More Free Market Amazment

It is obvious that we are on the ground floor of a major energy change. None of us have much fun going to the pump these days, but on an upside...this energy change is going to be fun to watch. I just ran across two companies that say they can cut cargo shipping fuel consumption by up to 35% using kites. I am continually amazed by the free market. This is going to be fun.

kiteship
skysails

BELIEVING THE ILLOGICAL - WHY THE WORLD DISLIKES US

I have often heard in the last few years how our world standing has supposedly declined because of President Bush. Recently I got a little insight as to the real reason.

The other day in a pub I had a conversation with a very nice woman from Spain. We ended up talking about the forest fires in Montana. She made a comment about how she remembered reading in the European press how “stupid Bush’s” solution early in his presidency was to “cut down all the trees”. I assume she was talking about President Bush’s Healthy Forest Initiative to allow thinning in some national forests.

As most political things are the Healthy Forest Initiative was controversial, but even President Bush’s opponent have to agree that he doesn’t want to cut down all the trees. Hell, Max Baucus was at the signing in the above link.

I kept telling her that the Initiative was to thin the forest not to cut them all down. She didn’t seem to believe me and then talked in disgust about how Bush wanted to log Yellowstone Nation Park. She had visited Yellowstone and has a soft spot for that wonderful place (as we all do), which increased her delusional dislike of our President. I think I eventually did convince her that the Healthy Forest Initiative did not “cut down all the trees” and that there is no logging in National Parks. But she is only one person of billions around the world that harbor such delusions.

In my experience around Europe I have come across many instances of very bad information about our President. One must wonder how such blatant illogical falsehoods get so ingrained into people’s minds. One must also wonder why this didn’t happen during the Clinton years. Many seem predisposed to believe the worst lies and exaggerations about conservatives while seeking only the good in liberals. The media plays a role in spreading falsehoods, but people must be expected to use their brains. When things seem unbelievable and outrageous, it is usually because they aren’t true. I disagree with many liberal ideas, but I don’t for a second think they want to purposely cause harm. Why don’t conservatives get the same consideration?

THE FREE MARKET WORKS AGAIN

I love American innovation. A company I just found called Solix is proof that the free market works wonders. We don’t need government regulation, we don’t need carbon taxes, we don’t need consumption standards, and we definitely don’t need very wasteful world concerts. All we need is low taxes/less regulation and the free market will find a solution. We hear a lot about ethanol and hydrogen. They will play a role in our future energy, but I think microbiological solutions like algae may play a bigger role. Algae can actually consume CO2 and pollutants to create a biodiesel, all in much less area than ethanol crops. As I farmer’s son I love ethanol because it is helping to create high grain prices, but in reality it isn’t a very efficient use of land or energy. Keep an eye on companies like Solix. In the next few years I think we will hear a lot about microbiology being use to solve environmental issues. Plus those who know me also know I have a passion for good beer, so it is exciting to hear that the brewing industry is playing a role.

Lets flip to the negative side of my brain for a moment:
I only wonder how long it will be until anti-corporation/anti-free market minded people go after “big” algae?

AWESOME OVERVIEW OF OUR WORLD

This as a awesome overview of our world. Three things I took from it are:
1) We are in a battle against time to bring Islam into the 21st century.
2) Socialistic tax burdens are killing societies.
3) A resurgence of Judeo-Christian (and hopefully a modern Islam) values is needed to save our world.


Herb Meyer served during the Reagan administration as special assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council. In these positions, he managed production of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimates and other top-secret projections for the President and his national security advisers. Meyer is widely credited with being the first senior S. Government official to forecast the Soviet Union's collapse, for which he later was awarded the U.S . National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the intelligence community's highest honor. Formerly an associate editor of FORTUNE, he is also the author of several books.
Herbert Meyer
P.O. Box 2089
Friday Harbor, WA 98250
Email: herbmeyer@storkingpress.com


A Global Intelligence Briefing For CEOs

Herbert Meyer

Currently, there are four major transformations that are shaping
political, economic and world events. These transformations have profound implications for American business owners, our culture and our way of life.

1. The War in Iraq

There are three major monotheistic religions in the world:
Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In the 16th century, Judaism and Christianity reconciled with the modern world. The rabbis, priests and scholars found a way to settle up and pave the way forward. Religion remained at the center of life, church and state became separate. Rule of law, idea of economic liberty, individual rights, human rights all these are defining points of modern Western civilization. These concepts started with the Greeks but didn't take off until the 15th and 16th century when Judaism and Christianity found a way to reconcile with the modern world. When that happened, it unleashed the scientific revolution and the greatest outpouring of art, literature and music the world has ever known. Islam, which developed in the 7th century, counts millions of Moslems around the world who are normal people. However, there is a radical streak within Islam. When the radicals are in charge, Islam attacks Western civilization. Islam first attacked Western civilization in the 7th century, and later in the 16th and 17th centuries. By 1683, the Moslems (Turks from the Ottoman Empire) were literally at the gates of Vienna. It was in Vienna that the climatic battle between Islam and Western civilization took place.. The West won and went forward. Islam lost and went backward. Interestingly, the date of that battle was September 11. Since them, Islam has not found a way to reconcile with the modern world.

Today, terrorism is the third attack on Western civilization by radical Islam. To deal with terrorism, the U.S. is doing two things. First, units of our armed forces are in 30 countries around the world hunting down terrorist groups and dealing with them. This gets very little publicity. Second we are taking military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. These are covered relentlessly by the media.. People can argue about whether the war in Iraq is right or wrong. However, the underlying strategy behind the war is to use our military to remove the radicals from power and give the moderates a chance. Our hope is that, over time, the moderates will find a way to bring Islam forward into the 21st century. That's what our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is all about.

The lesson of 9/11 is that we live in a world where a small number of people can kill a large number of people very quickly. They can use airplanes, bombs, anthrax, chemical weapons or dirty bombs. Even with a first-rate intelligence service (which the U.S. does not have), you can't stop every attack. That means our tolerance "for political horseplay" has dropped to zero. No longer will we play games with terrorists or weapons of mass destructions.

Most of the instability and horseplay is coming from the Middle East.
That's why we have thought that if we could knock out the radicals and give the moderates a chance to hold power; they might find a way to reconcile Islam with the modern world. So when looking at Afghanistan or Iraq, it's important to look for any signs that they are modernizing. For example, women being brought into the workforce and colleges in Afghanistan are good. The Iraqis stumbling toward a constitution is good. People can argue about what the U.S. is doing and how we're doing it, but anything that suggests Islam is finding its way forward is good.
2. The Emergence of China
In the last 20 years, China has moved 250 million people from the farms and villages into the cities. Their plan is to move another 300 million in the next 20 years. When you put that many people into the cities, you have to find work for them. That's why China is addicted to manufacturing; they have to put all the relocated people to work. When we decide to manufacture something in the U.S., it's based on market needs and the opportunity to make a profit. In China, they make the decision because they want the jobs, which is a very different calculation.
While China is addicted to manufacturing, Americans are addicted to low prices. As a result, a unique kind of economic codependency has developed between the two countries. If we ever stop buying from China, they will explode politically. If China stops selling to us, our economy will take a huge hit because prices will jump. We are subsidizing their economic development; they are subsidizing our economic growth.

Because of their huge growth in manufacturing, China is hungry for raw materials, which drive prices up worldwide. China is also thirsty for oil, which is one reason oil is now at $60 a barrel. By 2020, China will produce more cars than the U.S. China is also buying its way into the oil infrastructure around the world. They are doing it in the open market and paying fair market prices, but millions of barrels of oil that would have gone to the U.S . are now going to China. China's quest to assure it has the oil it needs to fuel its economy is a major factor in world politics and economics. We have our Navy fleets protecting the sea lines, specifically the ability to get the tankers through. It won't be long before the Chinese have an aircraft carrier sitting in the Persian Gulf as well. The question is, will their aircraft carrier be pointing in the same direction as ours or against us?

3. Shifting Demographics of Western Civilization

Most countries in the Western world have stopped breeding. For a civilization obsessed with sex, this is remarkable. Maintaining a steady population requires a birth rate of 2.1. In Western Europe, the birth rate currently stands at 1.5 , or 30 percent below replacement. In 30 years there will be 70 to 80 million fewer Europeans than there are today. The current birth rate in Germany is 1.3. Italy and Spain are even lower at 1.2. At that rate, the working age population declines by 30 percent in 20 years, which has a huge impact on the economy.

When you don't have young workers to replace the older ones, you have to import them. The European countries are currently importing Moslems. Today, the Moslems comprise 10 percent of France and Germany, and the percentage is rising rapidly because they have higher birthrates. However, the Moslem populations are not being integrated into the cultures of their host countries, which is a political catastrophe. One reason Germany and France don't support the Iraq war is they fear their Moslem populations will explode on them. By 2020, more than half of all births in the Netherlands will be non-European.

The huge design flaw in the post-modern secular state is that you need a traditional religious society birth rate to sustain it. The Europeans simply don't wish to have children, so they are dying.

In Japan, the birthrate is 1.3. As a result, Japan will lose up to 60 million people over the next 30 years. Because Japan has a very different society than Europe, they refuse to import workers. Instead, they are just shutting down. Japan has already closed 2000 schools, and is closing them down at the rate of 300 per year. Japan is also aging very rapidly. By 2020, one out of every five Japanese will be at least 70 years old. Nobody has any idea about how to run an economy with those demographics.

Europe and Japan, which comprise two of the world's major economic engines, aren't merely in recession, they're shutting down. This will have a huge impact on the world economy, and it is already beginning to happen. Why are the birthrates so low? There is a direct correlation between abandonment of traditional religious society and a drop in birth rate, and Christianity in Europe is becoming irrelevant. The second reason is economic. When the birth rate drops below replacement, the population ages. With fewer working people to support more retired people, it puts a crushing tax burden on the smaller group of working age people. As a result, young people delay marriage and having a family. Once this trend starts, the downward spiral only gets worse. These countries have abandoned all the traditions they formerly held in regards to having families and raising children.

The U.S. birth rate is 2.0, just below replacement. We have an increase in population because of immigration. When broken down by ethnicity, the Anglo birth rate is 1.6 (same as France) while the Hispanic birth rate is 2.7. In the U.S., the baby boomers are starting to retire in massive numbers. This will push the "elder dependency" ratio from 19 to 38 over the next 10 to 15 years. This is not as bad as Europe, but still represents the same kind of trend.

Western civilization seems to have forgotten what every primitive society understands, you need kids to have a healthy society. Children are huge consumers. Then they grow up to become taxpayers. That's how a society works, but the post-modern secular state seems to have forgotten that. If U.S. birth rates of the past 20 to 30 years had been the same as post-World War II, there would be no Social Security or Medicare problems.

The world's most effective birth control device is money. As society creates a middle class and women move into the workforce, birth rates drop. Having large families is incompatible with middle class living. The quickest way to drop the birth rate is through rapid economic development. After World War II, the U.S. instituted a $600 tax credit per child. The idea was to enable mom and dad to have four children without being troubled by taxes. This led to a baby boom of 22 million kids, which was a huge consumer market that turned into a huge tax base.. However, to match that incentive in today's dollars would cost $12,000 per child.

China and India do not have declining populations. However, in both countries, there is a preference for boys over girls, and we now have the technology to know which is which before they are born. In China and India, many families are aborting the girls. As a result, in each of these countries there are 70 million boys growing up who will never find wives. When left alone, nature produces 103 boys for every 100 girls. In some provinces, however, the ratio is 128 boys to every 100 girls.

The birth rate in Russia is so low that by 2050 their population will be smaller than that of Yemen. Russia has one-sixth of the earth's land surface and much of its oil. You can't control that much area with such a small population. Immediately to the south, you have China with 70 million unmarried men - a real potential nightmare scenario for Russia.


4. Restructuring of American Business

The fourth major transformation involves a fundamental restructuring of American business. Today's business environment is very complex and competitive. To succeed, you have to be the best, which means having the highest quality and lowest cost. Whatever your price point, you must have the best quality and lowest price.. To be the best, you have to concentrate on one thing. You can't be all things to all people and be the best.

A generation ago, IBM used to make every part of their computer. Now Intel makes the chips, Microsoft makes the software, and someone else takes the modems, hard drives, monitors, etc. IBM even out sources their call center.
Because IBM has all these companies supplying goods and services cheaper and better than they could do it themselves, they can make a better computer at a lower cost. This is called a "fracturing" of business. When one company can make a better product by relying on others to perform functions the business used to do itself, it creates a complex pyramid of companies that serve and support each other.

This fracturing of American business is now in its second generation. The companies who supply IBM are now doing the same thing, outsourcing many of their core services and production process. As a result, they can make cheaper, better products. Over time, this pyramid continues to get bigger and bigger. Just when you think it can't fracture again, it does. Even very small businesses can have a large pyramid of corporate entities that perform many of its important functions. One aspect of this trend is that companies end up with fewer employees and more independent contractors.

This trend has also created two new words in business, integrator and complementor. At the top of the pyramid, IBM is the integrator. As you go down the pyramid, Microsoft, Intel and the other companies that support IBM are the complementors. However, each of the complementors is itself an integrator for the complementors underneath it. This has several implications, the first of which is that we are now getting false readings on the economy. People who used to be employees are now independent contractors launching their own businesses. There are many people working whose work is not listed as a job. As a result, the economy is perking along better than the numbers are telling us. Outsourcing also confused the numbers. Suppose a company like General Motors decides to outsource all its employee cafeteria functions to Marriott (which it did). It lays off hundreds of cafeteria workers, who then get hired right back by Marriott. The only thing that has changed is that these people work for Marriott rather than GM. Yet, the headlines will scream that America has lost more manufacturing jobs. All that really happened is that these workers are now reclassified as service workers. So the old way of counting jobs contributes to false economic readings. As yet, we haven't figured out how to make the numbers catch up with the changing realities of the business world. Another implication of this massive restructuring is that because companies are getting rid of units and people that used to work for them, the entity is smaller. As the companies get smaller and more efficient, revenues are going down but profits are going up. As a result, the old notion that "revenues are up and we're doing great" isn't always the case anymore. Companies are getting smaller but are becoming more efficient and profitable in the process. Implications of The Four Transformations.


1. The War in Iraq

In some ways, the war is going very well. Afghanistan and Iraq have the beginnings of a modern government, which is a huge step forward. The Saudis are starting to talk about some good things, while Egypt and Lebanon are beginning to move in a good direction.

A series of revolutions have taken place in countries like Ukraine and Georgia. There will be more of these revolutions for an interesting reason. In every revolution, there comes a point where the dictator turns to the general and says, "Fire into the crowd." If the general fires into the crowd, it stops the revolution. If the general says "No," the revolution is over. Increasingly, the generals are saying "No" because their kids are in the crowd.

Thanks to TV and the Internet, the average 18-year old outside the U.S. is very savvy about what is going on in the world, especially in terms of popular culture. There is a huge global consciousness, and young people around the world want to be a part of it. It is increasingly apparent to them that the miserable government where they live is the only thing standing in their way. More and more, it is the well-educated kids, the children of the generals and the elite, who are leading the revolutions.

At the same time, not all is well with the war. The level of violence in Iraq is much worse and doesn't appear to be improving. It's possible that we're asking too much of Islam all at one time. We're trying to jolt them from the 7th century to the 21st century all at once, which may be further than they can go. They might make it and they might not. Nobody knows for sure. The point is, we don't know how the war will turn out. Anyone who says they know is just guessing.

The real place to watch is Iran. If they actually obtain nuclear
weapons it will be a terrible situation. There are two ways to deal with it. The first is a military strike, which will be very difficult. The Iranians have dispersed their nuclear development facilities and put them underground. The U.S. has nuclear weapons that can go under the earth and take out those facilities, but we don't want to do that. The other way is to separate the radical mullahs from the government, which is the most likely course of action.

Seventy percent of the Iranian population is under 30. They are Moslem but not Arab. They are mostly pro-Western. Many experts think the U.S. should have dealt with Iran before going to war with Iraq. The problem isn't so much the weapons; it's the people who control them. If Iran has a moderate government, the weapons become less of a concern. We don't know if we will win the war in Iraq.. We could lose or win. What we're looking for is any indicator that Islam is moving into the 21st century and stabilizing ..


2. China

It may be that pushing 500 million people from farms and villages into cities is too much too soon. Although it gets almost no publicity, China is experiencing hundreds of demonstrations around the country, which is unprecedented. These are not students in Tiananmen Square. These are average citizens who are angry with the government for building chemical plants and polluting the water they drink and the air they breathe.

The Chinese are a smart and industrious people. They may be able to pull it off and become a very successful economic and military superpower. If so, we will have to learn to live with it. If they want to share the responsibility of keeping the world's oil lanes open, that's a good thing. They currently have eight new nuclear electric power generators under way and 45 on the books to build. Soon, they will leave the U.S.way behind in their ability to generate unclear power.

What can go wrong with China? For one, you can't move 550 million people into the cities without major problems. Two, China really wants Taiwan, not so much for economic reasons, they just want it. The Chinese know that their system of communism can't survive much longer in the 21st century. The last thing they want to do before they morph into some sort of more capitalistic government is to take over Taiwan.
We may wake up one morning and find they have launched an attack on Taiwan. If so, it will be a mess, both economically and militarily. The U.S. has committed to the military defense of Taiwan. If China attacks Taiwan, will we really go to war against them? If the Chinese generals believe the answer is no, they may attack.. If we don't defend Taiwan, every treaty the U.S. has will be worthless. Hopefully, China won't do anything stupid.

3. Demographics

Europe and Japan are dying because their populations are aging and shrinking. These trends can be reversed if the young people start breeding. However, the birth rates in these areas are so low it will take two generations to turn things around. No economic model exists that permits 50 years to turn things around. Some countries are beginning to offer incentives for people to have bigger families. For example, Italy is offering tax breaks for having children. However, it's a lifestyle issue versus a tiny amount of money. Europeans aren't willing to give up their comfortable lifestyles in order to have more children.

In general, everyone in Europe just wants it to last a while longer. Europeans have a real talent for living. They don't want to work very hard. The average European worker gets 400 more hours of vacation time per year than Americans. They don't want to work and they don't want to make any of the changes needed to revive their economies.

The summer after 9/11, France lost 15,000 people in a heat wave. In August, the country basically shuts down when everyone goes on vacation. That year, a severe heat wave struck and 15,000 elderly people living in nursing homes and hospitals died. Their children didn't even leave the beaches to come back and take care of the bodies. Institutions had to scramble to find enough refrigeration units to hold the bodies until people came to claim them.

This loss of life was five times bigger than 9/11 in America, yet it didn't trigger any change in French society. When birth rates are so low, it creates a tremendous tax burden on the young. Under those circumstances, keeping mom and dad alive is not an attractive option.
That's why euthanasia is becoming so popular in most European
countries. The only country that doesn't permit (and even encourage) euthanasia is Germany, because of all the baggage from World War II.

The European economy is beginning to fracture. The Euro is down. Countries like Italy are starting to talk about pulling out of the European Union because it is killing them. When things get bad economically in Europe, they tend to get very nasty politically. The canary in the mine is anti-Semitism. When it goes up, it means trouble is coming. Current levels of anti-Semitism are higher than ever. Germany won't launch another war, but Europe will likely get shabbier, more dangerous and less pleasant to live in.

Japan has a birth rate of 1.3 and has no intention of bringing in
immigrants. By 2020, one out of every five Japanese will be 70 years old. Property values in Japan have dropped every year for the past 14 years. The country is simply shutting down.

In the U.S. we also have an aging population. Boomers are starting to retire at a massive rate. These retirements will have several major impacts:
Possible massive sell-off of large four-bedroom houses and a movement to condos.

An enormous drain on the treasury. Boomers vote and they want their benefits, even if it means putting a crushing tax burden on their kids to get them. Social Security will be a huge problem. As this generation ages, it will start to drain the system. We are the only country in the world where there are no age limits on medical procedures.

An enormous drain on the health care system. This will also increase the tax burden on the young, which will cause them to delay marriage and having families, which will drive down the birth rate even further.

Although scary, these demographics also present enormous opportunities for products and services tailored to aging populations. There will be tremendous demand for caring for older people, especially those who don't need nursing homes but need some level of care. Some people will have a business where they take care of three or four people in their homes. The demand for that type of service and for products to physically care for aging people will be huge.

Make sure the demographics of your business are attuned to where the action is. For example, you don't want to be a baby food company in Europe or Japan. Demographics are much underrated as an indicator of where the opportunities are. Businesses need customers. Go where the customers are.


4. Restructuring of American Business

The restructuring of American business means we are coming to the end of the age of the employer and employee. With all this fracturing of businesses into different and smaller units, employers can't guarantee jobs anymore because they don't know what their companies will look like next year. Everyone is on their way to becoming an independent contractor. The new workforce contract will be, "Show up at my office five days a week and do what I want you to do, but you handle your own insurance, benefits, health care and everything else."

Husbands and wives are becoming economic units. They take different jobs and work different shifts depending on where they are in their careers and families. They make tradeoffs to put together a compensation package to take care of the family. This used to happen only with highly educated professionals with high incomes. Now it is happening at the level of the factory floor worker. Couples at all levels are designing their compensation packages based on their individual needs. The only way this can work is if everything is portable and flexible, which requires a huge shift in the American economy.

The U..S. is in the process of building the world's first 21st century model economy. The only other countries doing this are U. K. and Australia. The model is fast, flexible, highly productive and unstable in that it is always fracturing and re-fracturing. This will increase the economic gap between the U.S. and everybody else, especially Europe and Japan.

At the same time, the military gap is increasing. Other than China, we are the only country that is continuing to put money into their military. Plus, we are the only military getting on-the-ground military experience through our war in Iraq.. We know which high- tech weapons are working and which ones aren't. There is almost no one who can take us on economically or militarily. There has never been a superpower in this position before.

On the one hand, this makes the U.S. a magnet for bright and ambitious people. It also makes us a target. We are becoming one of the last holdouts of the traditional Judeo-Christian culture. There is no better place in the world to be in business and raise children. The U. S. is by far the best place to have an idea, form a business and put it into the marketplace. We take it for granted, but it isn't as available in other countries of the world.
Ultimately, it's an issue of culture. The only people who can hurt us are ourselves, by losing our culture. If we give up our Judeo- Christian culture, we become just like the Europeans. The culture war is the whole ball game. If we lose it, there isn't another America to pull us out.

Give Credit Where Credit is Due

As the DOW shoots over 14,000 and North Korea shuts down its reactors I am still in awe at how little credit our President gets for his many accomplishments. In fact President Bush seems to get little credit for anything these days. I am not sure if it is the difficulties of the war or just the media bias. While I don’t agree 100% with everything he has done, the list is still rather impressive and worthy of much more praise than he gets.

Abortion Traditional Values
1. Banned Partial Birth Abortion by far the most significant roll-back of abortion on demand since Roe v. Wade.
2. Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy.
3. By Executive Order (EO), reversed Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act.
4. By EO, prohibited federal funds for international family planning groups that provide abortions and related services.
5. Upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals.
6. Made $33 million available for abstinence education programs in 2004.
7. Supports the Defense of Marriage Act and a Constitutional amendment saying marriage is between one man and one woman.
8. Requires states to conduct criminal background checks on prospective foster and adoptive parents.
9. Requires districts to let students transfer out of dangerous schools.
10. Requires schools to have a zero-tolerance policy for classroom disruption (reintroducing discipline into classrooms).
11. Signed the Teacher Protection Act, which protects teachers from lawsuits related to student discipline.
12. Expanded the role of faith-based and community organizations in after-school programs.

Budget, Taxes Economy
1. Signed two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in world history.
2. Supports permanent elimination of the death tax.
3. Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession, and deeply shocked as a result of the 9/11 attacks.
4. Is seeking legislation to amend the Constitution to give the president line-item veto authority.
5. In process of permanently eliminating IRS marriage penalty.
6. Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people.
7. Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts.
8. Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules would have shut down every home business in America.
9. Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.
10. Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains.
11. Signed trade promotion authority.
12. Reduced and is working to ultimately eliminate the estate tax for family farms and ranches.
13. Fight Europe's ban on importing biotech crops from the United States. 1
4. Exempt food from unilateral trade sanctions and embargoes.
15. Provided $20 million to states to help people with disabilities work from home.
16. Created a fund to encourage technologies that help the disabled.
17. Increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA's from $500 to $2,000 per child.
18. Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000.
19. Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans.
20. Reduced H1B visas from a high of 195,000 per year to 66,000 per year.

Character Conduct as President
1. Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the presidency.
2. Has reintroduced the mention of God and faith into public discourse.
3. Handled himself with enormous courage, dignity, grace, determination, and leadership in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 hijackings and anthrax attacks. He almost single-handedly held this country together during those searing days: * Just three days after the attacks, in his address at the National Cathedral, the President reassured the nation when he said: "War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing." * On Friday, September 14, 2001, President Bush visited Ground Zero. Standing on a crushed and burned fire engine atop the smoldering pile at Ground Zero, he put his arm around a retired firefighter who had volunteered to help, and began speaking to the crowd. Rescue workers shouted that they could not hear him. Someone handed him a small American flag and bullhorn. The President spontaneously shouted: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." The crowd roared with cheers and chants of "USA! USA! USA!" Then he raised that American flag and rallied a nation: Education Employment Training 1. Signed the No Child Left Behind Act, delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations). The very liberal California Teachers union is currently running radio ads against the accountability provisions of this Act. 2. Announced "Jobs for the 21st Century," a comprehensive plan to better prepare workers for jobs in the new millennium by strengthening post-secondary education and job training, and by improving high school education. 3. Is working to provide vouchers to low-income students in persistently failing schools to help with costs of attending private schools. (Blocked in the Senate.)
4. Requires annual reading and math tests in grades three through eight.
5. Requires states to participate in the National Assessment of Education Progress, or an equivalent program, to establish a national benchmark for academic performance.
6. Requires school-by-school accountability report cards.
7. Established a $2.4 billion fund to help states implement teacher accountability systems.
8. Increased funding for the Troops-to-Teachers program, which recruits former military personnel to to become teachers.

Environment Energy
1. Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty.
2. Submitted a comprehensive Energy Plan (awaits Congressional action). The plan works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc.
3. Established a $10 million grant program to promote private conservation initiatives.
4. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
5. Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary cleanup of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.
6. Part of national forests cleanup: Restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges), and removed the need for an Environmental Impact Statement before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
7. Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California.
8. Provided matching grants for state programs that help private landowners protect rare species.

Defense Foreign Policy
1. Successfully executed two wars in the aftermath of 9/11/01: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom.
2. Saddam Hussein is now in prison. His two murderous sons are dead. All but a handful of the regime's senior members were killed or captured.
3. Leader by leader and member by member, al Qaida is being hunted down in dozens of countries around the world. Of the senior al Qaida leaders, operational managers, and key facilitators the U.S. Government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed. The detentions or deaths of senior al Qaida leaders, including Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11, and Muhammad Atef, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command until his death in late 2001, have been important in the War on Terror.
4. Disarmed Libya of its chemical, nuclear and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed.
5. Continues to execute the War On Terror, getting worldwide cooperation to track funds/terrorists. Has cut off much of the terrorists' funding, and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network.
6. Initiated a comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, and which accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE capabilities were critical in the 21st Century.
7. Killed the old US/Soviet Union ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses.
8. Has been one of the strongest, if not THE strongest friend Israel has ever hand in the U.S. presidency.
9. Part of the coalition for an Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace," along with Great Britain, Russia and the EU.
10. Pushed through THREE raises for our military. Increased military pay by more than $1 billion a year. 11. Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia.
12. Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia, and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.
13. Prohibited putting U.S. troops under U.N. command.
14. Paid back UN dues only in return for reforms and reduction of U.S. share of the costs.
15. Earmarked at least 20 percent of the Defense procurement budget for next-generation weaponry.
16. Increased defense research and development spending by at least $20 billion from fiscal 2002 to 2006. 17. Ordered a comprehensive review of military weapons and strategy.
18. Ordered a review of overseas deployments.
19. Ordered renovation of military housing. The military has already upgraded about 10 percent of its inventory and expects to modernize 76,000 additional homes this year.
20. Is working to tighten restrictions on military-technology exports.
21. Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed.
22. Pushed thru Congress the 1st Military Death benefit raise in decades. Rasied the grant for survivors of military personal killed in the line of duty from a pitful $10,000 to over $100,000.

Globalization
1. Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become another League of Nations (in other words, showed the UN to be completely irrelevant).
2. Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court.
3. Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e., the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty).
4. The only President since the founding of the UN to essentially tell that organization it is irrelevant. He said: "The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of UN demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?" We all know the outcome and the answer.
5. Told the Congress and the world, "America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country."

Government Reform
1. Improved government efficiency by putting hundreds of thousands of jobs put up for bid. This weakens public-sector unions and cuts undeserved pay raises.
2. Initiated review of all federal agencies with the goal of eliminating federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of the federal government while increasing private sector jobs.
3. Led the most extensive reorganization the Federal bureaucracy in over 50 years: After 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency, the Department of Homeland Security. *
4. Ordered each agency to draft a five-year plan to restructure itself, with fewer managers.
5. Converted federal service contracts to performance-based contracts wherever possible so that the contractor has measurable performance goals.

Health
1. Strengthen the National Health Service Corps to put more physicians in the neediest areas, and make its scholarship funds tax-free.
2. Double the research budget of the National Institutes of Health.
3. Signed Medicare Reform, which includes: * A 10-year privatization option. * Prescription drug benefits: Prior to this reform, Medicare paid for extended hospital stays for ulcer surgery, for example, at a cost of about $28,000 per patient. Yet Medicare would not pay for the drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers, drugs that cost about $500 a year. Now, drug coverage under Medicare will allow seniors to replace more expensive surgeries and hospitalizations with less expensive prescription medicine. * More health care choices: As President Bush stated, "when seniors have the ability to make choices, health care plans within Medicare will have to compete for their business by offering higher quality service [at lower cost]. For the seniors of America, more choices and more control will mean better health care. These are the kinds of health care options we give to the members of Congress and federal employees. What's good for members of Congress is also good for senio rs. * New Health Savings Accounts: Effective January 1, 2004, Americans can set aside up to $4,500 every year, tax free, to save for medical expenses. Depending on your tax bracket, that means you'll save between 10 to 35 percent on any costs covered by money in your account. Every year, the money not spent would stay in the account and gain interest tax-free, just like an IRA. These accounts will be good for small business owners, and employees. More businesses can focus on covering workers for major medical problems, such as hospitalization for an injury or illness. At the same time, employees and their families will use these accounts to cover doctors visits, or lab tests, or other smaller costs. Some employers will contribute to employee health accounts. This will help more American families get the health care they need at the price they can afford.

Homeland Security, Border Enforcement Immigration
1. See Government Reform above. Under President Bush's leadership, America has made an unprecedented commitment to homeland security.
2. Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first 10 ABM silos in Alaska so that America will have a defense against North Korean nukes. Has ordered national and theater ballistic missile defenses to be deployed by 2004.
3. Announced a 9.7% increase in government-wide homeland security funding in his FY 2005 budget, nearly tripling the FY 2001 levels (excluding the Department of Defense and Project BioShield).
4. Before DHS was created, there were inspectors from three different agencies of the Federal Government and Border Patrol officers protecting our borders. Through DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) now consolidates all border activities into a single agency to create "one face at the border." This not only better secures the borders of the United States, but it also eliminates many of the inefficiencies that occurred under the old system. With over 18,000 CBP inspectors and 11,000 Border Patrol agents, CBP has 29,000 uniformed officers on our borders.
5. The Border Patrol is continuing installation of monitoring devices along the borders to detect illegal activity.
6. Launched Operation Tarmac to investigate businesses and workers in the secure areas of domestic airports and ensure immigration law compliance. Since 9/11, DHS has audited 3,640 businesses, examined 259,037 employee records, arrested 1,030 unauthorized workers, and participated in the criminal indictment of 774 individuals.
7. Since September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has conducted more than 124,000 port security patrols, 13,000 air patrols, boarded more than 92,000 vessels, interdicted over 14,000 individuals attempting to enter the United States illegally, and created and maintained more than 90 Maritime Security Zones.
8. Announced the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), an internet-based system that is improving America's ability to track and monitor foreign students and exchange visitors. Over 870,000 students are registered in SEVIS. Of 285 completed field investigations, 71 aliens were arrested.
9. This week, the US-VISIT program began to digitally collect biometric identifiers to record the entry and exit of aliens who travel into the U.Son a visa. Together with the standard information, this new program will confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies.
10. Eliminated INS bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.
11. Split the Immigration and Naturalization Service into two agencies: one to protect the border and interior, the other to deal with naturalization.
12. Signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal aliens.
13. Established a six-month deadline for processing immigration applications.
14. Information regarding nearly 100% of all containerized cargo is carefully screened by DHS before it arrives in the United States. Higher risk shipments are physically inspected for terrorist weapons and contraband prior to being released from the port of entry. Advanced technologies are being deployed to identify warning signs of chemical, biological, or radiological attacks. Since September 11, 2001, hundreds of thousands of first responders across America have been trained to recognize and respond to the effects of a WMD attack.

Judiciary Tort Reform
1. Is urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits.
2. Killed the liberal ABA's unconstitutional role in vetting federal judges. The Senate is supposed to advise and consent, not the ABA.
3. Is nominating strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.
4. Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims.

Politics
1. His leadership resulted in Republican gains in the House and Senate, solidifying Republican control of both houses of Congress and the presidency.
2. Signed an EO enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision regarding union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes. .Has prosecuted 527 corrupt Union bosses in an effort to reform the rampant corruption in the Labor Unions.

Second Amendment
1. Ordered Attorney General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, and is NOT a Leftist-imagined "collective" right.
2. Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit.
3. Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers.
4. *See Globalization Internationalism.

Traditional Values, Compassion Volunteerism
1. Endorses and promotes "The Responsibility Era." President Bush often speaks of the necessity of personal responsibility and civic volunteerism. He said, "In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else to one in which every single American understands that he or she is responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself."
2. Started the USA Freedom Corps, the most comprehensive clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever offered. For the first time in history, Americans can enter geographic information about where they want to get involved, such as state or zip code, as well as areas of interest ranging from education to the environment, and they can access volunteer opportunities offered by more than 50,000 organizations across the country and around the world.
3. Established the The White House Office and the Centers for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative located in seven Federal agencies. The faith-based initiative supports the essential work of these important organizations. The goal is to make sure that grassroots leaders can compete on an equal footing for federal dollars, receive greater private support, and face fewer bureaucratic barriers. Work focuses on at-risk youth, ex-offenders, the homeless and hungry, substance abusers, those with HIV/AIDS, and welfare-to-work families.
4. The White House released a guidebook fully describing the Administration's belief that faith-based groups have a Constitutionally-protected right to maintain their religious identity through hiring even when Federal funds are involved.
5. Issued an EO implementing the Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling, which requires moving disabled people from institutions to community-based facilities when possible.
6. Increased funding for low-interest loan programs to help people with disabilities purchase devices to assist them.
7. Revised the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 rent subsidies to disabled people, permitting them to use up to a year's worth of vouchers to finance down payments on homes. HUD has started pilot programs in 11 states.
8. Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men, women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa.
9. Heeding the words of our own Declaration of Independence, the president laid out the non-negotiable demands of human dignity for all people everywhere. On January 29, 2002, he said, "No nation owns these aspirations, and no nation is exempt from them. We have no intention of imposing our culture. But America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity." As stated by the President, they are a virtual manifesto of conservative principles: * Equal Justice * Freedom of Speech * Limited Government Power * Private Property Rights * Religious Tolerance * Respect for Women * Rule of Law


Promoting freedom and human dignity
The Administration has pursued a policy of promoting freedom and human dignity in every part of the world. The President pursues this policy both because it is right and because it addresses the fear, hatred, and inequality that contribute to terrorism and violence. Our policy is based on core values that uphold human rights through democracy and the rule of law. As a member of the international community, we are committed to pursuing freedom and promoting democracy and human rights, through both words and deeds.

Greater Middle East: Moved support for democracy in the Middle East to top of regional agenda, including support for individual champions of human rights and for reform efforts in Jordan, Morocco, the Gulf, and elsewhere.
Afghanistan: Policy based on achieving democracy through the Bonn process and assistance to constitutional, human rights and judicial commissions; established US-Afghan Women’s Council and funded centers to promote women’s education, entrepreneurship, and political participation.

Iraq: After removing Saddam Hussein’s oppressive regime, the U.S. is now leading an international coalition to assist in Iraq’s transition to democracy; established Iraqi Governing Council, representing the diversity of Iraqi society, to help chart course towards drafting, ratifying, and implementing a new constitution; building civil society through grants, workshops, consultations, and technical assistance to a wide range of Iraqi groups; provided over $100 million to date for local governance programs; supported women’s conferences; and established Abuse Prevention Unit.

Middle East Partnership Initiative: Established first initiative to support political reform efforts and economic development, especially for women and youth.

Middle East Peace: Placed democracy and human rights at the heart of efforts for a two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian dispute, demanded reforms in governance of Palestinian Authority.
Africa: The Administration has an unparalleled record of engagement in Africa that incorporates support for democracy, reform, respect for human dignity and peace on the continent. Achievements include:
Liberia: Sponsored UN sanctions; engaged with ECOWAS and other regional actors to negotiate peace deal to end civil war that had serious human rights abuses.

Sudan: Heavily engaged in the peace process to end Africa’s longest-running civil war.

Zimbabwe: Imposed targeted sanctions against President Mugabe, Government officials, and their spouses in an effort to stop policies that undermine democratic processes and institutions.
Asia: The Administration’s policy is focused on assisting countries on the path towards democratization and long-term reform, and calling attention to those who fall short.
Burma: Leads international calls for release of Aung San Suu Kyi and for return to inclusive political dialogue; condemns regime for its human rights abuses; and strengthened sanctions on the regime for its imprisonment of leaders who believe in democracy.
China: Moved from defining progress on human rights solely by prisoner releases to also improving rule of law, electoral and other developments by increasing funding for programs from $7M in FY02 to $12M in FY03.

North Korea: Co-sponsored the first UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) resolution on human rights in North Korea to call international attention to abuses; consistently put human rights on the table during multilateral talks among other subjects. This tough stance had resulted in North Korea shutting down their reactors.

Central Asia: The Administration’s contact with the region after September 11, 2001 focused on the War on Terror and engagement on human rights practices of countries in the region.
Democracy and Human Rights Funding After 9/11: Doubled funding for democracy programs in Kyrgyzstan (funded first free printing press) and Turkmenistan; quadrupled funding for democracy programs in Uzbekistan (funded first political party programs) and Tajikistan.
Human Rights Practices: Sponsored first UNCHR resolution on human rights practices in Belarus and co-sponsored first UNCHR resolution on Turkmenistan; concluded Joint Declarations with Presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan that cite continued progress on democracy and human rights as central to our bilateral relationships.

Georgia: Appointed James Baker as Presidential Envoy to underscore the need for free and fair parliamentary elections this November. Election results are incoming and we are counting on the Government and people of Georgia to ensure a free and fair outcome.
Western Hemisphere: The Administration is committed to democratic, constitutional governments through the Summit of the America’s “Democracy Clause.” We have shown strong support for multi-lateral engagement to address democratic crises in Bolivia, Venezuela, and Haiti, and are continuing efforts to promote rapid, peaceful democratic transition in Cuba.
Democracy in the Region: Concluded Inter-American Democratic Charter, which defines Western Hemisphere by its commitment to democratic principles.
Cuba: Launched “Initiative for a New Cuba” which challenges regime to undertake Political and economic reforms; supported resolution at UNCHR this year.

Haiti: Member of “Group of Friends” working to help the Haitian people build democratic institutions, supporting OAS efforts to resolve the political crisis.

Venezuela: Member of OAS Secretary General’s “Group of Friends” providing support for efforts to comply with OAS Resolution 833 calling for a peaceful, democratic, constitutional, and electoral solution to the political crisis through the referendum process.
International Institutions: The Administration is committed to reforming and rejoining international institutions that support human rights and promoting new initiatives.
Commission on Human Rights: Actively engaged in reforming UNCHR to realize its potential through membership and other changes.

UNESCO: Rejoined organization to promote education and democracy.

UN General Assembly: On November 6, 2003, U.S.-introduced resolution on Women and Political Participation was passed by the UNGA.
Human Dignity: The Administration has taken special efforts to safeguard the dignity of the individual.
Cloning: Co-sponsored resolution at the UNGA calling for ban on all forms of human cloning.

Religious Freedom: Worked with OSCE to hold the first meetings on religious freedom, including anti-Semitism in Europe.

Trafficking in Persons: President announced $50 million to support organizations that rehabilitate women and children who have been trafficked; U.S. efforts have led many governments to improve their own laws and performance.
Programs to Support Democracy and Human Rights: Significantly increased funding levels for Human Rights and Democracy Fund administered by the Department of State.

America’s Commitment to Democracy is Strong

Our perseverance and sustained work to spread freedom and democracy in the Middle East will make the world more peaceful and secure. As the President has said, “Freedom is worth fighting for, dying for, and standing for – and the advance of freedom leads to peace. And now we must apply that lesson in our own time. We've reached another great turning point -- and the resolve we show will shape the next stage of the world democratic movement.”

****I can't remember where I found all this info, but since they obviously appreciate President Bush even way more than myself, I doubt they will mind. I will try to add a source ASAP.

The Real Sicko

Another thing we will hear in Moore’s new movie is how socialized medical systems spend less per person than we do in America. He will blame greedy corporate fat cats for this discrepancy and say a socialized system will eliminate that greedy profit. On the surface that even sounds good to me. What many people who push socialist healthcare can’t grasp is that to make that money, greedy corporate fat cats have to provide a new and innovative product that someone wants. In a social system there is little incentive to risk billions developing a new scanner or life saving drug that may not even work when little Timmy needs surgery now. But corporate fat cats will take that risk because there is the potential of big profit.

So why do most socialized medical systems spend less per person than we do? I will talk about three rarely mentioned reasons but there are many more. Sadly most of our increased cost are a direct result of the rest of the world being socialized.

1 Drugs. Ever wonder why much of the world's drug companies are in the USA? The rest of the socialized world has price controls on medicine. So when the drug companies need to make back that billion dollar investment it took to develop a new life saving drug, they charge the American healthcare system. This causes a two-fold difference when comparing American healthcare costs to the rest of the world as for ever dollar we are over charged it is because someone in a social system is being undercharged. This whole scenario causes one to wonder what would happen to future drug development and innovation if America healthcare became socialized. I have a direct example of this within our system. My wife worked in a hospital lab and our socialized Medicare system (who sets price controls) would often pay significantly less for a test than it cost the laboratory to run. So who do you suppose made up the difference?

2. Research and Development. In America we do massive amounts of R&D because companies can make tons of money. American hospitals almost always have newer and better equipment to attract patients. In socialized countries they wait around a few years for the equipment prices to come down. This is another two-fold difference as Americans are subsidizing the R&D costs of other socialized countries. Again it is scary to think of what would happen if American healthcare R&D companies had to sell to a socialized American healthcare system. Do you really think that new high tech scanner or the new surgery tools would be developed as fast, if at all?

3. We have a higher regard for live. I have lived in the UK for almost a year and in all this time I have seen one person with Down Syndrome. Ask yourself how may people you see with Down Syndrome in America in a year? My wife has had many conversations with medical professionals from Europe and to them it is just "common sense" to abort unhealthy babies. Sadly, it has become standard practice for problem babies to be aborted in the socialized world. I say thank God that in America we will spend a million dollars trying every last possible idea to save a child who has a dreadful disease. In part we do this because outside entities (insurance companies) have to pay what the doctors request. In a socialized system doctors have to decide who is best served with the limited resources. If they have a choice between spending a million dollars on one bleak case or three moderate cases they will always sacrifice the bleak case. Thank God we don’t have to make that choice in America. I personally think the higher cost is worth saving that Down syndrome child and I hope you do to.

I think the worst effect of a socialized medical system is how it turns hospitals into factories. Doctors no longer treat patients, they just diagnose. In order to keep costs down the socialized system decides the most cost effective way to treat any sickens. This is called medical coding and those familiar with Medicare know what I am talking about. The doctor makes a diagnosis, plugs the code into the system, and then the system tells the doctor what treatments it will pay for. Doctors have little room to make judgment calls or tailor a cure. Patients become just a number in a computer that gets treated by a code. This has become so prevalent that my wife has remarked how medical testing equipment is now being designed and sold based on what test Medicare will reimburse, which isn’t necessary what test doctors want.

If all of that doesn’t worry you, let's take a simple economic look at how a socialized system considers patients. Most social systems have a known budget for each year. Every new patient that comes in is taking a piece out of that known pie. This causes a huge disincentive for doctors to try any expensive remedy even if it is very effective. The tendency is to do the cheap, quick fix so there is more money for the rest of the patients. In our private system there is no set budget. The doctor and the patient get to decide how much to spend and what treatments to try.

On the surface socialized medicine sounds good even to me, but as with everything we need to dig deeper. Because there is “greedy” profit to be made, America is largely the last bastion of medical innovation and development in the world. Because we freely share our innovation the rest of the world has been able to get by with their factory like socialized systems. But if America listens to Michael Moore that bastion will fade away.

Don't Be Deceived By "Tricko"

I am so excited (insert sarcasm). We will soon again be subjected to Michael Moore’s stupidity. His new film “Tricko” is coming out soon. It will be his greatest attempt yet to force the USA into a socialist utopia like…well actually there aren’t any socialist utopias because they all failed miserably. But hey, people like him think we should give it another shot.

I am guessing that his healthcare movie will be largely based on two talking points:

1) There are 44 million uninsured in this country and that makes private systems bad and uncompassionate.

2)Socialist systems have a lower overhead so private insurance is wasteful and wrong.

First of all, the 44 million uninsured figure we often hear liberals spout is highly exaggerated and based on a flawed study. It is spelled out here.

Second, socialist systems like Medicare have low overhead because they push tons of the work onto the hospital. This causes a two-fold discrepancy because private payers have to make up the difference. It is spelled out here.

My opposition to socialized medicine isn’t just because it will result in subpar care and lost innovation. It also gives the government justification to take away freedoms. Right now if I eat fatty foods, drink too much beer, or race dirt bikes I am only risking my own pocket book. But under a socialized system my risky behavior could be taking healthcare money from children with cancer. That then gives the government all the justification they need to take away freedom.

But don’t call me an evil capitalist just yet. I do worry about uninsured people and am greatly concerned about the poor in our country. I also understand how the uninsured really hurt hospitals and increase costs. Plus, getting insurance through ones work limits choice and is difficult during times of unemployment or job change.

Instead of creating a new massive healthcare system (proposed by people like Moore and Clinton) that will always be strapped for cash, cause subpar care, and supress innovation, let's let the free market that has made America so great go to work. Let's get rid of all the government healthcare programs and just give everyone an account that can only be spent on health care. If we divide up the Medicare budget alone ($400 billion / 300 million people) we could give every citizen $1,333. Add in all the other State and Federal healthcare programs and the money saved by companies no longer paying insurance (yes I would be for more taxes if the money was spent in a free market manner) and I bet we could give every citizen at least $2,500. I know personally you can purchase a good catastrophic insurance plan for $1,000.

This way people can choose how much coverage they want and the free market can go to work to compete for those dollars. Maybe younger people would choose low cost catastrophic insurance and let the account grow for later years. Or some people could chip in their own money and get no deductible coverage for every bruise and sniffle. I think we will all be shocked how well the system can work if we get the government out of healthcare decisions and let the free market take over.

Here is a great read on the topic of mandatory healthcare which my idea would encompass.