The Curmudgeon Blog
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Satirical Look at Health Care Reform

Janet Trautwein: With health care fixed, next Congress turns to kitchen appliances

By: Janet Trautwein
OpEd Contributor
April 6, 2010


Congressional leaders just announced plans to address the mounting lack of affordability in the market for kitchen appliances. "Now that we're finished with healthcare reform, I'll introduce the Kitchen Appliance Affordability and Fairness Act of 2010," Sen. Jim Meddlesome, D-Nannystate, said this week.

The KAAFA would require all kitchen-appliance manufacturers to spend at least 85 percent of their revenues on materials -- not labor, marketing, or infrastructure -- by 2014. Proponents of the measure claim that it will prevent profit-driven blender-makers from wasting money on administration and bloated executive salaries -- and thus lead to lower prices for ordinary consumers.

"The manufacturers of blenders and toasters have jacked up prices with impunity for far too long," said Meddlesome. "It's high time we put an end to their abusive practices."

Meddlesome's bill was inspired by a provision in the healthcare reform package that would require insurers to spend a certain percentage of their revenues on medical claims. Supporters of the KAAFA want to extend similar "minimum loss ratios" to the kitchen-appliance industry.

"Insurance companies and appliance-makers alike have devoted too much of their revenue to profit and administration," declared Meddlesome. "With these new rules, we're simply ensuring that every regular John Q. Cuisinart gets a fair deal."

Financial data on the two industries' profits seem to contradict Meddlesome's claims. According to Yahoo Finance, the insurance and appliance sectors are among the least profitable in the U.S. economy, with profit margins of just 4.4 percent and 1.9 percent -- good enough for 87th and 121st, respectively.

Representatives from BlenderCorp USA expressed dismay with the KAAFA proposal, saying that the company's current pricing structure would fall afoul of the law.

BlenderCorp's CEO explains: "Our mid-range blender retails for $50. We use 75 percent of the sale price to pay for materials, 20 percent to pay for labor and marketing, and 5 percent for profit to fund research into our next wave of blending products.

"By forcing us to spend 85 percent of our revenues on materials, Congress is effectively mandating that we cut jobs, curtail research and development, raise prices -- or enact some combination of all three."

Economists predict that the new minimum-loss ratio would lead to waves of consolidation within the kitchen-appliance industry -- and even the outright failure of many companies.

"Many small manufacturers will not be able to establish the economies of scale necessary to comply with the new regulations," said Joseph Commonsense, a professor of finance at Faber College. "If these firms don't merge with one another, they'll simply go out of business."

Either way, predicts Commonsense, consumers will face fewer choices in the blender market. "The public will have to suffer through several rounds of price hikes -- first when the minimum loss ratios go into effect, and then again after the surviving blender makers capitalize on their lack of competition by jacking up rates," he said.

Meddlesome is undeterred by the prospect of newly expensive home appliances. "I don't care about the blender-makers' threats to raise prices," he said. "This is about taking a stand against greedy profiteering."

Ordinary Americans may pay the price for his crusade. Ironically, Congress's embrace of "minimum loss ratios" as a means of lowering the price of consumer goods seems poised to make blenders -- not to mention health insurance -- unaffordable.

Janet Trautwein is CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters.


Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/OpEd-Contributor/Janet-Trautwein-With-health-care-fixed-next-Congress-turns-to-kitchen-appliances-90001422.html#ixzz0kPyBHN0Y

"To Control The People"

The truth behind the push for health care reform may have been uttered by 83 Year-old Representative John Dingell (D-MI) in response to a question.

Dingell, being interviewed by Paul Smith of WJR radio and was asking some pointed questions about why this couldn't be moved along more quickly.  Smith mentioned that thousands of people could die because the plan doesn't implement quickly enough to suit him.

Dingell was quoted as saying, "it takes a long time, to, to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put legislation together to control the people..."

Is this one of the moments of uncharacteristic truth that flows from the mouthes of elected officials?

I suspect that Rep. Dingell was being quite honest in that there are many requirements that people must do certain things and not do other things else they'll be penalized.  It would take time to build those kinds of language traps that would be possible to be used to make people do what they are desired to do...to control the people.


Transformation

Transformation is the operative word when one views the results of the year-long effort to create a national health care program.  The bill recently passed and signed into law transforms our country along the lines in which Medicare transformed our country.

We have witnessed the creation of a new swath of American dependency.  We are now significantly more dependent upon our government for our health care than we have ever been before.  As this version of nationalized health care unfolds, we will see the ultimate demise of the private system; it simply cannot compete with its hands tied behind its back by regulation and taxation.

While this has only begun, we can, I think, already begin to see the next major offensive and that is "immigration reform".  That is, obviously, code for making the illegals legal and giving them full rights of citizenship including "the vote".  That new volume of votes will likely go to the Democrats and that will further cement their hold on us all.

Transformation is the new game in town, and these folks are excellent players; especially the new breed that made the trip along with Barack Obama.

The November 2010 elections are critically important.  If the Democrats emerge without losing control of the Congress, this process of transformation will gain speed.

This has been about much, much more than simply health care reform.  That was simply one of the puzzle pieces.

Massachusetts Test Tube

We have the unique opportunity to look into the future before we pass massive health care reform for the entire country.  The test tube is found in Massachusetts and it is called The Connector.  That was passed in 2006 and signed by the Republican governor, Mitt Romney.  David Fredosso of the Washington Examiner covered this today is his column.

Massachusetts' annual government spending has increased  by 67%, or $4.2 Billion per year.  The cumulative five year increase has amounted to $15 Billion or roughly half of the state's total budget.  There has been a 6% increase in the number of people covered, a total of 407,000 newly insured people.

Only 32% of those newly insured people pay the full cost of their coverage; 51% get a 100% subsidy, and the rest are somewhere in between.  The "exchange" that was going to provide people with a "shopping mall" from which they could buy their insurance has been used by only 5% of those who pay their own way.

The insurance premiums, which were already among the highest in the country, have continued to spiral upward with increases of from 7% to 12% this year.  That is from the "not-for-profit" insurance companies that dominate this marketplace.  The rate of increase in Massachusetts has been from 21% to 46% higher than has been the national average rate increases since the program was instituted.  Now, Massachusetts is talking about price controls.

This train wreck was signed by a Republican.  The train wreck that will be signed by President Obama, if it passes, has all the same bad features and will be an even greater train wreck since it will impact the entire country.

Why do we persist in such folly when we can plainly see where it will take us?  Can we not learn from the painful lessons of Massachusetts?  Is this monument to Obama so important that it simply has to happen?  The discussion of "process" should've never gotten to this point; had our politicians been anything near honest and forthright, we would not be in this boat headed for a gigantic iceberg that will surely sink our economy.

Civil Words Fail

When it comes to describing the intense feelings of ire and disgust that spring up as one watches the Congress pervert our system of government because it can, civil words fail.

When did we lose control of our country?  It must have been going on, incrementally, for many years.  To have lost what our forefathers fought and died for had to have taken scores of years.  We certainly, as a people, wouldn't have condoned this take-away if we had been confronted with an "up or down vote" on the subject.

Would we have voted "Yes" to the question had it been stated as follows?  Do you want the government to assume your personal rights to approve or object on any and all issues that arise from today forward?

It is true that we have a representative form of government.  We elect those whom we trust to act on our behalf to represent our views on the myriad subjects that seem to come before the Congress.  Somewhere along the line, there must have been a subtle change in how we define "trust".  If not that, then there has been a subtle change in each of us that has permitted a gross transgression to occur.

As we see that which we have permitted to occur, civil words fail.  It is our government after all.  It is what we have let it become.  It is our fault, in reality, although we certainly can place blame on those in whom we have apparently mistakenly placed our trust.

In the final analysis, however, it is up to us to each get to the place in our lives where we simply say, "Enough is enough.  I am angry with what I have permitted to occur, with that which I have passed on to my children and their children.  I refuse to accept it any longer."

We each do that in the privacy of the voting booth, and we each get to that point in our own time.  My sincere hope is that we have reached a tipping point and that we'll vote our feelings in 2010 and in 2012 and beyond; and, that we'll be mindful that we must stay engaged after we have voted to be certain that we are being represented as we desire.

This is our country, after all.  It is what we permit it to be.

But, still, civil words fail.

Beware the Ides of March

Beware the Ides of March...and every other day that our legislative bodies are in session.

I have seen several thoughts about a 28th Amendment to the Constitution.  Most seem to be focused on assuring that any and all legislation passed by our elected officials be of the same impact to them that it is to us citizens.  If it is good, it should be equally as good for us as for them.  If it is onerous, it should be equally as onerous for them as for us.

This most recent expression seems to be in response to the hellish health care reform bill that Congress is trying to pass, or should I say that the Democrats are trying to pass.  Most of us seem to understand that this current iteration of health care reform will be bad for us.  We fear that our elected representatives will manage to exempt themselves from the Obama-nation that they'll have foisted upon us.

There seems merit in assuring that both the elite elected person and the lowly voter ought to be treated equally in the eyes of any legislation.  That it may take an Amendment to our Constitution to cause that to occur speaks volumes about where it is to which we have gotten.

Do They Feel Your Pain?

There is sufficient pain to go around today, but there is a question that seems to come up in my mind on a regular basis.

Do our politicians and public sector employees really feel our pain, or are they simply telling us they feel our pain?

Can those who are promised pension benefits feel the pain of those who have none?

Can those who have among the best health care plans feel the pain of those who do not?

Can those who receive tax dollars in amounts greater than they pay feel your pain?

Can those who are guaranteed to have their job for their working lifetime feel your pain?

I know the returning veterans who are seeking a job feel the pain.  I know those who have lost their 401K contributions in the down market can feel the pain.  I know those who have lost their homes feel the pain.  I know those who thought they could retire but now must work for so long as they are able feel the pain.  I know those who face ever higher tax rates feel the pain.  I know those who work two and three part-time jobs to keep ends together feel the pain.  I know those who help feed the poor when they have difficulty feeding themselves feel the pain.  I know those who donate to others in need when they are also in need feel the pain.

I just have this feeling that not everyone who proclaims to feel our pain really does feel our pain.  In fact, the more they claim to feel our pain, the more I suspect it is simply lip service.

Genuine empathy seems in very short supply these days.


30% Tax Increase?

Andrew G. Biggs writes in the National Review for March, 2010 that we are in an "Entitlement Apocalypse".  He contends that with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and without reform, we are headed for a fiscal crisis.  It would require an immediate and permanent 30% increase in all federal taxes.

This plays to what Rep. Paul Ryan has said in his Roadmap For America 2.0.  We must reform the entitlements we provide, and we have to be open with the American people and get something accomplished.

We can tolerate neither the massive tax increases that will otherwise be required, nor the increasing debt load we will be under.

Ryan is, of course, the favorite punching bag for the liberals these days, but he is absolutely right in what he states.  If he weren't right, the liberals would not be so concerned about his ideas. We need more Paul Ryans and not the slamming of the one and only Paul Ryan we now have in Congress.

Census Warning Letters?

If like me, you received a letter from the Census folks, you were probably surprised that it was nothing more than a note telling you that you'd see the real thing in about a week.

I don't recall seeing anything like this ten years ago, but maybe I just don't remember.  Yet this seemed to be a huge waste of taxpayer dollars.  Why the warning order to watch for the form?  Will it be sent in a plain brown envelope?  I doubt that very much.

This is yet another example of how our government spends our money wantonly.

Because They Can?

The ruling Democrat Party following its anointed leader, President Barack Obama, appears to be totally deaf and blind.

Why is it still on the path toward enacting nationalized health care when the majority of us have already told them "No"? 

Is it because they really are, as they think, smarter than the rest of us?  Is it that, as they seem to think, we are just too stupid to get what they're doing, or too stupid to know what is good for us?

Is it because they have some divine inspiration to which we peons simply are not attuned?

It is, I believe, simply that they know they can do this to us, and that is why they are persisting in this folly. 

They are doing this because they can!  They have the party numbers they need to do this to us in both the House as well as the Senate.  They have the one final signature in the White House.

They are as moths attracted to flame...they are somehow required by virtue of their existence as either liberals or progressives to make this happen.  Damn the polls.  Damn the people.  Damn the really smart people whom they know are right on this subject.  Damn the idea of scrapping the mess that now exists and of coming back to the table in the spirit of fixing a broken system rather than the spirit of transforming nearly 20% of the economy into a nationalized program.

They are about this because they can be about this...at least until November, 2010.

I believe they are sadly amiss, that they neither know what they're doing nor much care.  They can do it, and like the schoolyard bully, by golly, they're going to do it.

Maybe we weaklings, the voters, will better help them understand what is wrong with their approach come next November.  Maybe we can give many of them the opportunity to return to real life and to ponder the meaning of it all.

Because we can, too!

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