Longing To Be Free . . . . . .

[Diane Amberg]

Yo Bull, hundreds of general MD's, dentists, orthodontists, nurses, surgeons, DO's, chiropractors,hygienists, psychologists and psychiatrists, EMT's, PA's and many more...was even a CPR, AED instructor for the courts and Capital Police in Wilmington.
They all have con ed requirements and I was one of the instructors. Do you care? No? Neither do I.
When I retired from the fire school that's part of what I gave up. They handled many of my medical assignments.
 I even ran the front desk in Al's father's dental office for a couple of weeks when school was out when his mother was in the hospital with cancer. She was his hygienist until she retired and ran the front office instead.
I had no office experience of any kind, and had no idea what I was doing. I was scared to death. I didn't want to do it for fear of screwing things up, but I was given no choice. But it worked out just fine. I even did all the insurance papers correctly. None came back for correction. I was amazed too. I did learn a lot about the business side of things.
 Ok, you can have the last word.

[Bullwinkle]

        This is about what is happening today, not during the depression.

        Hundreds of retired folks? I have worked with a lot of people, but I wouldn't claim to "know" hundreds from any profession. BTW what kind of surgeon do you know that isn't an MD ? Osteopaths are quacks without a medical degree, so are quack practors. Hygienists, really ? Your list doesn't have many professions that spent much, or any time in medical school. I don't even consider psychologists or shrinks , they ruin more people with their Prozac and the rest of their drugs that simply put people in la la land,and as well as abusing their patients, they abuse the system. They heal no one. They want them to keep coming back.

      You give no evidence of actual knowledge regarding the effects of Obuma care on the health care system by claiming you "know people". The welfare system has done enough damage for years, and has bred a system of fraud. This will be worse. Believe it or not, that's your choice. One of our hospitals treated a preemie born to an illegal immigrant to the tune of around 1 million, sent them to Mexico and they let it die. Didn't have the money to spend on it. Money and effort down the drain. All driving the costs up for the rest of us. Hospitals and HMOs can't absorb that kind of loss. Of course you would blame it on the "CEOs"and their huge salaries, though you don't know what those salaries are.

       My aunt was a nurse for 50 years, but she would tell you she has no idea what is going on with the business of healthcare today. My niece , on the other hand, deals with insurance claims daily and the rules are changing daily as well. She , however, would not claim to know what it is doing to the health care system internally.

[mtcookson]

MT at least you can disagree and not get nasty about it.

I didn't intend for it to be nasty really, though I'm sure it definitely came off that way as this is a very sore subject for me. Once you realize just how much has been lost, how much you've been lied to, and realize the likelihood that it actually is not going to get better you might just feel the same way.

It would be like being married for a very long time then finding out your significant other is a lying, cheating, stealing, axe murderer that's just using you to get their way... much like what the government is doing now, just that the government is doing it on a scale of, these days, over 300 million times larger. 7.103 Billion times larger if you include the world economy.

I agree with much of what you say, but I'm an optimist about this country. If the bottom hasn't happened yet, perhaps it never will. There are checks and balances in place and I do believe that slowly ,over time, things will get better.

I cannot agree at all. I don't think its possible for this country to ever become what it used to be. The bottom certainly hasn't happened yet and it most certainly will happen. Could be 2 years 1 month from now, could be 10 years, could be 100 years... no one knows when God's will will be fulfilled, we just know that it will eventually happen... and those will be some very, very dark days. Our country is being perfectly setup for those dark days to be able to even occur really. All of the laws, the regulations, even the ideas that people are trying to force into becoming more "mainstream" all fit perfectly into it, like puzzle pieces, unavoidable, and perhaps even making what I'm saying a waste of time... but if it maybe helps someone to realize the truth and maybe even prepare, then its time I'll gladly waste.

I have said many times that Obama care is a bad deal.

Yes, Obamacare is a massive violation of our rights but is still only one of countless laws or regulations that keep us from being free. I think what people may not realize is, even if Obamacare were to suddenly be taken off the books, it still wouldn't matter in the end... the floodgates for the rights violations have been opened wide and has been given the green light as being constitutional, even though it isn't, by the SCOTUS. The fight to regain those rights will likely fail without the States themselves stepping in to finally say no... and I doubt even that would happen.

As long as the tops (CEOs) of the big companies are getting obscene money with lots of tax escape clauses, the middle class will have a hard time.

The issue isn't profits, nor even obscene profits. With obscene profits can easily come obscene donations with those profits... what is so bad about that? Sure, not all of them would do that nor are they truly obligated to but it is not within the government's power to force that person or businesses into giving their money away.

The true issue is business and government getting into bed with each other. Cronyism, really, though perhaps just as one of many descriptions of it. Just so we're clear as well... it is NOT... I repeat... NOT crony capitalism. That is an oxymoron in its truest sense, its like fitting a square peg in a round hole, like the egg coming before the chicken, like 1 + 1 equaling 16,890,956,124,251. Capitalism, by absolute nature, would disallow such a thing to even exist, meaning it would never have any possibility of existing under true capitalism.

The Constitution itself disallows such a thing to exist yet through lying, cheating, altering perceptions of the words, by whatever method the politicians parasites (there's probably a better word to use for them but this will work great for now) use to get around such Constitutional prohibitions, they further degrade our country, our rights, our economy... they ruin everything.

Contrary to the parasites' lies, the free market would naturally close the "income gap" that people have such issues with. Most of the issues people tend to have with big corps, doing the good ol' corrupt things they do, would naturally go away because the market, by nature, wouldn't let them survive pulling the stunts they do (government getting out of business would stop a ton of corruption alone). The people have simply been lied to into thinking Capitalism caused this when in FACT it is the moving away from Capitalism and towards big government control that has caused it.

Clarification: The moving away from Capitalism isn't something that happened over night, within the past few years or even few decades... no... 100 years ago this year is when things really got out of hand and its only got exponentially worse since.

But without some taxes how would we pay for the things that help the common folks? Will every bridge and road and library have to have user fees? Will every zoo and park have to have fees too?I sure don't know, but I refuse to believe the sky is falling.

I don't know how to make it any more clear... if the government were to stop funding everything it isn't Constitutionally allowed to fund... the need for income tax would instantly disappear. Tariffs and excise tax, properly apportioned property tax if absolutely needed, can fund the government when it is running as it was intended to.

Allowing income tax is simply throwing out the welcome mat for the government to abuse the people.

[Diane Amberg]

Um, so you'd rather have huge increases in state taxes rather than have federal taxes...or give up a lot of what folks are used to? I happen to think tax reform would be a very good thing. States should have more to say about how taxes are collected and redistributed. I don't even have a problem with flat taxes. As far as the medical folks I know, mostly professionally from teaching their recert classes... why snipe at them? I didn't get to disallow them in my classes because I thought they were quacks! They are who they are. Go to your choice or don't! If I start to tell you what I know about the business end of it, it would take about three pages and you'd be bored stiff!
Many docs have business managers ,or they do here, because they tend to not have the best business sense and the rules change so fast it's hard to run a practice and do that too.
In our immediate family we have or had two dentists, two hygienists, a podiatrist, and several others. As close friends (extended family) we had a surgeon (yes, he started as an MD..DUH!) Stating the obvious much?  and several other medical professionals .And what do people talk about when they get together? Yup...business.

As far as being able to pay for things, we assumed when we were young things might not do well from time to time and we saved like crazy and invested well. I've told this before, but the business about social security failing has been with us our entire adult lives, so we planned as if we would never get it.  Now it's extra money for us.
This isn't my first recession or "inconvenience." Remember the oil embargo? People sitting in line for gas? Sugar went up, coffee went up and other things too? Remember when Nixon took us off the gold standard? Huge changes.
  The difference now is we are drowning in uninformed opinions, information, misinformation and outright lies constantly 24 hours a day. That cannot be healthy. Then there are the bloggers who will say anything for money and feed certain groups whatever they want to hear.
As far as changes I'd like to see..tell the congressmen to stop demanding "pork'' for their constituents at the expense of other areas and states. Drop ALL the subsidies, including farming, fishing, oil and any more I've missed.  Kick the banks and make them loosen up some lending money to good risks, and let interest rates go up enough so people can invest and make enough to make it worthwhile. Don't let the bundling business with mortgages and mortgage risks start all over again with the exact same rating agencies...that is criminal!
There is another sector that isn't being considered here.The extremely wealthy, well connected and powerful won't let things go to far or they will be affected and unless they get together and colonize the moon, they won't let themselves be affected too far...or perhaps they will all bail and go to other countries like Brazil. Besides, politial wheels go slow at best and now neither side seems to be letting much happen. As with any president, no matter how much you hate him, he'll be gone in three years.
Let's bring the manufacturing jobs back home, and stop pretending the underemployed are middle class. How many people go from one poorly paid job to another to make ends not quite meet. I know some people holding down three minimum wage jobs!
It'll get better..eventually...so why didn't more people plan for it? What happened to planning for a rainy day? Too much advertizing influence? Too much believing the "You deserve it" advertizing?  Dark days? Yup, we've had 'em before The great depression, WWII, and real ration books. Korea
Now please don't do what Ross does to me and pick apart every sentence and say it wasn't clear. I'd like to assume you can read so I don't have to make everything third grade "wordy".... makes my posts too long and tedious. We probably won't agree on all, but that's all right as long as it doesn't turn into personal attacks.

[mtcookson]

Um, so you'd rather have huge increases in state taxes rather than have federal taxes...or give up a lot of what folks are used to? I happen to think tax reform would be a very good thing. States should have more to say about how taxes are collected and redistributed. I don't even have a problem with flat taxes.

I take it you mean social security and medicare/medicaid, correct? If so, yes! Absolutely yes! They are unconstitutional plain and simple. The federal government absolutely does NOT have the authority to enact such programs on the people. It does not exist, period, end of story.

Depending on their constitutions and laws, the States are allowed to enact such programs if they want but it would be a horrible idea for them to. Welfare (note: the General Welfare clause uses an entirely different definition of welfare, these are not to be confused with each other) is something that simply never works. It wastes money, encourages parasites to take the money and use it on other projects, oppresses the tax payers, it ruins lives, families, is just very harmful to those receiving the benefits by encouraging bad behavior to receive the benefits. There's absolutely nothing good that comes out of welfare.

Now, I'm not saying there is never anyone in true need of help because that couldn't be further from the truth. Those in true need of help are fully capable of getting help from a private entity that would be much, much, much better suited to helping them than a bloated government that doesn't even know who they are helping. When the government forcefully takes away money from the people, organizations, and business that makes it that much harder for private entities to help and is exactly why we're in the situation we are now.

When it comes to Medicare/Medicaid... just, what a complete joke. The only thing those are good at is closing medical facilities. You want to know why health care is so high? Those two are some top reasons right there. They are not sustainable, the take profit away from the medical industry, there is absolutely nothing good about them... they are disastrous and dangerous and should not exist at any level of government.

I could keep going about these government programs but its just common sense:
They aren't constitutional.
They don't work.
They will never work.
Period.

As far as the medical folks I know, mostly professionally from teaching their recert classes... why snipe at them? I didn't get to disallow them in my classes because I thought they were quacks! They are who they are. Go to your choice or don't!

Good luck having choice before long. Insurance companies make choice difficult, just wait until the government steps in.

If I start to tell you what I know about the business end of it, it would take about three pages and you'd be bored stiff!
Many docs have business managers ,or they do here, because they tend to not have the best business sense and the rules change so fast it's hard to run a practice and do that too.

In our immediate family we have or had two dentists, two hygienists, a podiatrist, and several others. As close friends (extended family) we had a surgeon (yes, he started as an MD..DUH!) Stating the obvious much?  and several other medical professionals .And what do people talk about when they get together? Yup...business.

Honestly... I doubt it would take three pages, it would probably take thirty, probably more, to really lay out what the medical industry has to go through. I'm sure you're knowledgeable about the medical industry but I doubt you'll be able to scratch the surface of just how many government regulations there are on the medical industry that actually affects the business end.

Further reason why medical costs are so high.

As far as being able to pay for things, we assumed when we were young things might not do well from time to time and we saved like crazy and invested well. I've told this before, but the business about social security failing has been with us our entire adult lives, so we planned as if we would never get it.  Now it's extra money for us.

And that extra money could have been used in an ACTUAL retirement plan that would net you EVEN MORE money. Exactly why social security needs to end, permanently.

This isn't my first recession or "inconvenience." Remember the oil embargo? People sitting in line for gas? Sugar went up, coffee went up and other things too? Remember when Nixon took us off the gold standard? Huge changes.

Nail in the coffin for the U.S. Dollar.

The difference now is we are drowning in uninformed opinions, information, misinformation and outright lies constantly 24 hours a day. That cannot be healthy. Then there are the bloggers who will say anything for money and feed certain groups whatever they want to hear.

Get government out of the schools and that would diminish so rapidly... would be like a nice breath of fresh air.

As far as changes I'd like to see..tell the congressmen to stop demanding "pork'' for their constituents at the expense of other areas and states. Drop ALL the subsidies, including farming, fishing, oil and any more I've missed.  Kick the banks and make them loosen up some lending money to good risks, and let interest rates go up enough so people can invest and make enough to make it worthwhile. Don't let the bundling business with mortgages and mortgage risks start all over again with the exact same rating agencies...that is criminal!

Which would require reducing the size of government, getting it out of all of those industries. If that were to happen, things would improve.

The pork spending is another constitutional nightmare. The majority of what those parasites spend money on is not even remotely in the government's constitutional authority to do so. Bring the Constitution back into play and that pork spending will stop, instantly.

There is another sector that isn't being considered here.The extremely wealthy, well connected and powerful won't let things go to far or they will be affected and unless they get together and colonize the moon, they won't let themselves be affected too far...or perhaps they will all bail and go to other countries like Brazil.

That's what we keep telling people. Punish them too much and they'll just leave... then who employs the workers?

Besides, politial wheels go slow at best and now neither side seems to be letting much happen. As with any president, no matter how much you hate him, he'll be gone in three years.

When they do irreparable harm to the country, it doesn't matter when they'll be gone. He could suddenly have a heart attack tomorrow... doesn't matter. Damage done. It would take a massive cleansing of D.C. to fix what has happened over the past 100+ years.

Let's bring the manufacturing jobs back home, and stop pretending the underemployed are middle class. How many people go from one poorly paid job to another to make ends not quite meet. I know some people holding down three minimum wage jobs!

Remove regulations and lower taxes at every level of government and they'll come flocking back. Will probably have to do something about China too but the first part would be the absolute best start.

It'll get better..eventually...so why didn't more people plan for it? What happened to planning for a rainy day? Too much advertizing influence? Too much believing the "You deserve it" advertizing?  Dark days? Yup, we've had 'em before The great depression, WWII, and real ration books. Korea

It will get better... for whom? Maybe for the parasites and the rich in their pockets, for a short while. A massive crash is coming though, one that will make the Great Depression look like a minor recession. It is unavoidable.

Now please don't do what Ross does to me and pick apart every sentence and say it wasn't clear. I'd like to assume you can read so I don't have to make everything third grade "wordy".... makes my posts too long and tedious. We probably won't agree on all, but that's all right as long as it doesn't turn into personal attacks.

You say you'd like it not to turn to personal attacks, which is fine, but immediately prior are essentially implying that Ross can only read at the third grade level. Umm... ok...

[Ross]

Good job mtcookson.

There is another sector that isn't being considered here.The extremely wealthy, well connected and powerful won't let things go to far or they will be affected and unless they get together and colonize the moon, they won't let themselves be affected too far...or perhaps they will all bail and go to other countries like Brazil.

The difference now is we are drowning in uninformed opinions, information, misinformation and outright lies constantly 24 hours a day. That cannot be healthy. Then there are the bloggers who will say anything for money and feed certain groups whatever they want to hear.

Besides, politial wheels go slow at best and now neither side seems to be letting much happen. As with any president, no matter how much you hate him, he'll be gone in three years.

Dear Diane,

If you would only give a little thought to what you say, you might comprehend how it can be applied to NGO's. Especially our local Elk Konnected who had the controlling votes in our local County Government and gave themselves money out of the county coffers.
And since losing control of our county government are attempting in my opinion trying to or perhaps have control of our West Elk School District Governing Board.

Which makes them political and controlling, IMO.

Yes, I consider them as having a progressive, liberal, and socialist attitude as well. Nothing good has ever come from such attitudes in my opinion. More like a disease such as the Federal Government and their bombardment of us and providing uninformed opinions, information, misinformation and outright lies that you spoke of.

Please give that some thought and perhaps raise your comprehension beyond what Elk Konnected feeds you.

Now please don't do what Ross does to me and pick apart every sentence and say it wasn't clear. I'd like to assume you can read so I don't have to make everything third grade "wordy".... makes my posts too long and tedious. We probably won't agree on all, but that's all right as long as it doesn't turn into personal attacks.

Attempting to control how people communicate seems to be a priority with you.

Responding to each statement or paragraph by separating them from the entire post only allow for clarification. So give up that business of tearing it apart. Clarity is a good thing.

Insulting me is hilarious coming from you, but if you think that makes you seem more intelligent more power to you. Just like the way you like to correct other peoples spelling only to misspell frequently.

Oh, I know you say you do that misspelling intentionally and I really believe that, uh-huh!

Sure with my 3rd grade reading level I served in the military for ten years as a ship board electrician and wrote evaluations on men that worked for me just so you would have the right and freedom to say whatever you like about me. So carry on.

But you know Diane I don't pretend to be a teacher!

I'm better than that, I am a proud redneck living way out here in the country far from the foul smells of the cities and the corruption, and living amongst mostly down home folks. I know the people that live next door and people in all four corners of our little county. I also know at least one family in each community of our lovely county. Can you say that about where you live? Doubtful, very doubtful and be telling the truth.

[Diane Amberg]

 Long one coming up...get the snacks!
Sorry, I meant you not attacking me. Ross brags about being an "uneducated hick" like he's proud of it. It does make it hard for me to write at my usual free flowing level because he will take issue with everything and then say wasn't clear. In order to make everything crystal clear I have to write in extra fine detail and he still sometimes doesn't get it. That makes it tedious. Besides, he swats me and name calls me on a regular basis. (Sorry Ross, I don't mean to be talking behind your back, so to speak)
As far as SS is concerned, go find the history of it and why it was started in the first place. Please don't take mine away...I paid into it for many years. I could live without it but only because I planned for it. It's still my money.
It's the same with my taxes. I don't pay out more than I have to in order to get a refund. Why should I be giving the Gov't a free loan of my money until they give it back a year later? I'll keep as much of it as I can. Besides not all people are good with money.
  By the way, I told you Al is a long time director of our a free standing 24 hour emergency room. I'll not bore you with how it came to be the first one in the country. I used to volunteer there often enough to get clinical credits for con ed for my EMT recerts. In those days I was allowed to act as a PA, wrapped sprains and fractures, did some simple suturing, cut lots of sutures and did final bandaging. It was and still is legal because I was under an ER docs direct supervision.  The docs were provided by DFES. They were docs who were specialists in emergencies and took shifts at NEC and the Delaware hospitals. I knew many dozens of them because I worked with them! (They were the same docs who met us when we dropped off ambulance patients at the hospitals) I ran patients back and forth to X-Ray and helped in the cast room wringing out plaster gauze...and lots more The other thing, when it was quiet, I ordered supplies, worked on insurance papers and did proof reading for the director. I couldn't help but learn the business end whether I liked it or not. I haven't done that now at NEC for years. It was a great learning experience. Is the paperwork worse now ...Well of course. It's ridiculous!
As far as people who are capable of getting help from a private entities...what private entities and how does an institutionalized person with an Infant's IQ and severe physical disabilities get the help?  Easter Seals and such can only do so much.
Gotta go for now.

[Ross]

Long one coming up...get the snacks!
Sorry, I meant you not attacking me. Ross brags about being an "uneducated hick" like he's proud of it.

Ho, ho, ho if you only knew and comprehend everything you say, your degrees might be worth what they cost you. I got no degrees therefore an uneducated hick. Can't you comprehend the humor in that? I didn't spend $1000's to get a degree and end up being stupid, yea. I'm proud of it.

(Sorry Ross, I don't mean to be talking behind your back, so to speak)

So you believed you were talking behind my back. Good one. Very funny.
       

[Diane Amberg]

Well, I didn't get far..and Ross. I knew you would read me ,ya just proved it. No one demands it ya know.Ya  also missed one of my deliberately misspelled words. HA! Go find it.
Again with the insults! Why can't ya be more like MT. We actually debated and didn't agree with everything, but he didn't swing any clubs at me either He knew how to stick with the issues.
Pummeling me doesn't change anything! You're the one who brought up the redneck "unedumacated"  business in the first place!  And you repeat it over and over. So what?
Now ya wanna have a "who knows how many people" contest?...you'd lose, so don't bother. We are a very small state and being well thought of in the fire service, plus doing public speaking, plus doing recerts and CPR brings me in contact with many people, and yes, they are friends and we see them socially. Remember we only have three counties.
We have 63 fire companies in 63 communities and I have many close friends in all of them. It's very easy to do here so it's no big deal. Why is it even worth mentioning? What is your point? And stop your constant insults! Aren't you above that? What are you trying to do? When ya can't attack the issue attack the writer?
So my parents spent lots of their hard earned money for my education and I'm stupid? You wish! . Talk about a direct attack! But then again what else would I expect you to say?
As far as NGO's I didn't choose to bring them up.  My choice. We were talking about other things.
So, of course you want to change the subject to EK and what YOU want to talk about.
 NGO's? We've got a zillion of 'em. They do try to run things quite often..Here they are loaded with Republicans!  (Oh, am I allowed to say "we've got a zillion of 'em?")... Am I allowed to use any literary license at all? Please tell me.

[Ross]

Well, I didn't get far..and Ross. I knew you would read me ,ya just proved it. No one demands it ya know.Ya  also missed one of my deliberately misspelled words. HA! Go find it.
Again with the insults! Why can't ya be more like MT. We actually debated and didn't agree with everything, but he didn't swing any clubs at me either He knew how to stick with the issues.
Pummeling me doesn't change anything! You're the one who brought up the redneck "unedumacated"  business in the first place!  And you repeat it over and over. So what?
Now ya wanna have a "who knows how many people" contest?...you'd lose, so don't bother. We are a very small state and being well thought of in the fire service, plus doing public speaking, plus doing recerts and CPR brings me in contact with many people, and yes, they are friends and we see them socially. Remember we only have three counties.
We have 63 fire companies in 63 communities and I have many close friends in all of them. It's very easy to do here so it's no big deal. Why is it even worth mentioning? What is your point? And stop your constant insults! Aren't you above that? What are you trying to do? When ya can't attack the issue attack the writer?
So my parents spent lots of their hard earned money for my education and I'm stupid? You wish! . Talk about a direct attack! But then again what else would I expect you to say?
As far as NGO's I didn't choose to bring them up.  My choice. We were talking about other things.
So, of course you want to change the subject to EK and what YOU want to talk about.
 NGO's? We've got a zillion of 'em. They do try to run things quite often..Here they are loaded with Republicans!  (Oh, am I allowed to say "we've got a zillion of 'em?")... Am I allowed to use any literary license at all? Please tell me.

If you did not notice I posted before you did with your smartass remark, comprehend that?

I may not have a degree and I am uneducmacated but you know what I am not an Id 10 t. I had been talking about only one county and not referring to all the counties that make up your state. Also I don't attempt to talk behind your back. In my life that has always been referred to backstabbing.  When I speak of being unedumacted it simply means your papers should be on the floor of your cage. When you say it about me you make me proud.

Once again you missed the whole point of the post. It was related to your brainwashing by Elk Konnected and your narrow mindedness.

And I notice on the other thread you lack anything intellegent to say about the documents I posted and shared on another web site.
Facts do not appeal to you do they?

What a waste of my time trying to communicate with you.

I'm outta here, go ahead and bad mouth me. I think I'm done here. But I reserve the right to return.