My View

Random ruminations from your resident curmudgeon...


All of us are by now aware of the budget crisis in our nation. There has been much posturing about cutting federal spending, with the Democratic incumbents wanting to make token spending cuts and say that is sufficient, and with the Republicans wanting to make more substantive but yet still insufficient cuts to the budget. Out of all this hue and cry has emerged a budget proposal from House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) that he calls The Path to Prosperity. Ryan has proposed cutting over $6 trillion from government spending over the next decade, and while that sounds impressive, understand that programs proposed by President Obama over the next ten years would require funding of $46 trillion dollars. Ryan's cuts amount to only 13% of the proposed spending over the next ten years! Perhaps more troubling is the fact that Ryan,one of the most fiscally conservative lawmakers in Washington, does not propose to balance the budget under his plan until 2040. Let me say it this way- our most fiscally conservative and level headed representative in Washington does not propose to balance the budget for another 30 years. What this means is that our country will deficit spend itself into oblivion and we will be content to let them if we do not force Washington to change their attitude toward managing the resources of this great nation. To continue down this path is not a path to prosperity but pure insanity.


"Vegetarian" is an old Indian word meaning "bad hunter".


Now that we are unraveling more of the monstrosity of socialized medicine that is Obamacare, we are finding more and more new surprises. Although, with this President and his willing accomplices in the Democratic Party that help create this fiasco, I don't think we should be surprised. Let me tell you about the latest one. Have you heard of the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (EERP)? This is a $5 billion dollar grant program that is tucked away inside Obamacare that ostensibly is being used to pay for health insurance for individuals that take early retirement. So far, the majority of the money from this fund has been paid to states that Obama carried in the Presidential election, labor unions, and a few private companies. I don't know about you, but I would call that a "slush fund", but that's just me. Here is the interesting tidbit about the EERP: according to the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, both the Washington Post and CBS, the television network, have received funds from the EERP. The Post received $573,217 and CBS received $722,388 from the fund. These funds are ostensibly being used to defray the cost of insurance for early retirees, but once it gets into the company coffers, the government relies on the company to report its usage for this specific program. All well and good, but frankly, it is a bit disturbing that major national news outlets are receiving direct aid from the federal government. Think that they are totally impartial now on their reporting about Obamacare? If you do, I have a marvelous investment in a bridge that we need to talk about. The fact is, these two "news" outlets should put a proper disclaimer on every newspaper and television newscast that they are a "subsidiary of the Obama administration". At least then they would not have to keep up their charade of impartiality.


They say that absolute power corrupts. I'm okay with that, because we need the electricity.


Great Britain has gone down the path of socialized medicine years before the United States, so it is instructive to see how it is working out for the delivery of health care to the Britons. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), not so good. The BBC reports that Peter Kay, the President of the British Orthopaedic Association says that as a cost saving measure, hip and knee replacements are being delayed indefinitely. Imagine being in pain and needing a hip replacement and having your doctor tell you that it cannot be performed because the National Health Service has to save money. The BBC surveyed orthopaedic surgeons across Britain and 152 specialists responded that their patients are now more disabled and in greater pain because of the delays. According to the National health Service, the minimum wait time to have a hip or knee replacement is now 18 weeks after approval, and that is expected to get longer. As was discussed in the debate over Obamacare, when the money starts to run out- and it will in a government run health program- the delivery of healthcare will be rationed and the outcomes for the patients will be less favorable. America, unless Obamacare, the socialized medicine monstrosity that was rammed down our throats is repealed, this is your fate that awaits you.


My wife said she is glad to be married to me, because there are a number of things that go wrong that she can't blame on the government.


And that, my friends, is my view.