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Please think before you buy into the Conservative Right’s view on cutting Social Security
This article is from Just The Messenger:
There Still Is No Social Security Crisis: Truth About the 2012 Social Security Trustees Report
April 24, 2012
Excerpts:
There Still Is No Social Security Crisis
By Richard (RJ) Eskow, April 23, 2012
“‘Medicare and Social Security’ don’t have a long-term problem: Medicare has a problem. No amount of spin or double-talk can change that. This year’s slight downturn in Medicare and Social Security finances was caused by the financial crisis of 2008, as lost jobs and wages led to lost revenue for the program. And that disaster was caused by the deregulation of Wall Street, which was carried out the same bipartisan crowd that’s now pushing cuts to these programs … Now they want ordinary Americans to take a hit to both their Social Security and Medicare benefits. A Social Security cut would be needless and counterproductive, and the nation would be better served with a benefit increase … What’s more, since Social Security is forbidden by law from contributing to the deficit, it’s absurd to connect its financing to discussions of the Federal debt. Medicare’s another story. Unless we address the runaway cost of providing health care to seniors, our Federal budget and are entire economy are in dire trouble. Notice, however, that we said ‘address the runaway cost’ and not ‘shift the runaway cost,’ as the Republican proposal would do.”
,…, “Social Security is essentially healthy, and its long-term issues can be fixed by lifting the payroll tax cap. A “Grand Bargain” to cut Social Security and Medicare will only make things worse. What we really need an overhaul of our health system to remove the corrosive effects of the profit motive on our medical economy – but they don’t want to talk about that.”
,…, “The report released today by the Trustees of the Social Security Administration has already occasioned some of the usual nonsense from the wealthy and highly-funded insider group represented by Clinton and his peers in both parties”.
__________
Richard (RJ) Eskow is a well-known blogger and writer, a former Wall Street executive, an experienced consultant, and a former musician. He has experience in health insurance and economics, occupational health, benefits, risk management, finance, and information technology. He has a somewhat unique perspective on the current financial crisis, since he worked for AIG for a number of years (although not in its infamous Financial Products division).
Richard has consulting experience in the US and over 20 countries. Past clients include USAID, the World Bank, the State Department, the Harvard School of International Public Health, the Government of Hungary, as well as corporations and investors. He has experience in financial and data analysis, systems design, operations, and management.
Related articles
- Social Security And Medicare Running Out Of Money (fox2now.com)
- More Falsehoods About Social Security And Medicare (duanegraham.wordpress.com)
- Social Security Is Still Doomed Sometime in the Future Based on Questionable Assumptions (mikethemadbiologist.com)
- Social Security and Medicare: Behind the Numbers and the Spin (crooksandliars.com)
- Social Security, Medicare Reaction Reflects Partisan, Election-Year Divide (npr.org)
- Insolvency, tax cuts, military spending and social security (dailykos.com)
House budget eliminates nursing home funding through Medicaid
1% of us think this makes America Better.
Under the proposed budget resolution passed by Republicans in the House of Representatives, nearly a million nursing home residents could immediately lose coverage for nursing home care. Further, all of the standards that govern nursing home care today could disappear.
Republicans are saying that their Budget Resolution does nothing to change Medicare for new beneficiaries until 2022. However, for current Medicare beneficiaries living in nursing homes, the overwhelming majority of whom rely on Medicaid, the impact of the Budget Resolution would be immediate and devastating.
If you have an elderly parent whose nursing home care is being paid through Medicaid, in 30 states — so far — the legal responsibility for those bills would then fall on you.
Since 1965, the Medicaid program has kept nursing homes from requesting or requiring 
contributions from residents’ families. Adult children have never been legally responsible for their parents’ nursing home care under Medicaid. That provision disappears if Medicaid is repealed.
If this gets through the Senate and becomes law, so many years of positive protection of the elderly disappears. And let’s not even get into the elimination of Food Stamps!
More here:
Related articles
- Paying for nursing home care (nursinghomeadmissions.wordpress.com)
- Media Begins To Awaken To Impending Nursing Home Abuse And Neglect Crisis (chicagonursinghomelawyerblawg.com)
- Personal Care Contracts And Medicaid (indianatrustestateplanningelderlawblog.wordpress.com)
- Special Reports for NY Seniors Facing Ruinous Health Care Cost; 25 Strategies to Prevent Financial Ruin & Alzheimer Patient Strategies (prweb.com)
And what are the main complaints the Repiglicants have concerning the Affordable Care Act
In an article called “More good news about the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare): CBO says it will save money“, Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub (a great blog, btw) brings one of the most important results of “Obamacare” to plain view: The Congressional Budget Office shows it will save money:
Obama Signs the Affordable Care Act
Remember, without the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. was experiencing health care cost inflation of about 15%annually.
You might not know it if you read conservative blogs, watch Fox News, or listen to the Republican candidates for president — all of whom seem to have their fact panties on wrong — but the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects the bill will reduce federal spending, still, even after accounting for recent changes in law and changes in the economy that will increase costs of the bill’s provisions.
Yeah, Obamacare saves money.
The new law will not eliminate the problem of people not having insurance coverage to guarantee access to health care, a sad result of Republican efforts to cut the bill’s effectiveness. But it’s a great first step to making America better, healthier, and economically more sound.
I guess you haven’t heard about the savings of the ACA from the garbage the Repiglicants are spreading in their goal to have the Supreme Court tear it down.
Now, certainly, the ACA could have been better… it could have been a single payer program which would have wiped the greed of insurance companies off the dish, leaving us with security for all.
Perhaps this could happen in a second Obama term. If he doesn’t make it in… if the Dems don’t retake the House and hold onto the Senate, we’ll probably never know.
If you’re an aging diabetic like me, with an increasing dependance on Medicare and, possibly, Medicaid, you will have a certain view of the efforts to kill ACA. If you are not, or are not related to someone who is, consider yourself very lucky (and probably in the minority.)
Related articles
- CBO: The Affordable Care Act Will Save Even More Money Than We Thought (duanegraham.wordpress.com)
- The Truth About Affordable Care Act Costs (alan.com)
- GOP’s Distortion Of New CBO Estimate Exposes The Weakness Of Their Arguments Against Health Reform (thinkprogress.org)
- Updated Estimates for the Insurance Coverage Provisions of the Affordable Care Act (bespacific.com)
- CBO Update Shows Lower Costs for the New Health Care Law (whitehouse.gov)
- GOP Determined to Spoil ObamaCare’s Birthday (pjmedia.com)
- Romney Celebrates Health Care Reform Anniversary By Lying About It (thinkprogress.org)
- Why Seniors Could Pay $5,900 More for Health Care Under the Republican Budget (thinkprogress.org)
A quote for the evening…
Bernie Sanders in an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN:
“If you look at the ideology of these right wing Republicans, more tax breaks for rich, cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, deregulate Wall Street after Wall Street caused this horrendous recession we’re in, more unfettered free trade so we can lose more jobs to China. Do you know how many people believe in that ideology? Maybe, 15, 20 percent max.
“The real issue is why Democrats aren’t winning by 30 or 40 percent.”
Yep. That’s the real issue. Looks like the media (as represented by Blitzer and buddies) are spending a lot of time pushing the Republican agenda.
Which Candidate Sucks More? Bachmann or Perry?
It looks like the Republican Party has now given up decades of cross-country representation (remember when there were Moderate…even Liberal…Republicans?) and have taken on an identity from the far right, the religious right and the Tea Party.
They are not people of compromise. They are not people who respect (or even recognize) other religions or atheism as American beliefs. They are people who wish to destroy Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They want to privatize public schools and destroy teachers’ unions. They won’t create enough income to pay our worldwide debts… in fact many were willing to go into default.
And now they seem to have focused on three candidates: Romney, who changes his opinion and point of view daily depending on the audience… who rejects things he accomplished as Massachusetts Governor… and who, frankly, is living a lie; Bachmann who has taken on representation of the Tea Party… whose knowledge of American History is constantly displayed as, at the least, flawed… who also lies or miscommunicates her own history, both personally and in politics; and Perry, who throws out accusations like “treason” and “socialist” like they were confetti…who uses his religion to mold his constituency… and who also lies or creates illusions about his record and reputation.
So I come down to the question: Who sucks more? Bachmann or Perry? Let me know.
Here’s an evening quote to ponder – from someone who seems like a total schmuck…
From: Allen West
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 04:48 PM
To: Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Subject: Unprofessional and Inappropriate Sophomoric Behavior from Wasserman-SchultzAllen West joins the Ranks of the Inverted
Look, Debbie . . . let me make myself perfectly clear . . . you are the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up. . . You have proven repeatedly that you are not a Lady, therefore, shall not be afforded due respect from me!”
- Excerpts from an email by Congressman Allen B West (R-FL)
If you’d like to join the rest of us who are protesting the sexist behavior of Allen West, go to Emily’s List and sign the petition.
And what caused this attack on Wasserman-Schultz/ here is a summary from The Christian Science Monitor:
Wasserman Schultz offended West’s sensibilities Tuesday when she went after “the gentleman from Florida” on the House floor for supporting the now-passed “cut, cap, and balance” legislation, which requires deep cuts in federal spending. She noted that West represents thousands of Medicarebeneficiaries, as does she, and “is supportive of this plan that would increase costs for Medicare beneficiaries, unbelievable from a member from south Florida.”
She also complained that the legislation “slashes Medicaid and critical investments essential to winning the future in favor of protecting tax breaks for Big Oil, millionaires, and companies who ship American jobs overseas.”
Standard rhetorical fare, especially for a national party chair. But West took offense, and turned the dial up a few notches.
Well, that sure sounded vile, despicable and unprofessional to me… and btw, representatives are not allowed to directly address other representatives in the House… they may only address the chair, which Wasserman-Schulz did.
Related articles
- Allen West Email Prompts Congresswomen To Call For Apology From GOP Lawmaker (huffingtonpost.com)
- Rep. Allen West Calls Debbie Wasserman Schultz “Vile, Unprofessional And Despicable” (alan.com)
- Allen West Thinks Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is Despicable and Should STFU (passthedoucheys.com)
- Congressman Allen West (R-FL) Smackdown of Debbie Wasserman Schultz (sfcmac.wordpress.com)
- Congresswomen call on West to apologize for tirade (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- In Your Face Wasserman Schultz! (fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com)
- The Caucus: West Calls Wasserman Schultz ‘Vile’ (thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com)
- “Just resign, Congressman. You’re making a jackass out of yourself…AGAIN,” says Keith Olberdouchebag to Allen West (barenakedislam.wordpress.com)
Signing the Pledge
We are pleased to add Grover Norquist to the Ranks of the Inverted
Republicans have signed so many pledges… not to raise taxes under any circumstance (like the government going totally out of business), not voting for any law that gives a woman control of her own body, making sure that marriage and family raising is as good for African-Americans as it was under slavery… you know the drift.
Well, I think it is time that Democratic candidates had pledges to sign. My first one would be a pledge to arrest Grover Norquist for impersonating an elected official when he tells real elected officials what they can and can’t do. I’m sure if we look into it further, we’ll find that he has messed with our country’s economy primarily for his own benefit. Oh, and in that pledge, let him never be eligible for Medicare or Social Security.
Then maybe we can take a look at a pledge to go after Eric Cantor. 
Related articles
- Grover Norquist: The man who drew the GOP’s ‘line in the sand’ (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
- ** Why do politicians sign Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledges, why do they keep the pledge? (dakotatoday.typepad.com)
- Grover Norquist: The man who drew the GOP’s ‘line in the sand’ (cnn.com)
- Edmund Burke Against Grover Norquist (nybooks.com)
- Politicians’ pledges show interest groups’ sway (cnn.com)
- Up is Down (fdlaction.firedoglake.com)
- Know Thy Enemy: Grover Norquist (tenacitypress.wordpress.com)
- GOP candidates caught in slavery controversy (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
- Romney says won’t sign controversial marriage pledge (cnn.com)
- Family Leader marriage pledge falters (politico.com)
- Chris Matthews On Bachmann And Santorum’s Marriage Pledge: ‘We’re Heading Into Nut Country’ (mediaite.com)
It’s July Fools Day…
We’re getting ready to celebrate the 4th with Congressmen everywhere sucking down hotdogs and beer and telling us all how they love America and will get our budget balanced and get the evils out of government. Then they get into their Koch Brothers paid cars and head for the next community cookout so they can check it off on their itinerary.
Meanwhile, we decide not to spend too much this weekend. There’s a good chance these dipshits will let the government close down and my Social Security check won’t be there in August, so I have to save cash now (gosh, does this mean I’m helping to lower the economy further because I’m not buying anything?) for basics through the end of summer.
And while I know there’s no fool like a July fool, I’m afraid the fool is me because I didn’t prevent these guys from doing all this (but now you’ll never catch me buying a Bounty paper towel.) You didn’t either.
Related articles
- America in 50 Years? (ginzotalk.wordpress.com)
- Stop the Koch Brothers Tell Others What They Are Doing (iflizwerequeen.com)
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- Holiday Spending: Fourth of July Tops in Grilling (jamiedunham.wordpress.com)
June is turning out to be a miserable month…
Do you know the feeling when you go in to your auto mechanic‘s operation to get a headlight replaced and walk out with an estimate for over $1,000.00 worth of work or your car is going to fall apart within the next 3000 miles?
Or how about having a computer with only two weeks left on the warranty that your 
local repair guy couldn’t handle and he sent you to another place 60 miles away and then this guy said it would have to be shipped to Apple to have them look at it… meanwhile you’re still wai
ting?
Or the little part-time job you were told you’d have in June when it was presented last April just never came through?
Or that your built in depressive personality is caught up in what seems like the destruction of 
government, especially relating to senior citizens like you who depend on Social Security and Medicare and you don’t feel like there is anything that can be done about it?
And don’t forget, you are five weeks away from the next Social Security check and this month’s problems have already eaten up the one you got last Wednesday…
Well, that’s where I am as the month ends… and, on top of that, I’m feeling more lost and alone than usual (Cymbalta or not) and, at many times during the day, these feelings keep me frozen in one place, unable to accomplish ANYTHING.
This morning I made one or two major screwups on the radio show… thankfully Ralph Petrie called in and corrected at least one… and I left having little or no confidence in my broadcast abilities. I’m not at all sure what will happen with tomorrow’s podcast… assuming the telephone connection doesn’t screw it up like last time…I still haven’t had one episode that sounded at all good or where I would listen to me given the choice.
I have to go do the dishes before Elly gets home and I don’t feel like getting out of my recliner (I 
also aid I’d make a pie… yeah, sure!).
I hope July is better… at least we’ll have the Contemporary American Theatre Festival to kick it off… and I can remember how my Theatre career fizzled in the seventies.
Related articles
- Therapist Thinks My Issue was Sheer Emotional Exhaustion (faithallen.wordpress.com)
- Lonely and miserable (mybitterthoughts.wordpress.com)
- Budgetary Assumptions Are Always Pessimistic: The Medicare Edition [Mike the Mad Biologist] (scienceblogs.com)
- Daily Life: Feeling Miserable (underestimatedmom.wordpress.com)
If you can’t afford the Health Care system and there is no Medicare For All…
…then a creative solution may be your only choice. Take James Verone of Gastonia, North Carolina:
The best comment I saw about James Verone’s situation (and that of millions of others) was on Mickey Mills’ blog, The Prodigal Scribe:
“The story behind this story is the one that really grabs me. We can put a man on the moon. We are the richest country on the planet. We arguably have the best colleges and universities putting out the brightest and the best.
“And we can’t figure out how to get health care for the needy. Between the greedy insurance underwriters, lawyers and drug companies, we have created a medical behemoth that is strictly for the haves — the have nots be damned.”
My question is when are we going to finally get the Health Insurance companies out of our pockets and realize that medical care for all is a right and not a commodity for profit?
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- Misleading Medicare Mantra (economistsview.typepad.com)
- Support home health bill (bendbulletin.com)
- Man Robs Bank for $1 So He Could Get Healthcare in Prison-Is This What Happened in California Where The Sick are Being Released From Jail Now? (ducknetweb.blogspot.com)
- Actually Sen. Lieberman, We Should Be Expanding Medicare (fdlaction.firedoglake.com)
- Pulling It Together: Medicare, Medicaid, and The Multiplier Effect – Kaiser Family Foundation (policyabcs.wordpress.com)
- Man Robbed Bank for $1, Hoping to Be Sent to Prison, So as to Obtain Health Care (9news.com)
Want Single-Payer health Care? Move to Libby, Montana… but hold your breath
Max Baucus helped keep the rest of us from a Single-Payer system - my idea of a Democrat with Republican motives.
This article, reproduced here in full, is from Firedoglake. Read it and see why I don’t like Max Baucus:
How Libby, Montana, Got Medicare for All
By Kay Tillow
In 2009 when the Washington beltway was tied up with the health care reform tussle, Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the all powerful Senate Finance Committee, said everything was on the table–except for single payer. When doctors, nurses and others rose in his hearing to insist that single payer be included in the debate, Baucus had them arrested. As more stood up, Baucus could be heard on his open microphone saying, “We need more police.”
Yet when Senator Baucus needed a solution to a catastrophic health disaster in Libby, Montana, and surrounding Lincoln County, he turned to the nation’s single payer healthcare system, Medicare, to solve the problem.
Baucus’ problem was caused by a vermiculite mine that had spread deadly airborne asbestos killing hundreds and sickening thousands in Libby and northwest Montana. The W. R. Grace Company that owned the mine denied its connection to the massive levels of mesothelioma and asbestosis and dodged responsibility for this environmental and health disaster. When all law
suits and legal avenues failed, Baucus turned to our country’s single payer plan, Medicare.The single payer plan that Baucus kept off the table is now very much on the table in Libby. Unknown to most of the public, Baucus inserted a section into the health reform bill that covers the suffering people of Libby, Montana, not just the former miners but the whole community—all covered by Medicare.
They don’t have to be 65 years old or more.
They don’t have to wait until 2014 for the state exchanges.
No ten year roll out—it’s immediate.
They don’t have to purchase a plan—this is not a buy-in to Medicare—it’s
free.
They don’t have to be disabled for two years before they apply.
They don’t have to go without care for three years until Medicaid expands.
They don’t have to meet income tests.
They don’t have to apply for a subsidy.
They don’t have to pay a fine for failure to buy insurance.
They don’t have to hope that the market will make a plan affordable.
They don’t have to hide their pre-existing conditions.
They don’t have to find a job that provides coverage.Baucus inserted a clause in the Affordable Care Act to make special arrangements for them in Medicare, and he didn’t wait for any
Congressional Budget Office scoring to do it.Less than two months after the passage of the health reform bill on March 23, 2010, Nancy Berryhill of the Social Security Administration in Denver joined personally in
setting up an office in Libby to sign up these newly eligible people. “This is a new thing,” Berryhill told the Missoulian. “No other group like this has ever been selected to receive Medicare.” Berryhill issued a nationwide alert to inform anyone who had lived or stayed in Lincoln County of their eligibility. She opened a storefront in Libby at the old downtown city hall where she signed up 60 people on the first day. She plastered the towns of Whitefish and Eureka with pamphlets explaining the program and added three new staffers to the office in Kalispell.Berryhill said she did not know how much the care would cost. That kind of analysis was beyond her directive to sign the people up. There have been no reports of competition from the private for-profit Medicare Advantage plans. The sick are not profitable.
No one should begrudge the people of Lincoln County. The mine wastes were used as soil additives, home insulation, and even spread on the running tracks at local schools. Miners brought the carcinogens home on their clothes. The W. R. Grace Company dumped much of the clean up costs onto the federal government. A June 17, 2009, order by the Environmental
Protection Agency, the first of its kind, declared Lincoln County a public health disaster. The Libby Medicare provision in the health reform law is based on the area covered by that EPA order.Baucus gave his reasons to the New York Times for its only story on this unique benefit: “The People of Libby have been poisoned and have been dying for a decade. New residents continue to get sick all the time. Public health tragedies like this could happen in any town in America. We need this type of mechanism to help people when they need it most.”
Health tragedies are happening in every town. Over 51 million have no insurance. Over 45,000 uninsured people die needlessly each year. Employers are cutting coverage and dropping plans. States in economic crisis are slashing both Medicaid and their employees’ plans. Nothing in last year’s reform law will mitigate the skyrocketing costs. Most insurance is threadbare and doesn’t cover. More than 50% of us now go without necessary care. As Baucus said of Medicare, “We need this mechanism to help people when they need it most.” We all need it now.
Bill Clinton recently stated that the U. S. could give coverage to all for one trillion dollars a year less than we now pay if we adopted the system of any other advanced nation. (Unfortunately, he did not say this when it would have mattered most during the 1993 and 2009 health care reform debates.)
Other industrialized countries have found that to cover everyone for less they must remove the profit-making insurance companies. Congressman John Conyers has reintroduced HR 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, which does exactly that. There are 60 cosponsors. It would cover all medically necessary care for everyone including dental and drugs by cutting out the 30% waste and profits caused by the private insurers.
So as the Ryan Republicans try to destroy Medicare and far too many Democrats use the deficit excuse to suggest cuts in its benefits, let us counter with the Libby prescription to clean up the whole mess. Only a single payer, improved Medicare for All, can save and protect Medicare, rein in the costs, and give us universal coverage.
Medicare will celebrate its 46th birthday on July 30, 2011, and all are invited to join in the festivities. Medicare was passed in 1965 and implemented within less than a year. When we pass HR 676, this single payer bill, we can all be enrolled in the twinkling of an eye.
So write and call your Reps and Senators and the President and tell them to get insurance companies out of healthcare and get us all on Medicare. We’ll save money (government AND the people), we’ll have a healthier nation, and we’ll join the rest of the civilized world in the 21st Century.
Related articles
- Considering a single payer model for health reform (kevinmd.com)
- Sexy Wilde for Single-Payer (foxnews.com)
- Actually Sen. Lieberman, We Should Be Expanding Medicare (fdlaction.firedoglake.com)
- Both Ryan and Obama cut Medicare (sfgate.com)
- Medicare for all? Q&A with Ohio’s leading single-payer physician advocate (medcitynews.com)
- Private Insurers Fail at Keeping Prices Down in Massachusetts (fdlaction.firedoglake.com)
- Yes, Medicare Is Sustainable In Its Current Form (krugman.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Some Medicare Ideas Worth Considering (swampland.time.com)
- Joe Lieberman’s Cruel Plan To Make Medicare Truly Awful (crooksandliars.com)
If you are tired of hearing Republicans tear down the Affordable Care Act…
… then this video from the Kaiser Family Foundation will give you an overview of what is actually covered, what it costs and how it keeps more people safe than not having it:
Those candidates who “debated” last night should sit down and watch this all the way through.
Some thoughts while listening to the Republican “debate” in New Hampshire.
I thought I’d watch this tonight for the potential humor in the situation, but I began to realize as I watched it and started yelling at the television, that all seven of these people would be disastrous in ANY elected office.
First point: How did CNN manage to put together so many puffballs to ask these people? On top of that, why are there no followup questions when these folks tell obvious lies (or at the very least show that they are extremely misinformed)? When Romney shot down the success Obama had in saving GM and Chrysler he said that they had to go through bankruptcy anyway… did you know that? I didn’t. You would think it would have been in the news. Yet John King and the other reporters didn’t challenge the view that was brought up.
Second point: What was the point of wasting time with questions like “flat pizza or deepdish?” or “Spicy or mild wings?” Very entertaining, I guess. Not news. Not important to those seeking a President. Worse than the other softball questions.
Third point: Which one of these idiots is going to create a government where all sides work together? These folks… even Romney who changes positions from week to week… are putting themselves in as far a right wing extreme as possible. Whether it is religion, abortion, Social Security, Medicare or any other major thing which we have learned over decades that we have a right to, these “debaters” are totally blind to opposing views,
Fourth point: Are there nothing but white people in New Hampshire? As I view the, I guess, all-Republican audience, I see rows and rows of one group of Americans.
Fifth point: I don’t see anyone here that can stand up to Obama. Maybe it’s just me, but the problems these people create by cutting programs and imposing their religious and social beliefs on others are frightening.
Related articles
- Republicans Debate Tonight In New Hampshire (raphaeldevarona.com)
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- New Hampshire Debate Preview (huffingtonpost.com)
- Some New Hampshire Republicans excited about the field (via CNN Political Ticker) (techweev.com)
- CNN debate: What to watch for (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
- Romney, GOP rivals face off in New Hampshire ()
- New Hampshire Republicans try valiantly to pick a favorite candidate for president. (slate.com)
- John King previews the set of CNN’s New Hampshire GOP debate (via CNN Press Room) (techweev.com)
- The New Hampshire Debate: Mitt Romney’s First Big Test (swampland.time.com)
Cartoon(s) of the Week – The Republican Primaries Raise Questions
Ben Sargent, Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Can’t you guys just get along?
- and -
Kevin Siers in the Charlotte Observer:
What have you guys gotten yourselves into?
- and -
Dana Summers in the Orlando Sentinel:
Why haven’t they listened to the vast majority of voters?
- and -
Tom Toles in the Washington Post:
So how will you be able to win the Presidency in 2012?
Wow… three hours went by as I played with my new iPhone 4…
… so, of course, I didn’t do a damn thing on the blog (even though in the back of my head I could hear the broadcast of the House arguing about cuts to one thing or another and who is doing more to preserve Medicare) as I downloaded freebie apps and tried out the silliest ones I could find… moved my favorite iTunes songs over to the iPod in the phone and called Elly in Minnesota to tell her the phones came.
I’ll bet she can’t wait until Sunday to get back and play with hers.
At least the Podcast next Tuesday will have much better sound quality (and I finally found a music intro…a little snip from Offenbach) for those of you who tune in.
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Did you get this message from Nancy Pelosi last night?
I did. here it is:
Nancy Pelosi
Victories like this are what happen when we fight together to protect our core Democratic values.
Congresswoman-elect Hochul’s victory in a staunchly-Republican district has shocked the political world and sent an unmistakable sign that the American people will not stand for the Republicans’ reckless and extreme agenda to end Medicare.
This is our third straight special election victory in New York — and it is truly one for the ages. All of the Republicans’ right-wing outside groups with their secret money and dishonest attacks were no match for the combined strength of grassroots Democrats.
Thank you again for fighting to protect and defend Medicare and bringing us one step closer to regaining our Democratic House Majority.
Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader
Hopefully, this is the start of taking back the House from the crazies.
Related articles
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- Nancy Pelosi squeezes Paul Ryan on Medicare (thehill.com)
- Pelosi effective foil for GOP? (politico.com)
- New York Special Election: Medicare Will Be Issue Of 2012 (huffingtonpost.com)
- Democrat Kathy Hochul wins upstate NY race – Reuters (news.google.com)
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Thoughts on turning 65…
So I have now outlived my father by a dozen years or so… something I never thought I would do. I am retired (actually, I had to retire early a year ago due to the crummy job situation for guys in their 60s) and I’m on Medicare (until the Republicans destroy it along with Social Security.)
I’m doing things now which make no money, but actually fulfill a whole bunch of internal needs. I do 
the radio show as John Case’s co-host on Friday mornings (and substitute for John on his other days when he is away), I do my Tuesday Podcast, I work on community theatre projects every now and then,,, and, of course, I maintain this blog, which I have done since 2004. I’m involved in 
the Community Garden (which my wife runs) here in Shepherdstown… and I did some work on the establishment of the Morgan’s Grove Market. So, all-in-all, I seem to have plenty to do (including housework, which, while Elly is the one working, falls mostly into my lap.)
I guess 65 isn’t so bad… and were it not for the lousy economy and the growing threat of conservative destruction of the things that made America great, life would be lovely.
I hope everyone has a nice day… like I do on most of my birthdays I’m going to drive around aimlessly for a while and look at the local scenery. Usually I bring a dog. This year I may bring two.
Related articles
- Medicare doesn’t have to be cut, poll concludes (oregonlive.com)
- AP-GfK Poll: Most Americans say they don’t believe Medicare has to be cut to balance the federal budget ditto …, (economicnewsblog.wordpress.com)
- AP-GfK Poll: Medicare doesn’t have to be cut (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Samuelson: The Elderly are Better Off Than Advertised (newsweek.com)
- Paul Ryan has created the new ‘Fourth Rail’ of Politics: Medicare (crooksandliars.com)
Here’s something I agree with 100% – but it won’t happen.
I picked this up over at BuzzFlash:
Let Congress Test Out Paul Ryan‘s Medicare Plan on Themselves and Their Families: That Would Kill It Right Quick
by MARK KARLIN, EDITOR FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Why is this man smiling?
If the politicians in DC are so serious about deficit reduction, then why don’t they start by cutting their own pay, health care benefits and pensions?
Doesn’t budget control begin at home?
And if Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan is so terrific, why don’t Ryan and other Congressional supporters of his budget immediately pass a bill that will replace their health care benefits with the Ryan plan?
In fact, why not run a test program with the Koch brothers, members of their Americans for Prosperity and elderly Tea Party supporters? All of them should volunteer to immediately go on the Ryan Medicare, drastically limited “voucher program” – which would leave a high percentage of seniors unable to afford medical insurance – as sort of a test model of Ryan’s plans for privatizing and shrinking Medicare.
Then we can see the actual results of a plan that would raise health care costs by adding the profits of corporations and administrative costs to Medicare, while drastically reducing benefits due to the small amount of money allocated to vouchers for each senior – and the for-profit insurance industry profit motivation to deny as much care as possible.
If Ryan is the “visionary” much of the corporate media makes him out to be, let Americans see his “vision” actualized by a trial implementation of his proposed program.
Let Ryan be the first volunteer, after he cuts his pay, pension and other Congressional benefits.
So what do you think? Any chance Ryan and his buddies will take Mark Karlin up on this one?
Yeah… you bet.
Related articles
- Paul Ryan Misrepresents the “Mandate” in His Medicare Voucher Plan, Again (my.firedoglake.com)
- Paul Ryan admits there’s an “individual mandate” in his budget plan (crooksandliars.com)
- Why Democrats focus on Medicare, not Medicaid (msnbc.msn.com)
- Paul Ryan’s “Serious” Plan to Destroy Medicare (slog.thestranger.com)
- “Paul Ryan Isn’t Exactly Miss Popularity Any Longer Inside The House GOP Caucus” and related posts (downwithtyranny.blogspot.com)
- Selling Medicare Reform (aleksandreia.wordpress.com)
- Polls Show Dangers For GOP In Pushing Ryan’s Medicare Privatization Plan (tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com)
Looks like Harry Reid is going to make Senate Republicans commit themselves to Ryan’s Budget on the Senate floor…
I don’t know if you saw Rachel Maddow last night, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I – Vermont) made a statement that picked my ears up.
Sen. Harry Reid (D - Nevada)
After commenting on the devastating results the Ryan Budget would have on the lower and middle classes (destruction of Head Start, dismanteling of Social Security, turning Medicare into Coupon Care giving seniors an $8,000.00 coupon instead of coverage – something a senior diagnosed with cancer can spend in the first week), he announced that Harry Reid has a strategy which will benefit Democrats in the upcoming election… He’s going to bring the Ryan Budget to the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote. Then all the Republicans who vote for it can be held to it (like the House Republicans) and take the loss in 2012.
In the House, Boehner appears to be wobbling and, perhaps, pulling back on the Ryan fiasco… especially after several local Town hall meetings have attacked Ryan and others about the cutting of Medicare and other problems with his budget – like giving more advantages to corporations and the richest 1% of our population:
Boehner’s recent statement:
“It’s Paul’s idea. Other people have other ideas. I’m not wedded to one single idea, but I think it’s — we have a plan. Where’s the president’s plan to deal with the nightmare that’s facing Americans?”
Organizations like Americans United for Change have another view of Boehner’s being unwedded to Ryan:
“Sorry Speaker Boehner, there’s no ‘take-backs’ or distancing from this one — you and the 224 other House Republicans that voted for the Ryan plan for turning Medicare into Coupon Care now own it.”
So let’s keep an eye on the Senate when they come back (When do these guys actually WORK?), I guess next week. Let’s see if Harry Reid actually pulls it off.
Related Articles
- Harry Reid says he will schedule vote on Ryan’s Republican budget plan (dailykos.com)
- “[We'll] see if Republican senators like the Ryan budget as much as their House colleagues did.” (shortformblog.tumblr.com)
- Senate Will Vote on Ryan’s Budget Plan (politicalwire.com)
- More talk of Reid forcing vote on Ryan “kill Medicare” budget (americablog.com)
- Reid wants to put the screws to GOP over Ryan budget (dailykos.com)
- Hatch to Reid: Vote on all House-proposed budgets (thehill.com)
- Town hall anger at Republican Medicare plan continues (dailykos.com)
- Senate Democrats to Force Senate Republicans to Vote for Awful Republican Budget (slog.thestranger.com)
Clips from the web
A little bit of this, a little bit of that… more than I can get around to. Click on the authors’ links to read their whole posts
Rhode Island House Republican Leader Robert Watson is the latest living example of the Republican difficulty with practicing what they preach. Watson is fervently anti-Marijuana, but last Friday night he was pulled over and arrested for DUI and marijuana possession.
According to The Providence-Journal, “After handcuffing Watson and placing him under arrest, the arresting police officer said he found “a small plastic sandwich bag containing a green leafy plant-like substance and a small wooden marijuana smoking pipe” in Watson’s right pants pocket.”
- from Politicus USA
- and -
John Boehner
Speaker Boehner says the Ryan plan “transforms Medicare into a plan that’s very similar to the President’s own healthcare bill.”
Only older people are sicker and more expensive to cover and Ryan doesn’t provide the funds for seniors to buy care. Beside that they’re identical.
- and -
The wage squeeze is putting most households in a double bind. Before the recession, they’d been able to pay the bills because they had two paychecks. Now, they’re likely to have one-and-a half, or just one, and it’s shrinking.
This seems to be more than just Hopeful…
Steve Israel
Nothing would make me happier than Republicans, and by that I mean The Tea Party (or the Koch Brothers Front) losing control of the House next year.
Steve Israel (see below) is right on the money here, and if those uncompromising righties don’t sign along with the rest of us to restore taxes on the Top 1%, then they will guarantee the loss of control.
Picked this up at Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire:
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Related Articles
- DCCC Chair Steve Israel Says Ryan Budget, Medicare Will Cost Republicans the House (blogs.abcnews.com)
- All in: House passes Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget, 235-193 (hotair.com)
- DCCC posts fundraising haul (politico.com)
- Meet the Democratic Campaign Leaders (pinkbananaworld.com)
I’m a West Virginia Senior and my Congresswoman, Shelley Moore Capito, Voted Against ME…
U. S. House Republicans Pass Budget Hurting Seniors
Capito Votes with Party, Abandoning WV Seniors
Shelley Moore Capito
Today, West Virginia Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito sided with House GOP leadership and voted to dramatically cut Medicare – the long-running health care program for seniors.
She has it upside down!
The cuts would radically change Medicare by turning it into a voucher program. These cuts would reopen the prescription drug “Donut Hole” forcing seniors to pay more for their medicines.
“It is outrageous for Capito to vote for these radical cuts,” said West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Larry Puccio. “These cuts to our seniors will cause great hardship in West Virginia. These cuts will mean thousands of dollars to our seniors – forcing many to choose between health care and food. Shelley Moore Capito needs to stand up for West Virginians instead of the House Republican leaders’ radical agenda. I commend Democratic Congressman Nick Rahall for speaking out against this bill.”
Here’s what Capito did to screw her Senior constituents like ME:
End Medicare As We Know It. “The plan would essentially end Medicare, which now pays most of the health-care bills for 48 million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills.” [Wall Street Journal, 4/4/11]
Republican Plan Brings Back “Donut Hole” Coverage Gap for Prescription Drugs. (this is extremely important to me as a Senior who takes 1 different pills a day and two different insulin shots) Ryan’s plan brings back the coverage “gap in Medicare prescription drug” benefit. [Associated Press, 4/06/11]
Congressional Budget Office: GOP Budget Raises Health Costs for Retirees. “Most future retirees would pay more for health care under a new House Republican budget proposal, according to an analysis by nonpartisan experts for Congress that could be an obstacle to GOP ambitions to tame federal deficits. […] The budget office gave two reasons future retirees can expect to pay more. First, private plans would cost more than traditional Medicare because of such factors as higher administrative costs. Second, the federal contribution would grow more slowly than health care cost inflation, leaving a bigger gap for beneficiaries to pay.” [AP, 4/6/11]
AARP: Budget Undermines Vital Programs for Older Americans. “Among its provisions, the proposal would drive up costs for people in Medicare, take away needed coverage for long-term care from millions of older and disabled Americans and reduce critical help for seniors facing the threat of hunger.” [AARP press release, 4/7/11]
GOP Budget Would Almost Double Healthcare Costs For Seniors. “The Republican congressman’s proposal to privatize Medicare would mean a dramatic hike in U.S. healthcare costs for the elderly, an independent analysis finds. Seniors would pay almost double — more than $12,510 a year.” [LA Times, 4/7/11]
And Capito keeps sending me e-mail about all the great things she is doing for West Virginians! Whenever I send her e-mails about the things I’d like her to support, she follows the Tea Party Line instead. All it means is I’ll work twice as hard to get her out of office… if it means using this blog and my radio show weekly on WSHC.
Shelley, you suck!
Related Articles
- Capito Will Not Run for Senate (politicalwire.com)
- Republicans continue assault on consumer protection (americablog.com)
- Ryan budget plan passes House; only 4 GOP reps vote no (firstread.msnbc.msn.com)
Here’s what the President proposed today…
Is the guy we elected back?
According to TPM:
- A debt failsafe that will be triggered if the debt-to-GDP ratio hasn’t stabilized, and begun to decline by mid-decade. This will include automatic spending cuts, and reductions in tax subsidies, but no tax increases. Social Security, Medicare, and low-income programs will be exempted. It will not tie the government’s hands in the event that an economic downturn requires fiscal stimulus.
- Cuts to discretionary spending, compatible with those in the Bowles-Simpson recommendations.
- Defense spending cuts, contingent on a thorough review conducted by Secretary Robert Gates, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Obama himself, and savings generated by winding down operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Strengthening the Independent Payment Advisory Board, created by the health care law to recommend and implement cost savings reforms to hold down the cost-per-Medicare-patient.
- Simplifying the formula for providing federal matching funds to states for Medicaid, which would automatically increase in the event of a recession
- This is a big one — Obama will propose using Medicare’s purchasing power to reduce prescription drug costs for seniors
- Reductions in agricultural subsidies
- Comprehensive tax reform, which reduces loopholes, simplifies the system, allows the Bush tax cuts for high-income earners to expire, and reduces the corporate tax rate.
It may not be everything we want… and it may need the infusion of the Congressional Progressive Caucus that I presented earlier today… but this started to sound like the Obama we elected. My question is will he stand his ground on letting the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire. He’s going to go head-to-head with Boehner and the Tea-Party-Controlled Republicans who have said they will not support any increase in taxes.
I’m not sure a deal can be made here, so there will have to be another strategy… and it won’t be pretty.
Related Articles
- Obama: Kiss Bush Tax Cuts for Rich Goodbye (newser.com)
- Obama: I’ll Cut $4 Trillion (money.cnn.com)
- Obama’s Budget Speech: Nice Rhetoric, Misplaced Focus (news.firedoglake.com)
- Obama Plan Reduces Deficit $4 Trillion In Twelve Years (alan.com)
- Text: Obama Targets $4T In Deficit Reduction In 12yrs/Less -2 (forexlive.com)
A quote for the morning…
“Here’s the truth: The only way America can reduce the long-term budget
deficit, maintain vital services, protect Social Security and Medicare,
invest more in education and infrastructure, and not raise taxes on the
working middle class is by raising taxes on the super rich.“Even if we got rid of corporate welfare subsidies for big oil, big
agriculture, and big Pharma – even if we cut back on our bloated
defense budget – it wouldn’t be nearly enough.”
And you can be sure, in an election year, no one is going to even whisper about this.
Related Articles
- Ryan refuses to say if new GOP budget will end corporate welfare (crooksandliars.com)
- GOP budget chief calls for $6.2 trillion spending cut (cnn.com)
- Paul Ryan’s Budget: An Act of Political Courage (and Public Amnesia) (swampland.blogs.time.com)
- Robert Creamer: Why Republicans Persist in Demanding the Elimination of 700,000 Jobs (huffingtonpost.com)
