Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

This is what should be the top priority for Congress right now. The point is, until we create some jobs and have some economic growth we don’t have enough money to pay for healthcare or any of the other crap they want to do right now. So job creation is what they should be focused on. What does this have to do with healthcare? Well, other than we need it to be able to pay for healthcare, this healthcare debate is slowing our economic growth and keeping people out of jobs.

CEO’s do not like uncertainty and they do not like risk. Healthcare provides a lot of uncertainty right now and CEO’s aren’t going to want to hire a bunch of employees when they have no idea how much they are going to cost them. Right now, hiring people is a bigger risk than it has to be. Congress needs to stop wasting time on this and come to an agreement. Focusing on something like creating an infrastructure for our trucks to run on natural gas would be a much better use of their time. This would be a worthy goal for us to pursue unlike the terrible healthcare options we currently have.

Energy independence, job creation, cheaper fuel for our vehicles. Those sound like good options to me. Government run healthcare, mounting job losses, and a struggling economy. Those don’t sound as great. It wouldn’t even be that hard. Start using natural gas for the post office trucks. You simply have to put a single station at each office. The trucks fill up before they leave and when they get back. This starts putting an infrastructure in place, and reduces our dependence on foreign oil. Then you start putting natural gas in truck stops across the country and trucks that run the same route can easily switch to natural gas. This reduces our dependence on oil greatly.

At this point you have enough infrastructure in place that the marketplace can take over. People will buy natural gas cars just like they buy hybrid cars. It is a cheaper fuel that is more “green.” What’s not to like. Congress needs to stop working on healthcare and start working on something useful that has a chance to be a success.

1. Toyota Corolla
2. Ford Focus FWD
3. Honda Civic
4. Toyota Prius
5. Toyota Camry
6. Hyundai Elantra
7. Ford Escape FWD
8. Dodge Caliber
9. Honda Fit
10. Chevrolet Cobalt

As far as the total sales are going, the Big Three account for about 45% of the sales. I still don’t understand why my tax dollars are going to help people make bad decisions with their money. Those new cars will devalue by about as much as the government is giving you as soon as you drive the car off the lot. But whatever, we’re stimulating the economy! Keep in mind all these people will have an average of $460 less per month to spend on other things, but lets not think about that.

I say this because it is clear from recent polling that the majority of Americans are not supportive of the current Health Care Bill. This, of course, hasn’t stopped Democrats from trying to push this Bill through and I find that to be a little bit admirable. I don’t want a legislature that bows to the whims of the populace at every turn out of fear of not being re-elected. I ant a legislature that enacts laws they believe are in the best interest of the United States, even when I don’t like the legislation. Fact of the matter is, the legislators have more information about all of these ‘hot issues’ at their finger tips than every blogger combined. They have entire staffs devoted to researching topics.

So I ask, what do you expect from your legislators? Do you want a Democracy or a Republic? Should we send every American citizen a ballot for every law? Should law makers be obligated to vote in line with the majority of their constituency? I’ll end with a small excerpt from Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy In America:

“The people is always right,” that is the dogma of the republic just as, “the king can do no wrong,” is the religion of monarchic states. It is a great question to decide whether the one is more false than the other: but what is very sure is that neither the one nor the other is true.

Mr. Washington Smith told me yesterday that almost all the crimes in America were due to the abuse of alcoholic drinks. “But,” said I, “why do you not put a duty on brandy?”

“Our legislators have often thought about it,” he answered. “But are afraid of a revolt, and besides the members who voted a law like that would be very sure of not being re-elected, the drinkers being in a majority and temperance unpopular.”

Yesterday also another Mr. Smith, a very respected Quaker, told me: “The Negroes have the right to vote at elections, but they cannot go to the Poll without being ill treated.”

“And why,” said I, “is the law not carried out on their behalf?”

He answered me: “The laws have no force with us when public opinion does not support them. Now the people is imbued with very strong prejudices against the Negroes, and the magistrates feel that they have not the strength to enforce laws which are favorable to the latter.”

• Remove the “government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers”
• The modified plan would not be paid for by a surtax on high earners.
• Employers would not be required to provide health insurance for workers.

This committee is continuing to work together and I for one am glad to see some serious bipartisan efforts being made in regards to this impending health care legislation. I can’t wait to see what finally comes out of this group of lawmakers. Hopefully, their bill will be the one that is finally adopted… After all, of the choices presented so far their sounds like the least distasteful.

Sorry I haven’t been posting lately, I have been rather busy. Here are a few pictures from my wedding and honeymoon for you to be jealous of. I promise I’ll get back to posting about politics soon. In case you’ve missed them, check out some of the things that have been going on this summer:
Cash for Clunkers from the Government
“Free” Health Care and Higher Taxes
Climate Change
Cap and Tax Bill