Thread: America Is Bankrupt

Must be the diet!! Couldn't be the cigarettes, could it??? Maybe, by the time you need it, they will actually LISTEN to the plan I've proposed about letting people like us BUY, NOT be GIVEN, into the health insurance plan that they have for government employees. We would pay our own premiums but at GROUP, not INDIVIDUAL, rates. If our President is as concerned about small businesses as he claims, can't he see that this would be a great incentive for them? They can't get decent rates because they are not a large enough bloc to get discounted rates but they have that plan just sitting there that represents a HUGE group and it is just the perfect solution to the health care crisis that we are experiencing. No handouts. Just a hand.

Yes, and it is a disgrace that considering 80% maybe more now of all new jobs are created by SMALL BUSINESS. For the past 15 years, the future of new job growth has sadly depended on these entities but yet there are very few group insurance plans for them. And worst, there are no reasonable individual health insurance plans. Blue Cross Blue Shield is about the only one which is okay if you have a $5,000 deductible and are under 55. Even at that, the premiums are over $300 a month.

Insurance customers support the medical industry. The medical industry supports illegal immigration. This means insurance customers support illegal immigration. This means we pay for the illegal aliens showing up in droves at our local hospitals and clinics and receiving medical care for "free". "Free". No. It isn't free. We paid for it. That's why your premiums are almost $700 and mine were over $300 and I had a $5,000 deductible which means I pay the first $5,000 EVERY incident.

I think Blue Cross is a RIP OFF. They had me because I had HAD a plan through the North Carolina Grange which was a Blue Cross Group plan and Blue Cross finally dropped the plan. They gave those of us who were members of the Grange plan the opportunity to change to Blue Advantage but they SLAMMED us with the premiums. My insurance went from $235 a month to $665 a month a couple of years ago when all of this happened AND, at that time, I was 57 or 58. They just KNEW they had all of us over the proverbial barrel. And, I applied for other policies but was turned down for everyone because nobody is going to take on a person at my age and run the risk. I can't believe you were getting your BC for that price. Though, I have the $1000 deductible. BUT, it's only a 70/30 plan which sucks. I figured every way from Thursday and, no matter which plan I chose, I would end up potentially paying almost $12,000 every year before Blue Cross kicked in at 100% and that doesn't count all of these copays.

So, Bush's idea of pushing for small businesses just doesn't wash because there's no way they can stay afloat and offer health insurance. Of course, even the HUGE corporations are either making the employees bear part of the cost or dropping it altogether. And, what's worse is all of the people who loyally gave their whole working lives working for companies that PROMISED them health insurance at retirement and they are having that jerked out from under them. THAT should be illegal.

So, all in all, my plan would benefit a lot of people like us and it wouldn't cost the government anything. We would be paying the premiums and they would be spreading the risk over a much larger segment of the poplulation. Oh well--------I've TRIED!!!

Yes you have and I support your idea. What's good for our employees should be good for US. That is outrageous what BCBS did. Terrible.

Blue Cross is just one of those companies I would LOVE to tell where to PUT THEIR INSURANCE!!! BUT--I had better behave or they'll jack me up! Remember when they were trying to become a "for profit organization"?? Boy, I kept the letters going both to Insurance Commissioner, Jim Long, and to Governor Easley to try to stop that AND that succeeded! I'm sure it wasn't because of MY letters but I had documented all of the baloney about the Grange plan and then what they had done to us with the Blue DISadvantage and told them they were robbing us BLIND as it was and they didn't need free reign to steal any more money from us. AND, oddly enough, that year they made RECORD profits--I'm SURE in anticipation that their request as a for profit would be approved--and they had to find a way to refund some of our money so we got all of out generic drugs free the last quarter of last year. Were you in on that little plan??? Boy, did I EVER stockpile!!! Thank goodness, I have a doctor who lets me have prescriptions for whatever I think I will need so I have enough antibiotics, etc. to last a couple of years!!! Blue Cross isn't going to pull one over on me if I can help it. I plan to milk them dry for the next 3 1/2 years or so until I can get Medicare. Speaking of which-----that's a discussion for another day. THAT MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLAN is just RIDICULOUS. I have been studying over it for my mother and I am absolutely going to tell them where to stick that. If Bush wants to take credit for that particular FIASCO, let him have it. You can tell it's something that he and Ted Kennedy dreamed up. A JOKE.

Nothing the Maniac does is for real. We know that.

A lot of good posts here!!! I can't copy everything that was written on the previous page, but you, the reader may want to check out the previous page.
http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-9914-days0-orderasc-0.html

Originally Posted by Bootsie

I admire your optimism, lost_mummy, and I really wish I could share it but it is NOT just the MSM that portrays a gloomy picture of the state of this country. I live in a small county that has lost almost FOUR THOUSAND furniture manufacturing jobs in 5 years. AND, there have been no decent jobs created to replace these good-paying, decent benefits jobs. And, then we have the defection of the Senate Judiciary committee voting to allow EVEN MORE H1B visas next year for the really good, high-tech jobs. Globalization is going to destroy this country and we need to really watch China or, within the next 20 years, we won't be worried about having to speak Spanish. We'll be forced by a COMMUNIST CHINA to speak Chinese.

You mention the education level of the people in India and I'm sure the figures are correct but what that fails to address is that we are exporting HUGE NUMBERS of technical jobs to India. Now, is our government going to try to convince us that "these are jobs Americans won't do"???

It is just too easy to blame the MSM for the woes of our nation. You only need to look in your own backyard to see that the jobs that are left for Americans are the service jobs that pay little, have no benefits and no hope of upward mobility. And, as long as this administration is controlling our economy, this is what we need to get used to. Unemployment statistics are very deceptive. People might be working but they are NOT working in comparable jobs to the ones they've lost.

Remember the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. All great civilizations in the past have failed because they've become complacent and refused to see the reality of what is going on right before their very eyes. Our government is selling us down the river and the current is swift.

You're right about the "gloomy" state of the country... And something like 60% of Americans believe the country's headed in the wrong direction... So, you're not the only one who sees it this way.

Also, you're right that "it is NOT just the MSM that portrays a gloomy picture of the state of this country.".. Rather, this is reality.

And I share your pessimism too... After all, our capital is nearly gone... I'm talking about our industrial capital (i.e. factories and service jobs offshore), our financial capital (i.e. huge debts), our political capital (i.e. politicians bought off)...

But my point was that we still have our "human capital.".. And with this human capital, we have the ability to turn things around.

I mean, the MSM makes it sound like our "human capital" is gone... Indeed, the article in this topic "America is Bankrupt" seems to make that case too.

The MSM suggests we're all a bunch of lazy bumbs... This is why need illegals to do our chores... But actually, my previous post showed that we're the hardest working people in the industrialized world.

The MSM suggests that we're all a bunch of dummies... This is why need to shift the jobs offshore... But actually, my previous post showed that we're among the most educated in the world.

The MSM suggests that we're apathetic, but my previous post showed that we're one of those most active people when it comes to community service work.

The elites don't like democracy... They want us to believe we're all on Team Citizen Loser, so that we think that "resistance is futile.".. And I've noticed that the average American seems to have a pretty low opinion of the average American... I mean, how often have we all heard someone lament about how "apathetic" and "clueless" and "lazy" most people are?

I just don't think most Americans are that bad... I think we're on a good team... But there is one thing that we have to be ashamed about and that is our lack of involvement in our government... We've let the elitists take over.

Yet, it was our human capital that built this country's industrial, financial, and political capital... So, we can use our tremendous human capital to do so again... First we need to fix our democracy and then repair all the other damage that globalization has wrought... As Lou Dobbs said the other night, "it's democracy that makes the free market possible, not the free market that makes democracy possible."

Of course, it's a long haul to just get back to even... And as Judy said, we don't have all the time in the world (i.e. there may come a point of no return.).. But my point is that we're on a good team... We just need to get moving... We need to get organized and use our collective wisdom, knowledge, skills, and patriotism to fix our government... I think we can do it... Whether we will is "up in the air", as it depends on the choices that millions of individuals choose to make using their sovereign and unpredictable "free will."

In summary, I believe that Team Citizen America can defeat Team Corporate America... We will need to get more involved in participating in our democracy and we will need to encourage others to get involved... Also, I acknowledge we don't have all the time in the world... There's definitely some urgency here...

So, my "optimism" is not based on any rosy view of the present or even of the future, but rather a belief that we have the ability to at least begin to turn things around and set a course for our country, so that it's "headed in the right direction" and safely away from the abyss in which we're currently headed... Whether we do, depends on how many people get involved, their level of committment, and how organized we are... Nothing is inevitable, but there is definitely good cause for hope, which is the driving force of all activism.

VERY WELL SAID, lost_mummy. The people of this country truly ARE the strength of the nation. I guess we've just been so BATTERED that we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think you're right in your assessment of the American people but, unless something drastic is done and done FAST, we're on a crash course to oblivion.

The first thing we need to do is clean house in Washington. THAT would be a start and THAT is where the people CAN make a difference IF they just get off their you-know-whats and try to make a difference.

Yes Lost_Mummy...very well said. We have the Power because We are the Americans. There isn't anything we can't do.

We just need to do it!

Throw the bums out!