I just love it how some people seem to think that whatever the government touches turns into gold when often the opposite is true. If they were truly as smart as they think they are, Social Security and Medicare wouldn't be slowly going broke. They think that throwing more weight (health care) on that sinking vessel will make it float. Don't make me laugh...
Our Government, both federal and state, has shown time and time again that they don't know how to handle money- not that it keeps them from giving themselves raises every chance that they get-, and so I don't want them within 50 miles of my health insurance.
Just because the current system has flaws, that doesn't mean that
anything would be better, and some people seem to forget that. I get tired when the government keeps punishing the so-called "rich", simply because they make more money than the rest of us. Just because they make more money, that doesn't mean that they bring home that much money, and the vast majority of these "rich" people are small business owners that have worked their fingers to the bone to get where they are and can't afford their rising taxes because most of their money goes into their business and employees, so they don't earn as much as the government says that they do. Maybe it is a small percentage that are going to be affected, but still how do they know that they can afford it just b/c their business earns a lot of money? If they can't, they're going to go out of business, and we'll lose even more jobs and money.
Notice how nearly all of Congress "just happens" to fall short of the requirements for the extra tax:
That will be a
3.8 percent tax on investment income for families making more than $250,000 per year (
$200,000 for individuals).
Majority Party Leader -
$193,400
Minority Party Leader -
$193,400
Speaker of the House - $223,500 (Uh oh.....)
Majority Leader -
$193,400
Minority Leader -
$193,400
The current salary (2010) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is
$174,000 per year.
Don't tell me that you think that this is a coincidence...
In summary, if something is broke, fix it, but not with something that will break even more catastrophically a little farther down the road.