January, 2013 Political Class Insanity, Part 4: Simple Math, Fiscal Cliff, Fiscal Insanity

I purposely did not write this post for a few days in order for all of the dust and idiocy to settle down from the Congressional votes this week on the so-called "fiscal cliff." In my opinion, this deal was the ultimate in political class insanity. It was done at the last minute, even though Washington politicians knew when the deadline was all along and should have and could have gotten a much saner, less idiotic plan done months and months ago.

But rather than rant about the general insanity, let's look at some of the details to truly understand how idiotic and insane this fiscal cliff deal is:

1) The most general question one could ask is how does this deal fix our national debt problem? From a traditional definition of national debt, the country has run up a national debt of over $16.3 TRILLION. This comes out to a debt burden of over $50,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country. It is over $140,000 for every U.S. household.

The following graph contains two bars. The left hand bar is the amount of money that the Federal government overspent its tax stream in 2012, i.e. the spending deficit. It was over $1 TRILLION. The right hand bar is the amount of additional annual tax revenue the Federal government will see by taxing wealthier Americans under the fiscal cliff deal. Thus, just from a graphical perspective, taxing the rich will come nowhere close to overcoming the insane overspending of the Federal government and the Washington political class (double click on the graph for a bigger view):

2) But let’s step deeper into the numbers behind this graph to really understand how this deal solves nothing and makes a bad situation worse:

• Taxing the rich in 2012 under the terms of the fiscal cliff deal would have raised 2012 Federal government revenues by just over $60 billion. This is only 5.69% vs. 2012 deficit, which explains why the left bar above is so much high (almost 20 times higher) than the right bar. Washington has a gross overspending problem, not an under taxation problem.
• If you extrapolate the tax the rich terms of the deal out for ten years AND the current national debt was frozen at the current level, Federal government tax revenue from the deal would account for only 3.8% of the CURRENT national debt load. Again, no matter how much you raise the taxes of the wealthier Americans, it is only a small fraction of the gross overspending habits of Washington.
• But we all know that freezing the debt load at $16.3 TRILLION will never happen with the current set of politicians in Washington. This fiscal cliff deal will add over $3.9 additional dollars of debt to our current level (since reducing spending was never included in the deal) and realistic estimates of the growth in debt under current Washington budget projections will add another $9 TRILLION of debt in the next ten years. $16.3 TRILLION + $3.9 TRILLION + $9 TRILLION = $29.2 TRILLION in national debt by 2023. This fiscal cliff deal will raise enough additional tax revenue to cover only about 2.12% of that load.

The above calculations assume that all of the additional tax revenue from the deal is used to reduce debt. Given the hundreds and hundreds of wasteful spending examples we have covered in this blog, the potential for all of the additional tax revenue to be not wasted is extremely tiny.

By the way, if this realistic estimate of $29.2 TRILLION comes to pass, the individual debt burden on every man, woman, and child in this country would be almost $93,000 a piece.

The other way to look at these depressing numbers is to consider the fact that our economy, and our democracy, will likely crash long before the $29.2 TRILLION level is reached due to our government’s inability to rein in spending and live within the country’s fiscal means.

Devastating numbers, depressing numbers. The reality is staring everyone in the face. Most rational, sane Americans realize that these debt levels are unsustainable and insane. Unfortunately, those that do not recognize these simple facts all seem to have been elected to Federal political offices.

3) But believe it or not, the deal is even worse than the stark realities calculated and graphed above. Why? Because in these dark debt and economic times, our politicians took the time to include even more wasteful spending in the fiscal cliff deal, deepening our debt pit even more (source: January 1, 2013 ABC News report:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/01/fiscal-cliff-deal-also-doles-out-millions-for-hollywood-railroads-rum-producers/):

• Almost half a billion dollars in tax breaks, $430 million, was included in the deal for Hollywood through “special expensing rules,” tax rules that encourage TV and film production in the United States. Producers can expense up to $15 million of costs for their projects. Funny how these are the same people that overwhelmingly voted for, supported, and raised money for Democrats in the last election.

• $331 million was tucked into the deal for railroad companies which allows short-line and regional railroad operators to claim a tax credit up to 50% of the cost to maintain tracks that they own or lease. Funny how one of the biggest supporters of Obama and Democrats is Warren Buffet whose companies are big players in the railroad business.

•$222 million for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands through returned excise taxes collected by the Federal government on rum produced in the islands and imported to the mainland.

•$70 million for NASCAR by extending a “7-year cost recovery period for certain motor sports racing track facilities.” Why should private companies like NASCAR, and railroad companies and movie studios, get free taxpayer wealth when we are in the midst of this national debt crisis? In fact, when should these types of businesses ever get taxpayer wealth?

•The wind production tax credit (PTC) was extended for 1 year, along with several additional targeted tax credits for renewable energy, at a cost of $12 billion.

•$59 million for algae growers through tax credits to encourage production of “cellulosic biofuel” at up to $1.01 per gallon. Funny how when Obama hands out taxpayer money to alternative energy companies (e.g. Solyndra) we later find out that one of his political supporters was the beneficiary. Thus, it would not surprise many of us if that was the case here.

•$4 million for electric motorcycle makers by expanding an existing green-energy tax credit for buyers of plug-in vehicles to include electric motorbikes. What a waste.

Disgusting. We are drowning in debt, the economy is weak, Americans are being taxed more and more heavily, and these people take every opportunity to take care of their political supporters, the health of the country and the economy be damned.

4) Oh, but it gets even worse. According to a report from CNS News and other news sources, multiple Senate contacts have confirmed that our esteemed Senators received the bill at approximately 1:36 AM on Jan. 1, 2013, just three minutes before they voted to approve it at 1:39 AM. This is governing from the Nancy Pelosi school of government, i.e. “we have to pass the bill to see what is in it.”

If this is true, and there are enough news sources out there saying it actually did happen in three minutes, then these people in the Senate need to be removed from office for dereliction of duty. This was not a new Post Office they were naming, this is the future financial and economic health of the country and they failed miserably at their jobs.

5) But I am not alone in disappointment with this process and insanity. Consider the headlines from major news sources, many of which are usually severe Obama supporters:

•The Atlantic: “There Are No Spending Cuts In This Deal.” (Derek Thompson, “Fiscal Cliff Deal FAQ: What Just Happened And What It Means For You,” The Atlantic, 1/2/13)

•The New York Times: “And It Includes Almost No Spending Cuts.” (David Leonhardt, “For Obama, A Victory That Also Holds Risks,” The New York Times, 1/2/13)

•The Associated Press: “[The Fiscal Cliff Deal] Puts Off The Toughest Decisions About Spending Cuts…” (Charles Babington, “Analysis: Cliff Deal Is Another Pain-Free Punt,” The Associated Press, 1/3/13)

•The Washington Post: “[Fiscal Cliff Deal] Will Do Little To Address The Nation’s Long-Term Debt.” (Editorial, “Congress’s feeble finish to the ‘fiscal cliff’ fiasco,” The Washington Post, 1/1/13)

•The Washington Post: “The Deal Will Not Reduce Future Deficits Much…” (Editorial, “Congress’s Feeble Finish To The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Fiasco,” The Washington Post, 1/1/13)

•Reuters: “It ‘Kicked The Can Down The Road’ To A Later Date.” (Kim Dixon, “Analysis: ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Deal Called A Dud On Deficit Front,” Reuters, 1/1/13)

•The Washington Times: “‘Conversation’ On Deficit Falls On Deaf Ears” (David Sherfinski, “Conversation On Deficit Falls On Deaf Ears,” The Washington Times, 12/31/12)

•POLITICO: “But The Measure Took Two Steps Back For Each Step Forward.” (Jonathan Allen, “112th Congress Legacy: Unfinished Business,” POLITICO, 1/2/13)

•Fix The Debt Founders Alan Simpson And Erskine Bowles: “The Deal Approved Today Is Truly A Missed Opportunity To Do Something Big To Reduce Our Long-Term Fiscal Problems…” (Press Release, Statement From The Campaign To Fix The Debt Co-Founders Erskine Bowles And Alan Simpson, 1/1/13)

I have been writing about political class insanity for over three years in this blog. I thought I had seen it all from political corruption to wasteful government spending to idiotic spending to bad priorities, etc. But nowhere before have I seen such a disgraceful piece of governing than this whole fiscal deal fiasco.

It was bad economics, bad governing, class warfare, and insanity at its worst. It will solve nothing, the raising of anyone’s taxes is silly in light of the weak economy and the hundreds of billions of dollars the Federal government currently wastes every year. And worse of all, our national debt keeps growing unabated due solely to government overspending, not under taxation.

Two things to keep in mind. Step 39 from “Love my Country, Loathe My Government” has never been more needed. Step 39 would implement term limits for all Federal politicians. The current set of Washington politicians need to be legally and constitutionally removed from office, the damage they have wrought and their dereliction of duty requires it immediately. We will be announcing such an effort shortly and need everyone’s help who agrees that this fiscal cliff disaster is the last straw in a long line of incompetent governing.

Second, if you do not get involved in any effort to get the political class to do their jobs and curtail runaway government spending, imagine yourself ten years from now. What are you going to say when your kids or grandkids ask you why they have a $90,000 debt burden and associated heavy taxation burden to bear? Will you tell them how you did nothing when the fiscal cliff deal sealed their fate as permanent payers of our runaway, and often wasteful, spending?

********************************
My January 3, 2013 letter to my Florida Senator Bill Nelson:

Senator Nelson:

A few things up front. I am 59 years old and until the November, 2010 elections I had never voted for a Republican for national office in my life. I have never voted for a Republican president. Thus, I am not a conservative, a Republican, or a Tea Party member. I am also not rich so "taxing the rich" does not apply to me.

Nevertheless, in my 59 years, I have never seen such a dysfunctional, greedy, immature, idiotic, and embarrassing set of Washington politicians in my life, especially in light of the fiscal cliff fiasco. I wonder if you realize how much the people outside of the Beltway hold you all in contempt for the shenanigans that go on every day in D.C.

This fiscal cliff business should have been handled at least six months ago. By delaying to the last minute, you make the country and yourselves look like a bunch of dunces.

Are you people really that insane and out of touch with reality to think this fiscal cliff deal will do any good? The money it takes from the rich will just get squandered by the Federal government like every other dollar we send to you. It will take disposable income out of a very weak economy for no reason. And it is a spit in the ocean relative to our $16.3 TRILLION national debt and our long standing $86 TRILLION of unfunded liabilities.

When the country implodes from the debt load that you people never addressed, you and the rest of your peers in Congress will go down in history as the captains of the U.S. Titanic that sunk in a sea of red ink and did nothing to stop it.

For once, I want/demand someone in your office get back to me and explain this dysfunctionality of you and your friends in Congress. You are all a disgrace to our country and our heritage. Call me, email me, send me a letter or I will call your office until I get some answers of why you people are so out of touch, so pathetic when it comes to running the country.
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.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The 1962 Mets. The 1976 Buccaneers. The 2011 Obama Administration: Mr. President, Time For Your Resignation

If our political class was a baseball team, they would be the hapless 1962 New York Mets who set a record for most losses in a season and were famous for screwing up in unique ways. If they were a football team, they would be the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers who lost the first 26 games they ever played. In both of these cases, and other cases of athletic team incompetence, you cannot fire the entire team at once, it takes time to move out the current players and replace them with new, and hopefully better players.

However, teams can fire their manager or head coach just about any time for leading a team of incompetents. Given the incompetence in Washington and the fact that we cannot change out most of the team/politicians until November, 2012, it is a time to change out the manager. The following letter was recently emailed to my Democratic Senator, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida. It calls for the resignation of head coach Barack Obama, based on the facts listed in the letter and the additional reasons listed after the letter.

***************
September 15, 2011

Senator Nelson:


I had never voted for a Republican for national office in my life (I am 58) until last fall's midterm elections so I am not a die hard Republican or Tea Partier. However, as a concerned American I have had enough. Obama Care that will cause me to lose my health care insurance along with tens of millions of other Americans. Sky high national debt. Ineffective economic policies. A President who acts more like a Prince than the leader of the free world once you take into consideration his multitudes of vacations, international travel, golf rounds, and NCAA basketball picks. A Federal government who is more into oppression than freedom, just ask Boeing and Gibson Guitar.

Now we have a solar energy panel company in California going belly up and half a billion dollars of taxpayer money going down the drain with it because a Democratic donor is involved and this administration did not do any due diligence as far as the financial stability of this company. What part of the Federal government is not investigating this disgrace? At last count it included multiple Senate and House committees, the FBI, the Treasury Department, and lord who knows who else.

Let's not forget the atrociously bungled "Fast and Furious" gun running, law breaking effort from the ATF that has resulted in Mexican drug cartels getting their hands on weapons with monstrous firepower, with the help of the Federal government, firepower that we know has helped kill dozens of Mexicans and a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

And now I understand that the White House has been trying to get a Pentagon general to falsely change his Congressional testimony in order to benefit a significant political donor and supporter of the President, and that Congress is about to get serious about this breach of integrity also.

Enough is enough. As my Senate representative, I am asking you to support the resignation of this entire administration immediately so that we can begin cleaning up the messes of our economy, political patronage, and the blatant waste of taxpayer money that this Presidency has resulted in. Failure to ask for the resignation will certainly lump you into the disasters listed above as a silent co-conspirator and force me to work for your defeat in 2012.

The country cannot stand any more of these shenanigans and waste, all of which diminish the Constitution and our freedom. I hope you agree, for the sake of the country and your re-election bid.

************

Not included in the letter, due to space limitations, are the following reasons why the President should do the honorable thing and resign from office, based purely on the ineffectiveness of his administration and policies and the divisiveness he has wrought on the country:

• Gas prices are significantly higher than when the President took office.
• Unemployment is significantly higher than when the President took office.
• This administration has set records for deficit spending, with annual deficits averaging about a TRILLION dollars a year, deficits that were established in cahoots with a Democratically controlled Congress
• These deficits are orders of magnitudes larger than any other deficit by any other President by any measure.
• Consumer confidence by any measure is at its lowest point in decades.
• Small business confidence by any measure is at its lowest point in decades.
• Every economic policy or program of this administration has been a failure, from the economic stimulus program to Cash For Clunkers to first time home buyer rebate program, initiatives that illustrate the small time, non-strategic thinking and economic insights of this administration.
• North Korea and Iran are three years closer to being nuclear weapon armed nations.
• The Middle East peace process is still in tatters.
• This President involved the country in another Middle East war, Libya, illegally deploying U.S. troops in combat without Congressional approval.
• Not only has the President not gotten our troops out of Iraq, he is seriously considering extending their presence in the country beyond the agreed to withdrawal date.
• There is apparently no effective strategy in place to successfully end our military involvement in Afghanistan.
• There is apparently no effective strategy in place to stabilize nuclear armed Pakistan.
• Most of our public schools continue to under educate our kids, we continue to not have a comprehensive national energy policy, our borders still leak, we have no effective and compassionate policy to deal with illegal immigration, and our health care costs continue escalating far beyond the inflation rate.
• Obama Care is an unfolding disaster that will add to the national debt, will see the termination of existing health care insurance for tens of millions of Americans, will increase taxes on all businesses which will drain economic vitality and job expansion in the country, and will not address or solve the root causes of our increasing health care costs. 
• Recent reports indicate the Federal program to support unemployment insurance programs has been defrauded of $19 billion over the past year or so, more than 10% of its budget wasted for no good reason.
• Annual taxpayer money lost to fraud and criminal activity within the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid programs continues to be well over $100 billion a year.
• Housing prices continue to decline while college and other costs continue to rise.
• This Presidential administration has often demonstrated a perverted view of our Constitutional government as it assumes it can ignore or not enforce laws it does not like, ignore judicial rulings that it does not agree with, or rule by decree when Congress does not pass the legislation it wants passed.
• Government functions continue to be less than stellar in the performance of their duties: dozens of SEC staffers found to be chronic Internet porn surfers, Interior Department employees who contributed to the Gulf oil spill crisis because of lax oversight, Energy Department employees who gave out billions of taxpayer dollars to companies that have already gone out of business, etc.

Just for these reasons, President Obama should resign immediately. It is highly unlikely that this administration's track record on these issues will change in a positive way any time soon. His fixation, his addiction on revving up votes for his re-election at the expense of governing the nation will ensure that the above issues are not addressed or resolved for at least 14 months, 14 months that the nation cannot afford to wait for.

However, there are three other, deeper reasons for this President to resign:

1) When President Obama took office, his approval ratings were sky high. The nation, as a whole, was anxious for hope and change, and were likely willing followers of his lead. His party had control of the House of Representatives, and filibuster proof control of the Senate. He had a historical opportunity to actually make things different, and hopefully, better for America.

But he blew it. He was more interested in the pomp and pageantry of being President than actually being President. He set a record for international travel in the first year of his Presidency. He filmed a TV commercial for the George Lopez show. He hosted numerous championship athletic teams at White House photo ops. He worked diligently on his NCAA March Madness basketball picks. He appeared on numerous television talk shows.

Before he knew it, he had blown his chance at history. His popularity soured, he lost the filibuster cushion in the Senate, and then his party lost control of the House. For this reason alone, blowing a rare historical opportunity to make fundamental change, justifies this call for his resignation.

2) A true leader unites, a true leader steps out and makes the right decisions rather than the politically palatable decisions, a true leader is a statesman and not just another Chicago politician.

Over the past three years, American citizens who have dared to have a legitimate and honest difference of opinion with this President's policies and plans have been branded as racists, Ku Klux Klan members, knuckle dragging Neanderthals, a__h___s, gerbils, terrorists, barbarians, other such vile names. They have been called unpatriotic and told to go to hell. They have had a union leader state that he was going to "take these sons of bitches out," where the bitches are anyone opposed to President Obama's policies.

During all of the name calling and mudslinging, this President has remained silent and allowed his staff, his supporters, and his party to to defame and insult Americans for voicing an opinion. This is unacceptable. It has made the country as divided as it ever was, all because this President would prefer to play politics and breed hate than be a leader and be representative of ALL Americans.

3) No one forced the President to run for this office. No one made him accept the role of President of the United States. He should have known going into his term that things were not good. Regardless of how much one hates President Bush, the situation in January, 2009 was what it was. By taking the oath of Presidency, Obama accepted that situation on his inauguration day. He did so with open eyes, no deception.

To use a poker analogy, President Obama was dealt the hand he was dealt when he took the oath of President. Nothing was going to change that situation or that poker hand at that point in time. However, a true leader, heck a mature adult, would not constantly bemoan the hand he was dealt but would look forward to make the best of that hand and ensure that subsequent hands were optimized for the best chance of winning.

This President never did that. For three years, whenever anything went wrong, it was the Bush administration's fault, it was never the Obama administration's fault. It was never the the fault of the Democrats that controlled Congress for four straight years. It was never forward looking leadership, it was always backward looking blame.

In fact, I truly believe that this administration is not capable of looking forward for solutions. Their habit, their culture of looking to place blame elsewhere now makes them dysfunction relative to resolving issues. Their track record indicates that this dysfunction exists, giving their track record of resolving no major issues facing Americans today

An athletic cliche goes as follows: "You are what your record is." The record of this administration is 9% unemployment, almost $15 TRILLION in national debt, annual TRILLION dollar deficits, a divided America, historic opportunities missed, a failed foreign policy all over the world, unabated government program fraud and hundreds of billions in lost taxpayer wealth, failed economic policies, rampant political patronage, a disastrous health care reform law, and so much more.

But most important, this administration is a leadership void on every imaginable dimension. It is a void that will likely not change any time soon, given its ability to blame others and duck its own responsibility. In these times of crisis, America is looking for intelligent, decisive, and inclusive leadership. We do not have time to waste another year under this current cloud of inertia. President Obama, your record is what your record is. Time to step aside and give others a chance to lift the cloud, it is the only patriotic thing to do.



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 http://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.loathemygovernment.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com/

Florida Senator Bill Nelson - Five Months And Counting, Waiting for Your Response

I live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida which makes Democratic Senator Bill Nelson one of my two U.S. Senators. In early August of 2010, I sent him a letter at the same time I sent the White House a letter, asking both parties very specific questions about Obama's health care reform legislation. Senator Nelson was one of the Senators who voted to approve the legislation.

My purpose for writing both letters was purely personal. My wife and myself are currently AT&T retirees, having spent almost fifty years in total working for AT&T. As a result of that long service, we are blessed to have AT&T provide health insurance coverage in our retirement years. One of President Obama's selling points of Obama Care was that those Americans that currently had private health care plans would continue to still have them, nothing would change.

However, as the months have gone by, AT&T  (Fortune magazine article from early August, 2010) and other major corporations (e.g. Verizon, John Deere, Caterpillar, McDonalds) have hinted that they may drop their employee and retiree health care coverage because under Obama Care it is less expensive to pay a fine for not providing health care then it is to continue providing health care coverage. Thus, my letters below to the the Democratic White House Administration (Letter # 3 below) and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson (Letter #2 below).

Unfortunately, after five months, neither party has responded to my request and answered my questions. Not only have they not answered to my questions, they have not responded at all, not even to admit that they received my correspondence, never mind answering my relatively simple and important questions. Talk about poor customer service, not even an acknowledgement of receipt. And this from a Presidential administration that bills itself as the most open and communicative administration ever. In fact, I have never received any confirmation from my numerous White House inquires, both by email and snail mail, even though I have requested an answer every time.

Given their callous lack of response, I made good on my threat and for the first time ever in my life (I am almost 60 years old), I voted for a Republican for national office this past November. For the first time ever, I was actually happy to see the Republican gains in Congress, given the cold shoulder the Democrats gave to me on something that is very important, and potentially very expensive, in my life.

Letter # 1 below is a new letter I sent out to Senator Nelson earlier this week. I will be very interested to see if this one gets a response, either next week, next month, five months down the road or never. I want to see if the first letter got "lost" or just got ignored.

In the meantime, let's review why Obama Care continues to fall apart:

• Probably millions Americans like myself that worked or continue to work for major U.S. corporations face the very real threat of losing their health insurance coverage and being forced to find new coverage, quite possibly at much higher prices. This situation potentially will cause more Americans to lose coverage and end up paying more for coverage, the exact opposite of what was intended.
• A Reuters news report from January 6, 2011 reported that 33 governors sent a letter to the administration pointing out that they were having severe budget difficulties funding existing Federal mandated insurance programs even before the onslaught of additional Obama Care funding requirements become a reality.
• The administration has already issued over a hundred waivers to the health care legislation for some companies' health insurance plans to account for unforeseen consequences of the bill's passage, just months after the passage occurred. How many more unforeseen conseqences are likely to appear as we go forward? Historically, unforeseen consequences from political class actions are almost always bad news for Americans.
• Today on the local Tampa news reports it was reported that three of the largest blood banks in Tampa are likely to merge into one super blood bank company. An Associated Press report in late 2010 reported on a "merger frenzy" in many components of the health care industry as a result of Obama Care. Thus, rather than increasing competition which would result in lowering the skyrocketing health care costs in this country, the legislation is having the unintended consequence of actually reducing competition through the merger frenzy.
• The legislation is highly unlikely to reduce the Federal budget. The legislation was sold in by quoting a Congressional Budget Office estimate that it would reduce Federal spending by $135 billion over the first ten years. However, shortly after that estimate helped pass the bill, the Associated Press reported that the CBO did not estimate costs for all of the components of the bill. Their $135 billion savings estimate left out over $100 billion of costs, virtually wiping out the purported gain. And, since the passage of the bill, reputable analytic efforts, such as an in-depth review by the Cato Institute, have shown that the bill could add at least a TRILLION to the national debt.
• Do not even get me started how the legislation will make criminal out of a sizable number of Americans who choose not to pay for government mandated insurance.
• The major flaw in the legislation is that it did not attack the root causes of our rising health care costs. These costs are high because Americans eat too much, they eat too much of the wrong food, they smoke too much, they do not exercise enough, and they are getting older. Rather than treat the problem as a public health issue, which it is, they treated it as a tax and government regulation issue, dooming it to an expensive failure.

We could go on and on but it would still not answer my letters to my President and Senator. Hello, anybody home? I need some answers and five months and counting is too long of a time for a constituent to wait for you to come to the door. Remember, 2012 will be here before you know it. I would hope to have answers by then or the Republicans may just nab me for a second time.



*****************
Letter # 1 - Mailed January 9, 2011

Senator Nelson:



Five months ago I sent your office the attached letters, one addressed to you and one addressed to President Obama. My wife and I are former AT&T employees and are now retired. AT&T provides our health care insurance and they do a fine job of it with their high deductible plan. Since we are responsible for the first thousand dollars or so of our coverage and expenses, the plan encourages us to take personal responsibility for our health care, resulting in lower costs for everyone involved. Let me be very clear: we are very happy with our current health care insurance.


However, the AT&T Chairman strongly implied in a Fortune magazine interview article last summer that it was highly likely that AT&T would drop this insurance plan for its current and retired employees. From a corporate perspective, under Obama Care it is financially better for AT&T to drop its coverage for millions of Americans and pay the Obama Care fine than it is to continue offering their current plan, or any plan.


In light of this very depressing news, I asked the President’s office and your office for help in answering our health care questions. My wife and I are both in our late 50s and she has a pre-existing condition. Looking for health care under these conditions is not something we expected to have to do. In fact, the President claimed during the debate on Obama Care that we could keep our existing insurance coverage. This turned out to be a hollow promise if AT&T and other companies drop their plans altogether as a result of Obama Care, as many have already suggested they will do.


What is just as depressing is the fact that neither your office or the President’s office had the common decency to even acknowledge receipt of these letters. This is horrific customer service - a constituent contacts you for help and you do not have the class or courage to answer and address our concerns. Is it no wonder that Democrats took a shellacking in November - not only have you potentially ruined health care insurance for millions of Americans you will not even defend it or help those that you put into distress.


So, I am trying again. The questions in the original letter remain unanswered. I would appreciate answers to those questions. If I get no response this time, I guarantee I will become actively involved in your defeat the next time you run for any office.


Walter Korschek


Address


Phone Number


Email Address


********************
Letter # 2 - Mailed early August, 2010
 Senator:


The letter below is being sent to the President at the same time that it is being mailed to you. As you can see, I am not a happy American since I am highly likely to lose my AT&T retiree health care coverage as a result of the recently passed health care reform legislation, a law that you voted to approve. I am asking the President to answer the three questions below and I am also asking that you or a member of your staff do the same. Myself and millions of other Americans are likely to lose their corporate health insurance coverage and I feel we are entitled to answers like those I have posed.


I would prefer to have those answers from your staff by November in order to fully understand who to vote for at that time. Beware, that those answers will also carry over to 2014 when I believe you are up for re-election. Please be forewarned that that is unlikely if your answers are unsatisfactory or millions of us have lost our insurance coverage by then. This is not a hope for answers to these three questions, this is a demand for answers to these three questions without political spin or generalities. I would like to know the answers to my particular situation. Have a nice day,

Walter “Bruno” Korschek


****************
Letter # 3 - Mailed early August, 2010August 13, 2010


Mr. President:



I know that you are a very busy man so I will try to keep my questions about health care reform and the recently passed legislation as short and simple as possible.


I could ask you why you think this is a good piece of legislation even though I truly believe that it will be a failure and will come very close to bankrupting the country. The basis for my conclusion has nothing to do with political partisanship (in fact, I have never voted for a Republican for national office in my life.) From my perspective, "Obama Care" never effectively addressed the root causes of our escalating health care costs: Americans eat too much of the wrong kinds of food, they exercise far too little, they are overweight, they smoke too much, and they are getting older. This legislation does not address these causes, it just raises taxes and moves money around within the bureaucracy. I could ask you about this but I will not.


I could ask you why you have not stepped forward and denounced those in your party that have likened Americans like myself, i.e. those that have legitimate and honest concerns about this health care reform bill, to the racists who fought against the civil rights movement from the 1960s. I thought that we lived in a free country where citizens could freely address their elected representatives without being slurred in the most debasing way possible, just for having a different opinion. Your lack of fortitude to oppose those Democrats who frequently use the term "racist" to malign myself and those Americans expressing their honest opposition, cheapens the bravery and contributions of those from long ago that fought actual racism. I could ask you about this but I will not.


I could ask you why you felt it necessary to pass this legislation by the back door called reconciliation. This is a major, major issue in the country that will affect every American for decades to come. Sneaking it in the back door, without using the traditional, time honored method of passing laws in his country, belittles the approach and makes it look like it was forced through without the full weight of the democratic process behind it. I could ask you about this but I will not.


Here is what I will ask you about. But first, some background facts:


- Let me reiterate that both my wife and myself have never voted for a Republican for national office in our lives.


- We both spent several decades of our lives working hard for AT&T, retiring several years ago, secure in our thinking that AT&T's promise of health care benefits and coverage for our long years of service was a good bet.


- We both try to eat well, we exercise at our local YMCA on an almost daily basis, neither of us smoke, and we rarely drink. In other words, we take personal responsibility for our health and our health care.


- One reason for our personal responsibility behavior is that we are on a high deductible insurance plan with AT&T. We are each - responsible for the first $1,200 of our annual health care costs before we get any insurance coverage at all. However, for this personal responsibility, we also pay nothing in annual premiums.


- During the debate leading up to the passage of health care reform, you reiterated more than once that those of us that currently had health care coverage would be able to keep it. However, in a recent article in Fortune magazine, the CEO of AT&T, Randall Stephenson, was interviewed (several pages of the article are attached). Towards the end of the interview, he was explicitly asked whether AT&T would consider dropping health care insurance coverage for its employees and retirees. His response made it clear that this was a very viable option for two reasons. First, from a business profitability perspective, under the new health care reform law, "you're better off paying the government a fine and dropping health care coverage for your employees", improving AT&Ts bottom line. Second, he talks about "economic gravity" which appears to be code words for "if others in his industry do it, AT&T will have no choice but to do it also."


Thus, a few quick questions for you:


1) Were you just naive when you made the comments that we could all keep our current health care insurance, not realizing the simple fact that companies are in business to make money and if this bill makes it easier for them to make more money by not insuring their workforce, that is what they will do? Or were you being disingenuous, knowing that this would happen and deliberately misinforming the country to help get your health care reform bill passed? Naive or disingenuous, in either case you will be making millions of American voters unhappy in November and in 2012 when we are forced out of our current health care coverage and will blame you for either ignorance or arrogance in this situation.


2) I am 57 years old and my wife is 56 years old and if Mr. Stephenson does decide to terminate AT&T's health care coverage for employees and retirees, where do you suggest that my wife and I get coverage? What insurance company is going to want to pick us up, and millions of other older Americans who lost their coverage, at our ages even though we are both healthy and taking personal responsibility for our continued good health?


3) If we are forced out onto the market for health care insurance coverage, our new coverage is likely going to be much more expensive. Our annual health care costs will go from a maximum of $1,200 each to a minimum of several thousand dollars each. Is this how you planned to reduce health care costs for middle class America? Is so, then you need to explain the math to me. Maximum of $1,200 to a minimum of several thousand dollars, does not make sense out here in the real world. How does this reduce the escalating health care costs for the 90% of Americans that already had health care insurance prior to the passage of this bill?


Thus, I am not going to ask you about why you and the rest of Congress did not address the root causes of high health care costs in your legislating process. I am not going to ask why you have sat back and been silent while those Americans with legitimate and honest dissent against this bill have been likened to racists by members of your party. I thought you represented all Americans, not just those that agreed with your policies. I will not ask you about why you did not have the courage and guts to pass this legislation the right way, through the front door like every other piece of legislation, but instead snuck it through the back door of reconciliation.


However, I will ask you or your staff to contact me and explain where and how I can get health care coverage at my age if AT&T and the rest of corporate America decides it is a better economic choice to pay a government fine than to cover their employees and retirees with health insurance. I will ask you to explain whether you were naive or disingenuous when explaining that we would be able to keep our current health insurance coverage. And finally, please explain how paying no more than $1,200 a year under my current coverage (with many years paying nothing for coverage during healthy years) is a better deal then finding new coverage at my age and paying several thousand dollars a year for the privilege.


Although I have written to the White House many times, I have never received any answer to my questions on a wide variety of topics even though you promised to have the most open and responsive administration of all time. That has not happened yet. However, in this case I do require, in fact I demand specific answers to my three questions above, and not generic political spin answers either. For your sake I hope to receive those answers before early November and certainly before 2012.


Thank you for your time,


Walter "Bruno" Korschek


Address


Phone Number


Email Address

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.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.