I don't think Francis is a Marxist. But I do think he knows very little about market economics. "Unfettered Capitalism" or what would correctly be called "laissez-faire free market" has never existed. Five seconds after it starts the entrepreneurs start cozying up with politicians, the mutual back scratching begins, and cronyism becomes the rule of the day.
I think that is what Francis mistakes for the free market, but of course it isn't. It's a conscious effort by both business leaders and politicians to benefit both financially and with increased power by pushing laws and regulations that reward the cronies and punish their enemies.
Do the ordinary people get crushed in the vise? Yep. But if the market were truly free, no business would have more power than how well they satisfy customers. Then the ordinary people, customers that they are, would benefit in the way they should. That is the true rising tide or trickle down, however you want to put it. Cronyism is what prevents this from happening, not the Capitalist free market system that doesn't really exist.
So, the plan is for the government to give subsidies to those people whose premiums have increased more than expected, and also give subsidies to insurance companies whose revenue has fallen more than expected. The next question is, who is going to pay for these subsidies? Is the government going to increase taxes? Increase borrowing? Or maybe just print more money?? (increase inflation) I thought we were told that the ACA was going to SAVE money. O well, what's one more lie after all the others.
Then why have I heard a poll saying only 26% support for Romney's "criticism of the Commander in Chief" and why have Congressional Republican leaders "distanced themselves" from Romney's obviously true statements? Is everyone actually so in thrall of the MSM that jumped all over Romney that they react so? What the h*** is going on?
I agree with you 100% The Libertarianism that I know isn't Anarchistic. We're perfectly happy with sticking to the Constitution as originally intended and going through the specific amendment procedure to make changes.
My wife and I used Natural Family Planning for over 20 year, until she reached menopause. It enabled us to have our 2 children when we wanted to have them, and to have no more children after that! And you know what? It made our RELATIONSHIP (does anyone worry about such a thing anymore?) better because we actually discussed our sexuality instead of just playing it out. I guess MMFA thinks the vast majority of people are too stupid to be able to read a thermometer and keep track of the ovulation signs. Now that we know what they think of us, I wonder what we should think of them??
Ah, yes. Who was it that said a "democracy" will only last until such time as the citizens learn they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. Then you get politicians who get elected by playing to that vote. And eventually these politicians find they will surely LOSE reelection if they try to stop the gravy from flowing.
So what are we doing in America? Why, we're increasing that amount of gravy by trillions each year. Medicare Part D, no changes/fixed to Social Security as the Baby Boomers begin to retire, adding Obamacare even as the ship is sinking. It's not hard to see that it isn't going to end well.
You really don't get it. We don't want to pay for, or be paid for, any of this. And what do you mean about "the rest of us get stuck footing the bill." What bill? If your talking about footing the bill for those who don't want to take responsibility for themselves, you're not making sense. If Government only did what it was supposed to do, NO ONE would be forced to take care of ANYONE else. If someone refused to take care of him/herself, they would just pay the consequences including an early start on the eternal dirt nap. Duh.
It should be clear that theft is theft whether it's by an armed robber demanding money from a bank teller, or by a "majority" voting to use the police power of the state to demand wealth from producers for themselves. Too bad so many people have been conditioned to believe that the latter is not only acceptable but "fair."
It's too bad that Ron Paul has expressed foreign policy ideas that would have been good 100 years ago, but which are just totally unrealistic in todays world. He also seems to think that Islamists are as rational in their thinking as Westerners, which is also completely wrong. If he wouldn't be so off base on these things, he would make a great president based on his ideas of freedom and following the Constitution.
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Contraption