Brother, You Can’t Spare A Dime? , by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #160
March 26, 2010 Michael Davis 0 Comments
One of, if not the biggest argument the GOP has against Health Care is “Who’s going to pay for it?”
Before I delve into this weeks rant I’d like to remind all how I came to name my weekly column “Straight No Chaser.’ My intention was to cut though the bullshit of popular culture op-ed pages with some content that took a clear side. I can’t stand those who write these types of things and at the end of their piece you have no idea where they stand.
Nope, not me, my intention is to write like Frank ordered his drinks, straight no chaser.
If you don’t know WHICH Frank I’m referring to you need to get your head out of the latest copy of Spider-Man’s ass and get a freakin life.
So that said, back to my rant- one of the loudest GOP arguments against Health Care is “Who’s going to pay for it?”
It seems to me that that argument is the standard for every social change anyone proposes.
“Who’s going to pay for it?”
I know that it’s wrong to assume that everyone in the GOP has money, but let’s be real (remember, straight no chaser) It’s safe to assume that there are many well off Americans who belong to the GOP. It’s also safe to assume that the vast majority of people who are part of the GOP…wait a sec, let’s not say the GOP let’s say I’m talking about conservatives, you know the conservatives who make God such a big part of the their conservative movement.
Here’s what I’ve noticed, conservatives don’t want to pay for ANY social change. They want to keep their money, but is not social change not what Jesus taught? Wasn’t Jesus a community organizer? A position looked upon with scorn by conservatives?
I’ve been poor. In my mind I’m still poor. Having been poor and having had a bit of money I’m not afraid of being poor again because I see the value of money it’s mealy a way to eat or eat better in the world.
The life I’ve lived I’ve seen more than enough people get the shit kicked out of them because they thought their money was some kind of magic ring given to them by the Guardians Of The Universe. It’s not. It may be a magic ring in Beverly Hills but try raising that ring in the hood. Guess what? In the hood your money may still be Green Lantern’s ring to you but the mofo whipping your ass is dressed all in yellow.
I know conservatives are big on money so they must be good at math, guess whom outnumbers who in the USA? People living in hoods FAR outnumber people who live in the hills.
Here’s what I’ve learned about poor people, the less you have the more you give when someone needs something. Ain’t that some shit? Most poor people give what little they have to help others while most rich conservatives won’t part with a little to help anybody.
Health Care passed and now there is a Conservatives movement to repeal it, mostly because it costs too much.
I’m pretty sure the vast majority of Conservatives are middle class and above. But repealing HEALTH CARE because it ‘costs too much?’
That’s ghetto.
R. Maheras
March 26, 2010 - 7:53 am
The fact that more than HALF of the nearly $1 trillion this program will allegedly cost (I say allegedly because the estimates for programs such as this are invariably way too low) is being wrung out of another social program: Medicare.
In short, because the money to pay for this new healthcare program is obviously not there, and Democratic lawmakers do not want to overtly raise taxes (instead they’ll do it covertly by REQUIRING people to buy healthcare insurance — which is, in effect, a “tax”), they robbed Peter to pay Paul.
Can the Medicare program afford to lose $500 billion at a time when an army of Baby Boomers are just starting to enter the system? Was the program that badly run that there was $500 billion in waste in the system? If so, why was no one fired? Why was there no major shake-up in the organizational structure of Medicare? And if there was allegedly such an enormous amount of waste and mismanagement in the Medicare system, who in their right mind can possibly think that this new healthcare reform program will run smoothly and efficiently?
These are simple, basic, common-sense questions that no one has spent much time at all answering during this whole sordid healthcare reform process.
As Luke Skywalker once quipped, “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Reg
March 26, 2010 - 8:18 am
mOTu said…”They want to keep their money, but is not social change not what Jesus taught? Wasn’t Jesus a community organizer? A position looked upon with scorn by conservatives?”
You’re batting a thousand. In truth, I’ve used this very same argument with several conservative ‘believers’ whom I thought could handle this clear truth. Somewhat unsurprisingly, we don’t talk that much anymore.
Michael said….”Here’s what I’ve learned about poor people, the less you have the more you give when someone needs something.”
Again, that’s an amazing truth that I’ve seen put into action time and time again.
It’s been a strange thing to watch how many of my White cousins have been so bamboozled that they raise such strident protests against their own best interests.
Alan Coil
March 26, 2010 - 8:21 am
Our good friend across the aisle Russ Maheras seems to have a bad feeling about everything.
Jonathan (the other one)
March 26, 2010 - 8:50 am
Well, heck, if we’re going to be holding these not-really-so-very-conservatives to their supposed Christian beliefs –
It maybe worth pointing out that in Jesus’ own words (as chronicled in the Gospels, at any rate), it’s not how much you give to others that’s important, it’s proportionality. In the Gospels, the example is of a wealthy man who gives thousands of talents, but can afford them, and a poor woman who is regarded as “more blessed” because while she gave only a penny, it was all she had.
For that matter, chapters 4 and 5 of Acts tell us that True Believers should have a redistributive economy – the followers of the Apostles were supposed to bring all their wealth for their leaders to pass out as needed. In chapter 5, we’re given the story of a man who sold his house, and, with his wife’s knowledge, dared to keep a small portion of the profits for himself. They were both struck down by God for not turning over everything.
You know, Christianity is starting to sound pretty Communistic… 😉
So, based on that, what do you think the Christ’s opinion of American health care would be? I mean, if we’re supposed to be making all of our political decisions in a Christlike way, as so many “right-wing” political activists would claim…
Mike Gold
March 26, 2010 - 9:08 am
With all due respect to Brothers MOTU and Reg, there simply is no connection between the people who run the Republican party and the Christian Right — and, for that matter, the Tea Baggers. The latter two groups are simply rabble that can be easily roused by the former. From time-to-time certain elements in the Christian Right actually catch on, but like their cousins on the left, who else are they going to support?
About every six months someone from the Republican gentry expatriates (or is expatriated) and spills the beans. The latest is David Frum, former GWB speechwriter best known for coming up with the “axis of evil” phrase as well as for almost making sense on Bill Maher’s show. He stated the Republicans should have handled the health-care debate differently (implying they shouldn’t have acted like spoiled children) and that he thought Fox News worked for the Republican Party when, in fact, it really was the other way around. For his efforts, he got booted out of his gig at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Both the Christian Right and the Tea Baggers respond well to Murdoch’s red meat. They, in turn, give Fox a lot of visuals for Fox, a lot to talk about for Fox’s prime time celebrities, and since they love watching themselves speak to themselves, pretty high ratings — even a movement that represents 10% of the population, when focused on one channel, can make that channel #1.
It has been shown repeatedly that Murdoch, Cheney, and their money people don’t care about philosophies, they care about making money for themselves and their old boy network. It’s really that simple.
Vinnie Bartilucci
March 26, 2010 - 10:08 am
Let me get this out of the way first.
I think a universal health care system for our citizens is a good idea. If it can be run efficiently, costs kept down (without scaring health care providers away by paying them less than they think they should reasonably receive) and fraud and abuse from within and without be kept to a minimum (again, to keep costs down), I think it’s something we can do. It’s not a right, as many are claiming, nor is education, but they’re both DAMN good ideas, ones that we can and should do, being the powerful and incredibly great country we are. Not allowing someone to remain healthy or get better if they’re sick or injured is cruel, and not making sure that every one of our citizens can read and write well enough to get and hold a job is just fucking stupid.
I am not 100% sure that the plan that they’ve put forth is the right solution, but I do think it is the proverbial Better Than Nothing. I think the biggest protests are yet to come, and they will come from young people who still think they’re invulnerable and are currently CHOOSING not to have health care from their jobs, preferring to play the odds and have that extra money in their pockets for a few years until the odds are against them. Whan they realize they will be required to buy insurance, they will grouse. But they will (hopefully and eventually) realize that having coverage is “better to have and not need than need and not have,” to quote Samwise Gamgee. And they’d better, because the only way the insurance companies will be able to stay afloat covering all the people (like me) who will need health care very soon, if not right now, is to have millions of people paying into the system who WON’T be using it. The insurance companies are still going to have to be very careful with their expenses to be able to stay profitable, and hopefully that will help drive costs down as well (again, without pushing people away from the industry). Choosing not to hand out multi-million dollar boinuses certainly won’t hurt, as I’m sure many will be happy to mention.
Now, should the point be reached that the companies are paying out on the sick then they’re taking in on the healthy, we will have a problem. That will be the time that we will have to figure out where that money will come from.
And that’s what this piece was really about.
The mantra of “who’s going to pay for it” is supposed to make the middle class think that THEY’RE going to pay for it. The folks who are yelling it know full well it’s going to be done by tapping the rich to pay more. So it’s to their benefit to keep it from coming from them. They don’t want their money taxed, just like the lower and middle classes don’t. It’s just that in the case of the rich, there’s a greater likelihood that it will actually happen. NOBODY likes paying taxes. But when a middle-class person says it, it’s perfectly reasonable, but when a rich person says it he’s immediately a greedy bastard.
But I always come back to the same question. Why should rich people have to pay an outlandishly greater percentage of their money than a middle-class person? “Because they have more” isn’t an answer. That’s the whole class-warfare thing we’ve been hearing for years. They have a tax on people who have better health care plans than other people, the famous “Cadillac” plans (because rich people have Cadillacs, you see). That is, people who can afford to pay for such plans themselves, not those who get them from union contracts of as empoloyees of the government. The whole purpose of this plan is to make sure everybody has heath care; how does it make sense to tax people for having TOO GOOD health care? Answer-it doesn’t, it’s just another way to “gouge” the people who have more money in a sideways fashion. If the aforementioned people cut back on those plans (or if they just flew to Costa Rica), the government would have to find other ways to make that money up.
Yes, if the rich folks hadn’t outsourced and automated and found ways to make their businesses profitable to the point that they needed less people then there’d be more money in the hands of the middle class and not in theirs. Perfectly true; I am, alas, a casualty of that at the moment. But the tax code isn’t a tool of revenge. Get that system to change, that’d be wonderful, but get the system fixed, don’t just pretend to fix it by grabbing it back on the back end.
Now, don’t misunderstand me, I didn’t say the rich shouldn’t pay more MONEY than the middle or lower class; they should, a great deal more, simply because they make a great deal more money. But why should they pay a larger PERCENTAGE of their income? And I’m sorry, “because they have more” isn’t a good answer.
I’ve used this example before, but here it is again. Say there were two tax plans; in plan one, a person making ten thousand dollars pays one thousand dollars in tax, and a person making a million dollars pays one hundred thousand dollars. In plan two, they both pay the same 10 percent of their income. The average person who doesn’t do the math will say plan two, because the rich will “pay more”, as opposed to them paying “the same”. Both plans are exactly the same, just using flat money amounts as opposed to a percentage. But one “feels” more fair, and it’s not the one that has the word “same” in it. People like and want to see the rich “get theirs”. It’s envy, nothing more.
The rich have a LOT of ways to hide their money, shelter it from being taxed, so it can very easily be claimed that they are, in fact, NOT paying their “fair share”. In this, I agree in theory. So if you want to get rid of those things so we can stop with these “fees” and “surcharges” to make up for the money they didn’t pay, I’m right there with you. And a radical reaming out of the tax code would go a long way towards fixing that. If the system was simpler, with less loopholes and codicils, there’d be a greater likelihood that we’d see more money enter the coffers from the rich.
Will it? I doubt it, as there’s far too much money to be lost, not only from the rich, but from the accountants and those paid to interpret the code from legalese to the vernacular.
Alan Coil
March 26, 2010 - 12:29 pm
The economy and the country were much stronger when the rich paid a much higher percentage of their earnings in taxes than they do now.
Then Reagan.
Now this.
FUTURE MOTU
March 26, 2010 - 12:30 pm
Mike Gold said
“With all due respect to Brothers MOTU and Reg, there simply is no connection between the people who run the Republican party and the Christian Right — and, for that matter, the Tea Baggers.”
Mike, President George Bush THE leader of the GOP and still A leader of the GOP, had an ‘Christian’ department the White House.
That’s a BIG connection.
So there.
Martha Thomases
March 26, 2010 - 1:47 pm
@Vinnie: A recent article in Bloomberg News (that socialist rag) reported that people who made over $340 million in 2007 (that’s each) payed 16% of their income in taxes. I know I pay a much higher percentage. I bet you do, too.
Mike Gold
March 26, 2010 - 2:04 pm
MOTU — Nope. You wrong. Sorry pal.
During the Bush days the “Christian” department — officially The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives — was revealed to be a complete fraud, nothing more than an unlistened-to department that Cheney and pals could point to and say “we’re with you; send us money!” And so they did.
However, if you tar Bush with that brush, keep it wet for the new kid on the block. Mr. Obama has kept the office but changed the name slightly to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (B.F.D.). To its credit, I guess, the Council has a couple Jews, a genuine Muslim, and an actual gay guy. But there are no Pagans, no Wiccans, no Scientologists, no Santerians, I don’t think there are any Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Greek or Russian Orthodox folks or Mormon folks on the Council, and there are absolutely, positively and most certainly no atheists, which makes it a hate group in my book. You see, evidently Bush and Obama agree that only unigod worshipers can have “values” and “morals.”
The Council is OVERWHELMINGLY Christian, which in my mind but evidently not that of all so-called Christians (who am I do define that?) includes Catholics. People are appointed to one-year teams, so the line-up can change.
As for your second allegation — that George Bush was THE leader of the GOP at the time and remains A leader today — well, we differ here. Bush was a willing patsy of Cheney, Ashcroft and Rove (et al) and up to his waning months parroted all their phrases, but if he were an actual leader than somebody should give Milli Vanilli back their Grammy. And today he’s less visible than Lamont Cranston on a cloudy day.
Mike Gold
March 26, 2010 - 2:05 pm
Sorry; I meant Future MOTU. Ambition. Gotta love it.
MOTU
March 26, 2010 - 2:15 pm
Mike Gold said;” MOTU — Nope. You wrong. Sorry pal.”
I’ve been wrong before,( well once but- Denys and I both thought it was a girl) and i’m sure i’ll be wrong again. But on this point I’m not. The GOP swings faith around like John Holmes once swung his Johnson.
Hopefully with a little luck they will end up where he is.
MOTU
March 26, 2010 - 2:17 pm
BTW-Obama’s ‘Faith-Based and Community Initiatives’ is just a front for cooking chicken.
Mike Gold
March 26, 2010 - 2:17 pm
Yeah, but he got a lot of ass before it all ended.
Hey, can I be “Fresh MOTU”?
Mike Gold
March 26, 2010 - 2:18 pm
Hmmm… I’m making chicken tonight. Probably a variation of Chicken Vesuvio. Most of you probably don’t know what that is, but I just made Russ and Marc very hungry.
MOTU
March 26, 2010 - 2:31 pm
Mike Gold said;
“Yeah, but he got a lot of ass before it all ended.”
LOL!
Then Mike Gold said;
“Hey, can I be “Fresh MOTU?’
LOL!!!…no.
MOTU
March 26, 2010 - 2:34 pm
Chicken Vesuvio:
1 fryer chicken, about 2 to 3 pounds, cut into 8 pieces (2 wings, 2 breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs)
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cups canola oil, for frying
3 large Idaho or russet potatoes, peeled and cut into thick wedges
2 clove garlic, peeled and mashed
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
I know my chicken.
Reg
March 26, 2010 - 2:56 pm
Puck that chicken!!!
Douglass Abramson
March 26, 2010 - 2:59 pm
MOTU: Cooking directions, man! Cooking directions! The ingredients look promising, but how do you cook it?
MOTU
March 26, 2010 - 3:04 pm
Doug;
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Clean chicken, rinse with cold water and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Heat 1/3-cup olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, carefully place chicken in pan using tongs. Breasts and thighs first, then the rest. Brown well on all sides, remove chicken from pan. Pour off all but a few tablespoons of oil. Return chicken to skillet and place uncovered in preheated oven for 25 minutes, turning chicken once or twice.
Heat 2 cups of canola oil to 350 degrees F.
While chicken is cooking have potatoes peeled, wedged, rinsed and dry. Carefully add wedges into hot oil, about 4 at a time. Avoid crowding. Fry potatoes until golden and remove and let drain on paper towel and reserve for later.
For the last 5 minutes of cooking for the chicken, add the cooked potatoes, garlic, oregano and wine to skillet, return to oven.
Remove skillet from oven to stove top after the 5 minutes, add parsley and gently turn with a spoon.
Remove chicken to a large platter, arrange potatoes atop the chicken and pour the pan juices over all.
Send me some
MOTU
March 26, 2010 - 3:14 pm
Michael Davis World:
Politics,Pop Culture, Chicken.
What else is there?
Martha Thomases
March 26, 2010 - 3:24 pm
Asian girls?
MOTU
March 26, 2010 - 3:31 pm
DUH!!!!!! How could I forget that????
Marc "Future Mike Gold" Fishman
March 26, 2010 - 3:38 pm
First off, yeah, that made me hungry. Secondly, national health care will cost a bundle. Vinnie supposes a flat tax might be the solution. I ask, has anything technically done the math on that? My father, who makes the best bbq chicken I’ve ever had, has always been for a flat tax. I wouldn’t be against it if it leveled the playing field, and increased tax dollar revenue enough that we could afford the national health care plan.
Obama in his speeches has been adamant that any plan that past would come with a way to pay for it. The fact remains, as a dullard with more opinion than fact in front of me, I don’t know if that’s true or not. As with so many government programs, I fear tons of red tape, loop holes, etc. making things more complicated than they need to be. Time will tell. In the mean time the GOP will get to hem and haw and bitch and moan… and the democrats will find a way to look limp and pathetic.
It’s sad really. And unlucky for all of us, sadness ain’t covered… even in the Cadillac plans.
Reg
March 26, 2010 - 4:07 pm
Chicken Adobe – Filipino Style
1 whole chicken (cut into eighths)
1 whole garlic (chopped or diced)
olive oil or vegetable/corn oil
1 tsp ground black pepper
4 whole black pepper cloves
3 dried bay leaves
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup vinegar
7-up or Sprite (for sweetness if you can’t handle the heat)
1 whole lemon (cut into 4 wedges) (optional)
Wash the chicken well…use some of the lemon to rub into the skin…Ooooolala….and the rub some of the salt.
Heat oil and add all of the garlic, and cook until garlic is lightly browned. Add chicken and sauté until the chicken is beginning to tenderize.
Add ground black pepper, whole black pepper cloves, soy sauce, and vinegar, and let simmer for 25-35 minutes or until chicken is done.
Make sure to add more vinegar or soy sauce until it suits your taste (should be a bit tangy). When chicken is tender, you can add a splash or two of the 7-up or Sprite if you like a sweeter taste, and let simmer for 5 more minutes.
Serve over rice.
Spicy chicken with an Asian touch…. serves to meet both fetishes at the same time! Who’s da MAN?!!
Douglass Abramson
March 26, 2010 - 4:15 pm
Thanks MOTU. I’ll consider sending you some; but when it comes to good food, I’m a selfish bastard.
Reg
March 26, 2010 - 4:22 pm
Gaah! Left out the most important ingredient! Adobo Chiles! Add a couple to make the sauce muy bueno.
MOTU
March 26, 2010 - 5:50 pm
Doug,
Selfish bastard? YOU TO??
Mike Gold
March 26, 2010 - 9:04 pm
Marc — Your dad… does he deliver?
MOTU — try this on for Chicken Vesuvio:
1¼ hours | 25 min prep
SERVES 4
* 3 lbs fryer chickens, cut up
* 1/3 cup flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dry basil or 6 teaspoons fresh basil
* 3/4 teaspoon oregano
* 1/4 teaspoon thyme
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 1 pinch sage
* 1 pinch rosemary
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 baking potatoes, cut lengthwise
* 3 cloves garlic, minced fnely
* 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
* 1 cup .dry white wine
* 1/2 cup water
1. Heat oven to 375* conventional or 350* convection.
2. Wash and pat your chicken dry.
3. Mix flour and spices in a shallow dish.
4. Coat the chicken lightly with the flour mixture, but shake off any excess.
5. In a 12″ pan, preferably cast iron that can be put right in the oven, heat 2-3Tblsp. olive oil in the pan over medium-high heat until it is hot.
6. Add the chicken in a single layer and fry quickly to a light brown on all sides.
7. Remove to a paper towel.
8. Now add the potatoes and fry turning occasionally until also light brown on all sides.
9. Drain on a paper towel.
10. Pour off all the oil except 2 tablespoons (which will be left in the skillet).
11. Place the chicken and the potatoes back in the skillet.
12. Sprinkle with garlic and parsley and 1/2 cup water.
13. Pour the wine over all.
14. Bake, uncovered, at above temperature until the potatoes are fork tender and the chicken is done.
15. This takes about 20-25 minutes.
16. Remove from the oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving so any juices can be absorbed.
17. Serve with pan juices.
Of all the recipes I’ve tried, this one comes closest to the real thing. Of course I play with it some — more garlic goo — but it’s fuckin’ awesome.
R. Maheras
March 26, 2010 - 10:49 pm
Alan Coil wrote: “Our good friend across the aisle Russ Maheras seems to have a bad feeling about everything.”
Does falsely calling me a Republican make you feel better or more secure about your partisan political views? It must, because you continue to do so despite the fact I’ve never been a Republican, have never donated a dime to Republicans, and never registered as a Republican.
You know full well I vote for Democrats as well as Republicans, yet I’ll wager you rarely, if ever, vote Republican.
So who’s the biased one here?