Voting Resources
Why We Need a "Public Option" for . . . Ketchup
This talking point has been making the rounds from the Senate Republican Policy Committee:
Senator Kerry just went on about the outrageous profits of health insurers who dominate the market and offer little choice to consumers. That’s an interesting point considering that according to the website of Heinz ketchup, the company holds a 60 percent retail market share. Heinz products enjoy #1 or #2 market share in more than 50 countries. And according to Yahoo Finance, Heinz profits (8.6 percent) are more than double the health insurance industry (3.3 percent). Government run Ketchup, anyone?
I will try my hand at this:
Oh, those evil tomato paste merchants! Your basic 36 oz bottle of ketchup costs $1.59. That is $5.56 per gallon!!! In 2004, when John Kerry was running for President, gas prices rose to $2.31 per gallon, Kerry indignantly declared, "Where is the president? We need a president who is fighting for the American worker, the American family at the fuel pump."
$2.31 per gallon for gas vs. $5.56 per gallon for . . . ketchup?
Senator, I ask you, who is fighting for the American worker, the American family, the American french fry lover, the American hamburger lover at the grocery store?
Let me tell you a story about "Rebecca." Rebecca is a single mother with three boys who love french fries. But, Rebecca can't afford ketchup for her boys' french fries. Big Ketchup gets richer and richer every year, but Rebecca's boys miss the tangy but sweet goodness that is ketchup. Then one day, Rebecca's arm was dislocated while trying to shake ketchup out of the bottle. Now, Rebecca has to buy ketchup in little hard-to-open packets. Why can't Big Ketchup come up with a better way to extract ketchup from the bottle?
We need competition in the ketchup market! We need a public option for ketchup to keep Big Ketchup honest!
Senator Kerry! Will you take the lead?
Comments
A Crisis of Competence
My parents were both immigrants of Italian and German descent, respectively. They met in WWWII, my mother an army nurse and my father an Army doctor. Both had family members murdered by Mussolini and Hitler. They taught to spot Hitler a mile away.
My parents, deeply Patriotic wealthy business owners, taught me sound fiscal management. They gave us allowances and bonuses for extra projects, such as afternoon work in my Dad's medical office putting away files.
One of the chief lessons my Dad taught me was "you cannot expect more reward and advancement without demonstrating competence where you presently are".
What the Obama administration is asking the American people to do is trust that big government is going to be a good manager of universal medical care in this country.
But the evidence of how govenment runs things tells us just the opposite.
Every time our government gets involved in any aspect of our lives, the quality of our lives goes down. The Post Office is a real pain in the %$@& to deal with and totally user unfriendly, Medicare and Medicaid is loaded with fraud and waste with no plan to clean it up, there is abuse of taxpayer money and waste in every nook and cranny, FEMA response is disaster every time a disaster happens, and yet, we are expected to just "trust Obama". Oh yeah, I am going to believe Mr. Cronyism. Think again....where is the "demonstrated competence" in Mr. Obama, especially before being sworn in as President?
What is needed as we rush to push through bills (that nobody has read) is a return to basic fiscal soundness. First clean up waste and fraud THEN ask for more money and the right to fix health care. Qualify for that right, but do not assume it. Demonstrate competence and anyone brave enough to do that will win the hearts and minds of the American people. "Change we can believe in?" What a hoax! The biggest dupe in history!
The reason I am a Republican is not because my parents were Republican. Unlike the present Progressive Movement, my parents did not believe in pushing politics onto their children. They taught me to observe. I am a Lincoln Republican because I believe in the equal rights of all people and sound fiscal management of a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people". The role of government is simple: manage what the People entrust to you, nothing else.
When it comes to health care reform (which should be third on the list of priorities right now), "what is not well defined, is easily manipulated".
Transparency? Now that's downright laughable!!
I am proud of our GOP Senators who are exhibiting a back bone in this. They are standing up and saying, "Yes, Obama you may control the White House and both Houses, but WE WILL NOT BE MANIPULATED INTO A SCHEME THAT WILL HURT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE."
I am encouraging True Patriots everywhere to write to their Senators who are protecting America and thank them, on both sides of the aisle, for braving rough waters and standing up for what is right. These brave men and women stand alone, taking beating after beating, while the majority run off the cliff chanting, "Obama, Obama...." like the beautiful Charles Manson Family girls crouched on the steps of the Court House crying uncontrollably over the "injustice" while Manson inside, rails on like a lunatic.
Whose running this asylum?
The crazed Obama fans, or people of sound reason?