Tag: Economy

Obamacare: It’s Working

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Will good news about health care reform trigger yet another vote in the House repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare? Bet on it.

McClatchy News:

A new analysis by the Obama administration found that in 11 states where data is available, the lowest cost “silver” plan – which covers 70 percent of medical costs – will cost, on average, 18 percent less than the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] estimated.

And an ACA provision that allows states to review any double-digit premium increases appears to have had a chilling effect on the practice. In 2010, 75 percent of insurers proposed double-digit rate increases, but that number has fallen to 14 percent in early 2013, according to senior administration officials.

In Oregon, several proposed rate hikes in the individual market were cut by amounts ranging from a few percentage points to 30 percent. Similar results were reported in Washington, D.C., Rhode Island and Vermont.

Earlier this week officials in New York announced that final rates in the individual market would be at least 50 percent lower on average than current rates.

I blame Obama for this.

The Most Important Issue in America Today Is Not What They Tell You It Is

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Forget the nonexistent “crisis” surrounding budget deficits and — as you’ll hear again soon — raising the debt ceiling. Let’s talk about what’s really threatening to end America as we know it, and that’s income inequality. When Congress starts unraveling the policies they have put in place to help the rich get richer, like taxing income from work at a much higher rate than income from Wall St. wheeling and dealing, then we’ll be doing something to solve the real problem. Keep your eye on the ball, folks, because they constantly try to distract us.

Proms Are Being Hijacked by 1% Kids

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$1,139

What the average family plans to spend on their child attending a prom this year, putting the event out of reach for an increasing number of high schoolers. Custom-made dresses (to avoid possible duplication), new shoes, hair styling, professionally applied makeup, tanning sessions, limousine and tux rentals, flowers, dinner reservations, and after-parties are frequently “required” to enjoy the event.

More Voters Want to Send Democrats to Congress

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44%

Registered voters who said they would vote for a generic Democratic Congressional candidate, were an election held today. Only 37% would pick the generic Republican, according to the conservative polling site, Rasmussen Reports, which is having a bad start to the week. The site’s own surveys show that 52% of likely voters approve of the job Pres. Obama is doing while 46% disapprove, and that, for the first time in five years, less than half of those questioned believe the economy is still in recession.

Super Bowl Flashback: It Really Was Halftime in America

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As the country gathers tonight to watch the big game — and the million dollar ads — let’s not forget this little gritty little ditty from only one year ago.

The ad was widely misinterpreted as Clint Eastwood endorsing the Obama administration’s decision to bail out Chrysler (and GM), despite many Republicans, including eventual presidential nominee Mitt Romney, saying we should let the biggest manufacturing sector in America, and about one million jobs, liquidate.

Eastwood denied that he supported Obama and backed up that assertion last summer, when he gave arguably the strangest performance of his career at the Republican National Convention. Eastwood rambled through an improvised exchange with a chair that he pretended was the president, and which he fantasized was arguing with him and threatening him.

Maybe Eastwood should have embraced the ad’s original interpretation because it turns out it really was halftime in America, and the majority of voters were better players than Eastwood or Romney.

Grover’s Story, and He’s Sticking to It

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The Bush tax cuts lapsed at midnight last night. Every R voting for Senate bill is cutting taxes and keeping his/her pledge.

— Grover Norquist, tweeting the line he and every other Republican will be quoting in the coming days. Obama strategist David Axelrod responds: “Halfway through a vote he was going to lose, @GroverNorquist sprints out in front to keep from being trampled by the parade.”