Why I Can't Afford to Vote Democrat

#52
#52
RockyTop85 said:
That callous and shortsighted mindset works great for everybody who didn’t “screw the pooch” until the number of people who did hits a critical mass and starts a socialist revolution.
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There's a good chance that critical mass believed the college was necessary for all scam, instead of using that time to learn a skill trade and earn a good living on little debt incurred. Some are lazy. And, some like me are missing time with their kids to make ends meet due to uncontrollable circumstances. But, I don't make minimum wage on my second job either, and it's not my living wage.
 
#54
#54
hog88 said:
Correct and per ACA for a plan to be compliant it had to cover 10 things including maternity/newborn care and pediatric care. Now tell me why a 20 something single male needs to have maternity or pediatric coverage?
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So basically he was supplementing his wife and daughter because they did. Sounds selfish to me to complain about sharing the cost and dumping his wife on Obamacare where others have to share the cost of her pre existing condition.
 
#55
#55
GVF said:
There's a good chance that critical mass believed the college was necessary for all scam, instead of using that time to learn a skill trade and earn a good living on little debt incurred. Some are lazy. And, some like me are missing time with their kids to make ends meet due to uncontrollable circumstances. But, I don't make minimum wage on my second job either, and it's not my living wage.
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🤷🏻‍♂️ I’m not talking about specific individuals. I’m saying there will always be people working low paying, unskilled jobs and as that number increases (as it tends to do after more than a decade of economic growth involving mostly low paying jobs) the persuasiveness of “well that’s their fault” diminishes and you start seeing these trends towards destructive socialist policies.
 
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#56
#56
RockyTop85 said:
🤷🏻‍♂️ I’m not talking about specific individuals. I’m saying there will always be people working low paying, unskilled jobs and as that number increases (as it tends to do after more than a decade of economic growth involving mostly low paying jobs) the persuasiveness of “well that’s their fault” diminishes and you start seeing these trends towards destructive socialist policies.
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Good clarification. I can see that.
 
#58
#58
Sea Ray said:
I want to devote a thread to exactly the reasons why I'm a Republican voter. I'm going to give real life specifics and for simplicity sake, narrow it down to three main financial examples. In it I'll show you how Republicans save me money and Democrats cost me money.

Simply put, voting Republican saves me thousands of dollars, not a year, but a month. You didn't read that wrong. We're talkin' 4 figures, per month. This isn't jus a few bucks. Here you go:

1) State of Ohio. Prior to John Kasich my accountant was having me put aside $1000 per quarter. Kasich re-did small business taxes and instituted what's called the Commercial Activity Tax (CAT). Simply put it works like this: Up to certain amount, small businesses pay $150 in May towards this CAT. After that we pay nothing. Zilch. I no longer have to put aside quarterly money. This saves me about $4K/yr. I now basically pay nothing in state income tax.

2) Obamacare. In December of 2008 (Republican control) my health insurance cost $487/mo with a $3K deductible. For reference sake it was $258/mo with a $1K deductible in Dec 2000. It was $215/mo in Dec of 1993 with a deductible I can't recall but that's not apples to apples because I was single at the time.

It's now $1710/mo with a $7K deductible per person, not per family. I've written a lot about health insurance here so in the interests of brevity I'll try not to repeat myself. This is far and above increases incurred in any other decade. My premiums did not go down as Obama promised...nor could I keep my doctors since companies keep dropping out of the individual market. My guess is that none of you who get your insurance from an employer experienced such as increase. That's because the costs of Obamacare were largely passed onto individuals. We (self employed) took the brunt of that hit. I get that there are winners and losers in every tax plan, but if I'm the bigtime loser, don't expect my political support. Furthermore I'm jaded as to promises from politicians. I know the reality is that bills don't often end up as they're promised so I no longer believe it when a politician like Warren or Sanders tell me that I can keep my doctor or whatever. I'm skeptical.

How do you equate how much this cost me?To be fair, I should expect my premiums to go up. I'll be generous and accept a 100% increase in about ten year's time, so let's say that this policy change is costing me $700/mo plus whatever value you want to put on the difference of $3K deductible vs $14K (two people)

Trump deregulated Obamacare so now there are more health insurance choices for me. I now can choose from some that are not Obamacare compliant. This means if I don't want a plan that includes mental health or maternity, I can buy it. But there is a catch. These plans can underwrite so if you have a pre-existing condition, you probably won't qualify. So here's what happened in December when I had to make a choice:

My existing insurance company (Anthem) sent me a letter saying that they were going to raise my premiums to $1900/mo. After going through an insurance broker, we came up with a plan where we kept my wife (who has pre-existing conditions) on Anthem, but moved my daughter and me to a non Obamacare compliant plan. My new total premiums: $1300/mo. This means a $600/mo savings due to the under the radar actions of Pres Trump. He saved me $600/mo. Thank you Mr Trump!

3) Now let's get to the Trump tax cut. I was one of the winners of it. They now give us a standard deduction of $24K (married). Our itemized deductions were $18K. That's a net plus $6K deduction. They also took away our personal exemptions. That's a minus. The tax brackets lowered our percentages, that represents a modest plus. Here's where I really benefited: Small businesses get a "pass through" deduction based upon your income. This amounted to a deduction of about $20K. Add it all up and here's the sum total: My income went up about $20K in 2018 and my taxes only went up $1.5K. My guess is that this saves me about $3.5K. My income was OK, comfortably over the SS max but not rich by any means. Thank you Mr Trump.

I could go further and say that my taxes also went up under Bill Clinton and down under GW Bush so there is a long standing pattern here.

So OK, regardless of immigration, stupids Tweets or anything else you want to throw out there, my loyalties are to Republicans because I can't afford the thousands per month that Democrat policies will cost me. I just can't and I'm sure everyone has their breaking point as to how much they're willing to fork out in order to support a political party. If Dems only cost me a hundred or so per month, I'd think about it but these examples show they're costing me well over $2K/mo. You want my vote? Quit nailing my pocketbook.

SR
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Great post. Wish there were more like this. Thank you.
 
#60
#60
Mick said:
So basically he was supplementing his wife and daughter because they did. Sounds selfish to me to complain about sharing the cost and dumping his wife on Obamacare where others have to share the cost of her pre existing condition.
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Single 20 something male has a wife and daughter?
 
#61
#61
SpaceCoastVol said:
Don't make bad choices. Don't finance anything. Get an education, and I'm not talking about college. It will be hard, but nobody will do these things for you
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It's amazing how many of my teenage patients "hate school," appear unmotivated to do anything other than play on social media or Call of Duty/Fortnite, and have much more expensive phones than I do. It can be very difficult to convince this generation to take school seriously, learn a trade, work an entry-level (crap) job (like most of us did), and manage money.
 
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#64
#64
hog88 said:
Correct and per ACA for a plan to be compliant it had to cover 10 things including maternity/newborn care and pediatric care. Now tell me why a 20 something single male needs to have maternity or pediatric coverage?
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It's 2020, we never know he could be a tranny
 
#65
#65
kiddiedoc said:
It's amazing how many of my teenage patients "hate school," appear unmotivated to do anything other than play on social media or Call of Duty/Fortnite, and have much more expensive phones than I do. It can be very difficult to convince this generation to take school seriously, learn a trade, work an entry-level (crap) job (like most of us did), and manage money.
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sorry but many seem to be discussing the wrong demographic. How about the ones having to work full time in hs to pay rent on some crappy place? Those hs are also likely to be low rated and not much beyond govt mandated child care. Their path to even being comfortable is much more difficult than yours or mine. We do that segment a great disservice by assuming everyone should, or even can, rise to the expectations being placed on them
 
#67
#67
Mick said:
You could be an out of work coal miner and the Piggly Wiggley looks promising.
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And you should be looking for a better job while working at the Piggly Wiggley. Do you know what to do if you don't find one mick?
 
#69
#69
McDad said:
Great post. Wish there were more like this. Thank you.
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Thanks. I'm glad you took it for what it is...a matter of fact, dollars and sense, accounting for why I am where I am politically. That being said, if the Dems are passing out freebies, is it any wonder why those recipients are voting for a Dem? It's no surprise that 53% of millenials support Bernie. He's offering them free healthcare and is offering to pay off their student loans. If he was offering to pay off my house, I might vote for him too...
 
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#70
#70
utvolpj said:
sorry but many seem to be discussing the wrong demographic. How about the ones having to work full time in hs to pay rent on some crappy place? Those hs are also likely to be low rated and not much beyond govt mandated child care. Their path to even being comfortable is much more difficult than yours or mine. We do that segment a great disservice by assuming everyone should, or even can, rise to the expectations being placed on them
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That demographic often develops a much better work ethic and were only held back by circumstances they could not control. I have always found the majority them to also be excellent employees, and given the right chance, they end up doing well. Case in point, I had a boss in Ga that was smart as a whip. And great at managing as well. He was one of those had to work teens, and went straight to the plant because his parents couldn't afford to send him to college. He worked his way up to a point, but lacked the degree and stalled in that position, albeit a very well paying one, for years. But, with marriage and kids coming along he never had the chance for degreeing in the evening either. After I left for TN, they actually made an exception for him, and he is now a global lead center manager for the company. He may be an exception, as academically, he put most of us to shame even with just his HS education. given the right chances, your demographic example would have quite a few hidden success stories waiting to be published.
 
#71
#71
Mick said:
So basically he was supplementing his wife and daughter because they did. Sounds selfish to me to complain about sharing the cost and dumping his wife on Obamacare where others have to share the cost of her pre existing condition.
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I'm paying $1300/mo and you're calling me selfish? I'm paying my fair share. Her part is $900/mo with a $7K deductible. We never hit that deductible. My risk with her is $20K/yr before insurance kicks in and you're calling me selfish. You are a piece of work.

I'll add that my wife had her breast cancer over ten yrs ago and has been released from her oncologist. She is not costing her insurance company one more dime than anyone else.
 
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#72
#72
Sea Ray said:
I'm paying $1300/mo and you're calling me selfish? I'm paying my fair share. Her part is $900/mo with a $7K deductible. We never hit that deductible. My risk with her is $20K/yr before insurance kicks in and you're calling me selfish. You are a piece of work.

I'll add that my wife had her breast cancer over ten yrs ago and has been released from her oncologist. She is not costing her insurance company one more dime than anyone else.
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I hit the nail on the head.
 
#73
#73
Sea Ray said:
If my healthcare costs had only gone up $250/mo (with a reduction in my deductible) in ten yrs, I'd have absolutely no complaints. I appreciate your post and the numbers you included. It shows that most everyone took a hit but it also supports my point that the biggest hit was taken on by the self employed folks. That's a really screwed up model politically. Why put the burden of healthcare on the little guy and not the big corporations?
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I think employees of small companies that still offered health benefits got hit harder than employees of large companies.
 
#74
#74
utvolpj said:
sorry but many seem to be discussing the wrong demographic. How about the ones having to work full time in hs to pay rent on some crappy place? Those hs are also likely to be low rated and not much beyond govt mandated child care. Their path to even being comfortable is much more difficult than yours or mine. We do that segment a great disservice by assuming everyone should, or even can, rise to the expectations being placed on them
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...And that ladies and gentlemen is how we started creating victims of the system .
 
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