Health Care

[BJean 16]

Oh and don't forget their shoes - they're all out buying expensive athletic shoes, right?

[~Michelle~ 0]

Do you have any idea what proportion of your tax dollars actually goes to welfare programs specifically? Have you seen a pie chart of how much of your money actually goes to which government program? You might be surprised.

Have you seen a pie chart? From what I understand 1 in every 7 tax dollars goes to welfare programs, and is the 3rd most expensive government program.

[BJean 16]

It isn't one program as some people seem to think. That portion of the pie chart includes a lot of programs. And yeah, it's approximately the 3rd largest piece of the pie. So why does everybody who complains about taxes act like it is the reason that they pay taxes - or the primary reason they pay taxes. It isn't.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

As I've said many times before on R&R: It isn't the government that is the problem or spending on the least among us - it is greedy corporate America:

55 Billion Goes to:

School lunch & Breakfast programs

WIC (Women, Infants, & Children)

food subsidies

Food stamps

Nutrition education

Other food and health programs

127 Billion Goes to:

Corporate funding (direct & indirect)

Grants to Fortune 500 companies

Big Agra subsidies (including sugar)

References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Further Reading:

School Vending Machines

Size Matters

Most Popular Posts

Subscribe to Mark’s Daily Apple feeds

[~Michelle~ 0]

It isn't one program as some people seem to think. That portion of the pie chart includes a lot of programs. And yeah, it's approximately the 3rd largest piece of the pie. So why does everybody who complains about taxes act like it is the reason that they pay taxes - or the primary reason they pay taxes. It isn't.

I don't think people act like it is the primary reason they pay taxes. There are just some people like myself that don't like the idea of their hard earned money going to someone who did not earn it. And If you want to look at it from that point of view, then people should not complain about their tax dollars going to National Security or Defense either, because more money goes to welfare programs then defense, it's only the 4th biggest peice of the pie.

[tdslf1 0]

Sorry Michele,

That is exactly what you will be doing until the day you die or they come up with some other way to fund the country. Rant against it all you want. It's a fact, will always be a fact in our lifetime.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

I don't think people act like it is the primary reason they pay taxes. There are just some people like myself that don't like the idea of their hard earned money going to someone who did not earn it. And If you want to look at it from that point of view, then people should not complain about their tax dollars going to National Security or Defense either, because more money goes to welfare programs then defense, it's only the 4th biggest peice of the pie.

Mandatory spending: $1.89 trillion (+6.2%)

• $644 billion - Social Security
  
• $408 billion - Medicare
  
• $224 billion - Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
  
• $360 billion - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending
  
• $260 billion - Interest on National Debt
  

Discretionary spending: $1.21 trillion (+4.9%)

• $515.4 billion - United States Department of Defense
  
• $145.2 billion(2008*) - Global War on Terror
  

Defense and war on terror = $660 billion

Welfare (incl. unemployment*) = $$360 billion

*And you pay into unemployment while working.

[pattygreen 5]

Pattygreen: You still did not answer my question about the 18 year old who was forced to have a baby because in your "perfect" world abortion is illegal.

-her parents kicked her out

-she is on her own and pregnant

Without government "interference" (i.e. subsidies) where would she get the following:

1) pre-natal care

2) post-natal care

3) an affordable place to live

4) affordable child care

5) ability to pay utilities

6) food for the baby

7) food for her

8) affordable transportation to job/school

9) money for school/training

Don't expect much help from the baby's father. He might still be in school or working some minimum wage job. Or long gone.

So, please answer these questions if you want all pregnant teens to have their babies but are so opposed to government assistance for poor people, portraying them as lazy, leeches of society who just don't want to work hard enough (they're too busy buying their expensive electronics, etc..).

read my post before this one. the answer is there. The other option is adoption.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

In general, I want to note that I am not oppposed to ALL government involvement and help in the lives of the US citizens. Some help fore people is needed. Most is wasted and abused. Government is just TOO big now. They need to stop making the people dependent upon them with thier generosity that can't be afforded.

Is THIS your answer? Sorry, not specific enough. Plus after going through 9 months of pregnancy and labor, the 18 year old wants to keep her baby or would you have laws to force her to adopt it out?

So, answer which of the following you would be willing to have the government subsidize - keeping in mind that they can't discriminate between this 18 year old and others (like single, 30 year old mom with 4 kids, working poor dad with 2 kids, elderly grandma on disability, etc.)

-rent subsidies

-utility subsidies

-food stamps

-medical care

-child care

-subsidized transportation

-job training

-money for college

[pattygreen 5]

In general, I want to note that I am not oppposed to ALL government involvement and help in the lives of the US citizens. Some help fore people is needed. Most is wasted and abused. Government is just TOO big now. They need to stop making the people dependent upon them with thier generosity that can't be afforded.

Is THIS your answer? Sorry, not specific enough. Plus after going through 9 months of pregnancy and labor, the 18 year old wants to keep her baby or would you have laws to force her to adopt it out?

So, answer which of the following you would be willing to have the government subsidize - keeping in mind that they can't discriminate between this 18 year old and others (like single, 30 year old mom with 4 kids, working poor dad with 2 kids, elderly grandma on disability, etc.)

-rent subsidies

-utility subsidies

-food stamps

-medical care

-child care

-subsidized transportation

-job training

-money for college

I should not have to pay for anyone elses rent, utilities, medical care, child care, transportation , job training or schooling. I will say that since food is a daily essential, food stamps are a good thing. Those who don't have enough money to eat should be helped. But, if they are buying cigarettes or alcohol or drugs, they should not get help. Peeing in a cup should be a must for anyone receiving food stamps. They make employees do it to keep their jobs so that they could pay for the food stamps for those who don't work, so why not for those who receive the stamps?

[pattygreen 5]

Here are some other things that I should not have to pay for. But you should, since you love your government sooooo much and want to give it your full support.

1. The federal government made at least $72 billion in improper payments in 2008.

2. Washington spends $92 billion on corporate welfare (excluding TARP) versus $71 billion on homeland security.

3. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.

4. Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them–costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually–fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.

5. The Congressional Budget Office published a “Budget Options” series identifying more than $100 billion in potential spending cuts.

6. Examples from multiple Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe Water programs.

7. Washington will spend $2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job.

8. A GAO audit classified nearly half of all purchases on government credit cards as improper, fraudulent, or embezzled. Examples of taxpayer-funded purchases include gambling, mortgage payments, liquor, lingerie, iPods, Xboxes, jewelry, Internet dating services, and Hawaiian vacations. In one extraordinary example, the Postal Service spent $13,500 on one dinner at a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, including “over 200 appetizers and over $3,000 of alcohol, including more than 40 bottles of wine costing more than $50 each and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold.” The 81 guests consumed an average of $167 worth of food and drink apiece.

9. Federal agencies are delinquent on nearly 20 percent of employee travel charge cards, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

10. The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million rearranging desks and offices at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.

11. The Pentagon recently spent $998,798 shipping two 19-cent washers from South Carolina to Texas and $293,451 sending an 89-cent washer from South Carolina to Florida.

12. Over half of all farm subsidies go to commercial farms, which report average household incomes of $200,000.

13. Health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $60 billion annually.

14. A GAO audit found that 95 Pentagon weapons systems suffered from a combined $295 billion in cost overruns.

15. The refusal of many federal employees to fly coach costs taxpayers $146 million annually in flight upgrades.

16. Washington will spend $126 million in 2009 to enhance the Kennedy family legacy in Massachusetts. Additionally, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) diverted $20 million from the 2010 defense budget to subsidize a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute.

17. Federal investigators have launched more than 20 criminal fraud investigations related to the TARP financial bailout.

18. Despite trillion-dollar deficits, last year’s 10,160 earmarks included $200,000 for a tattoo removal program in Mission Hills, California; $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming; and $75,000 for the Totally Teen Zone in Albany, Georgia.

19. The federal government owns more than 50,000 vacant homes.

20. The Federal Communications Commission spent $350,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland.

21. Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars supplying their offices with popcorn machines, plasma televisions, DVD equipment, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, and signature machines–plus $24,730 leasing a Lexus, $1,434 on a digital camera, and $84,000 on personalized calendars.

22. More than $13 billion in Iraq aid has been classified as wasted or stolen. Another $7.8 billion cannot be accounted for.

23. Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, “Girls Gone Wild” videos, and at least one sex change operation.

24. Auditors discovered that 900,000 of the 2.5 million recipients of emergency Katrina assistance provided false names, addresses, or Social Security numbers or submitted multiple applications.

25. Congress recently gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 to paint a Chinook salmon on a Boeing 737.

26. The Transportation Department will subsidize up to $2,000 per flight for direct flights between Washington, D.C., and the small hometown of Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY)–but only on Monday mornings and Friday evenings, when lawmakers, staff, and lobbyists usually fly. Rogers is a member of the Appropriations Committee, which writes the Transportation Department’s budget.

27. Washington has spent $3 billion re-sanding beaches–even as this new sand washes back into the ocean.

28. A Department of Agriculture report concedes that much of the $2.5 billion in “stimulus” funding for broadband Internet will be wasted.

29. The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable.

30. Washington spends $60,000 per hour shooting Air Force One photo-ops in front of national landmarks.

31. Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 on admission to entertainment events, $48,250 on gambling, $69,300 on cruises, and $73,950 on exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.

32. Members of Congress are set to pay themselves $90 million to increase their franked mailings for the 2010 election year.

33. Congress has ignored efficiency recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services that would save $9 billion annually.

34. Taxpayers are funding paintings of high-ranking government officials at a cost of up to $50,000 apiece.

35. The state of Washington sent $1 food stamp checks to 250,000 households in order to raise state caseload figures and trigger $43 million in additional federal funds.

36. Suburban families are receiving large farm subsidies for the grass in their backyards–subsidies that many of these families never requested and do not want.

37. Congress appropriated $20 million for “commemoration of success” celebrations related to Iraq and Afghanistan.

38. Homeland Security employee purchases include 63-inch plasma TVs, iPods, and $230 for a beer brewing kit.

39. Two drafting errors in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act resulted in a $2 billion taxpayer cost.

40. North Ridgeville, Ohio, received $800,000 in “stimulus” funds for a project that its mayor described as “a long way from the top priority.”

41. The National Institutes of Health spends $1.3 million per month to rent a lab that it cannot use.

42. Congress recently spent $2.4 billion on 10 new jets that the Pentagon insists it does not need and will not use.

43. Lawmakers diverted $13 million from Hurricane Katrina relief spending to build a museum celebrating the Army Corps of Engineers–the agency partially responsible for the failed levees that flooded New Orleans.

44. Medicare officials recently mailed $50 million in erroneous refunds to 230,000 Medicare recipients.

45. Audits showed $34 billion worth of Department of Homeland Security contracts contained significant waste, fraud, and abuse.

46. Washington recently spent $1.8 million to help build a private golf course in Atlanta, Georgia.

47. The Advanced Technology Program spends $150 million annually subsidizing private businesses; 40 percent of this funding goes to Fortune 500 companies.

48. Congressional investigators were able to receive $55,000 in federal student loan funding for a fictional college they created to test the Department of Education.

49. The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually not to farm their land.

50. The Commerce Department has lost 1,137 computers since 2001, many containing Americans’ personal data.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

I should not have to pay for anyone elses rent, utilities, medical care, child care, transportation , job training or schooling. I will say that since food is a daily essential, food stamps are a good thing. Those who don't have enough money to eat should be helped. But, if they are buying cigarettes or alcohol or drugs, they should not get help. Peeing in a cup should be a must for anyone receiving food stamps. They make employees do it to keep their jobs so that they could pay for the food stamps for those who don't work, so why not for those who receive the stamps?

Okay, so we finally have it folks.

Here is Pattygreen's solution:

Abortion is illegal. 18 year old pregnant girl is kicked out of home. Pattygreen got her wish to have abortion illegal so now all she is willing to do (government subsidies) to help this 18 year old who she forced to have her baby is to provide food.

I guess she will be living out on the street, since she can't afford a place to live.

Her baby might have health problems since she received no prenatal care and might die without post-natal care, especially sleeping on the street.

Additionally, the 18 year old will have no choice but to sell drugs or become a prostitute to help pay for the things the government no longer subsidizes.

She would not be eligible for housing, child care or job training.

But wait. Maybe the religious institutions will fully pay for her housing, healthcare and job training. Yeah, that's it. Those who wanted her to have the baby will take care of her until she can get a good education and good paying job with healthcare and provide her with free child care while she works that job. Yeah, that's it.:rolleyes2:

[pattygreen 5]

All people, including 18 year old pregnant girls, must endure the consequences for their own actions. Without consequences, this world would be a utopia. We have consequences form tiny choices that we make to huge ones, and each consequence plays a part in training and learning and teaching us. When the government takes away the consequences for it's citizens wrong actions, the citizens suffer. When the theif was immediately hung in the town square for his actions, there was immensely rare occasions of thievery going on. The people witnessed the consequences and thought twice about going down that path of life. When the wrongdoer gets a slap on the wrist, they go back to do it all over again. That's why our prisons are overcrowded today. The government of the people played a major role in the way society acts today. They have lessened the consequences for wrongs, and have enabled society to becomne dependant on them for the outcome of their dilemmas. If there were no such thing as student grants for college, an able bodied young 18 year old might find the satisfaction in holding down 2 jobs to save for his education and then when the time came and he paid for his schooling he could find a sense of pride in himself for reaching his goal. Today everything is handed to people, and they almost feel deserving of it. Kids seem to think they must attend the state college at $15,000. a year over the community college at $2,500. a year. Both have the same degree at the end. They can't eat mac and cheese and hotdogs while scrimping to save for a better education. They want steak while the government pays for their education.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

All people, including 18 year old pregnant girls, must endure the consequences for their own actions. Without consequences, this world would be a utopia. We have consequences form tiny choices that we make to huge ones, and each consequence plays a part in training and learning and teaching us. When the government takes away the consequences for it's citizens wrong actions, the citizens suffer. When the theif was immediately hung in the town square for his actions, there was immensely rare occasions of thievery going on. The people witnessed the consequences and thought twice about going down that path of life. When the wrongdoer gets a slap on the wrist, they go back to do it all over again. That's why our prisons are overcrowded today. I would say that if prisons are overcrowded then there are a lot of people paying the consequences. If the prisons were empty it would support your argument, not the other way around.The government of the people played a major role in the way society acts today. They have lessened the consequences for wrongs, and have enabled society to becomne dependant on them for the outcome of their dilemmas. If there were no such thing as student grants for college, an able bodied young 18 year old might find the satisfaction in holding down 2 jobs to save for his education and then when the time came and he paid for his schooling he could find a sense of pride in himself for reaching his goal. Today everything is handed to people, and they almost feel deserving of it. Kids seem to think they must attend the state college at $15,000. a year over the community college at $2,500. a year. Both have the same degree at the end. They can't eat mac and cheese and hotdogs while scrimping to save for a better education. They want steak while the government pays for their education.

Like I said in another post, if you change the law, you own the consequences.

If you force the 18 year old to have her baby, you own the result of what will happen to her and her baby. You can't just say she should suffer the consequences.

But once again, you have no realistic answers. Just a lot of rhetoric bs.

[pattygreen 5]

Okay, so we finally have it folks.

Here is Pattygreen's solution:

Abortion is illegal. 18 year old pregnant girl is kicked out of home. Pattygreen got her wish to have abortion illegal so now all she is willing to do (government subsidies) to help this 18 year old who she forced to have her baby is to provide food.

I guess she will be living out on the street, since she can't afford a place to live.

Her baby might have health problems since she received no prenatal care and might die without post-natal care, especially sleeping on the street.

Additionally, the 18 year old will have no choice but to sell drugs or become a prostitute to help pay for the things the government no longer subsidizes.

She would not be eligible for housing, child care or job training.

But wait. Maybe the religious institutions will fully pay for her housing, healthcare and job training. Yeah, that's it. Those who wanted her to have the baby will take care of her until she can get a good education and good paying job with healthcare and provide her with free child care while she works that job. Yeah, that's it.:rolleyes2:

18 year old preganant girl must get a job. I know many pregnant women who worked till the baby was born. If she is homeless, she may sleep at any of the shelters in her state until she saves enough to rent a room in a nice home with someone. She recieves food stamps, so that will keep her from being hungry. I see rooms for rent all over the newspaper for less than $100. a week, all utilities and furnishings included, and I live in CT. She takes Multivitamins every day ($5.00) a bottle at CVS, and if she has any problems, she may walk into any ER in her town. They will not turn her away. Or, she could apply for medicaid. You know, the HC program that we ALREADY have set up for the uninsured. When the baby comes, and she can not afford to care for it, she may give it up for adoption. If she chooses to keep her baby, then she must also accept that responsiblity to care for him or her. She must be willing to work full time and pay someone to sit with the baby while she works. Yes, life will be hard financially, but these are the consequences for having sex outside of marriage.

But wait. She will want to live in a 2 bedroom apartment, and she will want to have cable TV and that's not included with the room, and wait, she will expect to be able to still be entertained with eating out and movies once a week like it was at home with her parents before they kicked her out. And, oh yeah, she won't be satisfied with working at Kmart. She needs the government to pay for her to go to school, cause she doesn't want to sacrifice or anything and put $25.00 a week away for a CNA certification class offered at the local Red cross for $800. If she did, then she could earn at least $6.00 more an hour. But no, that would take too long to save up. Almost a year or so.

Believe me, she will be fine without any government assistance. It's called 'work', and there are plenty of jobs out there. If you're not willing to work, then you can not have the things you will need.