SaratogaForRonPaul
07-17-2009, 10:40 PM
Folks, this is a letter I just sent to Congressman Murphy. After meeting with him last Monday, where he co-sponsored HR 1207, his chief of staff called me yesterday and asked my opinion on the health care bill.. This is my response. It is long, but since they asked for it, I think they will read it. Let me know if this represents you.
Best regards,
Steven Vasquez
Dear Congressman Murphy,
I thank you for the opportunity to hear the voices of your constituents on the very important issue of socialized health care and to understand the reasoning as to why we demand that you oppose any effort to bring any version of it into law. It is to your benefit that you read the long but detailed reasoning behind the stance, as it represents the views of the key swing vote that will decide who will represent the 20th District (or equivalent after the 2010 Census) after the 2010 election. This key swing vote are the same voters who through the most narrow of margins voted you to office in 2008. We are not the majority of the voters, or even a large minority of the voters. We are the voters who do not vote "D" or "R" in every election, but pay attention to the actions, issues, and voting history of the elected officials. We are the independents, the disenfranchised Republicans and Democrats, the politically active. We represent the majority of the 3% + 1 that decides elections. Many of us are voters who voted against another political insider, and instead put our hopes on a business man who understands and believes in free market principles that made this country prosperous and free. We are the ones who who do not take lightly the oath of office to obey and defend the Constitution of the United States, we are the ones who monitor it and hold our representatives accountable as the set of laws of the land that you are obligated and required to uphold. We are the ones, who like our Founding Fathers and all those who followed them to make this a great prosperous and free country, believe in the core principles that is the foundation of America: Individualism, NOT Collectivism.. This 40 minute video playlist describes it precisely:
http://www.youtube.com/p/762921FB66B9202A&hl=en&fs=1
Take the time to read this letter and watch this video, as it articulates the principles that we will not compromise on. We will support with full conviction any representative who obeys the Constitution and upholds these principles for which the Constitution was created under. We will volunteer, rally for, contribute, and vote for representatives like you who will for now on stay true to their oath of office strictly. To those representatives who compromise these principles based on special interests, party lines, back door deals, or collectivism principles, whether they are Republican or Democrat, we will use all our resources and capabilities to educate our neighbors, make it publicly heard, and work to the best of our efforts to kick them out of office. We are not the majority, but we are the motivated, we are loud, We are The People, and we are watching.
Socialized Health Care
The below facts and arguments are aimed at any form of socialized health care being discussed, as it applies equally to all versions. These same facts and principles also apply to all future bills that would expand government's power and role in society, including future stimulus, unconstitutional wars/invasions, tax increases, national ID cards, any law that forces mandatory participation, any law that through regulation creates oligopolies and destroys competition, and any law that limits freedom.
Economics
1) The Insolvency of Medicare and the Collapse of the Dollar
Before any discussion of socialized health care can even be discussed, the huge elephant in the room must be discussed in terms of the big picture, namely the next two impending economic crisis that will begin to hit us this decade: the insolvency of the current singer payer program of Medicare and the collapse of the US dollar.
According to the Congressional Government Accountability Office, Medicare/Medicaid is insolvent with an unfunded liability of $39.547 TRILLION, in addition to the $10.597 Trillion in Social Security, and $8..455 Trillion in Prescription Drug liability puts a total of $57.916 trillion in unfunded existing liability for current socialized entitlement programs. When you add the $11.4 trillion national debt and the $11.8 trillion government bailouts and guarantees from TARP and the Federal Reserve, each citizen is on the hook for $256,000 ($81.116 Trillion/306 million) or about $788,000 per household, which our children and grandchildren will be forced to bear the brunt of this debt.
Focusing on Medicare, the GAO states that Medicare will be insolvent before 2017, a year earlier than last year's prediction due to the financial crisis and the loss of "revenue." Contrary to popular belief, there are no accumulated savings in the Medicare (or Social Security) Trust Funds.. For over 40 years, Congress has voted to loot our senior citizen "pension/retirement/health care" plans of upwards of $150 billion a year, from what they call surplus from Medicare and Social Security, and use the excess funds to directly pay for their out of control deficit spending and wars. In its place, it releases Treasury Bills (IOUs) in the Trust fund that will be paid by future tax payers. This method of using future new payers to fund current beneficiaries has a well known name due to the recent verdict of Bernie Madoff. By definition, it is a Ponzi scheme. All Ponzi schemes fail over time, as there comes a point when there are not enough new entrants to cover the existing beneficiaries.
Over the next 20 years, 78 million baby-boomers will enter retirement age, not knowing that Congress looted their mandatory government retirement plan that they paid all their lives into. This will increase the number of beneficiaries by 100%, while the amount of wage earners entering the workforce will only increase by around 17%. What insolvency of Medicare in 2017 means (or 2015 if the current recession/depression continues) is that the IOUs will be used up, and any excess benefit requirements that are above the inflow of current Medicare taxes will have to be covered either by more taxes, borrowing money from China and other countries, or printing money out of thin air from the Federal Reserve. During the first few years, it will probably be taxed, but over the course of a few years, it will grow exponentially, and when Social Security also becomes insolvent in 2037, the GAO indicates that even a theoretical 100% tax would not be able to cover it over time. Since China and other nations are starting to realize that they can not continue to lend to the US at the rate it would require, the only alternative is massive inflation and the collapse of the dollar.
Other factors that will accelerate this process:
1) Introduction of any form of socialized health care will make Medicare insolvent faster.
2) The continued loss of the nations most productive manufacturing jobs (loss of taxes, GDP) to overseas through forced government regulations of NAFTA, CAFTA, and now CAP & TRADE.
3) The continued building of 14 permanent bases in Iraq, adding to the 700+ bases in almost 140 countries in the world, costing the American taxpayer nearly a trillion a year to maintain its empire.
4) Secretary of State Hillary Clintons continued threats to continue the Bush/Obama policy of invading and conquering sovereign nations.
5) Any additional stimulus/bailout programs of stealing from the most productive parts of society to give to the least productive parts.
6) More money above and beyond the $100 billion sent to the IMF.
7) Continued foreign aid that empowers dictators, removes liberties in those countries, and as seen in Zimbabwe, Argentina, Ethiopia, and dozens of other countries, leads to greater poverty and converts exporting nations to importing nations.
2) Paying for Socialized Health Care (by itself)
If you were to ignore the big picture, which as a venture capitalist and businessman you know would be an irresponsible and irrational act, and focus on just the cost of socialized health care, it would still not be an economic reality. The latest bill puts the cost somewhere south of $1 trillion over 10 years. The CBO has a perfect record of being completely wrong when it comes to socialized programs, where is always, at minimum, double their estimates. (Medicare Subscription Drug, now at $8 trillion in liabilities is a good example). The proposed methods of paying for it comes with a tax hike on an already overtaxed nation in the middle of one of the worse recessions in America's history. This tax will be hitting the most productive aspects of society. When you remove the super-rich bankers and CEOs who made their money due to government regulations that destroyed their competition and created oligopolies (See below, they should be taxed at 90%+ rate), what remains are the small businesses and business owners, the entrepreneurs, the venture capitalists, those who innovate, compete, and create jobs, income, and the main source revenue for the government and growth for GDP and society. When they are taxed even more than now, their productivity falls with less capital to invest in their businesses, to grow, to innovate.
As John F. Kennedy said, "It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low – and the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now." He was right, he drastically cut taxes (but should have cut spending too), and the total amount of tax revenue increased. It also occurred after 1948, when the mega high taxes from WWII were slashed, and the nation finally ended the Great Depression, years after the end of the war. When taxes are raised, there is a very short term boost in revenue, but over time tax revenue is always less than what it would be if the rates were lower due to loss of productivity throughout the economy.
When you combine the underestimated cost of socialized health care with the underestimated projection of tax revenue over time, the program can not be paid by the means that Congress is proposing, and the excess will accelerate the loss of GDP, the insolvency of Medicare, and the devaluation of the dollar.
Why Healthcare is So Expensive
Before the 1970s, when Nixon introduced mandatory government regulated HMOs, the US was closer to private, free market health care. Patients negotiated prices directly with the the doctors, drugs were cheaper, and hospitals and churches routinely aided the impoverished, and it was customary for Americans to freely give a percentage of their income to charity by their own choice. It was not a perfect system (there is NO such thing as an Utopia), it was the best and most cost effective system in the world. Today, after years of special interest money going to Congress, there are now a mountain of regulations and agencies that insures that there are only a few mega HMOs that dominate the health care industry and it is now nearly impossible for any new firm to enter the field and compete. This is what is referred to as captured regulators, where laws are created for "good intentions" such as public safety and protection, but gets quickly distorted to destroy competition for the needs of the special interests (See HR 875, Food Safety Modernization Act as a great example).
Americans can no longer realistically negotiate with their doctors, they always have to go through a government regulated (enforced) expensive middle man. Americans can no longer realistically chose who their health care insurance provider is, as it is up to their employer to choose the provider. Americans can not choose the best value, best service, best quality provider like they can with their automobile or house insurance, because regulations eliminate choice. Americans, if unemployed or have their own small businesses or consult, have to pay taxes on their health insurance. Americans can not keep their insurance if they lose or change their jobs. Americans can not customize their health insurance policies based on their own needs, but are forced a one size fits all system (pregnancy and menopause protection no matter the age). Americans can not shop around to other states for their health care needs. Doctors through private insurance and Medicare now charge as high an amount as possible, knowing that the insurance carrier will only pay a portion of it as it sees fit. This dance always continues and over time increase costs swiftly. The doctors are victims as well. While health care costs have gone up, the mean doctor salary has decreased in relation to inflation in the past decade.
The health care industry may be private, but it is NOT free market. It is a cartel system, an oligopoly. A close knit alliance of government and business, also known as fascism. This extends to the close relationship between the FDA and pharmaceuticals. Americans are banned from getting generic drugs that are 1/10th the cost in Canada. The cost of entry due to regulations into the pharmaceutical industry is prohibitive. Only the biggest companies survive, all the others are bought or wither away. They can charge any price they want as obscene profits without fear of competition.
With the introduction of socialized medicine, the oligopoly becomes a monopoly, and rather than address these issues, it solidifies them. In reality, it makes it worse. When you remove freedom: the freedom to succeed and, just as important, the freedom to fail, through government support and bailout, you grant the power to exploit, the power to corrupt, the power to steal from the masses. This is not only true with the bureaucrats, companies, and system, but also the beneficiaries. While current health care fraud is high now, it will skyrocket through a system where all personal responsibility is removed and is entirely backed up by the power of the American taxpayer (other people's money). It will be the goal for the majority of most Americans on how to beat the system and maximize their benefits and whims at the expense of everyone else. In the long run, the price will grow so high, that everyone will get less, leading to rationed care worse than the UK.
(Special note about oligopolies in other industries: FCC and the 5 corporations which now own 80% of the media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, Internet), Federal Reserve and the Big Banks, USDA and the mega-farms/corporations like Monsanto, TVA/Utilities/Oil Companies, Military Industrial Complex, etc).
The Destruction of the Private Health Care System
1) "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill on page 16 clearly states: "Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law. This means that no new policies can be written by private insurers after the date the legislation becomes effective. Here is how most Americans will eventually lose their private health insurance:
1. Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it, and
2. Those who leave a company to work for themselves will no longer be able to buy individual plans from private health insurance carriers.
Over time, all Americans will be forced onto the government monopoly.
2) Even with this section removed, any introduction of a socialized health care system will destroy the private system. Americans will be forced by threat of guns or jail on paying for the socialized system, and in the long term only the wealthy would be able to pay for what remains of a private system. With this bill, even private health care will now be taxed, so Americans who want private health care will be taxed twice (socialized and private) and still have to pay the private health care premiums.
This is true of socialized education today, as only the wealthy or the few states with a voucher system can send their children to private schools. America pays the highest premium for education (NJ is the worse, NY is second), but overall the US primary system is in last place of all industrialized nations when it comes to reading, science, and math. The poorest districts gets the highest subsidies, but their records do not improve, but the parking lots of the administrators are full of Lexus, Mercedes, and BMWs. (Excellent movie: http://thecartelmovie.com/) Teachers/Administrators with disciplinary problems can not be fired, and continue to get paid at above market rates and benefits while not working costing tens of millions. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_re_us/us_rubber_rooms) The same will occur in health care.
The Constitution
1) Of course, the most important argument of all why you can not vote to create a socialized health care system is that you do not have the authority to do so under the Constitution of the United States, which defines your position as a representative of the people, what you can and what you can not do. Article 1, Section 8 clearly lists the only functions that the Federal Government can engage in, and the tenth amendment clearly limits that any additional authority is granted to the states and the people.. The "commerce" and "welfare" clauses are well defined in Madison's papers, and it was not worded to grant the Federal Government any extended powers beyond what is listed. The only legal method of extending the power would be through a Constitutional Amendment, such as the creation of the Income Tax or Alcohol Prohibition. On the other hand, states like Massachussetts can legally create a socialized health care system as long as it does not violate their own Constitution.
No amount of past violations of the Constitution by you or your predecessors can legally justify or grant the authority for current or future violations of the law. As a representative, you swore an oath to the Constitution which granted your authority and position. You can not cherry pick which laws you will follow and which ones you can not, just as an American citizen can not legally choose to obey murder laws but ignore armed robbery without facing consequences. "When a government fails to obey its laws granted to it by the people, it loses its authority to exist."
2) In terms of civil liberties, a national health care database as was created with the first Obama stimulus package is mandatory, which is by definition tyranny, and violates the 4th Amendment and is major privacy and safety issue for Americans.
3) If the founders were alive today with the same issues and variables that exist today, they would vote against it as it violates the principles of a Constitutional Republic and the freedom and liberties that come with it. When you watch the video above, there is a short segment that describes it well. In the fable of the Good Samaritan, he comes across a man who was robbed, and through his own volition helped the man with his problem as an act of charity. What he did not do was to take out his sword and rob the next traveller to aid the first man. That would be a crime, just as illegal and immoral as the first robber. Yet, this is how the government has operated for the past 100 years (Income Tax), as it forces through threat of guns and jail to take money from one class of Americans to another class (in the case of the US, this would be the bankers and the special interests who now own 90% of the wealth in the country. Thank you, Federal Reserve.) Charity can only occur under freedom and liberty. The use of force to give other people's money away is tyranny, which is what the colonists experienced under British rule, and why it was explicitly forbidden in the Constituition.
4) The idea that health care is a right is incorrect and immoral. Is housing a right? Is driving a right? Is fresh water a right? Are video games and toys a right? They are privileges earned through productivity, not consumption. The rights we are given are inalienable, and our government can not grant those rights and is prohibited from taking them away through the Constitution Bill of Rights. We would no longer be a Constitutional Republic, but a Collectivist state should this occur.
Conclusion and Solution
As you can see, these arguments are not the same as the ones which are being blasted on talk show radio, because these ideas are those from the people who choose to think for themselves, to take the effort to understand the big picture and the long term, understand the concept of cause and effect and blow back, follow facts and truth over rhetoric. One such example being thrown out by radio is that of the 47 million uninsured Americans, nearly half make over $65,000 a year and can afford it, another 20%+ are eligible for Medicaid and have not applied, and another 20%+ are legal or illegal immigrants who would not be eligible for socialized health care. Whether this is true or not, this is irrelevant as the points we raised here show.
The fact is we all care about and agree on the problem, where health care is too expensive for Americans and too many people are uninsured because of it. It is a terrible state to be in and we all want to fix it. The current proposed solutions do not solve this issue, as it will not only decrease quality, increase prices, and economically go insolvent within the next few decades causing a worse situation than what we have today.
The best solution is to follow the Constitution. Return to a free market system by removing the regulations created by special interests to remove competition. Allow Americans to choose their own doctors. Allow Americans to choose their own insurance companies, if any, from any state. Allow Americans to pay for their health insurance and health care, tax free. Allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from other countries at 1/10th the price. Allow companies like Geico, Progressive, and new entrants to provide competing services. Allow companies to create insurance packages based on the needs of the individual, not one size fits all policies, and then let the companies compete for the best price and quality of service.
"Allow" is the wrong term as the federal government does not have the power to grant these. The correct phrase would be to "remove the unconstitutional restrictions that prevent." As many Austrian Economists point out, doing so would cut health care expenses dramatically, some say it can cut them down to as much as 1/8th the current costs. As we see with cell phones (but not to heavily regulated cell phone carriers), competition creates choices, lower costs, better services. Even in health care we see this with lasik eye surgery, which is usually not covered, and free market forces drastically reduced its costs.
The reduction in health care costs and taxes associated with it will lead to a much needed boost in productivity in the economy, as every dollar saved means less hours worked for the same goal. It will allow for savings, capital investments, debt reduction purchases of needed goods, the strengthening of the dollar, and more freedom to give to charity. Again, there is no utopia as you will not eliminate corruption, and this direction will lead us through hard times as well. But this is the path towards freedom and liberty and individualism, as opposed to collectivism that always leads to poverty and tyranny.
If you made it this far, I want to thank you. We do not want to force our views on you, but for you to understand that this was the thinking and movement that lead our founding fathers from separating from a tyrannical government and creating the great experiment of the first Constitutional Republic. There is not much of it left, but when there is a spark of liberty in the minds of men and honorable and principled men elected that puts the rule of law and the principles of the Constitution ahead of party and special interests, we will return to our pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
--
For freedom,
Steven Vasquez
Interim NY State Coordinator
Campaign for Liberty
Steven.Vasquez@campaignforliberty.com
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/usa/NY/
Best regards,
Steven Vasquez
Dear Congressman Murphy,
I thank you for the opportunity to hear the voices of your constituents on the very important issue of socialized health care and to understand the reasoning as to why we demand that you oppose any effort to bring any version of it into law. It is to your benefit that you read the long but detailed reasoning behind the stance, as it represents the views of the key swing vote that will decide who will represent the 20th District (or equivalent after the 2010 Census) after the 2010 election. This key swing vote are the same voters who through the most narrow of margins voted you to office in 2008. We are not the majority of the voters, or even a large minority of the voters. We are the voters who do not vote "D" or "R" in every election, but pay attention to the actions, issues, and voting history of the elected officials. We are the independents, the disenfranchised Republicans and Democrats, the politically active. We represent the majority of the 3% + 1 that decides elections. Many of us are voters who voted against another political insider, and instead put our hopes on a business man who understands and believes in free market principles that made this country prosperous and free. We are the ones who who do not take lightly the oath of office to obey and defend the Constitution of the United States, we are the ones who monitor it and hold our representatives accountable as the set of laws of the land that you are obligated and required to uphold. We are the ones, who like our Founding Fathers and all those who followed them to make this a great prosperous and free country, believe in the core principles that is the foundation of America: Individualism, NOT Collectivism.. This 40 minute video playlist describes it precisely:
http://www.youtube.com/p/762921FB66B9202A&hl=en&fs=1
Take the time to read this letter and watch this video, as it articulates the principles that we will not compromise on. We will support with full conviction any representative who obeys the Constitution and upholds these principles for which the Constitution was created under. We will volunteer, rally for, contribute, and vote for representatives like you who will for now on stay true to their oath of office strictly. To those representatives who compromise these principles based on special interests, party lines, back door deals, or collectivism principles, whether they are Republican or Democrat, we will use all our resources and capabilities to educate our neighbors, make it publicly heard, and work to the best of our efforts to kick them out of office. We are not the majority, but we are the motivated, we are loud, We are The People, and we are watching.
Socialized Health Care
The below facts and arguments are aimed at any form of socialized health care being discussed, as it applies equally to all versions. These same facts and principles also apply to all future bills that would expand government's power and role in society, including future stimulus, unconstitutional wars/invasions, tax increases, national ID cards, any law that forces mandatory participation, any law that through regulation creates oligopolies and destroys competition, and any law that limits freedom.
Economics
1) The Insolvency of Medicare and the Collapse of the Dollar
Before any discussion of socialized health care can even be discussed, the huge elephant in the room must be discussed in terms of the big picture, namely the next two impending economic crisis that will begin to hit us this decade: the insolvency of the current singer payer program of Medicare and the collapse of the US dollar.
According to the Congressional Government Accountability Office, Medicare/Medicaid is insolvent with an unfunded liability of $39.547 TRILLION, in addition to the $10.597 Trillion in Social Security, and $8..455 Trillion in Prescription Drug liability puts a total of $57.916 trillion in unfunded existing liability for current socialized entitlement programs. When you add the $11.4 trillion national debt and the $11.8 trillion government bailouts and guarantees from TARP and the Federal Reserve, each citizen is on the hook for $256,000 ($81.116 Trillion/306 million) or about $788,000 per household, which our children and grandchildren will be forced to bear the brunt of this debt.
Focusing on Medicare, the GAO states that Medicare will be insolvent before 2017, a year earlier than last year's prediction due to the financial crisis and the loss of "revenue." Contrary to popular belief, there are no accumulated savings in the Medicare (or Social Security) Trust Funds.. For over 40 years, Congress has voted to loot our senior citizen "pension/retirement/health care" plans of upwards of $150 billion a year, from what they call surplus from Medicare and Social Security, and use the excess funds to directly pay for their out of control deficit spending and wars. In its place, it releases Treasury Bills (IOUs) in the Trust fund that will be paid by future tax payers. This method of using future new payers to fund current beneficiaries has a well known name due to the recent verdict of Bernie Madoff. By definition, it is a Ponzi scheme. All Ponzi schemes fail over time, as there comes a point when there are not enough new entrants to cover the existing beneficiaries.
Over the next 20 years, 78 million baby-boomers will enter retirement age, not knowing that Congress looted their mandatory government retirement plan that they paid all their lives into. This will increase the number of beneficiaries by 100%, while the amount of wage earners entering the workforce will only increase by around 17%. What insolvency of Medicare in 2017 means (or 2015 if the current recession/depression continues) is that the IOUs will be used up, and any excess benefit requirements that are above the inflow of current Medicare taxes will have to be covered either by more taxes, borrowing money from China and other countries, or printing money out of thin air from the Federal Reserve. During the first few years, it will probably be taxed, but over the course of a few years, it will grow exponentially, and when Social Security also becomes insolvent in 2037, the GAO indicates that even a theoretical 100% tax would not be able to cover it over time. Since China and other nations are starting to realize that they can not continue to lend to the US at the rate it would require, the only alternative is massive inflation and the collapse of the dollar.
Other factors that will accelerate this process:
1) Introduction of any form of socialized health care will make Medicare insolvent faster.
2) The continued loss of the nations most productive manufacturing jobs (loss of taxes, GDP) to overseas through forced government regulations of NAFTA, CAFTA, and now CAP & TRADE.
3) The continued building of 14 permanent bases in Iraq, adding to the 700+ bases in almost 140 countries in the world, costing the American taxpayer nearly a trillion a year to maintain its empire.
4) Secretary of State Hillary Clintons continued threats to continue the Bush/Obama policy of invading and conquering sovereign nations.
5) Any additional stimulus/bailout programs of stealing from the most productive parts of society to give to the least productive parts.
6) More money above and beyond the $100 billion sent to the IMF.
7) Continued foreign aid that empowers dictators, removes liberties in those countries, and as seen in Zimbabwe, Argentina, Ethiopia, and dozens of other countries, leads to greater poverty and converts exporting nations to importing nations.
2) Paying for Socialized Health Care (by itself)
If you were to ignore the big picture, which as a venture capitalist and businessman you know would be an irresponsible and irrational act, and focus on just the cost of socialized health care, it would still not be an economic reality. The latest bill puts the cost somewhere south of $1 trillion over 10 years. The CBO has a perfect record of being completely wrong when it comes to socialized programs, where is always, at minimum, double their estimates. (Medicare Subscription Drug, now at $8 trillion in liabilities is a good example). The proposed methods of paying for it comes with a tax hike on an already overtaxed nation in the middle of one of the worse recessions in America's history. This tax will be hitting the most productive aspects of society. When you remove the super-rich bankers and CEOs who made their money due to government regulations that destroyed their competition and created oligopolies (See below, they should be taxed at 90%+ rate), what remains are the small businesses and business owners, the entrepreneurs, the venture capitalists, those who innovate, compete, and create jobs, income, and the main source revenue for the government and growth for GDP and society. When they are taxed even more than now, their productivity falls with less capital to invest in their businesses, to grow, to innovate.
As John F. Kennedy said, "It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low – and the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now." He was right, he drastically cut taxes (but should have cut spending too), and the total amount of tax revenue increased. It also occurred after 1948, when the mega high taxes from WWII were slashed, and the nation finally ended the Great Depression, years after the end of the war. When taxes are raised, there is a very short term boost in revenue, but over time tax revenue is always less than what it would be if the rates were lower due to loss of productivity throughout the economy.
When you combine the underestimated cost of socialized health care with the underestimated projection of tax revenue over time, the program can not be paid by the means that Congress is proposing, and the excess will accelerate the loss of GDP, the insolvency of Medicare, and the devaluation of the dollar.
Why Healthcare is So Expensive
Before the 1970s, when Nixon introduced mandatory government regulated HMOs, the US was closer to private, free market health care. Patients negotiated prices directly with the the doctors, drugs were cheaper, and hospitals and churches routinely aided the impoverished, and it was customary for Americans to freely give a percentage of their income to charity by their own choice. It was not a perfect system (there is NO such thing as an Utopia), it was the best and most cost effective system in the world. Today, after years of special interest money going to Congress, there are now a mountain of regulations and agencies that insures that there are only a few mega HMOs that dominate the health care industry and it is now nearly impossible for any new firm to enter the field and compete. This is what is referred to as captured regulators, where laws are created for "good intentions" such as public safety and protection, but gets quickly distorted to destroy competition for the needs of the special interests (See HR 875, Food Safety Modernization Act as a great example).
Americans can no longer realistically negotiate with their doctors, they always have to go through a government regulated (enforced) expensive middle man. Americans can no longer realistically chose who their health care insurance provider is, as it is up to their employer to choose the provider. Americans can not choose the best value, best service, best quality provider like they can with their automobile or house insurance, because regulations eliminate choice. Americans, if unemployed or have their own small businesses or consult, have to pay taxes on their health insurance. Americans can not keep their insurance if they lose or change their jobs. Americans can not customize their health insurance policies based on their own needs, but are forced a one size fits all system (pregnancy and menopause protection no matter the age). Americans can not shop around to other states for their health care needs. Doctors through private insurance and Medicare now charge as high an amount as possible, knowing that the insurance carrier will only pay a portion of it as it sees fit. This dance always continues and over time increase costs swiftly. The doctors are victims as well. While health care costs have gone up, the mean doctor salary has decreased in relation to inflation in the past decade.
The health care industry may be private, but it is NOT free market. It is a cartel system, an oligopoly. A close knit alliance of government and business, also known as fascism. This extends to the close relationship between the FDA and pharmaceuticals. Americans are banned from getting generic drugs that are 1/10th the cost in Canada. The cost of entry due to regulations into the pharmaceutical industry is prohibitive. Only the biggest companies survive, all the others are bought or wither away. They can charge any price they want as obscene profits without fear of competition.
With the introduction of socialized medicine, the oligopoly becomes a monopoly, and rather than address these issues, it solidifies them. In reality, it makes it worse. When you remove freedom: the freedom to succeed and, just as important, the freedom to fail, through government support and bailout, you grant the power to exploit, the power to corrupt, the power to steal from the masses. This is not only true with the bureaucrats, companies, and system, but also the beneficiaries. While current health care fraud is high now, it will skyrocket through a system where all personal responsibility is removed and is entirely backed up by the power of the American taxpayer (other people's money). It will be the goal for the majority of most Americans on how to beat the system and maximize their benefits and whims at the expense of everyone else. In the long run, the price will grow so high, that everyone will get less, leading to rationed care worse than the UK.
(Special note about oligopolies in other industries: FCC and the 5 corporations which now own 80% of the media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, Internet), Federal Reserve and the Big Banks, USDA and the mega-farms/corporations like Monsanto, TVA/Utilities/Oil Companies, Military Industrial Complex, etc).
The Destruction of the Private Health Care System
1) "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill on page 16 clearly states: "Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law. This means that no new policies can be written by private insurers after the date the legislation becomes effective. Here is how most Americans will eventually lose their private health insurance:
1. Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it, and
2. Those who leave a company to work for themselves will no longer be able to buy individual plans from private health insurance carriers.
Over time, all Americans will be forced onto the government monopoly.
2) Even with this section removed, any introduction of a socialized health care system will destroy the private system. Americans will be forced by threat of guns or jail on paying for the socialized system, and in the long term only the wealthy would be able to pay for what remains of a private system. With this bill, even private health care will now be taxed, so Americans who want private health care will be taxed twice (socialized and private) and still have to pay the private health care premiums.
This is true of socialized education today, as only the wealthy or the few states with a voucher system can send their children to private schools. America pays the highest premium for education (NJ is the worse, NY is second), but overall the US primary system is in last place of all industrialized nations when it comes to reading, science, and math. The poorest districts gets the highest subsidies, but their records do not improve, but the parking lots of the administrators are full of Lexus, Mercedes, and BMWs. (Excellent movie: http://thecartelmovie.com/) Teachers/Administrators with disciplinary problems can not be fired, and continue to get paid at above market rates and benefits while not working costing tens of millions. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_re_us/us_rubber_rooms) The same will occur in health care.
The Constitution
1) Of course, the most important argument of all why you can not vote to create a socialized health care system is that you do not have the authority to do so under the Constitution of the United States, which defines your position as a representative of the people, what you can and what you can not do. Article 1, Section 8 clearly lists the only functions that the Federal Government can engage in, and the tenth amendment clearly limits that any additional authority is granted to the states and the people.. The "commerce" and "welfare" clauses are well defined in Madison's papers, and it was not worded to grant the Federal Government any extended powers beyond what is listed. The only legal method of extending the power would be through a Constitutional Amendment, such as the creation of the Income Tax or Alcohol Prohibition. On the other hand, states like Massachussetts can legally create a socialized health care system as long as it does not violate their own Constitution.
No amount of past violations of the Constitution by you or your predecessors can legally justify or grant the authority for current or future violations of the law. As a representative, you swore an oath to the Constitution which granted your authority and position. You can not cherry pick which laws you will follow and which ones you can not, just as an American citizen can not legally choose to obey murder laws but ignore armed robbery without facing consequences. "When a government fails to obey its laws granted to it by the people, it loses its authority to exist."
2) In terms of civil liberties, a national health care database as was created with the first Obama stimulus package is mandatory, which is by definition tyranny, and violates the 4th Amendment and is major privacy and safety issue for Americans.
3) If the founders were alive today with the same issues and variables that exist today, they would vote against it as it violates the principles of a Constitutional Republic and the freedom and liberties that come with it. When you watch the video above, there is a short segment that describes it well. In the fable of the Good Samaritan, he comes across a man who was robbed, and through his own volition helped the man with his problem as an act of charity. What he did not do was to take out his sword and rob the next traveller to aid the first man. That would be a crime, just as illegal and immoral as the first robber. Yet, this is how the government has operated for the past 100 years (Income Tax), as it forces through threat of guns and jail to take money from one class of Americans to another class (in the case of the US, this would be the bankers and the special interests who now own 90% of the wealth in the country. Thank you, Federal Reserve.) Charity can only occur under freedom and liberty. The use of force to give other people's money away is tyranny, which is what the colonists experienced under British rule, and why it was explicitly forbidden in the Constituition.
4) The idea that health care is a right is incorrect and immoral. Is housing a right? Is driving a right? Is fresh water a right? Are video games and toys a right? They are privileges earned through productivity, not consumption. The rights we are given are inalienable, and our government can not grant those rights and is prohibited from taking them away through the Constitution Bill of Rights. We would no longer be a Constitutional Republic, but a Collectivist state should this occur.
Conclusion and Solution
As you can see, these arguments are not the same as the ones which are being blasted on talk show radio, because these ideas are those from the people who choose to think for themselves, to take the effort to understand the big picture and the long term, understand the concept of cause and effect and blow back, follow facts and truth over rhetoric. One such example being thrown out by radio is that of the 47 million uninsured Americans, nearly half make over $65,000 a year and can afford it, another 20%+ are eligible for Medicaid and have not applied, and another 20%+ are legal or illegal immigrants who would not be eligible for socialized health care. Whether this is true or not, this is irrelevant as the points we raised here show.
The fact is we all care about and agree on the problem, where health care is too expensive for Americans and too many people are uninsured because of it. It is a terrible state to be in and we all want to fix it. The current proposed solutions do not solve this issue, as it will not only decrease quality, increase prices, and economically go insolvent within the next few decades causing a worse situation than what we have today.
The best solution is to follow the Constitution. Return to a free market system by removing the regulations created by special interests to remove competition. Allow Americans to choose their own doctors. Allow Americans to choose their own insurance companies, if any, from any state. Allow Americans to pay for their health insurance and health care, tax free. Allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from other countries at 1/10th the price. Allow companies like Geico, Progressive, and new entrants to provide competing services. Allow companies to create insurance packages based on the needs of the individual, not one size fits all policies, and then let the companies compete for the best price and quality of service.
"Allow" is the wrong term as the federal government does not have the power to grant these. The correct phrase would be to "remove the unconstitutional restrictions that prevent." As many Austrian Economists point out, doing so would cut health care expenses dramatically, some say it can cut them down to as much as 1/8th the current costs. As we see with cell phones (but not to heavily regulated cell phone carriers), competition creates choices, lower costs, better services. Even in health care we see this with lasik eye surgery, which is usually not covered, and free market forces drastically reduced its costs.
The reduction in health care costs and taxes associated with it will lead to a much needed boost in productivity in the economy, as every dollar saved means less hours worked for the same goal. It will allow for savings, capital investments, debt reduction purchases of needed goods, the strengthening of the dollar, and more freedom to give to charity. Again, there is no utopia as you will not eliminate corruption, and this direction will lead us through hard times as well. But this is the path towards freedom and liberty and individualism, as opposed to collectivism that always leads to poverty and tyranny.
If you made it this far, I want to thank you. We do not want to force our views on you, but for you to understand that this was the thinking and movement that lead our founding fathers from separating from a tyrannical government and creating the great experiment of the first Constitutional Republic. There is not much of it left, but when there is a spark of liberty in the minds of men and honorable and principled men elected that puts the rule of law and the principles of the Constitution ahead of party and special interests, we will return to our pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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For freedom,
Steven Vasquez
Interim NY State Coordinator
Campaign for Liberty
Steven.Vasquez@campaignforliberty.com
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/usa/NY/