Harold B. Lee's 111th Birthday

On this day in history, 111 years ago, Harold B. Lee was born.  Click on the link for a snippet of his early life preserved for us today through the magic of modern technology.

This day in history is important to me because without his birth mine would not have occurred. 

He made his appearance on this earth in a little obscure farming community not far from today's Preston, Idaho, in a town called Clifton.  There's a prominent geographical feature, a visible series of cliffs nearby, that lends its rock walls to the town's name.

My heritage linking me to Clifton, Idaho, has become more significant to me in recent years.  I learned of a long-forgotten building in that community that is undergoing a restoration -- the Oneida Stake Academy.  I met a dear friend Necia Seamons, who is president of the Oneida Stake Academy Foundation, while we were trying to assist them in their fund raising efforts through our Legacy Now securitization project in recent years.

A few weeks ago I was contacted to return to Preston for the purpose of making a video production to encourage donors to contribute to the project.  In hindsight, I could have said so much more than I did when I was actually filming -- you know, all the things that suddenly flood your mind after you're done?

So today, I thought I would reflect a bit on his childhood growing up in Clifton, Idaho, and what the lessons have meant to me that he gleaned in attending the Oneida Stake Academy.  All those basic truths have been transmitted to me and to the rest of his posterity.

The interviewer asked me, "If these walls could speak, what would they say to you?"  I gave an off-the-top-of-my-head response, but upon further reflection I would like to revise and extend my remarks some. . .

The Oneida Stake Academy building is still standing today, though it is a mere shell of its once grand opulence for such a humble community.  Back in the day it was the center of civilization for that community.  It was the hub of social, community, religious, athletic, artistic and musical expression.  Its magnificent stonework and interior woodwork still testify to loving devotion and sacrifice required to construct it and preserve it.

The early funds raised were devoted to moving the building from its obscure location on the campus of Preston High School, to its present location on a corner in the town park.  It took a million plus dollars to accomplish, a modern engineering feat that is astounding.

I toured the relocated building to get a feel for the need, and I was immediately engaged.  I was taken up into the bellfry where the graduating seniors scrawled their lasting signatures into the plaster walls lining the staircase.  I was enthralled with the living history that jumped out at me -- hundreds and hundreds of names, all real people, all progenitors of those now living.  They were preserved in a lasting memorial -- they had lived, loved, learned, played, sung and danced in that building, and the visual evidence of their existence is still there! 

I searched in vain for Harold B. Lee's name, but could not find it.  He was undoubtedly there somewhere, but in the fading light with little time to search for it, I had to be content with knowing merely that he graduated from that institution of learning.  There it was he had his first taste of the thrill of education.  He later himself was an educator, the principal at the nearby Silver Star School in Weston.  His love of learning never left him, and he transmitted it to me and the rest of his posterity.  He excelled in debate, wrestling, basketball, and music.

His love of music was no doubt instilled in him at the Oneida Stake Academy.  He played the baritone sax, the slide trombone and the piano.  His musical ability was a way to make a few extra dollars playing in a dance band during those early years.  His piano skills lasted well into his later years as the accompanist to his brethren of the Twelve in the Holy Temple as they gathered for their weekly Thursday meetings.

As I enter the front door of the Oneida Stake Academy today, it simply shouts out to me -- those walls indeed do speak!

The story is told that after they were married my sweet Nana, Harold B. Lee's first love, asked him, "Harold, what ever happened to your old slide trombone?"  He gently squeezed her left hand, pointing to her wedding ring and simply said, "You're wearing it, dearie."

Legion are the lessons of hard work instilled in Harold as a boy living on the farm, eeking out a living with his siblings and their parents.  Of course, I was never aware of the toil and sacrifice of his early boyhood, since I came along as his eldest grandson when he was a seasoned and revered Church leader, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and later eleventh President of the Church. 

I was married and had babes of my own when he died unexpectedly on December 26, 1973, the day after spending a good portion of Christmas Day with us in my parents' home. 

But when I toured the Oneida Stake Academy for the first time, those walls spoke to me as they still do whenever I'm there.  They tell me of toil and strife, fun and frivolity, serious and lighthearted study and learning, sweet music and childhood innocence. 

They speak of the early lessons in his life about how to recognize the voice of the spirit of the Holy Ghost.

They whisper that hard work always pays, that self-reliance is a necessary spiritual endeavor, not just a temporal reality, and that out of small beginnings come great lives.  President Ezra Taft Benson from nearby Whitney, Idaho, also claims the Oneida Stake Academy as his alma mater. 

They scream a warning to me that is unmistakable -- in a day of indulgent and lavish government spending, don't forget the lessons mastered by your ancestors:  "Eat it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."  In the days that lie ahead I have a feeling those lessons will still be needed as never before.

They affirm that it was here within these walls and in the fields of the family farm that Harold B. Lee was uniquely prepared by God to shoulder the responsibility that would later rest upon him to give succor and aid to those valiant priesthood brethren of his beloved Pioneer Stake and later the whole Church as the managing director of what became the Welfare Program in 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression. 

Ezra Taft Benson succored the saints in war-torn Europe following World War II, and was Secretary of Agriculture under Dwight D. Eisenhower.  They came from the same rugged pioneer farm stock of the Cache Valley.

How ironic (is it coincidence?) and humbling it is to me personally that today my dear companion Patsy and I now serve together as a senior missionary couple assigned to Welfare Square as the Chair of the Professional Placement Program of the Employment Resource Center.  So what do those walls tell me?  "Go and do likewise, David."

And then I seem to hear, if I listen closely to those talking walls, "Coincidence in our lives is only God wishing to remain anonymous."

Those halls echo that the lessons of frugality, spending only what we earn and putting aside a little for a rainy day, are lessons still worth living in a society gone mad with entitlements, deficit spending and bailouts as far as the eye can see. 

So why preserve an old building in the midst of the "worst recession since the Great Depression?"  Why ask for donations from pockets that are already stretched to the limit?  Maybe because those walls in Preston, Idaho still speak peace to my soul, and they urge, "Preserve these walls today that we may continue to teach those old pioneer lessons to YOUR children and grandchildren when they step inside."

I urge the readers of this page to contact my friends at the Oneida Stake Academy Foundation and make a generous donation to a great old building worth preserving.

Just tell them Harold B. Lee sent you. . .  on his 111th birthday!

Visualization of BIG NUMBERS

This representation will help dramatically with your BIG NUMBER vizualization problem.  Click on the link. 

Knowing that we all suffer from this problem, the President does a very effective job of helping us to THINK that $100,000,000 in budget cuts he proposed way back in April 2009 was a big deal.  He just has to say the words and we're impressed, it seems.  But what do you think after watching the video? 

Are you beginning to get the vizualization more clearly defined in your mind now of what adding $1 Tillion in the country's debt really means?  Can you even begin to understand why the course this government is pursuing in its monetary and fiscal policies is unsustainable? 

Instead of being depressed about it, do as I am doing.  Help to be part of the solution to the problem.  We can do it.  WE THE PEOPLE can begin again, we can give rebirth to our nation, we can unite in solidarity and re-enthrone self-determination instead of government entitlements and endless bailouts. 

The war in heaven continues here. . .  and the question of agency is still on the table.

And always, always remember and never forget, "It is always morning in America!"

And Now Let the Spin Begin. . .

In search of something else this afternoon, I stumbled over this article that appeared in Yahoo Finance.  Then I found this composite chart illustrating the results of hundreds of polling data points that told a revealing story.  It says 50% oppose Obamacare, and 40% approve.  Had to admit, I've never heard of the author in the Yahoo story so I searched for her website.  "Somebody" no doubt paid her to write what follows, since she's a pen for hire.  I thought as I read it, WOW what's not to like?  Then I saw a pig fly by my window that had just sprouted wings (the image has not been altered in any way).  Now you be the judge:

10 Ways the New Healthcare Bill May Affect You

by Katie Adams  (from her webpage:  "For more than 18 years I have helped companies craft and communicate compelling messages to establish their brands and accelerate their business development success.  I add value to your team, leverage your marketing and communications dollars, and bring your project in on time, on budget and on message.")  In a year or so, let's see what kind of prophetess Ms. Adams turns out to be. . .

Friday, March 26, 2010

The Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act, more commonly referred to as the "healthcare bill", has taken over a year to craft and has been a lightning rod for political debate because it effectively reshapes major facets of the country's healthcare industry.

Here are 10 things you need to know about how the new law may affect you:

1. Your Kids are Covered

Starting this year, if you have an adult child who cannot get health insurance from his or her employer and is to some degree dependent on you financially, your child can stay on your insurance policy until he or she is 26 years old. Currently, many insurance companies do not allow adult children to remain on their parents' plan once they reach 19 or leave school.

2. You Can't be Dropped

Starting this fall, your health insurance company will no longer be allowed to "drop" you (cancel your policy) if you get sick. In 2009, "rescission" was revealed to be a relatively common cost-cutting practice by several insurance companies. The practice proved to be common enough to spur several lawsuits; for example, in 2008 and 2009, California's largest insurers were made to pay out more than $19 million in fines for dropping policyholders who fell ill.

3. You Can't be Denied Insurance

Starting this year your child (or children) cannot be denied coverage simply because they have a pre-existing health condition. Health insurance companies will also be barred from denying adults applying for coverage if they have a pre-existing condition, but not until 2014.

4. You Can Spend What You Need to

Prior to the new law, health insurance companies set a maximum limit on the monetary amount of benefits that a policyholder could receive. This meant that those who developed expensive or long-lasting medical conditions could run out of coverage. Starting this year, companies will be barred from instituting caps on coverage.

5. You Don't Have to Wait

If you currently have pre-existing conditions that have prevented you from being able to qualify for health insurance for at least six months you will have coverage options before 2014. Starting this fall, you will be able to purchase insurance through a state-run "high-risk pool", which will cap your personal out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare. You will not be required to pay more than $5,950 of your own money for medical expenses; families will not have to pay any more than $11,900.

6. You Must be Insured

Under the new law starting in 2014, you will have to purchase health insurance or risk being fined. If your employer does not offer health insurance as a benefit or if you do not earn enough money to purchase a plan, you may get assistance from the government. The fines for not purchasing insurance will be levied according to a sliding scale based on income. Starting in 2014, the lowest fine would be $95 or 1% of a person's income (whichever is greater) and then increase to a high of $695 or 2.5% of an individual's taxable income by 2016. There will be a maximum cap on fines.

7. You'll Have More Options

Starting in 2014 (when you will be required by law to have health insurance), states will operate new insurance marketplaces - called "exchanges" - that will provide you with more options for buying an individual policy if you can't get, or afford, insurance from your workplace and you earn too much income to qualify for Medicaid. In addition, millions of low- and middle-income families (earning up to $88,200 annually) will be able to qualify for financial assistance from the federal government to purchase insurance through their state exchange.

8. Flexible Spending Accounts Will Become Less Flexible

Three years from now, flexible spending accounts (FSAs) will have lower contribution limits - meaning you won't be able to have as much money deducted from your paycheck pre-tax and deposited into an FSA for medical expenses as is currently allowed. The new maximum amount allowed will be $2,500. In addition, fewer expenses will qualify for FSA spending. For example, you will no longer be able to use your FSA to help defray the cost of over-the-counter drugs.

9. If You Earn More, You'll Pay More

Starting in 2018, if your combined family income exceeds $250,000 you are going to be taking less money home each pay period. That's because you will have more money deducted from your paycheck to go toward increased Medicare payroll taxes. In addition to higher payroll taxes you will also have to pay 3.8% tax on any unearned income, which is currently tax-exempt.

10. Medicare May Cover More or Less of Your Expenses

Starting this year, if Medicare is your primary form of health insurance you will no longer have to pay for preventive care such as an annual physical, screenings for treatable conditions or routine laboratory work. In addition, you will get a $250 check from the federal government to help pay for prescription drugs currently not covered as a result of the Medicare Part D "doughnut hole".

However, if you are a high-income individual or couple (making more than $85,000 individually or $170,000 jointly), your prescription drug subsidy will be reduced. In addition, if you are one of the more than 10 million people currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan you may be facing higher premiums because your insurance company's subsidy from the federal government is going to be dramatically reduced.

Conclusion

Over the next few months you will most likely receive information in the mail from your health insurance company about how the newly signed law will affect your coverage. Read the correspondence carefully and don't hesitate to ask questions about your policy; there may be new, more affordable options for you down the road.  (That's fantastic journalism, and that's the end of the article).


After reading, I thought I remembered some passing news story this week about companies that are already writing down charges against their balance sheets, so I came up with a few questions of my own:

I'm thinking we're witnessing one of the -- strike that -- THE BIGGEST redistribution of wealth in U.S. history -- strike that -- maybe the history of the world.  Is anyone else flinching besides me at the price tag?  I have no idea what's really in the bill, but apparently hired gun Katie Adams does or she's just writing what she's being fed. 

Price tag:  $1 Trillion, give or take a half a billion or so.  Nationalization of health care.  Taxation begins today to pay for it, but benefits don't start delivery until 2014 (it was the only way to "trick" the math).  Oh, and did we mention all of it done without one single bipartisan vote?  "This is what change looks like," said President Obama last week in celebration.  WOW, that's change we can believe in!

What comes next?  Is there a piper that must be paid for all this social re-engineering?  We'll know soon enough.  Fiscal restraint is only an outmoded and tired old conservative idea.

Here are some random thoughts that come to this simple mind:
Will it really cover more people who are currently uninsured -- that was the pitch. . . but will that really happen?  How many more?  50% more?  75% more -- all of them?

The number that was always bandied about during the debate dating back to the 2008 election was about 45 million uninsured people if memory serves me.  How many are going to be automatically enrolled under this new plan?  I seem to remember something called the Community Reinvestment Act positing that the banks should extend loans to EVERY American to buy a home -- it is the American dream to own a home, so let's go do it!  We all know how that worked out, or are we still deaf, dumb, blind and happy in not knowing?

Those who won't be covered under the grand theft -- strike that -- grand plan will probably be illegal aliens, but that's no problem either if we just change their status to "legal."  And why not?  If we can pass Obamacare, we can do that too while we're at it. 

I'm stupid, I know, but isn't there a cost component in there somewhere to do all that?  Just sayin'. . .  I never thought math was my strong suit, but will somebody please explain that to me?  Maybe some elitist White House staffer has the answer, but I know Robert Gibbs hasn't said much about it to date.  Just give us the blank check, Congress, and we'll bailout everybody who fails, and we'll insure them if they can't afford it!  Master stroke!

Here's what I'm wondering after AT&T announced this week that it's taking a $1 billion charge to its corporate balance sheet in anticipation of what it's going to cost them.  I'm sure somebody in the Obama administration is thinking that can't be good news, and will somebody just hit those corporate idiots upside the head?

And they weren't the only U.S. company to do their own tax reserve calculations.  I heard Caterpillar took a $100 million writedown, followed by Deere announcing a $150 million bite and then I noticed a little itty bitty AK Steel hit -- a mere $31 million.  Mind you, these are taxes their green eyeshade guys are saying will need to be paid under Obamacare.  When I was in college (yeah, it was a long time ago when numbers actually had to add up), the conventional wisdom in Economics 101 always was that corporations really don't pay taxes, consumers do.  Taxes just get passed along.  I guess in his Ivy League education, Mr. Obama must have tested out of the basic course.

What are the companies to do?  Don't think for a minute their benefits to their retirees will remain in tact.  Concessions to unions over retiree benefits is what drove General Motors over the edge.  

We will not long remember how narrow the House margin of passage for this monstrous social program was (it was only eight votes).  It will be soon forgotten if the spin rhetoric of Ms. Adams and others overtakes us.  Government-funded abortion, however, was always a sticking point in the proposed run up to the final vote, but even that was no problem for Mr. Obama and the historically "pro-choice" Roe v. Wade Democrats.  They blocked all funding in the final Obamacare bill, and lived to fight another day by "buying" (slap me) the eight votes needed from the holdout obstructionists.  So much for sticking to your guns on that one.

Watch for rationed care on whatever criteria that will yet emerge from the elitists -- whatever we say it is, it is because we say it is, morality aside. . . 

There have been studies done attempting to figure out the fiscal impacts of this bill.  Some suggest that a successful taxpayer earning $1 million per year will pay an extra $46,000.  Not bad -- that guy can afford it.  I learned there's a 10% surcharge tax now when you go to the tanning salon for a fake tan because it increases your risk of skin cancer.  No problem, what's another 10% on a tanning session.

But what's the real economic impact of the millionaire's extra $46,000 in tax?  That $1 million is really only $500,000 after-tax right now, so the $46,000 is really almost a 10% surcharge tax on the wealthy.  Still no big deal, you say?  It means our fat cat big spender has just lost some discretionary income to spend on big ticket items that actually create and sustain employment.  It's all so subtle, really -- strike that -- brilliant, but flat out deceptive when you put a pencil to it.

But I digress when I consider the plight of the wealthy under Obamacare.  After all, the grand and deeply caring social aim here, I think, is to subsidize the "poor."  What if you're a middle-class American (any of you left standing out there?).  Answer this multiple choice question:  Do you now think after this last week's events that your insurance costs are going to 1) go up; or 2) go down?  Well, if you answered "1" go up, no worries -- Obamacare, I am told, will offer subsidies to offset the increases in your premiums if you earn up to $88,000 per year.  Wait a minute, wasn't the whole plan supposed to lower costs?  Where do the subsidies come from?  I guess, once again, I'm just stupid.  Tell me, I pray thee.

If this plan is really going to be so great, wouldn't I just drop my current coverage and switch to the big government-run plan?  I think I'm on to something here.  If no insurance company can decline me, why not drop my current plan, pay the fine for dropping it (I think I heard $695 a year as a penalty) and go without insurance until something catastrophic happens to me?  Then when I get diagnosed with a life-threatening illness like cancer, I just get in line to buy because I can't be declined anymore for a pre-existing condition.  I think I'm beginning to like this Obama guy -- he's really smart after all.  If I pay out of pocket $12,000 year right now for coverage, and I don't get sick, I'm $11,000-plus ahead of the game, every year aren't I?  Yes, sir, those guys in Washington D.C. have it all figured out.

If I'm an employer, it makes ever more sense to me now.  My good honest hard-working employees are costing me way too much now under this current law that just passed (think AT&T, Catepillar and others).  Why don't I just let them buy insurance on their own now?  If it's costing me as their employer $12,000 per year per employee, I think I'll just pay the $3,000 per employee penalty and rack up $9,000 per employee in windfall profits.  It's going to put a smile on all the faces of my investors and shareholders.  Thanks you guys and gals in Congress -- I never knew you were so brilliant!  Should have thought about it years ago.  That's why I'm just a struggling businessman and you're all so smart back there.  Glad you're lookin' out for me here on Main Street.

So if Ms. Adams is right in her article above, the government is going to force insurers to keep their children up to age 26 under the parents' plans.  Kids already accustomed to their parents' largesse will be encouraged to stay at home even longer.  Brilliant!  Dependency is a wonderful attribute, right?

It is clear to me in these rantings that I am clearly an idiot, completely irrational, and not a very clear-headed thinker.  I would never fit in back there in Washington, 'cause I'm so stupid.  So I need your help.  Please tell me where I have gone astray.  Someone please help me. . .  oh, wait -- another pig just went flying by my window.  The picture has not been altered in any way, trust me. . .

Obamacare Now the Law of the Land

It's official:  As I lamented in previous posts for over a year, the Democrats with all the votes needed in both houses of Congress have now made Obamacare (what is it anyway, does anybody really know?) the law of the land, and all the procedural parliamentarian votes in the aftermath have passed both houses of Congress. 

But never despair -- a sleeping giant has been awakened.

Yes it's disheartening to watch the Congress work its will in direct opposition to the majority of the elecorate, but it's never too late to correct our mistakes as I pointed out earlier.  What is most lamentable is that we have witnessed the unscrupulous tactics of this administration and the congressional leadership impose a vast socialist entitlement program across the board against the will of the people.  Healthcare in this country accounts for 18% of the total GNP. 

As we watched the kabuki play unfolding, as we listened to the pros and cons being debated, as our Congress argued over dozens of versions of the basic package, how could anyone keep score?  Do you know what's in the bill?  I don't even pretend to know.  I oppose it strictly on fiscal grounds in a time when America is roiling in $12 trillion in debt, a staggeringly high percentage now of the GNP.  Will our international creditors continue to write checks for our worthless paper?  Time will tell. 

The tragedy for Democrats this year is that they are blind to the rage that is brewing among the electorate.  That rage is being directed now at incumbents of both parties.  If Utah's caucus results are what we think they are, even Bob Bennett, once thought to be a reliable conservative, is now being eaten by his own.  It has nothing (or little) to do with his conservatism, as the national media would have you believe.  Rather, it has to do with his being an aged incumbent whose time is far spent in a year when incumbents are as popular as rocking chairs in a convention full of cats. 

There was little doubt in my mind that some form of Obamacare would pass.  I was never confident that the opposing forces could do anything but stand together in a toothless block and scream from the rafters.  In many ways, Congress has reaped and will yet reap in this current election cycle exactly what it has sown.  They sowed the wind, and now they will reap the whirlwind. 

Votes for the legislation were freely bought and sold in the public marketplace.  Don't worry, they were assured all along, the ends will justify the means.  We have an elitist view in the White House that this government by the people, for the people, and of the people has no clue what they need, so we will supply it for them.  We know better than the rest of you what's good for you.  Now we will wait and see.

Indeed, as feared, President Obama did prevail with healthcare reform.  Jim Matheson will pay a price in his own party here in Utah, but his popularity after his "no" vote rests today at a comfortable 68% among Utahns.  How ironic that Bennett trails badly in his party despite his vocal opposition to the bill.

Despite my dismay at the bill's passage, I was heartened by the groundswell of opposition raging in the hearts and minds of my little precinct's caucus the other night, and now sweeping throughout the land -- an awesome force whose intensity and resolve we had not seen in decades.  As difficult as it would be to maintain the high energy of this resistance through November and beyond, there was still plenty of reason to be euphoric for the moment about our prospects for a sea change in Washington in November.

Those who boldly declared they were "returning to Washington" after the caucuses the other night, are even today backing off their bold declaration of mounting a repeal movement.  Full repeal, they are now realizing, might not be feasible.

At best, this current Congress is quickly considering itself a lame duck Congress.  They have to know in their heart of hearts they are toast on both sides of the aisle.  Pelosi and Reid are paying an enormous price if their popularity numbers of 8% and 11% respectively can be believed.

And thus it begins -- the early caucus results in Utah will yet prove to be the early warning.  The tsunami will reach Washington D.C. in November with decisive sea-changing consequences.

Utah State Convention Balloting

I've had several phone calls and e-mails asking for more information about the balloting process at the upcoming Utah Republican Convention.

Here's the simple explanation, since so many are confused about how it might play out. 

At the convention, a first round of balloting will eliminate all the contestants but the top three vote getters.

The next round will eliminate one candidate.

In the third round, only the top two will compete. If any contestant in any of the rounds of balloting achieves 60 percent of the vote at any time, he or she becomes the de facto nominee; otherwise, the final two candidates will face each other in a primary.

I hope that clarifies.

The funny thing about the "morning after" calculus is that everyone is claiming victory.  Clearly, the big loser has to be Senator Bennett, based upon the uprising that has been widely reported in the social media reports.  The candidates are all customarily optimistic at this point, and as a newly-elected state delegate I expect to be lobbied heavily between now and the convention day. 

I will restate my position once again.  Don't bother getting in touch with me unless you are from the Mike Lee campaign.  If he falters, my precinct favors Tim Bridgewater then Cherilyn Eagar in that order, and I will not fail to express their wishes in my voting.  I am not impressed when people say they will go into the convention "with an open mind."  Those people are too easily swayed by the emotions of the moment, and having been there and done that in the past, I can assure the emotions are running high.

Senator Bennett, my friend, I wish you had made the decision to gracefully step aside and retire.  You are going to be 77 years old on election day (born September 18, 1933).  The New York Times reported today that even your own sister could not be seated as a state delegate from her precinct when she announced her support for you.  Your own polling data indicates you are running third behind "Anybody But Bennett," and "Undecided."  You are now dead last in the hearts and minds of your former constituents.  But you know what?  It's still not too late.  Please step down now and avoid the abject embarrassment that awaits you at the state convention.

But who am I?  I'm just a nobody who doesn't count in your delusional tilt with the windmills.  Come to think of it, that's exactly who you remind me of -- Don Quixote de la Mancha -- in pursuit of the "Impossible Dream." 

What a sad, sad spectre you have become.