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What is it with these yahoos?!?! What an embarrassment. Do these guys know they are in Washington and not in some field in South Carolina having one of their "meetin's"?!?!
Also, where was the outrage over the spending on the Iraq War? Where was the outrage over the Medicare Part D spending? More outrage over spending to help families avoid medical bankruptcy and to cover everyone as they do in every other industrialized nation on earth?
I believe that Obama also has lowered taxes as well.
Also by and large government projections on the long term costs of various entitlement programs tend to be way off. Consider Massachusetts which predicted it would cost 700M per year to fund health care in its state . Next year its projected to cost 1.1B or over 50% over budget.
And from say 2002 on the deficit declined under Bush. Government revenues increased. Now we're looking at a different economic scenario. Higher deficits along with lower government revenue.
Yes, Bush was wrong to get us involved in Iraq. But how does that make taking on another huge expense correct ?.
Originally posted by taxpayer: Consider Massachusetts which predicted it would cost 700M per year to fund health care in its state . Next year its projected to cost 1.1B or over 50% over budget.
Wow - another fan of single-payer! I had no idea there were so many of us!
The good citizens of this country waited 8 years for someone to call the President a liar.
But, instead of someone who was actually KNOWINGLY lying to the people who elected him, a guy who wants to help people is slandered on a global television broadcast.
This is the part where the rednecks misrepresent "freedom of speech".
Wilson apologized but he never apologized for being wrong and that the President was correct. Just apologized for being an embarrassment to both parties and the nation. Apology not excepted until he admits he was wrong in calling the President a liar- either because he didn't read the plan or by design.
Well we currently have a pseudo single payer system which has had mixed results. And certainly has not led to any cost savings.
In 1965 Total U.S expenditures for health care was 42B of which 8B came from federal and state spending. Most of that I guess was for employees, military and veterans.
In 1966 Medicare/Medicaid became law. Total expenditures increased to 46B almost of which came from Medicare and Medicaid expenditures.
Interestingly up until 1977 most health care payments in the private sector were out of pocket expenditures. Starting in 1977 Insurance became the dominant payer in the private side.
Flash forward to 2007. Total health care expenses were up to 2.2T dollars of which 1.2T Were privately funded. Total government spending on Medicare/Medicaid was 1T. Of that one trillion 760B was spend on Medicare/Medicaid at all levels of government.
So far I don't see much in the way of cost savings in the government run programs.
Of course we currently have a single payer system in the public school system. Which also despite large increases in funding has not seen much in the way of improvement.
Yeah, it really is tough to conceive why they would run into any difficulties after the for-profit insurers cherry-pick all of the youngest and healthiest folk . . .
Biostitute, I agree with you that Joe Wilson's outburst was inappropriate. I am glad he apologized soon after.
That said, I can't imagine making him apologize to Obama for having the belief (whether you or anyone agrees with it) that Obama is not telling the nation the truth. Are you saying that Joe Wilson is not entitled to his own opinion?
Obama is a very intelligent man. On that we can all agree. So, if I hear him say something that has been widely disputed - by some members of his own party, and even the Congressional Budget Office, I have the right to assume that he is not stating ALL the facts. In our house, if one of my kids tells me only part of the story, leaving out the part I would surely disapprove of, we call that a LIE.
It was wrong for Mr. Wilson to yell during the speech. It is also wrong to ask him to apologize for his thoughts and beliefs.
When "we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter, we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves." President Barack Obama, September 10, 2009
I meant he called him a liar when he said that illegal aliens where not being included in his health care overhaul. Wilson had those facts as did all of congress in their laps to read before his speech. So if its in black and white in front of you- H.R. 3200 the house bill, says:
"SEC. 246. NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.
Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."
It's true everyone is entitled to a different opinion but to yell out "Liar" meaning you somehow have reached the opinion that the above means that the bill is paying for illegal aliens, in front of the whole world? Granted this language is an excerpt but fact-checker and other sites can find no reasonable reference anywhere in the whole bill that would construe that the bill somehow will provide insurance for illegal aliens. So some possible conclusions are: 1- Wilson is falsely accusing the President, 2- He never read the bill and/or was misinformed (though he hasn't said this), 3 - He's mentally incompetent, but still entitled to his opinion.
I just need more than lines like "I let my emotions get the best of me" etc. from elected officials who behave this badly.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Ted E.,
Hi, I hear you Bio, and I've already agreed with yu that he shouldn't have yelled it out during Obama's speech.
But you are assuming that was the only thing he was referring to when he called Obama a liar. My guess is that Mr. Wilson believes we are not being told the truth on a number of points, with regard to the health care bill. He is entitled to his opinion, and he shouldn't have to apologize for it.
Joe was partially right until Obama finally corrected his 'fuzzy math'. For the longest time Obama was saying there are "40-45 Million Americans" without coverage. That number as provided by the US Census included ~10 million non citizens. Last night Obama finally said, "There are now more than 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage." I'm glad to see he is finally throwing out numbers that do not include illegal aliens.
