1) When you said in a post, “Should I not work at the local grocer because it does not have a good insurance plan…” I took the “I” to be representative of any American adult, not you in particular. After all, you told me earlier that you were self-employed; thus, I did not conclude that your primary job was that of working at a local grocery. Telling you how to manage your life? I didn’t do anything of the kind: there’s that hyperbole again. I was offering up the simple rule of economics: some skills and some commodities are more scarce than others, thus more valued. The only kid in the neighborhood who knows how to fix a car knows that. The only kid in the neighborhood who has the latest version of Madden knows that.

If someone thinks/expects a good benefits’ package & salary is likely to be offered from a “local grocer” , who afterall would be a very small businessperson in today’s America, then he or she knows going into it that the job is not likely to compensate well, no matter the economic situation of the country. There might be rare exceptions, but the emphasis is on “rare.” Now, if you meant by “local grocer” a job with a large retail corporation like Safeway or Raley’s, then that wasn’t made clear.

So, I wasn’t speaking of you in particular, but frankly, if your situation is similar, you asked, and I answered–yes, some jobs offer a more secure financial future, or if not security, then a higher compensation than others in our system. What the heck is news there?

2.)

In case you have not noticed – the country is suffering financially. School districts have stopped hiring teachers, substitute positions are not as easy to come by

This depends totally on your location and on what you are willing to accept. A former student of mine living in Springfield, Il has been offered three teaching positions this summer, two in public school districts, one in a Catholic school. She’s an English teacher, not a math/science person. (You recall that stimulus package monies added “government positions”?)

In depends on the state in which you live. I don’t know where you live. In my district alone, teachers quit in mid-year or earlier, and the district has to scurry around to find people. The lower the socio-economic area the district serves, the greater the chance jobs are either unfilled in critical areas or staffed by uncredentialed people (they are allowed to do that in this state for a limited time) or the greater the chance that in two or three months, as the reality of teaching in such districts becomes apparent, hirees quit and jobs open up, even in a recession.

Some districts offer extra pay to first year teachers to teach in such districts as long as they stay for three years. That is how hard it is for them to find people who want to accept employment there.

In addition, my comments about jobs pointed out some pre-recession facts. I assumed you had been concerned about not being able to afford health care long before last year when the recession hit, right?

2. Come on, Mary: saying

my parents did not have the good sense to tell me to choose a better career.

childishly suggests I was attacking your parents rather than praising my own for offering me advice that was valuable. That’s not a fair or reasonable statement on your part. I offered that as a statement of context, not as a criticism of your parents and you know that.

3.

I should not have to be a slave to a get health insurance.

Huh? A slave? People who don’t have what they consider good compensation for their labor are “slaves”? Choosing a dead-end job or one that suffers in comparison to others makes a person a “slave”? What happened to free-will, individual intiative and choice?

Is this your way of saying that all jobs should offer basically the same wage? That the surgical nurse and the and the person sitting in a chair taking money through the fast food window ought to receive the same compensation?

If that is what “income redistribution” is all about, this country will not look like America in 20 years–and there’ll be very few engineers, very few skilled people in anything.

4.

You have not provided me with an financial or economic theory or model to prove to me that you are more right than I am.

I didn’t know you asked for one although to be fair, I did point out basic economic principles. I’ll add, since you seem interested, that our history shows that when taxes are lowered, both huge corporations which employ thousands and small businesses which fail at a huge rate because of taxes, prosper. Further, when taxes are lowered, people invest money. When people invest money in mid, small, and large cap companies (in their 401 k’s maybe), those companies expand, and expansion leds to jobs.

Since you seem to want a “model,” if you want to read two opposing views, two different models, I can recommend reading John Maynard Keynes versus Thomas Sowell. See who’s been right.

5.

Thus, I know what I know about the poor broken down system that is antiquated and does not meet the needs of the citizens any longer.

Once again, 80% of people say they are happy with their health care. To be fair, before the President/House began in earnest to speak of their vision, most said they wanted our health care system reformed to be made more affordable. However, once they heard what he had in mind and the reality of it set in, they switched from saying they wanted reform to make health care more affordable to “happy with what they have.” What’s that tell you about both the vision of the democratic conception of health care and their presentation of it? And this is not from just seniors, for sure.

6.

Your health insurance is provided for you out of taxpayer money (something I would like)

Just as worker “x” in private business gets paid a salary and has a health care package, I got a salary and a health care package. Worker “x” has a package that is funded by his private employer through profits. The private employer made money from you and me, the consumer; the consumer is also a taxpayer. LIke the worker in private business, I gave a service for which my employer, the local district, paid me. The local district is funded by the tax payer who is also a consumer of my services.

The taxes I have paid into Medicare I have not yet seen a return on–no different from you. I am not receiving those “benefits” Mary any more than you are.

7.

Medicare is not funded on the money put into it by those who use it but by the working population today that doesn not even have access to it. (I’d like some of the pie – estimates show Medicare being broke by 2017

Mary, you know very well that I know this. It’s not supposed to be “funded on the money put into ti by those who use it.” And, those who are under 65 who “don’t have access to it” were NEVER supposed to have access to it before they turned 65. Why do you think you are being persecuted, asked to do something they were not asked to do. Do you realize that almost from its inception politicians have been clamoring about Medicare going broke? Think the receiver of those benefits wasn’t worried about ever getting a return on what they put in, just as you are? They didn’t get “some of the pie before that age.” Geeeeez.

8.

And again, the bulk of your post was spent on distractions to the blog.

LOL. If so, then I am pretty sure that Warren will not shoot me. And, I have always tried to address your points, even if I have added others you didnt’ touch on.

Such comments sound as if you are mimicking the President–attack the people who disagree with you, rather than talking specfically about the pros and cons of the issue.

9. I finally understand, Mary, that you have not and that you will not consider any other reform to make health care more affordable other than the public option. So be it.

However, that you seem to consider those of us who wish to consider other plans to make health care affordable as villains and as obstacles is unfortunate and politically counterproductive.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090822/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_insurance_competition

So far, the response from you Carole has been – I’m sure there is something other than a public option. But you have not provided that something. Just more of the same that you don’t want a public option. I know you want everyone to have some insurance.

This little article talks about the reality that there is no incentive for private insurers to do a thing about high premiums, deductibles and keeping patients with a pre-existing condition.

Why does it bother you for me to have a health insurance option paid in a similar manner – from a government entity – public option>

Really you don’t need to answer because I’m not curious for your answer. As I have spent much time in trying to get you to see that :

1) Your health insurance is provided for you out of taxpayer money (something I would like)

2) Not all employment or career choices come with such taxpayer health insurance (I am not in the same career as you nor should people have to be herded into cubes to get health insurance . This is how private health insurance has not met the needs of most people based on profit making decisions only – no pre-existing, high premiums, high deductibles)

3) Medicare is not funded on the money put into it by those who use it but by the working population today that doesn not even have access to it. (I’d like some of the pie – estimates show Medicare being broke by 2017

While I appreciate your managing my life and telling me how to live so I can be a teacher like you – I do have other ideas about how to live. And get my insurance needs met.

I’m sorry my parents did not have the good sense to tell me to choose a better career. Hmmmm….. then all the major universities that give business degrees must not be very smart people either. Salaries, commissions and sales are down across the board, across several industries – only did last month’s reports show an indication of loosening up in the markets.

No doubt I need to change things but I am sorry – I should not have to be a slave to a get health insurance. In case you have not noticed – the country is suffering financially. School districts have stopped hiring teachers, substitute positions are not as easy to come by and while school is in my plans – I have a couple of other investments and things on my plate that need to be maintained through this period. Reading what you wrote is sort of like hearing someone say – well – the stock market is down – you did not have the good sense to not invest.

And again, the bulk of your post was spent on distractions to the blog.

While I have tried to lay out that while we both see things differently and yet want the same things – it is just what it is… We see things differently.

You have not provided me with an financial or economic theory or model to prove to me that you are more right than I am. Thus, I know what I know about the poor broken down system that is antiquated and does not meet the needs of the citizens any longer.