Obama Supporters please answer

[JLKennedy]

Where do unnecessary wars for democracy fall into your plans?

Those are things that we would have to pay for, to maintain our freedoms that were fought and many died for.

Should we pay the teachers for K-12? Or should they pay for their own supplies? Should we let the schools crumble in rural areas? Should we teach to the bottom of the class or maybe expect a little more from the students? These days we don't expect too much

Of course we should pay our teachers, did I ever say we shouldn't? That is what our LOCAL taxes pay.

Should we repair say roads and bridges? The ones in terrible disrepair?

We feed millions via gasoline taxes into our road & bridge funds, but let's build a bridge to nowhere with that money instead of fixing the roads.

NJ is highly taxed, however, I'd have to say that it's not the highest taxed.

Well maybe the editors of Money Magazine were incorrect 3 months back. Stating that while NJ has one of the lowest gasoline tax at about 15%, our property tax far surpasses every other state in the country.

So for the C Sections that cost 5-20K, should the patient pay that because their insurance company decided they could drop them? Pregnancy is a pre-existing condition, give insurance companies the opportunity they will drop every pre-existing condition patient in this country & don't think they won't..... We can't get them to pay for our plan benefits much less anything beyond that... It's a continual battle. I have 3 insurance company's, I'm fortunate and we still deal with this crap.

No, it would not be the patient's responsiblity, cap how much procedures cost, hence how much doctors can charge, you would still be responsible for your co-pay. But to say my c-section cost my insurance $15k in NJ and in Alabama (just an example) is $10k, well there's a problem, make a standard costing for all procedures.

Oh, and if anything above K-12 is on the parents or student, who, in 30 years do you think will be taking care of you in the hospital? There surely won't be many doctors or nurses available....

Yes, it is on each individual. People need to stop relying on hand outs and work hard for what they want. By all means, there will be plenty of doctors when I'm 60+ years old.

 

[airhead]

He's not wealthy but he is worth alot more than most middle class people that I know. BTW, this doesn't include his wife's retirement plan.

He calls himself middleclass???????? Wow. Then me, and most of the people I know are dirt poor!

 

[Planogirl]

You'd still have the IRS because someone has to gather the taxes even if the rates fall under a flat tax. What about deductions? Would you do away with all of those?

 

[JLKennedy]

You'd still have the IRS because someone has to gather the taxes even if the rates fall under a flat tax. What about deductions? Would you do away with all of those?

I'd keep itemized deductions, such as charitable contributions and give an "allowance" to people making under "X" the allowance would be then applied towards your following year taxes or you'd have the option of investing it. For each child you have you'd receive an additional allowance of "Y" to max out at "Z". Those funds can be used towards educational expenses (much like your flex spending accounts) where receipts are turned in and money remitted to you. By doing away with the IRS, I meant "income tax".

 

[Reflection]

.....Yes, it is on each individual. People need to stop relying on hand outs and work hard for what they want. By all means, there will be plenty of doctors when I'm 60+ years old.

The physician workforce is definitely atrophying. Where do you get your information? For underserved populations, access to health care is not just an insurance/affordability issue but lack of providers is a serious problem. Many physicians are opting to work in specialities with higher income potential (e.g., dermatology, sports medicine, oncology etc.) rather than primary care specialities. Primary care docs are, and will remain, critically needed, as will physicians gerontologists, given our aging population and that people live longer with chronic illnesses.

For background info: http://www.aamc.org/workforce/

 

[JLKennedy]

The physician workforce is definitely atrophying. Where do you get your information? For underserved populations, access to health care is not just an insurance/affordability issue but lack of providers is a serious problem. Many physicians are opting to work in specialities with higher income potential (e.g., dermatology, sports medicine, oncology etc.) rather than primary care specialities. Primary care docs are, and will remain, critically needed, as will physicians gerontologists, given our aging population and that people live longer with chronic illnesses.

For background info: http://www.aamc.org/workforce/

I guess things are different in your neck of the woods. Here, a lot of "specialists" are leaving, closing up shop, becoming GP's b/c their malpractice insurance is so high.

I predict that IF our GP numbers dip too low, many huge corporations, medical schools will offer special "tuition" rates to entice students or potential students. Also, let's not be naive, there are always others in the world who are more than willing to practice, as long as they get to come to America. Qualifications may not be at the level "you" (collectively) would like them to be, but qualified none the less.

Look at J&J, they are giving money away to people wanting to pursue a nursing career, I suspect the same would happen for doctors, if needed.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Okay, don't let a portion of my name fool you. Our family is "working poor"....which many of us are...we make just under $100k per year combined. We live in the greatest taxed state available to US...New Jersey.

Here are my thoughts:

1. No more tax cuts, especially if you DON'T pay taxes or aren't required to due to your own "income" status/bracket.

2. Get rid of socialism. Why are the rest of the tax-payers required to pay for everyone else's needs? I'm not for "welfare" but would welcome "work-fare", get a job and if your employer pays you less than "X", then the US Gov't will send you a monthly ration of "Y" to compensate the difference. And for those who truly fall on hard times and don't abuse the "system", welfare will be there for you, but there is a cap on how long/how much you can get.

3. Social Security- what? When I'm old enough to retire (in 30+ years) the money I've paid in won't be there. Let's make it so that everyone who works and pays into SS gets to dictate where it goes, much like your 401k, it is my money that I have paid, why does someone else deserve it more?

4. Free education is K-12, anything else, is on you, period.

5. I think we could do away with the IRS if we had a flat tax. If you had say a Nat'l tax of 15% on everything, everyone (illegals included) would be pumping money into the Fed and we'd get somewhere. Then to create an "economic stimulus" they can issue a "tax free" day once per quarter, see how much money comes rolling in...seriously.

6. Medicaid should not cover Viagra, sorry if I offend all the seniors, but come on now, if you need it to help you, pay out of pocket, like those of us with allergies have to pay for Zyrtec.

7. Create a "labor list" for hospitals, doctors, etc. When you take your car to get a tire change or something, there are guidelines stating that the labor rate is "X" and cannot go over "Y", so the least you'd pay is this and the most is that. Make all c-sections chargeable to $5k to $20k (for complications). All root canals cost "X", this way the doctors are profiting from the insurance companies and the insurance companies are raping us.

I've got plenty of other ideas, but we do need to stop spending before we do anything else. And I know we need to help our friends globally, but charity starts at home. We can't even take care of our own homeless people, but we want to send future terrorists to school or bring them over here for education, surgery?????

 

[DVC Sadie]

Okay, don't let a portion of my name fool you. Our family is "working poor"....which many of us are...we make just under $100k per year combined. We live in the greatest taxed state available to US...New Jersey.

Here are my thoughts:

1. No more tax cuts, especially if you DON'T pay taxes or aren't required to due to your own "income" status/bracket.

2. Get rid of socialism. Why are the rest of the tax-payers required to pay for everyone else's needs? I'm not for "welfare" but would welcome "work-fare", get a job and if your employer pays you less than "X", then the US Gov't will send you a monthly ration of "Y" to compensate the difference. And for those who truly fall on hard times and don't abuse the "system", welfare will be there for you, but there is a cap on how long/how much you can get.

3. Social Security- what? When I'm old enough to retire (in 30+ years) the money I've paid in won't be there. Let's make it so that everyone who works and pays into SS gets to dictate where it goes, much like your 401k, it is my money that I have paid, why does someone else deserve it more?

4. Free education is K-12, anything else, is on you, period.

5. I think we could do away with the IRS if we had a flat tax. If you had say a Nat'l tax of 15% on everything, everyone (illegals included) would be pumping money into the Fed and we'd get somewhere. Then to create an "economic stimulus" they can issue a "tax free" day once per quarter, see how much money comes rolling in...seriously.

6. Medicaid should not cover Viagra, sorry if I offend all the seniors, but come on now, if you need it to help you, pay out of pocket, like those of us with allergies have to.

7. Create a "labor list" for hospitals, doctors, etc. When you take your car to get a tire change or something, there are guidelines stating that the labor rate is "X" and cannot go over "Y", so the least you'd pay is this and the most is that. Make all c-sections chargeable to $5k to $20k (for complications). All root canals cost "X", this way the doctors are profiting from the insurance companies and the insurance companies are raping us.

I've got plenty of other ideas, but we do need to stop spending before we do anything else. And I know we need to help our friends globally, but charity starts at home. We can't even take care of our own homeless people, but we want to send future terrorists to school or bring them over here for education, surgery?????

Great Post and I concur.

 

[JLKennedy]

Thanks for your support, I'm not trying to "win" votes, just adding what I'd like to see happen. I like making it equal for all or as close to it as possible, which is why I really like that flat tax.

As for the housing issue mentioned earlier, my house has not depreciated at all, it actually "normalized". I bought my home for $85k, 3 years ago a realtor told me I could get $350k for it, no way would I have EVER bought my home for that money, so no one's house has really depreciated, IMO, it has just normalized.

 

[Marie17]

Don't know, but an Illinois state senator only makes around $75,000. give or take. I suspect college loans to Harvard Law school may run into the hundreds of thousands. I'll be glad if our kids can pay off their undergrad loans by the time they are 30.

I thought he was a lawyer before he went into the state senate and I didn't realize that Michelle was a stay at home mom. I thought she was a nicely paid lawyer or administrator somewhere.