My Tax Dollars at Work

Let's see. $425,000 in stimulus checks sent by mistake (one hopes) to prisoners in Massachusetts. Oops.

Let's see. Cash for clunkers? Benefitted Toyota and makers of the least fuel efficient vehicles: trucks and SUVs. Great idea! People who were ready to buy new cars got to buy inefficient or foreign vehicles on my dime.

And just for not fun-- Here is some late-breaking news of the NHS:

Kidney cancer patients fail to win appeal for expensive drugs on the NHS

Hundreds of patients with kidney cancer will continue to be denied expensive drugs which could prolong their lives, despite an appeal by patients’ groups.

......

These innovative drugs are proven to significantly improve patients’ quality of life and so it is hugely frustrating that despite this, NICE is not allowing patients to access them.

“Ruling out Avastin, Nexavar and Torisel will also mean patients unsuitable for Sutent are left with very few treatment options.”

Andrew Wilson, chief executive of the Rarer Cancers Forum, added: “This is a bitter blow. It is harrowing for patients and their families to know that effective treatments are available but they can’t get them on the NHS.”

************************************************** *******

Ah yes. Rationing and cost/benefit (to the state) analysis. NOT coming to a state near you, if the sane people can stop Obama.

Is it possible for sane people to really want the government involved in their health care? Do sane people really want the government to take their money and give it to others to buy new cars? If the answer is yes, I want you to take up a collection for me. I need a new car-- mine is 10 years old. And don't let the fact that I can afford to buy a car without your welfare money stop you.[/font]

[ghoulslime]

Was this cyberspace taken?

Does anybody mind if I take a shit right here?



There! that's better! I hate to see space go wasted.

Washington Post reports:

Many of the lenders eligible to receive billions of dollars from the government's massive foreclosure prevention program helped fuel the housing crisis by issuing risky subprime loans, according to a report to be issued Wednesday by the Center for Public Integrity.

[ubs]

In fairness, no complaint about tax dollars can exclude billions in secret loans made to banks during the bushie years, which are finally going to be disclosed thanks to Bloomberg.

[Kate]

Careful, ubs, you don't want to interfere with the cow trying to turn this into a conservative theist site. Lawd knows there aren't enough of those out there.

ubs wrote

In fairness, no complaint about tax dollars can exclude billions in secret loans made to banks during the bushie years, which are finally going to be disclosed thanks to Bloomberg.

There is so much blame to pass around it is mind-boggling. But let's deal with the present danger first. Then the clean-up can begin.

Kate wrote

Careful, ubs, you don't want to interfere with the cow trying to turn this into a conservative theist site. Lawd knows there aren't enough of those out there.

This is more likely to get me banned than theism, isn't it?

[ILOVEJESUS]

Please don't keep knocking the NHS with silly one offs. The whole works well. There are of course problems with it. Most tax money is wasted because it be spent by people happy to spend other peoples money lol. Any one with a brain knows that governments the world over get shit value for their money. Why whinge. Become self employed and pay less lol.

ILOVEJESUS wrote

Please don't keep knocking the NHS with silly one offs. The whole works well. There are of course problems with it. Most tax money is wasted because it be spent by people happy to spend other peoples money lol. Any one with a brain knows that governments the world over get shit value for their money. Why whinge. Become self employed and pay less lol.

If you understand how wasteful governments are with tax money, I am awed by your unwillingness to take responsibility for your own money. I understand that you like your NHS (why? God alone knows). But we don't want it!! Its horrors await us, if we are not vigilant. Most Americans get it. This lot doesn't and so it is my patriotic duty to try and reach them.

After weeks of excruciating pain, Mark Wattson was understandably relieved to have his appendix taken out. Doctors told him the operation was a success and he was sent home. But only a month later the 35-year-old collapsed in agony and had to be taken back to Great Western Hospital in Swindon by ambulance. To his shock, surgeons from the same team told him that not only was his appendix still inside him, but it had ruptured - a potentially fatal complication.

[nkb]

Are you really that dishonest, Lily?

Do you seriously believe that highlighting instances of incompetence reflects on the overall system? Do you seriously believe that we don't have medical fuck ups every single day in this country, under the current system?

Either you are astoundingly stupid, or stunningly dishonest. I know where I'm putting my money.

[Captain Relativity]

nkb wrote

Either you are astoundingly stupid, or stunningly dishonest.

I don't get it. Why are those two states of being mutually exclusive?

[nkb]

Captain Relativity wrote

I don't get it. Why are those two states of being mutually exclusive?

You are allowed to hedge your bets by wagering on both.

What an ignorant oaf you are. It is incredible, although it can no longer surprise me. One of the easiest things anyone could possibly do is research the NHS online. Its failings have been very well documented for decades as has its impact on the British economy. Just yesterday I noted that WHO rated it 18th out of all the health care systems it looked at. Just what does it take to shake you out of your stupor?


"The NHS is a spending black hole that has grown to more than 10% of GDP from 3.5% of GDP in 1948 that carries more than a million passengers on its its gravy train. As mentioned before every extra £1 spent on the NHS only generates barely 10p in increased output. Britain spends 3 times the amount on the NHS per capita than most Eastern European States that still somehow manage to delivery a better health service which leaves Britain languishing at the bottom of the European Health leagues. "

The author of this is a financial analyst with an uneven record as a forecaster. But his analysis of what is, needs to be fought with facts-- is it or is it not true that spending on the NHS is 10% of GDP?

Oh dear. It looks like Slow Joe Biden was wrong. You can't spend your way into prosperity.

U.S. unemployment will surge to 10 percent this year and the budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion next year, both higher than previous Obama administration forecasts because of a recession that was deeper and longer than expected, White House budget chief Peter Orszag said.

The Office of Management and Budget forecasts a weaker economic recovery than it saw in May as the gross domestic product shrinks 2.8 percent this year before expanding 2 percent next year, according to the administration’s mid-year economic review issued today. The Congressional Budget Office, in a separate assessment, forecast the economy will grow 2.8 percent next year. Both see the GDP expanding 3.8 percent in 2011.

[ILOVEJESUS]

Lily wrote

If you understand how wasteful governments are with tax money, I am awed by your unwillingness to take responsibility for your own money. I understand that you like your NHS (why? God alone knows). But we don't want it!! Its horrors await us, if we are not vigilant. Most Americans get it. This lot doesn't and so it is my patriotic duty to try and reach them.

After weeks of excruciating pain, Mark Wattson was understandably relieved to have his appendix taken out. Doctors told him the operation was a success and he was sent home. But only a month later the 35-year-old collapsed in agony and had to be taken back to Great Western Hospital in Swindon by ambulance. To his shock, surgeons from the same team told him that not only was his appendix still inside him, but it had ruptured - a potentially fatal complication.

This is what I mean by not understanding someone elses point Lily and you do frequently make this mistake. I am self employed, therfore spend less tax, therefore the government cannot spend as much of it as I am sure it would like to. Also picking one offs in a system that successfully deals with millions of cases is rediculous. Why do you have lawyers in the USA to take up medical cases if your system is so wonderful?????????

ILOVEJESUS wrote

This is what I mean by not understanding someone elses point Lily and you do frequently make this mistake. I am self employed, therfore spend less tax, therefore the government cannot spend as much of it as I am sure it would like to. Also picking one offs in a system that successfully deals with millions of cases is rediculous. Why do you have lawyers in the USA to take up medical cases if your system is so wonderful?????????

Lawyers are a big part of the problem. They have made nearly $762 million in political contributions to Democrats over the last two decades. Why? Because there are no caps on the awards juries can and do make in malpractice suits. The system is a magnet for lawyers who get very rich off their fees in these cases. And most of Congress is in their pocket when they are not themselves trial lawyers.


We have the best medicine in the world for a reason. We need to find better delivery systems for those who are having trouble affording insurance. There are so many solid things that can be done that it is laughable that anyone would want to put the government in control. The government of this country has never run a successful business and, in fact, has run a number into the ground. The waste and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid are staggering. The VA hospitals are another badly run government mess. The Postal Service is racking up billions in debt. Why would we allow the government to take over anything?

Look at the NHS. Really look at it.You are importing incompetent foreign doctors. Your system is killing your economy (see the link above in previous message). Just what is to love about this mess?