It's a Surreal Day in the Neighborhood ... How Do You Like My New Car?

It certainly is a surreal day in the neighborhood and I don't think it has got anything to do with Rush Limbaugh criticizing the President, as David Axlerod, one of the President's advisor's would like you to believe. What I find surreal is all the attention being paid to the Public Option as well as Al Sharpton's assertion on This Week with George Stephanopoulos that Liberals are the real conservatives. Yes, he actually said that with a straight face. That line was about as surreal as it gets, boys and girls.

Back to the Public Option. The public option argument is no different and just as silly as me arguing with my wife that the pin-stripping should be gold and double lined on our Ferrari Enzo. What makes these arguments different is my wife and I both know we joking, whereas Al Sharpton's conservative wing of the Democratic party is deadly serious. What makes the argument surreal is that we know we can't afford what we want and so do they, but that is not stopping Al's pals.

It gets even funnier when they begin to explain how they will afford the unaffordable. They want you to believe that they are going to cut Medicare. Let me say that one more time, only slower.

The Democrats in Congress lead by the President are going to cut Medicare.

The idea that this Administration is going to cut spending is laughable. The notion that they will take a meat cleaver to Medicare and hack 50 billion dollars from it's budget each and every year for the next ten years is a side splitter. A solemn pledge of fiscal prudence from the leader of the gang that is projecting Trillion Dollar Deficits for as far as the eye can see isn't all that reassuring. But it's comforting to know that their lack of fiscal discipline has some limits, or does it?

Their spin on the deficit is every bit as surreal as their foolish public option debate. The President says he won't sign a bill that will increase the deficit. That's pretty rich, don't you think? What he means to say is get ready for big tax increases, both the direct and indirect kind.

Forcing, excuse me, mandating (that's more PC) that everyone must purchase health insurance while at the same time imposing a tax on medical device manufacturers is merely a stepped transaction. It is a tax increase disguised as a fee extracted from the medical device manufacturers, which they pass on to the insurance company in the form of higher prices, who then passes it on to you through higher insurance premiums. Raising the top marginal rate by 5% is well, it's just a tax increase. Hey good thing that recession is over and the economy is surging ahead, cause we all know that raising taxes in a recession is a recipe for disaster!

What they want you to believe and what is reality in this debate occupy positions that are polar opposites on the reality continuum!

Reality: government programs always cost more than originally projected. Congress has an abysmal record when it comes to cutting spending and raising tax rates, never produces any where near the amount of tax revenue that Congress believes it will.

Surreality: Congress can provide quality health care for everyone without bankrupting us all along the way.


Congress should do what I did when I realized that I couldn't afford the $1,000,000 Ferrari. I settled for just the pinstripes instead. Now I'll be the first to admit they don't look as good on me as they would on that Ferrari, but they don't look that bad, and on the plus side I won't have to hire a bankruptcy attorney.