Comments on: A simple Tax Forward Turns into an E-Mail Battle!

By: My Journey

My Journey — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:27:12 +0000

Glad I found a new fan! Larger gov’t is rarely the answer!

By: Bobby

Bobby — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:01:32 +0000

WOW! I love this entire blog (so far) . I have been through 5 or 6 pages now. This is a great resource that should be read by more people (no idea how many readers you have currently) but by the state of personal finances more should read it. Now on this post I find it strange how so many people do immediately want let the Government make everything better. I was raised to believe that the U.S. was a place where if you worked hard you anyone has a chance to make something of themselves. More and more it seems that we have become a society of deserving citizens instead of hard workers.
It is liberals who believe so devoutly in evolution which in turn equals survival of the fittest; but they don’t want anyone to go without what they feel is a right. At what point is something not a given right and should be left up to the person to earn themselves? It seems like a slippery slope…the list of taxes above have someone on the other side receiving the benefit. That benefit is then demanded to always be provided and cannot be retracted due to the people’s dependence on them.

By: Dave C.

Dave C. — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:59:32 +0000

I get what you are saying, trust me, I’m not really in favor of bigger government, but I do believe balance is necessary to provide a lasting solution.

I’ll end my side of this back-and-forth with one last anecdote. Keep in mind, I do have health insurance, and it happens to be with a top rated provider.

Recently, a friend of mine and I were talking about random stuff and the topic turned to cancer for some reason, and how it would suck to be one of those people who randomly find out they have late-stage cancer and die a few weeks later.

He mentioned how he wasn’t super worried about that since he gets annual MRI screenings just to check for anything random. He asks me, “you don’t get MRI’s? Doesn’t your health insurance cover that?”. “No, it doesn’t”, I said. It should be noted that their family business makes millions and provides a top level insurance plan. I utilize a plan offered by the university.

It was hard for me to swallow my laugh during our conversation, because it pointed out one of the problems in our country. The people with money and great health insurance don’t really understand how everybody else lives, and what they live without.

Should we provide these high end services for them? Do they deserve it? Unfortunately, these are questions that should be tackled by philosophers, and the reality is, they will be answered by special interest groups and the trail of money they leave.
Dave C.´s last blog ..Weekly Blog Round-Up

By: My Journey

My Journey — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:23:16 +0000

“True, but if you have any kind of money to your name, it will likely be eradicated by medical fees, unless you can afford top notch health insurance.”

Or you CHOOSE to work at a job that provides health insurance. From what I have read Starbucks provides amazing health insurance to full time employees, that should be taken into account rather than just an end hourly wage, but people don’t do that. Alternatively, if your job fails to provide that coverage you should subtract it from your yearly salary to understand the true cost of working there.

Great Example is the Father in Law (this blog is anonymous so I’ll talk about him for a second) – He left a corporate sales job, where he had FULL medical coverage to start his own firm selling the exact same product. For the past 20 years or so he has made TONS more but bitches about health care costs. When in fact he should be subtracting the cost of insurance to see if his TONS was actually like a bit more.

We all make choices where to work, and health insurance should be factored into that choice. With ALL that being said, if a public option comes to existance we are going to KILL private insurance industry. So at best, we waste my tax dollars (akin to Obama’s comparing the system to the USPS…awesome job by the way) and at worst we are killing an entire protection industry and forcing the gov’t even deeper down my throat.

By: Dave C.

Dave C. — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:15:35 +0000

True, but if you have any kind of money to your name, it will likely be eradicated by medical fees, unless you can afford top notch health insurance. The indigent survive unscathed because they had nothing to begin with.

Beyond the currently existing wealth disparity, another gap between classes in our society is slowly developing. This new gap is the ability to live long healthy lives.

If life saving or life prolonging procedures remain expensive (and they look likely to keep increasing in price) and thus inaccessible to the majority of the population, you will have a small elite portion of the population which will likely have an average longevity far in excess of the majority.

Steve Jobs Got a Liver
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31509368/ns/health-health_care/

I suppose I could get a liver too if I needed, but it would likely bankrupt me and saddle me with debt for the rest of mine or my family’s lives.
Dave C.´s last blog ..Weekly Blog Round-Up

By: My Journey

My Journey — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:08:03 +0000

In my opinion, People do have access to what can be considered basic health care service. ERs do not turn people away, nor do clinics.

By: Dave C.

Dave C. — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:45:45 +0000

Freedom can be denied at the business end of a pitchfork, not just by taxes. Don’t forget the power of a wrathful mob of the indigent lower class. I’m not as left thinking as I was in college, but still I recognize that a large disparity in wealth between classes represents a danger to liberty for everyone. The wealth divide is growing, and the backlash at AIG was a symptom.

If people are unable to lawfully gain access to what are assumed to be basic services (health care), then they will probably attempt to obtain the requirements for said services (money) through whatever means possible (crime). The result of this could be bigger government (police state) and less liberty for everyone (Orwell, 1984) or it might end up as another populist socialist revolution (Russia, 1918) and/or the eradication of the upper class (France, 1789).
Dave C.´s last blog ..The First Step Towards Planning For Retirement

By: My Journey

My Journey — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:23:54 +0000

BMM,

That is my exact point. I can agree the health care system needs “help.” But what kind of help? My political ideology and distrust for large bloated gov’ts prevent me from thinking that this OR ANY administration can run a health care system.

LOOK AT MEDICAID AND MEDICARE!

By: Bible Money Matters

Bible Money Matters — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:07:49 +0000

I’ve found that people in my family that like to engage in these types of discussions aren’t usually interested in facts, or actually trying to find ways to fix the problems. Instead they want to hand everything over to the government to “fix” the problem. They think that if the gov’t gets involved it’ll be more “fair” and “equitable”. Problem is, they don’t sit and consider what usually happens when government gets involved – things get worse. Far from being more competition, the government will heavily subsidize health care and essentially put private insurance out of business. There will be rationing of care. The list of negatives goes on and on.

I’m not sure what the answer to some of our problems is -but I’m pretty sure it isn’t more government involvement. it rarely is.
Bible Money Matters´s last blog ..7 Attributes Of High Net Worth Individuals

By: My Journey

My Journey — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:08:56 +0000

you are correct! That’s what I get for using AOL as my main mail account! No built in spell check lol