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POPSKeep your eyes on the right BALL
If the Senate fails to garner the needed 60 votes during next weeks procedural vote, watch and see if the Senate Finance comm. and HELP comm. swiftly send versions of the Health reform bill to the Senate Budget comm. This would be the last step needed to enable the Majority Leader to move the Health Care bill under reconciliation, thereby bypassing a motion to proceed and the 6+ additional procedural, cloture votes that would be required if the bill would be considered under the regular order. In addition to the numerous cloture votes needed at various stages to pass the Health care bill in the Senate, with each cloture vote, comes an unavoidable 1 intervening day that must pass between initiating the procedure and the actual vote itself.The Reconciliation process saves time, valuable session days and only requires 50 votes to pass. The Majority Leader could lose 10 of his democratic members and still pass the bill with the Vice President voting to break the tie. In addition, sending t
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POPSBlue Dog list Sen. Jon Tester, Montana DC Office Phone Number: 202-224-2644, DC Fax Number: 202-224-8594 Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut DC Office Phone Number: 202-224-4041, DC Fax Number: 202-224-9750 Sen. Mark Begich, Alaska DC Office Phone Number: 202-224-3004, DC Fax Number: 202-224-2354 Sen. Evan Bayh, Indiana DC Office Phone Number: 202-224-5623, DC Fax Number: 202-228-1377 PriceWaterhouseCooper released an independent study of the Senate Finance Committee version of the government takeover of health care bill. The study showed that American family's budgets will be severely impacted by the bill and that health insurance premiums will increase dramatically. You may wish to read the study and use this as supporting documentation when you contact the Senators. Additionally, you may find some these resources helpful as well: Tea Party Patriots Health Care Talking Points Why Is Tea Party Patriots Focusing on Health Care Questions to Ask Your Represen
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POPSRead the Union Health-Care Label There's more. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has suggested that the federal government could pay for health-care reform by taxing American workers' existing health-care benefits—but he would exempt union-negotiated health-care plans. Under Mr. Baucus's scheme, the government could impose costs of up to $20,000 per employee on nonunion businesses already struggling to afford health care plans. Mr. Baucus's proposal would give union officials another tool to pressure employers into turning over their employees to Big Labor. Rather than provide the lavish benefits required by Obamacare, employers could allow a union to come in and negotiate less costly benefits than would otherwise be required. Such plans could be continuously exempted. ObamaCare is a Trojan Horse for more forced unionization.
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POPSDave Ramsey’s Car Advice - rule of thumb A quick side note on this. I have a friend that retired around age 50. He had worked for Intel for many years and I figured that he’d gotten rich off of stock options. He did make some money that way, but the secret to his early retirement was more clear when he picked me up for a ride to work one day. I was suprised to see him pull up to the house in a very old brown sedan. The car looked about 30 years old. My first thought was, if he has all of this money, why doesn’t he buy a nicer car? And then I thought, that’s why he has all of this money and is able to retire early. He values freedom and the ability to help his wife (who has MS) more than a nice car.
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POPSGovernment watchdogs fear bill undermines them They remain puzzled about why Congress is moving to shift their status. “The question is: how is making someone political going to make them more independent?” said a source within the IG community. Combined with the Walpin firing, the legislation has left several IGs anxious about their positions in the Obama administration as they move forward with investigations of government waste and fraud. If the bill is enacted, there is concern in the IG community that if the IGs pushed too hard with ongoing probes, Obama would not appoint them to their current positions. “You put the two together and people get really nervous,” said the source.
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POPSHealth care bill has lots of PORK · Subsidize community projects like building jungle gyms in parks. "Some of these programs may have value, but this is the wrong bill at the wrong time," Enzi said. "With our nation's health and economy at stake, this bill must not turn into a Christmas list for every partisan interest group in Washington." On a side note, I can't wait until Connecticut voters exile Sen. Chris Dodd to his Irish cottage next year.
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POPSBig Labor insolvent? How badly have the unions handled the money? -------- Alarm is coming even from inside the AFL-CIO — specifically, from Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, who sits on the AFL-CIO’s finance committee. Bloomberg News reports that he is circulating a report claiming the AFL-CIO engaged in “creative accounting” to conceal financial difficulties heading into last year’s Presidential election. As recently as 2000, the union consortium of 8.5 million members had a $45 million surplus. By June of last year it had $90.6 million in liabilities, or $2.3 million more than its $88.3 million in assets. “If we are not careful, insolvency may be right around the corner,” Mr. Buffenbarger warned. … ----------------- As for the SEIU, as recently as 2002 total SEIU liabilities were about $8 million. According to its 2008 disclosure form, the union owed more than $156 million, a 30% increase over the $120 million it owed in 2007. I
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POPSDem Leaders Warn Doctors Not to Meet With Republicans Republican leaders have been meeting with health care stakeholders for months, with those sessions occurring “more frequently than once a month,” according to a senior Senate GOP aide. Now what country are we living in again? When did America become Venezuela?
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POPSHow Car Companies Are Financed & What Obama Has Done To Them
The dealer has, in effect, bought 200 cars and the manufacturer keeps him supplied with another 100 cars per month. In a year the dealership has bought (paid for) 100 cars/month x 12 months + 100 cars = 1300 cars. Does the dealership get stuck with leftover cars? Yes, that’s why you can cut such good deals on last year’s model. Why would the dealership put up with such a lousy bit of financial shenanigans? Because the largest percentage of the dealership’s money comes from the sale of repair services. They also make a huge amount on used cars; which are a separate, yet dependant business. As Lonsberry pointed out, if GM and Chrysler wanted to improve business they would get more dealers not fewer. But, dealers are granted territories so they won’t be eating out of each other’s repair business. Also, there are specialized instruments and tools required to fix various cars. GM and Chrysler design, build and (in the case of software) maintain these tools.
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POPSObama Says U.S. Long-Term Debt Load ‘Unsustainable’ Obama sounds like he is ready to join the Tea Party movement... and all of this while he is announcing new spending for Nationalized Health Care! I think he just says the opposite of what he believes in order too keep his approval numbers high... Just watch the other hand as he raises spending within hours of the speech.
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