Government Option, Public Option, Obama's Health Care Proposal, Obama's Olympic Bid, Letterman Blackmail
Have you Zinged someone lately? Please
forward a link to a friend, family member or neighbor. You can sign up
to receive ZingerKing by entering your email address in the box on the
right (Subscribe). You will receive the Morning Briefing and a link to
the full article whenever a new article is published. Your email
information will be kept private.
____________________________________________________________________________
Monday October 5, 2009
Today's Zinger:
"Political Truth Is In The Mind Of The Beholder"
The Morning Briefing:
The Public Option:
This should be called the government option. Many Democrats are pushing to include a government organized and administered health insurance company to compete with private companies. Their rationale is we don't have enough competition in the insurance industry. There are 1,300 insurance companies in the United States. The only thing that stops them all from competing from each other is government rules. So rather than open the competition of the 1,300 insurance companies already in existence by changing the rules, many Democrats say it is better to create yet another company.
Health Care for All, or Health Care for None?
Now that his Olympic bid failed, the President is back to work and focused on health care with his eye on the prize, health care legislation by the end of November. With five competing health care bills and many unanswered questions, just what does it mean "Pass Health Care Now"?
The iPrez in Copenhagen:
The President's Olympic Speech sounded more like a personal endorsement for America. The iPrez lent his credibility to the Chicago Olympic bid, only to receive an Olympic smack-down. President Obama, and Michelle need to remember there is no "i" in the words we or us or team.
David Letterman:
Here's a guy that makes millions of dollars a year and has national fame. He had to go on national television and admit to decades of sleeping with his employees, Many say it is his business, his fans feel he is a victim and others think that he was so brave to be open about what happened. Are you kidding me? What are we saying to our young people? Zinger looks at Dave's dilemma and America's tragedy.
Who Said It:
"It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much."
Answer at the bottom of article
The Discussion:
____________________________________________________________________________
Monday October 5, 2009
Today's Zinger:
"Political Truth Is In The Mind Of The Beholder"
The Morning Briefing:
The Public Option:
This should be called the government option. Many Democrats are pushing to include a government organized and administered health insurance company to compete with private companies. Their rationale is we don't have enough competition in the insurance industry. There are 1,300 insurance companies in the United States. The only thing that stops them all from competing from each other is government rules. So rather than open the competition of the 1,300 insurance companies already in existence by changing the rules, many Democrats say it is better to create yet another company.
Health Care for All, or Health Care for None?
Now that his Olympic bid failed, the President is back to work and focused on health care with his eye on the prize, health care legislation by the end of November. With five competing health care bills and many unanswered questions, just what does it mean "Pass Health Care Now"?
The iPrez in Copenhagen:
The President's Olympic Speech sounded more like a personal endorsement for America. The iPrez lent his credibility to the Chicago Olympic bid, only to receive an Olympic smack-down. President Obama, and Michelle need to remember there is no "i" in the words we or us or team.
David Letterman:
Here's a guy that makes millions of dollars a year and has national fame. He had to go on national television and admit to decades of sleeping with his employees, Many say it is his business, his fans feel he is a victim and others think that he was so brave to be open about what happened. Are you kidding me? What are we saying to our young people? Zinger looks at Dave's dilemma and America's tragedy.
Who Said It:
"It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much."
Answer at the bottom of article
The Discussion:
The Public Option:
I will make this short and sweet. Anyone that believes that 1,300 health insurance companies are not sufficient to provide robust competition must have another agenda. Remove the state based commissions and allow them all to compete.
The real agenda is that if the government continues to stifle competition through state legislation and the government unfairly competes through price regulation and their advantage of no cost of capital, no taxes to pay and no profit, then they should (in the short term) have the lowest price. Companies and individuals will flock to the lower cost (which will increase in years ahead) and our government will declare success. All of this sounds like a good idea for a few years, just like Medicare. Sooner or later the real costs will come into play and the government will try to hide it, just like Medicare and Social Security.
Health Care:
When the left wing political groups, Organize for America or myBarackObama or the Democratic Party picket and campaign for “Pass Health Care Now”, just what are they campaigning for? With five different health care proposals, none with sufficient detail to know who is affected, how they will be affected, how we will implement this major change and what the cost will be, just what are we suppose to support and pass? This isn’t an Eisenhower moment where we exalt the troops to take the beach only to have a few left standing. More time is needed to get this right. The wrong change is far worse than no change.
Is the situation really so dire that we can’t wait a month or a year to get it right? If it was so urgent wouldn’t we be bailing the ship, not committing to a direction then figuring out if we got it right? The real urgency can be best understood in Rahm Emanuel’s (Chief of Staff) comment, “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. If there is no perceived crisis then they manufacture one to keep people worked up and open to quick action. Maybe the campaign slogan was right, Hope and Change. In this case I Hope they spend more time to get things right before they continue to legislate Change.
Obama’s Olympic Run:
The iPrez didn’t bring home the gold. President Obama staged his best campaign speech to convince the International Olympic Committee that Chicago is their kind of town. The President relied on his personal qualities and his personal involvement, and American’s personal money, to assure the IOC that he would be “walking this journey together”. President Obama believes he can win over anyone with his oratory and style. He repeatedly apologizes for America and places his personal reputation and personal capital on the line to get what he wants. The IOC, Iraq, Congress, the American people are assumed to be enamored by his poise and speeches. For this reason I call him the iPrez, it seems to be “all about Barack” and it is not very becoming.
Transcirpt of Obama's Olympic speech
If you listen to President Obama’s Olympic speech, or read the transcript, you will see and hear a man that
believes his personal recommendation is as powerful as a nations. Our
President should speak to America's accomplishments, our ambitions, our
commitments and about our future, not his ego. I think the IOC just
issued a Presidential smack-down. His speech should have been more
about US, as in United States, not Barack Obama. Here are just a few
of the iPrez comments:
Dave Letterman:
They call for an investigation, they say he can no longer function effectively do his job, they say he committed a crime. Even though it was consentual and he was honest and open about his relationship, the drum beat of his sexual escapades has the media, the politicians and half of the United States shouting for his resignation.
Apparently, for decades, Dave Letterman has been sexually involved with a lot of his female employees. Earlier this week a CBS newsman, who cohabitates with Letterman’s assistant, and is one of Letterman’s conquests, blackmailed Letterman saying he would divulge his sexual trists if he did not pay him $2 million. Letterman disclosed the blackmail on air after the police arrested the blackmailer.
To Letterman’s viewers he is such an honest guy. There he was on national television owning up to decades of improper conduct. To Letterman’s fans he is the victim. Imagine some blackmailing for money to pay for silence. Of course Letterman never mentioned any of these improprieties until after a lot of many came into play.
The investigation, the call for resignation, the public outrage that I spoke of in the opening of this segment, that was about a single affair that Governor Sanford of South Carolina fully disclosed after he went missing for a few days. He was honest, fully disclosed and showed more class than David Letterman, who didn’t even apologize for his behavior. So Letterman, with a long, sorted history of sexual impropriety (sex with an employee is improper, especially when there is a revolving door to Letterman’s bedroom). Sanford….well the politicians and the media are having a field day.
What message are we sending to our youth that represents our future? We pay baseball players hundreds of millions in their lifetime but politicians scream about, and want to limit the pay of executives that enable hundreds of thousands of employees to earn a living and shareholders to earn a return on their investment. We allow movie stars to earn $20-$50 million for a movie that takes less than a year to make, but we want to throw a businessman to the political wolves that devotes his life to building a prosperous business. We exalt David Letterman as a hero for improper behavior and fessing-up after he is blackmailed and we want to destroy the career of a man that has worked for the public’s benefit and had a single transgression.
What is wrong with our society? If I were a young person growing up today, the road to success lies in sports, acting and media hype. Scientists, politicians and businessmen are abused and ridiculed and now the government wants to limit their income. No wonder so many of our young people are misguided. Sex, lies and hype lead to fame and fortune. Hard work and intelligence leads to middle class.
Who Said It:
"It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much."
Yogi Berra
Today's ZingerToon:
Recent ZingerKing Articles:
Articles can be found under “Recent Articles” in the purple sidebar. Older articles can be found in the archives that are stored by month. These are found at the bottom of the purple sidebar. Here is a list of the most recent articles.Click here to access the archives www.ZingerKing.com
The Cost of The Olympics. Chicago's Bid
Health Care and Illegal Immigrants
Obama's Eight Month Report Card
Climate Change and Afghanistan
Missile Defense in Czech Republic and Poland
Escalating the War in Afghanistan: Pelosi and Obama
President Obama's Speech To Congress Regarding Health Care
Part I: Implications of a Radical Change in Life Expectancy
Zingers Alternative For health Care Reform
The Tug Of War Of Special Interest Groups and Health Care Reform
Credibility Of The Administration Is Challenged
Taming The Angry Mobs
Creating A Free Market Alternative to Government Health Care
Cash For Clunkers
You can access these and other articles at www.ZingerKing.com
Shameless Request For Support:
ZingerKing operates without advertising or government funding (obviously). The purpose is to inform and educate its readers about economic and political issues that affect our lives.
Help ZingerKing grow. Have you Zinged someone lately? Please forward a link to ZingerKing to a friend, family member or neighbor. If you enjoy reading the Zinger please subscribe (see the subscribe box at the top of the article in the purple side band). Subscribers receive the"Morning Briefing" when published with a link to the full article.Periodic alerts are sent to subscribers only with important updates and insights into critical issues. Your email address will not sold to others and will not be shared.
Write To Us:
You can comment on any article by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of each article or you can write to us at ZK@ZingerKing.com
I will make this short and sweet. Anyone that believes that 1,300 health insurance companies are not sufficient to provide robust competition must have another agenda. Remove the state based commissions and allow them all to compete.
The real agenda is that if the government continues to stifle competition through state legislation and the government unfairly competes through price regulation and their advantage of no cost of capital, no taxes to pay and no profit, then they should (in the short term) have the lowest price. Companies and individuals will flock to the lower cost (which will increase in years ahead) and our government will declare success. All of this sounds like a good idea for a few years, just like Medicare. Sooner or later the real costs will come into play and the government will try to hide it, just like Medicare and Social Security.
Health Care:
When the left wing political groups, Organize for America or myBarackObama or the Democratic Party picket and campaign for “Pass Health Care Now”, just what are they campaigning for? With five different health care proposals, none with sufficient detail to know who is affected, how they will be affected, how we will implement this major change and what the cost will be, just what are we suppose to support and pass? This isn’t an Eisenhower moment where we exalt the troops to take the beach only to have a few left standing. More time is needed to get this right. The wrong change is far worse than no change.
Is the situation really so dire that we can’t wait a month or a year to get it right? If it was so urgent wouldn’t we be bailing the ship, not committing to a direction then figuring out if we got it right? The real urgency can be best understood in Rahm Emanuel’s (Chief of Staff) comment, “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. If there is no perceived crisis then they manufacture one to keep people worked up and open to quick action. Maybe the campaign slogan was right, Hope and Change. In this case I Hope they spend more time to get things right before they continue to legislate Change.
Obama’s Olympic Run:
The iPrez didn’t bring home the gold. President Obama staged his best campaign speech to convince the International Olympic Committee that Chicago is their kind of town. The President relied on his personal qualities and his personal involvement, and American’s personal money, to assure the IOC that he would be “walking this journey together”. President Obama believes he can win over anyone with his oratory and style. He repeatedly apologizes for America and places his personal reputation and personal capital on the line to get what he wants. The IOC, Iraq, Congress, the American people are assumed to be enamored by his poise and speeches. For this reason I call him the iPrez, it seems to be “all about Barack” and it is not very becoming.
Transcirpt of Obama's Olympic speech
If you listen to President Obama’s Olympic speech, or read the transcript, you will see and hear a man
“I've come here today to urge you to choose Chicago for the same reason I chose Chicago nearly 25 years ago -- the reason I fell in love with the city I still call home. And it's not just because it's where I met the woman you just heard from -- although after getting to know her this week, I know you'll all agree that she's a pretty big selling point for the city.”
“I was born in Hawaii. I lived in Indonesia for a time. I never really had roots in any one place or culture or ethnic group. And then I came to Chicago. And on those Chicago streets, I worked along side men and women who were black and white; Latino and Asian; people of every class and nationality and religion. I came to discover that Chicago is that most American of American cities.”
“I ran for President because I believed deeply that at this defining moment, the United States of America has a responsibility to help in that effort, to forge new partnerships with the nations and the peoples of the world.”
“And so I urge you to choose Chicago. I urge you to choose America. And if you do, if we walk this path together, then I promise you this: The city of Chicago and the United States of America will make the world proud.”
Dave Letterman:
They call for an investigation, they say he can no longer function effectively do his job, they say he committed a crime. Even though it was consentual and he was honest and open about his relationship, the drum beat of his sexual escapades has the media, the politicians and half of the United States shouting for his resignation.
Apparently, for decades, Dave Letterman has been sexually involved with a lot of his female employees. Earlier this week a CBS newsman, who cohabitates with Letterman’s assistant, and is one of Letterman’s conquests, blackmailed Letterman saying he would divulge his sexual trists if he did not pay him $2 million. Letterman disclosed the blackmail on air after the police arrested the blackmailer.
To Letterman’s viewers he is such an honest guy. There he was on national television owning up to decades of improper conduct. To Letterman’s fans he is the victim. Imagine some blackmailing for money to pay for silence. Of course Letterman never mentioned any of these improprieties until after a lot of many came into play.
The investigation, the call for resignation, the public outrage that I spoke of in the opening of this segment, that was about a single affair that Governor Sanford of South Carolina fully disclosed after he went missing for a few days. He was honest, fully disclosed and showed more class than David Letterman, who didn’t even apologize for his behavior. So Letterman, with a long, sorted history of sexual impropriety (sex with an employee is improper, especially when there is a revolving door to Letterman’s bedroom). Sanford….well the politicians and the media are having a field day.
What message are we sending to our youth that represents our future? We pay baseball players hundreds of millions in their lifetime but politicians scream about, and want to limit the pay of executives that enable hundreds of thousands of employees to earn a living and shareholders to earn a return on their investment. We allow movie stars to earn $20-$50 million for a movie that takes less than a year to make, but we want to throw a businessman to the political wolves that devotes his life to building a prosperous business. We exalt David Letterman as a hero for improper behavior and fessing-up after he is blackmailed and we want to destroy the career of a man that has worked for the public’s benefit and had a single transgression.
What is wrong with our society? If I were a young person growing up today, the road to success lies in sports, acting and media hype. Scientists, politicians and businessmen are abused and ridiculed and now the government wants to limit their income. No wonder so many of our young people are misguided. Sex, lies and hype lead to fame and fortune. Hard work and intelligence leads to middle class.
Who Said It:
"It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much."
Yogi Berra
Today's ZingerToon:
Recent ZingerKing Articles:
Articles can be found under “Recent Articles” in the purple sidebar. Older articles can be found in the archives that are stored by month. These are found at the bottom of the purple sidebar. Here is a list of the most recent articles.Click here to access the archives www.ZingerKing.com
The Cost of The Olympics. Chicago's Bid
Health Care and Illegal Immigrants
Obama's Eight Month Report Card
Climate Change and Afghanistan
Missile Defense in Czech Republic and Poland
Escalating the War in Afghanistan: Pelosi and Obama
President Obama's Speech To Congress Regarding Health Care
Part I: Implications of a Radical Change in Life Expectancy
Zingers Alternative For health Care Reform
The Tug Of War Of Special Interest Groups and Health Care Reform
Credibility Of The Administration Is Challenged
Taming The Angry Mobs
Creating A Free Market Alternative to Government Health Care
Cash For Clunkers
You can access these and other articles at www.ZingerKing.com
Shameless Request For Support:
ZingerKing operates without advertising or government funding (obviously). The purpose is to inform and educate its readers about economic and political issues that affect our lives.
Help ZingerKing grow. Have you Zinged someone lately? Please forward a link to ZingerKing to a friend, family member or neighbor. If you enjoy reading the Zinger please subscribe (see the subscribe box at the top of the article in the purple side band). Subscribers receive the"Morning Briefing" when published with a link to the full article.Periodic alerts are sent to subscribers only with important updates and insights into critical issues. Your email address will not sold to others and will not be shared.
Write To Us:
You can comment on any article by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of each article or you can write to us at ZK@ZingerKing.com
Comments