Tag Archives: Economy

Economy, Obamacare, Politics

Obamacare, Mission Impossible

Since the kick-off of the Obamacare website, healthcare.gov, I have been unable to compare my current plan with any of the options in Obamacare. This, after hard_pill_to_swallow3 weeks of logging onto the website and going nowhere. Today, after two phone calls and three hours on the phone, I was able to get a price, for all three plans, BUT was not able to find out the details of any of the policies, deductibles, what’s covered, what isn’t. You know, everything one would need to make an informed decision on which plan to buy, or not to buy. Not only did President Obama promise I would be saving $2,500 per in premiums, but he also said I would be able to shop the plans and see whether I could get a better deal in the private market instead of from the government exchange.

I asked the lady exactly what the policy covered and she politely said that the details would be sent to me in the mail in about three weeks. What? Is this Obama’s idea of shopping for an insurance policy? They can tell me how much it cost, but not what’s in it? Does this sound familiar? I’ll bet you a cheesesteak that any private health insurance carrier can quote you a policy and explain the coverage inside of a 10 minute phone call without music-on-hold.

I told the woman that the open enrollment period on my group insurance ends in the third week of November, and that I need to know the coverage details now so I can make an informed decision. All she could tell me was that they would send me the coverage details via snail mail, in three weeks.

Now feature this. For Obamacare to be a “success,” they need to enroll 7 million people. Most of which are young and healthy adults. After wasting three hours of my (and her) time today, and two hours on the phone earlier in the month with other phone bank employees, with this kind of productivity (if you can even call that productivity), how in the hell does anyone think that they’re going to enroll anywhere near the 7 million people needed for Obamacare to survive when they can’t answer basic questions about their “product?” According to the numbers so far, over half of the enrollees are qualifying for and getting on Medicaid. Which means they are government dependents, not policyholders contributing to  (wait for it) lowering costs.

If this were a joke, it’d be a good one. Because the purpose (according to its namesake) of Obamacare was to insure everybody, because,  aghast, 15% of Americans don’t have a health insurance policy. Set aside for the moment that the federal government has no business being in the health insurance business. In the last few months, more people have had their policies cancelled than have enrolled into Obamacare. So rather than insure everyone, Obamacare is in the process of destroying the private sector health insurance industry, and increasing costs on the 85% of Americans that were happy with their policy in the first place, and still not insuring everybody, all for the promise of helping 15% of Americans. Some of whom don’t have a policy because they didn’t want one. And Obama’s solution is to force everyone to buy one or be fined. This is exactly where the role and relationship between the government and the citizens has been turned upside down.

Obama ‘gives’ you a right, takes your freedom

Not only that, but The White House is attempting to create another ‘right’ for Americans. In addition to your right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, a right to vote, a right to speak, a right to bear arms, etc., they are saying that you have a right to a health insurance policy. And along with this new right to health insurance you get, there’s a “freedom” you lose. That is, what kind of policy and what kind of coverage you want. You don’t decide that any more. Under Obamacare, it is the government, not you, who makes that decision.

Responding to the president misleading Americans about his main selling point of Obamacare “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan, period” not actually being the case, at 4:54 in the video White House spokes-kid Jay Carney said . . .

I take your point, it is correct that substandard plans that don’t provide minimum services that have a lot of fine print that leaves consumers in the lurch often because of annual caps, or lifetime caps, or carve outs for some preexisting conditions, those are no longer allowed because the Affordable Care Act is built on the premise that health care is not a privilege, it is a right and there should be a minimum standard of plans available to Americans around the country. {emphasis added}

Cute how Jay and his boss conflate health care with health insurance. Health insurance isn’t a privilege. It’s a product.


Obamacare has fallen and it can’t get up. It is America’s Albatross to get rid of.

An alternative to government-run health care exists. And it will lower costs, won’t increase the national debt, will offer the consumer more choices, and you won’t have the government getting between you and your doctor. What is this alternative? It is H.R. 2300, the Empowering Patients First Act of 2013. It’s been around for years. In the 111th congress it was called H.R.3400, The Empowering Patients First Act.

Link: The hidden truth behind early Obamacare numbers: It’s not what it seems

Economy, Obamacare, Politics

Obamacare Fines, For Poor People Only

Hearken back to how the unaffordable Affordable Care Act was promoted with the mandate attached. It was called a “fine” or “penalty” all the way up to the point it went to the Supreme Court. Then, the description of the mandate changed from a penalty to a “tax” you will pay if you did not buy an insurance policy that the obamacare_going_to_hurtgovernment approves of.

That the government does not approve the policies of hundreds of thousands of insured people is the reason insurance companies are notifying their customers that their policy does not meet the “minimum requirements” as proscribed by Obamacare and is being cancelled as of the end of the year. (Barack Obama, “If you like your policy, you can keep your policy.”) Oh never mind.

Which brings me to the mandate, the penalty. The alternative revenue stream that is supposed to make the government exchange insurance policies “affordable.”

Aside from people finding out how expensive their government exchange insurance policy with high deductibles will be, presuming the healthcare.gov website gets fixed, the details of how the penalty is collected is where the program breaks down. Long story short, if you pay taxes already and don’t get a tax refund, and choose not to buy health insurance, you’re home free. If however, you are like many low income people who revel in receiving a tax refund (which is actually you paying more taxes than you owe), and choose not to buy the expensive health insurance, the government will deduct your penalty from your refund. You’ll pay your fair share. (Obama’s words) So where does this end up? Right where Obama intended it to end up. He will try to take Obamacare to its final destination, a single payer system where the private sector health insurance industry becomes extinct and the whole country is on Medicare.

Regardless whether you believe that a single payer system is the goal, that Obamacare is the pathway to a single payer system (like Obama himself has said), you better believe that not only does the mandate have no teeth, but it punishes low income workers while giving everyone else a pass on paying the so-called mandated penalty.

The Joint Tax Committee prepared a summary of Obamacare that includes this discussion of the mandate:

The penalty applies to any period the individual does not maintain minimum essential coverage and is determined monthly. The penalty is assessed through the Code and accounted for as an additional amount of Federal tax owed. However, it is not subject to the enforcement provisions of subtitle F of the Code. The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for collection of taxes does not apply to the collection of this penalty. Non-compliance with the personal responsibility requirement to have health coverage is not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay such assessments in a timely manner.

As I understand it, the only way the IRS can possibly collect the penalty is by withholding your tax refund. No problem: if you arrange your taxes so that you don’t overpay, the penalty can never be collected from you. Some observers who should know better continue to tell young people they should pay the penalty and forgo expensive insurance. No: young people, if they want to follow their self-interest, should forgo expensive insurance and NOT pay the penalty, because it can never be collected from them.

Since Obamacare is, by all accounts, “settled law,” it will be interesting to see the wailing from Democrats to change it when the people who look to them for sustenance find out that the government is dipping into their tax refund while taking nothing from those rich people.

The beauty of this train wreck is that Republicans have nothing, zip, zero, nada, to do with it. They didn’t write it, they didn’t amend it, and they didn’t vote for it. But they do have an alternative that does not increase the debt, will actually work to decrease premiums, doesn’t involve raising taxes or imposing fines on poor people, has no death panels, and, doesn’t put the government between you and your doctor. It’s called H.R. 2300, the Empowering Patients First Act of 2013.

Link: DELAY THE MANDATE? WHAT MANDATE?

2016 Election, Economy, Politics

Kerry Bowers, The Only Presidential Candidate With A Plan You Can See

Can anyone count the number of times or the number of years that you’ve heard people running for the office of the President of the United States say how they’re going to cut out the government waste and “reform government?”

One thing I can tell you with confidence is that there is only one candidate that says that AND shows you where the cuts and reforms will occur.

See and hear Mr. Kerry Bowers, candidate for President in the 2016 general election present his plan for government reform. In this video, Mr. Bowers takes off on Nancy Pelosi’s comments on CNN Sept. 23, 2013, where in discussing the national debt, she declared “there’s no more cuts to make.”

See Kerry Bowers’ plan to reform government HERE, item by item.

Link: Restore America’s Blessings, Kerry Bowers for President

Economy, Politics

Shutdown, Debt, What The Rest Of The World Thinks

  • Fears remain about another possible shutdown – and, even worse, a possible default – early next year.
  • Experts and foreign officials warned that Washington’s credibility had been damaged – a point President Barack Obama echoed.
  • The short-term nature of the deal makes many uneasy.
  • International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said the shaky American economy needs more stable long-term solutions.
  • “In three months’ time, this could be back again,” said Chakraborty. “If this kind of pushing it back happens several times, then this comfort that the markets had over the last 20 days that a deal will be reached, that comfort may now be dead.”
  • The congressional cliffhanger might dent longer-term confidence in American government debt, a cornerstone of global credit markets, prompting creditors to demand higher interest.
  • Xenia Dormandy, director of the Americas program at London’s Chatham House, said the U.S. image had suffered a double blow, with both its economic and political credentials called into question. “There is a sense that the U.S. as a reliable ally is not necessarily the case anymore,” she said, warning that both American allies and adversaries have reached this conclusion.
  • In Brazil, a large holder of U.S. debt, there was certainly relief, but also concerns that it’s just a temporary fix and more turbulence is ahead. Finance Minister Guido Mantega said the U.S. must come to a lasting answer to the “temporary solution” that was found. He added that as long as the threat of another shutdown exists, there will be “a sensation of insecurity, distrust and therefore damage to business in general.”

Link: World welcomes US budget deal but fears remain

2014 Election, 2016 Election, Economy, Obamacare, Politics

Barack “The Crisis” Obama Is At It Again

Andy Rooney mode ON: Have you ever wondered why President Obama habitually decries crisis-driven management right after he does it? Andy Rooney mode OFF:

In an April 6, 2013 weekly address to the nation, the President talked about his plan to create jobs and reduce the deficit. Didn’t mention the debt, AT ALL. His plan obama_houdiniwas increasing taxes and building roads and bridges. He said then . . .

While it’s not my ideal plan to further reduce the deficit, it’s a compromise I’m willing to accept in order to move beyond a cycle of short-term, crisis-driven decision-making, and focus on growing our economy and our middle class for the long run. {emphasis added}

Today, over six months later, and two months after a five week vacation for Congress, and one day after a grandstanding government shutdown he imposed was lifted, Barack “The Crisis” Obama goes before the mic again, ostensibly removing himself of all responsibility and says “The American people are completely fed up with Washington.” (Not just fed up. I’d include Fed up, capital F)  He says . . .

“I understand we will not suddenly agree on everything now that the cloud of crisis has passed. Democrats and Republicans are far apart on a lot of issues,” Obama said. “And sometimes we’ll be just too far apart to forge an agreement. But that should not hold back our efforts in areas where we do agree.”

Shouldn’t hold back “our efforts” where we agree? You mean like opening National Parks, funding the military and veterans, funding funeral benefits for fallen soldiers? Those areas of agreement? Virtually funding everything except Obamacare? It was those areas that prompted him to not agree just to keep the crisis going.

The mid-terms and general election can’t come soon enough.

China, Economy, Politics

Debt Markets React, Dollar Slides

Part and parcel of artificially fueling the global economy by printing money and buying our own debt (which would be illegal if you tried it) is the effect it has on the shrinking_dollardollar and interest rates when the party is over. Getting our own economy and the global economy back to market realities will cause interest rates to rise to a “normal” rate. It will also have a negative, albeit temporary effect on the stock market and your 401K. When interest rates rise, mortgages and other financed purchases, like your car and credit card purchases, will cost more. As the value of the dollar falls, everything you buy will cost more. This is the bad tasting medicine referred to in the previous post. Contrary to the Obama administration’s belief, shouldering future generations with our debt is not an option.

  • Relief rally short-lived as concerns over consequences dominate
  • Dollar index down 0.6 percent, euro and yen gain
  • European shares retreat from highs, Wall Street to weaken
  • Gold hits one-week high, oil slides

Facing the reality of another can-kicking session in Congress early next year, the Chinese credit agency Dagong downgraded the U.S. sovereign rating to A- from A with a negative outlook, driving further dollar losses. That’s just the beginning. Hold on to your wallet. If we’re ever going to get things back to normal again, it won’t be easy, but it isn’t an impossible task. The healing process must begin. The result being an economy that begins to grow on its own momentum, increasing the value of the dollar, and pegging interest rates at a true market-driven level.

Link: GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar slides as relief at U.S. debt deal fades

2014 Election, 2016 Election, Economy, Obamacare, Politics

America Is Sick, And The Doctor Is Out

So what did the House of Representatives hope to accomplish by what was thought to be a futile attempt to defund Obamacare, aka a government shutdown?  How was that strategy supposed to help the Republican party?hope_and_chang_making_america_sick

Common questions over the government shutdown, arguably, imposed by President Obama. Given that the House passed bills to keep everything, but Obamacare, running.

The strategy was doing what they were elected to do, exercising their Constitutional responsibility of holding the purse strings of the federal government. It’s no more complicated than that. It wasn’t meant for the good of the party. But rather, the good of the country which, is being buried in debt at a rate unprecedented and with no end in sight.

It had less to do with politics than fighting the good fight which, was better than not fighting at all. Today, it is clear they did not prevail. Turned out to be a “lost the battle, not the war,” kind of thing.

kick_can_to_greeceWhat amazes me is how Congress still allows for increasing the debt limit. Something candidate Obama called irresponsible and un-patriotic. The words LIMIT and CEILING have no meaning anymore. Even without Obamacare, we are headed for default if drastic reforms are not made. Increasing the debt limits will only allow, and lead to, increasing the national debt.

The politics of it all is that Congress is playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded revolver. There’s NO budget proposal by the majority that reduces deficits towards a balancing point, let alone paying down the debt. By definition, a budget that includes deficit spending, includes borrowing. And borrowing adds to our debt. (I know. Slim chance that the low-information crowd will have read this far. But just in case.)

Check this link at the CBO. There are two scenarios, Bad, and Worse.http://www.cbo.gov/publication/42905 It says that no budget now or in the future will be without deficit spending. The only variable is will we go over the cliff at 100 miles per hour or 50 miles per hour.

First thing to do is to scrap the ‘baseline budgeting’ game, and make budgets like you and I have to. Then start reforms from there. THAT, won’t be popular with anyone. But when you’re sick, the medicine you need to get well tastes bad. The so-called ‘leaders’ in Washington should be preparing us for recognizing the illness, and prescribing the medicine. Instead, they’re kicking the can down the road.

America needs the right kind of doctor to save America. And President Obama isn’t the one. If one does not rise to the call, the 2014 and 2016 elections is where we’ll find one.

Economy, Politics

Those Democrat Obstructionists

By now everyone is familiar with the word “obstructionist.” It’s what Democrats call Republicans every time they don’t get what they want. Since everyone is now comfortable with the word being used in the political arena, it’s time it be employed here. Only difference is, what Republicans in the House want also happens to beharry_reid_finger what most Americans want, a functioning government actually being responsible with the people’s money.

Below is a quick summary of what could have been accomplished if only the Democrat-controlled Senate would stop sitting on everything that comes from the House. Well, that and if there was a President that would put the people and the constitution ahead of his personal agenda and actually sign the bills into law.

endofstory

House Continues its Work to Reopen Government
The House continued its efforts today to reopen the government through targeted funding bills.  H.J.Res 80, the American Indian and Alaska Native, Health, Education, and Safety Act, which would provide funding for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, and Indian Health Service, is the 22nd bill passed by the House since September 20 that would fund all or part of our government.

1395 =  # of days since the Senate fulfilled their Constitutional duty and passed a single standalone annual appropriations bill
132 = # of days that Harry Reid has failed our veterans by not fully funding VA
130 = # of days Harry Reid has failed to protect our borders by not funding the Department of Homeland Security
96 = # of days Harry Reid has failed to responsibly fund the Department of Energy, including national security provisions related to our nuclear arsenal
82 = # of days Harry Reid has failed to fund DoD and uphold military readiness
24 = # of days Harry Reid has failed to fund all government operations and put furloughed employees back to work

H/T Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL1)

Economy, Media, Obamacare, Politics, Race Relations

Then There’s Obama’s Economic Recovery Recession

There’s a reason the news has been consumed by things like the debt ceiling, continuing resolutions, and Obamacare. They can be easily demagogued and republicans can, and will, be blamed for all of it by the administration and the compliant media.

When it comes to the economy and related numbers, income is down, poverty is up.  It’s no longer possible to blame Bush for it. This is Obama’s failed economy. No one else’s.

Try as they might, there are some out there that tout it as a resounding success. Like MSNBC’s Ed Shultz. He can’t believe that only 45% of Americans believe Obama’s handling of he economy is good! And that was a month ago.

“It amazes me that people don’t love Obama…It just amazes me he can’t get above 50 percent when it comes to a favorable view of the economy.”

Ed then touts how the stock market is going through the roof and how Obama has been “hands off” on Wall Street. Oh really? The stock market has been artificially pumped up for years with the Quantitative Easing from Federal Reserve. Printing trillions of dollars that is not going to main street. It’s being used on Wall Street, and, is a major contributor to the widening gap in income between the wealthiest Americans and the rest of us. And that’s why any hint that the QE printing presses will be cut back causes the stock market to come down off its QE high. While Ed Shultz is touting this great stock market, and  how wonderful the economy’s doing, here comes Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve saying, “Oh, no it’s not, and if we don’t continue to pump $1 trillion a year into it, it’s gonna plunge.”

On Main Street, the picture is not any better. In fact, it’s much worse.

According to the Census report, the high point for median household income in the United States was back in 1999 ($56,080). It almost got back to that level in 2007 ($55,627), but ever since then there has been a steady decline. The following figures come directly from the report, and as you can see, median household income has fallen every single year for the past five years…

  • 2007: $55,627
  • 2008: $53,644
  • 2009: $53,285
  • 2010: $51,892
  • 2011: $51,100
  • 2012: $51,017

You also didn’t know that there are six counties in America where the median income is over twice the national median.  Four of those counties are suburban Washington.  The median income in those counties is it $101,000. And now that Obama has exempted them from the Healthcare Exchanges, making you pay 75% of their health insurance policy, the political class is doing just fine.

The new Census report also revealed that 46.5 million Americans are living in poverty. During the four years that marked President Barack Obama’s first term in office, the real median income of American households dropped by $2,627 and the number of people on poverty increased by about 6,667,000, according to data released by the Census Bureau.

Right now, one out of every five households in the United States is on food stamps. Keep in mind too that the increased cost and fines associated with Obamacare have not been fully realized yet. That will only make things worse. There are lots of troubling signs as we get ready to head into the fall season…

  • -Total mortgage activity has dropped to the lowest level that we have seen since October 2008.
  • -One of the largest furniture manufacturers in America was just forced into bankruptcy.
  • -According to the Wall Street Journal, the 2013 holiday shopping season is already being projected to be the worst that we have seen since 2009.

Oh but it doesn’t stop there. The administration will say that two million jobs were created last year? What kind?  Lower paying and part-time jobs primarily in the service ObamaUnemploymentMathindustries, some of which are second and third jobs people are taking just to make ends meet. The sad fact is that over two million jobs have been lost from the entire labor force since Obama took office. Counting unemployment the way it used to be counted, the rate would be well over 14 percent, known as the U-6 by the BLS.

But those falling median income numbers still don’t tell the whole story. Breaking it down by ethnicity, you’ll see that the strongest voting block for Democrats is hurting the most, and by far.

“The median income for non-Hispanic White households was $57,009, and it was $33,321 for Black households,” which is falling, after nearly five years of the first Black president. Black unemployment remains the highest in the country, Black median income at the lowest.  Teen Black unemployment is unacceptably, almost criminally high. With results like this, it is puzzling why the Black population votes by 93% every four years for the Democrat candidate. Under both White and Black Democrat presidents, it should be obvious that Obama’s skin color didn’t improve their circumstances one iota. In fact, they got worse. The promises are always there. They’re fighting for you. Bla Bla Bla. Have the Democrats fulfilled their promise? Are you gaining, or losing? That’s the only question you need to ask yourself. And the answer, no mater the color of your skin, is losing. At best, it’s time to realize which party can help your situation. At worst, you can ask yourself, “What do I have to lose?”

Economy, Media, Obamacare, Politics

Obamacare And The Separation Of Powers

Let’s not pretend to be so shocked that the House of Representatives wants to fund the government, but not Obamacare. The latest iteration of House Republicans obamacare-you-lie-obama-politics-1341488584negotiating with themselves has melted down to merely extending the same exemptions that Obama illegally gave businesses (until after the mid-term elections) to you and me. Ordinary citizens without the deep pockets.

Obama and his believers in the media will say, hey, it’s the law. You have to fund it. Well, the ACA may be the law, for now, but it is anything but normal.

Beginning with its origination. This law was written to the exclusion of all Republican lawmakers. Mistake #1. Who’s surprised that the country is divided on this? This law was not voted on and approved by the House. Instead, it was “deemed passed” by then Speaker Pelosi (D-CA). Mistake #2. Who’s surprised that the country is divided on this? This law is not performing as it was promised when “sold” to the American people, from the quality of care, keep your doctor, keep your plan, lower cost, no increase in national debt. The opposite is proving to be true about this bill. “Legal” or otherwise. Who’s surprised that the country is divided on this? Mistake #3. There is no budget here to debate over. Obama hasn’t had a budget to abide by since Bush’s last one. During all of Obama’s years, he and congress have been flying by the seat of their pants (where their brains are), and have been operating on CR’s ever since.

As for the Supreme Court ruling on it. That was only about whether the Federal Government can force you to pay for it. Contrary to all of Obama’s and the supporters of the ACA’s arguments up to that point, the Supremes said, with the aid of Chief Justice Roberts, that Congress has the power to tax, so it was a tax. Obama’s lawyers argued all along that it was not a tax, but was a penalty, a fine. Roberts had to change their argument in order to declare it constitutional. Whether the Constitution permits the Federal Government to force citizens to buy a product was not addressed.

Since Obama and Reid have said they’re not willing to talk or negotiate with the House leadership, the House has only one recourse left to them under the Constitution. And that is, the House controls the purse. Not funding the disaster is all that is left. On this, the House must stand their ground. If for no other reason than to force The White House and the Senate to abide by the Constitution as our founders intended.

It’s not the House’s fault that Obama and Reid can’t live with this separation of powers that the founding fathers designed. It’s up to Obama and Reid to not only comply with the Constitution, but to embrace it. Negotiate, and come up with a mutual resolution. Not to demagogue the House with its “my way or the highway” approach. That’s a dictatorship, not a constitutional republic.