Stop Pulling the Wagon

With the opening of the new Congress and change to Democratic control of the House of Representatives we are hearing renewed calls for “Medicare For All” residents of the United States.  This has become a rallying cry for the “Progressive” wing of the Democratic Party.  Not all Democrats are admitted “Progressives” but  a growing number appear to be.

“Progressive” is a kinder and gentler word for “Socialist” and some champions for this cause readily admit to Socialist leanings.  Socialist is in turn, often associated with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics/Russia  and other Socialist countries like Venezuela, Cuba and many others.

If you would like an example of living in a Socialist Country, you might want to vacation in Venezuela this year.  Make it soon.  The country is in “end stage” Economic Collapse.

“Medicare For All” has a nice “ring” to it and on the surface would appear to be a way to provide Universal Medical Care to everyone on a simplified, single payer basis.  The idea sounds simple enough to be attractive.

A similar proposal was studied under Bill Clinton’s Presidency with Hillary Clinton heading up a task force to work out a plan for implementation.  After much study and spending millions of dollars on the proposed idea it was ultimately determined to be unworkable.

Several studies have been done and reported in Bloomberg and other  outlets that place the estimated cost of such a proposed plan at between 32 Trillion and 42 Trillion Dollars over 10 years.  That’s about 3.2 Trillion to 4.2 Trillion Dollars a year and would approximately double current Federal Spending.

It should be noted that Medicare as it currently operates is on the road to Bankruptcy.  Government Trustees, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar,  issued a report that Medicare’s trust fund will run out in 2026 and the combined trust funds of Social Security will run out in 2034.  Source: The Washington Examiner – Saturday January 26, 2019 – from a report by Joseph Lawler June 05, 2018.

Many people believe that Medicare is “Free” healthcare for Senior Citizens.  It is not.  Medicare is not free.  Premiums for Medicare are based in part on income – visit: MyMedicare.Gov – but if I take myself as an example, I’m a pretty ordinary Senior on a modest income, the following shows my Medicare Medical Insurance  and Medicare Prescription Plan monthly premiums for this year.  Keep in mind that plan premiums are for each individual.  Mine total just a bit over $300 a month this year.  If on a “Medicare For All” plan and I was one of a family of five, we could be paying a total premium of $1,500 a month.  

Please keep in mind also that Medicare Medical Insurance does not cover everything and has co-pays, deductibles and maximums.  The same for the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.  When your limits run out during the year and, “you” are “on your own” for the cost of care or prescriptions for the rest of that year, is where we Seniors get the phrase “Donut Hole”.  I hit my own “Donut Hole” last year on my Medicare Prescription Drug Plan in October.

For the tens of millions of citizens who might not want to be a part of “Medicare For All” and are happy with their current insurance, don’t worry, “If you like your Doctor and Insurance, you can keep them, and that’s a promise!”  Hmmm – Where did we hear that before?

I am sure that Congress, most government employees and various other “special interests” would find a way to exempt themselves just as they did from the “Affordable Care Act”.  Hardly “Medicare For All”.  “All” never seems to include our “Ruling Class”.

For Senior Citizens the premium is withheld from our Social Security payment.  What would the Government do to collect premiums from those who don’t have a check to withhold the premium from, or those who don’t work for a paycheck?  What about those who can’t or won’t pay?

What would happen to the cost of care?  Are there enough doctors to make the plan work?  Not all doctors are currently willing to accept Medicare patients.   There are many unanswered questions. 

In the news and something to think about.

Bob Bandy

WHAT TANGLED WEBS WE WEAVE

Following the great tragedy, loss of life and misery of the recent “Camp” fire that took more than eighty lives and destroyed the town of Paradise, California as well as causing serious damage to neighboring communities, the survivors are looking at a long period of recovery and rebuilding.

Making matters more complicated and difficult will be a consortium of lawyers, Insurance Companies, State & Federal Regulatory Agencies as well as often conflicting and contrary (re)building permits, environmental impact rules, etc.etc.etc.

As just one example, The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regulates investor-owned electric and natural gas utilities operating in California.  The PUC is a “rats nest” of rules, regulations and political favoritism.  Want to get nominated to the PUC Governing Board?  Support the Party in power in Sacramento.

Already we have various sources blaming Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) for the cause of the fire and numerous Trial Lawyer Firms running ads soliciting lawsuits from victims and their families.  No matter the source of a disaster, the Trial Lawyers always hear the potential “Ka-Ching” of a cash register in their future.

PG&E has notified the State of California and others that they do not have the resources to cover potentially Billions of dollars in lawsuits and damage claims and have taken preliminary steps to file for re-organization under Bankruptcy Laws.

I am now hearing on the radio, ads from Law Firms for citizens to petition the State and Courts to not allow PG&E to file Bankruptcy and avoid paying out all of the massive claims pending.

Without defending or blaming PG&E, I would like to point out a few thoughts I have on the subject:

• PG&E has one major source of revenue:  Ratepayers, i.e. customers for the energy services they provide. Should the courts award Billions of Dollars in judgement’s to the victims of the fire and their lawyers, where will the money come from to pay those judgement’s?  PG&E’s customers, the Ratepayers.
• PG&E’s profits are very tightly regulated by the PUC which allows them only a “reasonable” profit over and above their actual costs.
• The PUC also regulates where PG&E must put their power and gas lines, how they are to be constructed, what maintenance is required,  what communities must be served, etc.etc.
• State and Federal Agencies tell PG&E how much or how little clearance of brush, trees and vegetation can or must be done along “right of ways” for power and gas lines. 
• Other than a State of California PUC “reasonable and Prudent” cash reserve over day to day operating expenses, PG&E’s assets are mostly tied up in maintenance and operating equipment (tools, trucks, materials etc.).

SO

• If court ordered judgement’s in the Tens of Billions of Dollars are awarded to victims, keeping in mind that 30-50% of those dollars will go to pay litigation costs – i.e. end up in the Trial Lawyers pockets, PG&E will have to increase rates Statewide to begin to satisfy the judgement’s.  With PUC approval of course.

OR

• If the courts should decide to “liquidate” PG&E by selling all of its assets to pay toward the judgements, current PG&E customers may find themselves sitting in cold, dark rooms watching television by candlelight. 

If the courts should ultimately decide that PG&E is not at fault for the fire, or bears only a percentage of the blame perhaps a just recourse would be a fund paid in part by the Insurance Companies, PG&E (to the limit of their own insurance), and State of California Disaster Funds.

If the PUC and State of California are found negligent in their oversight and monitoring responsibilities then they should share in the blame and  costs. 

Perhaps additional funds should come from the United States and California Forrest management Funds due to their restrictions on clearance of hazardous, often dead, trees and brush. 

I would suggest that these funds be administered and paid out under the direction of Judge Judy. 

If anyone out there thinks money can be honestly and faithfully distributed by the Trial Lawyers I would like to ask you to send me $20 in cash along with a self addressed, stamped envelope and I will send you a glossy photo of the Tooth Fairy.

Bob Bandy

The following article was sent to me some months back.  It made me angry, frustrated, depressed and kind of sick all at the same time.  I just put it in a “file” and let it age. You may have seen it before and if you did you can just “skip” this one if you like.  

I am reprinting it here without comment other than sharing my feeling that where can we turn for redress if the FBI, Justice Department and related agencies are all corrupt?  The author is unknown by me but the facts are real and  not in question.

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Is there just a little corruption in DC? Read this. It explains all.

From 2001 to 2005 there was an ongoing investigation into the Clinton Foundation. A Grand Jury had been empaneled. Governments from around the world had donated to the “Charity”. Yet, from 2001 to 2003 none of those “Donations” to the Clinton Foundation were declared.

Hmmm, now you would think that an honest investigator would be able to figure this out.

Guess who took over this investigation in 2002? Bet you can’t guess. No other than James Comey. Now, that’s interesting, isn’t it? Guess who was transferred in to the Internal Revenue Service to run the Tax Exemption Branch of the IRS? Your friend and mine, Lois “Be on The Look Out” (BOLO) Lerner. Now, that’s interesting, isn’t it?

It gets better, well not really, but this is all just a series of strange coincidences, right?

Guess who ran the Tax Division inside the Department of Injustice from 2001 to 2005?  No other than the Assistant Attorney General of the United States, Rod Rosenstein.  Now, that’s interesting, isn’t it? Guess who was the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation during this time frame??? I know, it’s a miracle, just a coincidence, just an anomaly in statistics and chances: Robert Mueller.

What do all four casting characters have in common? They all were briefed and/or were front line investigators into the Clinton Foundation Investigation. Now that’s just a coincidence, right? OK, lets chalk the last one up to mere chance.

Let’s fast forward to 2009. James Comey leaves the Justice Department to go and cash-in at Lockheed Martin.

Hillary Clinton is running the State Department, on her own personal email server by the way. The Uranium One “issue” comes to the attention of the Hillary. Like all good public servants do, you know looking out for America’s best interest, She decides to support the decision and approve the sale of 20% of US Uranium to no other than, the Russians.

Now you would think that this is a fairly straight up deal, except it wasn’t, the People got absolutely nothing out of it. However, prior to the sales approval, no other than Bill Clinton goes to Moscow, gets paid 500K for a one hour speech then meets with Vladimir Putin at his home for a few hours. Ok, no big deal right? Well, not so fast, the FBI had a mole inside the money laundering and bribery scheme.

Guess who was the FBI Director during this time frame? Yep, Robert Mueller. He even delivered a Uranium Sample to Moscow in 2009. Guess who was handling that case within the Justice Department out of the US Attorney’s Office in Maryland. No other than, Rod Rosenstein.

Guess what happened to the informant? Department of Justice placed a GAG order on him and threatened to lock him up if he spoke out about it. How does 20% of the most strategic asset of the United States of America end up in Russian hands when the FBI has an informant, a mole providing inside information to the FBI on the criminal enterprise?

Guess what happened soon after the sale was approved? ~145 million dollars in “donations” made their way into the Clinton Foundation from entities directly connected to the Uranium One deal. Guess who was still at the Internal Revenue Service working the Charitable Division? No other than, Lois Lerner.

Ok, that’s all just another series of coincidences, nothing to see here, right?

Let’s fast forward to 2015. Due to a series of tragic events in Benghazi and after the 9 “investigations” of the House, Senate and at State Department, Trey Gowdy who was running the 10th investigation as Chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi discovers that the Hillary ran the State Department on an unclassified, unauthorized, outlaw personal email server. He also discovered that none of those emails had been turned over when she departed her “Public Service” as Secretary of State which was required by law. He also discovered that there was Top Secret information contained within her personally archived email. Sparing you the State Departments cover up, the nostrums they floated, the delay tactics that were employed and the outright lies that were spewed forth from the necks of the Kerry State Department, we shall leave it with this…… they did everything humanly possible to cover for Hillary.

Now this is amazing, guess who became FBI Director in 2013? Guess who secured 17 no bid contracts for his employer (Lockheed Martin) with the State Department and was rewarded with a six million dollar thank you present when he departed his employer. No other than James Comey. Amazing how all those no-bids just went right through at State, huh? Now he is the FBI Director in charge of the “Clinton Email Investigation” after of course his FBI Investigates the Lois Lerner “Matter” at the Internal Revenue Service and exonerates her. Nope couldn’t find any crimes there. Can you guess what happened next?

In April 2016, James Comey drafts an exoneration letter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, meanwhile the DOJ is handing out immunity deals like candy. They didn’t even convene a Grand Jury. Like a lightning bolt of statistical impossibility, like a miracle from God himself, like the true “Gangsta” Comey is, James steps out into the cameras of an awaiting press conference on July the 8th of 2016, and exonerates the Hillary from any wrongdoing.

Can you see the pattern?

It goes on and on, Rosenstein becomes Asst. Attorney General, Comey gets fired based upon a letter by Rosenstein, Comey leaks government information to the press, Mueller is assigned to the Russian Investigation sham by Rosenstein to provide cover for decades of malfeasance within the FBI and DOJ and the story continues. As of this writing, the Clinton Foundation, in its 20+ years of operation of being the largest International Charity Fraud in the history of mankind, has never been audited by the Internal Revenue Service.

FISA Abuse, political espionage….. pick a crime, any crime, chances are…… this group and a few others did it.

All the same players. All compromised and conflicted. All working fervently to NOT go to jail themselves.

All connected in one way or another to the Clinton’s. They are like battery acid, they corrode and corrupt everything they touch. How many lives have these two destroyed?

Let us not forget that Comey’s brother works for DLA Piper, the law firm that does the Clinton Foundation’s taxes.

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End of reprinted article.   

Bob Bandy

For more on the Clinton’s,  type: Clinton Crime Family in the Search Box and hit enter on your keyboard.

WHEN PEOPLE FIND OUT THEY CAN VOTE THEMSELVES MONEY, THAT WILL BE THE END OF THE REPUBLIC – Benjamin Franklin

What Benjamin Franklin, and other early writers, saw was a potential weakness in the  Republic as founded that would allow Congress to prostitute itself  by rewarding those who would vote for them with funds from the public Treasury.  In other words, voters can vote money from the Treasury into their own pocket by simply voting for the “right” members of Congress.

This little essay is not really about people.  It is about a system that, perhaps without meaning to, encourages irresponsible behavior by appealing to the side of human nature that wants an abundant life without working for it.  We all love Santa Claus.

Here is an example I have heard and will share:  A group of students go to college.  Some students work hard,  study diligently and get all A’s & B’s.  Other students party, skip classes, do not study, attend marches and protests for “causes” and get D’s & F’s.  Their Professor says that in order to be “fair” to all students he has decided to “tax” the hard working students A’s & B’s  and share those grades with the lazy students who got the D’s & F’s.  In this way all students can average out at a “C” grade.    Some of the students are going to love this idea and others will likely hate it.  Can you guess which ones will love it? 

If through the ballot box we give the power of giving the money of those who earned it  (other peoples money) to those who did not earn it, and if congress lacks the integrity to be fiscally responsible in order to gain votes – we are ultimately doomed as a nation.

The only possible fix for this would be to not allow “non-producers” to vote.  Good luck getting that through Congress.

At least we will have lots of historical company.  The dustbin of history is littered with the remains of failed “so called” democracies. 

For a more humorous look at what I am writing about you might want to read an article I wrote back in November of 2012.  Just type Locust in the “Search” box on the left side of the page and hit enter on your keyboard.

Bob Bandy

As of this writing our Government is in “Partial Shutdown”.  We are told that this is only about a 25% shutdown as only “Non-Essential” Services will be put on hold.

All other Government spending is on “Auto-Pilot” and no budget is needed to continue spending.  How comforting.  Excuse the sarcasm.

Lets see.  As a nation we are now some 21 Trillion (with a ‘T’) Dollars in debt.  Well, Excuse me……..  I have a question, if we are only shutting down “Non-Essential” Services, which by my country-boy  thinking means “we can live without them”, then why don’t we shut them down permanently, save the money and maybe, just maybe, start digging our way out of debt?

But, we are told that is not the way Government works.  When the clowns, criminals and lunatics in Washington get done arguing and come to some kind of agreement, they will “Restore” all those “Non-Essential Services” and retro-actively again fund all those “Non-Essential Services” because, as you see, our Government considers them “Essential”.

In our family, and with most businesses,  budgeting does not work this way.  But of course we don’t have the ability to print fiat money.

Following this tirade I am again printing below an article that was sent to me back in August of 2012 and I reprinted at that time on this site because it is such a classic example of “Government Think”. I can think of no way of saying it better.  It is not original with me – I merely share it.

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THE NIGHT WATCHMAN

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert.  Congress said, “Someone may steal from it at night”.  So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.  Then Congress said, “how does the watchman do his job without instruction?”

So they created a planning department and hired two people.  One person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.  Then Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?”  So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people.  One was to do the studies and one was to write the reports.

Then Congress said, “how are these people going to get paid?”  So they created two positions: a time keeper and a payroll officer, then hired two people.  Then Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?”  So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, “We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $918,000 over budget, we must cut back.”

So they laid off the night watchman.

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Now slowly let it sink in.  We go like sheep to the slaughter.  The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

Bob Bandy

About a week before election day I was out driving through our neighborhood with my wife and daughter when it suddenly occurred to me that I was seeing virtually no political posters or yard signs in yards.  Well, actually I saw two.  One was a handmade sign for a “new” candidate for City Council and the other was for a popular local State Assemblyman running for re-election and it contained no stated party affiliation. 

Following this epiphany I began to seek out political and what might be possibly considered controversial bumper stickers, decals, posters etc.  Ones such as NRA – Make America Great Again – just to name a couple.  I find few to none.

I have since remembered that prior to the last Presidential Election I was an admirer of Ben Carson who had decided to run for the office of President.  I genuinely felt that he had little chance of winning but admired his character, intelligence and integrity.  I put one of his bumper stickers on the rear window of our SUV just to show support for his effort.  A few days later I found that someone had written RACIST with a broad marker pen across the bumper sticker.  I have yet to figure out how my support for Ben Carson could make me a racist but the irrational hate in the message they wrote struck me as a symptom of the division we now have in our land.  There has become ample evidence of intolerance, to the point of violence, of public statements which question so-called “Progressive” dogma.  Our colleges used to be Citadel’s of the exchange of ideas and Free Speech.  No longer.  Most of them are now playgrounds for the radical progressive agenda.  

When I enlisted in the military we took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.  I was also taught that even if I personally disagreed with certain parts of it, I was both morally and duty bound to defend my fellow citizens rights under the Constitution.

In the Bill of Rights the First Amendment states in part: 

 “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;”

Yet we now find ourselves so divided that if you say or do or write something the “other side” disagrees with, you can be accused of hate speech and you and your family, even friends, can be subjected to verbal attack, character assassination, even violence and public humiliation.  Can jail be far behind?    Say the “wrong” thing or put the “wrong” kind of yard sign, bumper sticker or decal in your yard or on your car and risk finding your yard or car “trashed” or severely damaged.  The First Amendment has become an inconvenient fact of history and is no longer welcome.

More and more of us seem to live in a kind of  “quasi-covert” fear of retribution for making some kind of statement  which offends someone or some group even when no offense was intended. 

Trying desperately to inject some kind of humor into this observation of life in a cancerous, toxic, politically correct modern day world, let me relate an episode in my past that ends with a simple moral  principal.   

I once, with tongue in cheek,  told my Pastor that should he desire a vacation or day off I would be pleased to Preach in his absence.  When he asked me what the subject of my sermon would be, I told him I would be speaking on the Nine Commandments.  He said, “You mean the Ten Commandments don’t you?”.  I told him “No, I mean the Nine – there is one of them I don’t like” – “The Tenth Commandment tells me I should not lust after my neighbors “stuff” and my neighbor has some really “cool stuff”.

As I remember, I was reminded that Moses did not come down from Mount Sinai with the “Ten Suggestions” etched in stone.  They are Commandments which God designed for our own good and ultimate happiness.  The same can be said for the Constitution.  Our founders designed it for the long term health and goodness of our nation.  

Bob Bandy

“And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made.”                                                Paul Simon – “Sound of Silence – 1960”