Safeway vs. Walmart or Union vs. Non-union

I recently had a conversation with a cashier at our local Walmart. Ah yes, the store owned by the evil corporation where idealogues used to refuse to shop on principal but flock to now that their stock portfolios have been deflated by 50 %. Yes, that's the one.

Anyway, when I commented how much cheaper certain food items were at Walmart than at Safeway, the cashier scowled at me and told me how much more than Walmart Safeway paid their cashiers and other employees. I replied yes, that's because Safeway's workers were unionized (at least in California they are) and that if Walmart had to pay their employees union scale wages Walmart would go out of business because they would have to raise their prices and no one would shop there. We had a few more comments back and forth, then she said if any union organizers came on to Walmart property Walmart would have them arrested. Instead of saying "Good for Walmart! Aren't they smart!" I left the store.

This is typical employee mentality with a tablespoon of "poor me" and a cup of heartless management thrown in. Why can't people understand that's one reason why companies like GM are filing for bankruptcy? Because of the excessive union wage and benefits packages to which they were forced to commit.

In the San Francisco Bay Area one of the cities has sought to file for bankruptcy due to excessive wage and benefits contracts forced upon them by unionized firefighters. Why can't these employees have a minimal amount of foresight to realize obtaining high wages, pensions and, yes, health care, (oooh, there I've said the "H" word!) through collective bargaining does them no good if the organization for which they work can't make enough profit to support such amenities.

Americans are constantly complaining that jobs are being outsourced to other countries, but we've brought that on ourselves. Because we are a nation of consumers, we want what we want, we want it now, and we want it for the least amount of money possible. Granted it's only human nature to want to earn more money and spend the least amount possible on food, clothing and shelter. I get that, the basic human needs. But come on people! We're taking about iPhones, Wiis and Baby Phat here!

We don't need all this stuff! But we have Madison Avenue telling us we need it to be happy in a constant barrage from the media. So if we want it cheap, we're going to have to go to Walmart to get it. I just wish the boxes had some English on them so I could tell what was inside. But that's another story for another day.

White House Email on Health Care Reform

Today I received the White House email forwarded to me by my Uncle George. Yes, the one the Whiter House is sending out to convince people that we want Obama’s health care reforms. I don't believe alot of this propaganda that the White House is sending out about the health care reforms. These things they are discussing in their email may be in the bill - however- they don't discuss the other things that are in there, such as the public option- that include fines for employers who don't provide health care insurance for their employees.

Employers don't provide it because they can't afford it! I know as a small business woman. So if you are forced to provide it or pay extra taxes, employers will of course choose the cheaper public option to provide the government plan to their employees. That's how they intend to get us all eventually onto the government plan so we can have Socialized Medicine.

You must realize that this will lead to a huge government bureaucracy that will develop to implement and grow the government plan. Let's all think about a government agency like the DMV running our medical care system. That's appealing.

Just look at Medicare. The bureaucracy that runs the Medicare system is fraught with fraud they cannot control, whereby the government pays out millions in false claims. The people who really need it are so overwhelmed with paperwork I have personally met people who have had to hire an outside company just to process their claims & do their paperwork. There are also many situations where coverage is denied and patients have to hire an attorney to force Medicare to pay for their treatment.

Why on earth would anyone want to create a bigger more inefficient government agency to run a health care system that would be a bigger more complicated version of Medicare? Another mismanaged federal government agency that is also running out of money?

And that doesn't address the lies the White House & Obama are telling about this plan not costing the government any more money & not increasing the deficit. That's an out and out lie. His own Government Accounting Office has said so. There's no way he can pay for this without raising taxes. Oh yes, I forgot, the employers are going to pay for it. Is that before or after they go out of business? You can't get blood from a turnip.

There are other reforms that could be done, such as, allowing insurance companies to sell insurance across state lines. That would engender competition and by the workings of a free market would lower prices. That's what this country is based on- free enterprise. That's why this country is the greatest country on earth and why we have become so prosperous.

Obama is a Socialist who believes in a redistribution of the wealth. He has said so many times. This is an obvious first step to making our country into a Socialist society like those in Europe. That's why people are so outraged about this health care plan. Perhaps alot of people who elected Obama want that. But many people don't.

You know this is Obama’s first step towards that goal of redistributing the wealth. That’s another goal of his he has stated many times. We all know “redistributing the wealth” means some people work hard and make money, then the government takes it and gives it to people who don’t work.

All you have to do is look at California to see what will happen to the country if these health care reforms are forced on us. It will go bankrupt in the face of the Democrats' feeble thinly veiled attempt to get the poor to reelect them. But there just aren't enough taxpayers to support all those people who are using our government resources such as, free health care. Again, just look at California. That’s what will happen to our country if this government health care system is put in place.

How can you think that Obama & the Democrats don't intend to make this into government run health care system? That's what he said he wanted to do in his campaign! That's what many in Congress have said they wanted for years. So to say that's not their intention is just another lie.