Newbrew

Thomas Jefferson Quotes - Very Useful Today

Here are some quotes from Thomas Jefferson I think are relevant today.  

• I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. 

• A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. 

• A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. 

• The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind. 

• It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. 

• Never spend your money before you have earned it. 

• All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. 

• As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also. 

• Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto. 

• Delay is preferable to error. 

• Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. 

• Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. 

• For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security. 

• I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too. 
  

Go Ahead, Raise the Cost to Hire the Average Person

With the healthcare "deform" bill now ready to be signed by Obama, the Democrats are cheering.  Their communist/socialist dreams are here.  Freedom has been defeated.  Statism is here.  Another entitlement program that can't be easily repealed.  But, for those bright enough, life will go on OK.  We know how to still envision, design, make and sell goods.  The people who will suffer are those good, loving Americans who have been our backbone.  They work at our restaurants, gas stations and retail stores. They work (or worked) at our factories.  They drive trucks.  You get the picture.  These are our friends, moms, fathers and kids.  They are or were necessary.

BUT, leftist politicians told them they should make what doctors make.  They deserved to get the same benefits that executives have.  Blacks and Hispanics were told they weren't smart enough to make it on their own.  They had to get into college with everything paid for and with lower scores.  Factory workers were told they didn't and couldn't save for retirement.  The fat cats had to do that for them.  And the government will now take money from those that have lots of money, assets and benefits and give it to those that don't have as much money, assets and benefits.  So, no need to bust it anymore.  No need to be self-sufficient.  You'll get it no matter what you do.  Do I think teachers are awesome?  Sure.  BUT, education is already socialized.  They get a socialist wage.  And they're unionized.  They get a union wage.  Only the union bosses make the big bucks.  Not exactly the best example though.  Say you're a car plant worker.  You assemble cars.  A very noble and honorable job.  But, you aren't building product strategy.  Those are the guys making the bucks.  Want those bucks?  Go get more eduction and move to that world.  Don't sit in your plant wanting champagne when the job only pays or should pay beer.  But, that's what has been promised.  Or so it seems.

I personally think that while we don't all have equal money, we all have equal freedom under our constitution.  Race and ethnicity are not barriers.  And in our capitalist society (for now), they are just old definitions that don't really play into peoples' value to society.  Your current place in society, wealth wise, isn't a restriction either.  We all have the chance, in our free society, to move up, out and over.  But, the changes made in this healthcare bill (which contains non-healthcare provisions) are telling people otherwise,  They aren't smart enough, savvy enough or capable enough.  The government won't just ensure the rules are fair.  They'll grab other people's money and give it to you.  What does that tell the people who invest and nurture businesses?  What does that tell those of other ethnicities about their family background and their ability to have a fair playing field?  Is our government driving class envy?  Are they building a wedge between races and ethnicities?  

So, as the costs of hiring workers and our taxes go up, we business owners will find ways to ensure we still make it.  How?  We'll automate and outsource, causing the need for workers to be diminished (and as well our costs.)  Who suffers?  Those disintermediated workers.  Maybe they can just become slugs.  Wards of the state. Making less than they would if they were producers but not burdened by, OMG, work! Business owners will also look to move their point of taxation to lower cost, lower tax countries.  Just because the Federal government has cracked down on secret Swiss bank accounts doesn't mean there aren't other ways to minimize tax burdens for business owners or high wealth individuals.  That's what we'll have when we have high taxation.  Slugs, unproductive "workers" and the wealthy, who will not lose out just because of the socialist plans by the government.  The middle class and the lower class may get free healthcare.  But, they'll lose their wealth and with it, their self-sufficiency, freedom and economic-liberty. And America will rapidly decline.  The wealthy and business owners will carefully switch nationalities.  Maybe not on the surface, but definitely under it based on where their investments go.

If our focus were on limited government and with it, lower taxation, business owners would begin to not feel the sting of doing business in the US and thus move their operations closer to home.  People like doing business with their neighbors.  But, nobody likes to be screwed.  Nobody likes seeing their plans for charity hijacked by the government who is a pretty sorry charity organization.  Charities bring both money and rehabilitation.  Governments bring money but they also bring dependence and despair (as well as inefficiency.)

Here's an interesting quote from Thomas Friedman in the NY Times:  

"If I just have the spark of an idea now, I can get a designer in Taiwan to design it. I can get a factory in China to produce a prototype. I can get a factory in Vietnam to mass manufacture it. I can use Amazon.com to handle fulfillment. I can use freelancer.com to find someone to do my logo and manage my backroom. And I can do all this at incredibly low prices. The one thing that is not a commodity and never will be is that spark of an idea. And this Intel dinner was all about our best sparklers."

So, let's hope we can throw out the bums in office soon, repeal not only this entitlement plan but others as well.  Let's hope that there are republicans who are truly fiscally conservative ready to run our federal government.  Let's hope we remain the world's best economy and it's brightest beacon of freedom.

Listen Up if You're Under 30! Or Laugh if You're Over

If you are 30, or older, this may make you giggle!

When I was a kid, adults would bore me to tears with their diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... uphill... barefoot... BOTH ways, in the snow (in Florida!).

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay that junk on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!  

But now that I'm right close to 50, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.  They've got it so easy! Compared to my childhood, they live in complete utopia.  Worst of all, they don't know REALLY how good they have it

When I was a kid we didn't have the Internet.  If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog, using the Dewey Decimal System.  Or we had to go to our grandmother's house and use her Encyclopedia Britannica or World Book Encyclopedia volumes.

There was no email!!  We had to actually write someone a letter - with a pen!   Then you had put it in the mailbox, and it would take a week to get there!  You had to ACTUALLY lick the stamp.

Child Protective Services (DFACS here in Georgia) didn't care if our parents beat us.  As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to smack us! Nowhere was safe!  We needed a good "whoopin" every so often.  It was good for us.

There were no MP3's or iTunes!  If you wanted to steal music, you had to ride your bike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!  If you wanted a mix, you had to record it from vinyl to a cassette using a microphone attached to a bulky tape recorder (if you could afford cassette given 8-track was cheaper.)

If you wanted a specific song, you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!  There were no CD players! Hell, my parents only had AM radio in their cars.  Cool people had FM and really rich folk had cassette or 8-track tape decks in their cars.  If you did have a tape deck in your car, you'd play your favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would get wound up inside the player rendering it useless. Or you'd be right in the middle of your favorite song when the 8-track would "click" to the next channel and continue the song from there. Worst was having your favorite cassette or 8-track melt in the wonderful Florida sun!

We didn't have fancy services like Call Waiting!  If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!  And if you didn't have a direct line, you had a party line.  Damn, couldn't those old people EVER get off of the phone?

There weren't any mobile phones. If you left the house, you were off the grid. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". LIke OMG!!!  The horror... not being in touch with someone at all times.  And then there's TEXTING.  We actually passed notes to people via go-betweens.  "Do you like Steve, check A for yes, B for no, C for NO WAY!"

Caller ID! HAH.  When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!  It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!  You had to pick it up and take your chances.  

We didn't have any Wii or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3D, HD graphics!  We had single level pinball at the convenience stores and skating rinks.  Sure, PacMan and Space Invaders were just around the corner.  The big fear was that you'd "tilt" the machine.  And if you sucked, everybody knew because they'd all sit there and watch as you blew it.  

You had to use the newspaper find out what was on TV.  All 4 channels.  And you were screwed when it came to channel surfing!  You had to get off your rear and walk over to the TV to change the channel!  No remote controls.  We did get UHF.  Opening a whole new world of new channels.  WOW!

A/C?  Back then, that was called a "fan".  Oscillating if your dad had had a good year.

There was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning.  Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons.  We did have the comic section in the Sunday paper.

And we didn't have microwaves.  If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove!  Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day on Saturdays.  No electronics to excite the senses.  And if you came back inside... you were doing chores, FOR FREE.

And car seats - oh, please!   Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on.  If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!  

Kids today have it too easy. They wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in the 60's or 70's.  BUT, I guess I wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in the 40's or 50's!

 

 

Healthcare Costs

I received good news yesterday from my orthopedist.  He was reviewing my MRI results from last week. The MRI was performed to look at the soft tissues in my right shoulder.  I carried a very heavy ladder overhead and then worked out hard for 2 weeks afterwards.  Oops.  Luckily, I just irritated the bicep tendons and other tissues in the shoulder.  No tears or pulls.  No surgery needed.  Just some TLC and careful workouts for the next month or so.

This all got me thinking.  I rarely use the healthcare system.  I've really only used it once before this shoulder problem.  I passed out in 2008, fell backwards, fractured my skull, received a severe concussion, split a vein at the base of my skull and more.  The original bill added up to over $120,000.  I think it went down a bit after incorrect billing was fixed and proper discounting took place.  It's safe to say it was a very expensive hospital visit.

For my shoulder problem, I bet the total cost for my 2 doctor visits and the MRI visit was $4,000.  The MRI included an arthrogram (numb the shoulder, insert deep into the shoulder joint a needle and inject 2 different contract materials and review.)  From what I can tell, the MRI visit probably cost $3,500.  And it's no wonder.  The MRI machine alone costs over $1.5MM and requires plenty of software and hardware maintenance.  Plus it requires a special building to house it.  Further, the people who use it have to be properly trained.  My 2 visits to the orthopedist probably cost $500.  Remember, they have an office to pay for, places to park, nurses, front desk personnel, doctor's fees, technicians and more.  The doctor's themselves have a lifetime of education debt. Plus, this is their business.  They want to make a little money.  Nothing wrong with that.  So, $500 doesn't sound bad.

I paid a $100 in co-pays for those two visits.

I pay Aetna $225 per month for my medical insurance.  Not bad.  That's $2,700 per year.  If Aetna had to pay $4,000 minus my co-pays, then they had to reimburse $3,900.  And they will have only collected $2,700 from me in 2010.  That means they will lose $1,200 on me this year.  Not good for Aetna.  And I'm a great health risk.  I don't get sick.  And when I do, I eat soup and take aspirin.  I only go to see a doctor when absolutely necessary.  I have a high deductible ($5,000) so I have "skin in the game".  Even with all that, Aetna loses with me this year.  How are these guys "bad"?  I will be more careful going forward.  The arthrogram was painful.  Plus, I don't want to be injured or sick.  So, I will ensure Aetna does make money off of me.  It's in theirs and my best interest that they do.  Most people I know are healthcare junkies. They visit doctors for everything.  So, how does an Aetna still make money while only charging me $225 per month?  We should be glad they can.

If we want this great medicine, then we've got to pay for it.  Including me.  And just because I am willing to pay for it (at the expense of LCD TVs, video game consoles, movie tickets and more) doesn't mean others have a right to it.  We all have to make choices.  Even if we're poor.  My parents had next to no money but they paid for health related expenses.  All while they watched the "poor" complain that others had healthcare and they didn't.  My parents, who worked for social services agencies, watched so many people give nothing (taxes, productivity) but demand what they had.  Now here we are again.  Only we have socialist/communist government officials prepared to make it so.  I say NO.  I say we get government out of all healthcare related activities and return tax dollars to their rightful owners.  Then let private charities take care of the indigent.  How many of us want to be considered "indigent"?  I don't.  I'd rather save my money, spend less on other things and pay for my own healthcare.  I don't want charity.  I guess most people don't.  That's why the lazier folks out there like the notion of government healthcare.  You get more than you put in and don't have to beg for it.  At some point, you run out of people to tax and even borrow from.  Then what?  

Well, I like our system, problems and all.  The fixes we need to it require government to get out of the way, not in the way.  We need people to be responsible for their own healthcare with government providing "indigent" service only.  If that means not buying cars and electronics, then so be it.  We can't rob the rich to get what they have.