Jay Honeck
Touchdown! Greaser!
What is driving healthcare cost is that people are old and sick.
Um, people have been "old and sick" since the beginning of time. That's what we DO.
Keep looking for reasons. That ain't one of them.
What is driving healthcare cost is that people are old and sick.
Actually, agnostic, if you understand and appreciate the difference...and ******n proud of it. But you feel free to pray for my soul of you object to my blasphemy.
You never heard of this dude until now. Respect is earned.
Oh, I will. Your comments, however, strike me as leaning more toward Atheism. Of course, I wouldn't presume to know that. I'm just saying that your comments seemed rather strong for an agnostic, who by definition wouldn't be convinced enough one way or another to have such strong opinions on the matter.
But that's just me.
I'll light a candle for you, anyway.
-Rich
So nobody is deserving of respect if you haven't heard of them?
How should people who don't know you from a load of coal feel about you?
Um, people have been "old and sick" since the beginning of time. That's what we DO.
Keep looking for reasons. That ain't one of them.
People are getting older and more people are getting old (or more precisely life-expectancy has been rising since the introduction of the social insurance programs and with the baby-boomers pushing into medicare age the aged population is increasing). After you take both factors out, core medical inflation is a small fraction of the numbers used by the politicos for their purposes.
Good grief... This thread was started to honor a man that has selflessly served humanity for a lifetime, and has provided stellar leadership to one of the oldest and most successful organizations ever known to man. He's been honored and raised to the highest possible position this side of heaven... and we end up discussing everyone's personal grievance with the church in general. (billing rates, bad nuns, perverted priests, land holdings, financial successes, bingo night proceeds, angry agnostics...really!) I'm done. He deserves more respect than this.
If you were really involved in the medical community you would know the two huge driving forces for obscene medical coast are:
1- Preventative medicine
2- Fraud and abuse.
Let me put it this way... I don't understand how the universe was created. There could possibly be an intelligent force. No human will EVER know the answer to this question. Those who use religion to claim they do understand are just as haughty, gullible, and ignorant as those humans 2000 years ago who believed that animals were made of mud and rotten flesh. Oops, sorry...bad example - that's too close to the creationism fairy tale. Does that force give a **** about humans? I don't think so. But I'm ******n sure human fairy tales don't explain it. That there is the difference between atheism and agnosticism.
If you read what I wrote, they should have no respect for me... because they don't know me.
It receives contributions from the national churches. Some of these funds are raised via taxes. In germany and switzerland for example, anyone registered as a church member will pay a church-tax that is calculated off his federal or state income tax bill. In the 1800s, the goverment expropriated the respective national churches and took away their income producing assets like farmland and forests (they used to work like land-grant universities in the US). In exchange the goverment committed to collecting those taxes on behalf of the church.
Good grief... This thread was started to honor a man that has selflessly served humanity for a lifetime, and has provided stellar leadership to one of the oldest and most successful organizations ever known to man. He's been honored and raised to the highest possible position this side of heaven... and we end up discussing everyone's personal grievance with the church in general. (billing rates, bad nuns, perverted priests, land holdings, financial successes, bingo night proceeds, angry agnostics...really!) I'm done. He deserves more respect than this.
so you propose to demonstrate the value of religious organizations at the expense of the poor and invalid ?I am afraid I must agree.
The solution to the church/tax question is really quite simple. Remove the income tax deduction for charitable donations. Problem solved.
so you propose to demonstrate the value of religious organizations at the expense of the poor and invalid ?
when it comes to assisting the poor, the homeless, the orphaned child, various churches, synagogs, and mosques carry more of the burden than do governments in most states. When it comes to social issues, if you are not a church contributor then you are effectively being subsided by those who are. Take that away and you can substantially increase your marginal tax rates to pick up the slack.
I am afraid I must agree.
The solution to the church/tax question is really quite simple. Remove the income tax deduction for charitable donations. Problem solved.
Well.. more like problem traded for far worse ones. The collateral damage would be enormous. Schools, universities, hospitals, social service agencies, scouting groups, PBS... simple, but not very practical.
Can you define a "loophole"?No, I propose to remove a tax loophole. Won't stop the truly charitable from donating to the institutions of their choice.
I in no way proposed any detriment to folks giving charitable donations. I simply proposed removing their tax deduction. Folks will still donate to charities without it.
I am afraid I must agree.
The solution to the church/tax question is really quite simple. Remove the income tax deduction for charitable donations. Problem solved.
Are they "too big to fail". If a charitable institution can't support itself with charitable donations, it's time for it to go. Folks gave to charity before the deduction, heck they gave before income tax.
Bury your head in the sand if you like.
Relative to their operating revenue, this is 2.7%, the competitor in town spends 0.9% and the much larger Barnes Jewish system spends 0.4%.
Do you really think a 1.8-2.3% difference in advertising budget is responsible for your healthcare cost ??
('barking up the wrong tree' is the technical term)
The easiest way to fix this mess is for the congress to change the laws and remove religious organizations from the tax exempt status... We will find out REAL quick who is a god fearing christian and who was looking for a healthy deduction....... Personally I would bet 1/2 the churches would fold up within 2 years... Funny also when people add their insight into a religious issue, we get labeled as Athiests..
Funny also when people add their insight into a religious issue, we get labeled as Athiests..
I would also feed to the birds all those psychologists, therapists and 'experts' who often were hired by the Church to advise on this matter. Their verdict was often that priest X.Y can be cured, you only have to do A, B and C and everything will be fine and he can return to active ministry. If we rave at culpability of everyone around we should not forget about what this 'expert' advice was worth.Now if you want to condemn those who perpetrated, facilitated or covered up the problem, I am with you, lets hang them bastards by their toes and rip the skin from their bodies and feed them to the birds.
What is driving healthcare cost is that people are old and sick.
There are many things they didn't do as well. Would home purchase numbers change if the interest deduction were repealed?
I would also feed to the birds all those psychologists, therapists and 'experts' who often were hired by the Church to advise on this matter. Their verdict was often that priest X.Y can be cured, you only have to do A, B and C and everything will be fine and he can return to active ministry. If we rave at culpability of everyone around we should not forget about what this 'expert' advice was worth.
Do you know why the Pope had a difficult time checking out of the hotel?
He checked in under a different name.
Can you define a "loophole"?
In certain circles it is defined as a legal tax deduction under the current tax code.
In certain circles it is defined as a legal tax deduction under the current tax code.
More commonly it's a tax deduction allowed by the code but not available to the one who is complaining about it. Those for which he/she is eligible are referred to as incentives.
................
It has become worse since the government started referring to deductions as "expenditures", which they are not by any measure. To think that way implies that all income belongs to the government, and that by its good graces it allows us to keep some of the fruit of our labor.