Saying it my way . . .

If Obama wants to fight the Global War on Poverty, the same way LBJ wanted to fight the War on Poverty in 1964 in the USA (and it did not work then),  then brace yourself for these expenses - he will have to increase income taxes by least $8,500 per family.   This number does not include the reversal of  the Geroge W. Bush tax cuts in early 2001.  Add these two numbers together  for a real shocker.

Moreover, we sent $2 billion dollars to clean up after Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast.  And now the question looms before us - where did all that money go?  You may be able to ask the same question when we begin to "fight" the war on global poverty.  It will probably go to support some idiotic dictator of some forgotten country and perpetuate the poverty within and the luxurious lifestyle of the despot.  It's happened before and it will happen again.  The one thing that we can all count on is that "Change" does not necessarily mean change even though we are supposed to believe it is.  I suppose if you tell a lie enough, it sooner or later, becomes the truth, or at least has the perception of being true. 

 “People are disturbed not by things, but by their perception of things”

              - Epictetus – c.55 to 135 A.D. (or C.E.)

Moreover, if you think universal health care will be cheap, you can add another $500 (or much more) to that income tax bill just to pay for universal health care.  By the way, I'm paying $96.40 per month for Medicare Premiums so my estimate of $500 is probably about $1,000 short. 

There is no such thing as a free lunch, unless you have a welfare-state mindset, but someone is paying for that "free lunch."  And don't overlook Economics Class 101 and the law of Supply and Demand - not enough doctors or medical facilities to handle 40,000,000 uninsured people that will literally flood the system, with anything from headaches to broken bones or gun shots.  And that will only be during the early days of the system.  If you think Universal Health Care is an answer then you only have to look at the 35-year old Department of Energy created shortly after the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo and look at their progress in developing an energy plan . . . it's 2008 and we still have no workable plan, moreover our oil imports are at the highest point as are energy costs.  We are still being held hostage by OPEC and our own do-nothing & finger-pointing Congress

It may take a year to get an appointment with a doctor if you are really sick and a trip to the emergency room may turn into a week long wait to see a medical person, nurse, doctor, or the insurance receptionist.  A veterinarian could be your best bet or you could take a trip to Canada and try out their health care system.

Seems to me that the United Nations should be involved in the Global War On Poverty but then they are only a symbolic non-functioning group of feckless bureucrats with their own personal biases and racial and ethnic hatreds, "but then I could be wrong" (you can find that song on YouTube - adult language).

Perhaps the more sensible thing to do is to pay our pro-rata share of the UN's bill based on our 1 in 200 (.5%) membership rather than the 20-25% that we are now paying and let the rest of the membership foot their share based on the pro-rata basis.  Then the next thing we do is to relocate the UN and all its sycophants out of the USA and to another host country - and the sooner the better.  We don't need to pay for up-dating the old UN building, we need to demolish it and the sooner the better.  I'll bet there are some demolishing companies that would be the job for a pittance.