Comments for EgbertoWillies.com

Comment on Blacks & Hispanics Specifically But All Americans Must End The Codification Of Gay Rights Denial by Dave Z

Dave Z — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:54:57 +0000

Marriage (also called matrimony or wedlock) is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. (usually considered to refer to the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of most humans in most societies),

If one is Black and the other is White should they be entitled to equal justice and natural given benefits? One word answers – “certainly”.

Should the Black be called White or the White be called Black? Certainly not.

How then can support to change the word “marriage” be a consideration?

Marriage can be recognized by a state, an organization, a religious authority, a tribal group, a local community or peers. It is often viewed as a contract. Civil marriage is the legal concept of marriage as a governmental institution irrespective of religious affiliation, in accordance with marriage laws of the jurisdiction.

In a “Free” nation an individual has the right to believe freely.
Is there a God? Is there not a God?

The state Law can not force an individual to live by the beliefs of others.

A religious authority has the choice to require members to have only same sex marriages.
The individual has the right to join or not join any religious group.

Why all of the national concern? This should not be an electorial issue.

Comment on Republicans Will Not Be Able To Govern Until Right Wing Is Neutralized by Chris Grattan

Chris Grattan — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:40:22 +0000

Conservative principles aren’t radical, but the redefinition of them by what historian Richard Hofstader called “pseudo-conservatives” is. This redefinition, framed by (in Hofstader’s words) “provincial resentments,popular and ‘democratic’ rebelliousness and suspiciousness, and nativism” is the same ideology that destroyed the Republican party in 1964 and is on the verge of doing it again.

Comment on Root Of Evil by Cody Pogue (Letter to Editor Printed In Kingwood Observer) by J. Kennard

J. Kennard — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:17:17 +0000

Egberto, so glad you posted this letter — he says exactly what I feel — just hope others read it and actually “get it” as well. And it applies to so many other issues, not just gay marriage. I am so tired of people using their religion to judge and condemn people they don’t agree with. My question to them would be “what part of the Bible?” — apparently whatever works for them — pick and choose. Though not religious myself, I applaud Cody Pogue’s opinion and for speaking out on this issue. I’m sure it was difficult for him to say this — but because he did, I for one think it makes him an even better candidate — an honest one with integrity.

Comment on The American Middle Class Will Revolt Against Austerity by JC Dufresne

JC Dufresne — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:16:53 +0000

Your observations are of course correct, in 2008 we elected a president who campaigned on hope and change and then we the left sat down and went back to watching TV and reading books while the right got mad and held rallies, screamed and shouted and put the fear of the electorate into politicians with the support of the Koch Bros. and their ilk. We must win in 2012 and as you pointed out we must not sit down and expect the President to act like a Democrat we must make him act like one. There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, about FDR and a progressive lobbying for something he wanted the president to do, FDR is reputed to have replied “You’re right, I want to do it, now go out and make me do it.” Whether the story is actually what happened or just a parable it does illustrate the point that to pass good legislation and enact good policy the people must drive their politicians to do it or the other side will drive them not to.

Comment on What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily by Claire Curtis

Claire Curtis — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:08:35 +0000

“There is nothing patriotic about paying taxes — it is simply the law.”
On the contrary, paying taxes is the height of patriotism.
Paying taxes is doing your part to keep this country running. A very small minority can make a more direct contribution — they can serve in Congress or in the military. Most of us can’t, but we can all pay our taxes.
Avoiding taxes is like the spoiled teenager who resents doing his chores. He may claim to be loyal to his family, but if he doesn’t pitch in and help, it’s just empty words.

Comment on What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily by Ray Levesque

Ray Levesque — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:17:50 +0000

I’m sure you’re disappointed that one of those nasty rich America haters got away with $600 million dollars that could have provided free condoms for junior high students. I don’t support progressive taxes nor confiscatory tax rates. It looks like you just can’t figure out that you chased a very capable investor and employer into the arms of other countries with less onerous policies. What you call unpatriotic is actually called the conservation of capital, something that businesses need to stay in business.
As for your suggestion that I leave the USA if I dare to disagree with you — that’s the height of arrogance. However, I no longer live in the US nor do I intend to return. Let’s see how many other professionals you can manage to chase out of America.

Comment on What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily by Robert Hanawalt

Robert Hanawalt — Mon, 14 May 2012 05:19:29 +0000

If you’re not anywhere near Saverin’s income level, then you’re just a tool for those who would screw over their communities and their countries for the sake of profits. Sure, no one is obligated to pay more than their lawfully calculated taxes, but that’s not the point. This guy is employing a tax dodge, which is decidedly unpatriotic. America reached out and gave this guy and his family a safe home, nurtured him through its education system and did everything to put him where he is today.

Just so we’re clear on it, there is NOTHING that is “money-grabbing” about the idea of paying one’s fair share in taxes; it’s the way progressive taxation works, period. Sorry if that offends, but if you don’t like paying taxes, or feel that those who have benefited more from their society shouldn’t be obliged to pay back to the system that made their wealth possible, then I recommend that you move to Afghanistan or one of the Central Asian republics, so that you can see firsthand how people with a bombed-out or non-existent economic infrastructure live.

Comment on What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily by Ray Levesque

Ray Levesque — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:50:22 +0000

Your one sided diatribe against the rich tells me all I need to know.

Comment on What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily by Betty VanDenBosch

Betty VanDenBosch — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:50:18 +0000

Beside the fact that he’s leaving to avoid taxes, he’s leaving and taking his money with him. To spend elsewhere, to invest elsewhere. So much for job creation.

Comment on What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily by Steven Groom

Steven Groom — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:30:33 +0000

Saverin used this country and has chosen to abandon it for the sake of more money. I’d rather pay taxes for a hundred illegal aliens in this country than contribute one cent in taxes for someone as disgustingly opportunistic as Saverin.

Saverin used this country to avoid being kidnapped and possibly killed. Just how much is that really worth? I’d say that he owes a fair tax for that. But now he’s moving to Singapore. Why? Not because his life is in danger, but rather his *BILLIONS* of dollars of future earnings might be subject to a progressive tax that pays for the very things he came to this country to take advantage of.

That’s pretty much the definition of a parasite: One that uses a host to its detriment. Saverin has sucked out of America’s veins the taxes he would have normally paid while taking advantage of everything that America had to offer.

If you don’t understand how that makes people upset, that’s fine. Your cutting, and rather revealing, remarks like “don’t quit your day job at the IRS” and asking about how much his parents invested in America aren’t any kind of real argument.

Comment on What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily by Egberto Willies

Egberto Willies — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:16:25 +0000

You miss the point. Had he earned the money on his own “we the people” would not necessarily have had dibs to it. Fact, we the people were the conduits he used period. It is a society and the excesses of those that benefit more so than others because of an aberration in our economic system must be mitigated through taxes.

Comment on What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily by Ray Levesque

Ray Levesque — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:07:39 +0000

There is nothing patriotic about paying taxes — it is simply the law. And the notion of “Fair Share” of taxes is a money-grabbing scheme by the government that couldn’t create a real job to save it’s own life. The law says: US Judge-Judge Learned Hand- ruled that no one is obligated to arrange his (her) affairs in order to pay more taxes.
Basically you are calling anyone who doesn’t want to pay more taxes “unpatriotic”. Nice try. Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.

Comment on What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily by What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily « JoeWo Joe Wosik Blog

Sun, 13 May 2012 18:49:16 +0000

[...] Story is located here [...]

Comment on What Eduardo Saverin owes America. (Hint: Nearly everything.) | PandoDaily by Ray Levesque

Ray Levesque — Sun, 13 May 2012 18:31:58 +0000

And just what did the USA do for Eduardo that cost $600 Million?
And how much did the Saverin family investvin America as investor immigrants?
You didn’t ask enough questions here. Don’t quit your day job at the IRS.

Comment on Blacks & Hispanics Specifically But All Americans Must End The Codification Of Gay Rights Denial by Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:14:04 +0000

With all due respect, Egberto, you’re going to need to “dumb-down” your rhetoric to get to your target audience. Right now you’re just preaching to the choir, a group which is most likely more familiar with the term “codify”.

Comment on Immorality of Health Insurance by Egberto Willies

Egberto Willies — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:31:23 +0000

You are the solution. We are the solution. We must keep the Internet open and communicatie with our neighbors. In the long run they will trust us more than the cooked media.

Comment on Immorality of Health Insurance by Mary Bell

Mary Bell — Fri, 11 May 2012 00:46:29 +0000

Glad they published this. But it brings up a problem we have to address. Nationally there is little media – TV, radio, newspapers – presenting the truth of progressive politics. And in Texas, we have a particularly nasty problem with newspapers: They are dominated and controlled by their advertisers. There are responsible writers who have submitted articles to Texas papers only to have them turned down as “too controversial” and there are editors who have had to “find a new job” after publishing those articles. Inevitably, if you trace it back you find that advertisers organized a boycott of those papers to discipline them for not adhering to the corporate line. What’s the solution? I wish I knew. This is not democracy anymore, it’s corporatocracy.

Comment on Immorality of Health Insurance by Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:14:23 +0000

Mr. White,

Thank you for your response.

Jeff

Comment on Immorality of Health Insurance by Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:12:50 +0000

Mr. Willies,

Thank you for your response.

Jeff

Comment on Immorality of Health Insurance by Jewell

Jewell — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:05:31 +0000

You’re right, we do have problems in this country with respect to healthcare delivery, the costs associated with same, as well as the insurers. It is an immoral system that will only get worse as time goes on.

Because our elected officials are for sale to the highest bidders, we STILL have problems & I doubt that Obamacare will solve them, but it’s a step in the right direction -albeit a baby step, for the same reasons I mentioned.

One main problem is, the insurance industry has made it SOOOO profitable to gouge policyholders year after year. They are the jackboot on the necks of everyone involved in this equation & must be removed so that we can get back to affordable healthcare delivery.

Just about 3 weeks ago, I was injured & sought medical attention in the emergency room at a local hospital. I was the first person in the door, but sat for almost 3 hours while at least 15 other walk-ins were called ahead of me. I finally got into triage, where I sat longer, was X-rayed (even though I didn’t need it as I was seeking treatment for three lacerations), then finally attended to.

8 hours & 21 stitches later, the bill presented to my insurance company was almost $3400! I called the hospital & said, “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but $3400??! For 3 lacerations??”

Of course, some of the things I mention here have nothing to do with the cost of care, or the collusion with insurance to gouge the patient, but this one visit is indicative of just a few issues we face in our country.

Comment on Immorality of Health Insurance by Bruce White

Bruce White — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:05:29 +0000

Jeff, Despite the isolated and condition-specific success claimed in the podcast, the “magic of the market” has no place in the provision of critical life services. For what will you “bid” in this “free market” for your mother’s insulin? For a Kidney? It often appears health providers are actively trying to find out. But a more compassionate society and supportive “capitalistic” model would allow people to enter the work/business market, to innovate and compete openly. without worrying about leaving their job and healthcare behind nor the associated high cost of private coverage. It’s stifling, and perhaps the greatest hinderance to independent entrepreneurialism.

And as Jeff illustrates, it is immoral. Those who would leave the attainability of our collective human health to the “magic of the market” or who feel the “market is smart enough” to prioritize our health… are clearly blind ideologues. And I use no hyperboles here, sir. For WHO CANNOT SEE the plethora and currently poxing examples to the contrary? Enron. Tyco. Worldcom. FPA. WorldCom. Shears Lerhman. BOA. Bernie Maddoff.

No. I don’t want CEO’s in charge of choosing between their profit and the health of a nation. The market just isn’t that smart, Jeff. And there’s no such thing as “magic”.

Comment on Immorality of Health Insurance by Egberto Willies

Egberto Willies — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:48:40 +0000

Jeff,
I did not mean to imply you were guilty for the podcast. I am reserving that critique for those who actually develop the propaganda. These things are develop to personalize so others would find its tenet plausible. The whole system breaks down if one gets a chronic disease. Then gues who would have the finances to pay. There was nothing innovative in the podcast. It did solve one problem, insurance companies are no longer in charge:)

Comment on Immorality of Health Insurance by Egberto Willies

Egberto Willies — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:29:50 +0000

On another note. The podcast is really anecdotal nonsense that will only work for those who have not seen a real effective single payer system in action. I have left your link for others to listen. Those who listen must understand that it is propaganda and one must question the values of anyone spreading this nonsense.

Comment on Immorality of Health Insurance by Egberto Willies

Egberto Willies — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:28:02 +0000

It is extremely important that you do not mix the delivery of healthcare and the payment of healthcare. My statement of having multiple insurance companies is mathematically absolute. You cannot deliver more money with less money for healthcare. You cannot have an efficient healthcare system with a bastardized risk pool. That is simply a mathematical fact as well.

There is reason to having profit in the development of healthcare products. Innovation is accelerated with profits.

Until we stop worshiping free markets as solution to everything we will fail as a nation. Markets and capitalism does not understand humanity. We must seperate that which is controlled by markets and that which is controlled specifically by we the people. It is the only humane and moral option.

Comment on Immorality of Health Insurance by Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:11:15 +0000

Sorry, I failed to give you the link. Here it is:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/2012/05/08/276-free-market-medical-care/