Day: October 15, 2009

What Are They Cheering About?

Sen Snowe moved, by her vote, the finance committee bill onto the next level of negotiations…..what are you fools cheering about?

Snowe’s vote did NOTHING to further the health bill reform other than moving it out of committee….what part of that is something to cheer?  It has NOTHING in it that would cover the uninsured other than some pale BS about competition, but the bill does not even do that….the bill is just exactly what the insurance companies wanted.  They retain their massive profits and in turn will have access toi millions more customers.  In simpler words, it is NOT reform at all, but rather something I said months ago…a TWEAK!

Snowe’s arguments summarized a growing consensus among Democrats on Capitol Hill – and Republicans no longer in office – that a flawed bill that starts to overhaul the system is better than no bill at all.

Her vote gives political cover to moderate Democrats, puts Republicans on the defensive and gives Senate leaders the latitude to find 60 votes to overcome a GOP filibuster, rather than force health care legislation through the Senate with a special partisan procedure.

If you are one of those, like many citizens and many doctors that wanted a public option to be part of any reform, then you have NOTHING to cheer.

The Senate Finance Committee bill

Who’s covered: An estimated 94 percent of Americans. Illegal immigrants would not receive benefits.

Cost: $829 billion over 10 years.

How it’s paid for: Fees on insurance companies, drugmakers, medical device manufacturers. Additional tax levied on insurance companies. Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. A fee on employers whose workers receive government subsidies to help them pay premiums.

Individual mandate: Everyone must get coverage through an employer or on their own. Exemptions for economic hardship. The bill requires individuals and families to buy coverage if it costs no more than 8 percent of their income.

Employer mandate: Not required to offer coverage, but companies with more than 50 full-time workers would pay a fee if the government subsidizes employees’ coverage.

Insurance restrictions: No denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions. No higher premiums allowed for pre-existing conditions or gender. Limits on higher premiums based on age and family size. Limits on allowable co-pays and deductibles.

Changes to Medicaid: Income eligibility levels standardized to 133 percent of poverty ($30,000 a year for a family of four) for all parents, children and pregnant women. Childless adults making up to 133 percent of poverty ($14,400 for an individual) would be eligible for the first time. The expansion would be delayed until 2014.

This is not something to cheer…this was just a political move to give cover to those Blue Dogs that want to be part of the conversation….
There is a distinct odor of compromise….TWEAKING not reforming…just what the insurance companies were hoping for…that is why they spend millions putting congress people in their pockets.
And then there was the threat of premium increases, the newest threat from the insurance companies….but think about that……if they get their way with the reforms they will have a free reign to do that anyway…..so that was BS from the word GO.  BTW, they have already said that the increases next year would be sizable.

The Good News Is…………….

A lot of economists say that the recession is over……but few actually live on Main Street or even care what is happening to normal Americans.  I see NO end to the recession, the economic crisis, anywhere…jobs are lost, homes seized and investors making all the gains…..

CNN Money reported:

More than 80% of top economists believe that the recession that started almost two years ago is finally over. But most don’t expect meaningful improvement in jobs, credit or housing for months to come.That’s according to a survey released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). The group asked 43 top economists last month if they believe the battered U.S. economy has pulled out of the worst U.S. downturn since World War II. Those surveyed include economists from leading Wall Street firms and major corporations, as well as from highly respected universities and research firms.

Economists in the survey forecast that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3% in the three months that ended in September, though the official reading of gross domestic product won’t be out for weeks.

And all of the economists surveyed expect the recovery to be slow and painful, leaving many people and businesses feeling the effects of the downturn for years to come.

There you have it….the RECOVERY will be long and painful….that means Main Street will continue to take it in the ass until Wall Street decides that they have been fucked enough.

That means that the American worker will continue to lose their jobs and their homes and their health insurance…all the time investors will be rolling in the dough…..the only pain that the thieves on Wall Street will feel is that of any minor regulation the government may put on them….as with the recession and the economic crisis, they lose very little.

The people need to wake up and smell the pile of manure in front of them…..they WILL NEVER get a fair shake from the government…no matter which liar is elected and bought….