Antonio

There are certain provisions I like about ObamaCare, such as being able to keep a child on the parent's insurance policy until they're 26. Despite some smart initiatives in the legislation, the rest of the law is going to become a train wreck once it's fully implemented.

Despite what you've heard, ObamaCare is not healthcare reform, it's insurance reform. The basic premise is to guarantee that all Americans are insured, even riskier patients with pre-existing conditions. The way the law attempts to do this, however, is an intrusion on your personal rights and your decision on what to purchase with your money.

So basically, everyone must buy public-exchanged insurance plans from private firms created by the government or keep your existing insurance policy and if you don't, you'll receive a penalty-tax from the government for not being insured depending on your current income bracket (the individual mandate).

This might sound all fine and dandy, until you look at the consequences of forcing the public to pay for risky, uninsured or poor patients. For most of us, our insurance premium is going to skyrocket because ObamaCare also outlaws treating different insurance patients differently and tries to force the ideal of equality into how Insurance firms can charge individuals. What I mean by this is that Insurance firms cannot charge a woman more than a man for their premium nor can insurance charge a risky patient with pre-existing health issues more than healthy men and women. This is a huge problem because relatively healthy men and women are going to have be fronting the bill for another 30 million people, while some patients can receive government subsidies. This is an overstep of authority because the government is telling you what to buy, how to buy it and ordering you to pay for others as well and if you don't do it.. well the government gets to hit you with a tax and take your money for NOT having insurance, even if you really can't afford it or don't have a bank account (many poor people do not, and this is the only way to pay for the mandated insurance)

This law is also going to have a serious drag on economic activity. I'm currently a small business owner who recently expanded my operation with capital savings earned from strong revenues and profit over the last 8 years. I employ about 23 people full-time, provide decent health-care benefits and pay part of my employees insurance, depending on what I am paying them for their wage. I found a method that distributed all the benefits fairly that my employees agreed with in contract and didn't seriously eat into revenues too deeply. Because Obama-Care is being implemented, I'm going to have to pay a lot more for employees insurance because most of their premiums are set to drastically increase (This is called the Employer Mandate). With these ridiculous expenses, I'm either going to have to lay off at least 7 employees and change some of their titles' to part-time employees. If I don't do that, I'll barely be making any profit past the break-even point, which will make it impossible to continue expanding and hire more employees. And if you think I'm being greedy, I'm absolutely not because if I went with the changes in insurance benefits, no questions asked, revenues would sharply fall and profit would be slightly beyond the break-even point. The only way to keep earning large enough revenues in order to continue expanding is for me to lay off my employees and make many part-time, which is something I really don't want to do, but I have no choice at this point. These excessive costs will slow hiring, create fewer jobs and ask the masses to pick up the insurance slack of everyone else. Heck, even employers at McDonald's only paying $9 per hour for their employees must purchase each full-time employ government mandated insurance.

I'm sure ObamaCare was well intended when it was crafted, but it is not in the best interest of the American people. What do you guys think?

I'm not talking about America's entitlement programs.. there's a big difference between extending a helping hand to our more vulnerable citizens who can't survive without greater society's help or someone wanting what they were promised by the government if they fulfilled the guidelines (e.g social security)

What I'm asking is why people feel that they're entitled to have certain things that they haven't earned, such as certain statuses/titles, conditions, consumer goods, services, money or blatantly overstepping their boundaries or authority?

Here's are three examples of this kind of behavior from my life: I attend college right now and remember on the first day of my math class last August, a girl who was registered in my class told our professor that she couldn't make it to class for the first 2 weeks, as she was going on vacation but that she still deserved to be in the class because she was paying for the education

Another example is about one of my friends, who got a job at a farmer's market. He only worked there for 3 days and quit, because he said the working conditions did not meet his standards, the wages were too low and that he believed he should receive insurance benefits if he was going to work full-time. And this was only the 2nd job of his life!!

The last example is something you may have seen before.. when you go to a grocery store, pay at the cash register and put your groceries in your car, most people don't really want to return the shopping cart to a convenient place for the employees to pick it up; most of time people leave their shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot right next to cars or far away from the supermarket instead of pushing it to one of the cart returns throughout the parking lot, which generally makes it easy and convenient for the employees to retrieve all the shopping carts,

I just don't understand where this strong sense of entitlement is coming from, especially from 18-25 year olds nowadays.. it's as if they believe that they can do anything that makes them feel good without taking others into consideration or feel like they deserve something that they didn't actually earn.

Of course not all people are this way, but that begs the question, why are people acting this way now? Deep down we must realize that nothing is free and no one owes you ANYTHING that you didn't rightfully earn yourself. It's become frustrating and too easy to notice.. All answers are appreciated

I'm 19, male and in college at the moment. I've had one serious relationship in my life, but she ended up playing me and being very teasy and dishonest towards the end of the relationship. From this experience, I've had a lot of problems trusting any other woman. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of a female friends but I've built up walls to prevent myself from being hurt again (first gf hurt me in the end, but I'm over it now).

Even when I get female attention, I'm not particularly interested anymore in anything beyond physical interaction. I've had my fair share of experiences, but I really would like to settle down and find a good relationship.

However, the girls I hang around with now I've seen be taken advantage of by very dumb, fratty meat head guys. These girls just seem to make airhead decisions, making me trust women in general even less. However, they still are my friends and I try to help them out as much as I can.

It just seems like a waste of time find another girlfriend as I'm only gonna get hurt in the end.

Is there something wrong with me? I really can't get out of this mindset, but I feel as if a new relationship could really benefit me. However, I can't get it out of my head that the next girl is just gonna screw me over at some point, no matter how well the relationship is going.. Any advice is welcome..

2 of which I know..

1) Firms are free to enter/exit a market

2) Firms must produce a homogenous product

and the other 2 I don't quite know.. it's for an analysis paper due on monday.. any help would be appreciated

After Prop 8 passed, it's legality was questioned on the grounds of discrimination against a specific group/faction of people.

Should Prop 8 be declared legal by the voters? Or should it be declared illegal on the grounds that it discriminates against a group and limits human rights?

I personally think Prop 8 should be outlawed as it limits human rights and is a form of discrimination, whether it's intentional or unintentional according the Prop 8 activists' argument. I don't think people should decide whether or not people, no matter what sex, should be allowed to get married or not. I just think it's a basic violation of human rights and is unfair to homosexuals that want to marry. People should be allowed to do what they want, it's not my business.. I have my own to handle.

What is everyone else's opinion? Whatever side you're on, whoever has the most legitimate, well-worded argument with no derogatory terms with a persuasion factor in it gets the 10 points. Doesn't matter what side, just make it good.

Whats up everyone!

Today is one of my first days' of freedom.. I used to have a pretty bad oxycontin habit that succeeded in ******* my life up pretty badly. After 1 year in hell, while attending college, I made the decision to stop cold turkey right in the middle of my semester... It may have been the best decision of my life to quit opiates.

However, since I quit narcotics I have not been able to get over a terrible depression that has developed which I may attribute to opiate use. I have thought about therapy, but have been generally ignoring the pressure due to the amount of work I experience on a daily basis. (I am going to UC Santa Barbara for a Master's Degree and have 2 working jobs)

I feel a lot better as a person since I quit any sort of drug/alcoholic beverage altogether. However, I feel as if I have some sort of depression symptom. Although I feel as if I'm a healthier (physically) person, I experience prolonged series of exhaustion, emotional depression and anger on an extreme level.

I wonder if this related to my previous addiction to OxyContin. Although I' m dead sure it's related, I'd like to here a second opinion.

In the most non-partisan way possible, can someone explain to me what the new Health Care Bill is exactly with the positive and negatives attached to it. I'm just curious because I really don't understand why the bill is such a controversial partisan issue right now and how it will effect our country if it passes through Congress.

So I've been hanging out with the new girl for around a month, and I honestly like her a lot. We've hooked up a few times and talk alot. In short, I love being around her and wish she could be my girlfriend. However, in one month I'm going away for college so I'm trying to make the best of time with her. However, last time I saw her we hooked in my bedroom while her best friend hooked up with my friend. Instead of just making out, things got a little more physical and we were grabbing each other everything, deeply making out and dry humping. She even whispered in my ear how sexy and hot i was, and said i was tempting her. This happened three days ago. Since then, she's been acting really distant and hardly talks to me now. We would talk everyday at least twice for a few hours. Now she doesn't even text me and when i try to talk to her, she seems to be a distant and disinterested. What could have happened to make her act this way? Any advice helps, I really just want things to be the way they were. Maybe a female can understand why she chose to act this way?

So I've been hanging out with the new girl for around a month, and I honestly like her a lot. We've hooked up a few times and talk alot. In short, I love being around her and wish she could be my girlfriend. However, in one month I'm going away for college so I'm trying to make the best of time with her. However, last time I saw her we hooked in my bedroom while her best friend hooked up with my friend. Instead of just making out, things got a little more physical and we were grabbing each other everything, deeply making out and dry humping. She even whispered in my ear how sexy and hot i was, and said i was tempting her. This happened three days ago. Since then, she's been acting really distant and hardly talks to me now. We would talk everyday at least twice for a few hours. Now she doesn't even text me and when i try to talk to her, she seems to be a distant and disinterested. What could have happened to make her act this way? Any advice helps, I really just want things to be the way they were

i had an odd dream that i woke up remembering this morning. It actually seemed like a long story, and revolved around a beautiful girl with black hair and the most perfect face. I remember she came up and said she wanted to be with me.. but here comes the weird part, in the dream, I told her I wanted her and she said we should be together and started kissing me (seemingly better than any real kiss I've ever had). I started a relationship with this dream-woman and I don't remember lucid details, but I messed up the relationship and drove her away. I don't know what I did for that to occur, but I remember experiencing shock, misery and dispair when she left me. I woke up with crazy emotions this morning and have been trying to remember this girl, but the image is beginning to fade. I do remember she was the "one" and the most beautiful, gorgeous person I've ever seen.

I'm wondering if it might be sign or a foresight into a future relationship. For once I think I've seen the woman of dreams and she is somewhere in the world. It's strange, but it feels like this dream was giving me insight to show me how not to mess up a perfect relationship.

Something was very different about this dream than others, as I still remember it very well and still have a deep emotional feeling,

I just turned 18 yesterday btw.

i had an odd dream that i woke up remembering this morning. It actually seemed like a long story, and revolved around a beautiful girl with black hair and the most perfect face. I remember she came up and said she wanted to be with me.. but here comes the weird part, in the dream, I told her I wanted her and she said we should be together and started kissing me (seemingly better than any real kiss I've ever had). I started a relationship with this dream-woman and I don't remember lucid details, but I messed up the relationship and drove her away. I don't know what I did for that to occur, but I remember experiencing shock, misery and dispair when she left me. I woke up with crazy emotions this morning and have been trying to remember this girl, but the image is beginning to fade. I do remember she was the "one" and the most beautiful, gorgeous person I've ever seen.

I'm wondering if it might be sign or a foresight into a future relationship. For once I think I've seen the woman of dreams and she is somewhere in the world. It's strange, but it feels like this dream was giving me insight to show me how not to mess up a perfect relationship.

Something was very different about this dream than others, as I still remember it very well and still have a deep emotional feeling,

I'm 17 btw.

Tonight I'm having a little get together and am inviting some friends, plus the girl that I like (she's bringing her best friend who's a guy). We are smoking hookah and possibly having a few a drinks. What my problem is is the fact that I dont know how to make move on her. At some point I want to take her aside and tell her how I feel but I don't know... I just want to do it the right way. How should I get my feelings across to her and hopefully make out with her or something..

I am a senior in high school and I have to do a powerpoint presentation about the government bailout and the new administration's plan for economic recovery. Generally, I have a few questions that I am unsure of :

-What are factors that led to the economic recession (there are more than one)

-How was the aggregate supply and demand effected by the economic recession (like how the aggregate supply and demand changed when the economy was declining)

-How does the new stimulus plan created by the Obama administration effect the current aggregate supply and demand? (more simple: how does Obama want to influence supply and demand to create a balanced economy)

-Why did Dow Jones Industrial plummet during the economic recession, and why did it start rising again after the stimulus bill was passed?

-Since the bill is an example of a liberal agenda, what is the Obama Administration's approach for reviving the economy?

Any answer is much appreciated. You don't have to answer all the questions, but just try and help me out on a few. I really want to make this a good presentation.

And please, no stupid comments that indicate partisan favor.

I mean honestly, all I've noticed is that they argue about questions that never agreed upon. Also, they're in this massive war because of their stupid partisan ideologies. It seems as if neither party really cares much about the country (this doesn't apply to all people), but rather put their stupid ideologies ahead of anything and try to take power. Why can't they just come to a consensus without put their little party ideals first?

Yep you guessed it, I feel completely depressed and have resorted to take 1.5 mg Klonopin, smoking marijuana and drinking to help. Yes I am as high as a kite right now but feel like expressing what I feel. My depression has been temporarily been lifted and I feel like I can be someone worth existing within the world.. Why does this happen? It's so hard to overcome hardcore emotions with pure willpower.. I drink and smoke to create a state that cope with my issues and mentally work out some issues.

I know this is the wrong approach but it seems so effective? I don't know what to do.. this isn't really an issue, but I still feel as if something has gone wrong in my life. Good advice needed..

I have never felt like this before. One thought of her sends me spiraling into depression and an anger I believed I never could have had. I have tried to get along with her, I really have, but I have reached an explosion point. I started drinking heavily, and I know it's making it worse... I really don't know what to do, and the thoughts of suicide or murder of her is popping into my head. More so, no matter how much I tell my Dad how much I dislike her, it never registers. I have told him to his & her face that I HATE her (yes, hate) yet he thinks I'm perfectly content with her company. She is always with him, and I can't take it anymore. I'm falling at a faster rate, and there will a terrible ending unless I resolve it now. Please give me true, honest answers, and no sarcastic ones.

Republicans and Democrats! They find one "flaw" (It may not even be a flaw, just a general thing) and twist and turn against each other as an attack. And how come on Fox when Politicians are asked questions, they don't answer it at all and just bash the other candidates? Why do all these people act like children? WHY ARE POLITICS SO RIDICULOUS!?

Information on this needed. I'm determined to see them once more before the retire.

I have to do report on the substance MDMA/Ecstasy. Can someone post general info on the subject? Don't just tell me it's bad you I already know that.

Seriously, I've heard some people have used LSD for a form of therapy, but I'm unsure. If someone uses LSD for a form of therapy or knows the uses, can they elaborate?