. And yes, utility companies love it, some states were already using it even prior to Obama, and Obama has widely promoted its use.
Can't you just see it? Two friends from different states, on the phone (or computer, whatever).
"Hey, Bob, whazzup?"
"Yo, Joe, nuthin' much. Just got decoupled, is all."
"Yeah, me too. Seems like ol' Obummer done done us all purty thoroughly, eh? Jist another one o' them campaign promises we surefire wish he hadn't kept."
"Amen, Brother. Remember in November 2012."
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Well put, Will. I particularly like your "previously wrecked car" analogy.
What was interesting to me as I researched Obama's record for this Hub was the sheer number of campagin promises he's kept--often without the American public even noticing. And 99% of those "kept promises" involve (duh!) more and more spending-plus-power-grab.
WillStarr got the jump on me and used my favorite quote. When has anyone ever been able to buy a wrecked car and than get their insurance company to put it back in perfect shape? Why in the world would we expect them to do this with wrecked people? Do they deserve good medical care, yes they do, but not lumped in with everyone else to drive their cost up.
Is there no end to this insanity?
Sure, Mike, there's an end to this insanity--right where Obamacarter's Presidency ends, right there....
I hope that will not be too late. What we have now is the equivalent to giving a stoned teenager a credit card and telling them to go have fun.
I hope it won't be too late, too. One good thing so far, at least: Word on Fox News is that Boehner didn't cave in--not yet at least--on the budget confrontation with Obama and Reid. As long as he keeps remembering where he keeps his spine, we've still got a chance at getting our country back in time (I'm hoping!).
Your "stoned teenager" analogy is a mighty good one. Been there, done that. Didn't give the kid a literal credit card, but almost as bad. Gave him a CAR.
First, what the hell is government money? LOL Double speak for picking our pockets I imagine.
You banged the nail on the head once again Fred. The long tentacles of the federal government keep extending into areas where they have no business in the first place. It is all about CONTROL. Who needs control? Those who can't take care of their life without a Nanny State.
How pathetic.
Your title alone should lure readers here. It got me to reading.
The Frog
Well done. What we need is for him to just go away so that he can't break or keep promises. Whatever he does is never in our best interest.
Ghost32: Thought-provoking hub you've written here, very interesting and informative. However, #6 kind of stuck in my craw a bit. You see, during the eighties I was blessed to receive a fantastic public education which focused on the arts. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of reading, writing and arithmetic, (I just needed spell checker to correct my spelling of arithmetic, how sad is that?,) but from the first grade until my senior year in high school I had access to classes such as: photography, (two years in high school,) art, (junior high,) full-school choirs, including "concert choir," where the top vocal students went and privately funded, (by my parents,) voice lessons which were offered through the school. I took music theory for over eleven years and learned to play the trombone and drums as well through my school. Mind you, parents had to pay into these programs, whether it was film for cameras, instrument rentals, etc... Now, my daughter goes to one of the top magnet schools in Chicago and there isn't so much as a finger painting class. You may find it unnecessary, but I feel that it is a travesty. It's not that I don't mind enriching my child, on our own terms, without the school's help, but one of the reasons our country has outperformed other countries like China and Japan for as long as we have has been because of these programs. What has made American children more successful? Their creativity. American children, in the past, had the ability to think outside of the box. That spark of creativity made this country one of the best in the world. What happened? Where did funding for our arts programs go? Why is this a good thing in your opinion... that were turning our kids into walking automatons that have no spark, any longer? Don't even get me started on the lack of extra-curricular activities in Chicago. There's no local chapter of the Girl Scouts at her school. Chess club doesn't start until junior high school, (what, elementary school kids are incapable of playing chess?,) and the school band program doesn't start until sixth grade, at its earliest! (Ranting, sorry.) Music is the foundation for mathematics. (Or is it the other way around?) Honestly, I would still be a mathematical nit-wit if it wasn't for my musical training.
Frog: Yeah, the title kind of spoke to me, too. It was pretty scary, going through Obama's "stuff", find out he was spookier where he'd actually done what he said he was going to do.
Pop: What you said.
Nicole: It's not that I see art training as a bad thing--it's that I see the GOVERNMENT doing it as a problem. We send $100 in taxes to the feds, they absorb 88% (or whatever) percent of that in filtering it through the sponge we know as the bureaucracy, a small fraction gets back to the the schools effectively--and then the school is more or less controlled by that selfsame central government.
Nearly any expansion of government is, to me, pretty much an additional explosion of cancer cells within the body politic of America.
I do remember discovering (in my forties) to my surprise that math underlies music. It did make it easier once that was explained to me in a way I could understand--since I'm also a songwriter!
When I was growing up, I was in the Boy Scouts for a while, but it was not through the school. Two local men volunteered to serve as Scoutmasters, a Scout Troop was formed, and the game was on. We did have a school band, but the only cost to the school for that was the music teacher's pay--uniforms, instruments, etc., all came out of our parents' pockets.
If the U.S. Constitution does not expressly identify ANY given function as being appropriate to the federal government, I'm against it.
Ghost32: Thank-you for clarifying your position, I appreciate it. I wish less money was spent on making sure kids "eat right," and more money was spent on making sure they have regular gym classes, art studies and appropriate after-school extra-curricular activities. Where is Michelle Obama's outrage that my child only has gym class once, (uh, yeah, you read that right, ONCE,) a week?
Once a week, eh?
Growing up on the ranch, gym class was good for developing social skills, but those of us growing up on ranches (as I did) certainly didn't need it for exercise per se. Plenty of sweat involved in splitting firewood for the cookstove and--in winter--the heating stove in the living room. Not to mention daily chores like feeding horses and cattle, chopping holes in river ice so the cows could drink, etc.
But it's definitely different in urban settings. If non-school-related activities focus mostly on the TV, texting, and video games, then....
I've come to be a firm believer in the old adage that, "All politics is local politics.". I've seen local school boards who were highly successful at promoting extracurricular activities which did NOT require a lot of expenditure.
Most of those communities had managed to stir up a fair amount of volunteer activities, though--you know, adults who were willing to chaperone a dance or help a teacher organize the kids on a field trip to identify the leaves of trees, or....
Maybe the lack of gym classes is there to be "sensitive" to the obese kids. Pam is my 7th (and, finally, permanent!) wife--15 years and counting--but wife #5 had a daughter who was drastically overweight. She got ragged so hard about it by the other kids that she flat refused to dress out for gym.
Ghost32: I too, have been wondering about that, if perhaps the classes were changed not only due to budget concerns, but to limit some of the bullying that accompanies gym class. My daughter is actually a little underweight, since she takes ADHD medication and has a metabolism that burns everything off. Also, she's very tall for her age. I know, however how bullying can affect kids during gym class. Sensitivity isn't something kids are born with, it's something they're taught when they are respected and corrected. Seems to be a disservice to all involved, overweight kids not getting the daily work-out routines they desperately need, (it's obvious some of these parents *do not* care about what their child eats / looks like...) and to their thinner counter-parts who could be getting daily lessons and corrections on how to treat their fellow human beings. A shame all around. I was "overweight" (pudgy) as a child and I have to say, some of the worst bullies during elementary school weren't the kids, it was the gym teachers themselves. I'm all for tough love, don't get me wrong, but singling kids out and terrorizing them crosses the line. Perhaps schools are trying to avoid that situation as well. My daughter's gym teacher seems like a reasonable enough man, though.
You raise good questions. About the only thing that seems relatively certain when it comes to school is the need to deal with each different school (and for that matter, each different teacher) on a case by case basis. A gym class might be dropped in one District for budget reasons, in another for bullying, in yet a third because of a problem finding qualified coaches, etc.
You're absolutely right that the teachers can be the biggest part of the problem at times. No question about it. But kids as a whole tend to be herd animals, too. I remember one gym class from somewhere around 7th grade. Jim (no kidding, Jim in gym) had to excuse himself, run downstairs to the locker room and take a dump.
But it turned out to be a BIG dump. Too big to flush.
Well, the coach was out of sight for a bit--maybe dealing with the problem, don't remember for sure where he'd gone, just that he was gone. WHILE he was gone, three other boys, BIGGER boys from one grade ahead of us, got onto Jim about what he'd done. And then they pantsed him, yanked his gym shorts down around his ankles and dragged him across the gym floor, bare butt bounce-squealing all the way.
Jim as an adult inherited his father's ranch...and turned out to be a bit of a problem for some of his neighbors.
Kind of makes one wonder: Did the harrassment directly influence his later attitude in life?
I suspect it did.
I have a problem with the kids having no recess. When I was a child, every 2 hours, we went out and played. That is where the exercise was. We ran, played ball, jumped rope, and had hula hoops. Exercise in the form of play. It worked. The principal used to come out and run during recess. He would get the kids to run with him. Exercise. Lack of exercise is why our kids are fat. Instead of moving, they play video games. Instead of recess to wear the kids out at various times during the day, they have a 10 minute recess a day, and want us to medicate out kids into sitting still.
When ketchup became a vegetable, I had a problem with that. When the school has pizza delivered once a week, I have a problem. I can't afford that, I hope they get a better deal than I get.
People who have pre-existing conditions, do need health care help, but lumping them in with the rest does not help. A different pay scale, depending on the condition, could be an answer. Blood pressure not being charged as much as cancer type thing. Some of the health care costs could come down some, but then we are messing with their rights to make a living. My Dr. charges $125. for an office visit, my insurance will pay for a $75. office visit. She does not bill the balance to me. Someone is paying the larger amount though. Usually that person is paying out of pocket or their insurance does not fight for the lower price. If she is happy with the $75. visit, why does she not charge that price for all her visits though. I have never been able to figure that out.
For the person who does not have Girl Scouts at her child's school, it is because no one has stepped up to start one. Contact the Girl Scout Council in your area to volunteer or do without. The biggest problem with Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts is the lack of parents willing to volunteer their time to have one.
Great comment, Becky. Can't think of a thing to add to it!
Except...the "medical billing mystery". Pam and I've never fully figured that one out either. The only "logical" approach we THINK the doctors are using is, "Get however much money you can, dang the consequences and full bleed ahead!"
With the rare and wonderful exceptions: Pam's doctor for general care (excluding psychiatric) also has a "base fee" per visit of $125. BUT, the guy truly cares, and to help Pam out (since we're on a fixed income at the moment and also self-pay), he only charges HER $25 per visit. Pretty amazing; you don't see that every day.
Mine doesn't charge me the co-pay. She has also helped me with meds until I can get them shipped from meds-by mail. I do not pay for these, just co-pay from the pharmacy. My maintenance meds are all meds-by-mail.
Sounds like you're pretty well squared away.
One good thing for Pam is that she's managed to QUIT using some of the meds she needed five or ten years ago. At one point, survival required 14 different scrips every month; now it's more like seven or eight (depending on the month). And it's PAM who's pulled that off, NOT the doctors--she knows her body very well, thankfully.
I do not have a thyroid Graves disease), so I take one for that. I take a hormone blocker for the cancer I had (every 10% better chance helps). I take an Allegra daily. I take one for blood pressure and need it. I take one for angina, a potassium (which is always low). Cymbalta for panic attacks, and a pain pill for my back. 2 different inhalers(asthma), twice daily. I gave up the 3rd inhaler and the nasal spray. None of the others are going. Over $1500 monthly if I had to pay for them.
No, I wouldn't suppose any of the others WOULD be going. The only reason Pam has ever been able to drop a medication here and there is that her body does weird things all by itself--tends to heal up one afflication, then turn around a year or two later and come up with two more as "compensation".
WillStarr Level 8 Commenter 13 months ago
All this stuff is couched in undecipherable political hogwash that disguises the government power grab that it is.
Covering ‘existing conditions’ for medical coverage is equal to auto insurance covering a previously wrecked car. It's insane.