Sunday, March 21, 2010

Healthcare Reform or a Disguised Tax Increase?

It's Official!

Healthcare Reform has passed in the House. I can't believe that this 2700 page monstrosity is about to possibly become law. We are now one step closer to socialism in this country as the government continues to tighten its grip around how we live our lives.

There has been a lot of chatter on the Internet around the sudden resurgence of this legislation. Many are asking if this is really about healthcare reform. Some folks(including myself) are starting to believe that this legislation is all about increasing taxes in order to keep the country running versus changing healthcare.

Two years ago I would have said this was tinfoil....Not anymore! Tax receipts have collapsed and we continue to borrow at record levels. The politicians in DC fully understand that they need tons of cold hard cash in order to fund this record level of spending.

Remember, the actual healthcare reform doesn't kick in for around 3 years. The taxes however are implemented almost immediately after Obama signs it into law. This gives the government a nice revenue stream that it desperately needs in order to stay solvent.

It is so sad to see what is happening to this country. The government is slowly becoming the "employer of last resort" because there are virtually no jobs in the private sector. This reform will only strengthen this trend.

The USA is slowly turning into a country filled with leeches that want to do nothing but suck off the government tit.

Just look at the numbers below:


My Take:

As you can see above, the leech employment levels are soaring as the private sector crashes.

We have an issue here folks: Without a private sector we cannot support a nation of Leeches!

This is best described by Dr. Adrian Rogers who said this back in 1931(right before the market crashed):

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." ~~~~ Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931"

Very well said Dr. Rogers!

Let me be blunt: Minus government spending, the economy has essentially collapsed. Job losses continue to mount with no end in sight, and I have yet to hear one logical arguement as to how we intend to create jobs in this country on a wide scale basis.

The government thinks we need to "spend" our way out of this until the REAL economy recovers. This idiotic mentality will eventually destroy this country because we have created debtloads that will be impossible to finance over the long term.

When interest rates rise as a result of concerns around our solvency, the majority of our GDP will have to be used to pay interest on our debts(treasuries). The economy will then collapse because the government will no longer have the funds to hide the weakness in the economy.

The approval of healthcare reform in my view simply allows the government to kick the can down the road a little further because they now have a new revenue stream that they can tap into.

The Bottom Line:

I need to learn more about this bill and its consequences. The one thing I do know from this bill is that taxes will be rising sharply at all income levels.

This will have devestating consequences on the economy in my view. The average American can barely afford his mortgage and other debt payments as it is right now. Adding ANY taxes will do nothing but trigger more defaults and foreclosures.

This will also trigger another round of layoffs from small businesses because they won't be able to afford the double whammy of higher taxes and an increase in the cost of health insurance for their workers.

The average business owner can barely keep the doors open as it is! This could very well be the blow that forces many of them to go under.

A Few Questions Before I Go

I have a few questions to ponder in terms of how this "healthcare reform" will impact the economy:

How do they expect this economy(ie. small businesses)to grow in such a high tax environment?

How many businesses are just going to say "screw it" and just close the doors once these tax increases hit?

How many Americans are going to simply "drop out" of society and not even work anymore or work for cash only?

How badly will tax revenues crater as a result of businesses and Americans "checking out"?

How many healthcare jobs will this cost us after they peel off the $500 billion of Medicare spending thats proposed in this bill?

How many hospitals will go bankrupt after seeing their reimbursements from Medicare drop as a result reduced spending?

How many doctors will "walk away" from their practices out of disgust as they see nothing but increased patient loads and falling salaries in their future?

How will we handle a 30 million patient influx when these doctors begin to walk away?

How many years in advance will you need to make a doctors appointment in order to get a checkup? Anecdote: I have a friend in Boston(where a version of national healthcare is already in place) who told me she just booked a primary care appointment for LATE 2011!

Ahhhh......I feel my blood pressure rising so I better stop asking questions.

Before I end this rant:

Let us also not forget about the other group of leeches that depend on the government to survive in the form of social benefits. I don't have an issue with most of these folks because most of them have no other choice. However, it must be noted that all of them also suck off of the government tit.

The demand for social programs is soaring as the economy continues to nosedive . This is putting added pressures on the governments reserves.

As the leech levels soar, the government is slowly running out of fiscal options.

Don't be fooled folks: Healthcare Reform is nothing but an excuse for the government to raise cash.

Some suggest that we will never even see the reform but I disagree.

I have said it before and I will say it again: This is not sustainable and it's not going to end well!

The government tit is rapidly running out of milk and those who rely on it are in for some tough times.

Disclosure: No new positions at the time of publication.

15 comments:

Yes said...

Wake up. Insurance IS a form of socialism, reform or not. So are taxes. And universal sufferage. And the military. And state universites. Public schools. Postal services. Hospitals. 911. Airports. Sports arenas. Parks. Libraries..

Steve Dekorte said...

What this misses is that most of Wall Street are leeches of the inflation created by the central banking monetary monopoly. We need to start by ending that parasitic practice (which is also what allows gov debt to expand without limits).

Jeff said...

Steve

I totally agree. I have written a lot about the banksters in the past.

EconomicDisconnect said...

Jeff,
are you saying that you do not feel inspired by the health bill? Pelosi said now people can become artists and writers instead of havign to work a job to get health care. We have so much to look forward to.

Jeff said...

Get

Sad state of affairs isn't it?

I can't believe how fast all of this is happening.

CT-Hilltopper said...

Remember when Paulsen and Bush said they needed half a billion dollars right away or the world as we knew it would cease to exist?

This is kinda like that...except that it's backdooring the money without scaring the living shit out of people.

This is going to be brought before the Supreme Court before it's all said and done to see if the whole thing is Constitutional...and in the meantime they'll be collecting, and spending the money, just as you said.

Wasn't it Rahm Emmanuel who said to never let a crisis go to waste?

Jeff said...

CT

Howdy stranger!

Nice to hear from you. Yeah I guess we can call this TARP II!..lol

It wouldn't surprise me to see the market rise for awhile now that the government has refilled its coffers.

What a crazy world we live in. Hope things are well with work.

CT-Hilltopper said...

I'm good Jeff.

The job? People don't realize that Pharmaceuticals are going to be just as f****d as Health Care by this bill. I sold all of my company stock today while the prices are good. I cancelled my options to buy more. Not interested. Thank you very much.

Most of the people that I work with seem to be blissfully oblivious to what this means for us in the long run. Karl Denninger gets it. I think you probably get it too.

The ironic thing is that today life went on as usual. I was busy at work, and when I got home I got busy refreshing a resume' I haven't looked at in over ten years. If this Health Care Bill does what I think it's going to to the Pharma industry I think I might need it in a couple of years.

.

Jeff said...

CT

You should shoot me an e-mail.

We are in the same boat. I would be curious to get your take.

Anonymous said...

why bother working anymore?

James B said...

Ok, here it comes: ARGH.

In the midst of this massive stealth tax hike disguised as healthcare reform, the Federal Government is spending $14.5 billion on the Census:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Av-3Atc5JZqydERXMVhiaXFqZkl4MHJvaVBKQ2RnVFE&hl=en.

$14.5 billion! I thought I'd research this based upon the deluge of postcards and letter reminders I've received in the last few days, and the $2.5 Census Superbowl ad... total madness.

Jeff said...

JAmes

$14 billion? Wow I had no clue it was that much.

A billion is the new million these days. This country has lost its mind.

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EconomicDisconnect said...

Wow a C-T Hilltopper sighting!

I am not sure short term how this is going to impact Pharma, but longer term as costs spiral out of control I imagine some serious limits on charges coming up. Of course the markets agree with me as anything health care moon shots today! HA!

Jeff said...

Get

I am not surprised by this bounce.

I kinda expected it now that the healthcare issue has been settled.

We all know the markets hate uncertainty. The problem is whats certian now is every American is about to get taxed out the ynig yang.

Once the market moves passed the relief rally and see what this does to the average consumer the market is going to reverse.

Of course the bulltards in equities will be the last ones that understands this.

What has surprised me is how well the bond market has acted.

Where in the hell is all of this money coming to support both markets. There was a $44 billion treasury auction!

Strange action.