Meet Mike
A Quick Interview with Mike:
If you could have anything in the world:
The ball George Bush threw out in Game 3 of the 2001 World Series in Yankee Stadium.
What are your political views:
I’m a registered Independent because the Republican Party means absolutely nothing anymore. If I had to label myself, I’m a free market capitalist, socially moderate, American Exceptionalist. Chew on that for a while.
People you’d like to meet:
Carrie Underwood. She touched my hand once at a concert, but I have so much more love to give.
Who is the Greatest American:
George Washington for handing over power when he could have been king. The people who settled West for embodying the American spirit. Martin Luther King, Jr for articulating what so many could not express. Milton Friedman for having so much patience when debating with idiots.
If you could interview one person, who would it be:
Ty Pennington and the crew from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Also Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and John Wooden.
Favorite Things:
The Brass section, fly-overs, breakfast, Wal-Mart parking lot on a Friday night, Piper Palin, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Independence Day, Pops Orchestras, roller coasters, West Side Story, Walt Disney World, football on Thanksgiving, The Lincoln Memorial, Christmas Eve Eve, Christmas Eve, Christmas, bagels and lox with cream cheese, the grocery store, country music sometimes, Carrie Underwood, bunting, Greek Revival and Southern Architecture, giant American flags at car dealers, Game 7 of the World Series, patriotic marches, the 2nd wave of a standing ovation thanking our soldiers, American landscape paintings, James from Humboldt, post-September 11 spirit, West Tennessee BBQ, the wave at a baseball game, my Mom’s spaghetti sauce, ice cream with the fake cherry things, Olympic Medal ceremonies, John Williams, “What a Wonderful World”, Firemen and women, Policemen and women, the men and women in the military. Our Veterans.
Favorite Author:
Ayn Rand.
You are a Free Market Capitalist eh? you and your auidence that calls in every morning give me a good laugh every morning. Its so obvious that you both have serious racisist undertones to your views and arguments. No I dont beleive in socialism, I down right despise it. I also would despise a welfare ran America, but the bottom line is our health care system is corrupt. This may not be a perfect solution, but its a step in the right direction. The simple fact is health care is too high, and without insurance a lot of good people do not get the assistance they need. I mean we can fund a multi billion dollar war just to go take over some oil feilds and make all the politician and special interest groups that much fatter and richer with contracts and spiffs and send men to the moon for gods sakes, but we can not insure that every man, woman, and child can get a fair shake at good health care. I listen to you say all the time, “this is the greatest country in the world”, but I beg to differ sir. This absolutley used to be the greatest country in the world, but it has became the most corrupt country in the world. I traveled to India a few months back with my comapny to train some fellow egineers. While I was visiting this impoverished country, everyone I ran into had the same questions and opinons about America. They all asked, why do you Americans not see that your government is corrupt and that they keep you dumbed down with Sports, reality tv, and the sorts. The old slight of hand they have pulled over us, while the large corporations diminish our dollar, destroy the economy and will soon enslave our nation to a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT. why not talk about these issues Mr. Slater? instead of wasting so much of your breath about Obama and the democrats. Had John McCain won the election it would have been NO DIFFERENT. You have a large voice in this small part of the country, and you could talk about the real issues at hand.
Response to Taylor,
I have listened to The Mike Slater Show literally every morning from 7:30 to 9:00 Monday thru Friday for atleast the last year. I have not once heard any racist undertone. You say the the cost of healthcare is “too high”. Last I looked, life comes from God, you cant just pick it up on aisle 17 at Wal-mart at a rolled back price. So how can you put a price on healthcare to begin with? I know my parents along with millions of others would pay any amount of money to save the life of thier child if it was in danger. So how can you say healthcare costs too much? Maybe you mean that you can’t prioritize your finances well enough to afford healthcare, or you don’t want the responsibility of paying for healthcare.. On another note, I know for a fact that Jackson Madison County General Hospital has a program for low income patients that can qualify to have their entire bill written off no matter how large it is.
Secondly think about WHY the prices of healthcare are “so high”, other than the fact that it saves your life. Medicare pays about a 3rd of what a hospital bills if even that. And since Medicare makes up more than half of the coverage of patients at any given hospital, they have to take it. The government mandates it. So how do they make up for the loss? Inflate prices. Blame the government for “high” healthcare costs.
you are drinking this yankees cool aid too. like i said, we spend TRILLIONS on stupid crap that doesnt even matter. war in another country that had nothing to do with us (Iraq) and space exploration. not to mention just about 3/4 of all government spending is a waste. if you were to just take half the money wasted in these things you could insure that all americans wouldnt have to burden high health care costs. yes if any of my children were sick or needed emergency care, your damn right i would bare any costs. but at some point health care debt can be so supressive you loose everything. all i am saying is with the prosperity of this nation we should take care of one another. life at its basic form is just a bunch of living beings on an earth. when you think about it, one man shouldnt have so much when so many go with out anything. im not saying you should be lazy and expect equal share, dont get that twisted. im saying that the richest 1% of this nation have more money than the bottom 98%. and you are most likely a middle class just like myself, i make 70k a year, i have health care and no debt, because i choose to live without material things. you are beleiving what slater here wants you to beleive.
Hey everyone. For a few years I used to live in upstate New York so disregard everything I say. But listen to Taylor even though his shift key is broken.
I agree that the government spends way too much money. I think that is one issue that everyone can agree one. I do not think, however, that you can spend too much on military. I am in awe of people that are willing to take a bullet for me.
This nation will never be a nation where we all take care of one another as long as there is evil in the world. It just cant work. Some people lie, cheat, steal, murder, rape, abuse, destroy. Getting everyone to take care of each other and cooperate with one another would be like trying to get a gym full of elementary students to sit still and not say a word for one full day of school. It would never happen. It would be great and amazing and perfect, but nothing is perfect.
Seems like Mr. T here isn’t in such a great spot to talk about Kool-aid. Mike- couple of things here… 1: I’d rather drink a lake of your “yankee” kool-aid than a sip of Indian (or any other anti-American) kool-aid. 2- I know how you appreciate finding common ground, and I think I’ve done it with Taylor. I believe (I’m sure most Slater Raiders do) he is right on about the government wasting money! Also, I think the space program is a joke in fact; I still oppose aviation exploration. I mean, not like it could ever save the world by stopping an oppressive emperical force. Wait a minute…
Think about this for a minute. When I was a kid in the early seventies, my dad paid for my health care. He paid the doctor fifteen bucks, paid for the shot if necessary, and paid the local pharmacist for any medicine. And everyone else did the same. The medical industry knew it’s daily care funding came from individuals, and priced it’s good and services accordingly. Medical insurance was for major things like surgeries, cancer, and other long hospital stays.
Now insurance has it’s hand in buying anything more than a Stanback or Creomulsion. This tells the medical industry that the sources of their income are multi-billion dollar insurance companies and the people who print money. This is like handing the medical industry the keys to Scrooge McDuck’s money bin.
The government cannot beat the legions of bean counters, lawyers, accountants, and lobbyists. They pour over every regulation and guideline in the bill to find a way to make the most cash possible.
Eliminate the government and the heaviest use of insurance policies, and the prices will fall because the supply of money will dry up.
What has really caused the cost of healthcare in this country to be so expensive? Is it the capitalist’s greed, or is it the interference of governmental regulations?
As one that has been around over 1/2 a century, I can attest to the latter. I have friends that are involved in all aspects of healthcare. I have been treated in the healthcare “system” in America. I have also been treated in a “socialist” healthcare system before. I can say we have the greatest healthcare system in the world.
It is one that plans on having some non-pay service in its system. It is one that offers special service to those willing to work hard to provide extra pay for those services, but it doesn’t refuse to offer service to ALL. Even those that have caused havoc to the system are provided services when appropriate.
All of life is generally operated this way, until government gets involved and begins to force regulations on each of us. When some, in the system, refuse to cooperate with the system, those who use the system usually have a way of weeding them out by simply not using their service/products. When we see good in people, or in the system, we generally utilize the good in those people/systems for the betterment of all.
Unfortunately, when government regulates us, the systems’ checks and balances become unbalanced and the systems suffer. The only time government needs to regulate, is when the system cannot regulate itself.
The cost of an aspirin in the hospital costs more than an aspirin in the marketplace BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS on hospitals. The high cost of all healthcare is, at least in part, BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS on the American capitalist systems.
After WWII, healthcare became an employer incentive to employment. THEN, regulations began and lobbyists persuaded certain actions and what you have today is because of that, not greed. Greed is necessary in a free market place, but it is tempered with risk. One of those risks is competition, but what we have in healthcare is government greed and no competition (ugh sort of socialism). In the 70’s the Democrats pushed for HMO’s as an end all to the then growing healthcare cost problems, and look where THAT took us.
Mr. T. has the right to move out of this great country, if he finds another place more attractive. But alas, I do agree with the war concept: what we should do is wait until we are asked to help; get congress to declare war, then go in, do the job and get out and that means collateral damages. But the war wouldn’t last for years, nor should we engage our military UNLESS war is declared. Then, there would be no limit to what would be done to accomplish a quick and decisive victory.
Okay, first of all, Mike, you absolutely crack me up. I honestly don’t think just because you are from the North that means you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Second, never has there been one racist comment on the mike slater show. I am sick of people thinking that if you are not an Obama supporter, you are automatically a racist. That is absurd. I think John Mccain would have done a much better job and not just because he is white. It saddened me that a man raised in the countries we are now in a war against was elected when his opponent should be a hero to all of us. Mccain is an outstanding example of a deserving man. He fought for our freedom and he was beaten by a man who is taking away everything he fought for. I absolutely agree with all of you–the government is spending way too much money. They plan to spend billions more on this ridiculous health care bill. They are ruining our economy. They expect us to help each other out and try to creat jobs by hiring more employees and such. How do they expect people to hire employees when income taxes are through the roof?! The government is the reason many American citizens cannot afford insurance and health care!
I can’t wait for the elections. We deperately need to vote as many conservatives as possible to fix this mess.
You are a Free Market Capitalist eh? you and your auidence that calls in every morning give me a good laugh every morning. Its so obvious that you both have serious racisist undertones to your views and arguments. No I dont beleive in socialism, I down right despise it. I also would despise a welfare ran America, but the bottom line is our health care system is corrupt. This may not be a perfect solution, but its a step in the right direction. The simple fact is health care is too high, and without insurance a lot of good people do not get the assistance they need. I mean we can fund a multi billion dollar war just to go take over some oil feilds and make all the politician and special interest groups that much fatter and richer with contracts and spiffs and send men to the moon for gods sakes, but we can not insure that every man, woman, and child can get a fair shake at good health care. I listen to you say all the time, “this is the greatest country in the world”, but I beg to differ sir. This absolutley used to be the greatest country in the world, but it has became the most corrupt country in the world. I traveled to India a few months back with my comapny to train some fellow egineers. While I was visiting this impoverished country, everyone I ran into had the same questions and opinons about America. They all asked, why do you Americans not see that your government is corrupt and that they keep you dumbed down with Sports, reality tv, and the sorts. The old slight of hand they have pulled over us, while the large corporations diminish our dollar, destroy the economy and will soon enslave our nation to a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT. why not talk about these issues Mr. Slater? instead of wasting so much of your breath about Obama and the democrats. Had John McCain won the election it would have been NO DIFFERENT. You have a large voice in this small part of the country, and you could talk about the real issues at hand.
+1
Mike. I got your back. And Taylor James is anti – American if you ask me. The war in Iraq is stupid? Tell that to the Navy SEALs who have lost their lives going after a group of America-hating terrorists who used girls with down syndrome as human bombs. Tell that to the many Army Rangers and Marines who have died fighting terrorist so that you still have the protection and freedom to say that the war is stupid. You sound kind of like a hippy to me…
Everyone saying Taylor is anti-American because he disagrees with your point of view, which is more un-American, to disagree with someone’s point of view or to say that someone is un-American because they disagreed with you??? Trey, I would be willing to bet that many of those Navy SEALS, Army Rangers, and Marines would tell YOU that the war in Iraq is stupid. You think are soldiers are over in that sandbox because they want to be, or because they are a member of the armed forces and were sent there? I’m against the war in Iraq, does that mean I hate our soldiers? I think not. I am eternally grateful for their service and respect the hell out of soldiers; however, supporting the troops and supporting the war are completely different things. Also, the rise in the cost of healthcare can be attributed to a number of factors. Too often, we oversimplify things in order to have a scapegoat, this is one of those cases. One of the main causes in the rise in healthcare costs stems from America’s obsession with litigation, not government regulation. In fact, a little government regulation in the malpractice arena would probably go a long, long way. I worked at JMCGH for a couple years so I have somewhat of a working knowledge of our healthcare system. I would wager that you could go to JMCGH today and take a poll of all the doctors and 60-75% of the doctors would tell you to stay away from medical school, it’s not worth it when you have to deal with all the malpractice costs. How sad is it that our brightest young minds are DISCOURAGED from entering medical school? Lastly, anyone who honestly believes we have the greatest healthcare system in the world lives in a dream world. Our infant mortality rate is not ranked inside the top 30 in the world. We are just better than Croatia, but not quite on Cuba’s level. Chew on that for a minute…
You argue like a liberal. I have talked to several navy seals, and a few army soldiers who believe in the reason we are overseas fighting. I’m sure they don’t all but the ones I’ve talked to do. One reason our infant mortality rate is so high you lib is because as a nation we abort millions of our own babies…. Chew on that for a minute
Well Russ,
I don’t know how many Navy SEALs you have talked to or how many friends you have in the army… but i have talked to several of both.. and all the ones I have talked to say they believe the war is necessary.. however, they do not agree with the way it is fought… our troops hands are tied soo tightly by the red tape from politicians sitting behind desks that they can not perform their jobs the way they are trained too do… i mean.. when you get prosecuted for punching a terrorist in the face… that is the most un-patriotic thing i have ever heard of. Abraham Lincoln once said that any politician who damages the moral of the troops during war time should be exhiled or hanged. Most of the politicians who defend the so called rights of the enemy have probably never seen combat nor fought for the freedoms that our troops fight for. Maybe you have talked to some troops who don’t want to be in Iraq but i have not. And if you think our health care system is so terrible, then tell me why soooooo many immigrants come here just for health care… Why do people from Canada come here for health care or people from Britain? And maybe the reason our infant mortality rate is so high you libtard is because this nation kills millions of its unborn babies. Chew on that for a minute….
The reason our infant mortality rate is so high is because of abortion? Wow… probably one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.
As for me serving in the marine corps, I have to say
I have to say I’m glad we went over to Iraq and Afghanistan. Imagine what it would
have been like if we haven’t. It’s common sense, some terrorists fly a plane, killing thousands of Americans, on our soil constitutes an act of war. Maybe the reasoning for the Iraq war was flawed, but i’m still glad we went over there to free the Iraqi people. And as far as the oil goes, where is my free oil for fighting over in Iraq? The troops should get all the spoils of war!
I just listend to a podcast and heard the ad for Duncan junior’s phony, unconstitutional, and re-election campaign fair, all paid for by taxpayers money.
Mike Benoit
In regards to the above conversation…and just for the record….
I am currently being medically separated from the Navy because I was badly injured during SEAL training last year. And I enlisted the month i graduated college because I believe America is the protector of Freedom everywhere.
Thank you