The benefits of this law favors the majority, this must be taken into consideration first and foremost, this is what is called maka-masa.
I respectfully disagree.
It may seem that way but the domino effect would make the country worse off. and now where would the masa go ? My husband and I have a trucking business. Nothing big, just a small operation. With this bill, Obama might as well have killed all middle scale truckers. The big operations will pick up the slack that the middle ones can't keep up and we that are starting out can never grow bigger. Why ? With everything regulated by the FEDS and the government wanting their pound of flesh at every turn, most businesses could no longer keep up with the expenses and in turn, would shut their doors leaving lots of employees unemployed. so now, you have a rise of unemployment.
This country is ran by a lot of small to middle business. Those that employ anywhere between 2-15 employees. The owners are comfortable, making anywhere from $100k-$200k a year. This is the segment of the population that runs the economy and employs more people as a whole than the large corporations because they are present everywhere. With higher taxes, it would not be conducive for business and of course, the small scale operations will never grow and the ones that can't keep up will again, as stated above, will shut their doors and more people will be unemployed. We both know what that means. The rise of people hitting the poverty line, the rise of crime and less people donating to charity that otherwise take care of these people.
Contrary to popular belief, the American populace as a whole is a very generous society. Think of all the donations this country has given to the poor around the world. Even our beloved Philippines, who do you think are the biggest donors and motivators behind Feed the children and Habitat ? But I don't think most people will donate if they themselves do not have enough money. Even if we think of the bible and of the story of the woman who gave everything she had to the church, In reality, how many of us would donate money and material things when your family needs it ? Would you give your last P1,000 to the church if your family does not have anything left to buy rice and supper the next day ? Would you give your last P20 to help some stranger when your own son is dying and that P20 can buy his medicine ?
Please do not forget too that there is a good number of people out there that opt NOT to get insurance. A good friend of mine who owns an internet business makes roughly around $300,000/yr. They opt not to get insured because it will cost them less. When politicians are screaming that there are 46 million uninsured americans, they do not tell you that about 10 million of these are illegal aliens or non-citizens who will not qualify for universal healthcare.
That will leave us with about 36 million, a large group, but of these, about 18 million have income over $50,000/yr. More than half of them $75,000/yr. They surely can afford insurance...that's more than your average new filipina nurse here makes. ( And she will be expected to spend for those people through her taxes.) Those people chose not to have it but they surely can afford it if they want to. Did you know that your rate is different if you are uninsured ? My first hand experience : I do not have dental insurance but I needed a tooth pulled as it was giving me misery. Had I had insurance, they would've charged me $300 with a $20 co-pay, but since I didn't they charged me $150. I used to pay $35/mo for years that I never had any dental problems, that would make it $420 gone to waste or $1260 for 3 years which I could've sent to my Papa in Bohol to buy glucerna , blood testing lancelets and other diabetic supplies.
In America, 83 million people already benefit from some sort of government healthcare (My Ate in Chicago does and her husband and her makes more than $100k combined). Close to 30% of the country is already living under government health care and there are 14 million more (uninsured) who already qualify for government insurance.
We do not need anymore taxes. Specially for something that has no clear benefits and really would not benefit the Masa most people are talking about with the context they have in mind. What we need right now is the right kind of stimulus.
Here's a hypothetical : I am good friends with the owners of a good, long standing Filipino Restaurant here in Houston. From time to time, they take in TNTs, giving them jobs EVEN if they really do not need any more employees. Most of us would understand, we all probably know a few ourselves who are good people and just want to work for a better life. With a hostile environment and higher taxes, do you think these restaurateurs can afford to take in theses TNTs out of charity ? of course not, they will not have a big profit margin enough to share. Sure, it is the christian way to share and be your brother's keeper, but in reality, that doesnt happen. Most people take care of their own first. ( and I bet you, they would rather spend some money helping fellow filipinos than to give it to the dregs in society through their taxes that will come rob them in the night...or in their parking lot)
To close this mini-novela (
) Your health is an issue of personal responsibility. If you chose to buy a flat screen tv instead of saving up for a rainy day, that is your problem. The really poor over here are already taken cared of by the government. The other "uninsured" can afford their health care even without insurance. We really really really do not need anymore taxes. It will bring the economy down even further and even if we don't like to think about it, it will profoundly affect us Filipinos too. With a down economy, Ate, Kuya, Auntie, Uncle, Mommy and Daddy in the US can't send too much money back to Bohol because its tied up in taxes. What could've been a new sari-sari store or jeepney is now given to Uncle Sam as taxes to fund Obamacare.
And as the US continue to decline, there will be less and less nurses that they will be willing to import. Think of the millions of qualified, talented young filipino nurses who can't immigrate here because nobody will be willing to sponsor them anymore because the businesses that provide this service can't afford to. This means less $$$ coming in the good old Philippines ! as much as we don't want to admit it, OFWs and other workers bringing in $$$ helps our economy in Pinas a lot.
Our tourism back home would suffer. Its not those foreigners who are the bulk guests of our resorts, you know, but mostly balikbayans willing to drop hundreds of $$$ to bring 10-15 members of the family there for a good time. Seriously, Euros have themselves and wifey, but how many times have you seen them bring the entire clan ?? US based nurses do it all the time. Heck, most of my friends spend money in Bohol like its going out of style yet save and scrimp when they are here. Those taxes won't help them....oh yeah...if its in the bank, it gets taxed too...there is no escape !
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