The ObamaCare games being played on us

If ever you needed proof that our government should not be entrusted with control of our healthcare, a clear case sits before you now. Even so, the Obama Administration remains confident you will not take the time to understand what has happened. Most citizens won’t.

On a recent Friday late afternoon the Administration announced the CLASS Act portion of ObamaCare will not be implemented. Friday afternoon announcements are timed with the hope they will be little noticed, a strategy of both Democrat and Republican administrations. But if you open your eyes to comprehend what happened here, you may realize what they hope you overlook, that you and I are being played by our government.

Caring for an elderly family member soon becomes a strain as it consumes more of your time, competes with spouses and children for your attention, interferes with work schedules, twists sibling relationships over the sharing of time and expenses and builds stress like a pressure cooker; never mind that it also changes the relationship with the elder needing care.

The CLASS Act (Community Living Assistance Services and Support) is an ObamaCare program ostensibly to provide benefits for long-term care (LTC). Anyone who has been a caregiver for grandma as she becomes too old and frail to care for herself knows meeting that family duty of loving care can turn life on its head.

Finally, making the decision on a nursing home placement will break your heart even though you put it off as long as possible. 

http://www.thecitizen.com/blogs/terry-garlock/10-25-2011/obamacare-games-being-played-us

9-9-9 tax plan not worth supporting

Other side of the coin.

Is "9-9-9" the best economic solution that a Republican presidential candidate can present? The prospect of a 9 percent national sales tax on top of a 9 percent federal income tax has been proposed by Republican candidate Herman Cain.

He seems to be unaware that most of us are already inundated with local, county and state sales taxes now hidden in our phone bills, fuel bills and food bills (until Wyoming ended the food tax), etc.

Imagine a national sales tax on everything you buy! Some economists say it would add $2,000 tax annually on a family of four.

Cain would try to get Congress to never raise the national sales tax and, like the health plan, would kick in deductions for inner-city residents or other special interests.

What should Americans do if politicians give us this bone of contention? This dog won't hunt!

Nora Marie Lewis

Basin, Wyo.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_f5bfbe34-5ea3-5e1b-ae27-88a52204cb9e.html#ixzz1btCX8t9z