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Published January 26, 2017
DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING "Cost of Freedom Recap" CONTAINS STRONG OPINIONS WHICH ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS INVESTMENT ADVICE WHEN MAKING PERSONAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS. IT IS FOX NEWS' POLICY THAT CONTRIBUTORS DISCLOSE POSITIONS THEY HOLD IN STOCKS THEY DISCUSS, THOUGH POSITIONS MAY CHANGE. READERS OF "Cost of Freedom Recap" MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN INVESTMENT DECISIONS.
LANGUAGE IN HEALTH CARE LAW REGARDING EMPLOYER-BASED COVERAGE RAISING NEW FEARS
GARY B. SMITH: The only word I can think of that describes this is despicable. It's not going to be 5 million, 10 million people; the number is over 90 million people. That's over a quarter of the population that was lied to. And they are now forced to go onto plans that are invariably costing more than they are paying for now. So this whole thing about you can keep your plan, and even if you have to kick your plan and search for a better one, it turns out, it's lie upon lie upon lie. The worst part, and the reason I say it's despicable, they knew all this before ObamaCare was implemented.
BERNARD WHITMAN: I think its hysteria gone wild. If 93 million people were about to lose their health insurance in the next two months because the year ends, I think we'd know about it by now. I don't buy this at all. The cost of premiums were rising so dramatically from 11 percent to 24 percent. We are finally bending the cost cutters here. We have seen this year's costs for health care going up by the least amount in 50 years. I know as a small business owner, I get my plan dropped all the time. Three times out of the last five years when I have go to re-up my plan, it's not been available. I've had to change it and unfortunately to a plan with lower benefits and higher premiums. This is finally going to change that.
JOHN LAYFIELD: This is a fallacy. These guys have spun this magnificent tale. We have been sold a bill of goods. They talk about premiums coming down. They started coming down in '09, before Obama Care ever kicked in. It has to do with the recession. Studies have shown that over 80 percent of it has to do with the recession, not with anything to do with Obama Care. But yet they tout these numbers, as politicians do. They have said that no one will have to lose their policy. That's not true. Nancy Pelosi says policies will not go up. That's not true. Mike Enzi, a republican from Wyoming, tried to pass a bill because he knew small businesses would lose their health care plan. He wanted those grandfathered in. Democrats voted this down. They knew this was coming. They have completely sold us an absolute bill of goods here.
TRACY BYRNES: I think everyone should be worried. I think it's deceitful, because they knew back in 2009 that there were going to be people that were turned down. And they also knew that people would be forced into costlier plans that didn't provide as good of benefits as they currently have. So I think they knew this was going to happen and now the public is starting to get a sense of it.
JONAS MAX FERRIS: Look, it's a program with winners and losers. If you're in the top half of the healthiest Americans, the top half by income, you probably are going to take some hits here, whether you're going to get a plan that's more costly or more benefits than you want. If you're in the bottom half by health, you'll get a cheaper, better plan. You're going to get a plan in many cases that's better. And you may have to pay for it. You may pay more or less. It depends. But you're going to get plans that meet these higher standards. The take away here is they want everybody to have a certain high level plan. It's the opposite of what Bush wanted to do when he wanted a high plan when you paid more out-of-pocket. This you'll pay less out-of-pocket and have more coverage. This doesn't benefit everybody, though.
MORE STATES MULLING BLACK BOX RECORDERS FOR CARS; FUEL TAX AND PRIVACY FEARS
JOHN LAYFIELD: The problem is the gas tax hasn't been raised in two decades, and we need that to fund roads and bridges. Look, this rewards cars that are fuel efficient and punishes those that are not. A black box that would do something similar would be so complex because you would have to deal with the weight and model of the car. This is an unbelievable complex mechanism, much less to say a privacy concern.
JONAS MAX FERRIS: First of all, if you think the government can't track you down without a black box in your car, you don't even know. But I like the gas tax. There are people in Teslas who already got a tax break to buy this expensive car who are not paying any gas tax and never will. They are consuming the roads. I am consuming gas in my Vespa and paying more than the Tesla. This is the only way to make them pay their share. Anytime people pay for their own use of government resources, I am for it.
TRACEY BYRNES: The problem is we have a gas tax that's already misspent.
It's supposed to be used to fix the roads. It's just like every other dollar that goes into the government. It gets lost in a black hole. If I knew the tax was being used appropriately, I would say raise it, go ahead, but it's not being used that way.
BERNARD WHITMAN: The reason why we need more money is the money is going down because we have to spend less money on gas because the cars are more fuel efficient. And by the way, this didn't happen by accident. President Obama negotiated a deal with automakers that will save consumers $69 billion by 2020. It's going to cut fuel consumption or cut four million barrels a day from American oil consumption. We should be able to spend about the same amount on the gas tax as we have over time that we use it.
GARY B. SMITH: Any one of these things that's kept in the state's hands versus the federal government's hands, I vote for. Only about 60 percent of the highway trust fund is actually spent on bridges and roads. The rest is spent on stuff like maps, metro, and bike paths and other stuff. Or it's spent inefficiently. When you put in the federal government's hands, you might as well just flush about 50 percent of it down the toilet. I'm not in favor of any black box in any car. But at least if the states have control of it, the money will be spent a little bit better.
CRITICS: NANNY STATE AND NEIGHBORS SHOULDN'T TELL PARENTS HOW TO RAISE KIDS
TRACY BYRNES: This is crazy. First of all, let's be clear. Halloween is not the reason for childhood obesity. The fact that these kids have candy once a year is not our problem. But the fact that we have people who try to tell us how to raise our children, that is inherently the problem here. People seem to think they can stick their nose in your business, including Uncle Sam.
JONAS MAX FERRIS: This letter shouldn't have to come from your neighbor. It should come from ObamaCare because everyone has all of this health care; it's an incentive to eat more because now you have health insurance. There should be incentives to be thin in America by your health insurance company. That's what we need.
GARY B. SMITH: We've had nosy neighbors. That doesn't bother me. What bothers me is when the government does this. It's the same thing with ObamaCare. They say we've decided we know better than you. That to me is intrusive. The whole Michelle Obama thing, she can spout off whatever she wants. But when she gets to the point where she's drawing up school menus, that annoys me.
BERNARD WHITMAN: Childhood obesity rates over 30 years quadruple, they went from 5 percent to 20 percent. This year is the first time in American history that childhood obesity rates are going down, and that's a good thing. Fat kids are going to have a really tough road. And the fact that the government is educating parents, making fruits and vegetables, reducing the sugar content in school lunches is critically important to getting control of our health and reducing the cost of health care. Frankly, ObamaCare with preventative care will help that.
JOHN LAYFIELD: Government is not educating anything. Look at our education system. We keep going down in the rankings. We have lazy kids in this country. They need a boot on their hind quarters to get them out and play in the yard. They don't need notes on Halloween. That's ridiculous.
PREDICTIONS
GARY B. SMITH: GET IN THE "SPIRIT" AND SEE YOUR PROFITS SOAR! (SAVE) UP 40 percent IN 1 YEAR
JOHN LAYFIELD: E-CIG SALES ARE SMOKIN' HOT! (MO) LIGHTS UP 20 percent IN 1 YEAR
TRACY BYRNES: MEDICARE PAYING MILLIONS TO DEAD PEOPLE & ILLEGALS; KILL THE WASTE NOW!
JONAS MAX FERRIS: NEW STUDY ON DOG-TAIL WAGS HELP (WOOF) FETCH A 20 percent GAIN IN 1 YEAR
https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/presidents-obamacare-promises-too-good-to-be-true