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Four Color Politics

Mainly the Quotes of the Morning, with occasional Other Crap.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Welcome to the Machine

“We just toured a pretty fantastic hospital. He talked about robotics that are being used to operate on.”
-President George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 21, 2007

“The hospitals would, of course, be much more effective if they were used to operate on people rather than robots.”
-Skippy


“I'll tell you an interesting example of that is our Veterans Affairs Department has done a good job of providing individualized health care records on the computers.”
-President George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 21, 2007

“Apparently once they operate on the machines they at least keep adequate records about it. That’s certainly better than the care that they provide for most humans. Hey, let’s talk about the humans that need healthcare for a minute.”
-Skippy


“I mean, a big slug of the uninsured in America works for small business companies -- by the way, of the uninsured are young people who never think they're going to get sick and don't bother to buy insurance. But a big slug work for people that are struggling to make ends meet.”
-President George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 21, 2007

“Yep. That’s the problem. Those young kids just don’t buy insurance because they never think that they’re going to get sick. Has nothing to do with the sky-rocketing costs of insurance.”
-Skippy


“The growth rates for public and private personal health care spending are expected to converge in 2007, at around 6.5 percent. However, public and private personal health care spending growth rates are expected to diverge over the remainder of the projection, averaging 7.5 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.”
-U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, February 21, 2007

“Despite significant gains in 2004, the total income Americans reported to the tax collector that year, adjusted for inflation, was still below its peak in 2000, new government data shows.”
-New York Times, November 28, 2006

“Analysis of the I.R.S. data by The New York Times found that average reported incomes fell or were virtually flat at the end of the period at every level of income except for the poorest 26 million taxpayers, the bottom fifth. Those impoverished taxpayers made less than $11,166 each in 2004 and had an average income of $5,743, up $135 or 2.4 percent, from the year 2000.
A taxpayer can be a single individual or a married couple. The poorest taxpayers consist of nearly 48 million adults and about 12 million dependent children. This means that the poorest 60 million Americans reported average incomes of less than $7 a day each.”
-New York Times, November 28, 2006

“It looks to me like the biggest problem is that the poorest 26 million taxpayers have made about a 2.4% increase in income over four years while the cost of healthcare is increasing about 6.5% annually. Huh. How can we help these poor people?”
-Skippy


“So here's an idea that Congress needs to consider: If you're married, got a family, and buying health care, you get a $15,000 deduction from your income taxes, right off the top. It doesn't matter whether you're working for the largest company in Chattanooga or one of the smallest, you get that deduction. If you're single, you get to deduct $7,500 from your -- not only your income tax, but your payroll taxes. And the reason you do that -- and you're going to hear some examples of how this will help our fellow citizens -- one, it helps somebody afford insurance; two, it will help in the development of a market for individuals in the insurance world. “
-President George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 21, 2007

“So the poorest 60 million Americans (those making under $11,166 a year) will get a tax break when they buy their $15,000+ a year insurance. Sure, that will work. Ok Fearless Leader, let’s go out with you dropping some knowledge on the people.”
-Skippy


“THE PRESIDENT: What do you do for a living?
MR. JENNINGS: I manage a nursery in McMinnville, Tennessee.
THE PRESIDENT: Really? Fantastic. Now's your chance if you want to put a pitch out there for some rhododendron.
MR. JENNINGS: Those are coming in soon, by the way.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I'm just showing off a little -- flora.”
-Press Conference with President George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 21, 2007

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