Health Care Industry Profit Margin

It has often been said, lately, especially by President Obama, that the health care industry is taking inordinate amounts of profit from the money it takes in from premium payments paid by its customers. The table below indicates that the health care industry is #86 among other industries in the United States in amount of profit margin. This table was constructed in August 2009 by Mark J. Perry, Professor of Economics and Finance in the School of Management at the University of Michigan. Dr. Perry has a Ph.D. from George Mason University and a MBA from the University of Minnesota. His complete report on this issue can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/nyw78m. (Double click on the table to view it in a zoomed in size.)

It seems to me that, even though, 3.3% of the premium money that goes into health care payments, is a lot of money, this is not an unreasonable amount of profit for an American industry.

Sex Ed Fails, Say Dissenters to CDC Report

Comprehensive sex education programs are highly effective if one is to believe the official conclusions of a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, data in the same report indicate that in reality, sex ed has no significant impact on teen condom use, pregnancy, or STD’s, according to Irene Ericksen and Danielle Ruedt, two members of the study’s panel of consultants.

Conversely, Ericksen said abstinence education programs produce a significant reduction in teen sexual activity. Ericksen is a research analyst with the Institute for Research and Evaluation in Salt Lake City.

“It is unfortunate that the statistical evidence that demonstrates the above discrepancies was not released to the public,” Ericksen said. She and Ruedt issued a dissenting viewpoint to the official report.

Leslie Unruh, President of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, expressed concern as well: “These results present a different picture than the (CDC) study’ published conclusions, especially for school-based comprehensive sex education. Policy makers deserve accurate information regarding the lack of effect of these condom-centered programs.”

www. christiannewswire.com 11/6/09

Federal Workers' Raise Exceeds Inflation Rate

Everyone employed in the federal government will be getting a 2% pay increase this year, a rate above the inflation rate, according to James Shrek of the Heritage Foundation.

“While private sector employees have had a drop in over seven million jobs, and millions of private sector workers are now unemployed, government employment has actually increased by almost 200,000 jobs in Washington,” Shrek said. “Private sector employees are bearing all the pain and making all the sacrifices while government employees basically aren’t feeling any of it.”

A USA Today analysis of federal salary data found that federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession’s first 18 months. According to the report, the average federal worker’s pay is $71,000, 44% more than the $40,000 average in the private sector.

www.onenewsnow.com 12/14/09

True Love

"The love for equals is a human thing - of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing - the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing - to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.

And then there is the love for the enemy - love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world."

— Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat

The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell.

Could we with ink the oceans fill and were the skies with parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the sky contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.

“RECONCILLIATION” AND TYRANNY

Democrats in Congress seem determined to pass the health care bill through the “reconciliation process” despite its obvious unpopularity with the people of America. Nancy Pelosi has said this week that Democrats “have set the stage” for the reconciliation process to go forward. Reconciliation is a procedure in Congress whereby legislation can be passed without the usual threat of a filibuster. Reconciliation was a measure designed by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to allow Congress and the Senate to avoid a filibuster and pass budget bills with a smaller group of “yes” votes. The technique has been used only on bills concerning budgets and deficit spending since its inception; and that was its intended purpose. If readers are interested in knowing what “reconciliation” is all about, they can refer to--http://tinyurl.com/y9xk668. Reconciliation has never been used to modify social legislation of the scale and cost of the present health care bill.

Here is how the Democrats in Congress intend to manipulate this health care bill through the reconciliation process. First, House Democrats would pass a series of “fixes” to the Senate bill. The Senate would then pass the House reconciliation bill, sending amendments to President Obama to a bill that did not exist, because it had not yet emerged from the House. The House would then retroactively pass the Senate bill, as is, and send it to the President for signature. Then the President would sign the Senate bill before he signs the reconciliation bill.

This whole process sounds like a bunch of legislative acrobatics in an attempt to pass legislation that is very unpopular with the American people. To me,it sounds like tyranny.

Nobody in their right mind believes that the government can supply health insurance to 38 million Americans and do it for free—actually decreasing the debt load of the government, as President Obama claims.

Airport Security--Profiling??

President Obama has pledged to ban racial profiling at airport security stations. He outlined this position in his "Bluepring for Change." Is this rational? Is it safe for the American airline passenger? There is a point to quit being politically correct and start protecting Americans. Lately, my 70 year old caucasian wife was extensively searched at the Denver airport to see if she was carrying a bomb. She does not look like any kind of terrorist to me!

The Israelis have an effective and rational way of profiling. They look at the passport. If that passport has a stamp from Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, or North Aftica, they search that passenger thoroughly. That makes sense to me.

"The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 59% of adults say factors such as race, ethnicity and overall appearance should be used to determine which boarding passengers to search at airports.

Twenty-six percent (26%) say these factors should not be used to determine which passengers to search. Another 15% are not sure.

Interestingly, however, even more Americans (71%) believe such profiling is necessary in today’s environment. Eighteen percent (18%) disagree and see profiling as an unnecessary violation of civil rights…

Nearly half of likely voters (46%) believe current airport security measures are not strict enough."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/january_2010/59_favor_racial_ethnic_profiling_for_airline_security

Obama's Biggest Blunder

Conservatives tend to criticize President Obama’s fiscal and domestic policies to the high heavens; but I think that the biggest blunder of this administration is its neglect of things international, especially of the obvious problems going on in Iran and the Middle East. This administration is extremely slow to act when destabilization is running rampant among our avowed enemies in that part of the world. If you do not believe that is true, just look at how long it took President Obama to decide to send 38,000 more urgently needed troops to Afghanistan—months! Now, he sits still while Hamas perfects a rocket launcher in the Gaza strip capable of delivering a bomb (presumably an Iranian nuclear weapon) to Tel Aviv. Meanwhile, Hamas continues to lob explosive rockets into Israeli settlements in southern Israel.

The latest danger comes, of course, from Iran. President Ahmadinejad announced via state TV yesterday that Iran was going on to enrich uranium, supposedly to make a medical reactor. How long must we stand by and watch this kind of preparation for war going on before we act in our own best interests and the best interest of the whole world, especially the interests of a peaceful Middle East?!

We fail to act, even in words of encouragement, to the democrats in Iran who are protesting tyranny and laying down their lives for freedom. The Iranian regime continues to repress protests of their corrupt national election on June 12 while the United States hesitates to even endorse the actions of the protesters verbally. While the United States sleeps, street protesters around the world came out on Sunday to protest human rights violations in Iran.

We hear a lot of criticism of the Bush administration for apparently failing to understand that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before our invasion. But now, we stand by and allow the Iranian government to announce openly that they are producing nuclear capability. Talk about “weapons of mass destruction!” This is ridiculous!!

It seems to me that the one hope the free world has is Israel. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is not one to let his country be destroyed before his very eyes. A pre-emptive strike against Iran is a very real possibility at the hands of the Israelis; but I doubt very seriously that our American military power is wont to help them if they do act to save their country and their lives.

WE NEED SOME ACTION ON THE PART OF OUR GOVERNMENT TO STOP THE DANGER IN IRAN!!