The “health care reform” legislation passed last week by Democrats in the US Congress was not meaningful cost reform.  Physicians, pharmaceutical firms, health insurance companies, and lawyers all colluded with their lawmaker friends in Washington and came out big winners.  This, of course, came at the expense of American taxpayers, businesses, and employees.  Democrats who crammed this legislation down the throats of the American people were not serious about reforming health care; they were hell bent on creating one more huge federal entitlement.  Now that the federal government has its foot in the door, can a single payer nationalized health care system not be soon to follow?

The President has announced that the legislation signed into law last week will (1) improve the quality of health care, (2) reduce the cost of medical care, and (3) reduce the size of the federal deficit.   No one in their right mind can believe this.  You don’t put 30 million new people into the healthcare system and save money.  Not to mention the fact that no major US government entitlement program has ever been established that wasn’t wasteful, fiscally unsustainable, or deficit-building.

Social security, established in 1935, was originally passed as a stimulus program (sound familiar) to help get us out of the great depression.  The depression ended sixty-two years ago.  This month, for the first time in its history, more money was paid out to Social Security recipients than was received through FICA taxes.  Bonds had to be sold to cover the cash-flow deficit.  Social Security’s long known fiscal collapse has finally started.

Medicare, another Federal government entitlement, makes Social Security look as sound as an investment in gold.  In 1967 the House Ways and Means Committee predicted that its new Medicare program would cost about $12 billion in 1990.  Actual Medicare spending in 1990 was $110 billion.  Just like Medicare, Obamacare will run at least 10 times the CBO estimate of $940 billion.  Today Medicare’s unfunded liabilities are estimated in excess of 75 TRILLION dollars.

On top of all of the commitments that the federal government has already made (Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, Wall Street bailouts, ownership of two automobile companies, etc.) this massive new healthcare entitlement will literally be the “straw that broke the camel’s back” as far as the US economy is concerned.  That’s why I call it the “Final Entitlement”.

We are living in portentous times.   Obamacare is a job-eradicating, budget-busting, incentive-slaying, cost-bloated, producer-destroying, looter-loving piece of junk. As a nation we’ve been sliding down the slippery slope to European-style socialism.  Obamacare is devastating not only in a fiscal sense, it is also a freedom-wrecker.  For the first time in the history of the United States our government has mandated that its citizens buy something (health insurance) from a private entity.  What a tragic story.  What an abomination of the Constitution.

The discouraging fact is that we are to blame.  For decades Americans have demanded government benefits without being taxed to pay for them.  Politicians, faced with an electorate that believes in the tooth fairy, have obliged us.   There’s only one problem; we can no longer afford it.  If we want to “right the ship” it will take significant cuts to public sector employment, wages, and benefits, just for starters.   Believe me, even more drastic cuts in federal, state, and local programs will become politically palatable at some point.  This era wherein minority voices cry about the sustainability of the environment will soon be replaced by one in which people will legitimately worry about the sustenance of their livelihood.

Let me offer one last comment.  In response to many angry phone calls and threats that were made to senators and congressmen who voted for Obamacare, Presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs said that no elected politician should receive a threat to his “safety or security.”  Government is coercive by its very nature.  When we pass laws, they are ultimately enforced at the point of a gun.  Last week our elected representatives in Washington made a decision that will result in the employment of 16,500 new IRS agents and not one new physician.  The safety and security of millions of us will be intensely affected by that action.

The New Target Field

Saturday March 20, 2010, I got a chance to take a close look at Target Field, the new home of the Minnesota Twins.  My son, who works for Target and has looked down on its construction for nearly three years, has grown more and more excited as the work has progressed.  On the other hand, until Saturday I hadn’t even laid eyes on the place.

A few months ago, on October 11, 2009, I blogged about the Twins’ new ballpark, citing the lack of a retractable roof and a small canopy as “serious shortcomings.”  I still believe this to be the case, but with respect to everything else, the new Target Field is absolutely fantastic!  Of course, one would expect that you would get a pretty neat place for $522 million.  We have Hennepin County taxpayers to thank for roughly $400 million of that total.  However, the Minnesota Twins shelled out $125 million of their own money, a lot more than most MLB clubs have contributed to their ballparks.  In an era famous for taxpayer subsidies to rich owners, the Twins organization has shown its dedication to Minnesota.  From the smiles I saw on the faces of fans touring the new Target Field yesterday, the feeling is mutual!

One thing that new ballparks have is excellent concession venues.  The food and beverage choices are varied and numerous at Target Field.  The Mill City Grill, Hennepin Grille, Frankie V’s Italian, and North Shore Creamery represent just a few of the eateries within Target Field.  You can buy Budweiser beer or a Summit beer.  You can expect to get a Schweigert hotdog at the park, but you can also wrap your lips around a genuine Kramarczuk’s sausage, straight from Northeast Minneapolis.  Caribou Coffee is available and there is a great Twins pro shop where you can buy anything from a Justin Morneau jersey to an official Twins stocking cap!

There are special lounge areas for season ticket holders and regular fans alike.  The lights are mostly imbedded in the canopy; making for clean, modern lines.  The stone is Minnesota travertine limestone; even the dugouts are made of travertine.

My daughter, who now lives just two blocks from Wrigley Field on Chicago’s north side, was brought up a Twins fan.  Like her brother, she watched the Twins win two World Series Championships in her youth.  Understandably she has a tremendous respect and attachment to both the Twins and the Cubs.  As we talked about the comparisons between the new Target Field and historic Wrigley Field (circa 1916), the many advantages of a brand spanking-new facility were obvious.  But Target Field has no ivy walls.  Past the Target Field outfield walls there are no splendorous Victorian Greystones.  In the Target Field neighborhood there are no streets with the character of a Sheffield or Waveland Avenue.  And, of course, Babe Ruth made his famous “called shot” at old Wrigley Field.

On Tuesday, April 12, 2010 my daughter and I will attend opening day at the “friendly confines” on Lake Michigan.  However, during that exact date and time, our thoughts will be purposefully distracted as we think of nearly 40,000 Twins baseball fans that will be ushering in Opening Day at their new Target Field.  Minnesotans should be proud.  On April 12th, 2010 one of baseball’s finest and most productive organizations will stake out a landmark day in Twins history.  I sincerely wish the Twins impeccable success in their new home, the beautiful Target Field.  I plan to attend as often as possible.

This week Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama will be calling my congressman, Tim Walz (D MN) to ask him to again support their poorly-designed health care bill.   Walz, who grew up in Nebraska before following his wife back to Minnesota, was a high school teacher in Mankato, MN before being elected to the House of Representatives in 2006.  Like many of his colleagues in the House of Representatives, Walz’ political health is gravely threatened by Obamacare.

——————————————————–Rep. Tim Walz (D) MN—————————-

The proposed health care plan that will come forward for a vote in the next couple of weeks doesn’t bring about increased competition among drug companies, pharmaceutical companies, or insurance companies; in fact, it protects their monopoly interests.  It doesn’t advocate tort reform, but that’s not surprising in a congress that is full of lawyers.  Now, when the country needs competition-based true health care reform, Obamacare just creates another Federal entitlement program at a time when the country is, simply, out of money.

As the Democrats attempt to push Obamacare down the throats of the American public, house members like Mr. Walz are being asked to bet their political futures on the Pelosi-Reid-Obama mantra.  It is a bad bet.  Mr. Walz has already lost that bet when he voted for the earlier version of Obamacare.

Like many of his colleagues in the house, Walz is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.  If he votes for the latest version of Obamacare he will be reinstating his belief in bigger government, more spending and higher taxes.  If he votes against the latest version of Obamacare he will be seen as “flip-flopping” to save his Congressional career, making him just another political whore.  In either case, Walz has ended his Congressional career.

There are many in the House like Mr. Walz.  History will show that like many of their fellow Americans they were swept up in the charisma of Mr. Obama, only later to realize his lack of leadership, sincerity, and competence.  While the average Obama voter can camouflage the fact that he voted for Obama, members of the U.S. House of Representatives are on the record in their support of the Reid, Pelosi, Obama agenda.  It is unlikely that by November 2, 2010 the economy will improve or that other issues will surface to distract the public from using common sense this time around.  Mr. Walz, like many of his colleagues, is “on the record and out of the house.”

Yesterday morning (March 6, 2010) I hopped in the pickup at 7am on my way Chicago.  This is a trip that I do several times a year, so I’m familiar with about every exit, gas station and fast food joint on the 306 mile journey between Winona, MN and Chicago, IL.

I was traveling alone this time.  About 75 miles into the trip I stopped at mile marker 48 along Wisconsin I-90.  Hardees had breakfast biscuits and I decided to take one with the white frosting and try their blueberry biscuit as well.  I decided to eat the biscuits in the truck.  Eating the first biscuit proved no problem but the blueberry variety proved challenging.  After biting a corner out of the biscuit, the blueberry goop (complete with actual blueberries) started running out of the side.  I tipped the toasty disk up on its side to stop the drainage, while at the same time trying to eat as much of the biscuit as I could.  Once I had to jettison what was left of the biscuit into the box while I wiped my hands with a napkin.  Finally the blueberry biscuit was entirely consumed and all I had was a sticky hand and a gooey steering wheel; nothing that couldn’t be handled at the next gas stop in Janesville.  I hate to admit this, but I spent a few seconds marveling at my biscuit-handling prowess; this had been as difficult and potentially messy of a biscuit as I had ever eaten!

A few minutes later, as I passed Cascade Mountain Road on I-90, I saw flashing lights behind me from an unmarked Wisconsin State Patrol car.  You always hope they’re looking for someone else, but this time it was my turn.  Out of the cruiser walked a young and fit Wisconsin State Patrolman who for sure hadn’t been eating Hardees biscuits!   Trooper Thiede informed me that I was driving 75 in a 65 mph zone.  I told him that I traveled this route several times a year and had never been pulled over at 75 mph.  “Not until today, you haven’t” he said.  We discussed the violation for a few minutes.  He let me off with a warning, for which I was very grateful.

For the few minutes we talked, Officer Thiede was very respectful and friendly; the State of Wisconsin should be proud of this man; he’s a good hire (and not just because he gave me a warning).  As we spoke, Officer Thiede gave me a broad, kind of sympathetic, smile.  I was thinking, hey…the guy really likes me!

About a half hour later I happened to look straight down at my hooded sweatshirt.  There was what seemed like a thousand tons of blueberry goop all over the seatbelt and sweatshirt.  It was crammed into the sweatshirt zipper and on both sides of the seatbelt.  To Officer Thiede I must have looked like the king of slobs; like a kid that had just eaten his first birthday cake.

Thanks, Officer Thiede, for being so kind, so professional, and so understanding.  It’s a good thing that being a slob isn’t against the law or you would have had no choice but to put me in jail, slam the door, and lock me up for a month!