N.C. Liberals Still Gung Ho About Medicaid Expansion

What is it about liberals and the welfare state?  Just the thought of expanding programs like Medicaid gets their nipples hard.  Do they believe enslaving people to government programs is noble?  Do they believe robbing citizens of their self-worth makes them morally superior?

The editorial board at the Charlotte Observer has been on a quest to expand Medicaid in the Old North State for the past eight years.  They are so gung ho about this welfare program that they’re willing to look past a $20 trillion federal debt and an additional $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities.  It doesn’t even faze them.  Here is an excerpt from their latest editorial:

It’s shameful that North Carolina has not joined the 33 states that accepted the federal government’s Medicaid expansion. It would mean some $13 billion in federal money for the state over the next decade, a healthier population and an economic boost, especially to hospitals and rural areas. It’s true that the state’s own Medicaid bill would go up some, but the federal government would pay 90 percent of the tab.


Republicans’ opposition has appeared to stem more from wanting to issue a political statement against Obamacare than from a detailed cost-benefit analysis. In fact, some Republican governors, including Indiana’s Mike Pence and Ohio’s John Kasich, saw the wisdom of the deal and accepted it.


Do the editors at this paper realize the federal government has the ability to print money and states don’t? As for the cost/benefit analysis I wouldn’t use Ohio as an example. Here is an excerpt from one of my post:

Averaged over Kasich’s first two budgets, Ohio Medicaid spending increased by 7.4 percent per year — according to numbers from Kasich’s own administration.

Kasich’s first two budgets covered fiscal years 2012-13 and 2014-15. Ohio’s Medicaid spending increased by 4.1 percent in fiscal year 2012, 2.5 percent in 2013, 10.6 percent in 2014 and 12.5 percent in 2015.

I truly don’t understand these people at the Charlotte Observer. They are so ideologically bent that no amount of reason will persuade them from committing one financial disaster after another.


Source:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article195656024.html


https://costonscomplaint.blogspot.com/2017/01/governor-john-kasich-is-januarys-rino.html?m=0

Liberals Have No Faith in the American People

I cannot believe that I’m stuck with only two talk radio stations in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Last Friday, NPR’s 9:00 AM show featured a segment on baking.  Well, that was it for me.  So, I turned the dial to WBT 1110 AM.  Keith Larson, master of the mundane, had taken the day off.  Jerry Klein, an old bitter hippie, was the guest host.  And as you can expect, he accused conservatives of being selfish pricks, who need to compromise their principles, and what little wealth they have, for the common good, as he sees fit.

Mr. Klein likes to address his audience as boys and girls.  That is how liberals see us common folk.  We are just a bunch of children that need to be shepherded and lectured on how to live, spend our money, and care for others.  And of course, who knows better on how to run our lives than an old hippie?

During Mr. Klein’s three hour lecture, I realized something.  I realized liberals have no faith in the goodness of the American people.  They don’t believe we will do the right thing for ourselves, our family, or our neighbors.  Liberals have faith in one thing only, and that is the general government.  Only by force of a bureaucrat will the American people do what is right.

Mr. Klein took a caller to task about social security and the welfare state.  He asked who would take care of the poor and elderly if not the government. The caller replied friends, family, neighbors and local churches.  That wasn’t good enough for the old hippie.  Klein insisted that the poor were left out in the streets while the bourgeoisie callously stepped over them.  Only the federal government had the heart to take care of the downtrodden.  I’ve got news for Mr. Klein, history states otherwise.

Before Progressives began their crusade against the U.S. Constitution, liberty, property, and the middle-class by implementing the welfare state; fraternal organizations and mutual aid societies helped the poor, not just by giving them a handout, but by giving them a hand up.  Here is an excerpt from Intellectual Takeout:

America’s first settlers and Founders were certainly not oblivious to the problems of poverty, nor were they callous in their treatment of it. Yet they explicitly urged its alleviation by means other than the federal government. This ideology was concisely expressed by James Madison, who declared that "Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government." And Ben Franklin once stated, "the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it."

Giving the poor a hand up rather than a hand out continued beyond the Founding era through a variety of private organizations and charities known as mutual aid societies. After visiting America in the early 19th century, Alexis de Tocqueville made note of this phenomenon when he wrote, "Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form associations. ... Wherever, at the head of some new undertaking, you see the government in France, or a man of rank in England, in the United States you will be sure to find an association."

These types of organizations originally opposed a government-run, government-funded welfare state because they viewed mutual aid as an expression of independence and personal responsibility. With dues from members, they provided services such as unemployment insurance, workers compensation, health insurance, life insurance, and sick pay. In many cases, a fraternal society would hire a doctor to care for the members' families giving them access to reliable, inexpensive healthcare. Additionally, these organizations established a privatized safety net through orphanages, hospitals, and homes for the elderly.

Liberals, like Jerry Klein, would have us believe Americans are callous and selfish.  They don’t see the inherent good in our history or our people.  If anything, their views are a reflection of their instincts and ideology.

Source:

http://www.heritage.org/research/lecture/from-mutual-aid-to-welfare-state

http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/library/sociology-and-culture/poor-america-welfare-state

http://www.poorhousestory.com/history.htm

Welfare Recipients Don't Need No Stinking Lines

You have to marvel at the ingenuity of the lazy.  Received this via email:

No reason to stand on your feet waiting to get your welfare check.

Just put your flip-flops next in line and go back and sit on your butt and play games on your iPhone.

Is this a great country or what?

H/T:  Ray

Welcome to the Welfare State

What a sad state we're in.

The Mises View: "Government Debt Addiction"

I was talking to a small business owner last week about the federal government's debt.  He didn't see a problem with it.  Mind you, he has to meet a payroll.  Needless to say, I was dumbfounded.


According to the judge, the tipping point is 50% of the populace on the welfare state.  We are currently at 47%.  We may see chaos withing our lifetime.

H/T:  NC Renegade

Greetings From the U.S. Welfare State

More disturbing news from Versailles, D.C.:

(CNSNews.com) - Americans who were recipients of means-tested government benefits in 2011 outnumbered year-round full-time workers, according to data released this month by the Census Bureau.

They also out-numbered the total population of the Philippines.

There were 108,592,000 people in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2011 who were recipients of one or more means-tested government benefit programs, the Census Bureau said in data released this week. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, there were 101,716,000 people who worked full-time year round in 2011. That included both private-sector and government workers.

That means there were about 1.07 people getting some form of means-tested government benefit for every 1 person working full-time year round.

 Don’t worry, be happy.  We're only talking about the future of the country.

-

 Source:  http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/census-bureau-means-tested-govt-benefit-recipients-outnumber-full

U.S. Spent Trillions on Welfare in Obama's First Term

The Great Society has turned into the Welfare State.  Barack Obama and his democratic confederates have fundamentally transformed America, as promised.  The Senate Budget Committee produced the following, as reported by the Weekly Standard:

"We have just concluded the 5th fiscal year since President Obama took office. During those five years, the federal government has spent a total $3.7 trillion on approximately 80 different means-tested poverty and welfare programs. The common feature of means-tested assistance programs is that they are graduated based on a person’s income and, in contrast to programs like Social Security or Medicare, they are a free benefit and not paid into by the recipient," says the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee.

"The enormous sum spent on means-tested assistance is nearly five times greater than the combined amount spent on NASA, education, and all federal transportation projects over that time. ($3.7 trillion is not even the entire amount spent on federal poverty support, as states contribute more than $200 billion each year to this federal nexus—primarily in the form of free low-income health care.)

Is this what American has been waiting for?  I hope not.

Source:  http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/report-us-spent-37-trillion-welfare-over-last-5-years_764582.html

The Democratic Party's Insidious Plan for Political Supremacy

It's quite simple - make us all dependent on the federal government. So far they're succeeding.

H/T: Maggies Farm

Immigrants Abuse Welfare System. It is Time to Reinstate The Public Charge Doctrine!

Well, what do you know? Illegal aliens and legal immigrants are leeching off of the welfare system. Is anyone surprised? Judicial Watch certainly isn’t. Here are their findings:

Surprise, surprise; Census Bureau data reveals that most U.S. families headed by illegal immigrants use taxpayer-funded welfare programs on behalf of their American-born anchor babies.Even before the recession, immigrant households with children used welfare programs at consistently higher rates than natives, according to the extensive census data collected and analyzed by a nonpartisanWashington D.C. group dedicated to researching legal and illegal immigration in the U.S. The results, published this month in a lengthy report, are hardly surprising.Basically, the majority of households across the country benefitting from publicly-funded welfare programs are headed by immigrants, both legal and illegal. States where immigrant households with children have the highest welfare use rates are Arizona (62%), Texas, California and New York with 61% each and Pennsylvania(59%).The study focused on eight major welfare programs that cost the government $517 billion the year they were examined. They include Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for the disabled, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), a nutritional program known as Women, Infants and Children (WIC), food stamps, free/reduced school lunch, public housing and health insurance for the poor (Medicaid).Food assistance and Medicaid are the programs most commonly used by illegal immigrants, mainly on behalf of their American-born children who get automatic citizenship. On the other hand, legal immigrant households take advantage of every available welfare program, according to the study, which attributes it to low education level and resulting low income.The highest rate of welfare recipients come from the Dominican Republic (82 %), Mexico and Guatemala (75%) and Ecuador (70%), according to the report, which says welfare use tends to be high for both new arrivals and established residents.

Before the United States became a welfare state, newly arrived immigrants (legal) had to have a sponsor and show that they would not become wards of the state. Any governmental assistance would have warranted expulsion. But now the federal government encourages dependency, whether they're legal or not. Here is a brief description of Public Charge Doctrine by The Center of Immigration Studies:

A "public charge" is someone who cannot provide for himself and thus relies on public assistance for a substantial part of his livelihood; it is someone who is a charge, or responsibility, of the public.6 Individuals who are deemed as likely to become charges of the public are excluded from entering the United States. If an immigrant becomes a public charge, he may be deported. With the rise of the welfare state in the United States since the Progressive Era, public assistance has increasingly come through the civil government; however, public aid historically had a heavy private sector, voluntary, charitable aspect.

The policy of excluding potential public charges seeks to ensure that individuals unable or unwilling to sustain themselves not burden society. It embodies the idea that an immigrant should be self-sufficient and contribute to the society granting him the privilege of becoming a new member. It is one of the conditions of the social contract. Immigration policy relates to the choosing among foreigners those whom a country will accept. Designating public charges as excludable rests within the rights of a sovereign nation to decide on those to whom to grant admission or the right to remain.

We have some extreme cases where illegal aliens have taken residence in hospitals, and are costing them a fortune. The New York Times reported the following:

As a result, hospitals are absorbing the bill for millions of dollars in unreimbursed expenses annually while the patients, trapped in bureaucratic limbo, are sometimes deprived of services that could be provided elsewhere at a small fraction of the cost.

“Many of those individuals no longer need that care, but because they have no resources and many have no family here, we, unfortunately, are caring for them in a much more expensive setting than necessary based on their clinical need,” said LaRay Brown, a senior vice president for the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation. Under state law, public hospitals are not allowed to discharge patients to shelters or to the street.

Medicaid often pays for emergency care for illegal immigrants, but not for continuing care, and many hospitals in places with large concentrations of illegal immigrants, like Texas, California and Florida, face the quandary of where to send patients well enough to leave. Officials in New York City say they have many such patients who are draining money from the health system as the cost of keeping people in acute-care hospitals continues to escalate.

One illegal alien has lived in a New York hospital for 13 years!

One patient, a former hospital technician from Queens, has lived at the city’s Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility on Roosevelt Island for 13 years because the hospital has no place to send him, Ms. Brown said. The patient, who is in his mid-60s, has been there since an arterial disease cost him part of one leg below the knee and left him in a wheelchair. The city’s public health system declined to provide the names of any long-term patients or make them available for interviews, citing confidentiality laws.

Here is an illegal alien from China. His own country won’t even take him back:

Five years ago, Yu Kang Fu, 58, who lived in Flushing, Queens, and was a cook at a Chinese restaurant in New Jersey, was dropped off by his boss at New York Downtown Hospital, a private institution in Manhattan, complaining of a severe headache. Mr. Yu was admitted to the intensive-care unit with a stroke.

Within days, he was well enough for hospital personnel to begin planning for his release, but as an illegal immigrant (he had overstayed a work visa a decade ago), he was ineligible for health benefits. And no nursing home or rehabilitation center would take him. Neither would his son in China nor the Chinese government, although the hospital volunteered to fly him there at its expense.

We Americans have to seriously rethink our immigration policy. It’s time to tell the Progressives to kiss off. We need to reinstate Public Charge Doctrine.

Source: http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2011/04/most-illegal-immigrant-families-collect-welfare/

http://www.cis.org/PublicChargeDoctrine-AmericanImmigrationPolicy

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/nyregion/nowhere-to-go-patients-linger-in-hospitals-at-a-high-cost.html?_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss

Welfare State More Devastating to Black Families than Slavery

Today’s welfare state is just as destructive to black families as the old, antebellum south. The only difference is we don’t have a book the equivalent of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” to demonstrate the insidious nature of the Federal Government.

Plantation owners sold off slaves; separating families. The Federal Government makes mothers dependent upon taxpayer largess on condition that they are single, in essence separating the family from a much needed male influence.

Sure there is no Simon Legree whipping, abusing, and enslaving blacks today; but without a male role model in the family, many young, blacks end up in our prison system; and isn’t that a different kind slavery?

Aunt Zeituni's Theme Song

Come to the U.S.A. lots of goodies waiting for ya!!