Pesky Left of Center Reporters Keep Trying to Blow Obama's Cover

Shame on you Bob Herbert for trying to blow Obama's cover.

He has worked feverishly to pull the wool over everyone's eyes not only by claiming the depression was averted but also by claiming the new health insurance laws are pro consumer and anti health insurance industry. And you come along with your damn depression reporting to spoil the fun and poison the atmosphere on this joyous weekend when the right wing establishment Democrats are thumbing their noses at the majority of the American people and at most of the rest of the world by ramming through a Rube Goldberg authoritarian health care system instead of tried and true single payer.

The next thing you know, we'll have numerous people in bankruptcy courts who didn’t know jack about deductibles and uncovered items claiming they were bankrupted by Obama care. Not to mention the down home right wingers are warning about taking up arms against the Internal Revenue Service. Damn all you muckraking truth tellers.

And damn the Internet too while I am at it. There is entirely too much anti-Obama truth on the Internet if you ask me.

All presidents (and Obama more than most, I must admit) need people to be dumb or at least act dumb about what is really going down. How else are they supposed to help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? And you, Mr. Herbert, are not cooperating. You would never win an election in Chicago, let me tell you.

The above was in response to this article.

-----------------------
Comments are very appreciated. Comments are moderated but all comments will be approved except for those that do not belong on Unity-Progress. For example, comments that contain any commercial advertising and ones that contain objectionable hatred will not be approved. Many comments that appear will receive a return comment by Unity-Progress.

The email address for Unity-Progress is
unity.progress.mail at gmail.

Use this address for all communications, including requests for link exchange if you have a good economics or political site.

The Damage Epicenter for the Democrats' 2,700+ Page Monstrosity: Who is in the Bullseye

In the last year there have been many thousands of lies told by many hundreds of elites about what is in the 2,700+ pages and about how it will pass. These pages indeed add up to economic doomsday for many people. The epicenter where the devastation will be the worst will be for those with incomes between 133% and about 250% of the poverty threshold. Think of Port-au-Prince for the level of household budget devastation that will fall on many people in this range.

The somewhat more generous subsidies of the now pushed aside House legislation are history; the more restrictive and more limited Senate subsides are the only thing left on the table.

In the 133% to 250% of poverty range, in the epicenter in other words, the premium subsidies will be much larger than they will be for people in the 250% to 400% range, but people in this range (unless they live in extremely low cost of living areas) are in no position to pay much of anything for health care, particularly if they are not reliably employed 365 days a year every year without fail. (And how many can say they are more or less guaranteed continual employment these days? Given today's cost of living, these people are basically taxed out already when all taxes and fees are considered. The “mandate” tax will join the sales tax as a heavy, regressive tax for lower income households in the US.

Furthermore, people in this range, even if they scrape up money to pay premiums, will seldom be in position to pay these items:

--Deductibles
--Co pays
--Uncovered items
--Prescription medications
--Vision care
--Dental care

Financially speaking, premiums only get your foot in the health care door. You are not allowed to actually come in the room, have your health care, and leave without having to file bankruptcy until and unless those other items are paid in full. If you pay premiums but don't have enough money to pay the other items, BOTH your health care and your personal finances will be heavily damaged.

With respect to many of the items above, namely vision care, dental care, and prescription medications, up front payment requirements often mean that you do not have the option of getting the care and then filing bankruptcy. If you can not pay up front for those you don't get them, and if you pay high health insurance premiums you may no longer have enough money to cover those other things which operate differently than does primary health care at the day to day micro level.

Numerous disturbing questions arise if you pay premiums and get health care, but then are unable to pay co pays, deductibles, and/or uncovered items. Will you declare bankruptcy or not? Whether or not you declare bankruptcy, will your insurance now be suspended or terminated? If so, in effect you had one shot at the health care apple and if you need more care then that you are out of luck.

Do you lose your job if you file bankruptcy? If you become homeless but you still have health insurance at the time could you actually receive care and, if so, would it be at the same quality level as it would be if you were not homeless? There is almost no end to the disturbing questions that have been and will continue to arise for beleaguered Americans whether or not the 2,700+ pages pass.

Based on the current poverty thresholds, here are the income ranges that will be where the mandate and the other tax hikes will fall most severely. The first number is the number in the household and the dollar numbers show you the range of annual income that constitutes 133% to 250% of the federal poverty guideline threshold….

1 $14,400 to $27,100
2 $19,400 to $36,400
3 $24,400 to $45,800
4 $29,300 to $55,100
5 $34,300 to $64,500
6 $39,300 to $73,800
7 $44,200 to $83,200
8 $49,200 to $92,500

Since subsidies for buying health insurance under the 2,700+ pages tail off to insignificance and eventually to zero from 250% to 400% of poverty, those in that range who live in higher cost areas and/or who have unusual expenses and/or who have only sporadic employment will face personal financial devastation as well.

The one and only European country that has a system that is supposedly similar to the 2,700+ pages is Switzerland. But when the details are checked, you find that the system in Switzerland is not really even remotely like what is proposed for the US. In Switzerland:

--The cost of basic health insurance and health care is only roughly 40% and 50-60% respectively of the costs in the US.

--Health insurance companies are strictly not allowed to earn a profit for the basic coverage that everyone is supposed to buy.

--Any health insurance company that denies payment for care or tries to kick someone out of coverage will be quickly corrected by the government. Health insurance companies that repeatedly try to cheat people as US companies do will be very heavily fined and eventually dissolved by the Swiss government if they don't desist. American regulation of insurance companies is far weaker and will remain much weaker even if the 2,700+ pages pass, although there will be some improvement on this score.

--The subsidies are much higher in Switzerland than they would be under the 2,700+ pages.

--The cost of living in cities in Switzerland is lower than what it is in most American cities.

--The penalties for those who simply don't comply in Switzerland are much less.

--The percentage of the population that is poor and the percentage of the population that is near poor is far less than in the US.

--The number of and the percentage of people who are "in and out of" employment is much less than in the US.

I expect there will be a lot of slander and libels regarding the Swiss system in the years ahead; it will be interesting to see the Swiss themselves explain the differences between their system and the 2,700+ pages.

-----------------------
Comments are very appreciated. Comments are moderated but all comments will be approved except for those that do not belong on Unity-Progress. For example, comments that contain any commercial advertising and ones that contain objectionable hatred will not be approved. Many comments that appear will receive a return comment by Unity-Progress.

The email address for Unity-Progress is
unity.progress.mail at gmail.

Use this address for all communications, including requests for link exchange if you have a good economics or political site.

Why Common Dreams is the Best Progressive Internet Site

With respect to anyone who is not a “regular” at Common Dreams who has or who will be making one or more one hit wonder type “guest comment(s)” about how we regulars are wrong about opposing the 2,700 pages and about how all the establishment progressives (who aren’t really progressives at all by World standards) are right about supporting the 2,700 pages, please understand that no Common Dreams regular will be swayed one inch by your shallow, childish, and baseless accusations about how we are supposedly too theoretical or perfectionist or whatever for not supporting the 2,700 pages.

True, we have won the theoretical debate hands down as you would expect. In theory, single payer (in all its real world varied manifestations) is very clearly much superior in virtually all respects to both the current system and the system envisioned in the 2,700 pages. Unfortunately, on this issue, the US is very wrong while the rest of the civilized, reputable world is very right.

But also, I and other regulars here at Common Dreams have during the last year been explaining countless hard factual, no pretending, no kidding, and very real world reasons why the 2,700 pages are going to do much more harm than good to the population as a whole.

Indeed, this health insurance issue has once and for all proved that Common Dreams is about the only place, and is apparently the best place, where (a) there are a lot of comments and (b) where most of the comments and the folks making them are truly progressive. Whereas at the other sites that are supposedly comparable, mixed in with some true progressives are a whole lot of confused people who don't really know what a progressive is and, worse, are unable to identify a right wing approach to solving problems when they see it.

True, some of those gushing in favor of the 2,700 pages at those other sites (like Daily Kos and Huffington Post and so on) are right wing plants, some are stakeholders (such as insurance company and hospital employees) and some are both. But there are also at those sites a good number of plain old confused folks as well who think they are progressive but are really not.

Regulars: I’ll have much, much more later (you know I will, laugh out loud).

The above was in response to this article at Common Dreams.

-----------------------
Comments are very much appreciated. Comments are moderated but all comments will be approved except for those that do not belong on Unity-Progress. For example, comments that contain any commercial advertising and ones that contain objectionable hatred will not be approved. Many comments that appear will receive a return comment by Unity-Progress. To comment click the green "comments" link at the bottom of this post.

You can also send an email. The email address for Unity-Progress is
unity.progress.mail at gmail.

Use this address for all communications, including requests for link exchange if you have a good economics or political site.

Failed Job Market and Far Right Bankruptcy Laws Cause Millions of Student Loans to go to the Grave

GUEST COMMENT

Buck March 15th, 2010 10:17 am
Borrowing money to get an education is useless in today's world. You are going to wind up working at the gas station anyway, providing you don't join the army.

UNITY PROGRESS
How true. Unless you have a rich friend or a relative who you know for an absolute fact will be able and willing to directly help you get a good job after graduation, don't borrow for education. If you borrow and can't get a good job, you will be joining tens of millions who have made that mistake and are in that situation. In other words, the far right wing US economy is simply not worth investing in via large student loans (more than $10,000).

Student loans can virtually never be discharged. US residents are now going to be more and more going to their graves having worked their heads off during their lives (in many cases having worked harder than Europeans and Asians with very small or zero education debts) and yet they still owe penalties and interest on student loans made four, five, and six decades ago!

You can get all the education you need on the Internet for the cost of your computer and your internet connection.

The above was in response to this article.

-----------------------
Comments are very much appreciated. Comments are moderated but all comments will be approved except for those that do not belong on Unity-Progress. For example, comments that contain any commercial advertising and ones that contain objectionable hatred will not be approved. Many comments that appear will receive a return comment by Unity-Progress. To comment click the green "comments" link at the bottom of this post.

You can also send an email. The email address for Unity-Progress is
unity.progress.mail at gmail.

Use this address for all communications, including requests for link exchange if you have a good economics or political site.