Time to redefine wealthy?

Part of the way that the White House plans to pay for our proposed healthcare reform is to tax the "wealthy". Wealthy in terms of taxes is defined as someone making more than $250k/year or a couple making more than $350k/year.

Does anyone really believe that should be considered wealthy anymore? Think about what $350,000 buys you anymore. You might get a good house in a decent neighborhood for that amount. A good car now a days will set you back $40-$50k.

As a high school student all of my classmates aspired to make something of themselves, whether it be a lawyer, doctor, business owner, etc. It might be optimistic but I would bet on the fact that most of them expected to make more than $250k/year as a reward for their struggles in school. I would also bet on the fact that if asked they would consider themselves "comfortable" not "wealthy".

That is exactly the point of this blog. When was the last time our government that includes Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr. and now Obama revisited the definition of a wealthy family? I don't see anything wrong in considering an individual making $1 million or more a year wealthy, but $250k? I think we are picking on the wrong American class.

57% Taxes

Some interesting news:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/16/terrifying-tax-looms-biggest-earners-nyc/?test=latestnews

It's ironic to me that some of the largest Obama donors reside in NY. I hope they get what they paid for. =-)

It's going to be interesting to see which individuals or corporations are going to gain from this. As you know there are always winners in any government program and the losers tend to be the American taxpayers.

What signal does it send?

Today our President tapped a very intelligent and able doctor for the position of Surgeon General. My question is: What message does this send as to the direction of our country?

Dr. Regina Benjamin gave up making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in a big city to start a practice in a small town. Dr. Benjamin would routinely provide free care to patients who could not afford to pay her. This is incredibly admirable and certainly Dr. Benjamin is a person that should be held in high esteem.

All of Dr. Benjamin's accolades aside, what message does this send to the rest of our country? Now more than ever our future doctors are graduating with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt from an education system who's price is ever increasing. Doctors are faced with the constant threat of lawsuit and tasked with the pressure of saving our lives and working flawlessly under duress. Today our President taps a doctor who was introduced as a model doctor because she provides free healthcare. I understand becoming a doctor for the betterment of society but you can't expect salary not to play a role. What incentive do our doctors have now a days? Since President Obama expects our doctors to provide free healthcare to those who can't afford it is he going to cover the tuition bills for those doctors that have graduated, or will graduate? Would you go hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to be told you should model yourself after a person who has provided her services free?

There is no doubt that insurance companies are abusing the system and there needs to be an overhaul but we are sending the wrong signals to our young doctors. Everyday the American population gets older and the doctor to patient ratio keeps dropping. Maybe we should stick to the formula that has worked for the last 300 or so years. Maybe President Obama should look into protecting those big, bad healthcare professionals too, you know those people that are saving our lives day in and day out.

New Blogger

While talking to one of my good friends today I unknowingly motivated her to start her own blog. I am very proud of her and I look forward to reading her posts. Next in line is Debbie, restarting your blog could only add valuable insight to our community.

=-)

Letting yourself go

Have you ever been dating anyone and held back saying something you really mean because you didn't want to seem weak? I know it has happened to me and most likely everyone at some point. Have you ever sat back to think about all the things you might have missed out because of that? I have realized that we need to go with the flow, say what you feel, text the person when you want to text them, call and say the things you really mean. There is no use hiding your feelings. Our society is too fake as it is. By admitting these things to our significant other and more importantly ourselves we get closer to living the most fulfilling lives possible.

Environmental Action

The President is in Italy this week trying to convince developing countries to curb emissions and become more "Green" among other things. There is no doubt that protecting this planet is important and measures should be taken to preserve it's state. The current administration recently passed the "Cap and Trade" bill aimed at making our country more "Green". What it means to you and me is about a 25% increase in current energy costs. All of this occurring while the head of the EPA comes out and says there is no possibility of improving global warming threats while China and India continue on their current paths. Oh, I also want to mention that the President has failed to convince those countries to do anything. I am not an advocate of following suit and doing nothing but doesn't it upset you that we passed a 2 Trillion dollar tax bill that will essentially do nothing? Remind you of the stimulus we passed recently?