Obama '08?

But...but..
The flags hanging higher then the U.S. flag - to the left of the naked guy - are breezing. The U.S. flag hangs limp.
What does that tell you about Obama? Huh?

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=19931&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD
Keeping the Poor in Poverty
The Obama administration and congressional Democrats talk frequently about the poor. They lavish programs upon them. (Last year the Obama administration increased spending on means-tested and other antipoverty programs by $120 billion, to a total of just under $600 billion.) But they seem curiously indifferent -- if not actually hostile -- to proposals that might actually reduce poverty in America, says Michael Tanner, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute.

For example, few things are as important in helping people escape poverty as education.

High school dropouts are more than twice as likely to end up in poverty as those who complete at least a high school education.
Dropouts are less likely to find jobs, and if they do their wages will be low.
In inflation-adjusted terms, wages for high school dropouts have declined by more than 23 percent in the past 40 years.
In an increasingly competitive world economy, where success requires advanced skills and technical knowledge, that situation is only going to get worse.
Yet Obama and the Democrats, in thrall to the teachers' unions, steadfastly resist proposals to give parents more control over their children's education, says Tanner.

And, of course, nothing is more important in fighting poverty than jobs. Yet the Obama administration is overtly hostile to the entrepreneurs and job creators in our economy. We can't expect to create more jobs if we punish the type of activity that creates jobs.

Compassion is more than talking about the plight of the poor or giving them just enough money to make poverty a bit more comfortable. Real compassion is about creating the conditions that will enable the poor to get out of poverty, says Tanner.

Source: Michael Tanner, "Keeping the Poor in Poverty," National Review Online, October 13, 2010.

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=19934&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD
How to Reform ObamaCare Starting Now
Until at least 2012, President Obama will veto any law repealing his signature health care legislation. What, then, can be done in the next two years? Look to the states, say Scott Gottlieb and Tom Miller, resident fellows at the American Enterprise Institute.

The most promising option is for governors to offer their own market-friendly versions of exchanges, establishing an alternative to ObamaCare and its one-size-fits-all health plans.

State-designed exchanges should allow any willing insurers already licensed in the state to offer plans.
Once inside the exchange, consumers would be guaranteed the ability to renew their coverage without regard to changes in their health status, so long as they remain continuously insured.
If individuals want to switch plans, they couldn't be hit with higher costs due to changes in health status.
Under this arrangement, there wouldn't be the incentive for gaming the system that exists under ObamaCare.
Of course, not everyone will be able to afford to purchase insurance in these exchanges, say Gottlieb and Miller.

Taxpayers can provide targeted subsidies through expanded high-risk pools to cap out-of-pocket, risk-based premium costs for the most vulnerable.
In the longer term, states could get waivers to "monetize" Medicaid medical benefits and allow these recipients to shop in the same exchanges.
Subsidies should flow directly to consumers, rather than to the health plans as ObamaCare requires.
Replacing the command-and-control features of ObamaCare with a plan offering consumers a real marketplace is a change many people can start to believe in, say Gottlieb and Miller.

Soruce: Scott Gottlieb and Tom Miller, "How to Reform ObamaCare Starting Now," Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2010.

WOULDN'T IT BE EASIER TO IMPEACH AND REMOVE OBAMA WITH THE HELP OF ENOUGH DEMOCRAT SENATORS?