Why Universal Health Insurance will be reality in 2009

This is a very simple reason if people would pay attention. A union-run health care trust known as a voluntary employee benefit association, or VEBA is what it is called. Starting in 2009 the UAW will need to pay for the retiree health insurance instead of GM, Ford, Chrysler. This means the union is actually responsible for a tangible service for the union members. Since the auto industry has all but failed the companies are not putting the money aside the contract says is required.

Read about it here and here and here.

Under the 2007 contract, the Big Three and the UAW agreed to the following:
* To transfer, starting in 2010, retiree health care obligations to a Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA) run by the UAW. The automakers agreed to collectively pay $60 billion into the VEBA, after which time the UAW would have full responsibility for providing retiree health benefits. This agreement takes the cost of providing health benefits off the Big Three’s balance sheets.

The unions must have at a minimum government paid universal retiree health insurance by Jan 1, 2010 so that they can’t be held responsible for people losing their health insurance.

If GM, Ford & Chrysler can live through 2009 since the removal of this huge cost from the car production overhead costs will remove one hurdle to the chance for profitability.

The only reason that the union leaders would make any “concessions” on this topic for underfunding is if they have been assured by the democrats they will never have to fund this anyway. Obama, Pelosi & Reid are so deep into the union pockets that they will put through a universal health insurance law in 2009 so that the retired union members will not get upset when the benefits are lost. Even if the big 3 only fund half of the $60 billion, the unions will get to keep this money since they will not have to spend it on the intended purpose because the rest of the taxpayers will pay for this. I wonder which party will get campaign funds from this pot of union money.

Obama & Democrat Congress 50 day Speeding Spree

Congress at work: ‘$1 billion an hour’

McConnell includes the tweaks in his opening remarks on the Senate floor on the 51st day that President Obama has been in office.
“In just 50 days, Congress has voted to spend about $1.2 trillion between the Stimulus and the Omnibus,” McConnell says. “To put that in perspective, that’s about $24 billion a day, or about $1 billion an hour—most of it borrowed. There’s simply no question: government spending has spun out of control.”
The math: 50 days times 24 hours equals 1,200 hours. 1,200 times 1 billion equals 1.2 trillion (a thousand billions is a trillion).

Bush and the republicans started the free spending ways and the change for America is that we are so far in debt that we will spend our way out of debt.

Change, hope everyone has some pocket change because that is all that will be left.