Health Care Reform End Game Emerges
The Obama administration and Democrats in Congress have pledged to pass a major health care reform bill by the end of the year. It will provide access to most of the uninsured through insurance reform and subsidies to help pay for coverage, bend the cost curve in both the private insurance market and Medicare, and improve quality.
Far more likely is that at most one of the three — improved access — will result from passing any of the variations of ObamaCare now being discussed exclusively among Democrats in Congress and White House officials. Since the Democrats are far more concerned with expanding access than driving down costs or enhancing quality, all of the bills are heavily loaded in this direction.
The president has also pledged that all new spending will be paid for through taxes, fees, or reduced spending elsewhere and that total new spending will be less than $900 billion over ten years. Now, add in one more detail to satisfy progressive Democrats who long for a single-payer national health care system: there should be a “robust” public option (a foot in the door to achieving this goal). This may mean a public plan which competes with private insurers everywhere, competes only in states that “opt in,” competes only in states that don’t “opt out,” or will be “triggered” in all states or in some states based on what happens in the private market the next few years. And the public option will either set rates at Medicare plus 5% or through negotiations with providers.
If anyone wonders why support for health care reform is lagging, you can attribute it to skepticism about the wizardry that can produce a health reform bill that meets all of the announced three goals or to the inability to make any sense of the public option options. One does not have to be intimately familiar with the thousand-plus pages in each bill passed in the five House and Senate committees to conclude that the expansion in access will likely drive up health care costs and reduce overall quality.
As the pubic mood on the economy and the country’s direction sours, it is not surprising that fewer Americans (only 23% in a recent Rasmussen poll) today regard health care reform as a top priority for the country. This is especially true given the rising unemployment rate, rising number of home foreclosures, and stunningly large federal budget deficit of $1.4 trillion in 2009 and projected at $9 trillion more for the next ten years.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has now taken a public stand on how to meld the two differing versions of a reform bill passed by committees in the Senate — what he calls a public option with an opt-out provision. This, along the continuum from 90-pound weakling (a trigger, favored by Maine’s Olympia Snowe) to robust (the public option everywhere, favored by “progressives”), is stronger than an opt-in public option (favored by Delaware Senator Tom Carper).
As soon as he announced his intentions, two Senate members — Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, and Snowe, the only Republican to have supported any version of reform in any of the five congressional committees — indicated their disapproval. Lieberman went as far as saying he would support a Republican filibuster if a bill came up that was similar to the one Reid described.
Two other moderate Democrats — Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, facing a tough re-election fight in 2010, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska — also suggested they may go the same way. The 60 or 61 votes that seemed to be available to break a filibuster for a bill that looked like the Senate Finance Committee bill was now down to 57 to 59 for the new Reid version of the bill.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin backed Reid, saying Reid’s hand was forced by liberals in the Democratic caucus who threatened not to support a bill without a public option. It is, of course, odd to hear Durbin describing pressure on Reid from liberals, as if to suggest that Durbin is not himself one of the most liberal members of the Senate. In any case, it seems to me very unlikely that liberals in either the House or Senate, most of whom have very safe seats, would block a bill that got them 80% of what they wanted with a reform package — especially if such obstruction resulted in killing the chances for major reform this year and perhaps for years to come (if the GOP rebounds in the 2010 elections).
Their threats seem less real than the chance that moderate Democrats, whose political careers could depend on their vote on this bill, decide the safer course is to vote no if a bill seems to be too much a product of the progressive caucuses in both Houses and if it seems to threaten the private insurance system while running up the deficit .
A head count in the House, where Democrats have a near 80-seat margin, suggests that Speaker Pelosi did not have even 200 votes (218 needed) for a bill that resembles the one passed by the three committees in the House, with a public option paying rates of Medicare plus 5%. Some moderate Democrats in the House voted for the committee bills, expecting that the Senate would save them and force a more moderate final bill to the floor after a conference committee compromise was reached. Now it appears Speaker Pelosi has compromised and the public option will have payment rates negotiated with providers rather than set according to the Medicare rate scale.
No one is sure exactly how this will work or why it will save money for individual insurance purchasers, but it will create a lot more jobs for new government rate negotiators. Most important, Pelosi will claim it is a robust public option.
It is possible that Reid’s gambit was more directed at energizing the progressive base nationally to support his re-election effort in 2010. (He currently trails several of his potential opponents.) If Reid is forced to cave later and accept a Baucus-like bill without a public option, he can point to his statement this week as proof he fought the good fight first. For a day, Reid is the champion of the left.
I continue to think that Democrats have too much invested in this effort to let it die. So a very complex and not very tasty sausage will be made to get 218 votes in the House and 60 in the Senate, and that suggests the moderates will get enough to make it at least palatable. The progressives will hold their noses, rant about the opportunity that was missed, and vote yes.
Lost in all of the skirmishing is the fact that no major piece of domestic legislation that changes so much of the economy has ever passed Congress on a straight party-line vote. The media seem to be unaware of this or reluctant to discuss it. Some Democrats seem aware of this, which is why there has been so much courting of Senator Snowe in order to provide a veneer of bipartisanship to what has been from the beginning a highly partisan effort.
Even more important is that all of the versions of the bill will, in short order, significantly increase costs in the private insurance market and likely run up much bigger federal deficits. Two serious studies have made the case for such an impact on private insurance premiums
In short, if the penalties for not buying insurance are small with an individual mandate (only $750 in the Baucus bill), then the healthy will pass on buying the new policies, but the unhealthy will buy them. It is not hard to figure out what happens to premiums in that case, though administration media hack Linda Douglass is unhappy with the conclusions of the studies. If there is a public option that only pays Medicare rates plus 5%, private insurers will be charged more by providers (cost shifting).
With an employer mandate, since it is far cheaper to pay an 8% tax for not providing insurance than to provide insurance to employees, many companies now providing insurance may opt to pay the 8% penalty and drop their coverage. That means the amount of subsidies paid for by the government could be far larger than estimated. The members of the House and Senate are hanging on every CBO estimate scoring a new version of the bill, but how does one score a bill with an opt-in or opt-out public option, not knowing which states will be part of the system?
Democrats have also become concerned that the alleged budget neutrality of the various bills (achieved by not including the cost of the $250 billion ten-year fix for physician payments under Medicare) results from front-ending of new fees and taxes and back-ending of new benefits, a toxic political formula for Democrats running in 2010 when the economy may still be very weak. So expect to see more front-ending of benefits, which will increase the cost of the package, requiring even more new fees, taxes, and phantom savings in the Medicare program (more waste, fraud, and abuse to be identified and wrung out of the system).
While the odds still slightly favor passage of a reform bill this year, the juggling act that is going on at the moment includes lots of balls in the air and jugglers with less than world class skills.
It’s too bad that all legislators don’t think and act like the Supreme Justices and look for the welfare of the country. Pleasing everyone is impossible. What happened to ‘Country First’? Legislators are between a rock and a hard place: constituents and lobbyists. No wonder they sall our future health care product a ‘sausage’.
We keep electing the wrong people, with some exceptions.
Sorry, a typo:
No wonder they call our future health care product a ’sausage’.
Two things have become clear when it comes to the healthcare reform bill.
Congress will pass it so that Barrack Hussein Obama can claim a personal victory for himself.
Obama will sign the bill into law thereby proving once and for all that both he; and Congress have the power to force whatever they want to onto every American citizen whether they agree with it or not.
When that happens the United States of America will be officially living under a dictatorship; missing only Obama’s brown shirt civilian military forces mentioned numerous times during his campaign.
Unbelievably, Americans have now pissed their freedom right down the drain.
#3
52% of Americans pissed it away last November – into a very stiff wind of statism and socialism. And it’s blowing back in all our faces.
Arguably, we pissed it away during the Wilson and FDR administrations, but that’s water under the bridge.
May I be excused? I have to go to the bathroom….
I am still hopeful this will fall apart…this is not the top priority or “threat” our country is facing. The economy is higher as are the Obama wars. The current plans are overkill, oversized to address the real problem of the 12 million who cannot afford health insurance. For them, we are going to ration Medicare, add a trillion to the deficit, and take over a large sector of our economy? How unimaginative the party in power is! Change is going to come…hopefully soon.
Mr. Baehr:
“While the odds still slightly favor passage of a reform bill this year, the juggling act that is going on at the moment includes lots of balls in the air and jugglers with less than world class skills”
The balls that they may have already dropped are the ones that bother me.
I’ve been following this issue in a true moonbat sweat-lodge blog, and the progressive hive-mind there has been distressingly laser-focused on the Public Option, since it FINALLY penetrated their nuggets that outright Single Payer is not going to happen. (It only took all summer long, and the tanking of the Nobel Prize winning Alleged Hawaiian’s poll numbers, but then that’s Liberals for ya…)
But in all their screeching and caterwauling, none give a moment’s consideration to more mundane reforms like allowing health care commerce across state lines or removal of the anti-trust exemptions, let alone such, (to my mind), lead-pipe cinches like standardization of billing and nomenclature,
(f’rinstance, an appendectomy performed in Utah should be called the same, and consist of the same sub-sets of prcedures and treatments as one performed in Florida), so that consumers can comparison shop between coverages.
TMK, and I haven’t read the bills,(but then, neither has Congress if the past is predictive), these kinds of reform haven’t been seriously entertained, let alone debated.
I hope I’m wrong in this.
We might be undergoing gastro-intestinal surgery when a few antacid tablets might have been just as effective.
And in this suspicious rush to legislate, it seems that the Democratic majority leadership had Single Payer or “Son of Single Payer”,(PO), in mind from the very start, and have been charging towards it at full speed ahead to the exclusion of more reasonable and less drastic initiatives ever since.
We need to let these politicians know that the bill if passed may live on past 2010 and the O may be pres past 2010 but their jobs will belong to someone else
The fact is the Democrats have decided the Socialism is the answer – to hell with the question. How can a private, profit driven enterprise compete with an entity that has the power to print endless supplies of money and change any rule (law) that diminishes its power? I want my HCP to make money if they provide good service. I want my doctor to make money if he/she is competent. This is free market capitalism. The progressives, left, Democrats or whatever do not want this. This is fundamental. The Government should provide a level playing field and get out of the way. This health care bill is a obamanation. Any Congressman on the state or federal level that votes for or supports this bill will not ever get my vote.
And the least defensible position from the ruling party? They are willing to have the country forgoe an estimated savings of $50 billion a year to protect $47 million in campaign contributions from trial lawyers and not enact tort reform. Holy cow, doesn’t anyone in the administration have any math skills? We the people do. And we still have the vote too.
The Socialists in Congress & White House are greedy power hungry idiot thugs, plain & simple; however, the Democrats have already overplayed their hand thanks to the disaster that is Porkulus as the failures continue to hatch into hungry, ravenous Harpies ready to consume the Obama Administration as he sits idly by playing golf & the other Congressional Democrats are using their own bumbling agendas. The Democrats are thieves with this bill. Period. The bill needs to die. Nothing in this bill can compromised–KILL THE BILL!!!
This monstrosity is no more about improving the health of American citizens than Cap-and-Trade is about lowering the planet’s temperature. They are both devices to hustle tax money away from the citizenry and into the government and special interests.
Part of their projected revenue is based on eliminating fraud in the existing system. These jokers in congress and the WH would rather layer on new thicknesses of laws than to enforce the existing laws. On one area of deception there is smoke and mirrors, on the other there is paint over rust(POR). We pay and they apologize and spin.
Obama was elected in part by campaigning to “clean up business as usual in Washington”. What we are seeing is a multiplication of behind closed doors deal-making without we the people. The order of the day is to get it done quickly and sign before reading the fine print.
What stuns me about this debate is the cost. Both the Senate and the House versions of this bill are around $1 trillion (that’s with a “t”, folks) and this country is flat broke. The economy is a shambles and unemployment is skyrocketing. And please, before you trolls out there say anything about the recent growth in the GDP, remember that was primarily “stimulated” by the “Cash for Clunkers” program and the first-time house buying credit. Those programs are now over and, as of today, consumer spending is still down. This economy is a long, long, way from recovering and now the Democrats in Congress want to add another $1 trillion (that’s with a “t”, folks, remember that) to the debt. The Democrats say that this will be “paid for” through additional taxes and cost savings from Medicare, but it still means that somebody is going to get stuck with the bill. The money doesn’t come out of thin air. The trillion (that’s with a “t” folks, remember that) will have to come from somewhere and, believe me, it’s going to affect everyone in this country, not just the very rich. Even if the Federal Government soaked ever rich person in this country, it would never even come close to paying for this program (not to mention the already existing massive budget deficit). So if this monstrosity passes Congress, you will end up having worse health care and paying more for it. What’s not to love?
I look forward to the outrage around here when it passes.
Just wait until those moderates have their electoral enemas next Tuesday, after they witness Corzine lose in New Jersey, Deeds lose by double-digits in VA, and an independent Conservative win in New York.
They’ll literally be “scared sh!tless”. Their bowels will be so clean, they’ll be able to see their reflections on the walls of their own colons. Then we’ll find out exactly how much of a deity Obamessiah is…by the number of moderate Dems who are willing to martyr themselves for him.
THis concerns four kinds of liberals. The first kind of liberal genuinely believe that this is the best way to go and that the government can truly make it all better. THis Pollyanna is too freakin stupid to realize that it will never work and will never work as planned. Usually these bleeding heart idiots have no plan and think it will magically work on its own.
Then there are the second kind, the effite elitists who think noone except themselves and their ivy league bretheren think that they truly know best and it is only they that can make people lives better. These people Generally have never worked a day in their lives or even tired to manage anything outside of the public sector and yet they think people are helpless stupid and totally dependant on somebody else.
Too many examples of this type of liberal to mention. These people are quite dangerous and never follow through on anything they take on. the third kind is the most dangerous of all. The power grabber. They want government to control is all, for better or worse. Pukey Pelosi and Harry “nuts” Reid are the best examples, but the Democrat party is mostly populated with these kinds of liberals.
THis is why they want “healthcare reform” so badly. It has nothing to so with healthcare but control and power. the last kind of liberal is the enabler of the previous three and is the reactionary. The reactionary is against anything “normal society” is for. If Society thinks gay marriage is fraudulent, they are for it, if they think legalizing pot is wrong, they are for that, if tobacco is legal, they want to punish anyone who smokes. Same for Illegal immigrants. They are just mindlessly contrarian. The problem is that I think this is a good chunk of the base of the younger set of the dem party.
NEver had a black man as president, Vote Obama, even though he is the WORST example of who to vote for. Thinks “somebody else” gets “better” healthcare than they do? Take it away and punish them, even if it means it hurts them as well. The reactionaries are the loudmouths and the troublemakers.
each type has their own reason for wanting this, and except for the pollyanna, none of it is to solve problems or make life better.
14. rvastar:
“Just wait until those moderates have their electoral enemas next Tuesday, after they witness Corzine lose in New Jersey, Deeds lose by double-digits in VA, and an independent Conservative win in New York. They’ll literally be “scared sh!tless”. Their bowels will be so clean, they’ll be able to see their reflections on the walls of their own colons.”
Rightwing Scat Alert has reached NEW HEIGHTS! Well done, ravstar! Now, what if all those things don’t happen on Tuesday? What then? Whose colons will glimmer then?
“Just wait until those moderates have their electoral enemas next Tuesday, after they witness Corzine lose in New Jersey, Deeds lose by double-digits in VA, and an independent Conservative win in New York.”
According to the polls that is hardly assured. I’m one of those who believe the only real poll is the one taken by the voters in November. Conservatives cannot count their chickens before they are hatched or they will for surely lose. Fight like Winston Churchill until the end.
#13 N&T:
“I look forward to the outrage around here when it passes.”
The outrage is more likely to come from those who have convinced themselves that a HCR Bill with a PO back-door into Single-Payer/Socialist Utopiacare is what is going to pass.
Heck, the outrage is already there in moonbat-land, where they howl and yammer against the Usual Goldsteins: Big Business and Conservative politicians, and replete with the mewling sounds that moonbats make when pointing out the Promised Land that they think bankrupted old Europe is.
What you NEVER hear, even if you ask them directly, is if they personally have health insurance and if they are happy with their coverage.
You might want to look beyond the cherry-picked polls and White House-approved “legitimate news sources” that the Dem Leadership is using to gin up support, (a support that hasn’t been exactly rallying, you might notice), or look VERY closely at the samples used in the reports they ARE brandishing.
Passage of this thing is by no means assured, but if you just WANT to think otherwise, then be my guest.
No one doubts that SOME species of HCR is going to ooze out of this Congress, but what exactly is going to be in its’ guts is what we are concerned with.
And hey, if Single-Payer Federally Subsidized Health Care had the numbers, it would already be a Done Deal.
Hey…I just realized that nobody has mentioned Ted Kennedy in two weeks!
Wow. Already becoming a non-person to his crew.
Being an embarrassment will do that to your legacy, though.
The six dialectical contradictions of socialism in the USSR: Coming to America ”Now “”
How to speak and understand Socialism .. Their words don’t mean what they say …. here’s their secret code .
There is full employment — yet no one is working.
No one is working — yet the factory quotas are fulfilled.
The factory quotas are fulfilled — yet the stores have nothing to sell.
The stores have nothing to sell — yet people got all the stuff at home.
People got all the stuff at home — yet everyone is complaining.
Everyone is complaining — yet the voting is always unanimous.
Economic justice:
America is capitalist and greedy — yet half of the population is subsidized.
Half of the population is subsidized — yet they think they are victims.
They think they are victims — yet their representatives run the government.
Their representatives run the government — yet the poor keep getting poorer.
The poor keep getting poorer — yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about.
They have things that people in other countries only dream about — yet they want America to be more like those other countries.
Hollywood cliches: Hollywood is 90 % Jewish lead as we see by the “”Oliver Stones’ Steven Splibergs love on Castro and Hugh Chavez .
Without capitalism there’d be no Hollywood — yet filmmakers hate capitalism.
Filmmakers hate capitalism — yet they sue for unauthorized copying of their movies.
They sue for unauthorized copying — yet on screen they teach us to share.
On screen they teach us to share — yet they keep their millions to themselves.
They keep their millions to themselves — yet they revel in stories of American misery and depravity.
They revel in stories of American misery and depravity — yet they blame the resulting anti-American sentiment on conservatism.
They blame the anti-American sentiment on conservatism — yet conservatism ensures the continuation of a system that makes Hollywood possible.
UNDERSTAND ?
Health care bill will pass – 60 votes or not. Reconciliation is not yet off the table. The GOP has played this card before – Dems will be pressured to come to order or face a 51 vote bill.
If Repubs want to have any influence, their time is now. Once a bill is ready to be voted on, the game is over.
Peace.
DS
The Democrats are being pulled into too many directions simultaneously to effectively pass this monster; it will get bogged down several times when Negative Nancy tries to put it to a vote. Almost anyone who votes for this bill is committing political suicide. We the people are already mad thanks to the Porkulus disaster…
Senator Harry Reid will even have more difficult task than Negative Nancy in the House.
#20 David S:
“If Repubs want to have any influence, their time is now. Once a bill is ready to be voted on, the game is over.”
And how is my favorite “dooble cheese and pepperoni philosopher” this fine morning?
Did you remember my order of wings this time?
In re: HCR…oh no, ace.
This dog’s breakfast is going to be ALL yours.
Maybe the Maine senators will kindly consent to give it the sniff-test for you before you have to shove it down America’s throats.
But when the public gags and pukes it back up, it’s all on your crew.
The American middle-class’…as they watch their health care and energy costs skyrocket over the next 3 years while they wait in the soup line.
Then again, you Leftists have never really been interested in actually helping anyone but yourselves…to more power over “the masses”.
23. rvastar:
Why would you turn to Lenin for your political philosophy? If you want an endorsement of spreading the wealth around, turn to Thomas Paine.
My Dear #19 ReConUSMC,
You had me agreeing with you until the anti-semitic tirade. Even IF 90%
of Hollywood were Jewish, you use the word “they” to lump them all in the same liberal, socialist boat. I believe there are many who are conservative capitalists, who are just quiet about it. Words matter, be more thoughtful.
18 Bilgeman:
a cherry-picked poll for ya:
Asked which president is “more responsible for the current state of the economy,” only 18 percent say President Obama. Fifty-eight percent say former President George W. Bush. Nine percent blame both of them. Republicans are the only subgroup of voters who blame Obama, and only by a six-point margin of 35 percent to 29 percent. (Fox News poll)
Now, how about some fries?
A vote in favor of any of these ‘health care’ bills will be a career ending choice. 2010 is not that far off. Our increased taxes will keep this as a hot issue.
It looks good now. The economy is growing again, and the banking system appears to be strengthening which will only add more fuel to an already impending recovery. This new health care reform package will also fix a problem that has been festering for many, many years. Its a shame that some chose to fight against such an important milestone. At least there are a few republicans in the senate that will shun big business for once and do the right thing. At last, government is working again to solve our problems !!
So, socialism is coming, and the trollies are happy, and it is a fine day for Bin Laden.
America’s might will be destroyed by the commies: that’s why the trolls are happy, they hate America’s might.
And Bin Laden hates America’s might too.
But the Social Security will finally be OK, because the death panels are still there, and we have been promised substantial savings in the treatment of (ourselves when old).
What’s not to be happy, if you are a nihilist and a subversive ?
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
#26: N&T:
“Now, how about some fries?”
Awww, no thanks. I’ll have the chips.
“a cherry-picked poll for ya:….(Fox News poll)”
I understand that it’s a function of your damaged moonbat brain, laboring as it is under the echoing commandments of the great Liberal hive-mind, but outside of your local communal sweat-lodge, a Fox News poll indicating that the sample largely blames our late hapless ole Preznit for the state of the economy doesn’t really mean a blessed thing about forecasting the fate of the Nobel Prize-winning Alleged Hawaiian’s Socialist Utopiacare/Great Leap into Bankruptcy.
And thanks to your kind example, this demonstrates exactly the kind of non-sequitur that can lead to another legendary Great Moonbat Group Hissy-Snit of 2009.
(You may recall the last alignment of the planets for a G.M.G.H.-S., the 2000 Florida General Election recount. That Hissy-Snit, the Millenum edition, lasted until you all collectively forgot Algore had ever existed, and passionately embraced John Kerry and Joe Lieberman. Of course Joe Lieberman is now no longer a Democrat, and is today the Independent Jew every moonbat loves to hate).
The fact that folks may still hold that Dick Nixon ain’t their cup of tea does NOT necessarily mean that they will vote for Chairman Maobama’s next 5 Year Plan, see?
Show me where I’ve asked for one, Lefty.
Oh…that’s right…fantasies are your ilks forte. Kind of like health care reform.
Oh wait, I forgot…it’s health insurance reform now.
Oh wait, I forgot…it’s health insurance co-ops now.
Oh wait, I forgot…it’s health insurance options now.
With all the confusion, it’s easy to see why you have to resort to red herrings and straw men so often. If you can’t even identify what it is you want, how can you defend it?
25. Lake Shore Drive:
My Dear #19 ReConUSMC,
You had me agreeing with you until the anti-semitic tirade. Even IF 90%
of Hollywood were Jewish, you use the word “they” to lump them all in the same liberal, socialist boat. I believe there are many who are conservative capitalists, who are just quiet about it. Words matter, be more thoughtful.
******************
In all due respect Lake Shore Drive :
Facts matter and that is what Thoughtful means .PC Correctness has turned out to be a linc. to lie and keep the truth Mute .
The god mother to my own youngest Daughter is Jewish and does not understand jewish Socialist politics after Stalin and Hitler since both were radical Socialist leaders .
Jews are only 4.9 % of our Population … The majority of Jews are self confessed Socialist and are not supporting Israel at all . That greatly hurts my older Jewish Friends
Facts, Israeli’s greatly dislike Obama ….. I know since I helped train their Special Forces in Israel and in NC .
Jews voted 59.9 % for Obama . In NY City 8.2 out of 10 .
Joe Klein The Radical Socialist Jew reminds me of the Black Liberation Radial Rev Wright since their message is quite similar when speaking of Fox news .
The list of anti American Jews is growing and groups as well …… The NY Times , THE Goggle Guys , George Soros pays for Move on,org , The Daily Kos ,The ACLU , The Color of Change(FOUNDERS ) and 21 other far leftist groups .He gives hundreds of Millions top far left wing candidates and causes .
Bill Ayers as his wife who founded the weather mens underground along with Van ? I forget get his last name .. see glenn beck , The Chicago 8 , The Southern Poverty law center , Two Jewish Brother that founded ACORN , the Tides Foundation , The Annenberg Foundation The American Way , Sidney Lewis Founder of Progressive Insurance are all Jewish .
The Progressive Way , The center for the Progressive way , The American Communist Party , David Sprintzen, head of Long Progressive Coalition, The Center for Democratic Values (CDV), a progressive think-tank.. The DSA ,The Jewish Labor Committee (JLC), founded in New York in 1934, was the vanguard of American labor’s anti-Nazi and antifascist activism. The JLC grew out of the Jewish labor movement in the US. In 1940–1941, The American Socialist Party of America , The Syria Club , Green Peace , SDS – Students for a Democratic Society: Founded in 1959 by Tom Hayden to name a very few .
Sorry I left out 49 Jews in Congress all are 100 % Liberal/ Socialist …
There are 41 Jewish Talking on TV ALL are Liberal/Socialist ….. The lone rangers are Bill Crystal and Charles Krauthammer both conservatives on Fox news .
As are Rohm Emannel and his loony brother , David Axelrod, Cass Sunstein , ,John Podesta
Barack Obama’s Economic Team – All Jews and all Socialist !
Benjamin Bernanke(Jewish) – Chairman, Federal Reserve System
Timothy Geithner(Jewish) – Secretary, U.S. Treasury Department
Lawrence Summers(Jewish) – Chairman, National Economic Council
Paul Volcker(Jewish) – Chairman, Economic Recovery Advisory Board
Jared Bernstein(Jewish) – Chief Economist and Economic Adviser, Vice President
Peter Orszag(Jewish) – Director, Office of Management and Budget(OMB)
Gary Gensler(Jewish) – Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC)
Mary Schapiro(Jewish) – Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC)
Sheila Bair(Jewish) – Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC)
Karen Mills(Jewish) – Administrator, Small Business Administration (SBA)
Christina Romer(Jewish husband) – Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers
In truth his is only the tip of the ice berg,
15. : Bubba’s BBQ:
“This concerns four kinds of liberals.”
Nice piece Bubba, and may I add a 5th kind? That is the bomb throwing anarchist disguised as a liberal whose basis motivation is to tear the house down. Here is the rock star who trashes the room, obscenes the audience, and lives for the sensation of destruction. Like the arsonist, he lives for the flame of hate while excusing himself with a cause, a criminal mind. This can be said for either spectrum.
19. ReConUSMC:
The six dialectical contradictions of socialism in the USSR: Coming to America ”Now “”
That was impressive. I hope that you can chant the whole litnany in one breath.
Daring to add on to that for the wanna-be socialists, what they might be missing in their crusade of cradle to grave security is ‘discretionary income.’ After they pay (if they work) the taxes, the insurance, housing, food, transportation, and clothes, there is going to be little left over for the freedom of choice of what they would like to purchase. The socialist household budget is set by the state in default of what is left over. The Big Lie in the public option is “that this will not cost the average taxpayer . . .”
The FDR adnubustratuib put in place the Social Security adminstration that depends on people not living longer than 65 years. DNC chair “buddy’ Roamer said it plainly “the old have a duty to die.”
Hence the death panels are back in Nancy Pelosi’s House. The Democratw here in the northeast are already spending the additional inheritance taxes from triming people life span shorter by five years.
They have not yet decided what to call it when you leave the hospital because of involentaty assisted suicide. The European healthcare term “Terminal Sedation” is the working term for now but may be too close to death by leathal injection which is what it is. They are afraid that if they do not come up with the right name people might seek black market health providers rather than go to hospitals where the “Healthcare” workers may murder them. In some European systems 8% of the people who die in the Hospital die from Terminal Sedation and to balance the budget nillions will have to go that way in the Obama care system.
33. ReConUSMC:
You’re right, It’s all the Jews’ fault. We need some kind of solution . . . any ideas? Perhaps Gary Rosen can help.
Thanks 34. Jed your right . Hoo Rrrr !
We call it The “”Nanny State .. Womb to Womb in ReCon USMC Lingo !
vivo: “It’s too bad that all legislators don’t think and act like the Supreme Justices and look for the welfare of the country.”
Oh good grief. It’s not the job of the Supremes to “look for the welfare of the country.” Their sole job is to adjudicate the legitimacy of existing laws. Period. As Justice Holmes once said to a young lawyer arguing before the Court, “Young man, this is not a court of justice — this is a court of LAW.”
Thanks 34. Jed your right . Hoo Rrrr !
Sorry wrong word
We call it The “”Nanny State .. Womb to Tomb not Womb to Womb in ReCon USMC Lingo !
Privately Marines call it womb to womb to womb …(grin)
Just kidding ?
Regarding Pelosi, I’ve got to paraphrase a Caddyshack bit with a tweaking.
‘I bet you get a free bowl of soup with that ‘haircut’. Eh, looks good on you’.
What’s odd is when the 60 Minutes interview with Obama broached the ‘people are calling you a Socialist..’ question and Obama chuckled. Saying he wasn’t…
Besides the 20 somethings in college, and the 30, 40 and 50 somethings who still live near a/ their college – why don’t ‘closet’ Socialists just ‘come out’?
It’s supposedly empowering to ‘come out’ regarding ones sexual preference when living under society’s ‘social mores’.
Why don’t Socialists on the Hill incorporate this mindset instead of living in a blatantly obvious fantasy?
I give more credit to those speaking truth of who and what they are, albeit good and bad, than these vacuous windbags on the beltway sidestepping the laws of the Constitution and misuse of governance on both sides of the aisle.
My Dear ReConUSMC.
I will not argue with you since you have all the names and numbers, percentages, names of groups, spouses,organizations, etc,……Sounds as if you may be a bit preoccupied with the Jewish PROBLEM??? Your daughter is blessed with having a Jewish Godmother. It’s called a Mitzvah. Words matter and you said too many.
30. Bilgeman:
34. JED:
29. Sherab Zangpo:
15. : Bubba’s BBQ:
40. paul_unalaska:
If this passes, I pray its by reconciliation. The dems have got to own this, because the damage its going to do will be titanic, hopefully allowing for a large enough landslide by a born again ideologically libertarian republican party, which can reverse this nonsense and begin drastic budget cutting across the board.
And that, folks, it exactly what we need:a born again ideologically libertarian republican party.
The only way this is going to happen is with a PLEDGE by all elected republicans to never engage in deficit spending and vote against any deficit spending.
What do you think of the idea of a real and binding pledge?
The Stock Market voted on the economy today – over the edge… glad I went to bonds and gold earlier this month… should have bought and taken possession of pork bellies and wheat.
This could be the downward slope of the next leg in this financial collapse. Hope not…
41. Lake Shore Drive:
My Dear ReConUSMC.
I will not argue with you since you have all the names and numbers, percentages, names of groups, spouses,organizations, etc,……Sounds as if you may be a bit preoccupied with the Jewish PROBLEM??? Your daughter is blessed with having a Jewish Godmother. It’s called a Mitzvah. Words matter and you said too many.
*********************************
Madam in all due respect There are never to many words in Truth .
He that is blinded by realty and facts is no one I could trust in any race or Religion .
Short enough shallow one ?
Lake Shore Dr.
My Dear ReConUSMC.
I will not argue with you since you have all the names and numbers, percentages, names of groups, spouses,organizations, etc,……Sounds as if you may be a bit preoccupied with the Jewish PROBLEM??? Your daughter is blessed with having a Jewish Godmother. It’s called a Mitzvah. Words matter and you said too many.
**********************
Madam (Dear) in all due respect there are never to many words in telling the Truth backed up by facts .
I am sad both deeply annoy you or your embarrassed them .
Especially those Jews in America that have turned their backs on Israel while we regular white folks support them in all ways possible .
Paul said any man that want listen to reason is no to trust …
baal, I understand your concern.
Though this is why I’ve been an Independent for most of my voting life.
There are plenty of RINOs – unfortunate for CA- Schwarz.., ME- Snowe, MA- Romney, NY- Scozzafava, AZ- McCain etc., who speak of one thing in front of the cameras though incorporate something entirely different behind the scenes.
The key for me isn’t to vote out ‘Democrats’. It’s getting rid of the bureaucrats, Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike who have been a ‘public servant’ far too long, have lost touch and become nothing but another special interest appeaser.
‘Crossing the aisle’ shouldn’t mean kissing arse. And vice versa. Lindsey Graham is the latest buffoon to give in.. to John ‘I look like Lurch of Addams Family’ Kerry!
No, what Independents and true Republicans should do is make nice with blue dogs to find a median. It’s moot to attempt such cordial action with Dodd, Murtha, Specter and that type.
Reagan did just that with the blue dogs of his Democratic-led Congress. And in many respects Clinton did the same with his Republican-led Congress.
As for Independents, I believe there needs to be representatives, candidates who are not overboard/unhinged in some stances and clueless on other issues. Nader, Perot and others hinder the cause.
The GOP is a mess. Michael Steele is proving to be unimportant. Too much bickering, name calling. It’s a losers tactic. Leave those failing and counterproductive tactics to Pelosi, Frank and the like.
Remember, GWB did his share in the dismantling of ‘fiscal responsibility’ on the platform of fiscal …
28. Poor Citizen:
The Bush tax cuts are about to expire. The health care reform is a huge tax on bussness and indviduals. The cap and trade legislation is a huge tax on bussness and individuals. Each one of these will make it harder for people to pay thair morgage, buy cars, travel, ex. All 3 will snap the economies neck.
43. GlennO:It’s friday, the stock market does that on fridays, not always but a lot. I do think that we’ve been looking at a premature rally, maybe based on overly optimistic numbers or maybe the rallying has been based upon the fact that while the recession is bad, people have been overly scared over terms like, “the worst depression since the great depression,” and are finally getting real about things.
While technically speaking this is “true,” it’s still really misleading. Yeah, the economy is tough, but nobody is about to starve.
46. paul_unalaska:What do you think of the idea of a binding pledge though? One that they can’t weasel their way around…
Yes Bush did incalculable damage to the idea of someone running on a platform of fiscal conservatism. Thats another reason that I think that the pledge solves that, by simply removing irresponsibility as an option!
See, the reason i keep talking about this is that its a real solution that would actually work if implemented correctly.
Check out this website.
http://www.dirtyliberal.com
Get this–near the end of 1990 pages of the Pelosi Bill includes a gift to trial lawyers.
“Far from tort reform of any kind, the bill actually proposes a gift to the plaintiffs; bar –a penalty on states that have or retain damages caps in medical malpractice lawsuits”.
As reported by Hugh Hewett.
Sure is good that “special interests” don’t get rewarded by Dems!!!
Dear Anonymous & ReConUSMC
Just too many misspellings and grammatical errors in your comments to make them worthy of a response.
All The Best…..you’ll need it.
I’m truly depressed. Elected officials just DO NOT GET IT, and I can’t imagine how much longer we’ll allow these buffoons to get away with IT (you know, the same BS they’ve collectively pulled over our eyes for years (decades?)
It’s time to remove every last one of these theiving jerks and THEIR way of conducting the business of this nation.
Again classic Lefty Lake Shore Drive- if you can’t argue the point, focus on the spelling and run away.
Health care is a pretty much done deal. It’s what the majority of the American people voted for and it’s what they expect. The real reason conservatives are so afraid of health care reform and why they so vehemently oppose it is because they know right well that once hard working American families start benefitting from it it’s over in a big way for them. The center of political gravity will forever have shifted. After that they won’t be able to pry that vote out of their hand with a crowbar.
@8. rrbs: – … the Democrats have decided the Socialism is the answer – to hell with the question.
Almost.
If you look at the last 70+ years of federal legislation and media corruption, you’ll see that the left has worked very hard at RE-defining the question.
The question used to be something simple like, “how can America best leverage individual liberty, individual responsibility and free markets to achieve maximum peace, prosperity and security?”
After decades of regulating the formerly free markets into a state of complete dysfunction, dumbing down the citizenry so they don’t even understand the concept of a valid argument (let alone the law), and placing ever-larger portions of the population at the mercy of Taxpayer-funded entitlements, the question is now, “how fast can we implement national socialism, since we’ve ‘proved’ that capitalism and the Republican form of Government guaranteed by the Constitution don’t ‘work’?”
baal, your idea holds some validity.
Though the wording should be adamant in stating its ‘non-binding’ condition.
Yeah, I think it has some teeth to it..
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Re: PelosiCare, the House version. It’s public. 1,990 socialist pages. And, frankly, filled with neo-Com crap.
1. Hugely higher taxes on health care related stuff. From anesthesia, to stents, to hip replacement surgery. And all the taxes are front loaded to make PelosiCare seem cheaper.
2. Rationing. It’s there in black and white.
3. Death Panels. Ditto.
4. 500 billion in Medicare cuts. Bleeding seniors dry.
5. Government funded abortions, all 1.4 million of them this year.
6. And, of course, the public option. Designed to act like a drain sucking in everyone by the year 2015.
7. It’ll be a twenty trillion boondoggle over the next fifteen years (if passed).
8. All told, 1,990 stinking pages of dead fish. This is where we cross the Rubicon. So call your congressman. Give your congresswoman a piece of your mind. Visit Washington next Thursday. Show up at noon on the capital steps. Join Michele Bachmann R,MN. She’ll be your guide. And let your voices be heard.
9. By 2013, you’ll be prohibited from having the private insurance you currently have, demonstrating again that Obama lied through his teeth.
10. With passage of this monstrosity, by 2013, the federal government will control 48% of the U.S. economy. This is a watershed moment for America.
Stand up and be counted. Socialized Medicine can still be defeated. America can still be saved.
At the end of the day, the worst President in United States history will receive the justice he richly deserves.
12,000,000 uninsured poor x $8,000 for a policy = $96,000,000,000.
Some would be families, which would bring it down. Some would have pre-existing conditions, which would bring it up, or need other consideration.
But that’s 1/10 of the cost of the bill. I don’t claim it’s the right answer, but if we did that, and bought ourselves more time to find a decent answer, it would be cheaper than this stupid approach. I frankly just wish they’d leave us alone.
Nancy’s bill is Communism for America. Do we want to be slaves of the all powerful, inept, corrupt government? They work for us. We are no one’s slaves. This bill must die!!! And any politician who votes for this bill, votes for Communism.
#42 baal:
“The dems have got to own this, because the damage its going to do will be titanic, hopefully allowing for a large enough landslide by a born again ideologically libertarian republican party, which can reverse this nonsense and begin drastic budget cutting across the board.”
Well see, that’s the thing. Once this beast cracks open its’ egg and sees the light of day,we’ll never be able to undo it, (without shooting people down in the streets…literally).
Name me one government social entitlement program that isn’t frighteningly tumor-like in it’s propensity to grow and survive an metastasize?
See what I mean?
Pardon the analogy, but the socialism in this thing needs to be aborted, or else it’ll be with us FOREVER.
To everyone making silly comments:
Does anyone here have any concept of American history. This is what happens. Your continued support of the DEMs and REBs enabled what’s happening in the country today. For those of you who supported former president Bush (which includes all the DEMs that cast protest votes for Gore and Kerry) this is what happens. You supported a REB who believed in economic libertarianism (until the last 4 months of his administration) and the public elected a DEM who supports various elements of socialism. That what happens. When the fantasy/failure of libertarianism brings this country to the brink of ruin the voters tend to support socialism (i.e. Hover/FDR). If you want things to change then stop supporting DEMs or REBs!
As a direct comparison as to what these Democrat Communists want to accomplish:
Lets free all inmates of American prisons and let them control the law enforcement of the United States;
Then empty all the insane asylums and let them administer the mental health of all U. S. Citizens;
Turn over the U.S. economy to the Taliban for fiduciary responsibility;
Makes perfect sense to the Democrats!
The Health Care Reform Bill is nothing less than an attack on the Free Market System and a takeover of Healthcare. It will exclude private insurance, result in doctor shortages(I am among those that will likely retire), Hospital closures, delays in treatment, and cost containment efforts that will destroy any chance at improving healthcare or improving treatments for decades to come.
The cost to insure the 6-12 Million that are uninsurable or working poor would cost about 40Billion and could be accomplished from the moneys that have been set aside for the Stimulus bill and save the American economy, save the health care system (which although expensive really is the best system in the world), and could be done without further intrusion of the federal government into the care of its citizens. Government intrusion and controls which have been increasingly occuring since Medicare was passed really does interfere with overall patient care and raise the cost of healthcare.
As for those who can but choose not to buy health insurance the solution is simple. As an American citizen they have that right, but they also have a responsibility to pay their bills. If they stay healthy then so be it. if they need care and don’t have insurance just require them to pay their bills.
I am a solo practitioner and will be providing coverage for my practice (at a high personal expense) while I go to Washington this week. I believe that if Healthcare Takeover passes it will be the end of a free market economy. Trying to reverse such effects is almost impossible.
Although the socialists are very cleverly trying to delay and gradually phase in the effects of the degree of intrusion into American life that this Bill represents it does not minimize the catastrophic effects it will eventually will have.
61. Bilgeman:
“Once this beast cracks open its’ (sic) egg and sees the light of day,we’ll never be able to undo it, (without shooting people down in the streets…literally).”
Yeah, that’s always my first thought, too . . . “How soon do I get to start shooting people in the street?”
Sociopath.
According to Rassmussen via Hot Hair, PelosiCare is no better than ObamaCare & a vote for PelosiCare is political suicide:
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/02/rasmussen-pelosicare-no-improvement-over-obamacare/
Nancy’s bill will not get through the House with these kind of polls coupled with the possible upsets in Virginia, New Jersey, & New York-23.