Think Government Will Effectively Manage Your Healthcare? Think Again

The following letter to the editor by Bruce Daniels regarding Obamacare was submitted to The Daily World on July 24.  It has yet to appear in print.  Used by permission:

If you believe that Big Government can do a good job managing your healthcare, think again. The government is good at managing nothing, everything that the government has attempted to "fix" with a program, with legislation or by throwing money at it has been an epic failure. Here are some examples:

1. The post office is a branch of the government, it receives no taxpayer funding  and relies only on revenue from postage and mail services. Although it is headed by the postmaster general and has a board of governors, congress has the ultimate authority  over our postal system. According to the Cato institute from 2007 to 2010, the US Postal Service lost $20 billion, and its debt increased from $2.1 billion to $12 billion. The USPS was expected to hit its $15 billion legal borrowing ceiling in 2011.  In contrast, UPS and Federal Express have both been profitable in the past and were again in 2011.  If United States Postal Service  were a private business, it would be out of business!

2. Amtrak, according to the Cato Institute, was  formed in 1970. It has lost money every single year it has been in existence, furthermore is has sucked up more than 40 Billion Dollars in federal subsidies. According to the Cato Institute, the government owns virtually all Amtrak stock. Adding insult to injury, in 2004, the Department of Transportation published a report on the cost of federal subsidies for automobiles, buses, airplanes, transit and passenger rail per thousand passenger miles. The findings embarrassed Amtrak supporters in Congress, and as a result, the government stopped producing the report. If this were a privately held business it would be out of business.

 
3. The war on poverty! The Johnson administration started the war on poverty in 1964, the poverty rate was 19.1%. In April of this year the Cato Institute released a policy analysis that reported the federal government spending 12 trillion, that's right, $12,000,000,000,000. in tax payer dollars on the war on poverty since it's inception in 1964 to present! The current poverty rate is as of April 2012 is 15.1% and rising. There are currently 126 separate federal government programs designed to fight poverty. Good use of our money EH! If this were a private business, it would have gone broke and closed it's doors long ago!

Government Mismanagement

There are many more examples of government mismanagement of "stuff", most recently Solyndra and numerous other "green" idealogical government subsidized solar panel companies taking our hard earned money as handouts from the current administration and going  belly up in less than 2 years. My personal favorite is the government bailout and takeover of General Motors and Chrysler. Uncle Sam still has roughly 26% of GMs stock and with that stock falling from a high of $33.00 per share to a current $19.00 per share, the tax payer may be on the hook for more than the Obama Administration is 'fessing up to.  Last but not least, Social Security and Medicare have been looted to the point that they are both functionally and financially broke. (Like in out of money)
So there you have it.

If you want these guys with their lack of experience, history of failure and boondoggles in the business world to manage your healthcare, good luck with that.

Not Free

Obamacare is not free, and if it is allowed to be fully implimented, We The People will not be free either. I for one do not want  some govenment panel  controlling all aspects of my life all in the name of "what's healthy."

Jesse Young

One more point, why did Congress exempt themselves from this?
To start the repeal process, we first need responsible leadership  and true representation of the people coupled with common sense solutions, Jesse Young,  Republican candidate for Congress  in our 6th district. is exactly that! He has a great response to the ObamaCare decision. Log on to his web site at Jesse Young on Supreme Court Decision and read it for  for yourself. And if you're not registered to vote, register now. To cast a ballot in the primary you must be registered by July 9th. Register online.

UPDATE:
Here's the update on the post office, this from ABC news.
 Today (August 1 2012) the United States Postal Service will default on a Congressional mandate to pay $5.5 billion to "prefund" health benefits for future retirees. On Friday, House of Representatives will leave town for a five week summer vacation. There is no plan to take up postal reform before that summer recess. Source: ABC news source.

By Bruce Daniels