Benny's World

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Obama Finally Gets the Message Out

Today during my lunch hour (which is still is my lunch break), I saw a little of Obama at the NH townhall. He's batting well today, in fine form actually. He's also listening to the bloggers a bit, as he is giving example after example of what is happening to folks who are underinsured. He's also talking about how private insurance will still be an option, just as FedEX and UPS are fine, although the post office is still there for cheaper rates. This is something that Chancelucky said on my last diary.

When a Youtube or Daily Kos TV post goes up, I will post it here.

Too bad so many have been so disrespectful to the Congress when they had townhalls. Disgusting and most of the hate pipeline stems from Fixed Noise. Obama debunked all of the myths.

I put out my Obama/Biden yard sign to signal my support for the public option.

Update: here's one of the YT, courtesy of Taylor Marsh.

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posted by benny06 at Tuesday, August 11, 2009

20 Comments:

  • So you want the Feds to do to healthcare what they've successfully done to the USPS (& Soc. Sec, Medicare, etc.)?
    That's change we can hope for!!
    --NOISE

    By Blogger TedNugent, at 12:36 PM  

  • The systems are not perfect, but UPS has had to watch its pricing practices because of competition, including from the gov't. And yes, Medicare is not perfect either, but if it hadn't been around, my mother wouldn't have survived as long as she did.

    I don't like the "me me me" and screw everyone else attitude that TedNugent presents. That's very un-American.

    By Blogger benny06, at 12:41 PM  

  • Government-sponsored Medicare gets much higher ratings from its users than private health insurance suppliers.

    "About 60 percent of people participating in Medicare rate their coverage as a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale (versus 36-40 percent for private insurance), and 84 percent rate it as a 7 out of 10 or higher (h/t Mark Blumenthal). In the most recent Kaiser Foundation tracking poll, moreover, 77 percent of Americans would like to see Medicare expanded to people aged 55 and older. Questions that refer to the public option as a "Medicare-like" program usually receive higher scores than those that don't. Questions that refer to single-payer as "Medicare-for-all" usually receive plurality or majority support: 58 percent, for instance, in the Kaiser poll. Yes, people have concerns about the long-term fiscal stability of Medicare -- but not about the care it provides."

    http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/07/yes-gops-still-out-of-touch.html

    By Blogger aaaack, at 1:21 PM  

  • well tednug, if it weren't for medicaid, we wouldn't have been able to afford having our baby...$5,600 or more in bills, and that's when everything goes well in the pregnancy. pregnancy is a "pre-existing" condition for those without health insurance.

    i don't know how anyone can call themselves pro-life, and be anti-health care reform. you leave no choice for women who want to keep their babies. let's deal with reality and do what's right for our people and our children and pass real reform with a public option.

    otherwise, the only "death panel" will be the teabaggers, deciding which babies should be aborted b/c the families have no health care.

    By Blogger Susan Stewart, at 8:15 PM  

  • Have you been following Rachel Maddow's reporting on the backers of these protesters?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl91YF1d3Kg

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TUbcdnfxbU

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhoOkp0dfBM

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc0XIZCFDlg

    She has really done a great job connecting the dots on these so called "grassroots" movements - sad thing is, no one else is picking up on the motive behind the protesters. Sad that the real debate is being squashed in lieu of the fear and hate.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 4:38 AM  

  • Hope that helps clarify the issues for Olympia Snowe's constituency in Maine. She is a member of the Finance Committee.

    By Blogger oklahomavoter, at 9:42 AM  

  • It is becoming too frightening with people showing up at town hall meetings with loaded weapons. I'm all for intelligent debate and discourse but it MUST remain civil.

    The atmosphere this (probably) small group of people is creating will lead to a tragedy! Will the people inciting this behavior be around then? No way, they will leave the offenders hang out to dry.

    Speak, hold signs, sign petitions, call your Senator/Representative but please don't degrade the process or yourselves with violence. It won't help their "cause" to stop health care reform but will only end badly.

    By Blogger indyvoter, at 10:36 AM  

  • Nice to see how "tolerant" and nice you zombied liberals are these days.
    How shocking to hear that a free government handout gets higher ratings than something you have to pay for! Here's the truth, zombies: ObamaCare will NOT be free! Your (or your children) will be paying for it in the years to come, just as the Fed is trying to figure out how NOT to pay Soc. Security today.
    I am a small business owner and employ 17 people. If I'm told by the Fed that the Health Insurance benefits I provide will be taxed, I will choose between cutting staff or cutting the benefits and telling our employees to go get ObamaCare. I know this means little to zombies, but it's the truth nonetheless. I am not in business to lose money and last I checked neither is anyone else (including your professional politicians - Obama, Pelosi, not even good ol' 2-timing Edwards!)

    As it is, you all run the show these days, so you'll have no one to blame but yourselves when you wonder why we can't Unemployment back down to 10%.
    -NOISE

    By Blogger TedNugent, at 12:12 PM  

  • TN, insulting Benny's World readers is not the way to debunk our views. Further, I guess I would want to know what your profit margin is, because if you are in it just make millions and millions, you can afford to provide the benes. But if not, as you seem to claim, perhaps having a public option may be the way to go for them, and you may find that the insurance costs may go down for yourself too. I'm also in favor of wellness incentive programs as well.

    By Blogger benny06, at 12:21 PM  

  • Benny,
    First, I'm sorry if I offended your zombies, er, readers. I guess I thought insults were the norm here when I was called, "un-American" and a "teabagger" by your readers.
    Second, our company has revenue of less than $1million annually and since Obama has been in office we have yet to turn a profit this year. I have not received $1 from the $780 BILLION stimulus and I'm not holding my breath since I'm not headquartered in a "blue" state.
    As far as your advice to tell my employees to use the public "option", what if I and every other small business in our cirucmstance did just that; what do you think the cumulative effect of this decision would be? Let me give you a hint, the Fed says the current public option will cost @ $2 TRILLION dollars and that only helps cover the 30 million uninsured. What if all small business employees (@ 150 million) were added, as you suggest, to that number?
    Let me know what you think. I'll hold off telling my employees until you answer.
    --NOISE

    By Blogger TedNugent, at 12:45 PM  

  • TN, if you are paying for health care for your employees right now, about 10%-30% is going to overhead and to line the pockets of lobbyists, health company executives, PR types, and shareholders--who don't provide health care. This is NOT an efficient use of YOUR money, TN. A public option (4% on overhead, nothing wasted on PR, lobbyists, or investors) would bring down health care costs.

    In the last 20 years, about 20% of American's manufacturing base has been exported/outsourced in the name of free trade. It is fitting that the free traders who profited the most from this outsourcing help contribute to health care for those left behind. Instead, this free-trading contingent demands lower taxes to shelter their import-gotten gains and overseas tax shelters. Really, how much work is it to take a hefty cut of profit from those lower-priced imports?

    Working class American salaries have not risen in the last 20 years. But the price of Congressional campaigns has risen out of sight, thanks to lobbyists and CEO salaries. Please don't blame the victims. Please blame the victimizers.

    By Blogger aaaack, at 1:14 PM  

  • Ahem, the number I heard was over $1 trillion divided over 10 years, or more like $150 billion per year. Certainly, it cannot be efficient to let people with diabetes (and without health insurance) escape treatment until they are entering Medicaid and on the verge of heart attacks, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and limb removal. Treat their diabetes and high blood pressure NOW to prevent or slow the expensive and crippling stuff that may follow! (Maybe we should tax white flour and sugars?)

    By Blogger aaaack, at 1:27 PM  

  • I agree with aaack, the figure is closer to 1T over a period of ten years. Overhead is an issue, and while there is some waste in Medicare, it is substantially less than private insurance, which many small businesses cannot afford to buy.

    Regarding a profit this year, that is not Obama's fault. He inherited a mess over cutting taxes and spendthrifts in Congress, most of them who were GOP's drunk with power and who were in charge for 6 years. Moreover the housing bubble was caused by derivatives and other issues of banks who weren't being watched by the SEC. The IRS hasn't been doing its job either in paying attention to the at arms length issues with American companies in offshore accounts. If the IRS could recoup the taxes those companies owed, that would buy health insurance for more folks. Status Quo is not the answer, TN. This has to change, and as the teabaggers like to say rudely to those in Congress, you work for us. That's where I agree with the teabaggers, Congress and the WH should work for us, but we JRE Dems believe they should not work for the lobbyists who do not pay their salaries as we do. It's bad enough Obama cut a deal with the Pharmas.

    By Blogger benny06, at 1:52 PM  

  • I never thought I would actually find someone who would argue that government programs run more efficiently and with less overhead than private industry!!!
    You people actually believe it, don't you?!!
    I guess in YOUR WORLD when you go to your local bank it takes 2 - 6 months to take out a withdrawal yet when you need your Tax refunds they do it while you wait.
    In YOUR WORLD when you want to know how much is in your savings account, you are told, "call us when you are 67 yrs old", yet when you call the Soc. Sec. Admin. they immediately tell you how much is in your account.
    In YOUR WORLD, if you shop for a used car, you are told to get in line for 45 minutes while one person is working and four are on a smoke break, yet when you go to get your Driver's license you are helped the minute you walk in the door.
    In YOUR WORLD, you can ship anything overnight using the Postal Service, yet when you go to the FedEx store you have to wait in another line.
    In YOUR WORLD, the VA hospital is like the Mayo Clinic.
    In YOUR WORLD, you pay $1,200 for a doorknob, yet the Dept. of Defense actually shops at Home Depot for the least expensive option!
    Please tell me, zombies, WHERE IS YOUR WORLD OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY AND GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE?!!! I WANT TO LIVE THERE.
    Until then I'll go on living in my fantasy world where government waste is REDUNDANT!!
    Benny, incredibly, you argue that public health care will be run more efficiently than our current system and then in the very next paragraph you cite 3 -4 examples of government ineptitudes (IRS, SEC, Fannie Mae, etc)
    I agree with you on the Republicans of the last six years. Get rid of everyone and start over in Washington is what I say, but now you have total power and majority, so unfortunately your wonderful, efficient programs will be passed and then time will tell which of us was right.
    --NOISE

    By Blogger TedNugent, at 2:37 PM  

  • TN, another Ron Paul groupie. That's OK, I liked Ron Paul in the 80's when Reagan was building up the military complex and I wasn't much of a Mondale fan either.

    I happen to work for a governmental agency for my state, and while there are rules that seem silly to some (probably like TN who thinks competition is best even if the overhead is too high, like private insurance companies who spend most of their time trying to DENY service or products), in short haul, we are very responsive to most of our clients who have paid up front. Responsive in terms of providing service in many ways, via virtual doors, in person, on the phone, and e-mail. And we are very quick about it. In my agency, we have to manage our budgets, we cannot overspend, unlike our state legislatures do on stupid pet projects. We collect all kinds of data about our services and products to fine tune it. This year, we have no raises and in fact, we will be taking furloughs to save money. Yet, we are committed to servicing the public and engaging them.

    You can blame your GOP half for creating ridiculous rules places on agencies or the lack of oversight in many of them. And yes, we have some Blue Dogs who might as well be one of those GOP'ers.

    You might as well pay tolls for every stop light or road you drive that isn't yours. You might as well not have bridges, clean water, or having better air for all of the diseases people contract. You might as well hope that no one ever gets sick, gets cancer, or has been hit by a drunk driver. TN, that is your world, and it is not realistic either.

    TN, it's been fun, but I'm off to watch Netroots Nation on C-SPAN, a service I pre-pay for in my cable service. And I will enjoy seeing my fellow progressive bloggers.

    By Blogger benny06, at 5:10 PM  

  • * In the 1960s, before Social Security included cost of living raises, half of all seniors lived in poverty.
    * The local tag office usually helps me within 10-15 minutes. Does your state scrimp on the tag office or do you wait until day before the deadline?
    * I just came back from the UPS Store, which charged $10.28 for shipping what my local U.S. Post Office only charges $3.50 for First Class. I could go to FedEx, but then that would cost more like $20. Last year I sold about 200 books to remove clutter, and Media Mail from the USPS is a real, true bargain that is far cheaper than any private shipping service. Only one book was delivered late--three weeks late but it did arrive finally. I was amazed, myself.
    * Government already is providing health care more efficiently than private insurers...Medicare. "About 60 percent of people participating in Medicare rate their coverage as a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale (versus 36-40 percent for private insurance), and 84 percent rate it as a 7 out of 10 or higher (h/t Mark Blumenthal)."
    * Don't blame progressives for an inefficient military. Blame the Conservative zealots who are still lobbying for outmoded Cold War weaponry and try to protect outrageous cost overruns in their districts. C'mon, Conservatives, do we really need 89 permanent bases around the world?
    * This blogger used to work for the second largest private health clinic after the Mayo Clinic. Employees were placed on a private, self-funded plan in conjunction with Kaiser Permanente. This Clinic did not solve a persistent health problem that I had that the local health foods store solved in five minutes.
    * My kid received a better education in a public school than I did in a private high school (40 years ago) and that a classmate did at the local religious high school, according to friends who had their kid in both. Between high school and one summer's worth of college language training, my kid earned about 30 college credits and passed a language fluency exam. We live in a wealthy small town. Pity the kids who live in poor rural or poor city districts.

    By Blogger aaaack, at 6:04 PM  

  • By the way, are you the Ted Nugent referenced in this huffingtonpost article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-cooper/rocker-ted-nugent-to-emce_b_258696.html

    Hope not. A man is known by the company he keeps, and the company that keeps him.

    By Blogger aaaack, at 6:37 PM  

  • New York Times editorial says that "A vast majority of small businesses and their workers are likely to benefit greatly. They should be supporting, not opposing, reform."

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/opinion/13thu1.html?ref=opinion

    By Blogger aaaack, at 6:58 PM  

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgQj0tL-AjU

    Lou Dobs recently changed his tune.
    Earlier, he said unfair and horrible things regarding Dr. Howard Dean. And DFA member such as myself called CNN asking the network to take him off the air.

    Now Dobbs reports that other countries with government-run health insurance systems are spending a much smaller percentage of their GNP on health care and living longer. We spend 16% of our GDP on health care, France only 11% of their GDP, Canada and Germany only 10%. Dobbs focused on Denmark, which spends 9.8% of GDP. Yet 90% of Danes were satisfied with their health care.

    By Blogger aaaack, at 9:03 PM  

  • Thank you all for the full disclosure. How could I possibly convince anyone that the machine of government is getting too big when YOU are the machine of government. It's only human nature that you don't want to lose your livelihood, so of course you are going to find any bit of irrelevant or misinformed data to make yourself feel good each day as you go to work for the machine.
    You quote the NY Times and think CNN should listen to a government hack as to their programming. This makes Stalin, Castro, and Chavez (all heroes of yours) seem conservative.
    Well, don't bother giving me more of your tainted statistics anymore, because there is only one that matters: Over 30% of our working population work for a government agency (like yourself) and that number will be near 50% once Obama is through his first term. As such, you already have total power, because a Democracy stops working once the majority are part of the government machine and can "vote" themselves raises. This is a case proven throughout history.
    Nevertheless, history also teaches us that the machine eventually gets so big that there are not enough people to pay into the machine anymore and then the machine crumbles under its own weight or is taken apart by an uprising of PEOPLE (remember, we still have our guns)
    After reading you government hacks, I believe our country is already too far down the path that so many inferior nations have tred to turn back. I just hope I'm alive when the PEOPLE take back their land!
    Enjoy your heyday in the meantime (USSR in the 50s) before I get to enjoy mine (USSR in the 80s).
    --NOISE

    By Blogger TedNugent, at 7:12 AM  

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