For the Common Good

In AP News, Reuters and Bloomberg: it's come to light that House Democrats plan on partially paying for National Health Insurance by imposing a 5.4% Income Tax Surcharge on households making $1 million (read Individuals making $500,000); but the progressive Tax begins at households making $280,000 (read Individuals making $140,000).

So how many households will be affected by this Tax Surcharge? According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Top 10% of Income Earners, or 11.4 million families, earned $259,000 based on 2001 data. Adjusting for inflation, assuming 3%, these families will earn over $328,000 in 2009 which guarantees that at least 11.4 million families will pay this progressive 5.4% Income Tax Surcharge.

So how many people will be helped by these 11.4 million families? According to the aforementioned Bloomberg article, by 2019, 37 million uninsured will have insurance, and 17 million will still not have insurance (half of which are estimated to be illegal immigrants).

There are other caveats to this plan including: 2.5% Income Tax penalty on workers who decline having insurance, "up to the average cost of a health insurance plan" and 8% Employer penalty for not providing health insurance.

In this Bloomberg article, David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel state that this Legislation will pass on a partisan basis if need be however Pres. Obama would like the Legislation to be bipartisan. The rest of us know that it doesn't matter if Republicans sign on to this Legislation or not; it's going to pass, just like the $787 billion Stimulus bill and just like the $410 billion Omnibus bill.

Of course, National Health Insurance is predicated on the Progressive ideal that government should tax us for the common good. Your right to pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness does not give you the right to accumulate wealth if you can sacrifice just a little bit to help others. Let's make no mistake about this, the right to pursue Happiness means the right to work hard and accumulate wealth, and to have the Liberty to spend your money how you see fit; whether that's being a Scrooge or being Mother Theresa. If our Rights come from God, then only God can take them away. If our Rights come from benevolent Political elitists (Progressives like Pelosi, Reid and Obama), then our Rights will be dictated to us. If you disagree, what's your argument against this usurpation of our right to Life, Liberty and Happiness?

You can read in the Denver Post how, "Thousands of low-income Coloradans reliant on public assistance could get a free cellphone under a plan before the state Public Utilities Commission." "The money — more than $800 million in subsidies were paid last year for low-income phone service across the country — comes from the Universal Service Fund, a tax on all telephone lines. Of that amount, Coloradans received nearly $3.2 million in low-income subsidies."

How about this Reuters article, "Obama mulls rental option for some homeowners." "U.S. government officials are weighing a plan that would let borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments avoid eviction by renting their homes instead." "Officials are also considering whether the government should make mortgage payments on behalf of borrowers who cannot keep up with their home loans, tapping an unused portion of a $50 billion housing aid kitty."

Since when was it our obligation to provide for other's happiness? Since when was it responsible, hard working Americans responsibility to provide poor people with cell phones or to pay their neighbor's mortgage or subsidize their rent? This redistribution of wealth is not only in most cases petty, it's immoral. Where do we draw the line?