Op-Eds and Editorials April '09

Howard Ruff Interviews John Williams Of Shadow Statistics Blog

Originally Posted At Carolyn Baker
By Howard Ruff
April 29, 2009

John Williams publishes the Shadow Government Statistics newsletter (www.shadowstats.com). He is an amazing professional economist with a great grasp of the real economy. He and I have arrived at the same conclusions about almost everything in the economy, despite the fact that we approach it from totally different directions: me from the fundamentals, and he from a real technical and numbers point of view.
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The Fight

Originally Posted at Forbes
By Steve Forbes
April 29, 2009

The biggest domestic battle since the clintons tried to nationalize health care in the early 1990s is about to unfold. Sometime in June the Obama Administration will formally introduce its plan to deal with the problem of the 46 million Americans who don't have health insurance. But the proposal will have far larger--and more ominous--implications for the country than the number of uninsured. This will be President Obama's attempt to do what the Clintons couldn't: truly socialize American health care. Make no mistake: Obama's plan will be the Administration's absolute top priority, trumping new energy taxes and the forced unionization of private-sector workers. Irrevocably sinking Washington's claws deep into an area constituting 17% of the economy is too great an opportunity for this Administration to pass up. Read More...



Fix Social Security, Ease The Credit Crisis

Originally Posted at Real Clear Markets
By Fred Smith & Ivan Osario
April 29, 2009


Remember the looming Social Security crisis? If you don’t, you’re not alone. The credit crisis and economic downturn have monopolized public attention to such an extent that the Social Security crisis that was at the center of the policy debate during President George W. Bush’s second term now seems forgotten.

This is unfortunate, for not only has Social Security not been fixed, but reform, if done right by tapping into the power of the market, can help provide new capital, which American businesses now desperately need.
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Defeat Obamacare 

Originally Posted at The Weekly Standard
by Fred Barnes 
April 27, 2009

As isolated as Republicans appear to be in Washington, they often find allies in the struggle to keep the federal government from becoming the command-and-control center of American life. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have stymied organized labor's drive for legislation ("card check") to unionize workers without a secret ballot election. Moderate Democrats in Congress have joined the opposition to the perilous plan ("cap and trade") to limit carbon emissions at the expense of a growing economy. 
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The Grand Strategy

Originally Posted At The Washington Post
By Charles Krauthammer
April 24, 2009

Deficits are exploding and President Obama speaks vaguely of making "additional adjustments" in future budgets. Charles Krauthammer cuts through the dissembling and euphemisms: "Additional adjustments" equals major cuts in Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. Read More...



Consumer Empowerment Vs. Rationing

Originally Posted At The Hill
By Rep. John Fleming (R-La.)
April 23, 2009

The United States delivers among the best healthcare in the world, but the financing of it is a basket case because of high costs, systemic inefficiencies and lack of access to preventive care. Economists and policymakers have attempted to tackle these problems on a macroeconomic level with dismal results. The pathway out of our current healthcare crisis begins in the medical exam room, itself a micro-economy, where individual decisions between the doctor and patient have far-reaching impacts on quality and cost. Read More...



Pursue Reform Not According To Party, But By Adherence To Certain Principles

Originally Posted At The Hill
By Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.)
April 23, 2009

As a physician from Tennessee who has delivered babies for over 30 years, I have seen our healthcare system change dramatically. Some people said I must have gone off my meds when I decided to run for Congress, but having extensive experience as a physician enables me to lend my experience to the debate over health reform in Washington. Read More...



U.S. Preparing For Medical Rationing

By Dr. Lawrence Hunter
April 20, 2009

The pain in Bill Murray's arthritic hip throbbed for more than a year while he waited to see a specialist. When 
he finally got an appointment, the specialist said Murray needed a cutting edge hip−resurfacing treatment.Murray, a 57−year−old living in Alberta, Canada, tried to schedule the procedure, but was flatly rejected. 
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RETURN OF THE MONEY SNATCHERS?

Originally Posted At The Washington Times
By Richard W. Rahn  
Friday, April 17, 2009

When will the next round of inflation hit, and how can we protect ourselves? Many economists and commentators, including yours truly, have warned about the potential of a new round of high inflation due to the great expansion of government spending. But does an increase in government spending necessarily translate into higher inflation? The answer is "no," but it most often does, and this is why. Read More...




Taxing Grandma To Pay Goldman Sachs

Originally Posted At Fin Facts
By Peter Morici
April 14, 2009

A large share of the bailout money comes from transfers from retirees. While the Fed[eral] Reserve cuts the banks slack, the bankers are busy turning the screws on their debtors by raising credit card rates and fees, and harassing distressed borrowers. . .Many retirees depend on interest from certificates of deposit. Those rates are down dramatically, and as CDs expire retirees are compelled to reinvest their savings at lower rates and live on less. Read More...




Obama's Economic Mirage

Originally Posted At The Washington Post
By Robert J. Samuelson
April 13, 2009

President Obama has made no secret of his vision for America's 21st-century economy. We will lead the world in "green" technologies to stop global warming. Advancing medical breakthroughs will improve our well-being, control health spending and enable us to expand insurance coverage. These investments in energy and health care, as well as education, will revive the economy and create millions of well-paying new jobs for middle-class Americans.
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Medicare Move Unhealthy For Us

By Dr. Lawrence Hunter
April 13, 2009

Millions of seniors could soon lose access to some of the prescription drugs they need. In congress Sen. Richard Durbin... Read More... 



Obama's Public Plan Will Be A Disaster For American Health Care

Originally Posted At The Washington Examiner
By Sally C. Pipes
April 12, 2009 

High-ranking Democrats recently signaled that they might exploit a procedural maneuver in congressional protocol to pass major healthcare legislation without a single Republican vote.

Through "budget reconciliation," a fast-track process that allows the Senate to pass the government's budget without debate and with just a simple majority, Democratic leaders hope to create a government-run alternative to private health insurance. Read More...




The End Of Private Health Insurance
When government 'competes,' guess who always wins

Originally Posted At The Wall Street Journal
Editorial
April 12, 2009

Once government takes over the majority of U.S. health-care liabilities, it can either provide every service at huge and growing cost, or it can ration services. People who need an MRI or hip replacement or whatever will face waiting lines. Medical innovation will be at the mercy of the price controls hashed out in Washington.
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The Misguided Quest For Universal Coverage

Originally Posted At New York Times
By Ramesh Ponnuru
April 8, 2009


AMERICA’S dysfunctional health care financing system needs to be reformed. But the goal should not be universal coverage. Reform should simply aim to make health insurance more affordable and portable.... The quest for universal healthcare coverage is a fool’s errand: unobtainable and counterproductive. Read More...



Obama's Prescription

Originally Posted On Washington Times
By Tony Blankley
April 7, 2009

Of all President Obama's transformative domestic policy proposals, none is more far-reaching and less transparent than health care. What most Washington policy people mean when they talk about the president's health care proposal was described in the lead paragraph of Robert Pear's meticulous article in the New York Times on Wednesday. Read More...




Heads, I Win, Tails You Lose

Originally Posted At The Washington Times
By Richard W. Rahn
April 7, 2009

Do you know who is perpetuating the biggest tax scam ever and who the victims are? It is an organization that claims to be a "service" to the people but whose actual behavior can be summed up in its unwritten motto, "Might means right." As tax day approaches, millions of Americans are finding they are victims of this scam. It is called the capital gains tax, and it is run by the Internal Revenue "Service." Read More...




Switching To The Tune Of The Times

Originaly Posted At The American Spectator
By Dr. Lawrence Hunter
April 6, 2009

It is true that what you see depends upon where you sit. But moving from one seat to another may as easily distort your perception of reality as clarify it.

When Frank Keating was the governor of Oklahoma, he vigorously opposed the federal death tax, which is incredibly destructive of family farms and family businesses. However, once he became head of the American Council of Life Insurers, the members of which thrive and flourish on the chaos created by the federal tax on estates and gifts, he became a strong supporter of the death tax. Read More...





Government Based On Coercion Cannot Be Tamed

Originally Posted On Lew Rockwell
By Michael S. Rozeff
April 6, 2009

The U.S. federal government is on a course of self-destruction. People of many political persuasions know this. People who are against coercive government know this. People who favor coercive government know this. People who do not mind if the federal government self-destructs know this, and people who want to save the federal government know this. Read More...


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Recent News

Those Dastardly Republicans

Friday, May 18, 2012
Source: Politico
Congressional Republicans are back up to their old shenanigans on ObamaCare. Politico reveals that Republicans would try to replicate popular parts of Obama’s health care law if the Supreme Court overturns the law this summer.
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FDA Warns Doctors On Fosamax Side Effects

Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Source: ABC News
The Food and Drug Administration has warned doctors to watch for fractures of the upper thigh bone in patients taking several popular drugs designed to prevent hip fractures and fight osteoprothesis.  The FDA warns that Fosamax and Boniva in particular, if taken unnecessarily or for too long, may actually be causing the bone fractures they are prescribed to prevent. Watch ABC News video.
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Senator Introduces Fugitive Taxpayer Act

Thursday, May 17, 2012
Source: ABC News
Exit Not An Option In Chuck Schumer's America.  New York Senator Chuck Schumer has introduced the Fugitive Taxpayer Act of 2012 to re-impose taxes on expatriates after they flee the United States and take up residence in a foreign country. Proposal also would impose a mandatory 30 percent tax on the capital gains of anybody who renounces their U.S. citizenship and would bar such individuals from ever reentering the United States again.
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US War Machine Will Be Real Winner In Nov.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Source: Salon.com
Whether President Obama gets his second term or Romney enters the Oval Office, there’s a third candidate no one’s paying much attention to, and that candidate is guaranteed to be the one clear winner of election 2012: the U.S. military and our ever-surging national security state.
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Social Security Garnished for Student Loan Debts

Friday, May 11, 2012
Source: Truth-Out.org
According to the New York Federal Reserve, two million US seniors age 60 and over have student loan debt, on which they owe a collective $36.5 billion; and 11.2 percent of this debt is in default. 4.2 percent of all student loan debt is held by people over the age of 60, and that share grows with each passing year.
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Seniors vs. Military-Industrial Complex?

Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Across the U.S. economy, anxiety is rising about the potential for widespread disruptions after the November election, when a lame-duck Congress will have barely two months to resolve a grinding standoff over taxes and spending.
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Americans Say Cut The War Machine, Now

Thursday, May 10, 2012
Source: Huffington Post
Two-thirds of Republicans and nine in 10 Democrats polled support making immediate cuts to the military across the board -- a position at odds with the leaderships of both political parties.
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Police Beat Mentally Ill Man To Death

Monday, May 7, 2012
Source: Raw Story
Video revealing the circumstances of how a mentally ill homeless man in Fullerton, Calif. died last July was finally published Monday, revealing a stunningly brutal police assault that left Kelly Thomas bleeding, broken and near death.
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President Obama Is Running Out of Jobs Excuses

Monday, May 7, 2012
The number of people with jobs declined for the second month in a row, falling by 169,000 in April after easing by 31,000 in March. This means that there were 200,000 fewer Americans with jobs in April than there were in February. Additionally, the percentage of working-age adults who either have jobs or are looking for work, fell to 63.6%, which is the lowest level since December 1981.
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Attack Of The Drones

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Source: Salon.com
In November 2010, a police lieutenant from Parma, Ohio, asked Vanguard Defense Industries if the Texas-based drone manufacturer could mount a “grenade launcher and/or 12-gauge shotgun” on its ShadowHawk drone for U.S. law enforcement agencies. The answer was yes.
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