Hey you. You there in the Glenn Beck T-shirt headed off to the Tea Party Patriot rally.

Stop shouting for a moment, please, I want to explain to you why you’re so very angry.

You should be angry. You’re getting screwed.

I think you know that. But you don’t seem to know that it doesn’t have to be that way. You can stop it. You can stop it easily because the system that’s screwing you over can only keep screwing you over if you keep demanding that it do so.

So stop demanding that. Stop helping the system screw you over.

Look, you can go back to yelling at me in a minute, but just read this first.

1. Get out your pay stub.

Or, if you have direct deposit — you really should get direct deposit, it saves a lot of time and money (I point this out because, honestly, I’m trying to help you here, even though you don’t make that easy Mr. Angry Screamy Guy) — then take out that little paper receipt they give you when your pay gets directly deposited.

2. Notice that your net pay is lower than your gross pay. This is because some of your wages are withheld every pay period.

3. Notice that only some of this money that was withheld went to pay taxes. (I know, I know — yeearrrgh! me hates taxes! — but just try to stick with me for just a second here.)

4. Notice that some of the money that was withheld didn’t go to taxes, but to your health insurance company.

5. Now go get a pay stub from last year around this time, from January of 2009.

6. Notice that the amount of your pay withheld for taxes in your current paycheck is less than the amount that was withheld a year ago.

That’s because of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan, which included more than $200 billion in tax cuts, including the one you’re holding right there in your hand, the tax cut that’s now staring you in the face. Republicans all voted against that tax cut. And then they told you to get angry about the stimulus plan. They didn’t explain, however, why you were supposed to get angry about getting a tax cut. Why would you be? Wouldn’t it make more sense to get angry at the people who voted against that Obama tax cut?

But taxes aren’t the really important thing here. The really important thing starts with the next point.

7. Notice that the amount of your pay withheld to pay for your health insurance is more than it was last year.

8. Notice that the amount of your pay withheld to pay for your health insurance is a lot more than it was last year.

I won’t ask you to dig up old paychecks from 2008 and 2007, but this has been going on for a long time. Every year, the amount of your paycheck withheld to pay for your health insurance goes up. A lot.

9. Notice the one figure there on your two pay stubs that hasn’t changed: Your wage. The raise you didn’t get this year went to pay for that big increase in the cost of your health insurance.

10. Here’s where I need you to start doing a better job of putting two and two together. If you didn’t get a raise last year because the cost of your health insurance went up by a lot, and the cost of your health insurance is going to go up by a lot again this year, what do you think that means for any chance you might have of getting a raise this year?

11. Did you figure it out? That’s right. The increasing cost of health insurance means you won’t get a raise this year. Or next year. Or the year after that. The increasing cost of health insurance means you will never get a raise again.

That’s what I meant when I said you really should be angry. That’s what I meant when I said you’re getting screwed.

OK, we’re almost done. Just a few more points, I promise.

12. The only hope you have of ever seeing another pay raise is if Congress passes health care reform. Without health care reform, the increasing cost of your health insurance will swallow this year’s raise. And next year’s raise. And pretty soon it won’t stop with just your raise. Without health care reform, the increasing cost of your health insurance will start making your pay go down.

13. I wish I could tell you that this was just a worst-case scenario, that this was only something that might, maybe happen, but that wouldn’t be true. Without health care reform, this is what will happen. We know this because this is what is happening now. It has been happening for the past 10 years. In 2008, employers spent on average 25 percent more per employee than they did in 2001, but wages on average did not increase during those years. The price of milk went up. The price of gas went up. But wages did not. All of the money that would have gone to higher wages went to pay the higher and higher and higher cost of health insurance. And unless Congress passes health care reform, that will not change.

Well, it will change in the sense that it will keep getting worse, but it won’t get better. Unless the problem gets fixed, the problem won’t be fixed. That’s kind of what “problem” and “fixed” mean.

14. Sadly for any chance you have of ever seeing a raise again, it looks like Congress may not pass health care reform. It looks like they won’t do that because they’re scared of angry voters who are demanding that they oppose health care reform, angry voters who demand that Congress not do anything that would keep the cost of health insurance from going up and up and up. Angry voters like you.

15. Do you see the point here? You are angrily, loudly demanding that Congress make sure that you never, ever get another pay raise as long as you live. Because of you and because of your angry demands, you and your family and your kids are going to have to get by with less this year than last year. And next year you’re going to have to get by with even less. And if you keep angrily demanding that no one must ever fix this problem, then you’re going to have to figure out how to get by on less and less every year for the rest of your life.

16. So please, for your own sake, for your family’s sake and the sake of your children, stop. Stop demanding that problems not get fixed. Stop demanding that you keep getting screwed. Stay angry — you should be angry — but start directing that anger toward the system that’s screwing you over and taking money out of your pocket. Start directing that anger toward fixing problems instead of toward making sure they never get fixed. Instead of demanding that Congress oppose health care reform so that you never, ever, get another pay raise, start demanding that they pass health care reform, as soon as possible. Because until they do, you’re just going to keep on getting screwed.

And it’s going to be that much worse knowing that you brought this on yourself — that you demanded it.

Thanks for your time.

P.S. — I didn’t mention this because I’m trying here to be as patient with you as I can, but you might also want to keep in mind that in addition to screwing over yourself and screwing over your family and screwing over your own children by demanding that Congress oppose health care reform so that you will never, ever see another pay raise, by doing that you’re also demanding that I never, ever see another pay raise, which means that you’re also screwing over me, and my family, and my children. Not to mention the millions of poor and uninsured and uninsureable people I didn’t even mention above because they don’t seem to matter at all to you. And for that, let me just say the only appropriate thing that can be said to someone so determined to do direct, tangible harm to the welfare of my family: Fuck you, you fucking moron.

Did he even watch the SOTU?

The San Francisco bay bridge rebuild project was off shored to China, a country known (we need a sarcasm font) for it’s high quality building practices.

The bridge is arriving in pieces aboard specially built ships, 15 months late due to poorly translated plans, low grade steel and prison labor quality construction; and being constructed like a giant lego set in the sky.

The job was out sourced to China rather than built in the US to save roughly $6.3 billion in costs, a 100% increase…. never mind that the $6.3 billion saved would have been returned into the US… and San Fransisco economy instead of joining the rest of the flow of our wealth to China.

With any luck, we’ve financed the project with bonds sold to the Chinese so we can pay interest on the bridge as well so they eventually also get the $6.3 billion we saved.

Jake Fisher, and automotive engineer at Consumer Reports stated in an interview to Automotive News that “”Toyota is trying very hard to do the right thing and being bold and having large recalls to portray the fact that they are willing to stop at nothing and spare no expense so nobody gets hurt in their vehicles.” and “Toyota has built this reputation on quality and reliability and safety and being a practical choice.”

Jake, Toyota “trying very hard to do the right thing” would have been addressing the issue when they allegedly knew about it as early as 2004. Having massive recalled 6 years after the problem began surfacing and after multiple people have lost their lives isn’t “trying very hard to do the right thing”

Also, doing a recall and stopping production when you know you are legally required to do so is not the same as doing so voluntarily.

One last thing Consumer Reports, Toyota didn’t build their reputation for quality, you built Toyota’s reputation for quality. Toyota has been having quality issues for years with sludging engines, failing transmissions, exploding camshafts, premature rusting, wheels falling off, and cracking frames, all the while resisting responsibility and blaming consumers. All this time you’ve given them passes for these issues and only jump on the reality train once Toyotas started killing people.

Toyota doesn’t have the reputation for quality you proclaim with anyone who reads just about any publication other than Consumer Reports.

Ford Motor Company, the only American auto manufacturer to not go through the pain of bankruptcy and government loans, posted a net profit for 2009 of $2.7 billion.

“We’re going to be profitable in 2010,” said CFO Lewis Booth, issuing the automaker’s first forecast for the year. Three months ago, Ford changed its 2011 outlook to “solidly profitable” from “break-even or better.”

Domestic sales by Shanghai GM rose 63.3 percent to 727,620 units in 2009.  The passenger car joint venture was once again led by its original brand, Buick, which experienced sales growth of 59.6 percent year on year to 447,011 units.  The Excelle, which sold 241,109 units, remained the brand’s bestseller for the sixth consecutive year.  Further contributing to the resurgence of Buick in China were the New Regal, which generated sales of 79,930 units, and the new LaCROSSE, which generated sales of 43,429 units in just six months on the market.

Chevrolet sales in China likewise experienced strong growth, with 332,774 units sold – an increase of 67.1 percent from 2008.  The Cruze, GM’s new global compact car, enjoyed great success in China, with sales of 92,190 units despite being on the market only nine months.  In addition, the Lova had sales of 118,935 units.

In 2009, SAIC-GM-Wuling became the first automaker in China to sell more than 1 million vehicles in a year, increasing its domestic sales by 63.9 percent to 1,061,213 units.  With sales of 596,630 units, the Wuling Sunshine set a Chinese industry record for annual sales by a single model.

FAW-GM sold 34,510 light commercial vehicles in the four months after its establishment in August 2009 and began construction of a new assembly plant in Ha’erbin.

GM China Sales jump to all time high

Percentage change since 2002 in average premiums paid to large US health-insurance companies: +87%

Percentage change in the profits of the top ten insurance companies: +428%

Chances that an American bankrupted by medical bills has health insurance: 7 in 10

Just sayin…