Initially health insurance was strictly for catastrophic medical expenses - it functioned the way insurance should function. You pay for your own doc visits for sniffles; insurance pays when you get cancer or break your leg. It was the UNIONS who wanted richer and richer employee benefits who started the system where the health insurance pays for everything. This takes health insurance OUT of the realm of INSURANCE and just turns it into a third-party-payer system, raising costs for everyone.

Your health insurance probably also covers maternity care for you, a 62-year-old man. And you are paying for it. I find it interesting that Obamacare mandates mammograms when the GOVERNMENT decided a couple of years ago that annual mammograms do NOT prevent breast cancer, and instead expose women to unnecessary radiation. The GOVERNMENT recommends them only for women who have a family history of breast cancer. Another example of one hand not knowing what the other hand is doing.

The AMA was also a BIG supporter of Obamacare. But the practicing DOCTORS I spoke to are not. My docs told me that the AMA is largely composed of ACADEMIC physicians, who get government grants for their research, so they just want to keep the taxpayer money flowing in their direction. Forget that Obamacare will put docs out of business and create scarcity in medical services.

The government ALREADY limits the amount you can contribute, so why on earth should they be allowed to limit how much your investments can earn? And if we want to set limits of retirement income, let's start with ex-presidents. Bill Clinton is worth about $100 MILLION now. So is Al Gore (even though he wasn't president). It is expected that Barky Obama will ALSO amass a similar fortune when he leaves office. I think that any President who proposes the government limits retirement income for "we the people" should have his own retirement income capped at $200,000. Over that amount will be confiscated and deposited in the Treasury.

This idea was first floated by Bill Clinton, who wanted to tax the EARNINGS on 401ks on an annual basis. This was not politically viable after 1996, so the lefties shelved that idea. Obama took it out and dusted it off and decided to make Mitt Romney the posted child for greedy baby boomers who have "too much" money in their 401ks. I did the calculations and with the annual caps on the amount one can contribute, the only way someone would have over $3,000,000 in a 401K is if they invested well.

A lot of Moochelle's "food desert" nonsense is defined by the politically correct mix of grocery items available at these stores, and vegetables are in short supply. Why? Because people don't BUY them and they rot and the grocer loses money. If we took away the debit cards and required people on welfare to shop at "government stores" where they only stocked "healthy food" I suspect we'd see a whole lot of people get off welfare.

The grocery stores in the urban areas closed because they had such a big problem with shoplifting and robbery! It is way too expensive to keep a small grocery in an area where your customers are more likely to STEAL from you than to SHOP at your store. Also, these small groceries have limited shelf space, so they stock the items that SELL! Since people on welfare and food stamps get a debit card to spend any way they want, they CHOOSE to buy junk food rather than arugula (whatever THAT is.)

Another thing that is important to know about the student loan debacle is that the GOVERNMENT insisted that student loan money be paid to the STUDENT and not directly to the college. Back when I was in college, and loans, grants, etc., were paid directly to the COLLEGE. Now kids use student loan money not just to pay tuition but to fund a lifestyle while they are in school. I have a nephew who went to college completely funded by student loans. He lived in an apartment, bought a car, had keg parties every weekend and graduated with $100K in student loan debt. It took almost a year for him to find a job, and he has to live in his parents' house because his loan payments are more than their mortgage.

May I echo the advice to the divorcee about GETTING A JOB!!! I have so many female friends who got divorced after 20 - 30 years of marriage and thought because they had $100K - $250K in the bank they could somehow live forever on that money. Guess what! IT RUNS OUT!!! I told all of them to go back to school - even to a technical college - get some job skills and GET A JOB! You'll have more self-esteem and you can bank the divorce settlement for your retirement. NONE of them took my advice, and now that they are pushing 60 are suddenly worried about how they'll be able to support themselves for the next 20 - 30 years.

You know, if prominent Muslims had spoken out AGAINST the actions of Al Qaeda following 9/11 instead of dancing in the streets over the attack on the U.S., there might have been less suspicion about the other Muslims in the U.S. If the 9/11 terrorists had been middle aged Scandinavian women, I would have spoken out against them at every opportunity. But the Muslims among us DID NOT speak out. Instead they whined about imaginary attacks against Muslims. They filed police charges about events that never happened. They CONTINUE to whine about "discrimination," especially after yet another Muslim attacks innocent Americans. Speak out against your terrorist BROTHERS, not against the rest of us who are merely their future victims.

Mike, while I normally agree with you, I suspect that there was a whole lot more going on in this case than you reveal in your column.