Arkady's Thoughts

According to CATO's Michael Cannon , an individual who devoted years researching and writing about America's health care, over 2 trillion dollars .  Cannon points to missing mandates, Medicare cuts that have traditionally been blocked and new federal spending.  CBO's calculation based on 829 billion dollars was hard to swallow for various reasons .  Cannon uses an already existing model of my own state and our version of ObamaCare more affectionately known as RomneyCare to arrive to the final number.  But the worst part is that the Congressional Budget Office’s preliminary cost estimate omits the cost of the private sector mandates in the Baucus bill. In Massachusetts, those costs accounted for 60 percent of the total cost of reform. That suggests the actual cost of the Baucus bill – $829 billion plus $75 billion plus $33 billion, times 2.5 – is well over $2 trillion. This strikes at the core of the main argument, government programs never material...

Democrats are delighted and the GOP is scrambling after yesterday's announcement suggested the Senate version of the bill will be a cost cutter .  A major hurdle the liberals had to clear was to convince Americans that reform was coming and it meant saving money.  Polls suggest most Americans are reluctant to believe an 800+ billion dollar bill can save anything, but the CBO certainly gave Obscure proponents a huge boost. There is just one major problem with CBO's analysis and it would appear that the bill was crafted and modified specifically to extract this kind of conclusion.  Several weeks ago CBO estimated the Baucus bill would add to deficit, now suddenly the bill will  decrease the deficit - what gives? The bill is front loaded.   Taxes on all related medical devices under $100 and higher rates for "Cadillac"/"gold-plated" insurance plans begin as early as 2011.  However the actual implementation of the bill and the benefits provided ...

CBO released their estimate on Baucus' chairman's mark and claim 81 billion dollars will be "saved".  However estimating the bill in this particular phase is an exercise in futility because after all the amendments and merging with the house bill, the costs can be and will be significantly higher.  Still, CBO claims that in the next ten years we will enjoy an 81 billion dollar "saving" assuming of course that the current version of the bill is implemented as is.  CBO should know better than anyone this will never happen and releasing these numbers simply gives the liberals more ammunition in convincing liberal Republicans to get on board.   CBO also made specific mention that 94% of Americans will be insured up from 83%, or about 29 million Americans at the cost of 829 billion dollars.  Wow, those are some very expensive Americans, but what happens to the rest of us?  - Those with excellent insurance providers will have to pay more, because "gold...

Obama indicated to Congress that he is undecided on troop buildup in Afghanistan, but at the same time pledges no reductions.  A man with no experience what so ever has found himself in a tough situation and can't decide, which is fine when it comes to buying a dog, not so fine when it comes to American lives.   Military situations cannot exist in a state of inaction, inaction leads to paralysis which leads to death.  Obama is close to committing a crime here, this is akin to a general trying to decided whether to pull his division out of deadly fire or send help and ultimately making no decision.  A recipe for removal.  There are two options in Afghanistan and while one is more obvious both make more sense.  First option is to withdraw soldiers out and leave an invisible special operations presence to disrupt the Taliban from making progress.  If that combination worked to remove them from power it could certainly prevent them from obtaining it a...

Outrageous?  Afraid not, according to Stratfor two leaks to two very reputable papers have established a disturbing piece of information;  Russian scientists are assisting the Iranians with nuclear weapon creation.  If these leaks are credible and they appear to be so, the situation with Iran has dramatically worsened.  While Iran was a mere nuisance in the Middle East, they have now catapulted themselves as a credible threat and a threat that must be dealt with.  There are several explanations and outcomes in the next year that could give us clues as to what might transpire. First, Russians were always wary of American presence in the region and understand that American bases tend to be built and seldom dismantled.  They also understand that Iraq was fought to gain dominance in the region and put pressure on rogue states to deal with their radical elements, arguably this is proving to be very effective and the Russians are worried.  What better way...

General McChrystal : The US commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has asked for 40,000 more troops, according to reports in Washington. Assuming this number includes everything from engineering to support infrastructure, why does the top general require so many additional people?  Assume the general knows and understands the situation much better than us lowly peons, are we not missing the entire point of Afghanistan?  Isn't America over extending it's reach and adding a severe burden upon our country both morally and financially?  Let us be honest, the war in Afghanistan has outlived it's purpose and what we are doing there now is incomprehensible. We first invaded Afghanistan for one simple reason and with one simple goal.  To destabilize the Taliban/Al-Qaeda and hopefully capture Osama .  We never ever intended to occupy the land, because everyone with the capacity to think understood it was impossible to do.  Not only because every na...

In a very well written piece David Warren compares and contrasts Gorbachev who is blamed for destroying the Soviet Union and Obama who may have a potential in destroying the United States.  A most interesting comparison and one that initially sounds slightly absurd.  The underlying theme that David puts forth and one that may very well be true is that both men, upon being elected, had visions of grand change.  Similarly important is that both of these visions were of a benevolent nature.  Gorbachev truly felt that by opening up the press and breaking down censorship the Soviet Union would emerge stronger and better.  It did not.  Obama feels that by ushering in massive wealth distribution policies while using government's big hand to fix all life's injustice we will emerge a better and strong America.  We will not.  So what makes Obama so confident and emboldened by a task that has been disproven so many times before?  Warren's key point l...