Master of Double Speak

I have never been a fan of President Obama, but never virulently against him either. I may be getting to that point however if he continues to mislead the people about his policies.

First, let us have a definition of taxes. Taxes are the revenues lost by the private sector because of actions (or Laws) mandated by the Government. All tax collections will find their roots in the private sector. Yes, even those import taxes applied to the foreign goods we import. The taxpaying public pays those taxes through the higher prices that the taxes impose upon those goods. They are unavoidable since we don’t manufacture most products that we use.

So now we have a President who tells the American public that his new healthcare plan will not add to the deficit, but will actually help bring down and save money for the deficit. He says it so smoothly that you can almost believe and hope that what he is saying is the way it will be.

Medical costs have been going up and certainly we need to do a better job containing those costs. How we do it is the big elephant in the room. Under the Obama plan, the costs are paid for from a variety of sources other than the Government. This legislation mandates coverage for almost everybody with a heavy fine imposed upon those without coverage.

Case #1 – Help for Small Business?

If you are a small business owner, the extra money for mandated insurance substantially affects your bottom line. Healthcare’s average cost is around $5,000 - $6,000/year. If you have four employees, that is the added cost of $20,000 – $24,000/year that you will have to pay – if you have four employees. At minimum wage, an employee costs the employer with no benefits from the following formula –

- 6.2% of that for FICA/Social Security

- 1.45% for Medicare

- .3% (minimum for clerical) for Worker's Compensation

- 6.2% on $7,000 salary for Unemployment Compensation/FUTA


In Texas, the current minimum wage is $7.25/hour – that calculates to roughly $13,000/year. Add to that $806.00 for the FICA/Social Security, $188.50 for Medicare, $39.00 for Workman’s Compensation, and finally $434.00 for Unemployment Compensation/FUTA. It totals to $14,467/year for the cost of a minimum wage employee. (In Texas)

With good management, your small business eeks out a gross of $500,000/year with a net of $75,000 that you keep as your reward. (That’s a 15% profit) Adding an additional 20 – 24 thousand dollar healthcare to your cost side comes straight out of your pocket.

As a small business owner, you might tighten up your expenses in other ways, but the main focus will have to be on the number of employees that you have. One of these workers will get the axe to help make up the difference.

Case #2 – Help the Economy

Obama bragged that his plan would decrease our insurance premium costs. That is, provided you make less than $200,000/year and do not have one of those so-called Cadillac plans. Oh, really! Think about it! I know several people making $200,000 and more. Most of those do not have a lot of left over money for the additional taxes that Obama wants to impose. This is the group of people who buy the better homes, pay the lion’s share of collected taxes, buy the better cars, and tip the waitress better. In short, it is their money that drives the majority of our economy. Their demands for goods and services is what keeps a large segment of our population working, and now Obama wants to tap into that money to pay for his healthcare program.

It is like he doesn’t understand the basic way that the economy works. When you mandate that a segment of the population do without a portion of their disposable income, then the ripple effects are felt by everybody. Under Obamacare, there will be more job losses as the upper middleclass of our society have to adjust their spending habits downward to accommodate for having less disposable income.

This income redistribution plan will impoverish more people than it helps.

Case #3 – Evil Insurance Companies

Medical insurance plans pay for part or all of an insured’s medical bills. But these groups of businesses are cast as the evil-doers by Obama. The man has no shame! Insurance companies have a small margin of profit. They are in business for profit. But insurance is not their only function as Obama would have you believe.

Insurance companies invest the premiums paid to them by their customers. They fund a lot of projects ranging from new startup companies, Federal treasury certificates, and industry needs. Their investment activities hold down insurance premium costs. Insurance companies have to augment what they collect in premiums with their investments to hold premiums low enough for their customers to afford. The loss of the investments by our insurance industry would cripple our economy – leading to additional job loss.

Obama’s shallowness is out front for all to see! His populist policies can only hurt this country. He is aware that his class-envy message is aimed at a population with a large number of ignorant people. This large group of ignorance is the product of the Liberal establishment. But that is a topic for another article.

Case #4 – A Prostituted Congress

Obama has literally prostituted our Congress in order to pass his healthcare plan. Hundreds of millions of dollars were paid to the recalcitrant Senate members who objected to this abomination of a healthcare plan. Then, like a thief of the night, passed the plan in the wee small hours of the night. Believe me; our Government was not set up to operate this way. Abuse of power, obfuscation and trickery, lies and non-caring, partisan news organizations have succeeded in stealing a large chunk of your freedoms.

Mr. Obama, I hope you are happy with destroying this representative republic. Your presidency will be remembered for the destruction of Liberty. In the future, people will have only fond memories of a society that once had the freedom of choice. We are in a headlong race to mediocrity with Obama leading the way.

Cheers, I think,

-Robert-

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