The Conservative Party Principles

The Conservative Party Principles

Friday, December 11, 2009

"Obamanation care just keeps getting better, NOT!"

I have spent the last 30 days engaged with my senior health insurance clients preparing for and reviewing their Medicare Health Insurance needs now that Medicare Advantage PFFS (Private Fee For Service) plans are either gone completely or too expensive to purchase. Their federal funding created in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 made affordable coverage available to the 25% of my clients who cannot afford the cost of Medicare and a Medicare Supplement and a Medicare Part D drug plan. ( The average supplement for a 70 year old is $180.00 per month
in addition to the $96.40 for Medicare Part B monthly premiums and the $42.00 monthly premium for Part D drug plan, that 70 year old is current paying $316.40 in premiums alone).

In February the Obamanation and his left wing sycophants removed the funding for it to in their terms " reign in the costs of Medicare" and garner positive press for the new administration. (the hell with the 10.4 million senior Americans who were enrolled in it)

But what they are now about to do to the health care in this country and the way that they are going to subjugate the populace through this combination of legislation's is heinous in action and criminal in nature and a direct violation of every Americans right to choose their health care and method of payment.

We will start the with Medicare and my favorite clients the seniors because THEY EARNED IT!

To achieve the numbers that the new CBO review has published they are going to cut Medicare spending by 491 billion dollars by first eliminating the rest of the MMA 2003 plans subsidies which accounts for 118 billion dollars and more importantly 12+ million seniors now on Medicare Part C and restructure it the same way as Medicaid is, an HMO! ( they decrease the amount of funding every year until 2014 where it becomes Medicaid)(Pg.869-920 Reid Bill)
And with the age in proposal the only way that you could double down on the size of Medicare participants and still provide coverage will be to double the part B premiums on current enrollees and force the new enrollees to pay for early enrollment into part A which they have already paid for with their FICA tax and quadruple their part B or roughly a $500.00 per month premium. And this is before they purchase additional coverage to pay the 20% and the Walk In Fees and Part B CYD that you are still responsible for under Medicare coverage.
Cuts to Medicare include: Permanent reductions in the annual updates to Medicare’s payment rates for most services in the fee-for-service sector of $192 billion; $118 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage; $43 billion in DSH cuts; $23 billion in unspecified cuts by the Medicare Advisory Board.

http://democrats.senate.gov/reform/patient-protection-affordable-care-act.pdf

So this plan is no friend to anyone on or enrolling into Medicare or on a fixed income.

Now for all of those not Medicare eligible and not of the belief that they are somehow entitled to health insurance because they cannot or are unwilling to provide coverage for themselves.

This is the first page of the CBO report requested br Senator Evan Bayh on the effects of this bill on insurance premiums. It has been copied and pasted as is with no editing!

Honorable Evan Bayh
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator:

The attachment to this letter responds to your request—and the interest expressed by many other Members—for an analysis of how proposals being considered by the Congress to change the health care and health insurance systems would affect premiums paid for health insurance in various markets. Specifically, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation have analyzed how health insurance premiums might be affected by enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as proposed by Senator Reid on November 18, 2009.
I hope this information is helpful to you. If you have any further questions, please contact me or the CBO staff. The primary staff contact for this analysis is Philip Ellis.

Sincerely,

Douglas W. Elmendorf

cc:

Honorable Harry Reid Majority Leader

Honorable Mitch McConnell

The analysis examines the effects of the proposal in 2016 in order to indicate the impact that it would have once its provisions were fully implemented. To focus on permanent elements of the legislation, however, the estimates exclude the effect of the reinsurance that would be provided for new nongroup plans between 2014 and 2016 only (which would be funded by an assessment on insurers).
The analysis focuses on the effects of the legislation on total health insurance premiums that would be charged to individuals or employers before accounting for premium subsidies or the small business tax credit. The analysis also reports the effects of the legislation on the amounts the purchasers would ultimately have to pay, after accounting for those two forms of assistance. However, even when examining unsubsidized premiums, the analysis incorporates the effects of those subsidies (as well as existing tax preferences) on the number and types of people who would obtain coverage in each market, because those effects would have an important impact on the total premiums charged.

Average premiums per policy in the nongroup market in 2016 would be roughly $5,800 for single policies and $15,200 for family policies under the proposal, compared with roughly $5,500 for single policies and $13,100 for family policies under current law.
Those figures indicate what enrollees would pay, on average, not accounting for the new federal subsidies. The majority of nongroup enrollees (about 57 percent) would receive subsidies via the new insurance exchanges, and those subsidies, on average, would cover nearly two-thirds of the total premium, CBO and JCT The weighted average of the differences in those amounts equals the change of 10 percent to 13 percent in the average premium per person summarized above, but the percentage increase in the average premium per policy for family policies is larger and that for single policies is smaller because the average number of people covered per family policy is estimated to increase under the proposal. The effects on the premiums paid by some individuals and families could vary significantly from the average effects on premiums.

The letter is 29 pages long and I have more to say so read it yourself!

http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=10781

Here is the summary of what this bill is really costing Americans!

1. Spending:
The cost of the bill is $2.5 trillion over 10 years of full implementation.

2. Taxes Increases:
Taxes will go up $493.6 billion—nearly half a trillion dollars.

3. Medicare Cuts:
Medicare will be cut $464.6 billion—another half a trillion dollars.

4. Abortion:
The bill permits the use of accounting gimmicks that will, for the first time, allow federal dollars to go to plans covering abortion. The bill does not include the Stupak language, and as a result, National Right to Life describes the Reid bill language as “completely unacceptable” and said it would “result in coverage of abortion on demand in two big new federal government programs.”

5. Government Plan:
The bill includes a government run plan and provides states with the possibility of opting out of participating in that plan. According to CBO, the government run plan “would typically have premiums that were somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges”

6. Employer Mandate:
The bill will impose $28 billion in new taxes on employers that do not provide government approved health plans. These new taxes will ultimately be paid by American workers in the form of reduced wages and lost jobs.

7. Additional CBO Background:
The bill would bend the federal cost-curve up. CBO says, “Under the legislation, federal outlays for health care would increase during the 2010–2019 period, as would the federal budgetary commitment to health care.” The coverage expansion would drive a net increase in government spending on health by $160 billion over 10 years.
CBO scored the bill as reducing the deficit by $130 billion over FYs 2010-2019.
However, CBO notes that the bill includes two budget gimmicks that hide the true cost of the bill. Doctors are assumed to get a 23 percent cut in 2011 which would carry into subsequent years. Fixing the SGR would cost $247 billion. Additionally, the CLASS Act generates $72 billion over the budget window, but later turns to deficits. Eliminating these two gimmicks means the bill would be $189 billion in the red. It would also put the real cost of the bill over a trillion dollars.
The start dates for the individual mandate, exchanges, and employer penalties were all moved from July 1, 2013, to January 1, 2014.
This is another budget gimmick to hide the true cost of the bill.
24 million people would be left without insurance.

8. Unfunded mandates on the states:
The bill mandates that states spend an additional $25 billion in Medicaid expenditures. Taxes on uninsured individuals would total$8 billion. Taxes on employers from the “free-rider” penalty would total $28 billion. 5 million Americans would lose their employer coverage.

9. Cuts to Medicare include:
Permanent reductions in the annual updates to Medicare’s payment rates for most services in the fee-for-service sector of $192 billion; $118 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage; $43 billion in DSH cuts; $23 billion in unspecified cuts by the Medicare Advisory Board.

Only 19 million people will get a subsidy to help them buy health insurance.

None of the 162 million people with employer-based care will even be eligible for a subsidy.

The government plan would have higher premiums than private plans. CBO said the government plan would “typically have premiums that were somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges.”

With the opt-out provision, two-thirds of Americans are expected to have a government plan available in their state.

Co-ops are included but would have “very little effect.”

The CLASS Act would reduce deficits by $72 billion in the 10 year budget window, but “would begin to increase budget deficits” in the decade following 2029.

The IRS would need $5-$10 billion to expand and implement the provisions in the bill.
The costs of the subsidies in the exchange would grow at 8 percent a year.

The tax on high value plans will quickly be applied to almost all plans. CBO expects the revenues from the Cadillac plan tax to grow at 10-15 percent per year outside the budget window.

Includes a $15 billion “Prevention and Public Health Fund” slush fund.
CBO says it would be “difficult” to maintain the predicted savings over a long period of time—meaning that the plan will likely run deficits when savings do not materialize.

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/107xx/doc10731/Reid_letter_11_18_09.pdf

The actual projected costs of this healthcare bill are not measured with just dollars but the real cost here is freedom they are manipulating every facet of every industry to radically shift this country to a full blown socialist nation.
They have conspired and negotiated away your Constitutional right for self determination and have criticized anyone who opposes the Obamanation occupying our highest office. It is time for the resolution that was spoken 235 years ago:
NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENATION!


Dr. Keith C. Westbrook Ph.D.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Why the AMA and AARP support Socialist health care in America!

For 9 months I have been exposing the governments subversion of your Constitutional right to determine your health care. The federal governments attacks have been clear and defined once you cut through the clutter and legaleeze. In previous blogs I have explained this thoroughly:
http://drputts.blogspot.com/2009/07/why-obama-must-have-single-payer-system.html

Well now here is the proof of the aforementioned allegations in their own bill!
1. On page 882 of Subtitle C :
EC. 1443. MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PRE-RULE MAKING INPUT
15 INTO SELECTION OF QUALITY MEASURES.

There are 111-Additional offices, bureaus, commissions, programs, and bureaucracies the bill creates over and above the entitlement expansions-more than double the number in H.R. 3200.

The AMA will be directly involved with the appointments of their current board members to these oversight boards as well as the requiring all physicians accepting federal dollars to become AMA members if they are not already.

There are over 700,000 + doctors in America and 7904 are currently members of the AMA or approximately 10% of the doctors in America.

They will end with a minimum of a 500% increase in dues paying members jumping through their bureaucratic hoops to stay in practice if this bill gets passed in its current form.

SEIU will also gain a massive windfall by becoming the largest union in the world from the federally backed mandatory unionization of hospital workers to meet the defined requirements in this bill. Here is the copied and pasted proof right here:

IN MULTI-STAKEHOLDER
10 GROUPS.—The process under paragraph (2)
11 shall ensure that the selection of representatives
12 of multi-stakeholder groups includes provision
13 for public nominations for, and the opportunity
14 for public comment on, such selection.
15 ‘‘(5) USE OF INPUT.—The respective proposed
16 rule shall contain a summary of the recommendations made by the multi-stakeholder groups under
18 paragraph (2), as well as other comments received
19 regarding the proposed measures, and the extent to
20 which such proposed rule follows such recommendations and the rationale for not following such recommendations.
23 ‘‘(6) MULTI-STAKEHOLDER GROUPS.—For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘multi-stakeholder
25 groups’ means, with respect to a quality measure, a
VerDate Nov 24 2008 12:56 Oct 30, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00883 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3962.IH H3962 rmajette on DSK29S0YB1PROD with BILLS
884
•HR 3962 IH
1 voluntary collaborative of organizations representing
2 persons interested in or affected by the use of such
3 quality measure, such as the following:
4 ‘‘(A) Hospitals and other institutional providers.
6 ‘‘(B) Physicians.
7 ‘‘(C) Health care quality alliances.
8 ‘‘(D) Nurses and other health care practitioners.
10 ‘‘(E) Health plans.
11 ‘‘(F) Patient advocates and consumer
12 groups.
13 ‘‘(G) Employers.
14 ‘‘(H) Public and private purchasers of
15 health care items and services.
16 ‘‘(I) Labor organizations.
17 ‘‘(J) Relevant departments or agencies of
18 the United States.
19 ‘‘(K) Biopharmaceutical companies and
20 manufacturers of medical devices.
21 ‘‘(L) Licensing, credentialing, and accrediting bodies.

As you can see right above this line who will now be running the health care in this country and what they have to gain by it is total control of your health.


2. Medicare is major medical insurance not traditional health care coverage and this bill will not cover all medical costs it will require co-insurance like Medicare Supplements and Medicare Advantage plans cover now. Who stands to gain from this windfall?

AARP
AARP Services, Inc., founded in 1999, is a wholly owned subsidiary of AARP. AARP Services manages the wide range of products and services that are offered as benefits to AARP’s 40 million members. The offers span health products, travel and leisure products, and life event services. Specific products include Medicare supplemental insurance; member discounts on rental cars, cruises, vacation packages and lodging; special offers on technology and gifts; pharmacy services; legal services; and long-term care insurance. AARP Services founded AARP Financial Incorporated, a subsidiary that manages AARP-endorsed financial products including AARP Funds. AARP Services develops new products, manages and markets products and services, creates and maintains partnership and sponsorship relationships, and develops and manages AARP’s Web site, AARP.org.

They will become the most powerful insurance company in America controlling hundreds of billions of dollars and will be directly involved in the government run health care.

AARP and SEIU have been planning this since they formed the Divide we Fail :


This is copied directly from Wikipedia:


In early 2007 AARP launched "Divided We Fail," designed to address health care and long-term financial security. The initiative was launched with Business Roundtable and the Service Employees International Union, and encompasses advertising in national outlets and in the primary states, online activities, and traditional grassroots work, in order to engage the public, business and elected officials in the debate, and to encourage public leaders to offer solutions, according to the AARP.[12] Nancy LeaMond, executive officer for social impact, said, "We want to really get to these candidates and ask for action, answers and accountability on these questions."[13]
In November 2007, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) joined the Divided We Fail leadership.[14]
The initiative uses an "elephonkey" mixed animal as its symbol, with the head and forelegs of the Republican elephant and the ears, hindquarters, and tail of the kicking Democratic donkey. "Champ" quickly became a recognizable symbol of the Divided We Fail initiative, fostered in part by television commercials that ran across the country. In addition, Divided We Fail Florida incorporated the initiative's mascot into an interactive educational vehicle, dubbed the "Champmobile," which traveled across the state and throughout the United States encouraging voters to "Let your voice be heard!"

Approximately seven million people have AARP branded health insurance, including drug coverage and medigap, as of April 2007 [16] and AARP earns more income from selling insurance to members than it does from membership dues.[17] In 2008, AARP plans to begin offering several new health insurance products: An HMO for Medicare recipients, in partnership with UnitedHealth Group; and a PPO and "a high-deductible insurance policy that could be used with a health savings account" to people aged 50–64, in partnership with Aetna. AARP will likely become the largest source of health insurance for Medicare recipients, and AARP estimates the new products will increase its health insurance customers to 14 million by 2014.[16][18] AARP is not an insurer and does not pay insurance claims. Instead, AARP allows its name to be used by insurance companies in the sale of insurance products, for which it is paid a commission like an insurance agent.[19]
Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in 2008 that the "limited benefit" insurance plans offered by AARP through UnitedHealth provided inadequate coverage and were marketed deceptively. One plan offered $5,000 for surgery that may cost two or three times that amount.[20]
AARP does a "thriving business" in marketing branded Medigap policies. As of October 2009, Medical care reform contained a proposal to trim an associated program Medicare Advantage, which was expected to increase demand for Medigap policies.[21]

And in 1999 when they became that subsidiary they also registered to the necessary bodies to become a financial institution with the power to market and sell their own insurance and financial products without using their current underwriters United Health and Aetna who have both been vilified in the media without a word of support from AARP. They will become their own insurance company the minute this plan passes I guaranty it. And all 3 of these parties have been the some of the most frequent visitors on the White House guest list since Obama became president, just look for Andy Stern the head of SEIU has been there so often he fills 2 pages by himself. http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/disclosures/visitor-records



We are systematically being sold out by this regimes accomplices, the unions and their bed mates that now tell us that we are wrong about health care and the country will implode if they don't pass this bill. Well the only thing that will self destruct is their well laid plan to force socialized medicine down our throats. They have formed a triangle of deceit and power grabbing to steal away another right afforded us by our Constitution the freedom of choice!



And I would love to hear from the left try to spin this back on me because I BROKER BOTH AETNA and AARP !


Dr.Keith C. Westbrook Ph.D

AARP, Losing Members Over Health Care, Faces Challenge From Grassroots Senior Advocacy Group - FOXNews.com

AARP, Losing Members Over Health Care, Faces Challenge From Grassroots Senior Advocacy Group - FOXNews.com

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Sunday, October 11, 2009

Health Insurance Reform from an INDEPENDENT PERSPECTIVE.

Hiding in and around all of the rhetoric and political posturing is the reform of health insurance and subsequently health care in America. The parties that be in Washington are in full attack mode and are rampant for the implementation of the socialization of the health care system.

The current Medicare/Medicaid system (CMS) is a federalized program,(http://www.americansolutions.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&id=196938&blog_id=2) this is very evident when you look at how Medicare and Medicaid are structured and managed. Medicaid is administered on a state level but its funding is federal and based like all of Medicare dollars on the census. Medicare is national Major Medical insurance paid by your payroll taxes for part A and monthly premium for part B. So lets stop here first and recognize that Washington is already in the health insurance business and has been since 1965. Lets evaluate their 44 year operating history as you would any business to determine if you were the owner their overall performance! ( And you are the owner of this business mr.and mrs. taxpayer)

1. Funding: the government is running out of money because they are paying out more than bringing in and we all know how well our government does living on a budget! http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=printfriendly&id=1303
The CMS has suffered from fraud and abuse for so long that we now pay outside vendors to retreive lost and embezzled funds!
The CMS completed a three year demonstration project to demonstrate the use of recovery audit contractors (
RACs) in identifying and correcting underpayments and over payments and recouping over payments in the Medicare FFS program. The demonstration was initiated in the three states with the highest Medicare utilization rates (California, Florida, and New York) and expanded in the summer of 2007 to include Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Arizona. For the demonstration project, the CMS provided the RACs with all the claims paid between FY 2002 and FY 2007. The RACs reviewed the claims to see if they were correctly coded, medically necessary, and consistent with the Medicare billing rules, or for potential Medicare Secondary Payer occurrences where a beneficiary has access to another Group Health Plan insurer and Medicare should not have paid the claim as primary. As of March 27, 2008, RACs collected $992.7 million in overpayment's and refunded $37.8 million in underpayments.
Section 302 of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 makes the RAC Program permanent and requires CMS to implement the program in all 50 states no later than January 1, 2010. The CMS has initiated a full and open competition to hire four permanent RACs. Each RAC will be responsible for identifying and correcting improper payments in approximately one-quarter of the country. The CMS awarded the contracts in October 2008 and is initiating a gradual implementation nationwide. The CMS and the RACs will provide extensive outreach to the provider community during implementation.


2. Management: This is the 2008 federal management chart from CMS.
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/CFOReport/Downloads/2008_CMS_Financial_Report.pdf
And they are overseen and budgeted and are administered by the Health Care Finance Administration (HCFA) of the Department of Health and Human Services. (CONGRESS AND THE SENATE). Obviously if you read the first analysis they are the most incompetent of managers and based on how this current regime deals with public entities owing TARP money and dismissing private sector management for lesser malfeasance, THEY SHOULD ALL BE FIRED!

3.Growth Projections: This is why the liberal socialists are salivating over the single payor system. The next 20 years are going to see 78 million Boomers join Medicare and if you are actually reading the CMS research material in this blog then you will realize THEY SPENT THE MONEY ALREADY PAID IN FOR THEM!

SCHIP and MEDICAID have robbed Peter to pay Paul and their kids and grand kids and great grand kids and great great grand kids. This country has now had 4 generations of families ( yes direct lineage blood relatives) on federal assistance programs.
The socially aware liberal elite in Washington has felt it more important to provide for those that are defrauding the system than HONOR IT'S OBLIGATIONS!
They have also diverted funds thru FEMA to pay for costs associated to health care from natural disasters and catastrophe's. The problem with that is FEMA suffers from more fraud than CMS, 35 cents out of every FEMA dollar goes to Fraud and Waste! So there is explosive growth but NO FUNDING to support that growth. And with unemployment in double digits and NO NEW TAXES how do you pay for it? REDUCE COSTS AND RAISE TAXES!

4. Market Share: The only way to increase revenue when your marketplace is wiped out is to control more of the MARKET! If you eliminate the competition then you are in CONTROL and set the rules based solely now on your corporate practices. So lets again review how our Government has done historically in what is called governance or how they do when in Charge.

A. AMTRAK: financially bankrupted 2 years after its creation and has never turned a profit and receives around $ 8.2 BILLION a YEAR in subsidies to operate essentially a local commuter train in the Eastern corridor of the U.S.

B. FEMA: so overrun with fraud and abuse that 4 years later after Katrina they still have debris on the ground in New Orleans and the population is just now reaching 65% of pre-storm levels.

C. U.S. Post Office: God bless the postal service but they are being administered by idiots and have been SLOW to adapt their business model to be competitive in the information age that we now live in. It was always designed to be a mail service first and meant to service the metropolitan centers of America not this new, vast and modern suburban landscape.

These 3 examples are just the most obvious, Our Government has been the epicenter of incompetence for decades, look at the CIA controversies, the Congressional and Senatorial scandals that are occurring and occurred. We have tax cheats running our finance committees and IRS.
NASA over- expenditures list is staggering in size and scope!

SO AGAIN WOULD YOU PERSONALLY HIRE ANY OF THESE PEOPLE OR THE BUREAUCRACY, THEFT, FRAUD, ABUSE AND COMPLETE INCOMPETENCE they represent TO RUN YOUR BUSINESS?

5. Summary: The federal government has failed on every demonstrateable front that they with or without this regimes guidance and insistence, that they are NOT capable of running health insurance reform or the health care reform that must come with it! So why try? That is the $64,000.00 question isn't it? Everyone has their opinion but based on just the brief information I have provided here today in this blog, the facts show one intent and purpose, total control of the market to control costs and provide funding from increasing the roles paying into Obamacare for the costs. If they force and yes they will, (THEY HAVE ZERO CHOICE IN THE MATTER) every American into the single payor system by stealth taxes called incentives and penalties for non-participation. They will also force the enrollees who lose private coverage into this system with current amendments in every bill ( YES ALL CURRENTLY HAVE THIS IN ALL OF THEM) And they will reduce the costs over time but that will only come from CUTTING BENEFITS!

Every incarnation of this bill has it required to reduce CMS costs and remove the fraud and waste well what you are not being told is that they intend to punish EVERY DR. WHO IS IN THE TOP 10% OF CLAIMS WITH CMS TO BE AUDITED AND THEN FORCED OUT OF MEDICINE OR WATCH DOGGED FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS!


Now how do you fix it?

Make it portable by allowing all companies to sell to everyone no matter where they live .

Create a pool of dollars from every company to create a high risk fund and any insurance company that writes high risk policies uses those monies to offset the costs and keep the premiums the same as they would be for everyone else.

Stop the frivolous lawsuits the Trial Lawyers Association has spent more money per member than any other lobbying group in DC. In 2008 they contributed $3.8 million from their 4800 yes 4800 members. Your health care bought and sold by lawyers!

End the bedroom relationship of Doctors and Pharmaceutical companies, stop throwing drugs at us and give alternatives to chemical therapy.
Allow anyone in the NAFTA countries to buy their prescription drugs where ever they want and force BIG PHARMA to stop RIPPING US OFF!

And yes the insurance companies need to stop PUTTING PROFIT AHEAD OF CARE! Any publicly traded insurance company should create a public policy oversight board to review their claims for consumer advocacy! Currently that is left up to the court systems and has morphed into a full blown political show down between the two parties. It has gridlocked the N.Y. state legislature and allowed their state atty. general to go on a political witch hunt for his own gains!

So in a paragraph there is a way to fix the system but not take it over, so all of you who think that the government is up to no good, you are correct. All of you Liberals who say only the government option is the answer, go and read the facts again from CMS and the CBO and the Bills currently on both floors and then as you have been doing all along turn a blind eye to the truth of the matter and that you now have a choice to make!
DO YOU SWEAR TO UPHOLD AND DEFEND THIS COUNTRY AND THE CONSTITUTION WHICH GOVERNS ITS PEOPLE FROM ALL ENEMIES BOTH FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC?

IF NOT GET OUT OF MY AMERICA AND TAKE YOUR REGIME WITH YOU!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The DESTRUCTION of the U.S. Dollar

As the political debates rage over health care reform which is really health insurance reform we are being distracted from a major and more imminent threat to our financial security.

On Monday of this week Reuters published the following story:
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/07/united-nations-calls-for-new-world-currency/

"The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said in a report published Monday that the U.S. dollar should be replaced as the world’s standard reserve currency, giving rise to a new global currency managed by an as-yet undetermined financial regulatory organization.

This is just the first paragraph of what goes on to be a push by the U.N. and several key players in the IMF for a new world monetary fund. “[The] dominance of the dollar as the main means of international payments [has] played an important role in the build-up of the global imbalances in the run-up to the financial crisis,” the report says. “Another disadvantage of the current international reserve system is that it imposes a greater adjustment burden on deficit countries (except if it is a country issuing a reserve currency) than on surplus countries"

The UN adds: “Such a multilateral system would tackle the problem of destabilizing capital flows at its source. It would remove a major incentive for speculation and ensure that monetary factors do not stand in the way of achieving a level playing field for international trade. It would also get rid of debt traps and counterproductive conditionality. The last point is perhaps the most important one: countries facing strong depreciation pressure would automatically receive the required assistance once a sustainable level of the exchange rate had been reached in the form of swap agreements or direct intervention by the counter party.”

This basically states that the IMF and UN would now set the exchange rates for all world wide currencies and that they would control the debt burden and have the ability to void one countries debt to another if they feel that the currencies of the two countries were not equitable in their market evaluations!

The dollar's current weakening has already created an inflationary hit on our day to day costs of living by increasing the commodities we purchase in the form of finished goods. Every time the dollar takes a hit oil, gas, nat. gas, corn, soy beans , every commodity that becomes a product that we consume and or use gets more expensive.

The OPEC nations are just meeting as of this publishing and they are content with oil at $70 a barrel as long as the dollar does not keep lowering. They plan on keeping production at current levels temporarily or even cutting back to keep the current reserves from growing, preventing a glut. That is if they can get Russia to play nice and not back door them like it has been doing and selling more oil than OPEC wants them to. (Russia is not an OPEC member)

The value of our dollar has been one of the corner stones of America's super power status it is not just our military might that makes us the one of the elite few nations that can affect world change.

The dollar has up until recent times been the envy of the free market systems globally because of its acceptance as both a world currency and the value that it once represented by the number of them in circulation. It is simple if you print too many of them they are worth less and could become worthless. With the Fed. printing money and creating the largest debt burden in the history of mankind the dollar has an uphill fight to keep its value on the world markets.

If you become a debtor nation as we have to China and several other countries and can no longer control the spending that our government is hell bent on, with no signs that it is working at any level on stimulating the economy, you become less valuable and so does your currency!
Our dollar is becoming the peso of the 70's and 80's where you could not give them away, the yen of the 50's and 60' where it took a wheel barrow to exchange dollars for yen, the rupel of the pre and post Soviet meltdown. Our dollar is a direct reflection of our country and all that it once represented, strong and resilient with value based on long term growth and prosperity not short term policies that are not working but having the opposite effect.

With unemployment on its way to 15% by Spring of 2010 where does this regime think it is going to get the taxes necessary to pay back our debt and grow our economy, by infrastructure improvements that is only temporary at best and several years down the road.

Washington needs to wake up and smell what they are spreading and be forced to face the realities that they are creating like their constituents, US!

See folks that is the real reality of any countries economic strength, the ability to raise taxes on its populace to pay its debt!

If we cannot put people to work and keep them employed and paying taxes our countries long term fiscal viability is an illusion, just like the stimulus programs Washington has forced on us.

And that means even more pressure on the employed and the dollars they earn and do not kid yourself, they will have to raise taxes on anyone employed and earning a paycheck to pay this debt off or no one will accept our by then worthless dollars for anything but toilet paper!

Keith C. Westtbrook Ph.D.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

How to Financially Plan for Obama's Utopia

Well now that we have seen the future and are living the Orwellian nightmare of Big Brother how do we protect our business' and finances from the tax attack coming?


In the financial services arena, 99% of all of us who help people protect their assets for the future use very similar methods based on previous methods that were effective in their day. That tried and true methodology based on the current taxation system was designed to get people to diversify their investments in stocks and bonds and the older you get the more you moved from stocks to bonds to provide surety and income to your portfolio.


Small business owners like myself were provided tax incentives and government support to help build and grow the economy, providing employment and taxes that funded local, state and the fed with income.


That was then this is now and the Obama government has designs on controlling all of it.


This government cannot let any amount of tax income slip thru their fingers because with the tax comes control!





So now that the real face of your enemy is clear and intentions are known how do you protect yourself?


We have until 2011 before the Bush tax cuts end and we need to take advantage of every single one of them.


1. The cap for Roth IRA participation limiting the amount of money you can make to qualify for this is lifted for the year 2010. If you are not familiar with a Roth IRA it allows you to not pay taxes when you start taking the money for retirement.(and alot of other advantages to it)


This is especially important to small business owners for them to create a retirement nest egg outside of their business value and the sale or transfer of that business as a cash-equity holding.


2. There are excellent deferred annuities in the market that allow you to defer paying taxes until distribution and then only pay taxes on the gains, this is with non-qualified money (money you have already paid income taxes on). If you transfer qualified money ( money from your 401K etc.) you still defer or offset paying the taxes until you start taking distribution of those funds.


These annuities can be used for any type of retirement bucket that best meets your needs.


3. Use of non-traditional funds now to offset your market or business losses and restructuring your business to take advantage of corporate tax law. Find a great CPA like my friend Ron Schultz (http://www.northfloridacpa.com/) and a good tax/corp attorney who knows corporate law and change or restructure your business. If LLP may be time to consider LLC status, if sole proprietor, time to become an S class or maybe even a C class corp.,


4. Real estate right now if not part of your portfolio should be, if you rent as a business owner now really is a great time to be shopping for a better priced lease or maybe even purchasing your location. ( the tax benefits right now are excellent offsets and are better than giving the money to the IRS ) My friends Terry & Debra Martin-Back (http://www.martinback.com/) have been a great help.


5. Non-traditional investing in the form of angel or start-up investing for new or existing small business' in need of capital infusions to grow. Here in Gainesville there are alot of spin-off technology and ideas that are ripe for growth. And if it is not the profit giant you expect, it is still a better place to lose money than pay to a government bent on destroying our free market.


6. Non-taxable assets that are only taxable when sold such as fine art, collectors items, automobiles, guns, whatever your passion turn into a collection. And do not forget precious metals especially in the form of jewelry (the significant other will love you for it).


Until sold these assets are important to make sure that you are spread out enough to minimize risk and reduce your taxable gains until you not the IRS are ready for the taxes to be paid.


7. Play the Market at your own risk not your advisors! You not your advisor should be dictating how and where to put your money based on your risk profile and Do NOT MACHO UP for that person. And if your advisor is not profiling you at least every other year FIRE THEM!


Too many people have lost too much money because of fear. Afraid to let a client know things are bad and getting worse and clients afraid to demand what you are paying for and that is SERVICE$!


My wife and I got out of this mess in October of 2007 after we and several very smart people(Especially my wife) did our homework and saw that it was not a trend but a calamity and there was no clear reason for it other than cyclical market movement which was not correlative to market indicators. ( in plain English something bad was happening and there was no clear reason behind it ) of course later the Government mortgage market meltdown that was shoved down their throats!


8. Use your market losses from your investments for the tax right offs for as long as you can. If you are not aware of the IRS rules see Ron or your CPA. Do not let them punish you twice for their mistakes.


9. Become the voice of un-reason and get in the face of your elected officials and become politically active not just every 2 or 4 years but every day!

We are the ones who are at fault we let them lull us into a LIE and then when they kept on LYING to our faces, WE DID NOTHING!

Shame on us; as my mother said "you have made your bed now you must lie in it!" Mom your boy screwed up big. I did not support this usurper occupying the White House but I did nothing to help others to stop this treachery. We cannot allow any government official who does not represent the majority of this country to continue destroying the GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH!


Dr. Keith C. Westbrook Ph.D.



















Friday, July 3, 2009

Why Obama must have a single payer system!

Medicare 101:

The Medicare system is an HMO plain and simple, it is a structured plan that is NOT designed to or pay for any health care other than maintaining your CURRENT HEALTH!

When you first enroll in Medicare you get your one and only FREE medical exam (YOUR WELCOME TO MEDICARE EXAM) so Medicare can project, based on your current health, the long term costs of your medical needs to the system.

By the way this is the last free exam that anyone gets from Medicare, after this you pay 100% of the costs for annual exams unless you are showing symptoms of a diagnosable nature and that was the reason the exam was performed.(or if you have supplemental insurance or a Medicare Advantage plan(Medicare part C) that covers annual physical exams and testing)


And just to let you know what these liars have already done they have removed one of the 3 types of Medicare part C plans,the Private Fee For Service (PFFS) which is not a NETWORK plan (I think you know what a network plan is by now right?) by removing the federal subsidies that were passed in 2003 with the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA 2003). ( Why this is important and how it is part of their ground work for taking over ALL HEALTH CARE will become crystal clear in a moment.



This medical evaluation becomes critical to their budget projections because the dollars spent by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ( we will call them CMS ) are from one source but controlled by 2 separate bodies. Medicare is a federal budget and the dollars spent are totally managed at CMS. Medicaid is funded by CMS but managed by each STATE with federal guidelines for allocation and county to county distribution. This is where it gets a little technical but bear with me and you will get it!
The dollars created for both and how they are spent is where CMS and the Gov. are in control. The FICA tax you pay funds part A of Medicare and pays the hospital bills only, part B is paid for out of your SSIB account or out of pocket when taken. And with these costs you still have to pay $1064 part A deductible + 20% of the hospital bill if hospitalized and the 20% for the doctors that Medicare part B does not pay. That is why Medicare Advantage and Medigap insurance is so important, it covers those expenses making them more affordable to everyone on Medicare.


So a single payer system is already in place and not working. But it must become the only player in the game for Govcare to succeed and this is why:


1. Currently any doctor who accepts Medicare must accept payment based on a schedule ( think of a McDonald's menu you know what a burger costs when you walk in) this schedule of fees for service is massive. It is based on many factors but the big ones are:


A. Where you live and what the doctors and hospitals who do not accept Medicare charge for the same medical procedures.

B. What the per capita tax rate and average mean income for the COUNTY you live in, ( yes it is done county by county) based on the most recent census data. (which means their information is updated every 10 years) could you run your company on data that old?

C. The current and projected costs of Medicaid patients and non-payers at Facilities that accept indigents and non-insureds .( yes we pay for them )

2. Currently a little more than 50% of Dr.s' in this country accept Medicare, the reason is Medicare pays 85 cents on the dollar for the Dr.s' service compared to what they could charge for the same procedures to non Medicare patients.

3. If you have an alternative to non-network care that is not dispensed like fast food at a counter and there are alternatives to Gov. clinics to get medical treatment, there is enough wealth in this country that the Govcare could not get and keep the medical professionals and hospitals to provide the care to the number of people that they want in it unless they TAKE THEM OVER!

4. They cannot allow private insurance companies to continue as part of the paying system for fear that more and more Dr.s and hospitals will stop accepting GovCare and negotiate directly with the insurance companies and create private health care networks outside of government control. (these already exist within Medicare Advantage plans in large cities in many states)

So for this plan to really work GovCare, MUST TAKE COMPLETE CONTROL OVER ALL HEALTH CARE OR TOO MAY WILL SLIP THRU THE CRACKS AS THEY DO IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE WHERE THE NUMBER ONE VACATIONS TAKEN ARE MEDICAL JUNKETS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES FOR MEDICALLY NECESSARY PROCEDURES!

They will seize control of this countries health care network in order to force a controlled pricing structure to lower the cost of care to fit budgetary constraints, just as they do in every country with socialized medicine.

If any alternative medicine that is not based on what they say you can have or not have is still available within the borders of this country, you will not rely on them to receive your care. They will lose the control of the dollars that are necessary to keep it financially viable and lose control over the distribution of those dollars.

And never forget that the value of your health will become a simple matter of math, if you are young and a good long term tax source for them, you will have more value to them than someone who is not!

They are not going to spend money keeping you alive if it not fiscally responsible, they can't afford to keep you alive if you are only going to pay taxes for a limited time or are of limited means and in a lower tax bracket.

Then once they have full control over the health provider networks and populace they can force any and all drug companies or medical equipment manufacturers to negotiate at their terms, not on a level footing as is done now. And the incentives for these companies to fund research and create new life saving methods and drugs will not be sustainable.

The best and brightest will go elsewhere to practice, the multi-nationals will move out of our system and we will be left with Medicaid for all which is the worst care imaginable. Just go to any city hospital emergency room on a weekend evening and you will see what they have in store for your future medical care!
Last thing before class is dismissed, the 3rd largest employment sector in this country is health care, now you know why this regime is pushing this as hard as they can.
It is critical for their national progressive socialist movement to control every facet of your life or you will wake up one day and realize YOU ARE LIVING IN NAZI GERMANY CIRCA 1934!


Dr. Keith C. Westbrook PhD






Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The truth about Medicare RIGHT NOW!

So you want the government running health care?
Then you need to know something very important. I sell insurance and I sell Medicare Advantage which is HEAVILY monitored and controlled by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services. They determine who I can and can't sell to, how much I get paid and when I get paid, how I ENROLL members into benefits including all sales materials , language and presentation of the material and I AM NOT ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN THAT PLAN FOR 48 HOURS EVEN IF THEY WANT TO! They control whether or not the enrollee is accepted and when the coverage begins and what the plans cover. This is a nightmare for everyone especially the enrollees.

In the past 6 months this office has dropped several of my clients, (BY MISTAKE) missed applications and disenrolled one of my clients out of Medicare altogether because they confused her eligibility by trying to assess her benefit account to her first husband instead of her second husband. It took an act of GOD and Social Security and myself 41/2 months to get her coverage back.
They now have, for 13 weeks screwed up all the records for payment for EVERY LICENSED AGENT IN AMERICA and kept us all from getting paid our DUE COMMISSIONS for everyone of our clients and new enrollees. I just spent the last 120 minutes trying to get an answer from someone at CMS and finally gave up and called 2 of my companies to get some information. I got the same answer that they have been e-mailing me for weeks. Below are copies of some of those e-mails from two companies:

Important Update: CMS Error in Release of First Year Commissions
We recently informed you that on April 29, 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the release of the first report that identifies initial Medicare Advantage enrollments (ICEP) and Part D Prescription Drug Plan enrollments (IEP) with a January 1, 2009 effective date. This also included beneficiaries who were previously enrolled in Original Medicare and elected to enroll in a Coventry Health Care Medicare Advantage plan.
In keeping with our commitment to you, our valued brokers and agents, Coventry acted promptly on those files and released commission payments via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) on Monday, May 25, 2009.
However, we have learned from CMS that there were issues with the data files that were provided to us. Because of this news from CMS, Coventry held the mailing of the paper commission checks due to the CMS error. That means that some of you have not yet received any initial year commission payments if you elected to receive commissions by paper checks. For those of you who received an EFT, we may need to make adjustments accordingly, either through charge-backs or further payments.
The extent of the issue is not currently known, nor do we have a timeframe from CMS as to when they will provide further direction. However, once we receive the information, rest assured that we will act in a timely fashion to adjust the payments, to notify you of any charge-backs, and to distribute correct paper checks (to those who do not receive EFTs). We will also share with you updates related to the issue as we receive them.

Update: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Renewal Rate Determination
First and foremost, thank you for your support and patience throughout the CMS initial-year commission process. We recognize the inconvenience that has been caused, along with the critical importance of the timely and accurate payment of commissions. We remain committed to paying commissions appropriately, accurately and as quickly as possible based on the data received from CMS.
Along with the rest of the industry our valued agents in particular, we at UnitedHealthcare have been closely following the updates from CMS regarding initial-year commission payments. Representatives from UnitedHealthcare continue to have dialogue with CMS regarding this information and we will provide updates as they are made available to us. We have processed the data received thus far and have conducted commission adjustments for January 1, February 1 and March 1, 2009 effective dates accordingly. We have the data for enrollments with April and May 1, 2009 effective dates and are processing payments this week/weekend. Going forward, our understanding is that CMS plans to provide the remainder of the reports for January through June effective dates by the end of June. CMS has further stated that beginning in July, reports will be released monthly during the third week of the month.
Most recently, we have been made aware of the CMS interpretation that consumers enrolled in Original Medicare with a stand-alone PDP who are then enrolled in an MA or MAPD plan in 2009 are considered "renewals". On Friday, June 19, 2009, CMS confirmed the following information regarding qualification for initial-year commission payments. CMS stated that the November revisions to the compensation policy indicate that in 2009 there are only two situations in which an initial compensation amount should be paid:
1. When someone is new to Medicare (e.g. an age-in) or
2. When someone enrolls from Original Medicare (i.e. they were not previously enrolled in an MA, Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), cost or Part D plan).
All other enrollments should be paid the renewal amount.
Please note that UnitedHealthcare cannot interpret the data or in any way make judgment calls on which enrollees do or do not qualify as initial enrollees according to CMS. The published reports stand as-is.
Although CMS has not provided an appeal or escalation process for this situation, we are accepting and compiling information from agents and providing it to CMS.
Thank you for your continued support and dedication to our members.
Sincerely,

June 22, 2009

These communications are internal and I could lose my contract for publishing these but you know what? Right is always the thing to do!

If ANYONE thinks Obama and the rest of those bureaucratic SCREW-UPS in Washington are capable of running something 8 times larger then they are as stupid AS THEY ARE INCOMPETENT!

Monday, June 15, 2009

What did I tell you!

The new Obama care coming soon to a hospital and clinic near you!


"The following is reprinted from the AP"


(Obama planned to tell the American Medical Association's annual meeting in his hometown on Monday that overhaul cannot wait and that bringing down costs is the most important thing he can do to ensure the country's long-term fiscal health, a senior administration official said.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president's remarks before they were delivered.
The nation's doctors, like many other groups, are divided over the president's proposals to reshape the health care delivery system. The White House anticipates heavy spending to cover the almost 50 million Americans who lack health insurance and has taken steps in recent days to outline just where that money could be found.
For instance, Obama wants to cut federal payments to hospitals by about $200 billion and cut $313 billion from Medicare and Medicaid. He also is proposing a $635 billion "down payment" in tax increases and spending cuts in the health care system.
To an audience of doctors Obama plans to say the United States spends too much on health care and gets too little in return. He says the health industry is crushing businesses and families and is leading to millions of Americans losing coverage, the administration official said.

Obama's turn before the 250,000-physician group in his latest effort to persuade skeptics that his goal to provide health care to all Americans is worth the $1 trillion price tag it is expected to run during its first decade.
The president plans to acknowledge the costs. But he also will tell the doctors it is not acceptable for the nation to leave so many without insurance, the official said.
Unified Republicans and some fiscally conservative Democrats on Capitol Hill have said they are nervous about how the administration plans to pay for Obama's ideas.
The New York Times reported Monday that Obama has been quietly making a case for reducing malpractice lawsuits to help control costs, long a goal of the AMA and Republicans. Obama has not endorsed capping jury awards
Obama has been speaking privately with lawmakers about his ideas and publicly with audiences, such as a town hall style meeting last week in Green Bay, Wis. Obama and his administration officials have blanketed the nation in support of his broad ideas, and Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday said it's up to Congress to pin down the details on how to pay for them.
"They're either going to have to agree with us, come up with an alternative or we're not going to have health care," Biden told NBC's "Meet the Press."
"And we're going to get health care."
In Chicago, the president's remarks are likely to focus on how his ideas might affect the medical profession.
His proposed cuts in federal payments would hit hospitals more directly than doctors, but physicians will be affected by virtually every change that Congress eventually agrees to. Many medical professionals are not yet convinced Obama's overhaul is the best for their care or their pocketbooks.
Broadly, the AMA supports a health care "reform" -- a term that changes its definition based on who is speaking -- although the specifics remain unclear.
In a statement welcoming Obama, AMA president Dr. Nancy Nielsen said the medical profession wants to "reduce unnecessary costs by focusing on quality improvements, such as developing best practices for care and improving medication reconciliation."
She also said doctors need greater protection from malpractice lawsuits and antitrust restrictions.
Many congressional Republicans, insurance groups and others oppose Obama's bid for a government-run health insurance program that would compete with private companies. On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., described a government plan as a "nonstarter."
"There are a whole lot of other things we can agree to do on a bipartisan basis that will dramatically improve our system," he said.
To that end, lawmakers were considering a possible compromise that involved a cooperative program that would enjoy taxpayer support without direct governmental control. The concessions could be the smoothest way to deliver the bipartisan health care legislation the administration seeks by its self-imposed August deadline, officials said.
"There is no one-size-fits-all idea," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.
"The president has said, 'These are the kinds of goals I'm after: lowering costs, covering all Americans, higher-quality care.' And around those goals, there are lots of ways to get there."
Momentum might be on Obama's side. Aaron Carroll, an Indiana University medical professor who has surveyed doctors' views on U.S. health care delivery, said 59 percent "favor government legislation to establish national health insurance," an increase over a previous poll's finding.
He noted that many doctors are not AMA members, and therefore the association's views should not be overrated.)

Charles Babington, Associated Press Writer
On Monday June 15, 2009, 6:49 am EDT



NOW THE TRUTH!


They are hammering that last point heavily that 59% of doctors are in favor of health care reform but what they are not telling you is that the reform they are in favor of is a complete re-structuring of the fee schedule and to provide for more screening and early diagnosis which is not covered by Medicare or Medicaid. With Medicare you get ONE welcome to Medicare physical and then your annual or semi-annual exams are out of your pocket unless you have additional coverage like a Medigap policy.

Living here in Gainesville we have access to world class health care and Shands alone employs 20,000 people and I have several who are friends and clients and NONE OF THEM have told me that they SUPPORT the Kennedy health care plan. They do agree with one point in this report and that is Tort reform needs to be included in any health care reform legislation.
My foster mother who passed several years ago became a physician at a time in her life when most people are thinking about not working, the cost for her malpractice insurance kept her from practicing medicine as a doctor!

If this regime really wants to affect change let them start with their parasitic brethren that are destroying this countries medical care costs with their pandemic of lawsuits against anyone they perceive to have the financial resources to go after.

If they want to reign in costs stop the bedroom relationship between doctors and drug companies and require doctors to prescribe alternative therapies that are not pharmaceutical but are proven effective in treatment.

I have been involved in health care insurance from the very beginning of my getting my license to sell insurance and investments, I have been a Medicare Supplement and Senior Health care specialist for a reason, IT IS TOO IMPORTANT TO TOO MANY PEOPLE!

60% of all bankruptcies are due to medical costs that were not covered or not covered enough, the exposure to just one catastrophic health concern can wipe out anyone, and Obama wants to add 47.9 million more people to an already over burdened and under funded program. And almost half of these people can afford to pay for their own coverage but refuse to because they would have to sacrifice their lifestyle to do so. So you and I pay for their health care while they buy the new clothes and cars and big screen TVs, they get to go to movies and dine out and continue their lifestyle unaffected. These are the same parasites that YOU NOW ENJOY PAYING THEIR MORTGAGE FOR THEM while they make no adjustment in their standard of living.

This is too important to leave up to Washington to fix, their track record on these matters is horrendous ( Amtrak anyone?) We must all call our representatives and tell them how we feel and what we want them to do, not the other way around, somewhere along the way this countries representation has forgotten who the hell is really in charge, IT IS YOU AND I, NOT THIS REGIME AND THEIR CRONIES!

Keith C. Westbrook

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Slippery Slope!

Well lets see now in just 2 weeks the federal bureaucracy in all of its divine wisdom has started to create the tax base from hell with absolutely 0% chance of not hurting every living breathing American. They are now working on ways to control the Insurance and Financial industries not just through legislation but also taxation. They are also now creating taxes on everything that is not considered a consumer staple. I have stated this in this blog for many months now that YOU and I pay the taxes that they raise on every business that we purchase a product or service from, its called higher prices, just look at who pays the tobacco tax now! I am now going to give you their game plan for what they will tax or attack in the next 6 months and how it will effect all of us.

1. Gas will reach at least $3.50 a gallon otherwise their ownership of the auto industry and desire to build small cheap cars won't have any buyers. Also the speed in which the development of alternative energy has been progressing will lose its immediacy.


2. The incentives and tax breaks given to any business or employee for health care coverage will be removed and all benefits will be taxed as part of your compensation at your current tax rate. If they don't the number of uninsured is still too small to create their Utopian government health plan. Its all in or the model of coverage combining private and public health will clash and only the worst of health care will align itself with Obama care. He has to force all of the doctors and hospitals to play by his rules.


3. Their will be a flight of Corporations to set up home offices outside our borders to eliminate the Obama stated tax havens they are now trying to create legislation on, to assess taxes creating double jeopardy for those entities. The loss of manufacturing in this country can be directly traced to the labor costs created by the unions and the corporate tax structure on both the federal and states levels. If 42 cents of every dollar pays taxes and 50 cents pays labor what incentive is there to continue running a business when after all other operating costs you DO NOT MAKE A PROFIT!


4.The cap and trade on greenhouse gasses will start to drive up the cost of electricity for everyone this summer and not only will your power bill go up, but so will the store where you shop for food, the church where you worship, the school where you children get brainwashed are you starting to see a pattern here yet?


5.The unemployment rate in this country will reach 11% by years end and even though the majority of my brethren say that jobless claims are a lagging market indicator they are WRONG! We are no longer a manufacturing driven economy but a services driven economy and if there is no income there is no outgo! If ONE out of TEN people are not purchasing and the EIGHT out of the other NINE are just hanging on how can you expect ONE to drive the economy forward?


Do the math and stop sugar coating the reality of this situation to try to encourage the investor group back into this market, they see through you as I do and realize that the government is behind the current market rallies and are unsustainable until the government is taken out of the equation.


6. The administration will continue to bullshit all of the people all of the time because this president is the greatest diversionary tactician in history. They will continue to create media stories to keep the pablum fed double digits entertained and distracted while they pull off the greatest theft in history, OUR FREEDOM!


This guy makes Houdini look like a rank amateur when it comes to making people think he's magic and he's got the largest assistant corps ever, THE MEDIA!



We are on a path that if not righted soon we will not be able to stop until we hit the bottom and gravity finishes us off. That is not where I want to hand off my legacy to my children and grandchildren, the bottom of the cycle. Especially since like you I have busted my ass for too many years climbing hill after hill to try to improve the lives of all I have sworn service to.


When I started this blog several years ago it was just a way of providing fun information for friends and fellow golfers but the title has become prophetic, " FORE" on the golf course means danger is coming and if you don't pay attention your forehead could have dimples you weren't born with and read Titleist!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

This is getting UGLY!

The new administration being so incredibly competent after only 100 days feels the time is right to begin its nationalization program. They have quietly seized control of the banking industry today through their "stress tests" of asset evaluation of the banks that they want and are requiring more capitalization. They are stating that 10 of the 19 banks tested are not in trouble but could be if their underlying assets weaken and the market cannot provide for their recapitalization through private investments. WHO ARE THEY KIDDING?

Why would ANYONE now feel safe about becoming a lender of choice through bonds or equities when this administration has blatantly demonstrated that it does not recognize the validity of those investments or honors their contractual obligations to the owner. Who in their right minds is going to risk their MONEY in any type of investment where they will be at the whim of people who have NO HONOR OR INTEGRITY WHEN IT COMES TO OBSERVING THE LAWS THAT GOVERN THESE INVESTMENTS, IF THEY DO NOT SERVE THEIR PURPOSE OR GET IN THEIR WAY!

The obligations of Chrysler to the bond funds that are represented by investment companies on behalf of ME and YOU are not nameless, greedy, self serving strangers as portrayed by his media machine, they are US.

They are ignoring or subrogating the constitution to effectively take control of every one's life to the point that we cannot function without intervention on a governmental level.They are trying to give the shaft to the bond holders at Chrysler and portray them as greedy unyielding fat-cats, WRONG they are people who work with for and around you every day. And because funds like Oppenheimer are responsible to them for that money they are LEGALLY BOUND to fight for YOUR MONEY! IT IS CALLED FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY and I and every other insurance agent, financial advisor, stock broker, fund manager etc. is LEGALLY BOUND to this, IT IS OUR JOB!

The Madoffs of the world have blackened both eyes of the investment community and trust is not a commodity afforded today, but when the Obama media machine spins their web of lies and deceit at the request of this administration, and the TRUTH is the VICTIM where is the incentive to take the risk, why would you give them your money if the government can take it away or say that you don't deserve to make a profit! The bankruptcy hearings for Chrysler have resulted in more lies and back door dealings than the process can keep up with. The union under Gettlefinger has for 10% of holdings been given 55% of ownership and his protestations that the union has no interest in ownership is true.

WHY WOULD THEY TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS AND THE NECESSARY PAY CUTS TO MAKE CHRYSLER FINANCIALLY VIABLE!

Of course they don't want it, they SUCKED every last drop of blood out of the carcass,. why keep it around now that its rotting away? I worked for Chrysler for many years and to see a company that was once built on engineering greatness become reduced to this rips my heart out! It was bad enough what Daimler-Benz did in the BS merger of the late 90's that received the blessings of the Clinton Administration. ( IT WAS NEVER A MERGER IT WAS A HOSTILE TAKEOVER THAT BYPASSED SEC RULINGS AT THE TIME ) The only people who profited then were the people who signed away Chrysler to Benz! And now they are finishing the job on what was a very great car company that led the way in innovation when it was still in the hands of real CAR PEOPLE not the bean counters!

Next will be your ability to get health care in this country, because a few idiots think socialized medicine actually works in practice as well as it does on paper, good luck getting it. You are about to find out why countries with this are the LARGEST GROUP of people using their own funds to receive their life saving procedures out of country.( medical junkets to India from Europe are up 400% )

This administration is using the same progressive game plan that was tried on at least 3 occasions in our own past unsuccessfully, but in their defense this did work once. Progressive ism did succeed in 1932 in Europe and restored a tiny little country to prosperity, it was called the NAZI party and it did turn Germany around from bankruptcy to damn near taking over the world. The problem is this ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY if you give anyone that much power over you it will lead to ruin for all. That is why our founding fathers in their un-questionable wisdom created our Constitution and Bill of Rights within it to protect us from just this scenario. If you think they got it wrong then GO LIVE somewhere where it does not exist and be happy! " Treason starts with a thought"as spoken by then President Thomas Jefferson over the treason trial of Aaron Burr. If you do not support and defend the Constitution as sworn to during your inauguration then are you not committing treason?

I am not accusing anyone in this administration of treason, yet, but their actions not their words require all of our vigilance in this time and they require our feedback when they do not represent the people of this great republic, for it is a Republic, One Nation under God, Indivisible with Liberty and Justice for ALL!

Keith C. Westbrook
aka Dr. Putts

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Changes that are coming our way.

We are in for one heck of a ride in the next few years as our new economy starts to unveil its effects on business' and investors. The new government is already pushing itself into controlling more of the market mechanics and stretching their reach for more control 0f more industries and segments of the economy. The congress is currently looking to control not only what an individual or company can provide as retirement vehicles but also the allocation of those investments making a 401k now a 401f (federal retirement plan). They are right now restructuring target date funds to become the default investment in retirement plans.( your 401k again being controlled by the same people who created this mess! )
The forced TARP and TALF are now being offered to insurance companies and manufacturers affected by the recession and or exposure to the toxic assets with the provisions that the government is now in charge of that company whether it is public or private.
And the Fed rolls on:
They have just quietly passed regulations increasing the costs of Medicare Advantage which will raise the premiums next year (2010) on a group of Medicare recipients who CANNOT afford to pay it. ( the average household income for Medicare Advantage plan members is approx. $12K per year) The average premium has gone up for these plans every year and they are now projecting a 50 to 80% increase for 2010.
The socialized medicine brigade loves this because it creates more of the opportunity for their argument that we need to get rid of the best medical care on the planet. Just make sure that you are under 40 for ANY major life threatening health condition otherwise if your that 65 or 70 year old with cancer or heart disease it is not financially prudent to cure you, you cannot pay enough taxes before you die to reimburse the expense of your care!

The stimulus seems to be only stimulating more resentment and outrage at congress creating the largest financial deficit in the history of the world.!
We are going to spend in ONE year what all of the entire world's past generation's have spent in history, including the fighting of TWO WORLD WARS!
Who do you think is really going to pay for all of this when the check comes just the rich? The new taxes being created right now are going to bury ALL OF US not just the 6 figure income crowd!
Do you work for a small company and when it gets hit with the taxes will you still have a job?
Are you ready to pay for these taxes being passed to all of us through consumerism?
Are you ready for the price of everything that you buy to go up to pay the tax increases?
You need to have a plan for your financial security that is tax effective, tax deferred or tax free with health care primary to secure your retirement! (unplanned catastrophic health care costs destroy 1 out of 2 retirement portfolios)
You need to0 be multi-diversified with many asset classes working for you to hedge against risk of all kinds. (fixed, variable, precious metals, annuities, cash value insurance, collectibles, property and a plan for distributing these funds for income)
You need to be liquid (6 months household operating costs in savings that is immediately available)
You need to get on a budget and stay on it! (PAY YOURSELF FIRST create a savings plan)
Reduce your expensive debt or better yet eliminate it. (if you are only making 5% on your money and your debt is 7% you'll get a better return by paying off the debt)
Preserve what you have. (don't take unnecessary risk because you think you will make a killing, the only killing will be to your finances, your house is not an ATM!)

I am here to help call or go to my websites for additional information,

Keith

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

To All Who Are Suffering Financially and Spiritually:

There is opportunity in this current spiral to financial hell being created by the powers that be, if you can get over your own fears and open your minds to the possibilities.
With the free fall of the equity market and the flight to cash creating non-existing interest rates for savings and Cd's where do you put your money?
Ask yourself the following questions and be HONEST with yourself, if you can't, stop reading now.
1. What is my true investment timeline for the majority of my retirement assets?
2. What is the real purpose for those assets are they for income or wealth transfer?
3. What is their taxable consequences when they are distributed?
4. Can you really replace all of your current market losses in half the time it took you to accumulate them the first time?
5. Do you really think that the Government is going to compensate you for those losses?
6. Can you really live on Social Security when it is a documented fact that as we age our health care costs go up every year even with Medicare coverage paying 80% of the bill?
7. Ever heard of inflation, do you think it is gone for good, do you really believe that it is not currently affecting our purchasing power?
8. Do you have a RETIREMENT INCOME PLAN?

There are many of my brethren in the financial services industry who are taught from their first day in the classroom about wealth accumulation. They profess the mantra of efficient frontier, long term goals, market timeline performance yields and how the market has always made money the longer you stayed in it. Buy and hold they continue to preach even though as of today more than 52% of your investments are gone!
They are not the real villains in this situation, WE ALL SHARE THE BLAME for this mess because we all wanted the return without the risk!
The only way a person can get taken advantage of is if they allow it to happen in the first place! Bernie Madoff , Alan Stanford and the rest of these dirt bags are proof that we all are GREEDY to the point of shame!
When you started your planning for wealth accumulation you profiled your risk by answering questions about your previous experiences in investing and your feelings about them. Were you truly honest with yourself and did you really consider the risk or did you just look at the gain that the markets were experiencing?
We all wanted in!
Welcome to the party!
Had Enough?

There are alternatives that you need to start exploring and answers that you need to get.
You need to develop and implement a RETIREMENT INCOME PLAN.
It does not matter if you are just starting your first job out of school or already retired you need to plan for it.
We now spend as many years in retirement as we do working and this will deplete or destroy your finances without a catastrophic situation.
There are alternatives as I stated that will help with stabilizing and creating a retirement portfolio for you that is safer than most and more efficient than others.
And the companies that provide these opportunities are not all in the financial mess that some are.
They did not expose themselves to all the wild investment derivatives but chose a path of steady, stable, predictable returns that they can then pass on to their clients.
Not every insurance company in the world was as stupid as the ones in the news today for insuring DEBT with no collateralization.
Here is my web address http://www.westbrookinsurance.net/ on the second page are links to every company I work with and the financial strength ratings and investment portfolios that they currently own (all insurance companies must publish this information by law).
Albert Einstein stated that the greatest invention by man was compound interest, is it working for you or against you?

Keith

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