“A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business.”

 - Eric Hoffer

“To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy.  It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one’s ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.”

- Bruce McLaren

But only considering the negative aspects of our current private health care system is short sighted. The emotional knee-jerk reaction of your average citizen that has had to deal with the frustration and high cost (due mainly to frivolous lawsuits) of the privately run health care system is to readily accept and welcome the assistance of the Federal government without thought as to the negative aspects of a socialized health care system.

Our current system allows us freedom of choice, albeit limited by our financial situation, but freedom nonetheless. Freedom is what our great country was built on and what separates us from the rest of the world.  In a true free market economy you have the ability to make as much or as little as you want or are qualified for, and that determines your lifestyle and the products or services you can afford.  Why should someone who is lazy be entitled to the same benefits as someone who works hard? This should also include health care.

Opponents contend that health care should be a God-given right since it sustains life, and under the guise of equality should be a classless system, but where does one stop with that logic?  Should food also be provided by the government?  How about housing?  Free transportation?  The beauty of a free market economy is that if you don’t like the fact your neighbor has a better car than you; you have the freedom to go get your own.  Don’t know how?  You have the freedom to learn.  Can’t learn? You have the freedom to fail. The bottom line is you have freedom, and regardless of whether that puts an individual in a positive or negative financial predicament, it enables you yourself to be responsible for your own destiny, based on your own intelligence and/or how hard you want to work. Removing those freedoms and equalizing society in any form, results in another step towards a classless society….in other words Communism.

Of course opponents will further argue that individuals will still have the freedom to choose under Obamacare, and that would be great IF all the funding for Obamacare were coming from Mr. Obama’s personal pockets.  Unfortunately it’s not.  It’s coming directly out of our pockets, whether we are a business owner or an employee whose salary is lower because of the increased taxes they are both FORCED to pay to subsidize the government program, regardless of their own choice in health care.

Look at the most common member of society- the proletarian. How about his employer who is being forced to pay for a government run health care system?  Do you think he is also going to pay so his employee can have a choice concerning his own health care?  Of course not, leaving that worker with NO reasonable choice or freedom regarding where and how he gets his health care other than the government. 

Notwithstanding the loss of freedom that will come from socialized health care, do we really want to put our lives in the hands of a monopolistic system run by the government who has no incentive to provide better services, can limit and ration those services, and will have unlimited access to personal information the Federal government has no right to know?

The worst thing you ever want to hear is- “We’re from the Government, and we’re here to help.”  That goes double for health care.

The GM announcement on August 11^th, 2009 that the 2011 Chevrolet Volt would achieve 230mpg couldn’t have come at more apt time for the “reorganized” auto manufacturer as it emerges from bankruptcy. Amid the current economic turmoil and considering the costly mistakes that led to the US giant’s downfall, the announcement of a new model that touts ten times the average US new car fuel economy is one of the greatest public relations moves in recent automotive history.  Too bad the whole thing doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense.

The one detail that was overlooked in the Media’s coverage of the Volt is the price tag. $40,000 for an economy car?  That’s three times the cost of your average economy car and almost two times the cost of the most successful “green” car ever made, the Toyota Prius.  A small price to pay, some would say, for being able to drive a car that only forces them to hand over their hard earned dollars to those “evil” oil companies two or maybe three times a year.

Unfortunately, this logic is flawed by basic math. Consider a simple comparison of the Toyota Yaris ($12,000) and the Chevy Volt ($40,000). Just by purchasing the Yaris over the Volt, a consumer has already saved $28,000, or $20,000 if you take into account the $7,500 government subsidy.  $20,000 buys a whole lot of fuel, even at $3 a gallon.  Over six THOUSAND six hundred gallons to be exact. At 30mpg (the Yaris’ estimated city MPG), that’s 200,000 miles of driving before breaking EVEN with the cost of the Chevy Volt based on fuel economy alone (the Volt’s biggest selling point).  How many people even keep a car for 200,000 miles?

From a marketing standpoint the Volt is exactly what GM needed, but from an automotive standpoint the Volt is simply a technologically advanced “eco credit” to ease the consciousness of consumers “cool” enough to own one.