Arkady's Thoughts

The following article examines the pitfalls of tying health insurance to employment and effects of federal tax subsidies on the general industry. Obama and liberals in Congress think that by injecting the federal government we can solve problems, but they fail to realize that most of the problems we are experiencing are due to their involvement in the first place. While the overall costs suffer from programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the FDA, the damage caused by our federal tax code is hard to quantify. Americans receive a majority of their coverage from employers, roughly 60% varying on national employment. This of course was not always the case, employers used to provide health coverage as a perk and an incentive out of their own volition, but now do so because of significant federal tax subsidies. An effect of this subsidy is an illusion to at least to those employed that health coverage is much cheaper than it really is. Unfortunately the negative effect of this federal tax ma...

Choose to abandon the federal expansion of student loans. As of today Obama does not think that ACORN is an important issue and will NOT commit to cutting off federal funding. At least know that Obama is a loyal man, so that's an admirable characteristic. After all, de -funding an organization that gave you so much political clout is probably reckless - even if that organization makes Cosa Nostra look like a legitimate business enterprise. But Republicans pulled a fast one last week during the debate of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 a very serious and imposing bill high on Obama's agenda list. While the bill itself is horrendous as it crowds out the private student loan business replacing it with a federal presence, Republicans tacked on via a motion to recommit an amendment to entirely strip ACORN of all it's federal funding. To be clear, this is different than the Senate's version of the HUD bill stripping ACORN Housing of funding. Most Rep...

Alert: Dangerous amendment found. Max Baucus is still interested in pushing his plan forward as it offers a more moderate compromise to the House bill by excluding the public option and relaxing mandates. However steep taxes to ' cadillac ' insurance plans and major reductions to Medicare spending has people concerned. I am still confused how Democrats can reduce spending on Medicare and claim that no rationing will take place. Anyone? Read the bill here: America's Healthy Future Act . (Catchy title, no?) Reading through a bill of this particular size can be daunting, so let's focus on the amendments as they are discovered in the Chairman's Mark. Alert! Rockefeller Financing Amendment #2: The amendment would eliminate Health Savings Accounts. Eliminate Health Savings Accounts effective January 1, 2010 . ( Source : page 2) Health Savings Accounts are one of the best concepts that Congress adopted as part of the 2003 Medicare reform bill. They act as 401Ks, but unli...

States being followed by RightCondition, link of the name will bring you to the latest RCP poll. The color of the row represents which way the state voted in 2008. Full coverage can be found on Wikipedia . SENATE State DemocraticChallengers Republican Challengers Notes Connecticut Dodd (incumbent) Simmons Schiff Christopher Dodd was involved in the Housing crisis of 2008, corrupt mortgage deals, etc. Ohio Brunner Fisher Portman Ganley Close race as of 9/17/2009 Nevada Reid Lowden Tarkanian Reid is an insufferable and manipulating bastard that uses scare tactics to get bills passed. New Hampshire Ayotte Hodes State has been slowly drifting Democrat. Colorado Bennet Buck Frazier Purple state with Frazier recently taking the lead. Arkansas Lincoln Baker Close race as of 9/17/2009 Pennsylvania Specter Sestak Toomey Toomey is a strong conservative, would be a great victory. Currently crushing Sestak, but losing to Specter. ...