The State of the Union

I've been intending to write a new post on this blog for a while now, especially since I ran across this in Google Reader. I've many thoughts circling my head, and so I shall try to organize them in this post-- Though, it will be one of much less substance and cited sources.. and more of just me.

So, I've been following Obama *very* closely over the past year. I am not searching for flaws and failure, but I see it every which way I turn. It seems the more that is discovered about this man, who was a nobody a few years back, the more I cringe. While our troops fight gallantly and require a commander-in-chief to lead them, he is absent; While our economy falters and uncertainty lay ahead, he is nowhere to be seen; While the Democrats blame Bush and play petty politics, gambling with our wealth and future, there is no Great Compromiser. Our leader is absent.

As myself, and many others predicted, Obama has done very little in this past year. He won the Nobel Peace Prize, but for what? Afghanistan and Iraq are in the worst shape in many years and our Generals have begged Obama to send in more troops. Around the world, Americans are no better liked-- The Russians, I feel, have been much more aggressive in foreign policy and have been met with appeasement from our administration. Obama has not been able to quell resistance in the Middle East nor the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Ironically, the only Liberal president who did well internationally and probably deserved the high honor, has never received it.

Now I shift to health care once more. Again, I highly suggest you read the article I linked earlier-- It debunks most, if not all the claims that the left have made about our current health care system. It clearly shows our health care system is not the worst-- We have had low costs, pharmaceutical spending, and high life expectancy rates relative to the rest of the world. True, our health care system is not the best.. but that is simply because government is already too much involved in the way of medicare, medicaid, social security, etc..

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued a "gag order" prohibiting insurance companies from informing Medicare-plus enrollees that the health plan would result in a discontinuation of their private secondary insurance. Additionally, the leadership in Congress has refused to post the working bill online. What are they hiding?

You want to know how to make our system better? *LESS* government involvement, not more. A few months back I attended a Town Hall Meeting, where I brought this up-- The fact that medicare and medicaid have socialized medicine enough. They set prices which private insurance companies must follow in order to stay competitive. We must look to eliminate such government involvement in health care as well as into tort reform. Why not restrict frivolous law suits which are filled by loved ones who are (understandably) frustrated? Doctors aren't miracle workers. Also, why not allow companies to compete across state borders? These regulations on free market capitalism are ultimately destroying it. The answer is less regulation, less government involvement.. Why the hell can't politicians see that?

People may argue, though, a purely deregulated system is flawed and evil. Not everyone can afford health insurance. For one, make sure you understand what insurance is.

I frequently hear people ask, "how can someone with an illness obtain insurance?" If you think about this for a moment, the question doesn't make any sense. It would not make sense for an insurer to insure someone who already had incurred the insured risk. What the sick person needs is care, not (necessarily) insurance.

it is not clear a priori that the cost of care would be too great for the ill person to afford. Current prices for care are quite high, but the prices of health care as they are now have a lot to do with the four-party system. This has resulted in a system where prices are high in part because we have insurance, yet we must have insurance because prices are so high.

These companies are offering you a service that they don't have to. Insurance isn't delegated in the constitution as something that must be provided to citizens. It's a privilege. Those insurance companies need to make a profit too, else YOU will lose coverage. Besides, without the government sticking its big nose in the industry, companies will finally be able to actually compete in a capitalist system-- Which will result in much lower prices.

Now, for the biggest dilemma affecting the administration... the economy. We absolutely CANNOT continue the way we are, spending without any regard to the consequences. Politicians fail to understand a simple truth that my 11-year-old brother knows-- money doesn't grow on trees. But do they care? "Ah, hell.. this is the US economy.. we'll recover." Fallacy. Just because we have yet to fail does not mean we will live on indefinitely. And fail we will. Zimbabwe's inflation troubles are nothing compared to what the US will face. Our national debt is well over $12 billion, with even more planned spending. This is a very serious problem which poses some serious consequences. Now is the turning point. If we don't soon cut spending and attempt to recover from this deficit now, then we never will. There has already been talk of dumping the US dollar as the Reserve Currency-- which would result in more liquidation of US dollars on the market.. Not to mention the affects should China realize that a US investment is no longer a AAA rating investment. Peter Schiff and Ron Paul say it best when they warn of a collapsed dollar. I've invested in the markets for quite some time, but recently I've begun shifting away from anything that is held in dollars. Why, you ask? The Dow is back to 10,000, so what's the trouble? Well, that's wonderful-- The Dow could hit 100,000, but if the dollar aint worth 1/100th its original value then you've just made a terrible investment.

Our government is drunk on power, and greedy for whatever you will allow them to take. They no longer require your vote for power; Obama has demonstrated time and time again that he will simply do whatever he wishes. As with his czars, Obama is socializing America... taking freedoms one at a time until you wake up to find that Orwell's dystopia was only several decades off. I fear for the future. Wake up America... Wake up before it's too late.