Taxes and Taxes Oh My!

President Obama is once again asking Congress to have the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share. Specifically, he is proposing that all Americans receive a continuation of the Bush tax cuts (at 35%) on the first 250k of their incomes, and pay the Clinton-era rates (39%) for any income earned above that level.

At first glance, it would appear that this economically-sound proposal would receive immediate approval from the “deficit-hawks” and the “fiscally responsible”. But then again no change worth making comes easy.

Republicans claim that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire on any income earned over 250K would hurt small businesses, hurt the job creators, hurt our growing economy, and hurt all working-class Americans. But despite the partisan rhetoric seen on Fox News, the facts are indisputable.

First, a recentTreasury analysis found that only the top 2 percent of all households, and only the top 2.5 percent of small-business owners, would face higher taxes from our president’s call to expire the tax cuts on the wealthiest. But for these individuals, I assume paying anything more than the 15 percent rate that their capital gains/dividend yields are currently taxed at is asking for too much.  

It is also important to understand that the main reason businesses are not creating more jobs is because of the decreased demand for their goods and services. Put simply, if people don’t have money to spend, the economy cannot grow. Therefore, we need to ensure that the middle-class (ie. the REAL job creators) are provided the same opportunities the wealthiest have, including affordable healthcare, lower taxes, and access to higher education.

Second, the notion that Obama’s policies have bankrupted our nation is blatantly false. It was due to the leadership of the last Democratic president that the economy generated 22 million net new jobs, and income levels for all Americans grew at historic levels. On the other hand, it was the policies of the last Republican administration that took a $200 billion surplus and drained it to a $1 trillion deficit. Ironically, these same failed policies are being proposed by the “pro-business” “job-creating” Republican nominee for president.

It is because of President Obama and his so called “socialist” policies that we are not in another Great Depression: unemployment is lower than three years ago; home foreclosure rates are lower than three years ago; we are safer than we were three years ago; more people have healthcare than three years ago; the American auto-industry is stronger now than it was three years ago; and there have been more jobs now than there were three years ago.

Third, no one in the Democratic Party resents wealth. What we resent is the distribution of wealth to the very rich; when profits are privatized while losses are socialized; when the few wealthy individuals get tax credits on the backs of millions of working class Americans; where the very rich have continued to prosper while the 98% of the population have not.

And why not simply extend all the Bush tax cuts? Because we can’t afford to. Therefore, the loss in revenue from continuing the tax cuts on the top 2 percent needs to be balanced with equal cuts in something else. Unfortunately, these cuts are usually taken from programs that are specifically designed to benefit a middle-class family living paycheck to paycheck.

Given this choice, we need a president who understands that “our prosperity has always come from an economy that's built on a strong and growing middle class…so that's why I believe it's time to let the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, folks like myself, to expire,” (Obama). 

I Like Obama'care'

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And so should you!

When our president passed the Affordable Care Act, Republicans claimed it was not the correct solution to the healthcare problem. Republican leaders also want you to believe that if they were in control, they would offer a solution. But they have had control of the House since 2010 and have not yet offered anything to the American people. Instead of proposing any substantive alternatives of their own, they have focused solely on repealing “Obamacare”. But how is this a policy?

Even when they had a unified government during the last Bush administration – with control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency – they were still unable to come up with any real solution (instead they decided to focus on depleting our nation’s surplus by forging two wars and passing tax-cuts for the wealthiest Americans). The only time they offered something substantive to the healthcare debate was in the 1990s, when they proposed the individual mandate.

So, as a truly bipartisan leader, Obama decided to put the Republican’s sole contribution to the healthcare debate into his healthcare law in 2009, when the Democrats had a unified government. In other words, when Democrats controlled the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, Obama still chose to reach across the political isle (something that angered some in his own base) in the spirit of compromise. He didn’t have to. But Obama wanted to elevate politics to a level he promised in his 2008 campaign, and he did so in the most moderate and transparent way possible.

But instead of appreciating the president’s efforts, the Republican leadership chose obstruction. They have not only used the Senate filibuster more than twice as much as ever in the history of the Senate, but they have said numerous times that their sole priority is to defeat Obama. They have been unwilling to come up with any real solutions of their own, with the exception of saying “No” to everything our president has proposed.

Even now, after the Supreme Court upheld the only solution to fixing our nation’s broken healthcare system, the Republicans’ only alternative solution: repeal Obamacare.

They continue to spend every day of President Obama’s administration to try and distort the facts. They claim that Obamacare would raise taxes, increase the size of government, increase our deficit, put granny on a death panel, hurt business owners, hurt doctors, and hurt insurance companies. But it is critical for the health and safety of our nation that we sort through fact from fiction. Here are just a few facts. If you don’t believe me, let me know WHY:

The Individual Mandate is NOT a tax. It is only a penalty for those who do not take the personal responsibility of buying health insurance. The idea, proposed by Republicans, ensures that no one gets a free handout and that the rest of us taxpayers need not bailout or pay for someone else’s healthcare. In fact, because of Obamacare, nearly 13 million Americans will receive a rebate check that comes from a provision of the law that punishes insurers who spend too much of policyholders' premiums for boosting company profits instead of paying for their medical care.

Obamacare does NOT run up our country’s deficits. According the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, Obamacare reduces deficits by $210 billion.

Obamacare is NOT a government-run program. All it does is stay true to capitalistic principles of the free market and prohibit insurance companies from maintaining monopolies on your insurance policy. The reason that we needed the federal government to get involved in the first place is because before Obamacare, most states had no solutions of their own (with the exception of Romneycare). There were millions without coverage, and millions more who were forced into bankruptcy when they got sick and couldn’t afford healthcare

Obamacare IS about the economy and jobs. If a large chunk of your paycheck goes to paying for rising healthcare premiums that you cannot afford, you don’t have much money left over to help businesses grow. Furthermore, if you are sick and are forced into bankruptcy, you are no longer self-sufficient. Instead, you are forced to rely on free handouts. In doing so, you cost the average taxpayer $1000 in increased premiums due to your visits to the ER. In doing so, you become a drag to the economy.

Obamacare IS a moral issue. In our nation’s history, we have always benefited from expanding rights to a group of people who have otherwise been denied those privileges. Think about the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Although it may have been seen as a distraction from “jobs, jobs, jobs”, we knew that it was the right course of action for our country. In the same way, I don’t see how it is okay for people to go bankrupt if they cannot afford healthcare. I don’t understand how it is okay to deny people coverage for a pre-existing condition. Morally, it is not right.

Don’t let others distort the facts. Click here for more information and let me know what you think: http://www.barackobama.com/health-care?source=socnet_20120628_BO_FB_HEALTH_CARE_TOOL_SIGNON&utm_medium=fb&utm_source=bo_fb&utm_campaign=socnet_20120628_BO_FB_HEALTH_CARE_TOOL_SIGNON

I support Romney

After nearly 4 years of President Obama, it is clear that we need to change the direction of our nation. We need to return to a time when we promoted the “general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity”, and when we believed that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

A President Romney will do just this and restore America to greatness. Here’s how:

1.      If elected, Romney will finally repeal the socialist law known as Obamacare, which unjustly leaves the American health-insurance industry in the hands of private insurers and bankrupts our nation by prohibiting these companies the right to deny people coverage due to preexisting conditions. The law hurts doctors by giving them greater dependence from insurance companies; it hurts small business owners by giving them tax subsidies to fund their employee insurance plans; and it hurts the working family by requiring that at least 80% of their premium dollars pay for actual healthcare rather than executive bonuses or other administrative costs.

2.      If elected, Romney will use his experience in the private sector to create jobs by ending the anti-business policies of the Obama administration that used taxpayer money to bailout the U.S. auto-industry when no private lenders were willing to invest. He will also undo Wall-Street Reform (Dodd-Frank), which hurts the free market by requiring big banks to have more cash on hand to cover losses, invest their federally backed dollars responsibly, and take away big bonuses from failed CEOs.

3.      If elected, Romney will end the class warfare created by the Obama administration by continuing to have billionaires like Warren Buffett pay a lower tax rate than his secretary. He will continue the successful trickle-down policies of the Bush administration by keeping corporate loopholes open and ensuring that the job-creators get tax breaks before the job-holders do.

4.      If elected, Romney would support the fundamentals of our democracy by banning devoted and monogamous gay couples from getting married, and telling gay soldiers that they are unpatriotic because of whom they chose to love.   

5.      If elected, Romney will finally cut back on big government, preventing another disastrous stimulus package that hired more firemen, more policemen, and more teachers at a time when private companies stopped hiring.

Mitt Romney is clearly the right choice for President of the United States. After all, who else can help move America forward?

The BAIN Initiative

As the 2012 Presidential election heats up, voters are faced with a critical decision: pick a man who has had great success in the private sector, or pick a man who has had great success in the public sector.

It is first important to note there is a stark difference between the private sector and the public sector. Success in one does not necessarily translate to success in the other. Mr. Romney thinks otherwise.

There is no question about Mr. Romney’s enormous success in the private sector. As head of Bain Capital, his work with the private equity firm has created massive payoffs for his investors and has rightfully earned him respect as a triumphant businessman. However, creating wealth and creating jobs are two very different things.

When Mr. Romney touts his private sector experience as “the main calling card for why he thinks he should be president,” his time at Bain Capital must be examined at a further depth.

What must also be examined is his experience in the public sector, primarily as Governor of Massachusetts. Specifically, during his tenure as Governor, Massachusetts dropped to 47^th in job creation. He also advocated that we “let Detroit go bankrupt”, criticizing Obama for his Auto-Bailout. But we can all agree that if we took Mr. Romney’s “business” advice, our recovery would be in a much worse position that it is today. Instead of having two and half years of consecutive private sector job growth, our economy would have lost millions of jobs.

No one, including the President, is criticizing Romney’s success at Bain Capital, the private sector, or private equity firms. In fact, President Obama has supported the principles of capitalism to a much greater extent than his opponent (via Wall Street Reform and the Buffet Rule, which promote equality of opportunity, NOT equality of outcomes).

But when Mr. Romney claims that his business experience is the sole reason why he would do a better job as President than Obama, the American people have a right to ask questions. As President Obama mentioned in his press briefing earlier this week:

"When you're president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot. Your job is to think about those workers who get laid off, and how are we paying them for their retraining? Your job is to think about how those communities can start creating new clusters so that they can attract new businesses. Your job as president is to think about how do we set up an equitable tax system so that everybody's paying their fair share that allows us then to invest in science and technology and infrastructure, all of which are going to help us grow.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation

How’s everyone doing?

I first want to thank you all for having me, and for all your help in making the Make-A-Wish Foundation better.

Now, some of you may know me from this year’s Relay for Life event on campus. For others, I probably remind you of a young George Clooney, or that guy from One Direction (you know, all of them). But for everyone else, my name is Ashwani Jain, and I am a 9 year cancer survivor.

When I was 13 years old, I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Because they found my tumor at its early stages, I only had to undergo 4 months of extensive chemotherapy. I say only 4 months because every other child that I met while getting treated at the Children’s Hospital in DC had far worse situations than I did. Many of them were not only younger than I was, but they had to undergo more surgeries and harsher treatments for longer periods of time.

And although their physical conditions made them very weak, their spirits were undoubtedly strong. It was from their courage and exceptionally optimistic outlook on life that I became inspired to give back.

I learned from them that no matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse. At the same time, it is often within your power to make them better, and find the opportunity in every difficulty.

So, I stayed true to the UPS slogan, “what can brown do for you” and I got to work. After I finished my treatment, I began performing charity magic shows for the Children’s Hospital, the Children’s INN at the NIH, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I took to heart what Mark Twain once said, and learned firsthand that “the best way to cheer yourself up is to try and cheer someone else up.”

Today, I am now a volunteer Wish Ambassador and Wish Grantor for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, helping to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation certainly has a very special place in my heart. One year after my treatments were over, the Foundation gave me a trip of a lifetime. It was early morning, and the foundation sent a limo to pick my family and me up. It was the first time I ever rode one. In fact, I didn’t really understand what to do, so I actually rode in the passenger’s seat in front. For those of you who don’t know, that’s not how you’re supposed to ride a limo.

We then boarded a train to New York City, where we were greeted by a Wish staff member, who gave us a tour of the city and tickets to the Broadway show: Julius Caesar.

After the show, they took us back stage, where we met the cast and crew. Then something happened that made my heart drop. I got a tap on my shoulder and when I turned around, it was none other than the man I had wished to meet: Denzel Washington. Needless to say I was awe-struck. He took us to his dressing room, where he spoke with us for about 15 minutes. And for those 15 minutes, nothing else mattered. Cancer was just another word in the dictionary.

My parents weren’t thinking about the fact that they had almost lost their son; my sister wasn’t thinking about all the pain she saw her older brother go through; and I wasn’t worried about all the scars my surgeries left behind. All I was able to focus on was that very moment, and how my dream was coming true.
This is largely attributed to the work done by organizations such as Maryland Wishes. And it is because of the tremendous work and dedication of people like you, by simply showing up to events like this that make this foundation such a huge success, and keeps me motivated to stay active.

Whether you’re another cancer survivor, had a relative with cancer, or know someone with cancer, we are all affected by this horrible disease. Now, imagine if we can provide the amount of joy that I had to all children suffering from these types of life-threatening medical conditions. If we can do that, then there is nothing that these kids cannot overcome.

Winston Churchill once said that we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Today, you have all given me and children who are currently facing these uphill battles hope and inspiration.
So, from the bottom of my heart, I’m truly appreciative for your support, for being here today, and for helping wishes come true.

Thanks everyone!

Relay for Life 2012

After speaking here at Relay for the last few years, I always get people who ask me why I do it. They say, “Ashwani, aren’t you tired of hearing your own voice?” And I always give them the same response: “Of course, I am, but with a voice like an angle people just want to hear me speak.”

But on a serious note, the reason I continue to stay active and make my voice heard is because of something my parents taught me a long time ago.“If it doesn’t kill you, don’t act like it does.”

We’ve all been through an experience that has changed our lives. Everyone here, whether you experienced it directly, or know someone who did, has some moment that changes the way you perceive the world.

For some, it could be an event, like when you got accepted into college, or the time you arrived at a new place. For others, it could be getting your first job, going on your first date, finishing an entire burrito at Chipotle, or meeting your best friend. It could also be the moment you realized that you actually have no friends (you know who you are). It may be even be the day you heard a motivational speaker at a Relay for Life event; whose good looks, witty jokes, and captivating charm made you want to empty out your wallets and tip him for a job well done…..(thought I’d give it a try).

But for me, what changed my life was an experience I had as a child.

"For a long time it gave me nightmares, witnessing an injustice like that... It was a constant reminder of just how unfair this world can be... To this day, I can still hear them taunting him... "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!"... I mean, why couldn’t they just give him just cereal?!”

But for those of you who never watch the Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire – you know, the episode they go camping and they get lost in the woods, they’re in the cave for the night and Carlton is talking…ah, never mind. Anyway, for those of you who never watch the Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire, let me tell about another experience that changed my life.

I was 13 and in the middle of the 8th grade. Like most boys, I thought I was the invincible! I teased my younger sister, gave my parents a hard time, and ran around the house with my underwear on my head thinking I was superman. Who doesn’t? But that all changed when I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: Cancer.

Now, for a 13 year old kid, cancer didn’t really have any meaning. Sure, I heard about it before, but it was something only old people got. I knew that cancer patients were bald, looked very sick, and were always in the hospital. I also knew that after some time, I never saw some those people ever again.

But, you see, what really rattled me during my diagnosis was seeing my parents cry for the first time. It was having my parents look at me like I was about to die. It was seeing all our friends and family come in and out of house, bringing baskets of gifts and boxes of tissues. It was not being able to attend my last year of middle school, or hang out with any of my friends. It was spending every day on X-ray machines and hospital beds. It was about seeing kids younger than me go through more pain and agony that I had to. It was having numerous, painful surgeries that seemed to have no end in sight. It was all the bandages and scars. It was that my life got turned completely upside down.

That’s what cancer was for me. And today, I can’t go more than a few seconds after just hearing the word cancer without getting a little emotional. I start to remember all the things that I went through and that I saw other patients go through. I start to remember the pain.

So why then, am I here today, and every year, speaking out and sharing my experience?

It’s because I learned that if it doesn’t kill you, don’t act like it does.

But I think Kanye West said it best, quote “n-n-now th-that that that don’t kill me, can only make me stronger.” And that guy always knows what he’s talking about.

In the same way, I believe that my experiences have made ME stronger, and have allowed me to share my story with others. So if my experiences can help those who are going through the same thing right now to realize that they are not alone; or if it helps people understand the difficulties that cancer patients and their families undergo; or if I can somehow inspire just one person to help end this disease, then I feel it is my responsibility to speak out.

And that’s what events like Relay for Life are all about. It’s about helping us understand that if we fight together, we can survive together.

Because life is truly precious, and every day is a gift. And even if we face a challenge, we can still be optimistic. Because as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “its only in the darkness that you begin to see the stars.”

Well I’ve been looking, and I’ve been seeing shooting stars everywhere.

Thanks so much!

Hands off my health care!

President Obama’s Affordable Care Act ensures that government does just that—lay its hands off your medical care. Here’s how:

The Affordable Care Act (i.e. “Obamacare”) helps doctors avoid having insurance companies dictate how they should treat their patients (via high overhead costs, billing limitations, and bureaucracy) ; it helps the insurance companies by adding millions to their payroll; it helps the economy by reducing the deficit; and it helps the average taxpayer by reducing their taxes.

But most importantly, the law is designed to help patients. Healthcare is supposed to be about the sick. It’s not about the doctors, the nurses, the insurance companies, the interest groups, or the politicians. It is ultimately about providing the necessary medical assistance to those who need it and are suffering.

The problem, however, is that the United States is the only industrial nation in the world that does not provide equal access to healthcare to its citizens. Despite this, the American people still pay more for their limited healthcare than their counterparts in other countries.

The Affordable Care Act, therefore, provides a fix to this problem by cutting costs and expanding coverage. But these goals are harder to achieve without an individual mandate, the issue now facing our Supreme Court.

Everyone needs healthcare. But without an individual mandate, costs will increase for all of us when those who decided to “free-ride”, and not buy health insurance, face an unexpected illness which forces them to get more expensive care from the hospital ERs. When this occurs, and these people can’t afford that care, their treatment costs are absorbed by hospitals. The hospitals, in turn, raise the cost of their services on the insured. Furthermore, insurance companies raise their premiums on policyholders.

Prior to Obamacare, this has been the situation, and has cost the average taxpayer an additional $1000 per year in taxes. Thus, those of us who have played by the rules have been forced to give free emergency care to those uninsured. This, in essence, has been the true “individual mandate.”

In the 1990s, Republicans proposed the individual mandate as a counter-part to President Bill Clinton’s universal health-care bill. It was their idea in the first place. But now that Obama has put his stamp on it, they must oppose it. But if the individual mandate is overturned by the Supreme Court, it will only increase the need for a single-payer system.

Under Obama’s law, healthcare is NOT a government-run program. There is no single-payer system, and private-insurance companies still run the market. What Obamacare did was stay true to the capitalistic principals of the free market and break-up the monopolies that health insurance companies held. Specifically, he made sure that these companies would not deny coverage based on preexisting conditions, gave people the flexibility of changing their insurance companies, and provided the uninsured with affordable care.

If opponents of Obamacare successfully repeal the law, the nation’s uninsured would rise again. And with an individual mandate that is now “unconstitutional”, we must follow the lead of nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Canada that provide universal healthcare for their citizens.

So we can either start trying to fix the many other problems our nation is facing, or we can continue to debate about whether or not a cancer patient should receive affordable healthcare. Either way, the government will need to play a role in how our healthcare system works. The question, then, is how large of a role they play.