The Horrors Of Enrolling…..

…..on the insurance website. 

I just spent almost two hours helping a relative change insurances on-line. We compared several different plans. I explained premiums, copays, deductibles and showed her what "add ons" were available. She's had insurance for decades, but somehow the finer points were lost on her…"Everything was just always paid for. I didn't pay anything."  (Take that with a grain of salt…….)

One was selected and we proceeded to enroll. She does not possess a computer or computer skills…too much trouble, she says. Things were going along swimmingly until we got to the screen that  wanted her to select a primary care physician. FROZEN SCREEN. After a few minutes of maneuvering and getting nowhere, I called the 800 number on the screen.

A young gentleman, who did not want to talk to me so much, began the process again with my aunt. Repeat questions. Choose doctor. Choose pharmacy. Go over the same things. Get the same numbers. Aunt getting anxious. (She can hit every designer showroom, attend every fashion show, go to every boutique opening, and cook for twenty…but a business matter confounds her.) FINALLY we are through. She is a complete basket case. (Insert my smug expression here….)

This fine conservative Republican-voting woman had earlier given me the FOX talking points of the treachery of Obamacare. "Even the Dems are running from it," says she. And then she goes on about how she's always felt her friend took advantage of her late retired military husband's disability, Medicare, pension, retirement, double-dipping or something of that nature.

Oh, did I forget to tell you…..we were on HUMANA'S website, for Medicare plans.

Avoid The "The Fiscal Cliff".....Only shove The "Low Priorities"

We don't have to worry about any upcoming "disaster". The good folks from the Big Corporations are going to tell us how to do it: take money away from the seniors, sick, and poor. Or "entitlements" in Frank Luntz terms....you know, those words that can be spoken to conjure up a negative appeal to the masses.

The new push comes from Fix The Debt,..... consisting of such people as the head of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Honeywell...... another innocuous sounding group with ulterior motives.

"Yet the CEOs are not offering to forgo federal money or pay a higher tax rate, on their personal income or corporate profits. Instead, council recommendations include cutting "entitlement" programs, as well as what they call "low-priority spending."

As part of their push, they are advocating a "territorial tax system" that would exempt their companies' foreign profits from taxation, netting them about $134 billion in tax savings, according to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies titled "The CEO Campaign to ‘Fix’ the Debt: A Trojan Horse for Massive Corporate Tax Breaks" -- money that could help pay off the federal budget deficit."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/25/deficit-reduction-council-fiscal-cliff_n_2185585.html

 I'm so glad I have these guys, CEOs of about thirty-two companies looking out for me, my family and my future, since these "entitlements" will be the mainstay of my retirement plan. Remember those pension plans, 401Ks, CDs stocks, appreciating home values you used to have to live comfortably after you've worked 30 to 40 years.........?

Again, consider the facts:
1. They've destroyed jobs. According to Newsweek, "the CEOs of the 50 firms that laid off the most workers since the onset of the economic crisis took home 42 percent more pay in 2009 than their peers did -- largely because cutting workers boosts short-term profits."

2. They've made the country less productive. As noted by Frontline's Money, Power, and Wall Street, the financial industry is almost double the size of the manufacturing sector.

3. They've taken massive bonuses for their failures. Again from Frontline's Money, Power, and Wall Street: Since the crash of 2008, banks have paid out more than $80 billion in bonuses.

http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17655-corporate-payrolls-dwarf-the-take-home-pay-of-

working-stiffs

ADDENDUM

Another tactic being used now is trying to "protect folks from these awful upcoming tax increases that would hurt seniors" when in fact, it would only seriously hurt their own already wealthy investors:

" As negotiations to avert the so-called fiscal cliff intensify, corporate lobbying groups are pushing key tax perks that benefit the wealthy. A coalition of financial institutions, fossil fuel companies, telecommunications firms and even the cigarette company Altria are teaming up to block a tax increase on dividends -- a policy that overwhelmingly aids the rich."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/27/fiscal-cliff-corporate-lobbying_n_2199313.html

The reality is that most of us would not be affected by this increase as most low to middle class seniors have retirement plans which invest in stocks, like 401K or IRAs which are already exempt from these taxes. Most of today's seniors depend on Social Security as the basis of their retirement since even these are being phased out by employers.

Doesn't their concern make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

Definition and Defamation

First, the definition:

An entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or by legislation....Typically, entitlements are laws based on concepts of principle ("rights") which are themselves based in concepts of social equality or enfranchisement.

Then, the defamation:

Defamation—also called vilification, slander and libel is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation a negative or inferior image. This can be also any disparaging statement made by one person about another.....

The Republicans for decades have used "entitlements" in a negative context, implying that those receiving government aid.....Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, food stamps, welfare, money for education, and money for public works.....are getting something for nothing. That they are unworthy of such aid, are lazy, usually minorities, someone not as intelligent, and REALLY haven't tried hard enough.

"Mitt loves that word "entitlement." He says the President is "the entitlement candidate." It’s a powerful word, because it implies that the President wants to win votes by giving people things they don’t deserve and haven’t paid for... the cosmic American fear of paying for what someone else is getting. The other is racial animosity. Mitt’s audience knows the code, and he knows they know it. Newt Gingrich used it when he talked about the "food stamps President."

"Ironically, his negative use of the word "entitlement" is also an inversion of its legal meaning, which simply denotes a right that can only be taken away by due process... So now if you want to accuse people of taking things they’re aren’t entitled to take, or of offering things they aren’t entitled to offer, you call it an "entitlement." http://open.salon.com/blog/david_green/2012/08/28/republican_vocabulary_the_politics_of_projection

 "The president insisted on its insertion into the debt ceiling deal. ... We were put in a position where there was no other choice because the president didn't want to go along with actually beginning to address the real deficit issue, which are health care entitlements." Eric Cantor

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/01/eric-cantor-debate_n_1930981.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

I also think it ironic for Mitt Romney to be blathering about entitlements since obviously he believes, because of his privileged background (thanks to his hard working parents) he is entitled to be PRESIDENT. And NOT for any other than to add that to his resume'.
Our "political class" is not only NOT on the same page as the rest of us....they are not even in the same UNIVERSE.

I NEVER thought I'd say this, but read the following from Scott Rasmussen:

 "In Social Security and Medicare, voters are not looking for a handout. They are looking for a return on money invested.

 For example, those who would like to retire later could pay less in taxes now, while those who would like to retire earlier could pay more in taxes now. That's an investing mindset, not a sense of entitlement.

But politicians in Washington continue to blame the voters for allegedly wanting more government than they are willing to pay for. The effort of politicians to pin the blame on voters diverts attention from the real entitlement mentality that threatens to bankrupt the nation: A political class that feels entitled to rule over the rest of us. Government spending has gone up in every years since 1954 because political leaders have pursued their own agenda rather than listening to voters.

While most voters view excessive government spending as the problem, those who feel entitled to rule over the rest of us see the voters as the problem. And that's the real entitlement crisis facing the nation today. The political class wants to govern like it's 1775, a time when kings were kings and consent of the governed didn't matter."

http://tinyurl.com/6q8ffgs

Now You've Done It, Mitt

Did you think all those seniors at the Tea Party rallies were in the beginning stage of Alzheimer's? Did you think they wouldn't remember: 

Did you you think they REALLY meant this in 2008:

Well, I guess we'll just see. You've pegged Paul Ryan as your vice-presidential running mate. He, of the Paul Ryan Budget fame: 

 "The most contentious part of Ryan's proposed budget is what he would do to change Medicare, the nation's insurance plan for retirees and a political third rail. Ryan's plan would eventually transform Medicare into defined payments that seniors can use to buy private insurance or a government plan on an insurance exchange. There would be no limits to the out-of-pocket costs seniors could have to pay in this program, but Ryan assumes that the increased competition between Medicare and private plans would bring down overall costs. The amount of money seniors get to buy their insurance can only grow at a slightly higher rate than GDP each year. (The Congressional Budget Office says this would save the government money, but also significantly increase the amount seniors will eventually have to pay for their own insurance"

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/budget-hawk-closer-ryan-plan/story?id=16985437#.UCbGrULFJ5g

Oh, did you know this little tidbit:

 After his father's  death, he used Social Security survivor’s benefits to help pay for attending Miami University, where Ryan double majored in economics and political science in 1992. But I guess...he wasn't OLD...........

It's going to be a VERY interesting three months....

Wow, This Takes Guts

The Greatest Generation? Ponzi artists, congressman suggests

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., offered a less reverential footnote today, attributing the origins of today’s fiscal crisis to entitlement programs fostered by some of those same people.

“The Greatest Generation created many of what the private sector would call Ponzi schemes,” Issa said at an Association of Government Accountants conference here.  “They created Social Security, they created Medicare on their watch, [they] created Medicaid.” All of that, Issa continued, ”without resources or funding."

http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-times-blog/2012/07/30/that-greatest-generation-ponzi-artists-congressman-suggests

 In his zeal to go after Eric Holder for Fast and Furious, or any other Dem that crosses his path actually, he forgot a few things that happened under the last administration: a couple of unfunded wars, a Medicare Part D Drug Plan, a really big Not Paid For tax cut.

Also, politicians have been using the Social Security fund (paid for by taxing the people who will be using it in later years) as a "slush fund", as John Boehner said in his attempt to steal from the ACA to pay for student loan payment decreases....

http://smartvstupid.com/2011/05/31/the-economys-lingering-bush-hangover

Then there is the other matter of basically calling the Greatest Generation "crooks," and creators of Ponzi schemes. Pot...meet ...Kettle.

http://mediamatters.org/research/2011/01/11/report-media-ignore-rep-issas-alleged-criminal/174997

Mr. Issa has a few criminal matters and suspicions of his own that linger in the background, though they always seem to be swept away. Minor things such as car theft, larceny, arson, insurance fraud, weapons charges...

But, hey, I understand. It's only politics....people expect a few little stretches of truth now and then......right? People don't matter...the end result is what counts.