Making money versus Taking money
Democrats are once again going fishing. Hypocrites like Waxman and Pelosi, who fly everywhere with their family and staff in luxury private jets drive luxury cars, and watch big screen TVs, all at taxpayer expense, are now asking taxpayers to pay for a fishing trip. In the hopes of drumming up images of Tyco and Enron, Democrats are trying to embarrass health insurance companies with tales of lavish salaries and all-expense paid trips to exotic destinations. (Much like Congressional fact-finding trips, only these are paid for with private money).
Insurance companies make money, Congress takes money.
Mr. Waxman, you get even more lavish treatment. Your offices are draped in stately mahogany. You have an annual budget of up to $4.5 million dollars–just to run an office for one legislator, and you you squirm at the thought of accountability even for that. Your only job, your only function at the end of the day, is to push a tiny little button labeled Yea or Nay. Insurance companies provide a service to society, you suck it dry. Insurance companies make money, Congress takes money. There is a world of difference.
Of course Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman want you to believe that insurance companies make money off of sick people. That serves their purpose, but it requires two things (i) you to be an idiot and (ii) reality to, much like the SEIU, be on a break. Insurance companies make more money when people are healthy. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something or engaging in demagoguery. (Or both, which is to say, they’re a Democrat trying to pass legislation.)
Do roofing companies profit from the rain? Does ADT profit from burglary? Do life insurance companies profit from death? Do grocery stores profit from hunger? Of course not. Industries develop to service needs. Society has a need and a clever person comes along with an idea on how to fill that need. We pay them money for their efforts and they got to spend it however they please. That is capitalism. Nowhere along that path do Henry Waxman and Nancy Pelosi get to stick their extended snouts into the process.
Companies are entitled to the profits they make, and they are entitled to spend them however they see fit. Spending them on “lavish junkets” are well within their rights. If the companies are publicly traded, it is up to the shareholders, not liberal ne’er dowells from California to police the excess. Moreover, these “junkets” often serve a legitimate business purpose. Whether they are rewards for sales performance, motivational or managerial retreats or retention efforts, they are tools that the company uses to keep and grow its business. Something that Congress knows nothing about.