Once Upon a Time.......................

Last night I watched as America was fed a fairy tale. President Obama spun a yarn Mother Goose would of been proud of. The first fallacy centers around the stimulus money. Investing money in police, firefighters, and teachers will have little to do with turning the economy around. While they are all important to the community, they represent the lower end of the pay scale. Salvaging 40k/year jobs that produce no increase in the gross national product will not improve our economic status much. The Federal Government (us) has lent the states stimulus money they've used to make up shortfalls in their budgets, and to beef up needed government paid employees. Now the best we can hope for as a return on our investment is the state and federal income taxes those workers pay. Their salary doesn't justify them being in a high tax bracket so the return is minimal. They produce safer neighborhoods and educated children but nothing to contribute to the tax base or the GDP except their salary. Is there a plan to fund their positions next year? Because I'm thinking that bail out money was a one time thing, and the real estate market that supplies property taxes to pay their salaries, isn't turning around anytime soon on this program. Stimulus money needs to be spent enabling businesses with a product and jobs to support the community tax base with hundreds of thousands of dollars and multipul jobs, not income tax on 40k.

The President is fond of citing personal stories to support his need to push his agenda. He usually names the example and the town they reside in. Not so last night, leading me to believe this example was ficticious. He described an unnamed middle age couple from an undisclosed location who's letter happened to reach his desk in the oval office. That alone strikes me as a miracle, but let me continue. This couple was distraught about their daughter diagnosed with Leukemia and their inability to finance her treatment. They feared bankruptcy and home loss to provide for her medical needs. A heart felt plea to our leader to repair our broken health care system. Lovely gut wrenching story, but I fear it's just that, a story designed to shift your sympathy to his agenda. Here's why.....

My daughter was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, moments after the diagnosis she was assigned a case worked and Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security took over her treatment and any expense. I mean any expense, travel was arranged and paid for, it was carte blanche. There was never any out of pocket expense for our family and the house we owned remained ours. She never had a medical need that went unanswered or unpaid for.

My son was misdiagnosed with Leukemia at an early age. We were sent to a children's hospital for further tests. As he was being examined, I was again ushered into a case workers office so finances would not hinder his care. Fortunately he was fine and it was unnecessary.

A close personal friend walked into an emergency room with a pounding headache. Turns out hours later she was undergoing surgery for a brain aneurysm. This forty year old woman was a home owner without medical insurance. She was appointed a case worker and had Social Security disability benefits and Medicaid and Medicare to pay for her recovery. Never was her house, nor her finances in jeopardy. There were no mounting medical bills or liens.

These are all great examples of our incredible health care system we need to reform. They also instill a doubt that unnamed middle age couple exists. I'm thinking it's a figment of the President's speech writer's imagination, designed to gain your sympathy and support. I'm tired of being lied to, How about you? If someone has to mislead me to accomplish their agenda, there is something very wrong with that program. If that couple does exist and isn't getting the proper guidance on financial programs in place to aid them, someone needs to enlighten them.

Don't get me wrong, health care needs financial reform. (See my previous post for solutions). The Washington plans are misguided, costly and hypocritical. We are not a Nation founded on penalizing a minority for the gain of others. 280 million citizens of this country are insured and happy with their health options. Don't ruin the world's finest health care system to pander to illegal aliens and the irresponsible uninsured. Reform the process, not the system!

God Bless
Capt. Bill