[bomelia]

Hey Ernie, what it all comes down to is whether or not one believes the government ought to be in the business of supplying benefits (SS, Health Care, and so on).

I do not believe in this. Not one fiber of me agrees with it. It's income redistribution, pure and simple (Socialism). There will be nothing in this bill that I like. And like it or not, one of the HUGE reasons health care costs are out of sight (on this I agree with you) is that government meddling in the process has caused it. Look at our 2008 Federal budget: Mandatory spending: $1.788 trillion, Discretionary spending: $1.114 trillion. All Mandatory items must be paid before Discretionary items (like defense of our country). Mandatory now outstrips Discretionary. We are clearly on a trajectory where the ONLY function of government will be to redistribute wealth. Forget about defense (Constitutional), Infrastructure (Consititutional), and so on. We will be paying for programs that are not Constitutional only).

Yep, I really wish I could find the quote and quoter so I could say it right. But it goes something like "when the citizenary finally figures out how to vote itself a pay raise from the public treasury, the end of the democratic experiment is not far off". And that is what Americans now know best how to do. Whether you like it or not, you are advocating for something that will eventually bankrupt this country. It cannot be paid for. Look at the budgets, look at the debt, look at the interest on the debt and look at total reciepts. The money just is not there.

Btw, the quote in my signature was made by Cobra space Bill. Very telling, huh?

Mike