Bert's Thoughts

It is beyond comprehension why President Trump is talking about guarantees of Ukrainian sovereignty. Far to much US blood has been shed, and US tax dollars have been spent, protecting Europe. I had hoped that we finally had a president with the balls to tell Europe it was time for them to grow a pair, and to show enough of a “stick” to force them to do something meaningful. I am not opposed to US defense spending. I am opposed to using our tax dollars to defend nations that have the resources to defend themselves. I want us to have the strongest military in the world. I want our soldiers to have the best equipment and training in the world. I want our soldiers to be better paid and have better benefits. It has been nearly 3 years since Russia invaded the Ukraine. The EU nations have spent most of that time whining that the US isn’t doing enough. That is bullshit! They have had plenty of time to gear up their defense industries to provide the Ukraine with everything needed to drive Ru...

  The Republicans appear ready to cave on Medicaid spending, and leave the spending floodgates wide open. The following is a history of the astronomical growth of federal and state Medicaid spending. A generation ago, in 2000, total federal and state Medicaid spending was $206 billion. Remember the promises of how Obamacare was going to save money? In 2010, the year Obamacare was signed into law, total federal and state Medicaid spending was $402 billion. In pre-COVID 2018 total federal and state Medicaid spending was $616 billion. Rather than save taxpayers money it cost us over 50 percent more in just 8 years. In 2024 total state and federal Medicaid spending was $919 billion. Another near 50 percent increase in only 6 years, and over double what it was before Obamacare. There are 133 million households in the US. Of course not all of them pay taxes, but it they did, in 2024 each household would have had to write the government a check for nearly $7,000 just to pay for ...