Friday, February 26
Health Care Reform
I've written in the past about the city of Duluth, MN. They had recently hired an actuarial accountant to assess the future budget needs for the city. The city was concerned that health care costs were spiraling out of control due to the generous packages offered to the unionized work force. How generous? Well, city employees were given nearly free universal coverage. AND, free coverage was also given to every city employee's child until they reached the age of 26!
The report from the actuarial came back. Unless drastic changes were made to the benefits package, the city would be spending EVERY dime of revenue on health insurance premiums only. There wouldn't be any funds available for incidental things like SALARIES, Capital improvements, facilities, supplies, etc. Of course, Duluth had to take dramatic steps to avoid the disaster.
Why do I bring this up?
Well, a key provision of President Obama's latest proposal is to provide free health care coverage for every working American's child until they reach the age of 26! See anything similar here?
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Arnold Schwarzenegger predicts Tea Party Demise.
The Governator suggests that the Tea Party movement will likely fade in the near future. Maybe the Tea Party recruiting efforts aren't that strong at the Kennedy compound, but last nights event here in Effingham certainly disproves Arnold's predictions.
John Perles (a Republican Reporter Team Member) had recently read that President Bill Clinton and James Carville are planning on attacking the Tea Party leadership structure, in an effort to undermine the effort. In response, national tea party leaders are taking a slice from the 1960 film, "Spartacus", in which Spartacus and his legion of soldiers have been captured. Their captor is unable to determine which soldier is Spartacus among the thousands of prisoners. And so he offers to release all the soldiers if they will just turn over Spartacus. In response, Spartacus (played by Kirk Douglas) stands to correctly identify himself as Spartacus. Then, slowly, each soldier stands and declares, "I AM SPARTACUS", thus defeating their captors intent.
Tea Parties around the country have conducted events to film individuals stating "I am the Tea Party leader". The videos will be uploaded to YouTube and presented on various tea party sites. Well, John Perles put together an event last night, here in Effingham. With only 24 hours notice, he sent out an email, asking area residents to participate. More than 50 people showed up to declared themselves the Tea Party Leader. It was a festive event, and a tribute to the fact that the California Governor is likely wrong.
Interestingly, and to the dismay of Democratic leaders, the groups of Tea Party participants that I have witnessed are not angry, but rather, they are very very determined. They are not going away anytime soon.
I've written in the past about the city of Duluth, MN. They had recently hired an actuarial accountant to assess the future budget needs for the city. The city was concerned that health care costs were spiraling out of control due to the generous packages offered to the unionized work force. How generous? Well, city employees were given nearly free universal coverage. AND, free coverage was also given to every city employee's child until they reached the age of 26!
The report from the actuarial came back. Unless drastic changes were made to the benefits package, the city would be spending EVERY dime of revenue on health insurance premiums only. There wouldn't be any funds available for incidental things like SALARIES, Capital improvements, facilities, supplies, etc. Of course, Duluth had to take dramatic steps to avoid the disaster.
Why do I bring this up?
Well, a key provision of President Obama's latest proposal is to provide free health care coverage for every working American's child until they reach the age of 26! See anything similar here?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arnold Schwarzenegger predicts Tea Party Demise.
The Governator suggests that the Tea Party movement will likely fade in the near future. Maybe the Tea Party recruiting efforts aren't that strong at the Kennedy compound, but last nights event here in Effingham certainly disproves Arnold's predictions.
John Perles (a Republican Reporter Team Member) had recently read that President Bill Clinton and James Carville are planning on attacking the Tea Party leadership structure, in an effort to undermine the effort. In response, national tea party leaders are taking a slice from the 1960 film, "Spartacus", in which Spartacus and his legion of soldiers have been captured. Their captor is unable to determine which soldier is Spartacus among the thousands of prisoners. And so he offers to release all the soldiers if they will just turn over Spartacus. In response, Spartacus (played by Kirk Douglas) stands to correctly identify himself as Spartacus. Then, slowly, each soldier stands and declares, "I AM SPARTACUS", thus defeating their captors intent.
Tea Parties around the country have conducted events to film individuals stating "I am the Tea Party leader". The videos will be uploaded to YouTube and presented on various tea party sites. Well, John Perles put together an event last night, here in Effingham. With only 24 hours notice, he sent out an email, asking area residents to participate. More than 50 people showed up to declared themselves the Tea Party Leader. It was a festive event, and a tribute to the fact that the California Governor is likely wrong.
Interestingly, and to the dismay of Democratic leaders, the groups of Tea Party participants that I have witnessed are not angry, but rather, they are very very determined. They are not going away anytime soon.
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