verum planto vos solvo

Why free birth control is going to cost you... a lot.


Have you heard that local radio advertisement for a car dealership that offers $8000.00 more than your car is worth? Have you ever wondered how they can do that? Well, they can't. But what they can do is manipulate the numbers on the trade-in sheet to make it appear as though you're getting 8 grand. But as any car salesman will privately tell you - it's not the discount you get up front that matters, its' how much you actually pay in total that makes the deal good or not. And such is the magic of forcing private insurance companies to provide free birth control pills. Oh sure, you'll get your BC pills at no charge to you (up front). But do you really think the insurance company is going to take that loss? In a word - "no". They will simply increase your insurance premiums to cover the cost of providing the "freebie". Therefore, its not free. Your simply paying for it on the back end. Got it? Good.
And while we're on the subject of free contraceptives, how come condoms aren't covered? Why are certain BC devices given special status and not others? This seems to be very sexist if you ask me. How can you possibly be for free BC pills and not free condoms? Explain it to me, please. I think I'll organize a "Million Man March on Washington for free condoms" Whose with me?! Okay then. Let's move on.

Since many think the federal government has the authority the mandate free BC pills, why stop there? Why not sign an Executive Order forcing insurance companies to offer free dental care? Seriously. I can't imagine anyone who thinks the Feds have such good intentions with free BC to stand in the way of free dental care? After all. Not everyone has sex. Buy nearly everyone has at least some teeth. How come I'm not hearing the outcry? I'm at a loss for answers on this one. Hmmm.

The proponents of free birth control have successfully made the argument a 'women rights' issue when there are no women's rights being violated. Nice job, guys. I gotta' hand it to you on this one. To hear them talk, you'd think BC pills were on the verge of being outlawed by right wing, bible thumping, Neanderthal zealots intent on seeing every woman bare foot & pregnant. Of course, the real problem is with government dictated policy to religious organizations who don't happen to agree with the administrations ideas on birth control - yet are forced to provide a particular coverage against their teachings. But don't let facts get in the way. Right guys? I assume that Muslim organizations who offer medical coverages will have to offer free birth control pills as well. Nah, Obama will just give them religious waiver. After all, Islam is a religion of Peace, I've been told. Not like those nasty, hate filled Catholics. Yeech!

BC pills will be no less and no more accessible a year from now whether your insurance has to pay for them or not. So exactly what is this argument about then? Well, I was taught that when something doesn't sound like it makes sense, it's probably because it doesn't - but someone somewhere has an agenda to fulfill. It may have to do with money or power. Sometimes both. In this case, it's more of the later. Consolidating power is what the current inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is all about. Get as many people hooked on as many freebies you can, that way they'll never be able to vote your party out of power. Judging by the comments I hear - it just may work. Or we could go to "Plan B"
which is; You want BC pills? Go buy em'. Nobody is stopping you. Go check your local CVS. There are no armed guards inspecting your packages for BC pills. This seems so obvious to me. And why wasn't Obama concerned about your BC purchases a year or two or three ago? Again - Hmmm.

In the end, free birth control pills will cost you in your insurance premium and a whole lot more. Hey, its' up to you if you think mandates and executive orders are a good way to force laws without actually enacting laws, I suppose. But remember, Obama wont be President forever - just the next 1 to 5 years. Eventually, a Republican you personally find disgusting will hold the office. And he or she, may propose mandates and executive orders you don't care for. Then you may be the person called names and have your ideals held up to ridicule. Its' only a matter of time. Til then, I'll embrace the words of Thomas Jefferson;
"A government big enough to give you everything you need, is a government big enough to take away everything you have." Those old timey white guys were pretty freakin' brilliant. Even if they did wear powdered wigs.

Why the unemployment numbers don't tell the whole story

The news was trumpeted today from media outlets everywhere, that the unemployment number dropped to 8.3%. HUZZAHS! were heard from MSNBC so loud that the NYC Police Department had to be called in to quiet the newsroom down. Martin Bashir was so gleeful he nearly peed himself. Twice. But before we begin the revelry, perhaps it might be best to take a closer look at a few other numbers. How about the number 1.2 million. That's a pretty big numero! That is the amount of persons who have left the workforce. They're not even being counted anymore. And most new jobs being created are low wage part time jobs. Part time workers have surged to the highest number ever for one month at 700,000. Here's another number of interest - 1.1 million. That's the number of workers who lost full-time jobs last month. Want some more numbers? How about 57.4%. That's the full-time employment rate of 2000. To get back to that, we'd have to see 21 million new jobs created. (Right now we stand at about 46%.) Compare that with the official estimate of the number of unemployed workers at 12.8 million.

Do the simple math and you can quickly see why today's news isn't even half of the story. If you buy into the governments story that 243,000 jobs were created last month - it would take 7 years to get back where we need to be. But amid all these scary numbers the scariest of all may be 16.2 trillion. That is the new National Debt as of last week. Up almost 7 trillion since Barack Obama took office just 3 years ago. And since he has offered NO plans on Social Security or Medicare reforms (other than scaring seniors and demonizing Republicans) that number will grow at least 1.3 trillion every year - borrowing 40 cents of every dollar the Feds spend. Perhaps these numbers reflect the new normal. If they do, maybe we need to rethink the failed leadership that has brought us here. Demonizing the rich and using class warfare as an election tactic may be the path to re-election. But it won't do squat to save our country and it's future.