Monday, February 22, 2010
First off, please don't buy the straw man argument that because conservatives are against the current Democratic offering they want to do nothing. This could not be further from the truth. We DO want to improve the healthcare system. The question is how do we do it without bankrupting the country, lowering the quality care, and giving up our right to choose the doctor or plan we want.
Laser eye surgery has the highest patient satisfaction ratings of any surgery, it has been performed more than 3 million times in the past decade, it is new, it is high-tech, it has gotten better over time and... laser eye surgery has fallen in price. In 1998 the average price of laser eye surgery was about $2200 per eye. Today the average price is $1350, that's a decline of 38 percent in nominal terms and slightly more than that after taking into account inflation.
The best way to change the current tax treatment would be to replace the existing tax exclusion with a more equitable and efficient system of individual tax relief, leveling the playing field for robust competition among insurers and creating a level of consumer choice that is routine in every other sector of the American economy.
Labels: healthcare reform, tea party
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Another example of how the government establishment chooses to fight it's battles. From the CourierPostOnline:
Christie had ordered the freeze Feb. 9 to apply while a task force he created to review the Council on Affordable Housing, or COAH, did its work.If the people don't agree with their policies then use the courts to get their way.
The Fair Share Housing Center challenged the executive order on constitutional grounds, questioning whether Christie had the power to do it.
On Friday, Appellate Court Judge Stephen Skillman stayed Christie's order until a full appeal can be heard.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Government Solution to the Cost of Complying with the Open Public Records Act?
0 comments Posted by Todd Mickey at 8:15 AMWhy of course.... we should just change the law!!!!!
Every year, state senators and assemblymen propose laws that would diminish OPRA’s powers. None has been passed, but they keep popping up.
Meanwhile, pressure is coming from the local level: West Milford, after losing a costly OPRA lawsuit, has become the latest in a string of towns that want to repeal a provision that forces municipalities to pay plaintiffs’ legal fees. Two other towns want to rewrite OPRA so they can decide what information to release or not.
And one of the governor’s transition team reports recently suggested that the price of providing documents to citizens should include the cost of labor. In other words, after already paying the salary of the municipal clerk, and after buying the copier and the paper, taxpayers should pay again for the clerk to make a copy of a meeting agenda. That extra cost will discourage healthy inquisitiveness.
I guess putting records online for everyone to see at their leisure is just crazy talk! This is why we need to take back the country at the local level. Gotta love New Jersey.
Labels: chris christie, new jersey, tea party
Monday, February 15, 2010
All is not lost. Tea party protests are only the beginning.
But protesting has its limits, said Darla Dawald, national director for a conservative social networking site, ResistNet.com, that is directing people to local party contacts. The protests were a way to "catapult people off their couches. But then we needed to give them something to do, a way to get engaged."
Dawald took a look at her own precincts in Arizona's Pinal County. She said only 40% of precinct committee positions were filled. In Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, only 30% of the positions were occupied, she said. Dawald, who owned a gift shop that had closed in the recession, said it looked to her like no one was minding the store.
"It's not like we're going in and replacing people. We're going into positions that are open, things nobody is doing," she said. "It was clear that a small group of people within the party were making decisions for everyone."
After several months of organizing, Maricopa County now has 50%, or about 3,000, of its precinct committee positions filled.
Labels: conservatives, tea party
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Christie Forcing Teachers to Choose Different Career Paths
0 comments Posted by Todd Mickey at 12:30 PMOr so Steve Baker, spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, says in today's Star Ledger:
Steve Baker, spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, which represents almost 120,000 teachers, said he’s worried new people will be discouraged from teaching careers."Everything that’s done changes the calculation for whether this is a good career choice," he said. "At some point, people cross the line and say, I can’t afford to do this.
Give me a break! Here's what the average salary of a teacher in Bergen county makes according to Salary.com.....$84,072 per year! And this doesn't take into account retirement benefits such as generous pension benefits (from the Press of Atlantic City):
The median pension payment for teachers in 2008 was $43,200.
Or generous health care benefits that most teachers pay nothing toward.
I'm not against teachers making as much money as they can but at what point do I, as a taxpayer have a right to say how are tax dollars are spent. When do I get the right to say that good teachers should be rewarded and bad teachers should be let go. When do I get the right to say that those in the public sector benefits should at parity with the private sector?
Labels: chris christie, new jersey, NJEA, tea party
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The economist panel's consensus is that unless we get our medium to long term house in order, we are going to end up with higher interest rates, low growth, huge tax increases, and draconian cuts to Medicare and Social security.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/292015-1
This view was parroted by both the Dems and Reps on the committee.
Why are we not seriously considering Paul Ryan's plan?
http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/
Labels: deficits, entitlements, paul ryan, stimulus, taxes
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