The Tenor of Our Times

I think that Bill Gates was a little to flippant in his response today to a question about taxation.  He first said that he'd be fine with paying $20 billion in taxes a year.  That was ok.  But then he said, he didn't know about paying $100 billion.  Somehow, the media, and the progressive candidates, have jumped all over the latter comment as if he meant that he didn't want to pay higher taxes.  He also mused as to the impact of excessive taxation on business capital decision making.  Fair enough subject to ask the question of.  But, when you're a billionaire, your musings become fodder for assumptions.  I really doubt that Bill Gates meant for that to happen.  Yet, it did, and that demonstrates the tenor of our times.

Democrats have somehow put themselves in the position of being Robin Hood. Take from the rich and give to the poor.  Sounds great, if you're poor.  Maybe not so great if you're rich. I've never had too much of an issue with paying higher health insurance so that those less fortunate than me could have health insurance.  However, I've also come to realize that the health insurance we're paying for is significantly lacking in value.  On one hand, the Republicans have it right.  We spend a lot of taxpayer dollars wastefully.  They also try to paint the Democrats into the corner of being those wasteful spenders.  It's a ball lobbed gently over the plate for the Democrats to hit, and hit it they do! The leading Democrats today are gleefully going along with the idea that they want to spend tons of government money on any number of programs.

I've made the point in recent days that Medicare doesn't work nearly as well as it should.  In fact, I will argue that, if I could train every doctor in the United States to be competent in the Geriatrics Approach to Care, Medicare expenditures would drop by 30%.  That's a couple hundred of billion dollars.  Elizabeth Warren is correct on one thing.  There is a lot of wasted profit in the healthcare business world.  Health insurance companies don't care what their premiums are, so long as they make their margin.  The pharmaceutical industry. Need I say more?

Why can't Democrats be the adults in the room?  They should start talking about the deficit.  Republicans have dropped deficit discussion like it's a hot potato.  Democrats should pick that hot potato up and run with it!  Instead of talking about spending the tax dollars on new programs, let's talk about being smarter with the money we have.  I know that can be done with Medicare.  Social Security is a tougher topic, although there is the issue of retirement age.  On the other hand, life expectancy in the United States has been dropping (yes, that is a true statement).  Maybe, if we keep this up, we'll end up back at where we were when Social Security was enacted!  Wouldn't that be good for the tenor of our times?