It once was important to simply reduce your own debt. However, we now face the end game in an incredibly massive U.S. government Ponzi Scheme. The bi-partisan Trustees for Social Security and Medicare say they are $117 TRILLION in debt. That is, a life insurance company, in their position, would need $117 million MORE capital to avoid bankruptcy. Add the so-called national (bonded) debt and we are $129 trillion in debt. This is around 8 times as large as the gross U.S. economy. Divide by a 300 million U.S. population, and you get $430,000 for each of us, or $1.7 million for a family of four. Last year alone the INCREASE was $5 trillion, or $67,000 for a family of four.
Please understand, this is not a partisan issue. By far the most reliable indicator of how much Congressmen vote to spend does not relate to Republican or Democrat. It clearly has long related to how long they are in office. Few Presidents or Congressman spent much time raging at this U.S. Government Ponzi Scheme. Most act in ways that would make the U.S. government charge them with criminal acts, if they did this as officers of corporations.
In a few days we will decide if we have a 1990 PAGE Health Care bill, with many new taxes. The independent Congressional Budget Office says it will add $1.7 trillion in expenses over 10 years and much more after that. This is almost double what bill supporters claim, but supporters and the CBO usually underestimate costs. For example, United Kingdom healthcare serves “only 60 million” people, but it is the third largest employer in the world. The only larger employers are the Indian railroads and the Chinese army, who each serve more than a billion people. This is one time when no one should try to be #3. Can you imagine the cost of moving into this group? Besides, are you really so foolish that you trust cost estimates from the types of leaders who effectively massively bankrupted us so quickly? After all, there are the people whose own auditors and executives say they massively overpay for almost everything. They pay $7,800 to RENT an oxyger concentrator that costs $600 to buy.
In 2007 we spent 17% of gross domestic product on health care. The CBO says this may rise to 25% in 2025 if present trends continue, but says it expects changes in laws to cut costs. Instead, the present heath care bill substantially increases costs to try to insure everyone. The United Kingdom did this, so you now wait a year for an operation (or die). Massachusetts did this, but $2,500 no-insurance penalties only cut a 15% uninsured rate to 3%. Tax-achusetts now spends more than 50% of its budget on healthcare.
$1.7 trillion is a drop in the bucket compared to these numbers. However, you must then consider the complexity and rates of some of these new taxes, plus the related paperwork and accounting costs. Most insurance companies also say they will have to increase premiums from 50% to 200%, forcing massive more layoffs. It means far more will pay (or be unable to pay) big penalties to stay uninsured than now lack insurance. Besides, do you trust and health care promises from the types of leaders who so massively bankrupted us in such a short time?
Yes, CPAs and small businesses should focus on reducing debt. However, the debt we must all focus on RIGHT NOW involves stopping this insanity. This is a LAST CHANCE to Reduce Debt and Reduce Health Care Costs It may be too late after FRIDAY 11/6/09. We must survive this rush vote to begin to understand a bill whose taxes start soon, but (in the ultimate hypocristy) exempts Congress and delays benefits until after the 2012 election.
Then we can look at what almost happened to try to understand the biggest medical and financial disaster ever: government financed health care.
