FULLY Repeal ObamaCare - April 2017

Life, it is said, is full of uncertainties. Most of us prefer it that way. The business of living would be awfully dull if we knew in advance everything that was going to happen to us. Indeed, many of life’s greatest pleasures come in the form of surprises — and it is often the element of surprise that provides much of the joy and excitement we feel when something good happens. But uncertainty has its downside as well. Some of the surprises that a person experiences in life are anything but pleasant. The unplanned events that we refer to as “accidents” fit into this category — things ranging from a house fire, to a car crash, to a slip on an icy sidewalk. Natural calamities — such as hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes — that devastate our homes and communities are also among the surprises that most of us would just as soon do without. The same can be said for illness and disease.

In the 1930s, the effects of the Great Depression were still being felt in America. President Roosevelt favored using the federal government to address unemployment, poverty, and other social ills of the time. The Social Security program was, in fact, a 1930s solution to a 1930s situation. Initially financed by a mere 2-percent tax on the first $3,000 of a worker's income, 200,000 retirees were paid an average $58 a year by the government-run program in its first three years.

Like a lot of things these days, health care for the elderly and disabled is getting more complicated. This booklet explains the basics of Medicare, the problems now facing Medicare and ways to fix the program. Although this easy-to-read guide won’t answer all your questions about Medicare, it will help health care consumers and taxpayers understand the consequences of government-run solutions versus the benefits of a consumer-based Medicare system.

Do you remember choosing your power company? Probably not, because you had no say in the matter. Unfortunately, when it comes to electricity, there is no customer choice—your only option is the local government approved and protected monopoly. In other industries, competition keeps prices low and service reliable. But electric power is the last major industry where there is no competition, and because of that, many customers pay too much. Facing high costs and poor service, what can consumers do—live without power?

The letter reads: The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation (CSE Foundation) hereby submit these comments in favor of the application of Bell Atlantic and GTE to transfer control of certain licenses pursuant to a proposed acquisition of GTE by Bell Atlantic.

Most Americans now have more than a decade of experience with telephone competition, paying a lot less for much more. Long-distance phone calls cost half as much now as they did before competition, and there are hundreds more telephone products available to use at home, in the car, at the office or just about anywhere. Price cuts and diverse choices could soon come to local phone service and video services as well – if lawyers, regulators and politicians don’t get in the way.

High technology promises to give Americans better and faster products and services, yet government seems to limit innovation at every turn. Whether through taxation, regulation, or litigation, government just can’t keeps its hands off of high technology. Across the nation, federal, state, and local governments seem bent on stunting the development of telecommunications, software, and computer hardware. They do this for several reasons: Bureaucrats think they can “promote competition” by penalizing firms that compete too aggressively and successfully.

Today, the Internet is a resource unparalleled in history and its accessibility to people across America should be a primary concern for policymakers. What the Internet could be tomorrow, no one really knows; but the possibilities stretch the imagination. The Internet is speeding millions of Americans from “Telegraph Road” to the information superhighway and raising their standard of living along the way. Just four years after the Internet became available to mainstream America, nearly 40 percent of us are already online.

President Clinton has finally offered his new plan for Medicare, but it isn't clear why he calls it a "reform" package. Clinton's Medicare solutions are about as effective as several small band-aids on an Ebola patient. His two big ideas - expanding Medicare and spending projected surplus tax revenues - will likely make Medicare's long-term problems worse.

After meeting with the nation's governors for two hours yesterday, President Clinton told them that states should be responsible for solving the Internet tax "problem." A White House spokesman immediately clarified the president's position and explained that the president is opposed to any discriminatory taxes on the Internet or taxes on Internet access. We say, good for him. Pernicious Internet access taxes already increase the cost of getting online. Just to mention a couple, there is the multi-billion dollar Gore tax and the federal excise tax on telecommunications services.