"About The Supremes and ObamaCare ..."

Of course, the Justices lined up along political lines! Was anyone really naïve enough to believe this wouldn't be the outcome? Except Chief Justice, John Roberts.

They (the media) just can't stop talking, and speculating, about his opinion – which decided the outcome. Yet, nowhere, so far, have I heard what is so obvious to me.

As things stand, and before ObamaCare ever existed, folks are required to join Medicare at age 65 unless they have other "qualified" insurance (Again, a requirement!). If someone has decided not to collect their Social Security until age 70, it doesn't matter.

If you don't sign up for Medicare at age 65 (or have other "qualified" insurance), you are fined 10% of the payment for every year you delay. How do they collect that fine? They take it straight out of your Social Security payment when you do start collecting Social Security.

And, they don't take it out for the number of years you didn't obey and sign up. They take it every month for the rest of your life!

This is absolutely no different than requiring people to buy insurance. Medicare is insurance. And, even though you may have paid into Medicare since it came into existence, you will continue to pay even more once you sign up.

So, John Roberts simply had an attack of common sense. We already have forced buying of insurance and we already have a penalty for not doing it. And, it's been rolling along, uncontested, for years. The Court really had no choice.

Had they declared the mandate illegal, millions (if not billions) of dollars in fines would have had to be refunded to seniors! So, now we call it a “tax” and that solves the whole problem.

Once the opinion came down, both political parties jumped on it, trying to bend it to their own advantage. You know – if product owners can't lie in their advertising – why is it okay for political candidates to lie? Their facts are easily checked.

Check the Facts

Truth in advertising should count in politics, too. The outright lies are disgusting. I'd rather have Maybelline use false eyelashes on their mascara models (which they do) then have these political slimebags get away with lying.

You can clearly see those false eyelashes. The problem is, people believe what they want to believe when it comes to politics and the facts be damned! WHY are there no laws about truth in politics?

Oh, that's right - it could never be put in front of The Supremes, 'cause they seem to lie at the same rate as everyone else in politics. And, they are in politics!

"Foxconn"

Apparently, this story was run on CNN back in 2010. However, I haven't watched CNN since the last presidential election. I got sick and tired of it and decided I'll live a better life if I never have to hear Wolf Blitzer's voice again.

I picked up the story last week due to new information, and I couldn't possibly be more appalled! I must be horribly naïve because when I hear of things like this going on in the world, the shock of it nearly makes me physically ill!

Foxconn is the single largest private employer in mainland China. It's a Chinese gadget manufacturer and Apple's supplier. This is a huge company with one million employees. The facility has hospitals, a fire station and restaurants. They manufacture: motherboards, camera components, MP3 players, iPhones, iPads and nearly every electronic gadget we use.

The employees:

• Live at the facility and do not see their families
• Bunk in barracks-like rooms with seven other employees
• Often work 35 hours at a stretch
• Make 31 CENTS per hour - which is a is considered a good wage
• Get 12 years in prison if they even mention unionizing
• Recently threatened mass suicide if conditions aren't improved

Nearly every time we buy an electronic in the USA, we are contributing to this situation! It's every time if we buy from Apple! Steve Jobs has practically been canonized since his death, yet this is the situation he instituted for Apple.

With our ridiculous and glutinous appetite for electronics, are we going to stop buying them due to this abomination? I'd love to think we would. But, we won't.

If Foxconn were to implement humane conditions, it's estimated that our electronics would cost us 23% more. Now, I don't know about you, but $615 instead of $500 for an iPad seems a small price to pay to keep human beings from this kind of treatment.

But, that won't happen, either. In fact, I suspect the price increase would be much more. This is how Jobs got to be billionaire - with the people making his products making 31 cents per hour while he sold them for hundreds of dollars!

The only way to solve this problem is to remove the tax breaks our U.S. corporations receive for taking their manufacturing to China and make them bring those jobs home!

I realize we can't control what China does to its citizens. But, we don't have to be a party to it! And, we are!