Realistically I know it's abused much more than it's used properly but, it makes me feel better anyway. : \

 

I really don't want this to sound or be insulting in any way, Koopa. That's not my intention. It's an observation from my short 46 years of life. Good law is just that, good law. It isn't about feeling good. It's about whether or not it's good lawfully or not. Does it pass Constitutional muster or does it make us feel good. I'd err towards the Constitutional side. I don't believe government is or should be charitable. That's up to you or I deciding whether or not an individual or cause deserves our hard earned dollars and giving accordingly. The government is not charitable. It robs Peter to pay Paul. Many times it's robbing someone who works hard to pay someone who doesn't want to. Even if that isn't the case, the government has no resources but what we send to them in a coerced fashion. If they lived within their means I don't think people would be as irritated as they are about paying taxes for needed government functions.

 

THAT is a great statement.

 

That sucks Moose. Glad you found a way out of it. However, many people won't pay, they just go bankrupt. Also many can't pay because it way more money then they could ever pay (major medical). So who then pays? You and me, in increased premiums. There are also a lot of younger people and kids that can't fend for themselves and make payments as you mention. There's a lot of people in bad situations.

 

I heard a couple weeks ago, they were stripping out all the sweetheart deals for everybody....but who knows. Not paying much attention to it anymore. Either is passes, or it doesn't at this point.

I have insurance, as does my wife. I feel bad for those that can't afford it and it isn't offered by their employer, very stressful if you have kids. People who get insurance through their employer often overlook it. It's a pretty huge benefit that gets tucked away in small print on the bottom of you stub.

 

Military is relatively efficient. Postal service is more efficient than you think. Sending a piece of mail is super cheap and very reliable....try sending the same letter via UPS ground and see what it will cost and when it will get there.

Look at the budget and tell me what % of government expenditures go to support the abusers. So many on the right love to blame the scumbags for all our ills. They are nothing in the big picture. You want to complain about taxes, take a look at the Trillions of dollars spent on defending the world. Somebody on here was talking about how horrible it was that Obama was cutting funding for some Raptor fighter a few months ago. Talk about nonsense spending. The air-force didn't even want the contract to continue. So many on the right are brain-washed into thinking that all social services are bad, and all military is good. Wait until crime goes through the roof and our society starts to degrade and we're left behind by the Koreans, the Japs and the Chinese. You'll be crying then about the need for more jails and more cops. It's a slow road to revolution. -A bit dramatic, I know, but possible in 80 years of social neglect.

 

So, we have a government-based system that's full of fraud and abuse. The solution: another, bigger government-based system with even more opportunities for fraud and abuse???? We will probably end up with a degraded system that provides worse care at a higher cost. I think lawmakers know that. Members of Congress are exempted. If this system they want for the rest of us were so good, they would want to be covered by it too.

 

Couldn't have said it better. But, you see, those elected folks know better than us as to what is good for us. So, they'll give us what they think we should have (and we'll pay dearly for it) but won't live under it themselves. Sounds like the former Soviet Union to me.

 

One of my main problems is that national defense is the only reason given Constitutionally for taxation. We've heaped tons of ridiculous programs into a budget that could have been kept simple in the first place. I was upset about the Raptor program getting cut, but did learn a couple months later they're going ahead with the F-35 Joint Strike Force fighter. Now, I'm okay with the cut. I just want those men and women of the armed forces to have the best we can give them to fight our battles.

We were the top of the heap until we started piling on social programs that we can't pay for. Now, instead of being the lender, we are the borrower to those same nations you spoke of. Maybe if we stop spending and get our fiscal house in order, we can lower taxes, which will make life easier on families, and many of societies ills will begin to abate a bit.

 

Part of the trouble is that they are only letting out bits and pieces of what's in the bill out. Nancy Pelosi even stated that they wouldn't know what's in the bill until after they passed it???? That's absolutely nuts. They should work out the differences, get a bill together and let the public look at it like they said they would. So much for transparency.