Corruption in the Open

Well it has finally come to pass, government corruption and bribery is now legal it seems and the liberals are taking full advantage of it. Senator Nelson (D-NE) has certainly been the one to gain the most so far with the state's lifetime exemption from paying for Medicaid costs starting in 2017. At the moment that little nugget is estimated to be worth about $10 million ($10,000,000) a year for the first ten years. Wanna bet to see if that turns out to be accurate? I'll say this is a gross underestimate. If for no other reason than the government's track record.

I think this is going to be ruled unconstitutional when all is said and done. For starters, how about the 14th Amendment of our Constitution, equal protection under the law. If this socialist policy of the Obama administration actually becomes law then those of us that don't live in Nebraska will have to pay for their Medicaid costs. How is that equal? Why should we be forced to pay their taxes? We shouldn't be, period.

Just for the heck of it, let's say this part of the bill holds up. The next thing you know all 49 other states are going to line up demanding the same treatment. Ok, so now the cost is $500 million ($500,000,000) a year. But wait, is the cost the same for every state? Of course not. This estimation is more than likely based on population. So if that's the case, then in the more populous states- California and New York to name a couple- the costs would be astronomically higher. But then again, even without looking it up, I would guess that Nebraska is not in the top ten of the most populated states.

After typing that last sentence, I looked it up. According to estimates of the US Census Bureau, Nebraska ranks number 39 on the list with 1.7 million residents. So let us do some simple math, shall we? If the same bribe, otherwise known as the Cornhusker Kickback, was offered to the Senators from California (Boxer and Feinstein) with a population of 36.7 million people then the cost for California alone would be $215.9 million ($215,900,000) a year. Remember this is only if the estimated cost is anywhere near the actual number. Plus this is only for the expansion of Medicaid.

Hey, a billion here, a billion there, no big deal, right? But before long you're talking about some serious money. I know it's been said before, by whom I can't remember, but it's worth repeating. All this money has to come from those of us who pay taxes. As we all know, that's not everybody. It's probably not even the majority.

Obama claims that this legislation will reduce our debt. I don't know how. This will only cost the government more and more and will ultimately destroy our entire economy. Our government has for an extremely long period of time been under the illusion that we can just continue to spend and spend without regard for the consequences. No matter how many times our vacuous VP, Joe "gaffe a second" Biden claims that we are going to spend our way out of debt (huh?) there is no possible way to do it. Thank you Dennis Miller for Joe's middle name.

It should also be remembered that for every penny the government spends or gives away it has taken that penny from someone.

Or borrowed it from China.