Why is this guy still in business?
Sheriff Joe Arpaio's volunteer investigation into documents pertaining to President Barack Obama's place of birth and citizenship now includes the services of a taxpayer-funded ...
The lies roll off the man's lips like music off Yo-Yo Ma's cello. Both are virtuosos - one a cellist, the other a liar.
A partial list.
Bush had nothing to do ...
Happy Friday.
The best from Political Humor‘s collection of the week’s late night political humor.
"Barack Obama supports same-sex marriage. Mitt Romney doesn't even support same-sex car pools." –David Letterman
"The head of ...
Republican Rep. Mike Coffman at a Saturday afternoon fundraiser in Colorado.
I don't know whether Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. I don't know that. But I ...
Rand Paul:
Call me cynical, but I didn’t think his [Obama's] views on marriage could get any gayer.
We won't call Rand cynical. Ignorant, bigoted asshole is more fitting. An adult using ...
Happy Friday.
The best from Political Humor‘s collection of the week’s late night political humor.
"President Obama came out with approval of same-sex marriage. He said that over the years, he has ...
I've never understood Log Cabin Republicans - gay conservatives who give their support to a homophobic political party that derides their sexuality and refuses to grant them equal rights under ...
Finally.
“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own ...
Election roundup:
Indiana.
As polls forecast, the Tea Party's efforts to cleanse the GOP of any impure conservatives has Dick Lugar out and teabagger Richard Mourdock in. Mourdock is the new Republican ...
There are lies...and then there are lies.
My own view, by the way, was that the auto companies needed to go through bankruptcy before government help. And frankly, that’s finally what ...
From the papers captured last year at Osama bin Laden's Pakistani hideout comes this.
Like any public figures, bin Laden and his advisers were mindful of the media. Adam Gadahn, one ...
The best from Political Humor‘s collection of the week’s late night political humor. Happy Friday.
"Today Mitt Romney visited a firehouse here in New York City. Of course, he was disappointed ...
It happened to Kerry. Can it happen to Obama? Nope says Margaret Carlson.
Obama’s belief system -- in that hopey-changey business and the post-partisanship thing -- has been altered by reality. ...
Sullivan:
What do Republicans call a gay man with neoconservative passion, a committed relationship and personal courage?
A faggot.
Exactly right, but then could one expect anything different from a political party that ...
And they claim that atheists are immoral?
The ugly side of religion shows its face once again. The words below were spoken at a Sunday sermon by Sean Harris, a pastor ...
It's been fun watching conservatives and Romney twist themselves into pretzels trying to undo Mitt's past words on GM and bin Laden.
Romney, April 2007:
It’s not worth moving heaven and earth ...
In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, a couple of scholars from liberal and conservative think tanks, discuss the state of American politics.
We have been studying Washington politics and ...
Romney's VP-in-waiting, Marco Rubio, is perfecting the conservative sleaze play.
He has proposed his version of the Dream Act in which people who entered the country illegally as children will be ...
Beyond the rhetoric, the political BS, the lies - that is, the concerted effort by the right-wing noise machine to distort and misinform at every opportunity - is the very ...
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this one is worth a gazillion words. For all the crying, screaming and ranting by Republicans, conservatives and teabaggers, here’s the bottom line. The first Bush tax cut for the rich added 1.4 trillion to the deficit. His second tax cut for the rich addedanother 400 billion to the deficit.
In comparison, the health care bill passed by the Senate, will cut the deficit by over 100 billion. These number are from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. So what does this tell us about teabaggers and conservatives going on about fiscal responsibility? Easy. It says they’re either completely clueless or completely full of crap. In many cases, they’re both.
If there was a shred of honesty in these people and if their concern was genuine, then they would have been protesting back in 2001 or soon after. They didn’t. Why? Because Fox News, Republicans, conservatives, Glenn Beck and FreedomWorks didn’t ask them to protest. There was no need to. The guy in the White House at the time was a Republican…and white.
___
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The porblem with this assumption is that it has 10 years of taxes and 6 years of benefits. This is a gimmick in order to keep the costs down. This HCR will not reduce the deficit. If you think it will then there is no use in a reply back to me. It is very foolish to think you can expand coverage, increase benefits, and lower premiums in this HCR package. The bill does nothing to address increasing costs. The only way to lower costs in this package is to ration care. By the way, once implemented that is exactly what they will do once they realize what a mess they have created for themselves.
It is instructive to read the comments on the referenced page. While I agree the current legislation is potentially far less destructive than the Bush tax cuts, it’s not really good economics to simplify matters this much. And the “teabaggers” are arguing…as the comments will show.
Nonetheless, it is good to see someone showing the side of these issues not addressed by the media which isn’t concerned about analysis, only about the drama underway. Thanks.
the cons are being hypocritical when it comes to unfunded tax cuts for the rich or unfunded wars but I don’t think that Bush being white had anything to do with it, when you figure out how the cons operate it is because there is a Democrat in the whitehouse and if it had been Hillary or Biden they would still be doing the same game, this went on when Clinton was president, anyone remember how they savaged Max Cleland, Tom Dashle… or purple band aids? this is the game they play. the Democrats think their ideas can win on the merits or often because it is the right thing to do, the RepubliCONs believe in winning at all costs and will say and do anything toward that end.
The tax cuts were a result of the recession when Busg first took office. Remember, there was an unprecendent amount of 34 quarters of GDP growth when Bush made those cuts.
I think some people miss the argument because they are blinded by party loyalty. Both sides name call and bash and it has gone on for years. The item missing from the MSM with the Tea party movement is that there is no party loyalty. The tea party is tired to see both parties spending like it is there money.
What happened to the scaple Potus was going to use? Pay go is a joke. They have waved pay go for every piece of legislation.
The HCR bill is going to sink the ship.
I have scene the graph above but do not believe the credibility of the findngs. Like I have stated before, you cannot expect to expand coverage and do nothing to contain costs. The bill taxes for 10 and pays benefits for 6 years. Plus there a slow migration to subsidies for low income people for insurance. Which already exist today under the present medicaid system.
Most people support HCR but not this bill. I support HCR but not this bill.
Well, the neo-con Republicans are trying to deny the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq war, both not paid for, that is the major part of the deficit. Old school Republicans know better and they say that publicly. At least this administration is trying to pay for things.
But, all Republicans in positions of governmental power is still anti-regulation of our financial industries, which does not make a lot of sense when you examine the reasons for our national financial meltdown.
The health insurance industry has almost hit rock bottom without any meaningful regulations, but here again are the Republicans trying to tell us to let this business alone and do not give them any real reason for reform.
Everyone forgets that the way insurance works is that there has to be enough people in the customer pool to pay for the people that have to use the insurance to a great degree. What the health insurers have done is to run their business by instead, make it too expensive for the average healthy person to buy and drop as many of those that do get sick. If everyone participates and pays in, it will work like insurance is supposed to work and they will not have to kick out those that need the coverage.
Please post the percentages of taxes paid by all Americans in all income brackets! Who pays the highest share? Who pays the least? Current datum shows that 10 percent of America pays 90 percent of the taxes. I guess that’s fair, right?
The health insurance industry is the most regulated industry in the entire country. COBRA, HIPAA, Rate Filings, Licensing, Product Filings, and Mandates.
Who cares about the Bush Tax Cuts? Potus has just doubled down on the deficit. Both parties are horrible.
azannaphxou, your inclination to the pool of risk is very basic. You have to undesrstand how we got where we are with high premiums and increases. If we expand Medicare and medicaid, and cut reimbursement rates, the missing premium will end up in the commercial risk pool. When there is medicare and medicaid cuts (both Rs and Ds have continually done this) drs and hospitals end up balancing the books by adding to commercial insurers. So under the HCR bill, Medicaid will be expanded crushing most states. The cuts proposed in the bill with Medicaid will drive premiums up even higher. Tack on new taxes, new mandates, and lower out of pocket costs, this will drive premiums up even further and people will drop out of the risk pool. there is no real mandate for coverage. To get a fine of $500 is a joke. Take a look at the medicare cost shift. Not written from an R or D. Just looking at Data and written before HCR. http://wp.me/pnE0v-3U
Of course my view of the risk pool is very basic. It is the insurance industry that feels that they need to push out all of the sick by denial of coverage. They want to push out the really sick to a risk pool that the government will pay for and they only have to insure people that do not are not likely to get sick.
All of us that are insured are paying $1,000/year to cover the costs of healthcare for the uninsured that show up at the ERs. Forty-five thousand people die each year for lack of healthcare insurance. This country is rated 39th in the world, just below Costa Rica in quality of healthcare. The Republicans keep lying and saying that we are number 1.
Our individual healthcare costs will go down if everybody buys insurance so that we have a real risk pool, not this manufactured nonsense called a risk pool that the insurance companies want to get rid of. The lack of real competition in healthcare insurance is a major reason that healthcare is such a mess. Allowing insurance to expand across state lines will not significantly change the competition. Look at other major industries that work across state lines and you see their expenses for service have to increase because they have to deal with each state’s laws and have to develop boutique expensive plans.
to quote the above author: “Allowing insurance to expand across state lines will not significantly change the competition. Look at other major industries that work across state lines and you see their expenses for service have to increase because they have to deal with each state’s laws and have to develop boutique expensive plans.”
Expenses increase because they have to deal with each state’s laws and develop boutique plans which are expensive. And what do you suppose is the reason for all these boutique plans? If you answered FEDERAL REGULATIONS then go to the head of the class. IF you answered GREEDY INSURANCE companies you fail.
Umm, yes, “insurance” companies will drop consumers who pose significant risks. Health “insurance” companies will either refuse to cover you or drop you if you are unhealthy. That is the entire point of underwriting.
For example, my house is not insured against a fire because I plan on burning it down. It is insured against the unlikely event it could burn down. You can start a home owners insurance company do insure houses that are already on fire, but you’d be in the red real quick. If you wouldn’t insure such properties, why demand that some corporation do so?
A person who is sick doesn’t need “insurance”. A person who is sick needs someone else to pay medical bills in exchange for premiums that are fractions of the cost. Would you personally “insure” someone in such an exchange? If not, then why expect a company to.
Hmm, perhaps “insurance” is not the right solution for the problem?
Perhaps the sick person needs affordable care. Which means lowering health care costs. Oops, but that means an open, frank discussion of tort reform. Nah, let’s stick to the insurance model so the lawyers can live parasitically on the hospitals insurance premiums. After all, aren’t many politicians lawyers?
That’s the problem with conservatives. For them there is no difference between house insurance and health insurance. Health care for these people is a privilege, not a right. It’s another way of saying that the poor had better not get sick. Also it has been shown that tort reform will lower healthcare costs by 2 to 3 percent at most so it’s not the answer to fixing the high costs of hc even though republicans want us to believe it is.
The porblem with this assumption is that it has 10 years of taxes and 6 years of benefits. This is a gimmick in order to keep the costs down. This HCR will not reduce the deficit. If you think it will then there is no use in a reply back to me. It is very foolish to think you can expand coverage, increase benefits, and lower premiums in this HCR package. The bill does nothing to address increasing costs. The only way to lower costs in this package is to ration care. By the way, once implemented that is exactly what they will do once they realize what a mess they have created for themselves.
Did Fox ‘News’ use this graph on their fair and balanced news programs?
It is instructive to read the comments on the referenced page. While I agree the current legislation is potentially far less destructive than the Bush tax cuts, it’s not really good economics to simplify matters this much. And the “teabaggers” are arguing…as the comments will show.
Nonetheless, it is good to see someone showing the side of these issues not addressed by the media which isn’t concerned about analysis, only about the drama underway. Thanks.
the cons are being hypocritical when it comes to unfunded tax cuts for the rich or unfunded wars but I don’t think that Bush being white had anything to do with it, when you figure out how the cons operate it is because there is a Democrat in the whitehouse and if it had been Hillary or Biden they would still be doing the same game, this went on when Clinton was president, anyone remember how they savaged Max Cleland, Tom Dashle… or purple band aids? this is the game they play. the Democrats think their ideas can win on the merits or often because it is the right thing to do, the RepubliCONs believe in winning at all costs and will say and do anything toward that end.
The tax cuts were a result of the recession when Busg first took office. Remember, there was an unprecendent amount of 34 quarters of GDP growth when Bush made those cuts.
I think some people miss the argument because they are blinded by party loyalty. Both sides name call and bash and it has gone on for years. The item missing from the MSM with the Tea party movement is that there is no party loyalty. The tea party is tired to see both parties spending like it is there money.
What happened to the scaple Potus was going to use? Pay go is a joke. They have waved pay go for every piece of legislation.
The HCR bill is going to sink the ship.
I have scene the graph above but do not believe the credibility of the findngs. Like I have stated before, you cannot expect to expand coverage and do nothing to contain costs. The bill taxes for 10 and pays benefits for 6 years. Plus there a slow migration to subsidies for low income people for insurance. Which already exist today under the present medicaid system.
Most people support HCR but not this bill. I support HCR but not this bill.
Well, the neo-con Republicans are trying to deny the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq war, both not paid for, that is the major part of the deficit. Old school Republicans know better and they say that publicly. At least this administration is trying to pay for things.
But, all Republicans in positions of governmental power is still anti-regulation of our financial industries, which does not make a lot of sense when you examine the reasons for our national financial meltdown.
The health insurance industry has almost hit rock bottom without any meaningful regulations, but here again are the Republicans trying to tell us to let this business alone and do not give them any real reason for reform.
Everyone forgets that the way insurance works is that there has to be enough people in the customer pool to pay for the people that have to use the insurance to a great degree. What the health insurers have done is to run their business by instead, make it too expensive for the average healthy person to buy and drop as many of those that do get sick. If everyone participates and pays in, it will work like insurance is supposed to work and they will not have to kick out those that need the coverage.
Please post the percentages of taxes paid by all Americans in all income brackets! Who pays the highest share? Who pays the least? Current datum shows that 10 percent of America pays 90 percent of the taxes. I guess that’s fair, right?
The health insurance industry is the most regulated industry in the entire country. COBRA, HIPAA, Rate Filings, Licensing, Product Filings, and Mandates.
Who cares about the Bush Tax Cuts? Potus has just doubled down on the deficit. Both parties are horrible.
azannaphxou, your inclination to the pool of risk is very basic. You have to undesrstand how we got where we are with high premiums and increases. If we expand Medicare and medicaid, and cut reimbursement rates, the missing premium will end up in the commercial risk pool. When there is medicare and medicaid cuts (both Rs and Ds have continually done this) drs and hospitals end up balancing the books by adding to commercial insurers. So under the HCR bill, Medicaid will be expanded crushing most states. The cuts proposed in the bill with Medicaid will drive premiums up even higher. Tack on new taxes, new mandates, and lower out of pocket costs, this will drive premiums up even further and people will drop out of the risk pool. there is no real mandate for coverage. To get a fine of $500 is a joke. Take a look at the medicare cost shift. Not written from an R or D. Just looking at Data and written before HCR.
http://wp.me/pnE0v-3U
@MikeB You forgot to mention that Obama is a socialist pig but you did get every other health industry talking point covered.
Not talking points on HC. Just the reality of my position. No name calling.
JC the top 10% does not just make 10% of the income.
Of course my view of the risk pool is very basic. It is the insurance industry that feels that they need to push out all of the sick by denial of coverage. They want to push out the really sick to a risk pool that the government will pay for and they only have to insure people that do not are not likely to get sick.
All of us that are insured are paying $1,000/year to cover the costs of healthcare for the uninsured that show up at the ERs. Forty-five thousand people die each year for lack of healthcare insurance. This country is rated 39th in the world, just below Costa Rica in quality of healthcare. The Republicans keep lying and saying that we are number 1.
Our individual healthcare costs will go down if everybody buys insurance so that we have a real risk pool, not this manufactured nonsense called a risk pool that the insurance companies want to get rid of. The lack of real competition in healthcare insurance is a major reason that healthcare is such a mess. Allowing insurance to expand across state lines will not significantly change the competition. Look at other major industries that work across state lines and you see their expenses for service have to increase because they have to deal with each state’s laws and have to develop boutique expensive plans.
to quote the above author: “Allowing insurance to expand across state lines will not significantly change the competition. Look at other major industries that work across state lines and you see their expenses for service have to increase because they have to deal with each state’s laws and have to develop boutique expensive plans.”
Expenses increase because they have to deal with each state’s laws and develop boutique plans which are expensive. And what do you suppose is the reason for all these boutique plans? If you answered FEDERAL REGULATIONS then go to the head of the class. IF you answered GREEDY INSURANCE companies you fail.
Umm, yes, “insurance” companies will drop consumers who pose significant risks. Health “insurance” companies will either refuse to cover you or drop you if you are unhealthy. That is the entire point of underwriting.
For example, my house is not insured against a fire because I plan on burning it down. It is insured against the unlikely event it could burn down. You can start a home owners insurance company do insure houses that are already on fire, but you’d be in the red real quick. If you wouldn’t insure such properties, why demand that some corporation do so?
A person who is sick doesn’t need “insurance”. A person who is sick needs someone else to pay medical bills in exchange for premiums that are fractions of the cost. Would you personally “insure” someone in such an exchange? If not, then why expect a company to.
Hmm, perhaps “insurance” is not the right solution for the problem?
Perhaps the sick person needs affordable care. Which means lowering health care costs. Oops, but that means an open, frank discussion of tort reform. Nah, let’s stick to the insurance model so the lawyers can live parasitically on the hospitals insurance premiums. After all, aren’t many politicians lawyers?
That’s the problem with conservatives. For them there is no difference between house insurance and health insurance. Health care for these people is a privilege, not a right. It’s another way of saying that the poor had better not get sick. Also it has been shown that tort reform will lower healthcare costs by 2 to 3 percent at most so it’s not the answer to fixing the high costs of hc even though republicans want us to believe it is.