elikapeka
Hooper, you know if the state income tax had passed, you would have received a nice credit on your B&O tax, right? I would have come out way ahead. I think the B&O tax is nuts, but did you really cut employee hours over a .3 percent increase?
And while “core” inflation remains low, health care costs have skyrocketed, and energy is quite a bit higher as well. If you’ve bought gas lately, you’ve seen that yourself. So not all costs have been flat. Health care costs are a huge portion of any employer’s budget, as you must know, unless you don’t provide that benefit.
I think your view on health care is rather oversimplified. You keep comparing it to things that are discretionary and not essential. It’s a false equivalency. If you buy a cheaper car, or you buy the veggies on sale, that’s discretionary. There are levels of expenditure that you can choose to make. You can live without the best car or the tastiest asparagus. Your health isn’t discretionary. To me, health care is a basic right and basic service that should be guaranteed to all of us. There are lots of people who have to make a choice between the roof over their head or health insurance. It’s not a matter of personal responsibility. It’s a matter of a system that is geared to profit and will inevitably leave people behind. Single payer is what we should have. In fact,we do have it, and it’s efficient and effective. It’s called the V.A.