Obama's Speech

[Mark]

Did anyone watch Obama's Speech last night and what did you think about it?

The words "Health Care Reform" came up a lot last night. He also said it was one of the things on top of his list.

What do you think about his speech and do you think something in health care is going to change in the next 4 years?


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Mark Rosenthal aka markingriffin
IMO/Ins Agent/Agent Trainer/Free Advice
[email protected] www.rosenthalfiles.com
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[Guest]

From your OWN Fox News:
Think Progress Fox Panel’s Verdict On Jindal’s Speech: ‘Childish,’ ‘Amateurish,’ ‘Not Exactly Terrific’

On PBS, New York Times columnist David Brooks also remarked, “In a moment when only the federal government is actually big enough to do stuff, to just ignore all that and just say ‘government is the problem, corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending,’ it’s just a form of nihilism. It’s just not where the country is, it’s not where the future of the country is.”

 

[Winter_123]

From your OWN Fox News:
Think Progress Fox Panel’s Verdict On Jindal’s Speech: ‘Childish,’ ‘Amateurish,’ ‘Not Exactly Terrific’

On PBS, New York Times columnist David Brooks also remarked, “In a moment when only the federal government is actually big enough to do stuff, to just ignore all that and just say ‘government is the problem, corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending,’ it’s just a form of nihilism. It’s just not where the country is, it’s not where the future of the country is.”


YouTube - Bobby Jindal Bombs

Al, thanks for quoting the New York Times and PBS. Now there's objectivity for you. Google around and see what MsNBC said when Jindal came out to complete your analysis. Google the youtubes.

In regard to Jindal's speech and the Fox News assessment, I agree with that. We are in an oratory-driven administration and many conservatives or average joes hope that the dem's saviour can be counterbalanced by another messiah of a different ilk. Unfortunately it doesnt happen that way. Obama's oratory enables him to drive the whole country far, far down the road at a furious pace. As his buddy Rev. Wright says though, the chickens do come home to roost at some point. He is backed by a dem congress and practically anything he utters becomes law within weeks. We shall see how it works out. Meanwhile, expect more spending this week and next........

Spend it like you got it.

 

[Charpress]

Barack et al apparently thinks Americans are idiots. Maybe they are. Look at who was elected. Better yet, look at the members of Congress who keep getting re-elected.

"I'm going to spend, spend, spend and cut the deficit in half by taxing the wealthiest at the top."

Yeah, right.

The market today, made up of investors who have some chips in the game, apparently don't believe the nonsense in the speech last night.

As for Jindal, I know him personally (slightly) and he is an absolutely brilliant person. All I can say is I cringed listening to him last night. He is usually a very good speaker. It looks like some public relations morons came up with the style and substance of that speech.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

He can say anything he likes, the fact is that it is all rhetoric.

Based on the effectiveness of the $700 BILLION bank bailout, what five months ago, what would give anyone confidence that these nitwits in DC (including Obama) have any idea what they're doing?

This country is in big, big trouble.

 

[Guest]

I love to see you guys whining, and moaning, and bitching in the morning. It sounds like.... victory!

Al

 

[sunmed]

Don't put your health applications away yet:



Stimulus bails out states, puts off health care reform
By Joseph Antos
From News Services
Sunday, February 22, 2009
President Barack Obama hasn’t yet presented his official health care reform plan to Congress. But already, new health spending is spinning out of control. Obama and congressional Democrats included more than $150 billion for health care in the $787 billion stimulus package.

About $90 billion is intended to help states with budget deficits fund Medicaid, the government health insurance plan for the poor. Another $21 billion is earmarked for Obama’s plan to update the nation’s health care technology systems. Most of the remaining $40 billion will be used to help buy insurance for workers who lost their jobs in the current recession.

Medicaid is exerting a hefty strain on state budgets. The nation’s health care system would certainly benefit from increased use of technology. Subsidizing the cost of health coverage for the unemployed would ease some of their concerns in an uncertain economy. But none of these measures will make a discernible impact on the out-of-control costs driving our health system today.

Let’s begin with Medicaid. In a just-released report, the Congressional Budget Office reported that federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid will grow from $720 billion today to $1.4 trillion in 2019. CBO estimates that if that rate of growth continues over the next four decades, then total spending on the two programs will reach 17 percent of GDP.

CBO calls such spending “unsustainable.” No kidding.

The stimulus package would grant states billions to help fill their Medicaid shortfalls, with no strings attached. That sounds more like a bailout than a stimulus plan. Like other bailouts, this one only punts long-term financing problems further down the road.

Taxpayers might be willing to accept a Medicaid bailout, or new insurance subsidies for workers who recently lost their coverage, if Obama had a workable plan to cut national health costs. Unfortunately, his brand of health reform simply revolves around more spending and more mandates.

Obama proposes to reach “universal” coverage by expanding existing federal programs and increasing government’s role in the private insurance market. During the presidential campaign, Obama’s camp put the annual cost of his program at around $65 billion a year. Accounting for inflation, that comes to an even trillion dollars that we are going to have to pay extra over the next 10 years.

One scenario envisions the government forcing all but the smallest employers to provide coverage, while another would mandate that private insurers accept all applicants. The net results of these forced measures are predictable —- higher premiums for everyone.

Obama plans to deal with mounting premiums by giving government subsidies to employers and individuals. But to make his system work, he has to lop off another $200 billion a year in health spending.

Those billions can’t be created from thin air. Obama, however, thinks that better health IT will go a long way toward making up the difference. Eventually, he’d like to spend $50 billion on improving health care technology. The $21 billion provided in the proposed stimulus package is just a “down payment.”

Advances like electronic medical records and e-prescribing aren’t bad ideas, but they won’t cut health costs any time soon. In fact, such initiatives may actually raise costs for the foreseeable future. CBO analyzed a scenario similar to the one Obama and Democrats want to implement that would use cash incentives to encourage doctors to upgrade their systems. Whatever savings were incurred, CBO concluded, “would be overshadowed” by the added costs to government.

The merits of the giant congressional stimulus plan are debatable. But lawmakers are kidding themselves if they think that the $150 billion set aside for health care will put our system on the road to reform.

Until Congress gets serious about cutting costs, health care reform will remain little more than a pipe dream.

> Joseph Antos is the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at the American Enterprise Institute.

 

[djs]

I love to see you guys whining, and moaning, and bitching in the morning. It sounds like.... victory!

Al

Couldn't agree more. Victory in 2010 - not that far away. Al, I actually didn't think you would throw in the towel so easily on the whacko ultra liberal left. They do have a few good months left, give them a chance.

Dan

 

[Winter_123]

Don't put your health applications away yet:



Stimulus bails out states, puts off health care reform
By Joseph Antos
From News Services
Sunday, February 22, 2009
President Barack Obama hasn’t yet presented his official health care reform plan to Congress. But already, new health spending is spinning out of control. Obama and congressional Democrats included more than $150 billion for health care in the $787 billion stimulus package.

About $90 billion is intended to help states with budget deficits fund Medicaid, the government health insurance plan for the poor. Another $21 billion is earmarked for Obama’s plan to update the nation’s health care technology systems. Most of the remaining $40 billion will be used to help buy insurance for workers who lost their jobs in the current recession.

Medicaid is exerting a hefty strain on state budgets. The nation’s health care system would certainly benefit from increased use of technology. Subsidizing the cost of health coverage for the unemployed would ease some of their concerns in an uncertain economy. But none of these measures will make a discernible impact on the out-of-control costs driving our health system today.

Let’s begin with Medicaid. In a just-released report, the Congressional Budget Office reported that federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid will grow from $720 billion today to $1.4 trillion in 2019. CBO estimates that if that rate of growth continues over the next four decades, then total spending on the two programs will reach 17 percent of GDP.

CBO calls such spending “unsustainable.” No kidding.

The stimulus package would grant states billions to help fill their Medicaid shortfalls, with no strings attached. That sounds more like a bailout than a stimulus plan. Like other bailouts, this one only punts long-term financing problems further down the road.

Taxpayers might be willing to accept a Medicaid bailout, or new insurance subsidies for workers who recently lost their coverage, if Obama had a workable plan to cut national health costs. Unfortunately, his brand of health reform simply revolves around more spending and more mandates.

Obama proposes to reach “universal” coverage by expanding existing federal programs and increasing government’s role in the private insurance market. During the presidential campaign, Obama’s camp put the annual cost of his program at around $65 billion a year. Accounting for inflation, that comes to an even trillion dollars that we are going to have to pay extra over the next 10 years.

One scenario envisions the government forcing all but the smallest employers to provide coverage, while another would mandate that private insurers accept all applicants. The net results of these forced measures are predictable —- higher premiums for everyone.

Obama plans to deal with mounting premiums by giving government subsidies to employers and individuals. But to make his system work, he has to lop off another $200 billion a year in health spending.

Those billions can’t be created from thin air. Obama, however, thinks that better health IT will go a long way toward making up the difference. Eventually, he’d like to spend $50 billion on improving health care technology. The $21 billion provided in the proposed stimulus package is just a “down payment.”

Advances like electronic medical records and e-prescribing aren’t bad ideas, but they won’t cut health costs any time soon. In fact, such initiatives may actually raise costs for the foreseeable future. CBO analyzed a scenario similar to the one Obama and Democrats want to implement that would use cash incentives to encourage doctors to upgrade their systems. Whatever savings were incurred, CBO concluded, “would be overshadowed” by the added costs to government.

The merits of the giant congressional stimulus plan are debatable. But lawmakers are kidding themselves if they think that the $150 billion set aside for health care will put our system on the road to reform.

Until Congress gets serious about cutting costs, health care reform will remain little more than a pipe dream.

> Joseph Antos is the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at the American Enterprise Institute.

Yup. The only thing is, a year ago I would have said that Obama will be gated in some areas by the cost of programs. All bets are off now. You and I may think that a trillion here and a trillion there would give us pause. I just dont think that that is a factor now. And where it is a factor I think that it will cause him to just fiddle and meddle with health plans to show that he is still doing something. Such as mandating guaranteed issue, interstate sale of policies, group purchase of drugs, subsidizing plans provided that they hold premiums to a certain level, etc, etc. All of those halfway measures would not constitute a national health care system but would be a nuclear bomb for both clients and agents. My view.

 

[Freddie]

I love to see you guys whining, and moaning, and bitching in the morning. It sounds like.... victory!

Al

Bush Dow 14,700
Obama Dow 7100 (and dropping)

Al - I would think being in the business you would at least have the slightest clue that anyone in business or anyone that has a few dollars in the bank has ZERO confidence in Obama.

He can promise this or that but nothing will change the fact that no one with a brain has any confidence in him or trusts him.

Rewriting mortgage rule son the fly? Who will lend people money or invest ANY capital when you can change the rules at any time. If there is no rule of law then you have anarchy. Like most liberals your problem is you are just not very bright.