Health Care

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The myth of the disappearing middle class

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the disappearing middle class, primarily in campaign speeches by candidates for president.

Hillary Clinton has begun using the term “everyday Americans,” most likely because she doesn’t want to spell out who she classifies as middle class. She’s not alone. Most candidates do not want to define how they determine middle class income because it depends on so many factors, and you can be thought of as “out of touch” if you float an income range as middle class.

Middle-Class(last resistancer.com)

Cartoon courtesy of lastresistance.com

Determining whether you are middle class comes down to self-identity. “The middle class label is as much about aspirations among Americans as it is about economics,” wrote Patricia Cohen, “but a perspective that was once characterized by comfort and optimism has increasingly been overlaid with stress and anxiety.” Continue reading →

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Hillary aims economic message at low-information crowd with renewed attack on business

It was vintage Hillary as she unveiled her “Growth and Fairness Economy” at New York’s progressive New School this week.

It was all there, designed to trigger further animosity toward business. The economy is stacked in favor of those at the top …. high corporate profits and CEO salaries … inequality … wage stagnation. And it’s those “mean-spirited” Republicans that are to blame.

images (business insider.com)

Hillary Clinton chose New York’s progressive New School as the venue to deliver her vision for the economy. (businessinsider.com)

Her message is directed at the low-information crowd, who like hearing someone attack “those greedy CEO’s,” who they believe are responsible for their lot in life. This is how she intends to be their “champion.”

It’s unfortunate that the average worker has little or no idea what makes the economy tick. Take the subject of profit, for instance. In numerous polls over the past five decades, people have been asked, “Just a rough guess, what percent profit on each dollar of sales do you think the average company makes after taxes?”

The average response in the most recent poll was 36 percent! Believe it. The average profit margin is just 6.5 to 7.5 percent. Continue reading →

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Billions in U.S. dollars sent home by immigrants represents second largest income source for Mexico

With the renewed talk of the taxes paid by illegal immigrants, and Hillary Clinton’s claim that “undocumented workers in New York pay more taxes than some of the biggest corporations in New York,” I was reminded of a little-reported fact that might interest you.

ws_mg (techofheart.com)While residing in Flagstaff, Arizona some 10 years ago, I recall seeing Mexicans lined up regularly at Safeway’s service counter purchasing Western Union Moneygrams.… read more

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A letter writer not among the war-weary

In a letter to the editor of The Arizona Republic, an individual writes, “We are being told that we will not put boots on the ground in the Middle East to defeat ISIS and stop the daily slaughter of innocents because the majority of Americans are opposed to it.”  He adds, “if that’s how decisions are made in Washington these days, then why do we still have ObamaCare?,”… read more

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Will Obama’s intimidation of the court backfire?

In a January post, I indicated my concern that the Supreme Court would decide in favor of the administration in King v Burwell, the ObamaCare case challenging an IRS rule granting tax credits to individuals in the 34 states that didn’t adopt a state exchange.

My position hasn’t changed in the subsequent six months.  Perhaps it’s the unending string of bad news emanating from the nation’s capital that causes my pessimism.

The president, obviously concerned that his already crumbling key piece of legislation will go down in a court decision, soon to be announced, has again directed unprecedented criticism toward the court.

During a press conference at the G-7 summit in Germany earlier this month, he suggested the court would be ignoring established legal guidance if it ruled against the administration.  “This should be an easy case, “he said, “frankly it probably should have stayed out of this fight.”  So much for our Constitutional genius in the White House.

Speaking at the Catholic Health Association conference,  he warned, “Do they (the court) really wish to cause the massive societal upheaval that would come from killing a law that is now a routine part of American life?” Continue reading →

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Kasich for president in 2016

What!  Has Kramer lost his mind … his conservative credentials?

No, but tell me which of the twenty odd Republican candidates out there is a true conservative?  None of them.  And none of them are going to get elected repeating what they’ve told us so far.

Kasich (newsmax.com)

Is Ohio Governor John Kasich the Republican presidential contender everyone’s overlooking? (newsmax.com)

You’re right.  John Kasich hasn’t even declared he’s in the race, and neither has Scott Walker, Jeb Bush and a few others.

I have been giving this piece some thought over the past month, and when I saw he took the tenth spot in the latest Quinnipiac University national poll and heard that his announcement could come on June 30, I figured now is as good of a time as ever.  An April Quinnipiac poll revealed Kasich has a 61 per cent approval rating compared to a 29 per cent disapproval.

I’ve personally been impressed with Kasich since 1998 when I heard him give a campaign speech in support of another candidate in Phoenix.  There was something about him I liked.  He stood there with his shirt sleeves rolled up and no tie.  No microphone.  His message was straight-forward without clichés.  Down to earth and believable. Continue reading →

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A crash course analogy

After hearing one more statement or action taken by President Obama, do you feel helpless, unable to do anything about it?  Your Congressman never responds and letters to the editor only allow you to get it off your chest.  Helpless and hopeless, you feel locked out.

Hopeless (kitchentablenewsforkidsa.wordpress.com)

We’re at the intersection of Discouraged and Hopeless and all we can do is hang in there until 2016. (kitchentablenewsforkids.wordpress.com)

A friend recently sent me a copy of an analogy to this currently circulating on the Internet.

The writer* relates the harrowing 8-minute plunge of German Wings Flight 9525 in the French Alps, in which 150 innocent people met an immediate, unthinkable death.

The co-pilot Andreas Lubitz couldn’t be stopped because he had locked the pilot out of the cockpit. “It’s hard to imagine the growing feelings of fear and helplessness that the passengers felt as the unforgiving landscape rushed to meet them,“ the writer stated.

He wrote of the feeling in the pits of the stomach and hearing the shake and rattle of structures stressed beyond their limits.  And it was only near the end of the 8-minute plunge that everyone finally understood what was really happening and began to scream. Continue reading →

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Did you hear the one about no scandals in the Obama White House?

   “I’m proud of the fact that basically you’ve had an administration that’s been in place for six years in which there hasn’t been a major scandal … and I think that says a lot about the ethical strictures of this administration.” – David Axelrod, former advisor to President Obama

Those were the words of Axelrod during a session at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. … read more

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Obama, Big Government turn on pharmaceutical firms

Remember how candidate Barack Obama attacked K Street and the culture of lobbyists, special interests and backroom deals?  Within a few months, however, he was sitting with CEOs of pharmaceutical companies to make a deal he thought would help insure the success of health care reform.

Pharma (menwithfoilhats.com)

Pharma (courtesy menwithfoilhats.com)

Oh, how some decisions can come back to bite you in the ass.  Such was the deal PhRMA, the drug industry’s lobbying group, made when they sat at the ObamaCare negotiation table with President Obama in 2009.

Seeing the opportunity to increase their revenues as more people would be filling prescriptions for their products, they made a deal that tied them to the support of ObamaCare, and to advocate on its behalf.

They couldn’t get to the White House fast enough, and contributed $80 million to promote ObamaCare.  It also provided additional Medicaid discounts. Continue reading →