This has been a hard week for me. Wednesday I learned that a close friend had gone to the hospital with chest pain and had to have emergency heart bypass surgery. Six bypasses! Surgery did go well and we are hoping for a good recovery but his life will be much different than before. He seemed healthy and was very active but always too busy to properly exercise.

On Thursday, I learned that my neighbor had been in an Atlanta hospital and had been diagnosed with a blood clot on his brain. I don’t know all the details, but his doctors don’t feel that is is a threat for now.

These are both serious situations that seem to be progressing well but these guys are both younger than me and it feels like a slap reminding me of my own mortality. It is no secret to any of us over 50 that each year makes it harder to stay fit and healthy.

I am also a caregiver for my 90 year old mother, so trips to the golf course are getting rare. I do exercise but need to do more to keep my weight down and stay healthy. However I don’t want to go to crazy extremes to do it. That’s why I’m glad I just discovered The Diet Solution Program.

This is a very popular program developed by Isobel De Los Rios, a nutritionist and exercise specialist with 10 years of experience helping clients reach their ideal weight and tackle conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and high cholesterol. The Diet Solution Program is the result of 15 years of study and research. Part of Isobel’s motivation was a personal weight problem and her mother’s severe diabetes.

Isobel believes this program is the most comprehensive and detailed nutrition manual available today. It teaches you the principles you need to follow to reach your ideal weight but also meal plans, shopping lists and recipes to do so. It actually teaches you how you can make this healthy way of eating into a lifestyle and enjoy it.

Like anything worthwhile in life, it does require commitment and honest effort to get results. However, it is not extreme or unreasonable.

For more information, just click Diet Solution. It could be the key to better health and fitness you have been waiting for.

Best regards,

Charles Moore

CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume the writer has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the internet or offline.

When I started this site I planned to provide information about retirement and vacations but since Obamacare, it has been focused more on politics than I like. Whether I like it or not, it is critical for those of us over 50 to be aware and prepared for the effects Obama’s policies will have on our lives. Unfortunately the facts are far different from what Obama promised and the compliant news media covers for him.

Our generation is a prime target for cost cuts under Obamacare and this means health care rationing. Obama’s recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to take charge of Medicare and Medicaid Services is a warning of what is to come. Dr. Berwick is a huge fan of Britain’s National Health Service because of their aggressive rationing. He has stated “the decision is not whether or not we will ration care, the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”

Rationing will mean as we grow older, the government will decide on what care we receive based on cost effectiveness rather than medical need. In other words, as we grow old forget about the surgery and settled for a pain pill or possibly just do without.

The way Obama handled the Berwick appointment exposes his lack of respect for the Senate and the voters. It also shows us Obama’s true feelings regarding denial of health services under his program. If Berwick had faced Senate confirmation his radical views on rationing and wealth redistribution would have been exposed. Obama does not want us to realize what is coming before it is too late to change it.

Berwick also has stated that any just health care system must redistribute the wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and less fortunate. So you’ll not only have your personal health care rationed by Dr. Berwick but you will be expected to surrender your wealth to provide the health care for others. You may have heard of “death panels” before but did you realize that you would also have to finance them?

Obama had to bypass Senate confirmation because Berwick’s radical socialist views are even too much for some Democrat Senators, Max Baucus for one. Obama doesn’t want it exposed how different Obamacare is from what he and the Democrats promised.

With Obama’s failure with the economy, refusal to secure our border, incompetence with the oil spill and misrepresentation of Obamacare, it is urgent that we do all we can with the November elections prevent his policies from being successful.

A recent Associated Press article by Jeannine Aversa shows that debt still has Americans feeling a great deal of stress. A recent AP poll found 46% are suffering from debt related stress and half of those describe the amount of stress as great.

It’s bad enough when you make bad decisions and end up in trouble. On the other hand when you save and sacrifice to provide for your future but still wind up in trouble, you can feel helpless and violated which really increases your stress.

Unemployment is still near 10% and those in charge seem more talented at increasing the national debt than putting people back to work. The poll shows those currently feeling the most stress have incomes below $50,000 even though they have only slightly increased their debt level.

It seems that most of us are worried things will get worse before they get better. I just heard that in the month of May 95% of jobs created were government jobs. Our taxes pay those salaries and government workers are currently paid more than private-sector jobs doing the same work. So we all have good reason to feel stress as well as anger right now.

The oil spill in the Gulf has also given us a lot to feel anxious about. Many are worried that their jobs related to the Gulf will never return. No one yet knows how bad the oil damage will be or how long it will last.

It also seems Obama doesn’t have a solution but will not take advice from experts and local leaders on any of their plans for protecting the coast. BP does seem to be trying their best to cap the leak but with little success. At present we are not even sure if the leak may spread as far as the Atlantic coast.

I hope with the November elections that we will get enough new leaders to change the direction of the economy to encourage business and job growth.

In the meantime, I suggest that you take any opportunity you can afford to enjoy family and friends to relieve your stress when possible. People don’t realize just how badly stress and anxiety can harm their health if they don’t control it. Don’t underestimate the value of a vacation or long weekends but only if you can afford it in these times.

If you already feel that stress and anxiety have gotten the best of you, you might want to consider a guide such as Conquering Stress or even get medical help. Don’t take stress for granted if it is already affecting your health, seek help.

For the sake of us all and our country, I hope our situation will improve as we go through the summer but I fear it will take the election to ignite some positive change. Until things do improve, I wish you the best and urge you to do what you can to manage the stress we are all dealing with now.

Best regards,

Charles Moore

P.S. For more details on the guide, Conquering Stress, simply click the link.

CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume the writer has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the internet or offline.

Each year about this time I try to encourage you to do whatever you can to get out and enjoy your summer. I also realize that current conditions are making it even harder this year for many to find time and money for a full vacation.

Too many of us are either out of work, trying to save our home or rebuilding retirement savings because of economic uncertainty. However for your own good and your family, you do need to take advantage of any reasonable opportunity to relax and relieve some stress the summer.

This has already been a bad year and it doesn’t look like much will change before the elections in November. This means more stress and anxiety for all of us, although the degree may vary. You need to relax and recharge as best you can so you can deal with what comes ahead.

I’m not suggesting that you run up a lot of debt you can’t handle just to have a flashy vacation but do some things you can afford and enjoy. You need to try to maintain a positive attitude not only for your own good but for your spouse and family. Relieving stress and anxiety not only affects your mental attitude but does more good for your physical health than many realize.

Pushing yourself too hard can do more harm than good. You can find ways to have fun and relax without spending a fortune to do so.

If you are able to travel this summer, you’ll find there are some great bargains available. So many people are not able to travel this year that resorts are offering very impressive incentives to lure those who can. Just do some research ahead of time and you’ll be impressed at how much you should be able to afford.

(Thought you might enjoy some scenery.)

Even if you can’t take your regular vacation this summer, you ought to be able to find places closer to home you can afford and enjoy. A lot of us are in the same boat this year. Do the best you can to make the most of this summer and enjoy the people closest to you. Even if it is only a backyard barbecue or day trip to the lake or mountains, have fun with your family.

If you are having much more trouble with stress and anxiety than you feel a vacation can solve, you may find some help with Conquering Stress , simply click that link for details. Many others have found it to be helpful and I hope you will too.

This mess is not your fault. We’ve all got to look out for ourselves and our families the best we can for now. Do your best and be sure to remember to vote in November to get our country back.

All things considered, I hope you are able to make this summer a pleasant one.

Best regards,

Charles Moore

CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume the writer has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the internet or offline

With bomb threats, oil spills, floods, tornadoes and immigration troubles, we have all had some sort of crisis lately. What’s even worse is that this isn’t a complete list of all the problems so many of us are dealing with currently.

I know that we are all tired of constantly dealing with all of this aggravation. So with this being Mother’s Day weekend, I hope to offer you Moms a small change of pace with a short video. It’s a place I like to visit to relax, enjoy the scenery and recharge. I hope this will be a small treat for you as well.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you.

Best Regards,

Charles Moore

Now that Obamacare has been passed by Congress, many who expect free health care or big savings on their insurance costs are going to have an unpleasant surprise. Charles Krauthammer wrote an impressive article on what is ahead and Paul Volker validated his prediction in statements he made on April 6.

I don’t expect you to like this information but I hope it will open your eyes to what is ahead for us if Obama has his way.

This article appeared in the Washington Post:

“Obamacare’s next trick: the VAT

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, March 26, 2010

As the night follows the day, VAT follows health-care reform.

The VAT-man cometh

With the passage of Obamacare, creating a vast new middle-class entitlement, a national sales tax of the kind near-universal in Europe is inevitable.

We are now $8 trillion in debt. The Congressional Budget Office projects that $12 trillion will be added over the next decade. Obamacare, when stripped of its budgetary gimmicks — the unfunded $200 billion-plus “doctor fix,” the double counting of Medicare cuts, the 10-6 sleight-of-hand (counting 10 years of revenue and only six years of outflows) — is at minimum a $2 trillion new entitlement.

It will vastly increase the debt. But even if it were revenue-neutral, Obamacare preempts and appropriates for itself the best and easiest means of reducing the existing deficit. Obamacare’s $500 billion of cuts in Medicare and $600 billion in tax hikes are no longer available for deficit reduction. They are siphoned off for the new entitlement of insuring the uninsured.

This is fiscally disastrous because, as President Obama himself explained last year in unveiling his grand transformational policies, our unsustainable fiscal path requires control of entitlement spending, the most ruinous of which is out-of-control health-care costs.

Obamacare was sold on the premise that, as Nancy Pelosi put it, “health-care reform is entitlement reform. Our budget cannot take this upward spiral of cost.” But the bill enacted on Tuesday accelerates the spiral: It radically expands Medicaid (adding 15 million recipients/dependents) and shamelessly raids Medicare by spending on a new entitlement the $500 billion in cuts and the yield from the Medicare tax hikes.

Obama knows that the debt bomb is looming, that Moody’s is warning that the Treasury’s AAA rating is in jeopardy, that we are headed for a run on the dollar and/or hyperinflation if nothing is done.

Hence his deficit-reduction commission. It will report (surprise!) after the November elections.

What will it recommend? What can it recommend? Sure, Social Security can be trimmed by raising the retirement age, introducing means testing and changing the indexing formula from wage growth to price inflation.

But this won’t be nearly enough. As Obama has repeatedly insisted, the real money is in health-care costs — which are locked in place by the new Obamacare mandates.

That’s where the value-added tax comes in. For the politician, it has the virtue of expediency: People are used to sales taxes, and this one produces a river of revenue. Every 1 percent of VAT would yield up to $1 trillion a decade (depending on what you exclude — if you exempt food, for example, the yield would be more like $900 billion).

It’s the ultimate cash cow. Obama will need it. By introducing universal health care, he has pulled off the largest expansion of the welfare state in four decades. And the most expensive. Which is why all of the European Union has the VAT. Huge VATs. Germany: 19 percent. France and Italy: 20 percent. Most of Scandinavia: 25 percent.

American liberals have long complained that ours is the only advanced industrial country without universal health care. Well, now we shall have it. And as we approach European levels of entitlements, we will need European levels of taxation.

Obama set out to be a consequential president, on the order of Ronald Reagan. With the VAT, Obama’s triumph will be complete. He will have succeeded in reversing Reaganism. Liberals have long complained that Reagan’s strategy was to starve the (governmental) beast in order to shrink it: First, cut taxes — then ultimately you have to reduce government spending.

Obama’s strategy is exactly the opposite: Expand the beast and then feed it. Spend first — which then forces taxation. Now that, with the institution of universal health care, we are becoming the full entitlement state, the beast will have to be fed.

And the VAT is the only trough in creation large enough.

As a substitute for the income tax, the VAT would be a splendid idea. Taxing consumption makes infinitely more sense than taxing work. But to feed the liberal social-democratic project, the VAT must be added on top of the income tax.

Ultimately, even that won’t be enough. As the population ages and health care becomes increasingly expensive, the only way to avoid fiscal ruin (as Britain, for example, has discovered) is health-care rationing.

It will take a while to break the American populace to that idea. In the meantime, get ready for the VAT. Or start fighting it.

letters@charleskrauthammer.com ”

Paul Volker, the White House Economic Adviser, made remarks at the New York Historical Society April 6, that the US needs to raise taxes and should look toward a Value Added Tax.

Between now and the November elections make your voices heard and vote for candidates who will fight to preserve our freedom and limit government.

This past Sunday, March 21, the House of Representatives succeeded in passing Obamacare and Tuesday Obama signed the bill into law. Recently Nancy Pelosi stated that we have to pass the bill to learn what is in the bill. Does that make any sense to you?

It doesn’t make sense to a lot of us, but it seems many of the Democrats who pushed this bill don’t know what is in it. Democrat Representative John Dingel has already stated “it takes a long time to put the legislation together to control the people”. Obama himself has stated that kids can now get covered for pre-existing conditions immediately but the bill he signed does not provide that coverage until 2014, which the Associated Press pointed out.

The Democrats were in such a rush to force this bill through Congress and control health care in the United States, that they didn’t take time to create a good bill. Representative John Lewis stated that a year from now the Democrats hope to be well on the way to establishing universal health care. They are obviously planning to phase out free market health insurance as soon as possible. They see this bill as just the first step to taking complete control of the nation’s health care system.

Unfortunately, this process was more about demonstrating political power than meaningful health care reform. All the bribes, closed-door meetings, late-night votes and rule changes attest to this political arrogance and the people are very aware of it.

Rep. Paul Ryan is one of the most knowledgeable people I’ve heard speak about this bill. He wrote an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 23, which explains some of the results of this bill. I have posted a copy here so you can be aware of what is coming.

Costs of this debacle will be high

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan voted no on Sunday. Here’s his take on health care reform.

By Paul Ryan

Posted: March 23, 2010 |(89) Comments

enlarge photo

Ryan

more photos

• Hospital Financial Counselors: Counselors tend to patients’ financial worries
• Paul Ryan: Costs of this debacle will be high
• Gwen Moore: Making good on our promise
• Updates: Latest health care reform news from the wires

The legislative victory among Washington’s political class comes at a high cost for Wisconsinites forced to swallow this bitter pill.

This massive health care overhaul – a remake of one-sixth of our economy – will exacerbate the very problems this reform effort sought to address. It will dramatically alter our deteriorating economic and fiscal conditions for the worse and may irrevocably impair the American identity.

Sky-rocketing health care costs are drowning families, businesses and governments in red ink – leaving millions priced out of the market and without coverage. This legislation – with its maze of mandates, dictates, controls, tax hikes and subsidies – pushes costs further in the wrong direction.

Premiums in the individual market would rise from 10% to 13% for families. Our debt and deficit crisis – driven by $76 trillion in unfunded liabilities – would accelerate from the creation of a brand new entitlement and an increase in the federal deficit by $662 billion, when the true costs are factored in. National health expenditures will increase by an additional $222 billion over the next decade, according the president’s own chief actuary, and $2.4 trillion in the decade after the new entitlement is up and running.

The passion against this intrusion goes beyond the mind-numbing numbers. Health care affects each of us in an intimate and personal way. The American people’s engagement is driven by our deep aversion to the federal government’s unprecedented reach into our lives. The entire architecture of this overhaul is designed, unapologetically, to give the government greater control over what kind of insurance is available, how much health care is enough and which treatments are worth paying for.

The massive expansion of the federal government into the personal health care decisions will drive providers out of business and force employers to dump their workers on to government-controlled exchanges. Because Washington doesn’t approve, millions of Wisconsin seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage plans and millions more will lose the consumer-friendly high-deductible health plans they enjoy.

There is another personal cost to this deluge of new government spending and control. Wisconsin remains in dire need of sustained job growth and robust economic recovery. This legislation will hit our economy with $569 billion in tax increases – tax hikes that will hit workers, families and job-creators alike.

The true shame of this debate is that there are real problems in health care that need to be fixed. Almost a year ago, I introduced the Patients’ Choice Act to fix what’s broken in health care, without breaking what’s working. I’ve spoken with Wisconsinites for years about patient-centered reforms that would make possible universal access to quality, affordable health care with the patient and the doctor – not the government or insurance companies – as the nucleus of the health care market. These alternatives were ignored by Democratic leaders in Washington – and the concerns from Wisconsinites and an engaged American public were dismissed by Washington’s political class.

The yearlong partisan crusade – right through its ugly conclusion – revealed that this debate was never about policy but rather a paternalistic ideology at odds with our historic commitment to individual liberty, limited government and entrepreneurial dynamism. The proponents of this legislation reject an opportunity society and instead assume you are stuck in your station in life and the role of government is to help you cope with it. Rather than promote equal opportunities for individuals to make the most of their lives, the cradle-to-grave welfare state seeks to equalize the results of people’s lives.

We must begin anew on mitigating the disaster from this health care debacle. Let’s repeal the costly missteps before they hit with full force. Let’s make certain we do not simply retreat to an earlier point on the same path to decline. Let’s chart a new direction that will restore the promise and prosperity of this exceptional nation – and let’s do it together.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) represents the 1st Congressional District.

Yesterday Pres. Obama was making a speech in Ohio claiming that his health care reform would save 10 to 14% on premiums and reduce employers cost by 3000%. Today the Congressional Budget Office predicts premiums would increase by 10 to 13% for individual plans. The White House now claims the 3000% figure was a misstatement.

The CBO also states that those who buy the most affordable policies will see an increase in cost greater than the 13% figure.

The newest Gallup poll shows Obama’s job approval at a new low of 46%, disapproval at 47%. While in the House of Representatives, the Senate health bill that the House is being pressured to pass is so unpopular that Speaker Pelosi is trying to find a way to get it passed without a vote. Many argue this would be illegal and unconstitutional.

In addition, the Massachusetts state treasurer Tim Cahill states that the universal health care system in Massachusetts is not working. He says that the Obama administration has been propping it up with federal aid to help get the Democrat plan through Congress.

This government health care bill is very unpopular with the majority of the population, but the Democrats are so concerned with their plans to “fundamentally transform” our nation and increase their power that they don’t care.

People who have had experience with government health care and those in the medical profession already know what a mess this would cause. A New England Journal of Medicine survey indicated that one third of the doctors currently in practice will choose to retire if Obamacare is passed.

The people know this health care plan is bad. The health care providers and insurance companies know it is bad. Even the politicians trying to ram this down our throats know it is bad.

If we keep voicing our dissent, maybe it will be defeated this week and we can start concentrating on improving the economy instead of tearing it down. Maybe more of the politicians will start to remember that our government is designed to serve the people not rule them, if not we can remind them with the November elections.

I’ve been trying to write this post all week but the facts keep changing faster than I can write. I do my best to be as accurate as possible with you and this health care situation gets more confusing everyday. If the results of this health care controversy weren’t so crucial to all of us, this process might be funny.

Democrat leaders are in panic mode to force a vote before representatives go home for Easter and catch hell from their voters. Obama, Pelosi and Reid are so determined to take control of our health care that they are willing to stoop to any means necessary to get it passed. Do we really want people like this to define and control our health care system? Even Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin admitted on the floor of the Senate on March 10, that health care premiums will increase if Obama Care passes.

I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t like to truly improve the health care system but this Obama Care bill will not be an improvement. With our economy already in deep trouble, don’t you think it would be smarter to get people back to work first before we create another huge expense?

If this was really a decent health care bill it wouldn’t be necessary to use underhanded tricks and late night weekend sessions of Congress to get it passed.

This week Pres. Obama and the Democrats have made it clear that they’re going to push for the passage of government health care regardless of what the people want. This health care bill is a terrible plan but once the government has the power to control our nation’s health care system they will be able to change it to meet their goals.

No one thinks this is really a good bill, but this administration is determined to do whatever it can to get our nation’s health care under government control. This bill can collapse our economic system which will give Obama the opportunity to “fundamentally transform” our government to a more progressive or socialist economy.

The American people do not want the government to have control of our health care. Our system does need some improvement, but government control will make it worse not better.

Even though our system has flaws, it is still the best health care in the world. In one very public case, the Premier of Newfoundland came to the US for heart surgery instead of trusting Canada’s national health care system. That’s not much of an endorsement for government health care when one of the government leaders avoids it.

We seniors will be more vulnerable because under national health care any procedure you may need will be evaluated on cost-effectiveness based on your age and health. We already see some instances of this type of rationing under Medicare. These review panels are specifically mandated in the bill.

At Obama’s health summit recently, Rep. Paul Ryan exposed many of the true facts about the cost of this bill and how many expenses are being hidden by politicians. I have attached the short video of his remarks. To view it, simply click this link: Paul Ryan. No one refuted the facts Representative Ryan discussed.

There are still some Democrats who object to provisions still in the bill, such as abortion. They also know that most of the voters oppose government health care. However, Obama is summoning them to the White House in small groups and applying pressure to secure their votes. One representative from Utah even had his brother offered a federal judgeship appointment the same day he was to meet with Obama.

While there is still time, make your voice heard by your politicians. They know the people do not support this bill and we need to remind them that we’re watching and will remember their vote in the November elections.

Seniors will be one of the groups that will see the most rationing under this Government bill. I don’t mean to alarm you, but I do want you to have a fair warning. If we don’t look out for ourselves, don’t be disappointed when others won’t.