DC WatchCommon sense tells us we cannot afford the "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009"By Carolyn CormeyAs of August 20, 2009 Treasurydirect.gov tells us that our government owes over $11.7 trillion ($11,720,828,555,380.16) to US Citizens, foreign investors and foreign countries. As of June, 2009, $3.382 trillion of our Treasury Securities are owned by major foreign holders, including China ($776.4 billion), Russia ($119.9 billion), even Mexico ($29.9 billion) AND sooooo many more countries. In fact, in selling US Treasury Securities to and borrowing from the shrinking number of countries that will still take our debt and buy our Securities, we have just about tapped them all out for what they will lend to us, so now we simply just print the money we need! Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is defined as the total dollars generated from all goods and services generated in our US economy during a specific time period. Our non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tells us that at the end of 2008 our national debt was $10.7 trillion, equal to 41% of our total, gross domestic product (GDP) for that year. In 2008, all revenue paid in to our federal government in any form totaled $2.52 trillion, including all types of personal and corporate income taxes, excise taxes, other taxes AND social insurance and retirement receipts. Using simple division, at the end of 2008 our national debt was about 4 times the total dollars the federal government collected for EVERYTHING in that same year. Our Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that our national debt by the end of 2009 will be equal to 53% our Gross National Product (GDP) AND by the end of 2010 our national debt will equal 61% of the total money generated from all goods and services in 2010! Out of the $2.52 trillion collected by the federal government in 2008, the cost of running our government was paid, along with various moneys paid to the States, grants, gifts and all the special programs and pork projects. Oh yes and then, there was the money to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to pay AND don't forget about that growing interest payment on our ever growing national debt! Every year government spends hundreds of billions more than it budgets and budgets billions more in expenditures than it expects to bring in! These hundreds of billions create the yearly deficits that add to our national debt. This is the nonsense way those we elect conduct the business of our government. In his last couple of months in office, Republican President George Bush with a Democrat majority in both Houses passed the emergency TARP financial institution bailout bill, costing us about $700 billion, plus interest. In the first 9 months under Democrat President Barack Obama, with a substantial Democrat majority in both the Senate and the House, they passed an emergency Stimulus Bill costing us another $792 billion plus interest. Soon after, they passed the Omnibus Bill, authorizing another $410 billion in discretionary spending (whatever that means). After these warm-ups, they next passed the highest Federal Budget Bill ever conceived, growing the 2010 budget to a whopping $3.55 trillion dollars! Now on a real roll, the House Majority Leaders rammed through a Cap & Trade Bill, passing it and sending it to the Senate where it is being worked up for vote into law. It is hard to get a handle on the actual cost, of Cap & Trade with terms like "offsets and carbon credits" but let's begin with what this bill might cost each of us as we pay our monthly bills. In a letter to Senator John Kerry, dated June 12, 2009, the Congressional Budget Office wrote that ". . the price increases associated with an illustrative cap-and-trade program that CBO considered would result in an average cost per household of $1,600 a year." The rest of the letter went on to discuss things that could reduce household costs or raise household income but I got stuck on the $1,600 - a hard nut to swallow in these hard economic times. Various versions of the Health Reform Bill are working their ways through House and Senate Committees. Cost estimates are all over the board but whatever they turn out to be, we all remember that actual costs for Medicare and Medicaid were over 7 times the original estimates. Can you think of a single government-run program that has ever come in at or under budget? The Democrat Majority Leaders in both the House and Senate have this scheduled a Health Reform Bill for a vote in September and in concert with the President, we are told that this is (another) "must pass bill," we must pass RIGHT NOW "to save money on the spiraling costs of health care, Medicare and Medicaid." However, the Congressional Budget Office has reviewed and continues to review this evolving legislation and reports that creating a Medicare-like bill will actually increase the amount of money spent and cites additional problems that may be created as more and more people are added into the program where the numbers of doctors, hospitals and critical care facilities remain static. Waiting in the wings is another "must pass" bill, the third try at passing the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill," that will immediately put 12-20 million illegal aliens onto a pathway to citizenship (some call amnesty). There are the votes to pass this bill, this time around. It is high on the priority of President Obama and Democrat House and Senate Leaders who have made promises to special interest groups who worked to get a Democrat President elected. Any preliminary cost estimates on this latest version of the Immigration Bill are unavailable but, in a participant discussion with the Center for Immigration Studies aired over C-Span last week, it was stated that each low skilled immigrant worker cost government an average of $20,000 more per year than they contribute in tax dollars. This is insane! Our Legislators are in an unprecedented frenzy of expenditures, passing one massive expenditure bill after another without even reading them! They are like drunken sailors swinging a wrecking ball at our economy and our country while we stand idly by with our eyes closed and our fingers in our ears. Election after election we send these same people back to Washington again and again to continue to do more damage! Wake up out there. We cannot afford Cap & Trade right now and in these economic hard times - we need our President, our Senators and our Congressmen to concentrate on fixing our economy to create jobs for us NOT spending their time and our money in creating legislation to turn illegal aliens into new US citizens that will stretch even further the strained resources of health care, Medicare, Medicaid and welfare costs! AND during these times when private businesses are making great efforts to keep their doors open, we do not want our Legislators creating legislation that allows Unions to strangle struggling businesses and deny workers their "free choice" rights to a secret ballot. Common sense and a historical look at the soaring expenses, fraud and abuse that continues to grow when government runs health care programs, tell us that we simply cannot afford to pay for this Health Reform Bill, especially right now. We also cannot afford to let government take over our personal health care decisions that should be left between doctors, patients and family. Whether it is called "The Public Option," or "Exchange Insurance Co-ops," either way, in passing this bill, the ultimate control of our personal health care passes to government and opens the door to the stated goal of the President and Democrat Party Leaders, who are very open about telling us that they will take all they can get in this bill AND use it as a stepping stone to accomplishing their ultimate goal, creating a Single Payer Health System (that they want to "take care of us" with, but will not participate in themselves). If you have anything to say, the time to speak up - is now. Visit the local offices of your US Congressman and Senators. Send them hand-written letters (which is the most influential thing you can do). Call them and email them at www.contactingthecongress.org , 202-225-3121.
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