The Horrors and Destruction that Donald Trump Has Imposed On America...Just Kidding! (Part 2)

Before we start today’s discussion, let’s review my voting history:

• I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life.
• Thus, I did not vote for Trump.
• I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office in my life.

A year ago, many liberals, Democrats, and millenials were besides themselves with grief and fear because their pre-ordained queen, Hillary Clinton, was not elected President. Instead, Donald Trump was elected, an individual that these same people despised, hated, and feared, an individual that felt would endanger and possibly destroy the country and/or our democracy. For the past year they fretted, and worried and lashed out at anything or anyone that even remotely smelled of Donald Trump.

Given that Trump has been in office for a year and we are at the end of that calendar year, I thought, that as someone who did not vote for him, it would be a good idea to review the horror, trauma, and terrible things that Trump has subjected the country to in just one short. Of course, this previous statement is dripping in sarcasm. Several days ago we listed out 53 of Trump’s positive accomplishments for 2017. But since then a number of other positive accomplishments have come to the forefront.

So for those of you that feared the end of the world with Trump’s election, here are 9 additional accomplishments, in addition to that previous list of 53 accomplishments, he has imposed on the country. Let’s be honest Trump haters, he has done a pretty good job in just the first twelve months of his term. 

1) According to an analysis from the folks at Zillow, the giant real estate sales website, the value of the entire U.S. housing stock increased by 6.5% in 2017, the first year of Trump’s term, or a dollar increase of a robust $2 trillion. This is the biggest gain in home values since 2013.

2) Rick Newman, in a recent article on the Yahoo Finance website, admitted that he was wrong last year when he predicted the stock market would plunge when Trump was elected, citing the reality that the Dow is up about 28% since the election, the Dow has set 86 record closing highs, and the S&P index is up about 20%, while Americans “feel increasingly confident about their [economic] prospects.”

3) The Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence latest analysis shows consumer confidence hit 122.1 in December, slightly below the 17-year high set in November, 128.6, with Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, stating that “consumers’ expectations remain at historically strong levels, suggesting economic growth will continue well into 2018.”

4) The latest unemployment rate analysis from the Department of Labor puts the rate at 4.1%, the lowest level since 2000.

5) The Conference Board also found that the percentage of Americans planning to buy a major appliance is, 9.2%, is at its highest level since at least 1978.

6) CNN Money reported recently that 60% of Americans surveyed by the Conference Board plan to take a vacation in the next six months, which was just below the October measure of 63.5%, making it the second highest intention level since at least 1978.

7) The number of police officers killed in the line of duty in Trump’s first year fell to the second lowest level in at least 50 years.

8) He proved so many “experts” wrong including the obnoxious Paul Krugman of the New York Times who so wrongly predicted the impact of Trump’s election back in late 2016: “Under any circumstances, putting an irresponsible, ignorant man who takes his advice from all the wrong people in charge of the nation with the world’s most important economy would be very bad news. What makes it especially bad right now, however, is the fundamentally fragile state much of the world is still in, eight years after the great financial crisis,” said Krugman a year before the Dow rose almost 28% and we have experienced two consecutive quarters of over 3% annualized growth. 

9) He reduced the size of the excessive Federal government workforce in all but three Federal entities (Department of Homeland Security, Veterans Administration, and Interior Department) by 16,000 full time employees in a single year, compared to Obama who expanded the size of the Federal government workforce by 68,000 employees in his first year in the midst of a deep recession and massive Federal government budget deficits.

So for those of you that feared the end of the world with Trump’s election, here is a list of 9 more Trump accomplishments to go with the list of 53 accomplishments we published a few days ago.

Let’s be honest Trump haters, he has done a pretty good job in just the first twelve months of his term.

Given your gross error in judgement relative to Trump, let me ask that you to do us all a favor by implementing the following changes in your behavior and attitude:

• Chill out, tamp down your TDS affliction. No matter how much you hate Trump on a sexist, personal basis, get over it. He is the legally and duly elected President, he will be around for a while so refocus your hatred on more constructive issues and matters. You will live a lot longer if you take your hatred out of your heart and soul and devote it to something positive.
• I would really appreciate it if some of you would apologize to the Trump voters you have disrespected in some of the grossest terms possible over the past year. You have called millions of voters racists, ignorant, stupid, Nazis, KKK members, and other horrible names simply because you disagreed with their voting choice. No American should be called such disgusting names simply because they exercised their Constitutional rights to the best of their abilities. Plus, slandering over 60 million Americans is no way to unite the country and get it focused on the real issues facing us all.
• More personally, I would like, no I am demanding, an apology from some of you for your slanderous and disgusting name calling because in doing so, you insulted and disrespected my sister, my family members, my friends, and my co-workers who simply voted their conscience. I will defend their right to vote anyway they wanted and will no put up with your childish and vicious venom and bile directed at them, very important people in my life
• And finally, I challenge you to read the following blog post, a post that shows quite clearly that it was hateful people like some of you and your silence during the Obama years that actually caused Trump to be elected. Thus, the people you hate for voting for Trump are actually looking back at you in the mirror:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/03/how-american-liberals-and-washington.html

If you were silent in the dozens of instances listed in this post then you were responsible for the very thing you hate: a Trump Presidency. Or put another way, a so far successful and productive Trump Presidency.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Horrors and Destruction that Donald Trump Has Imposed On America...Just Kidding!

Before we start today’s discussion, let’s review my voting history: 

• I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life. 
• Thus, I did not vote for Trump. 
• I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office in my life. 

A year ago, many liberals, Democrats, and millenials were besides themselves with grief and fear because their pre-ordained queen, Hillary Clinton, was not elected President. Instead, Donald Trump was elected, an individual that these same people despised, hated, and feared, an individual they felt would endanger and possibly destroy the country and our democracy. For the past year they fretted, worried and lashed out at anything or anyone that even remotely smelled of Donald Trump.

Given that Trump has been in office for a year and we are at the end of that calendar year, I thought, that as someone who did not vote for him, it would be a good idea to review the horror, trauma, and terrible things that Trump has subjected the country to in just one short year:

1. Oversaw two consecutive quarters of annualized economic growth over 3% in his first year, Obama had no more than two quarters over 3% in eight years. 
2. Generated repeated historic highs in all major stock market indices over the past year, likely enriching any American with individual stock holdings, mutual fund holdings, or a 401k or IRA account. 
3. Provided tax reduction legislation that will reduce the Federal income tax burden of well over a 100 million American taxpayers. 
4. Eliminated about 1,500 unnecessary government regulations to spur investment and business growth and save the economy an estimated $89 billion in excessive regulation costs. 
5. The national unemployment rate is at its lowest level since 2007, lower than at any time during Obama’s eight years. 
6. The national Hispanic unemployment rate is at its lowest level ever since the government started to measure it. 
7. The unemployment rate in the manufacturing sector is at its lowest rate in years. 
8. The weekly applications for unemployment benefits are almost at historical lows. 
9. Median household income is at a 7 year high. 
10. Existing home sales are at their highest level since January, 2006. 
11. Home prices rose a strong 6.2% in the past year. 
12. Confidence among U.S. homebuilders reached its highest level in December since July, 1999 according to data from the National Association of Home Builders. 
13. Consumer confidence is at its highest level since 2000, with the consumer confidence index at 125.6. 
14. Home mortgage applications are at a seven year high. 
15. Improving economic conditions resulted in a Christmas buying/spending season that was higher than it has been in almost ten years, rising almost 5% or $33 billion over 2016. 
16. AT&T announced that it would pass along their company income tax savings from Trump’s tax cut legislation to their employees in the form of a $1,000 bonus to each of its 200,000 nonmanagement employees in addition to investing $1 billion in the U.S. market in 2018. 
17. Comcast announced that it would pass along their company income tax savings from Trump’s tax cut legislation to their employees in the form of a $1,000 bonus to its frontline and non-executive employees and invest over $50 billion in the U.S. market in the next five years to improve and expand their broadband, theme park, television and film business divisions. 
18. Fifth Third bank announced that it would pass along their company income tax savings from Trump’s tax cut in the form of raising the minimum wage of its 3,000 hourly employees to $15 an hour in addition to paying a one time bonus of $1,000 to all of its 13,500 employees: “We want to invest in our most important asset – our people,” said CEO Greg Carmichael of Fifth Third Bank. He also said that the tax cut provided an opportunity to “reevaluate its compensation structure and share some of those benefits with its talented and dedicated workforce.” 
19. Wells Fargo announced that it would pass along their company income tax savings from Trump’s tax cut in the form of raising the minimum wage of their hourly employees to $15 an hour and spend $400 million on donations to community and non-profit organizations in 2018, 
20. Boeing announce that it would take its income tax savings from Trump’s tax cut by investing $300 million in the company’s employees and facilities and charitable donations “Each of these investments benefits Boeing’s most important strength – our employees – and reflects the real-time impact and economic benefit of the reforms,” said Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg. “The reforms enable us to better compete on the world stage and give us a stronger foundation for the investment in innovation, facilities and skills that will support our long-term growth.” 
21. Bob Parsons, the billionaire owner of YAM Worldwide, announced he will be passing tax savings from the Trump tax cut in the form of giving almost 600 of his employees with more than six months tenure a $2,000 bonus and those with less than six months bonus $1,000 bonus on top of currently planned bonuses: "The passage of the tax credit is a catalyst for explosive economic growth. On a massive scale, the lowered federal tax burden on businesses will increase investment, entrepreneurship and corporate philanthropy.I’ve always believed in sharing good news and have decided to celebrate the tax plan by giving back to my staff.” 
22. Other companies, including FedEx and CVS Health, have announced that they will also pass along their income tax savings from Trump’s tax cut in the form of employee compensation and just these two companies predicted their tax savings would enable them to together hire 4,000 more employees. 
23. Is currently reviewing and fixing all international trade regulations to ensure America gets a fair deal with other countries. 
24. Convinced China to begin the importation of U.S. grown beef. 
25. Implemented policies that have significantly reduced illegal immigration to the lowest level in 17 years. 
26. Convinced major companies like Exxon, Bayer, Apple, SoftBank, Toyota, etc. to domestically invest $78 billion. 
27. Renegotiated the F-35 fighter program contracts to save the American taxpayer $700 million. 
28. Reduced the White House staff budget by $22 million. 
29. Has ordered the head executive of each branch of government to come up with a plan to trim excessive bureaucracy and costs within their branch and to restructure their branch to improve its efficiency. 
30. Has kept average gasoline prices at their lowest levels in 12 years. 
31. Got the Keystone pipeline approved. 
32. Convinced NATO allies to pull their fair share of common defense expense, resulting in those allies increasing their defense spending by 4.3%. 
33. Allowed the Veterans Administration, a corrupt and ineffective and inefficient government agency, to more easily fire poorly performing employees. 
34. Allowed veterans to receive health care from non-government entities to improve the turnaround time for healthcare treatment of veterans. 
35. Gave NASA better and more definitive direction and strategies including giving it its first reauthorization in seven years, requiring it to create a plan with cost estimates to get a manned flight to Mars by 2023, requiring it to prioritize its own launch equipment over that of foreign countries, and analyze and prepare a report on the danger of an asteroid hit on Earth. 
36. Passed legislation that will result in the first overhaul of the nation’s weather forecasting system since the 1990s with $170 million authorized to improve weather and storm prediction, tracking, planning and disaster recovery. 
37. Passed legislation to impose a dozen different types of sanctions on Russia for its action in the Ukraine and Crimea. 
38. Passed the “Forever GI” legislation that expanded opportunities and relaxed restrictions on the funding available for former service people to get education benefits. 
39. Put a focus on combating the criminal enterprise known as MS-13 gangs, an illegal immigrant driven crime syndicate that has a presence in all 50 states. 
40. Pulled the country out of the ill defined, unbalanced, and unnecessary/useless Paris climate accord. 
41. Created a government commission to focus on combating child trafficking. 
42. Created a government commission to focus on combating rampant voter fraud. 
43. Created a government commission to focus on combating the country’s opioid addiction crisis. 
44. Created an office to support the victims of violence from illegal immigrant criminals. 
45. Recorded the second highest monthly government budget surplus in history in April, 2017. 
46. Signed An Executive Order To Promote Energy Independence and Economic Growth. 
47. Donated an entire paycheck to veterans’ causes and support. 
48. Recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. 
49. Helped break the back of ISIS, the most horrible terrorist organization of all time, even getting recognition from the pro-liberal, anti-Trump New York Times: “...And for now, the Trump administration’s approach to the Middle East has been moderately successful, and indeed close to what I would have hoped for from a normal Republican president following a realist-internationalist course.” 
50. Launched a multi pronged diplomatic and economic strategy to address the growing and dangerous problem of a nuclear armed North Korea, a problem that Obama ignored for eight years with his lame “Strategic Patience” strategy. 
51. Reduced the United States financial commitment to the United Nations budget in order to force this bloated, inefficient, and ineffective organization to clean up its act and not continue to waste American taxpayer wealth. 
52. Attained an approval rating exactly equal to Obama’s rating at the same time in their first terms, as reported by Matt Drudge “Rasmussen Poll shows Trump at 46% APPROVE this morning, with 53% DISAPPROVE...What about Obama at same exact date first year in presidency?? 46% APPROVE, 53% disapprove.” 
53. And possibly Trump’s biggest accomplishment, he prevented a crime syndicate (aka the Clinton Foundation) queen and a defender, abettor, and condoner of a sexual predator and possible rapist (Bill Clinton) from becoming President. 

[Note: a lot of these accomplishments were compiled by the Political Insider website with other sources adding to their original list.]

So for those of you that feared the end of the world with Trump’s election, here is a list of 53 accomplishments he has imposed on the country. Let’s be honest Trump haters, he has done a pretty good job in just the first twelve months of his term. 

Given your gross error in judgement relative to Trump, let me ask that you to do us all a favor by implementing the following changes in your behavior and attitude:

• Chill out, tamp down your TDS affliction. No matter how much you hate Trump on a sexist, personal basis, get over it. He is the legally and duly elected President, he will be around for a while so refocus your hatred on more constructive issues and matters. You will live a lot longer if you take your TDS hatred out of your heart and soul and devote it to something positive. 
• I would really appreciate it if some of you would apologize to the millions of Trump voters you have disrespected in some of the grossest terms possible over the past year. You have called millions of voters racists, ignorant, stupid, Nazis, KKK members, and other horrible names simply because you disagreed with their voting choice. No American should be called such disgusting names simply because they exercised their Constitutional rights to the best of their abilities.  Plus, slandering over 60 million Americans is no way to unite the country and get it focused on the real issues facing us all.
• More personally, I would like, no I am demanding, a personal apology from some of you for your slanderous and disgusting name calling because in doing so, you insulted and disrespected my sister, my family members, my friends, and my co-workers who simply voted their conscience. I will defend their right to vote anyway they wanted and will no longer put up with your childish and vicious venom and bile directed at them, very important people in my life 
• And finally, I challenge some of you to read the following blog post, a post that shows quite clearly that it was hateful people like you and your silence over the past eight years that actually caused Trump to be elected. Thus, the people you hate for voting for Trump are actually looking back at you in the mirror: 

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/03/how-american-liberals-and-washington.html

If you were silent in the dozens of instances listed in this post then you were responsible for the very thing you hate: a Trump Presidency. Or put another way, a so far successful and productive Trump Presidency.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

December,2017, Part 3,The Unfolding Disaster That Is Obama Care: Real Life Obama Care Horror Stories From real Life Americans

Every month for years now we have had to discuss how bad Obama Care is turning out to be under the continuing theme, “the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care.” This month is no different. As the legislation continues to march through America, driving up health care and health insurance prices as it serves as dead weight on economic growth, it cements its rightful place as the worst piece of legislation Washington has ever produced.

It never had a chance to be successful since it really never addressed the underlying root causes of our ever increasing health costs in the country:

• Americans eat too much of the wrong kind of food, resulting in obscenely high obesity rates for the country.
• Our food chain is infested with overdoses of high fructose corn syrup, salt, sugar, and other unhealthy additives.
• Americans smoke too much.
• Americans do not exercise enough.
• The country is in serious need of health care tort reform.
• Barriers to insurance company competition across state lines need to come down.
• Obama Care never “followed the money” to find out who is actually profiting from the ever escalating healthcare costs in this country and how to get those factors under control.
• Obama Care never got the immense amount of fraud and abuse in current government healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid, under control in order to save money to efficiently fund other government health care initiatives.
• Obama Care never put serious research money towards curing the major diseases that drive high healthcare costs such as high frequency cancers and dementia type diseases.

You cannot resolve any problem unless you understand and address the underlying root causes. No difference here: Obama Care legislation never addressed these listed root causes and thus, has no chance of ever being successful.

But it is not just missing the root causes of our healthcare costs that makes Obama Care so horrible. It resulted in millions of Americans losing access to their favored doctors, hospitals, and insurance policies. It has caused insurance premiums, deductibles and copays to escalate substantially. It will likely add trillions of dollars to the national debt. It has exposed millions of Americans to higher than necessary identity theft chances. It has created government bureaucracies that are wastefully spending taxpayer wealth and being exploited by criminal elements. It has stifled economic growth and job creation.

These are just a sample of the types of idiocy that we have been reviewing for the past several years in this blog relative to Obama Care. To read those past posts, just enter the phrase, “the unfolding disaster,” in the search box above.

As we often do in this series, let's finish this month's Obama Care disaster review with some real life stories of disaster from real life Americans to see how badly Obama Care affected people at the family and individual level. As always, our source of these tragedies is from the following website:

www.ourhealthcarestories.com

RICHARD, MONTANA: I'm currently paying $229 per month on a plan from Humana that does exactly what I want. It'll keep me from going broke if something bad happens.

That Humana plan does not comply with ObamaCare. So it will be cancelled at some point. Originally it was scheduled to be cancelled at the end of 2014, now I'm not sure if it will be extended to 2016 or what.

The least expensive policy I could find that complied with Ocare was about $500/mo. and that was for this year. My understanding is that compliant policies for 2015 will be about 20% higher. I hope I can keep the current policy for next year, but I don't know. I am displeased.

YVETTE, MAINE; "The least expensive of the new federal healthcare options will cost me $14,400 a year."

MICHAEL, VIRGINIA: About 5 years ago, I changed my health plan to an HSA through Anthem, to reduce my costs. We had just had our daughter, and the reduced plan seemed perfect in my favor. Gradually, that planned increased to 535/month by August 2010 - No thanks.

I switched to GoldenRule in 2011, and we enjoyed a 249/month plan, keeping my HSA. We have a 5k deductible. It increased yearly to 281, 317, and then 392 after adding my newborn son. Then the "Letter" came in August, something like "...due to rising healthcare costs...518/month."

The increases on my plan previously were in the 13% range, and suddenly it goes up 32% and we're in perfect health.

I scream when I hear the President say, that costs have not gone up as much as previous years...and I wonder who he's talking about. Any other plans I have investigated, just 1 in my current price range, are 10-20% higher for the same coverage, deductible, etc.

MICHAEL, NORTH CAROLINA; From the Charlotte Observer: 

Michael Hood, 46, who lives near Winston-Salem, is another of the Blue Cross customers who is suffering sticker shock after receiving a recent renewal letter.

He and his wife, who is expecting their third child, now pay $324 per month for a plan with a $10,000 family deductible. The comparable plan suggested by Blue Cross for next year would cost $895.27 per month with an $11,000 family deductible. Their annual payment would rise from $14,000 to $24,000.

Self-employed as part owner of a medical device distributorship, Hood said he and his wife “try to live a healthy lifestyle and keep our medical costs down.” They chose the high-deductible plan to keep their premium low.

Hood said his income is about $85,000 a year, which would mean he might be able to qualify for a subsidy. He said he checked the online marketplace, which has been operating only sporadically this week, and didn’t think it looked like his family would be eligible.

One of the pluses of any new plan is that it will cover maternity care, which his current plan doesn’t. But “is that really worth paying $1,000 a month more for?”

“I’m angry that legislation has been passed that is forcing me to purchase something that otherwise I would not have to purchase,” Hood said.

MARIA, CALIFORNIA: Maria Berumen, a tax preparer in Downey, was uninsured for years because of preexisting conditions. The 53-year-old was thrilled to find coverage for herself and her husband for $148 a month after qualifying for a big government subsidy.

She jumped at the chance in early January to visit a primary-care doctor for long-running numbness in her arm and shoulder as a result of bone spurs on her spine. The doctor referred her to a specialist, and problems ensued. At least four doctors wouldn't accept her health plan — even though the state exchange website and her insurer, Health Net Inc., list them as part of her HMO network.

"It's a phantom network," Berumen said.

It was no surprise to her family doctor, Ragaa Iskarous. She has run into this problem repeatedly with other patients in the last month, the doctor said. "This is really driving us crazy."

TOM, LOUISIANA: Obamacare has required my insurance carrier to double my premium beginning Jan 2015. I will no longer be able to afford the premium. The reason the premium is being raised is to provide coverage required by Obamacare but for which I have no need. Obamacare is forcing me to forgo insurance I chose, and can pay for to having no insurance at all. I will have to cancel my insurance but I will send the bill to the fool of a senator who voted for the law, Mary Landrieu.

EMILY, FLORIDA: I'm a retiree that worked for a Fortune 500 Company and had Wonderful Insurance Coverage which included Medical, Hospital, Dental, Rx, Vision and Mental Health. Due to Obamacare I lost my Insurance because of the Employee Mandate.

I have Epilepsy, as a result I find myself in the emergency room often and admitted to the hospital all to often. Also, my prescription drugs cost are very high. The ACA did not meet my needs and what came close was not affordable and deductibles were very high. I took a policy on my own which was 3 times what I contributed through my employer but I had to cancel it because I could no longer afford it. So I have no insurance except Medicare. I had to go to the Hospital last week for 5 days, I don't know how I'm going to pay the bill.

Higher premiums, higher deductibles, narrow doctor networks, cancelled policies, paying for unneeded insurance, the list of Obama Care seems endless. Which means next month we will probably be back with more disasters from the disastrous legislation that keeps on giving.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

December,m2017, Part 2, The Unfolding Disaster That Is Obama Care: Higher Premiums, More Narrow Networks, Less Competition, Same Old Disasters

Every month for years now we have had to discuss how bad Obama Care is turning out to be under the continuing theme, “the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care.” This month is no different. As the legislation continues to march through America, driving up health care and health insurance prices as it serves as dead weight on economic growth, it cements its rightful place as the worst piece of legislation Washington has ever produced.

It never had a chance to be successful since it really never addressed the underlying root causes of our ever increasing health costs in the country:

• Americans eat too much of the wrong kind of food, resulting in obscenely high obesity rates for the country.
• Our food chain is infested with overdoses of high fructose corn syrup, salt, sugar, and other unhealthy additives.
• Americans smoke too much.
• Americans do not exercise enough.
• The country is in serious need of health care tort reform.
• Barriers to insurance company competition across state lines need to come down.
• Obama Care never “followed the money” to find out who is actually profiting from the ever escalating healthcare costs in this country and how to get those factors under control.
• Obama Care never got the immense amount of fraud and abuse in current government healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid, under control in order to save money to efficiently fund other government health care initiatives.
• Obama Care never put serious research money towards curing the major diseases that drive high healthcare costs such as high frequency cancers and dementia type diseases.

You cannot resolve any problem unless you understand and address the underlying root causes. No difference here: Obama Care legislation never addressed these listed root causes and thus, has no chance of ever being successful.

But it is not just missing the root causes of our healthcare costs that makes Obama Care so horrible. It resulted in millions of Americans losing access to their favored doctors, hospitals, and insurance policies. It has caused insurance premiums, deductibles and copays to escalate substantially. It will likely add trillions of dollars to the national debt. It has exposed millions of Americans to higher than necessary identity theft chances. It has created government bureaucracies that are wastefully spending taxpayer wealth and being exploited by criminal elements. It has stifled economic growth and job creation.

These are just a sample of the types of idiocy that we have been reviewing for the past several years in this blog relative to Obama Care. To read those past posts, just enter the phrase, “the unfolding disaster,” in the search box above.

1) Let’s start off today’s Obama Care disaster discussion with some statistics as compiled by the Heritage Foundation:

• Since it began making forecasts on the impact of the Obama Care legislation back in 2010, the Congressional Budget office (CBO) has missed badly on just about any prediction it made about Obama Care.
• For instance, it said that by 2016, there would be 21 million Americans that would be enrolled in Obama Care insurance policies while the actual number was about half of that, 11.5 million, or a missed forecast of about 100%.
• By 2017, the CBO predicted that there would be 25 million Obama Care customers but there looks like there would only be about 10.3 million people enrolled in Obama Care policies, a lower overall number vs. 2016 and a far higher percentage miss in the enrollment forecast, i.e. Obama Care is going backwards relative to the number of uninsured people it was going to cover.
• And remember, these Obama Care enrollment numbers, 11.5 and 10.3 million, are gross numbers, not net, since according to independent research, upwards of six to seven million Americans lost health insurance coverage as a result of Obama Care so the true incremental number of Americans with health care coverage as a result of Obama Care is likely between only three and six million people.
• And the mandate that was supposed to force every American to purchase health insurance is not working also since by 2015 only 6.5 million Americans had paid the mandate financial penalty but another 12.7 million had taken advantage of the numerous exemptions to the mandate requirement, meaning that more people were the exceptions than the rule.
• And in a final insult to the lower and middle class in this country, the very ones that Obama promised would not be negatively affected by Obama Care, 79% of those Americans who had to pay the mandated insurance penalty had annual incomes less than $50,000 and 37% had annual incomes less than $25,000.

So the mandate to purchase insurance did not work, those that had to pay the mandate penalty tended to be poorer, and the legislation grossly missed its expected enrollment levels. Failure, failure, failure.

2) Robert Moffitt, writing for the CNSNEWS website on November 22, 2017, described a heart wrenching story about a four year old American and how Obama Care is helping to ruin her life, as reported by the Washington Post:

• Collette Briggs is a four year old girl that is fighting a battle against a very aggressive case of leukemia.
• She been receiving treatment at a hospital that had medical professionals that specialize in pediatric cancer care.
• But the family’s then current insurer pulled out of the market and the replacement insurer did not have a contract with that specialized hospital, not surprising in the era of Obama Care which has caused doctor and hospital networks to narrow over time, forcing Collette's family to change doctors and hospitals in the middle of the cancer treatment.
• According to the Washington Post article: “It is not uncommon for insurers to cut larger research-based hospitals from its plans on the exchanges as a way to cut costs. By narrowing their networks, carriers avoid paying the higher rates that academic medical centers charge.”
• This reality was proven early in the Obama Care era according to the article since the Congressional Budget Office observed way back in 2014 that Obama Care health insurance policies had “narrower networks” than what CBO experts had predicted and that the Obama Care insurance plans were imposing “tighter management” on the use of medical services compared to employer sponsored health insurance policies and plans.
• As time went on it got worse since in 2015, Avalere, a respected research organization, reported that Obama Care plans had 34% fewer medical providers than the average regular private health insurance policy.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that 41% of Obama Care “silver plans,” the most popular type of Obama Care plans, had small or “extra small” networks of doctors.
• And even more narrow networks has not reduced rising health insurance costs by much since compared with 2013, since research shows that insurance premiums for 27 years old in 11 states has more than doubled since then and in 13 states insurance premiums for 50 year olds has increased by more than 50%...so much for Obama’s promise that some Americans would see a $2,500 DECREASE in annual premium costs.
• The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that Obama Care insurance the average policy premiums jumped 25% this year.
• These increases have caused more people, mostly younger people, to not sign up for Obama Care policies which has left the insurance carriers of Obama Care policies with a higher proportion of older and sicker patients which has driven up costs which means the future holds more premium increases which drives away people and the death spiral is well underway.
• Health and Human Services predicts that the average Obama Care policy cost will go up 37% in 2018, according to the article = death spiral.
• Between just 2013 and 2014, the number of Obama Care insurance carriers dropped by 29% and that decline in competitors in the Obama Care market continued for the following years so that by 2017, 70% of U.S. counties had only one or two insurers covering the county for Obama Care policies despite Obama claiming numerous times that Obama Care would increase competition in the health insurance market.

So let’s review today’s examples, which are very similar to every other review of Obama Care disasters: under enrollment, ever increasing premium costs, more and more narrowly defined doctor networks, a failed enrollment mandate, etc. More disasters to follow in the following days.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

December, 2017, Part 1, The Unfolding Disaster That Is Obama Care: More Medicaid Disasters and a Personal Story of Disaster

Every month for years now we have had to discuss how bad Obama Care is turning out to be under the continuing theme, “the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care.” This month is no different. As the legislation continues to march through America, driving up health care and health insurance prices as it serves as dead weight on economic growth, it cements its rightful place as the worst piece of legislation Washington has ever produced.

It never had a chance to be successful since it really never addressed the underlying root causes of our ever increasing health costs in the country:

• Americans eat too much of the wrong kind of food, resulting in obscenely high obesity rates for the country.
• Our food chain is infested with overdoses of high fructose corn syrup, salt, sugar, and other unhealthy additives.
• Americans smoke too much.
• Americans do not exercise enough.
• The country is in serious need of health care tort reform.
• Barriers to insurance company competition across state lines need to come down.
• Obama Care never “followed the money” to find out who is actually profiting from the ever escalating healthcare costs in this country and how to get those factors under control.
• Obama Care never got the immense amount of fraud and abuse in current government healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid, under control in order to save money to efficiently fund other government health care initiatives.
• Obama Care never put serious research money towards curing the major diseases that drive high healthcare costs such as high frequency cancers and dementia type diseases.

You cannot resolve any problem unless you understand and address the underlying root causes. No difference here: Obama Care legislation never addressed these listed root causes and thus, has no chance of ever being successful.

But it is not just missing the root causes of our healthcare costs that makes Obama Care so horrible. It resulted in millions of Americans losing access to their favored doctors, hospitals, and insurance policies. It has caused insurance premiums, deductibles and copays to escalate substantially. It will likely add trillions of dollars to the national debt. It has exposed millions of Americans to higher than necessary identity theft chances. It has created government bureaucracies that are wastefully spending taxpayer wealth and being exploited by criminal elements. It has stifled economic growth and job creation.

These are just a sample of the types of idiocy that we have been reviewing for the past several years in this blog relative to Obama Care. To read those past posts, just enter the phrase, “the unfolding disaster,” in the search box above.

1) We have often reviewed what a disaster Medicaid has been relative to Obama Care and reality:

• More than twice as many people signed up for Medicaid under Obama Care’s rules and tenets than expected.
• This put tremendous pressure on state government budgets as a result of increased Medicaid expenses.
• These increased expenses as a result of Obama Care has caused at least four states now having to devote over 30% of their state government revenue solely to Medicaid.
• Numerous university studies have shown that despite more people being enrolled in Medicaid and greatly increased Medicaid expenses, Medicaid is not making Americans any healthier.
• Many people enrolled in Medicaid still cannot get medical care since fewer and fewer doctors accept Medicaid patients so that even though they have health insurance (Medicaid) they cannot get access to doctors.
• The increase in Medicaid enrollment as a result of Obama Care has resulted in decreased Medicaid funding and resources for those that were originally targeted by Medicaid, the disabled, the elderly, pregnant women, and impoverished families and increased funding for people that were never intended to be in the Medicaid fold, able bodied adults.
• And recent studies now indicate that it is highly possible that the increased enrollment in Medicaid has been a major contributor to the increased opioid addiction levels across the country.

A recent National Review article followed up on the disaster that Medicaid has become under Obama Care:

• The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) found that 24 Obama Care Medicaid expansion states have added more able bodied, working age adults to Medicaid roles than what had ever been expected.
• Those states were expected to add only 5.5 million people to state Medicaid roles but over twice as many, 11.5 million, signed up for free health insurance under Obama Care and Medicaid.
• For example, Kentucky’s enrollment was 134 percent higher than the projected all-time maximum, West Virginia’s was 84 percent higher than its projected peak, and Maryland’s was 62 percent greater than state officials expected it would ever be.
• These much higher enrollment totals caused Federal government/taxpayer funding to increase far beyond original estimates, estimates that were used to falsely sell Obama Care to the country and which now look obscenely underestimated.
• Kentucky’s state government Medicaid expenses ran almost $2 million over budget in just 18 months and Ohio’s Medicaid expansion cost almost twice as much than expected.

The disasters of Obama Care keep showing up every month, especially when it comes to Medicaid.

2) What would an Obama Care disaster update be without a review of the ever increasing Obama Care insurance policy cost increases. According to Javier Manjarres, writing for the Shark Tank website on December 18, 2017:

• Five years ago, Manjarres had a Florida Blue Cross and Blue Shield healthcare insurance policy with a monthly premium of $150 and an annual deductible of $2,000.
• This plan allowed him to get access to any doctor he chose to see and use.
• But then he got a notice from Blue Cross that “because of the Obamacare law,”, his current plan, the plan that he liked, could afford, and worked for him, was being terminated.
• The notice said he had to find new insurance via an Obama Care exchange.
• Five years later, he is currently working under his FIFTH policy as a result of Obama Care (Aetna, Humana, AvMed, Blue Cross, Coventry).
• His fifth and current insurance policy put him back with his original insurance carrier, Florida Blue Cross and Blue Shield, with a current monthly policy premium cost of $555 (more than three times his first policy with Blue Cross), and annual deductible of $6,200 (more than three times the cost of his first policy with them), and a much more narrow list of doctors that he can use.

Higher premiums, higher deductibles, more narrow doctor networks and incredible stress fo constantly trying to find insurance. Years after Obama Care was made law, the same problems keep recurring over and over.

More disasters to follow in the coming days.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

People Just Want To Be Free - Why High Taxes and Government Over Regulation Is NEVER A Good Thing

Today’s topic of discussion, why it is human nature to want to keep the wealth that one creates via their efforts, is one that we have touched on many times before. So many times we have shown that any overtaxing government entity, and its related affliction, over regulation, drive people to make decisions that minimize their tax and regulation burden. We have shown so many times that this human instinct eventually results in strong economic growth and well being in areas that minimize taxes and regulations and weakening economic conditions where taxes and regulations are highest.

This discussion is relevant these days as it looks like Congress is about to pass legislation that will reduce individual and business tax rates. Given our experience and writings, this is great news for the economy and individual freedoms. People and businesses will get to keep more of their own wealth, and as you will see below as we review past discussion on this topic and introduce a new set of data from the National Review, that is always a good thing.

1) Before we review the latest data proving our theory, feel free to visit just a small sample of previous posts we have done that prove high taxes and extensive regulations are so negatively correlated with economic growth and vitality:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2017/02/people-want-to-be-freeas-do-california.html

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2017/02/februrary-2017-part-3-political-class.html

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-californias-distressed-economy-is.html

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/07/why-california-is-failing-while.html

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/07/state-level-economic-musings-california.html

2) Next, take a look at the following report we did earlier this year where we showed that while higher taxed and over regulated states tend to vote for Democrats, in the long run their excessive taxation and regulation drive people away from their states, resulting in not only a population drain but also an economic and tax revenue drain. As more and more people leave a state because of over taxation, the tax base gets smaller which cause state politicians to raise taxes to make up for the shortfall which drives more citizens out of the state which reduces tax revenue and at that point the tax base death spiral is in full swing:

"Benny Johnson, Jason Howerton, and Parker Lee, writing for the Independent Journal Review recently summarized what the economic conditions currently are in the states that heavily voted in favor of Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in last month’s Presidential election. Besides having the common characteristic of favoring Hillary over Trump, they also have the common characteristic of having some pretty lousy economic and out migration trends going on in their states. This conclusion is based on citing a Washington Times article by Stephen Moore.

Moore concludes from his analysis that the out migration from these Hillary strongholds is driven primarily by economic reasons including: “high tax rates; high welfare benefits; heavy regulation; environmental extremism; high minimum wages.” Amazingly, the ten states that Hillary Clinton won by the largest percentage margins saw a net loss in population from 2004 through 2014. California and New York by themselves saw a net loss of 2.75 million Americans over that ten year time frame."

As you go through the ten states economic profiles below, keep in mind that these states are almost always dominated by Democrats in elected office. Yes, occasionally, a Republican or two might get elected in these states, but for the most part these are strictly Democratic controlled and operated states. I am not saying there is a cause and effect of Democrats creating lousy economic conditions but the correlation, as you will see below is certainly quite strong."

1) Massachusetts - Between 2004 and 2014, Massachusetts lost 156,861 more residents than it gained. One reason for such a loss is that Massachusetts has a top business income tax of 8%, one of the highest overall property tax burdens in the country, and also has estate and inheritance taxes.

2) California - California has lost an amazing 1.3 net residents over the past decade despite having some of the richest people in the nation living in the state in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Thus, something must not be right for the over 1 million people who decided to leave the state for a better life

3) Maryland - Maryland has lost a net 145,000 residents over the past decade, possibly caused by the reality that the state ranks 44th in economic outlook according to the in-depth analysis done by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), has a top personal income tax rate of 8.95%, and has the 13th highest business income tax rate. Over the past 47 years the state has had only two Republican governors.

4) New York - The ALEC ranks New York as dead last in its economic outlook ratings, a spot it has been “honored” with in six of the past seven years. It has some of the highest tax rates in the country and its net loss of population over the past ten years, 1.5 million people, is the largest loss of any other state in the union.

5) Rhode Island - The ALEC rates this state as 48th in economic performance and 35th in economic outlook. Rhode Island has a very high property tax rate and has had a net loss of 70,000 residents over the past decade, a lot considering how small the state’s population is to begin with.

6) New Jersey - My former home state has some of the highest tax rates, personal income tax, property tax, and business tax rates, in the country. The ALEC ranks the state as 48th relative to economic outlook and has had a net loss of about half a million residents since 2005.

7) Connecticut - Higher than average tax rates and ranking 47th on ALEC’s economic outlook measure makes it no surprise this state has lost 153,000 residents in total over the past decade.

8) Vermont - The ALEC has Vermont ranked 49th in economic outlook, the state has the second highest personal income tax structure and has enacted many new tax changes that will make it more expensive to live in the state. No surprise, it has had a net loss of 9,000 residents over the past ten years.

9) Illinois - Possibly one of the biggest basket cases of all the states, given its incredibly high unfunded pension and retiree benefit liabilities for government workers, the state does have a reasonable income tax rate but higher than average business tax rates and high property taxes. As a result, it has had a net loss of 700,000 residents over the past ten years.

10) Hawaii - The ALEC found that Hawaii has the highest marginal personal income tax rates in the country and the highest sales tax rates in the country. Despite its beautiful weather, the state had a net loss of 36,000 residents since 2005.”

The complete post can be read at:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/12/december-2016-part-1-by-numbers-leaving.html

3) Let’s now get down to the latest data that proves my point, based on a December 15, 2017 article by Jim Pettit, writing for the National Review website:

• Apparently, Americans in great numbers are moving from states with high taxation and intrusive governments to states with limited government and lower taxes.
• And this hypothesis holds up despite some liberals trying to tie the out migration from high tax states to climate, retiring Baby Boomers, and other non-economic factors.
• This latest analysis comes from a recent IRS study of the latest tax and migration numbers and trends from 2015 and 2016.
• The IRS study found that Florida, a state with no income tax and lower property taxes, saw an increase of a a staggering $17.4 billion in adjusted gross incomes in the state because of in migration.
• And this increase in adjusted gross income and migration was not because a bunch of old people were retiring to Florida since the IRS numbers show that the biggest influx of new Florida residents, 70,000 people, were between the ages of 26 and 35.
• This was 10,000 more than the over 55 age group.
• South Carolina, a much smaller state, had the second highest adjusted gross income increase, $2.3 billion.
• Not surprisingly, based on the above analyses we discussed, the states that lost the most were high taxation states Connecticut ($2.7 billion) and New York, ($8.8 billion).
• Again, not surprisingly, according to the Tax Foundation, New York has the highest total tax burden in the country while Florida has the fourth lightest tax burden.
• In addition, California has the highest so-called impact fees, taxes that are collected to fund schools, libraries, and infrastructure at $31,000 per household while Texas has the lowest at $4,000.
• Thus, it is not a surprise that California loses more homeowners and citizens to Texas than any other state.

Again, no matter what set of numbers you look at, the IRS, Tax Foundation, etc., the answer is always the same: people will always look to minimize their tax expense and burden, increasing their personal freedom in the process. And most often the process is a migration from places where taxes and regulations are high to places where taxes and government regulations are low, both factors of which increase personal freedom.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w