The Feds Have Run Amtrak, U.S. Postal Service, Public School System, and Everything Else They've Ever Touched into the Ground, but Obama Wants to Put Them in Charge of Health Care?
The Federal Government Can't Even Run a Brothel!
How Does Obama Keep From Laughing At His Own Press Conference?
By Wayne Allyn Root, 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee
Author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts”
I'll give him one thing- our President has audacity. World-record levels of audacity. He even wrote a book about it. But he ought to change the name to “the Audacity of Lies and Confusion.” His health care lies and confusing logic were on special display at last night's press conference. Let's examine just a few.
*The definition of audacity: Obama said we must “tame” the costs of health care because they are the driving force behind our massive federal deficits. Huh? He's the driving force behind our massive federal deficits! He's the one spending like a drunken sailor. He's the one bankrupting America. He's the one ordering the Federal Reserve to print money at record speed- making our savings worthless, and eventually driving the value of the dollar down dramatically. He's the one that spent $800 billion on a worthless stimulus plan that hasn't helped the economy. He's the one who promised he'd create or save 3 million jobs, while instead losing millions of jobs. He's the one that wants to spend trillions more on government-run universal health care in the midst of a depression. He's the one that wants to pass Cap and Trade, which will cost industry and consumers trillions of dollars more, all while doubling and tripling our electric bills and gas bills in the middle of a depression. Talk about AUDACITY! He's a living, breathing “driving force” of debt and deficit. Obama isn't the solution; he's the problem.
*Now to the REAL audacity. He says that government is the key to bringing health care costs down? Really? You mean the very same big government and liberal tax and spend politicians that have brought us our deficit of almost $2 trillion; while our national debt climbed to $11 trillion; while the shameless corporate bailouts reached $11 trillion; while our total national debt (including Social Security and Medicare liability) climbed towards $100 trillion; while unfunded liability for government employees climbed above $5 trillion. According to Obama we should trust that THOSE fellows, who brought us all that debt and deficit, have the answers to lowering health costs? Obama wants to put them in charge of 17% of the U.S. economy? And he promises they'll run health care less expensively and more efficiently than it is run today? Who writes Obama's comedy routine? This guy is good!
*More audacity: Obama thinks we should put in charge of 17% of the U.S. economy the very same people who ruined and bankrupted the public school system; ruined and bankrupted the U.S. Postal Service; who promised Amtrak would be profitable in 3 years and it's now enjoying it's 30th consecutive year of massive losses (for a total of $30 billion lost by taxpayers). Obama wants the people that ran the Hurricane Katrina operations to effectively run health care? He wants the same bureaucrats who run the VA System that operate on the wrong body parts of our veterans, and manage to lose laptops with the personal financial information of tens of millions of veterans; and mismanage billions of taxpayer dollars; to now run the entire health care system? He wants the same government that runs Walter Reed Hospital to run the entire health care system? You know Walter Reed- the hospital that welcomed our wounded veterans home from the trauma of war…only to face deadly mold and dangerous, disgraceful living conditions in their hospital rooms.
If government is suddenly so good at running things profitably and more efficiently than private industry, why didn't they run all the agencies and programs above profitably and efficiently? Were all those just a “trial run?” Well I have news for you: as Donald Trump would say, “You failed and you're fired.” Instead Obama's solution is to reward government, expand it, and give them more control over our lives.
*More audacity: Obama forgot to tell you this story. Government can't even be trusted to run a brothel. Yes, they did that and failed too. The federal government took over the most successful legal brothel in Nevada history (the Mustang Ranch) and ran it into bankruptcy in one year. I have news for you: IF YOU CAN'T RUN A BROTHEL, YOU CERTAINLY CAN'T RUN THE ENTIRE U.S. HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.
*More audacity: Remember that unfunded liability of $5.3 Trillion for our federal government employees? That pitiful, unimaginable number involves free health care for life for a couple of million government employees. Now Obama has the audacity to look us in the eye and say that if we extend free health care (run by government) to everyone in America we'll cut costs and lower the spending? Wow, David Letterman can't top our President for knee-slapping humor. A couple million government employees with free health care have run up a $5.3 trillion dollar tag. That number happens to be 5 times more expensive than our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That number happens to be roughly half of our entire national debt. That number for out-of-control healthcare costs for government employees threatens to bankrupt America. Now Obama wants to give EVERYONE in America- all 300 million of us- free healthcare and this won't bankrupt America? This idea will lower our costs? Where did Obama learn his math? Any Columbia University economics professor that ever gave Obama a grade of A must be a socialist.
*More audacity: Obama uses Medicare and Medicaid as the examples of the “driving forces” behind massive deficits- and he then says his universal healthcare plan will lower the costs of health care. He says this with a straight face? Government-run universal healthcare is nothing more than Medicare and Medicaid expanded to cover everyone. That's exactly what Medicare and Medicaid are- government run health care programs for a few of us- older people and poor people. Obama actually tells us with a straight face that they threaten to bankrupt us. But his answer is to expand those programs to include everyone. And choose the same government that is losing trillions of dollars running Medicare and Medicaid to run the entire system. This is madness. This is INSANITY.
*More audacity: Do you know why Medicare and Medicaid's debt and insolvency now threatens to overwhelm the entire budget? Because no program that is built around government paying for all your bills can ever work. If I'm paying my own medical bills, I'm careful. I avoid doctor visits. I refuse costly tests that are unnecessary. But if government is paying the entire bill, most people will choose to go to the doctor far more often. And they'll say yes to every test. Heck, why should they care? They're not paying.
How do I know? I've paid for my own meals and travel most of my life. Result: I'm frugal. I fly coach. I search for the best prices. I don't order alcoholic drinks at lunch. I search for specials on the menu. When I'm paying, I try to keep the price down. But when I'm doing business with people who have company credit cards, guess what happens? The sky is the limit. First class travel. The best hotels. Order whatever you want at lunch. Why should I care? I'm not paying. It's only human nature.
The same thing happens every day with Medicare and Medicaid. Right now, I pay for my own health care, so I never go to the doctor. I mean never. But if the federal government agrees to pay for everyone's medical bills- IT'S PARTY TIME. The entire country will go to the doctor every month. Heck maybe every week. If Obama is promising that costs will go down with someone else paying the bill for everyone, he is either a big comedian or a big liar.
*More audacity: Obama said at the press conference that the only way to bring down the cost of health care is to take the profit motive out of it. What? Is he joking? Government takes the profit motive out of the public school system, Amtrak, the U.S. Postal Service. Yet they all bleed billions of dollars per year. They all get worse every year. He's right… government really does take the profit motive out of business. With government involved, you can only lose trillions of dollars.
*More audacity: But here's the best line of Obama's comedy routine: Obama says that he wants to “free” doctors and patients from worrying about the best treatment options. What a guy this Obama is. He really loves us- just like Jesus. He wants to remove all the responsibility and worry from our shoulders. Do you understand what this means? Do you understand what he is really saying? Neither doctors nor patients will any longer have the right to decide anything. This is a deceptive way of saying that Big Brother will control our lives. Big government will make all decisions. Big government will decide life and death. Big government will decide if you are “allowed” to get the latest treatments (based on how expensive they are). Big government will decide what treatments are deemed “acceptable” or not. Your life will be in the hands of the very people that have run Amtrak, the U.S. Postal Service, the public school system, Hurricane Katrina, and even that bankrupt brothel in Nevada. Now don't you feel better?
But hey, the good news is that Obama is looking out for you. All your worry and stress and responsibilities are gone- thanks to Obama. You no longer have to make any decisions. They will all be made for you. You see where this is going? This is the very definition of Big Brother. Stalin, Mao, and Karl Marx must be looking down with smiles. Be frightened. Be VERY frightened.
Wayne Allyn Root was the 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate. His new book is entitled, “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts.” For more of Wayne's views, commentaries, or to watch his many media interviews, please visit his web site at: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
