How Obama is about to screw the neediest of the lower middle class

Actually, he's already done it. I know, I know, he said he wouldn't raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000 per year. The buck stops with him, he made a campaign promise. He gave his word.

Please stop laughing in the peanut gallery. We're trying to have a serious discussion here.

This has to do with Flexible Spending Accounts. Now, lets be clear. An FSA is not an entitlement program like Obamacare. It's a tax cut. It allows you to specify a specific amount of money you want your employer to withhold from your paycheck throughout the year, and this money can be used, PRE-TAX, for medical expenses. In other words, no tax on medical expenses. The catch, of course, is that if you don't use it, you lose it. No big deal, just lowball it a bit and you get a great deal.

Roughly 20% of employees take advantage of an FSA account. Of the 20% that participate, 80% of them keep their annual contributions under $2500 (significance of this number discussed below).

Currently, there is no Federal cap on how much you contribute, although most employers place their own cap. My employer has two programs, with caps at either $4000 or $5000. The former program works better for us. Due to my daughters medical expenses, we use every penny of this $4000 every year and it is a huge help. Many other families with special needs kids have used it to great benefit also.

But Obama has to raise taxes somewhere. And this is a way to do it that won't bring a lot of news media or attention. An added benefit? It only effects those who REALLY need medical care, and will be forced to upgrade to more overpriced, government mandated plans that give the same coverage to special needs kids as to kids with runny noses.

So, in 2011 all over the counter medications will need a doctors order to be FSA eligible. Wow, that sounds cost saving. Where before I could have just gone and got the $10 worth of medicine, now I'll have to take them to a doctors appointment which is a $20 co-pay typically and counts towards my FSA limit.

On top of that, in 2013 the government will cap the FSA contributions at $2500. More revenue for them, more taxes for those in need of medical care. Win-Win for Obama.

Glad that he's looking out for the little man. I feel so cared for.

For more information, click here.

The Life of Benjamin Franklin

I recently finished reading the autobiography of Ben Franklin. I think this book should have been more aptly named “Excerpts and Principles from my life”. It is an enjoyable read, but don’t expect to have a complete chronological account. He wrote it at three different times in his life and there are gaps in the chronology. He does cover his formative years very well which is good, because it gives a lot of background on how he became who he was.

One of the interesting things he addresses is his religion. He states that he became a Deist, but soon left it off because he found it didn’t explain God fully. He returned to mainstream Christianity but, although he was raised Presbyterian, refused to join any specific denomination. He does speak twice of attending a church. The first was a preacher who seemed to think that his pulpit was a seminary classroom. He soon bored Franklin who stated that he felt that every sermon should have some moral or virtue, in other words, application to our daily lives. The second minister did a good job of this, but because he differed with the denomination on some points of doctrine was soon expelled. Unfortunately, we have the same issue in the modern church. We get so far beyond the essentials of our faith that we major on the mint, thyme and cumin and ignore the weightier matters of righteousness, justice and mercy.

Not being a member of any specific sect helped Franklin. He was able to be the mediator between sparring factions more than once and became a friend to many different denominations. He had an especially interesting relationship with the preacher George Whitfield. Whitfield did not see Franklin as saved, and attempted to convert him, but Franklin did not budge. Franklin was familiar with Whitfield’s oratory and went to listen to him one time, knowing that Whitfield was going to make an appeal for money for the orphanage he was putting together in Georgia. He made the firm determination that Whitfield would not get a penny. However, by the time Whitfield had finished, he had given all the money he had in his pocket! Interestingly enough, one of his few criticisms of Whitfield was that Whitfield printed his sermons. He stated that in print they sounded far different than when preached and that it gave rise to being taken out of context and criticized unfairly. The interesting part about this was that it was Franklin’s printing business who did all the printing for Whitfield in America!

Franklin also understood the need for experience. During the colonial period in the French/Indian war, the city of Philadelphia organized a militia to defend and watch the city. By this time he was considered one of the city fathers and could easily have demanded leadership in the militia. In fact, it was offered to him, but he refused and served as a private. He stated that as he had not been a military man before, and knew nothing of the subject, he would serve his city as a private. At a later time when he had the experience he accepted a leadership position.

Franklin understood business. Here I’d like to quote an excerpt:

Partnerships often finish in quarrels; but I was happy in this, that mine were all carried on and ended amicably, owing, I think, a good deal to the precaution of having very explicitly settled, in our articles, every thing to be done by or expected from each partner, so that there was nothing to dispute, which precaution I would therefore recommend to all who enter into partnerships; for, whatever esteem partners may have for, and confidence in each other at the time of the contract, little jealousies and disgusts may arise, with ideas of inequality in the care and burden of the business, etc., which are attended often with breach of friendship and of the connection, perhaps with lawsuits and other disagreeable consequences

In other words, business is about expectations. If you set the expectations correctly and then follow thru, much of the angst that can be caused will be avoided. Having said that, Franklin was in partnership several times and only one of his partners treated him fairly. The others ended up costing Franklin. He paid off the debts and did not seem bitter, but it still cost him dearly. His last partner worked out well and they were in partnership for 18 years. He had been a journeyman for Franklin for 4 years already so Franklin knew his work habits quite well.

Franklin was a man who was always trying to improve himself. He understood his faults and attempted to correct them. He had an interesting way of looking at it:

…My faults in it vexed me so much, …that I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with a faulty character in that respect, like the man who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbour, desired to have the whole of its surface as bright as the edge. The smith consented to grind it bright for him if he would turn the wheel; he turn'd, while the smith press'd the broad face of the ax hard and heavily on the stone, which made the turning of it very fatiguing. The man came every now and then from the wheel to see how the work went on, and at length would take his ax as it was, without farther grinding. "No," said the smith, "turn on, turn on; we shall have it bright by-and-by; as yet, it is only speckled." "Yes," said the man, "but I think I like a speckled ax best." And I believe this may have been the case with many, who, having, for want of some such means as I employ'd, found the difficulty of obtaining good and breaking bad habits in other points of vice and virtue, have given up the struggle, and concluded that "a speckled ax was best"

The system he is talking about is his 13 virtues. He found 13 areas of his life that he wanted to work on, wrote them each down on a card, and worked on one per week, letting the others fall to the natural chance. In doing this, he was able to improve his character. Below are his 13 virtues.

Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.

Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

He stated that his biggest issue was orderliness, which I can relate to.

Franklin was a giant of his time, and an example to ours and future generations of the benefits of hard work and benevolence to your fellow man. This book is highly recommended.

Texas Election Recommendations

Governor: Rick Perry

Kay Bailey Hutchinson talks conservative and votes liberal. She was never an option in my book. The choice between Perry and Medina was much more difficult. I like Medina’s libertarian leanings and agree with much of what she says, but I am extremely leery of people who run for the top office without working their way up the ladder and learning as they go. I think this becomes a valid concern due to some of the public statements she has made and the unrealistic expectations she has. She needs time to mature and refine herself before she’s ready to become governor. I would probably vote for her if she was running for state representative or an equivalent position, but not for governor. We don’t need a Jimmy Carter running the State of Texas.

On the other hand, I’m not completely comfortable with Rick Perry either, mostly due to the HPV vaccination issue and the Trans Texas Corridor. However, my biggest deciding factor is that he has done a fairly good job of keeping Washington out of Austin and rejecting federal dollars that come attached with strings. He has grown a backbone and become much more effective in recent years.

My biggest issue is keeping Hutchinson out of office. Let’s be honest, Medina doesn’t have a chance and I really don’t want to see a runoff between Hutchinson and Perry as that would give more time for Hutchinson to win.

SBOE Place 5: Ken Mercer

Tim Tuggey has made significant donations to liberal democrats and then gone one to lie about Ken Mercer. Mercer seems conservative.

Texas Supreme Court Place 3: Rick Green

Personal friend and strong conservative.

Propositions: Yes to all

Prop 1: Photo ID necessary to vote. In favor in an effort to make voter fraud more difficult

Prop 2: Controlling government growth. Limiting government spending and creating accountability to taxpayers is always a good thing.

Prop 3: I’m voting in favor of this, but don’t see how it is going to help. It seems more of a resolution to me than anything. I agree that taxes should be cut and we shouldn’t have economic “stimulus” packages, but just don’t see how this will override the federal governments runaway spending

Prop 4: Same position as 3. I agree that GOD should be publicly acknowledged, but federal laws are to the contrary. Nevertheless, I am voting in favor of this since I agree with its sentiment.

Prop 5: Requiring a sonogram before a medically unnecessary abortion. In favor as this has been shown to be a deterrent to abortion.

Not for geeks only: RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are your best friend.

We all have sites that we like to visit on a regular basis; local news, Facebook, etc. So we sit down at a computer and bring them up one at a time. Wouldn’t it be nice to just be able to go to one website and see all the content you want to see? Of course.

And that’s what RSS feeds do. They mine the sites that you have specified for new content and deliver it to your reader. Sound good? Let’s set it up.

First you have to choose a reader. There are many out there, and your choice is probably going to be based on personal preference. There are two basic types: program based and web based. If you only use one computer and don’t get internet on your mobile phone, then maybe having a program on your computer to read them is fine, but if you use a phone or multiple computers at all, you will want a web based reader. I personally use Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader/). If you already have a Gmail account, this is easy: just sign in with your Gmail account information. If not, set up a new account.

Now that you have a reader, we need to find content to have delivered to it. This is as easy as the website makes it, which can be either easy or hard.

Blogger is probably the easiest. At the top of the person’s blog, click the “Follow” button. Other times you will see a symbol that looks something like this:

When you click that button it will usually take you to a page that lets you choose your reader and subscribe.

The third way can be slightly harder and is usually on websites that either are intended for geeks or don’t know what they’re doing. You’ll see the link for the RSS feed and get a page of gibberish that looks something like this:

The first time I saw this, my response was “What the heck am I supposed to do with this?!” It’s actually simple: copy the URL (the thing in the box at the top of the screen) and go back to Google reader, click the "add a subscription button and paste it. Viola.

There is one downside to most web-based readers, such as Google Reader: they do not yet support password based feeds. For example, they don’t naturally let your friends Facebook statuses come thru. The solution to this is easy. Go to http://freemyfeed.com/ and paste the URL of the RSS Feed along with your username and password. It gives you a new rss feed that you paste into the “add a subscription box” in Google Reader. Done.

Most modern websites that are worth their salt have RSS feeds now. I currently follow 24 websites on a daily basis. I couldn’t keep up with this if it weren’t for RSS feeds. All it takes is a second between other activities and I’ll look at whatever has come in. It allows me to keep up with the content I want to keep up with without wasting time hither and yon all over the internet kingdom.

Obamacare: More Government Inefficiency and Waste.

Free men are not equal and equal men are not free.

Unfortunately, Mr. Obama and his cronies don't seem to get this. Or actually, I think they do and they revel in it.

Mr. Obama is socialist. He wants socialized medicine, socialized car companies, and socialized whatever-he-can-get-his-hands-on. Last I checked, GM and Chrysler were still struggling. Oh, they've quit whining to the federal government for a bailout, but they'll be back. What makes us think that socialized insurance will be any more successful?

When we were in China we were talking to some Australians who were there at the same time. They were talking about how people were having to wait 2-3 years to have surgeries such as cataract removal and knee replacement.

I'm not saying our medical insurance system doesn't need an overhaul, because it does. But since when has the government been efficient at running ANYTHING?

I was talking with my brother who is a paramedic. He was telling me about a patient he had who called the ambulance to go to the hospital and get an aspirin because since she was on Medicare the ambulance and the aspirin were free, and if she went to the store she'd have to drive and spend a couple of dollars. According to law, the ambulance cannot decline to take her. Unfortunately, there is a lot of waste that goes on just like this.

Another reason healthcare costs are so high is because people do not see the full cost of their healthcare many times. My daughter's medical care has cost well over half a million in the last two years and Medicaid has picked up most of the tab. Do I like this? Well, when I look at the bill and see them charging $10 for a pair of rubber gloves I have to wonder how much of that is true charges and how much of it is stuffed with down feathers.

As someone has said, I don't have a complete answer, but I admire the problem. What I can say is that capitalistic systems have always been more efficient than socialistic systems. I don't think having the government run our healthcare will cause any costs to go down, just more government waste and longer lines at the doctor's office for simple medical procedures.