Alabama Right News: Oct 15, 2010

Friday, October 15, 2010

Nassau County Staring At Possible ‘Toilet Tax’ « CBS New York – News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of NY

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/10/15/nassau-county-staring-at-possible-toilet-tax/<br><div style="color:rgb(60%,60%,60%)">Sent with <a

Ch-ch-change Baby! Obama Smiles As He Demolishes Our Economy

21% increase in federal spending in two years and the deficit has eclipsed 1.3 trillion.

The 2010 deficit is the second-highest shortfall — 2009 is the highest —since 1945, as a percentage of the economy.

To the extent that spending is slightly less than in FY 2009, it is due to the spending provided during the financial crisis to the banking industry.

Outlays ended the year about 2 percent below those in 2009, CBO estimates. That decline resulted primarily from a net reduction in outlays for three items related to the financial crisis: the costs of the TARP ($262 billion lower than in 2009), payments to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ($51 billion lower), and federal deposit insurance ($55 billion lower).

This cut in spending, which obviously followed a gigantic increase in spending on these programs, is probably why Paul Krugman had this piece on Sunday claiming that there hasn't been a big expansion of government:

Here's what you need to know: The whole story is a myth. There never was a big expansion of government spending. In fact, that has been the key problem with economic policy in the Obama years: we never had the kind of fiscal expansion that might have created the millions of jobs we need.

Now, let's go back to the CBO data. According to the monthly budget review, once we exclude those three programs (TARP, Freddie and Fannie, and the FDIC), spending rose by about 9 percent in 2010. This is my favorite part (in a horrified kind of way) of the CBO piece. This 9 percent spending growth, CBO explains, is "somewhat faster than in recent years." Now, I am not sure how you feel about this, but I think that something is really wrong when a 9 percent growth in spending is not that big of a deal anymore.

Veronique explains why, in the above piece, Krugman excused Obama's spending spree. Seth Forman goes further in breaking down Krugman's bulls#@t:

Krugman is being purposely obtuse. In fact federal spending rose a mind-numbing 34 percent from 2008 to 2009 (the finals for 2010 are not in, but are estimated to be somewhere near the 2009 level). You'd have to go back to 1952 before observing a higher percentage increase in federal spending in one year, and that was mostly a function of the severe federal spending drops in the years immediately after World War II. Indeed, even between 1932 and 1941, the depths of the Great Depression before preparation for World War II began, Franklin Delano Roosevelt raised federal spending by more than 34 percent only once, in 1934. In that year, federal spending increased by 42 percent in a failed attempt to quash a national unemployment rate of 21.7 percent. In that year, federal spending only amounted to 10.5 percent of gross domestic product. By contrast, with less than half of FDR's unemployment problem, federal spending as a percentage of the economy surged to an estimated 24.4 percent in 2010 (from 21.1 in 2008 last year). Spending for all governmental levels is running at 42.7 percent of GDP in 2010, up from 36.4 percent only two years ago.

Surely Krugman is aware of these simple, irrefutable facts, so he contrives to redefine public sector growth. "When people denounce big government," he writes, "they usually have in mind the creation of big bureaucracies and major new programs. And that just hasn't taken place." It is true that the number of total government employees is roughly the same in 2010 as it was in 2008 (22.6 million in 2008 vs. 22.2 million in 2010), but this is true only in the most literal and meaningless sense. At the same time that private sector jobs have declined by 5.7 million, the number of government jobs has remained stable. If public sector payrolls had declined proportionately to that of the private sector, there would be 900,000 fewer government jobs than currently exist. As it stands, government employment has risen to 17.1 percent of all jobs, up from 16.6 percent in 2008.

But hey….it's all good. We'll recover:

The Obama administration is projecting that the deficit for the 2011 budget year, which began on Oct. 1, will climb to $1.4 trillion. Over the next decade, it will total $8.47 trillion.

Bad and getting worse.

Ch-ch-change baby!

Exit graphic:

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FloppingAces/~3/4c3Liy9hfEI/

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Obamacare Motivates Hospital Sale?

Health care reform is playing a role in a northeastern Pennsylvania Catholic hospital chain's decision to sell by the end of this year.

images

Mercy Health Partners has served the Scranton area since the Sisters of Mercy opened Mercy Hospital the city in 1917, but the new law may have influenced the timing of its decision.

The hospital chain runs three hospitals and three outpatient centers.

The law's burdens mean more spending and reduced federal contributions for the hospital chain over the next five years.

"Health care reform is absolutely playing a role. Was it the precipitating factor in this decision? No, but was it a factor in our planning over the next five years? Absolutely," Mercy Health Partners President and CEO Kevin Cook told WNEP, a Scranton-Wilkes Barre TV station.

The hospital chain's finances remain in the black, but Cook said Mercy Health Partners lacks the resources to keep up with the local community's projected needs over the next five years.

Cook sought to downplay the health care law's role in the decision to announce the sale after the Catholic Health Association (CHA), which strongly backed the health care law, issued a statement denying the reported connection. CHA's stance put it at odds with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which condemned its support for the law.

"Reports that health reform is the primary motive behind the sale are completely false, misleading, and politically motivated," Sr. Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, said in a statement following the WNEP broadcast.
Initial discussions about selling or merging Mercy Health Parters began long before the health care law passed, Cook said in a subsequent statement.

http://biggovernment.com/jrossomando/2010/10/15/obamacare-motivates-hospital-sale/

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Damage From Mortgages Spreads

The unfolding foreclosure-processing debacle is causing bank stocks to slide and putting millions of delinquent borrowers in limbo, as modern finance collides with the legal system.

http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/xml/rss/3_7011/~3/kvBho0gpJck/SB10001424052748704049904575554372238256744.html

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Obama Administration working on Plea Deal for Gitmo Detainee that killed American Soldier

RWB News: We know the Dems are soft on terrorism and this just is another example of that. Omar Khadr faces five war crimes charges that include murder.
In July 2002, Omar Khadr threw a grenade that blew up an American soldier in Afghanistan. He was also seen planting landmines while smiling and joking with the cameraman. It has been suggested that these were the same landmines later recovered by American forces on a road between Gardez and Khowst- Wiki.

From the AP

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A plea deal that would reportedly keep a Guantanamo prisoner in custody for eight more years isn't sitting well with a key witness against him: a former Army sergeant who was partially blinded and lost a friend in the firefight that led to the alleged al-Qaida militant's capture.

Layne Morris said Friday that Canadian-born Omar Khadr should get at least 20 years in prison, and perhaps much longer.

"They ought to lock him up until he's no longer a threat, and if that's for the rest of his life, so be it," Morris said in an interview with The Associated Press a day after Khadr's lawyers disclosed they were negotiating a possible plea deal.

Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured following the firefight in Afghanistan in 2002, was originally scheduled to go on trial Monday at the U.S. base in Cuba. He faces war crimes charges that include murder for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, a special forces medic from Albuquerque, New Mexico. If convicted, he faces a maximum life sentence.

Khadr's lawyers and U.S. officials declined to release details about any proposed agreement. But the Toronto Star reported that a proposal already approved by the military would impose a sentence of less than 10 years, on top of the time he has already been in custody. Postmedia News, another Canadian outlet, said he would get eight, with one more in Guantanamo and the rest in his native country. Both cited anonymous sources.

Read whole story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101015/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_guantanamo_war_crimes_1

swenbwr

http://redwhitebluenews.com/?p=9253

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Fort Hood jihad: Army officer ordered destruction of video evidence

Can't have a video circulating of a Muslim shouting "Allahu akbar" and murdering people, now, can we? That would be "Islamophobic"!

"Soldier says ordered to delete Fort Hood videos," by Angela K. Brown and Michael Graczyk for Associated Press, October 15 (thanks to Roland):

FORT HOOD, Texas - A soldier who recorded the terror of last year's deadly shooting rampage in Fort Hood using his cell phone was ordered by an officer to delete both videos, a military court heard Friday.
Under cross examination, Pfc. Lance Aviles told an Article 32 hearing that his noncommissioned officer ordered him to destroy the two videos on Nov. 5, the same day a gunman unleashed a volley of bullets inside a processing center at the Texas Army post.

The footage could have been used as evidence at the military hearing to decide if Maj. Nidal Hasan should stand trial in the shootings. The 40-year-old American-born Muslim has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

Twenty-nine witnesses over three days have appeared either in a courtroom or by video link. Prosecutors have not said whether they'll seek the death penalty if the case goes to trial.

Aviles described how he was waiting for medical tests at the center with his battle buddy, Pfc. Kham Xiong, when he heard someone shout. Then the gunshots began.

He said he saw a tanned, balding man wearing an Army combat uniform and carrying a black pistol.

"I saw smoke coming from the pistol," Aviles told the court.

The pair threw themselves to the floor. Aviles turned to his left to check Xiong and discovered his friend had been shot.

"His head was facing the left and a shard of his skull was sticking up," Aviles said.

Xiong, a 23-year-old father of three from St. Paul, Minn., was among the 13 who died in the attack. Aviles, the 20th person to provide testimony at the hearing, was not hurt.

Addressing the court via video link from Afghanistan, Spc. Megan Martin said she had been waiting to take medical tests when saw a man to her left stand up and shout "Allahu Akbar!" -- "God is great!" in Arabic -- then start firing a weapon....

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/10/fort-hood-jihad-army-officer-ordered-destruction-of-video-evidence.html

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It Is Done… Obama Promised to Kill the Coal Industry – Today His Administration Came Through on His

OBAMA INITIATES COAL-KILLING POLICIES DURING GREAT RECESSION!

"Under my plan of a cap and trade system electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Businesses would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that cost onto consumers."

Senator Barack Obama
Speaking on Cap and Trade
San Francisco Chronicle
January 17, 2008

In 2008 Barack Obama admitted during an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle that his cap and trade legislation would cause electricity prices to skyrocket and would kill the coal industry:

Obama admitted that cap and trade will likely cost $700 to $1,400 dollars per US family each year.

Today the Obama Administration began their assault on the American coal industry.
The far left radicals at the Sierra Club announced that Obama EPA officials will not allow mining at the largest mountaintop removal coal mine.

Victory for Appalachians as a Determined EPA Recommends No More Mining at Biggest Proposed Mountaintop Removal Coal Mine

Statement from Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune

Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took courageous action today to protect the people and waterways of Appalachia when Shawn Garvin, the agency's Region 3 Administrator, recommended the withdrawal of the mining permit for America's largest proposed mountaintop removal coal mine site, the Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, West Virginia.

In response Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune issued the following statement:

"The Sierra Club praises the EPA, Lisa Jackson and Regional Administrator Shawn Garvin for staring down Big Coal and industry lobbyists and doing what's right for Appalachians and hardworking Americans everywhere. This mother of all mountaintop removal coal mines would destroy thousands of acres of land, bury seven miles of streams and end a way of life for too many Appalachian families.

"We stand with the local grassroots heroes who have spent over a decade fighting this largest mountaintop removal coal mine, and today's announcement is a victory for everyone who has stood up for their air, water and health. While the coal industry has been cutting jobs and cutting corners in Appalachia, clean energy and efficiency investments there could generate almost 80,000 jobs by 2030 and save consumers more than $25 billion in energy costs.*

Remember to thank Barack Obama when your electricity bills go up.

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/it-is-done-obama-promised-to-kill-the-coal-industry-today-team-obama-came-through-on-his-promise/

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Pelosi Proposes Seniors Subsidy to ‘Replace’ the 2011 Social Security COLA

Today's announcement that Social Security recipients will not receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) again in 2011 brought an immediate reaction from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA). She proposed that the lame duck Congress vote on giving seniors another $250 one-time payment supposedly to replace the COLA.

This seemingly altruistic gesture would help Social Security recipients, but the real effect would be raising their grandkids' taxes. These checks would be paid for with borrowed money, money that today's children would have to repay with interest.

Today's Social Security is seen as an earned benefit paid for by payroll taxes on earnings. The program is governed by set rules that determine how benefits are calculated, to whom they are paid, and under what circumstances benefits are increased. These rules were put in place to protect the program from politicians who might try to turn Social Security into a welfare program that paid benefits to politically connected groups regardless of whether they actually paid the taxes for them. The COLA rules, especially, were designed to make sure that recipients' buying power was protected against inflation and to stop lawmakers from raising benefits in an election year.

Pelosi's move follows both a 2009 vote that also provided Social Security recipients with a $250 check after the COLA formula resulted in no increase for 2010 and stimulus checks in both 2008 and 2009 as part of failed efforts to restart the economy. It opens the door to more politically motivated payments any time that Congress wants to "help" seniors.

Most seniors will not be harmed by the absence of a COLA in 2011, because although prices went up by 1.4 percent over the 12-month measuring period, they are still below the level for the 2009 COLA increase. As a New York Times analysis pointed out, the 2009 COLA was the largest in 27 years since it was based on the inflation rate during the third quarter of 2008, a time of very high gas prices and other economic anomalies. In effect, the 2010 and 2011 COLAs were prepaid in 2009. In addition, for most Social Security recipients, their Medicare Part B premiums have been frozen.

In a year when Social Security will run a $41 billion cash flow deficit and the overall federal deficit is again over $1 trillion, Pelosi's planned $250 payments just makes the situation worse. And while these checks appear to help retirees today, the real effect will be to take money from their grandkids. That is a sorry legacy to leave for future generations.

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/15/pelosi-proposes-seniors-subsidy-to-replace-the-2011-social-security-cola/

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America's Founders and the Principles of Foreign Policy

America's Founders sought to define a national good that transcended local interests and prejudices. The national good included the common benefits of self-defense and prosperity that all Americans would realize by participating in a large, commercial nation able to hold its own in an often hostile world. But it was only with the constitutional rule of law that the higher purpose, or true national interest, of America could be realized. That purpose was to demonstrate to all mankind the feasibility of self-government and the suitability of justice as the proper and sustainable ground for relations among nations and peoples. The honor of striving for domestic and international justice would give moral purpose to the American character. The United States would support, defend, and advance the cause of freedom everywhere. It would be a refuge for the sober, industrious, and virtuous of the world, as well as for victims of persecution. By sympathy and appropriate action, Americans would show themselves to be true friends of humanity.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/10/Americas-Founders-and-the-Principles-of-Foreign-Policy-Sovereign-Independence

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Gitmo Terrorist Getting Plea Deal?!

A plea deal that would reportedly keep a Guantanamo prisoner in custody for eight more years isn't sitting well with a key witness against him: a former Army sergeant who was partially blinded and lost a friend in the firefight that led to the alleged al-Qaida militant's capture.

Layne Morris said Friday that Canadian-born Omar Khadr should get at least 20 years in prison, and perhaps much longer.

"They ought to lock him up until he's no longer a threat, and if that's for the rest of his life, so be it," Morris said in an interview with The Associated Press a day after Khadr's lawyers disclosed they were negotiating a possible plea deal.

Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured following the firefight in Afghanistan in 2002, was originally scheduled to go on trial Monday at the U.S. base in Cuba. He faces war crimes charges that include murder for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, a special forces medic from Albuquerque, New Mexico. If convicted, he faces a maximum life sentence.

The trial began in August but was put on hold when Khadr's defense lawyer fell ill and collapsed in the courtroom.

With plea talks under way, a military judge postponed the resumption of the trial, the first at Guantanamo under President Barack Obama. The war crimes tribunal is scheduled to reconvene Oct. 25 - but that could turn into a sentencing hearing if an agreement is reached.

http://www.thefoxnation.com/gitmo/2010/10/15/gitmo-terrorist-getting-plea-deal

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The Effects of the Obama Tax Plan on Montana

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/09/The-Effects-of-the-Obama-Tax-Plan-on-Montana

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The Effects of the Obama Tax Plan on Missouri

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/09/The-Effects-of-the-Obama-Tax-Plan-on-Missouri

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The Effects of the Obama Tax Plan on Missouri

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/09/The-Effects-of-the-Obama-Tax-Plan-on-Missouri

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The Effects of the Obama Tax Plan on North Carolina

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/09/The-Effects-of-the-Obama-Tax-Plan-on-North-Carolina

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The Effects of the Obama Tax Plan on New York

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/09/The-Effects-of-the-Obama-Tax-Plan-on-New-York

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The Fed is lying about inflation

Fall for their deflationary warnings at your own risk. The Fed only knows one course and is embarked on it big-time — INFLATION!

From Monty Pelerine

A Little History

The Federal Reserve continues to warn about deflation. These warnings are merely a smokescreen to allow them to inflate while attempting to keep inflationary expectations down.

Fall for their deflationary warnings at your own risk. The Fed only knows one course and is embarked on it big-time — INFLATION!

The chart below, courtesy of The Big Picture, suggests that deflation is the last thing the Fed should worry about and the last thing the public should expect.

Since we left the gold standard in 1971, the dollar has lost over 80% of its purchasing power according to the CPI index. That index understates real inflation because its basis has been changed numerous times during this period. Every change that was made reduced the reported impact of inflation as reported by the CPI.

For those who think we are at risk for deflation, you might want to examine the table of year-to-date price increases in a variety of items:

Scoreboard year-to-date in percentages — Agricultural

Cattle (lb)………………..+12.0%
Coffee (lb)……………….+36.9%
Corn (bu)…………………+37.3%
Cotton (lb)……………….+46.7%
Lumber(1000 bd.ft.)….+32.9%
Orange Juice (lb)……….+19.7%
Soy beans (bu)…………..+13.2%
Wheat (bu)………………..+29.8%

Just imagine what these numbers would be if we were not in a "deflationary environment!"

The real inflation figures, according to Shadowstats.com, drastically understate the real inflation figures. As shown below, the real inflation figures are triple those reported (BLS figure below).

Inflation Calculator

Enter a dollar amount and two dates.
The second date can be later or earlier than the first.

$ in

2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

was worth how much in

Sep 1971	Sep 2010

$100.00	$535.39 (BLS)	* (SGS)
BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U (Urban Workers, All Items). SGS: Shadow Government Statistics Alternate CPI.* ShadowStats subscribers, please login to view the actual figure

QE is Coming, No Matter What

The fact of the matter is that it doesn't matter what the reported inflation rate is. Nor does it matter what the economy is doing. These are convenient excuses for justifying QE. The reality is that QE must be done in order for the government to be able to pay its bills.

Do not believe "John Law" Bernanke's desperate words.

_________________________________________________

The House That Uncle Sam Built

The Untold Story of the Great Recession of 2008

Preliminary figures from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show that Washington ran a $1.291 trillion deficit in 2010, just slightly less than last year's $1.416 trillion.

To put these figures in perspective, the annual budget deficit between 1789 and 2008 never reached $500 billion. As a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP), the past two years' deficits of 10.0 and 8.9 dwarf all other deficits since World War II.

Recession-damped revenues continued to contribute to the budget deficit, coming in at 14.7 percent of GDP. However, low revenues are only a temporary contributor to the budget deficit. CBO data shows that once the recession ends, revenues should converge back toward their historical average of 18 percent of the economy.

The surging spending will likely be permanent. Federal spending this past year reached 23.6 percent of the economy, which, along with last year's 25.4 percent, are the highest spending levels in American history outside of World War II. And President Obama's budget would permanently maintain federal spending at these high levels.

Putting these revenue and spending trends together shows that long-term deficits will be driven exclusively by above-average spending. After all, if revenues revert back to their historical average, yet spending remains 5–6 percent of GDP above its historical average, then it will not take a mathematician or economist to determine which variable is driving the deficit upwards.

Spending dipped 2 percent in 2010, from $3.520 trillion to $3.453 trillion. Unfortunately, this was not the result of actual, repeatable spending restraint. After costing $154 billion in 2009, repayments to TARP lead to a $108 billion "profit" this past year. The cost of bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dropped from $91 billion to $40 billion. Deposit insurance costs declined $55 billion. Each of these savings represents one-time offsets from the cost of previous financial bailouts. These better-than-projected results should not, however, be confused with good policy.

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/another-record-team-obama-goes-2-for-2-passes-trillion-dollar-deficit-mark-for-second-time/

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EXPLOSIVE! PART 2 ON HEALTHCARE NIGHTMARE REVEALS MASSIVE POWER GRAB

This is not about healthcare for all, folks. This is about a power-grab by the Executive Branch.

A Constitutional attorney explains in this article by Conservative Examiner.

All the more reason for a tsunami change in November!

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheLibertySphere/~3/xFyew52ZeHU/explosive-part-2-on-healthcare.html

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Video of Joe Biden: Stimulus too Complicated, Americans Too Stupid To Understand It

"RULING CLASS MENTALITY, FRONT AND CENTER! NOW!" Ruling class mentality: "Sir, YES SIR!":

Liberals continue to think it is how they frame their policies, and not the policies themselves, that are unpopular. No. It's those policies! The above interview was from March, but Biden said the same thing this week. Fox Business Network jumped on him for it:

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/10/video-of-joe-biden-stimulus-too.html

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The Verdict Is In: Medicare Advantage Will Suffer Under Obamacare

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/15/the-verdict-is-in-medicare-advantage-will-suffer-under-obamacare/

The Verdict Is In: Medicare Advantage Will Suffer Under Obamacare

The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.
October 15, 2010 10:00:05 AM
Kathryn Nix

The outlook for seniors' Medicare Advantage (MA) plans is grim under the new health care law. Though seniors' premiums will drop 1 percent in the new year, this will be the exception to the rule over the next decade.

Medicare Advantage is a popular alternative to traditional fee-for-service, allowing seniors to choose their health plan from among participating private plans. If seniors choose a plan that is less expensive than the benchmark price, they receive a rebate that can be used to add extra benefits, such as dental or vision care, or to reduce co-payments or premiums.

The new law, however, will lower the benchmark price set for MA plans. In a recent letter, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Chief Actuary Richard Foster explains that changes made by the new law "are expected to reduce MA rebates to plans and thereby result in less generous benefit packages." For seniors who wish to keep their current plans, out-of-pocket costs will increase. Foster writes, "Prior to this legislation, the average annual MA rebate was estimated to grow from $1,093 in 2010 to $1,580 in 2019. Under the new provisions, the average MA rebate is expected to decline from its current level to $43 in 2019."

This is not news. Back in April, Foster warned, "The new provisions will generally reduce MA rebates to plans and thereby result in less generous benefit packages. We estimate that in 2017, when the MA provisions will be fully phased in, enrollment in MA plans will be lower by about 50 percent."

Recent research from Heritage's Robert Book and James Capretta echo Foster's findings. Their analysis shows the effects on enrollment and costs for MA enrollees by county and by congressional district.

Book and Capretta write:

Regardless of which outcome a particular patient experiences, every patient who would have enrolled in an MA plan under prior law will experience a loss in the value of his or her Medicare coverage. … Instead of reducing waste, the MA cuts will simply cut health care services available to patients and transfer spending from Medicare Advantage to other federal programs and other payers (including patients), thus increasing federal and state spending on Medicaid and patient spending on Part D, supplemental care plans, and out-of-pocket costs.

The effects of such aggressive cuts to Medicare Advantage were known well before the passage of the new law. Last summer, Humana warned its 930,000 MA enrollees that under the health care overhaul, "millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make MA health plans so valuable."

In an unprecedented move, CMS silenced Humana's and all other providers' communications regarding the health care proposals before determining if they violated any law. The Government Accountability Office writes:

Although CMS's actions generally conformed to its policies and procedures, the September 21, 2009, memorandum instructing all MA organizations to discontinue communications on pending legislation while CMS conducted its investigation was unusual. Officials from the MA organizations and CMS regional offices that we interviewed told us they were unaware of CMS ever directing all MA organizations to immediately stop an activity before CMS had determined whether that activity violated federal laws, regulations, or MA program guidance.

All told, seniors got a raw deal in the new health care law. Rather than reform Medicare the right way, Congress pursued a path that ignores current problems in the program and creates new ones. The best way forward for seniors and all other Americans is repeal, so that Congress can get health care right.

Health Care CMS Medicare Advantage Obamacare PPACA

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WTF? Soldier Says Ordered To Delete Ft Hood Videos Of Shooting

SoldierofAllah(SoA) Why in the hell would they order him to do this? It's evidence.....gawd, this is nuking futz: YahooNewsTexas – A soldier who recorded the terror of last year's deadly shooting rampage in Fort Hood using his cell phone...

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/204441.php

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‘I want your money’ opens today in 500 theaters; another nail in Obama’s presidency

This preview says a lot in just two-and-a-half minutes, and over 3 million YouTube views indicates its timeliness:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Find a theater to see "I want your money" near you. The "I want your money" website is well-designed.

This type of movie – nailing Obama and the dems for their out-of-control and never-seen-before spending levels – is precisely what is needed at this time. And at 500+ theaters in the initial release, it's sure to be attended.

Let's watch what press it gets. Here's a summary I received with some past press: MPI fellow Doug Stebleton is having tremendous success with his production I Want Your Money, a feature documentary about the perils of big government that opens today in theaters all over the country. Not only has the trailer gotten over 3 million views on YouTube, but the film is getting major media hits as well. In recent weeks the film was featured on Reason.tv and in The Hill newspaper, and has gotten glowing reviews in Politico and the New York Times. Last Thursday it was featured on the John Stossel Show on the Fox Business Network.

Here's the list of folks interviewed in the movie: Mike Huckabee, Stephen Moore, Michael Reagan, William Voegeli, Star Parker, Kenneth Blackwell, Edwin Meese lll, Thad McCotter, Newt Gingrich, Lee Edwards, Pete Wilson, Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, Kate Obenshain, Chris Edwards, David M. McIntosh, Lila Rose, John Stossel, Allen Icet, Rob Schaaf, Tom McClintock, Andrew Breitbart, George Runner, Alison Fraser.

If you can get to see it, enjoy!

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/patriotroom/eKBL/~3/ZJnLOvXgOCg/

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US House Whip-Up Fri 10/15/10: Only evidence of ‘shovel-ready’ is the hole Obama has dug for the dem

Sometimes you really have to wonder about the communications efforts coming out of the 18 acres. Hear us out… Flashback to December 2008, Tom Brokaw asked then President-elect Obama on Meet the Press how quickly he could create jobs. "Well, I think we can get a lot of work done fast," Mr. Obama said. "When I met with the governors, all of them have projects that are shovel-ready, that are going to require us to get the money out the door, but they've already lined up the projects and they can make them work."

For the next two months, the President kept repeating the "shovel-ready" talking point while trying to sell his stimulus bill to a worried nation. Even after the bill was signed into law, the 'shovel-ready' lingo didn't stop. In fact, just two weeks later the President doubled down, "I can say that 14 days after I signed our Recovery Act into law, we are seeing shovels hit the ground." Oh yeah?

Fast forward…. 20 months into his administration and 18 days prior to the election where the failed stimulus bill will certainly be on voters' minds, the President is quickly changing his tune. In fact, now he says that there's "no such thing as shovel-ready," and does so with a remarkably straight face. If that's not an indirect admission that the stimulus bill failed to meet the Administration's own objectives, we don't know what is.

Now on to the news …

THE ECONOMY: President Obama's Reversal On "Shovel-Ready" Projects Cuts The Legs Out From Under The Democrats' Job Creation Argument.

Months After The Fact … President Obama Admits There's No Such Thing As Shovel-Ready Projects. Back in early 2009, President-elect Barack Obama was asked on "Meet the Press" how quickly he could create jobs. Oh, very fast, he said. He'd already consulted with a gaggle of governors, and "all of them have projects that are shovel-ready." When Obama revealed the members of his energy team, he explained that they were part of his effort to get started on "shovel-ready projects all across the country." When he unveiled his education secretary, he assured everyone that he was going to get started "helping states and local governments with shovel-ready projects." … Only now it turns out that the president was shoveling something all right when he was talking about shovel-ready jobs — a whole pile of steaming something. Townhall

THE ECONOMY (2): Business Leaders Make It Clear The Administration Still Doesn't Understand The Private Sector

White House Ends The Search For A CEO To Add To The President's Economic Team. The White House is no longer actively seeking a corporate chief executive to be President Barack Obama's top economic adviser, an appointment administration officials had hoped would ease tensions with the business community. With two months left to find a successor to departing National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, senior officials and business leaders aware of the discussions say finding a chief executive willing to take the job has proved difficult. The Wall Street Journal

Still Not Getting It: Nucor Chief: President Obama Has Yet To Fully Embrace The Private Sector. Mr. Obama "needs to fully embrace the private sector and be our facilitator in a globally competitive world, but he still has not gotten there," said Dan DiMicco, chief executive of steelmaker Nucor Corp. The Wall Street Journal

Home Depot Co-Founder: Home Depot Would Fail If It Was Trying To Get Off The Ground Today. My question to you was why, during a time when investment and dynamism are so critical to our country, was it necessary to vilify the very people who deliver that growth? Instead of offering a straight answer, you informed me that I was part of a "reckless" group that had made "bad decisions" and now required your guidance, if only I'd stop "resisting" it. I'm sure that kind of argument draws cheers from the partisan faithful. But to my ears it sounded patronizing. Of course, one of the chief conceits of centralized economic planning is that the planners know better than everybody else. … If we tried to start Home Depot today, under the kind of onerous regulatory controls that you have advocated, it's a stone cold certainty that our business would never get off the ground, much less thrive. The Wall Street Journal

AGENDA WATCH: The Obama/Pelosi Agenda: Over Trillion Added To The Deficit … Again

For The 2^nd Year In A Row, The Cost Of The Obama/Pelosi Agenda Tops $1 Trillion. The Obama administration is set to report Friday that the federal budget deficit exceeded $1 trillion for the second straight year … The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that the deficit for the 2010 budget year that ended Sept. 30 will total $1.29 trillion. The Associated Press

Strassel: Blue Dogs Who Supported President Obama and Speaker Pelosi's Budget Busting Agenda Are An Endangered Species … The Wall Street Journal

HEALTH CARE UPDATE: Another Study Shows ObamaCare Hurts Job Creation

Study: ObamaCare's Tax Hikes Add To Uncertainty, May Create Cash Flow Problems For Businesses. A new study by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers found that nearly half (47 percent) of executives surveyed expect the new healthcare law to have a "notable financial impact on their businesses." … One issue troubling executives is adjusting to reform while trying to accommodate for the coming tax hikes included in the new law. "It's possible this could create a cash flow issue as CEOs look to continue reinvesting in their business," said Ken Esch, a partner in the firm's Private Company Services practice, in prepared remarks. … "The potential business impact of health reform is just one among a host of issues, regulatory, legislative, economic, that's creating uncertainty for CEO's right now," Esch said. The Hill

THE WAR ON TERROR ROUNDUP

Woefully Inadequate: Only 2 Of President Obama's 24 Cyber Security Recommendations Have Been Implemented. More than a year after President Obama called for improved national cybersecurity, only two of his recommendations have been fully implemented and the remaining 22 have been only partially implemented, a federal audit said Thursday. … "Consequently, until roles and responsibilities are made clear and the schedule and planning shortfalls identified above are adequately addressed, there is increased risk the recommendations will not be successfully completed, which would unnecessarily place the country's cyber infrastructure at risk," the report said. CNN

WHAT TO WATCH

Question Of The Day: Would MTV Give Republicans An Hour Of Free TV? Republicans argued that the event – billed as an official presidential town hall – was in, effect, an Obama political rally and should have been billed as such. Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), mocked a Twitter promotion for show asking viewers to Tweet their greatest hopes and fears. "Dear MTV, my greatest hope is for you to ask President Obama whether he believes GOP should have an hour of free time on MTV." Politico

Cook Report: The Dems' Anti-Republican Message Isn't Resonating … What's scariest for Democrats isn't necessarily their dire predicament today, but that their messages against Republicans aren't sticking or helping them recover ground across the map. Politico's The Huddle

Demand For The Chevy Volt Soars. Consumer demand for the Chevrolet Volt is so strong that General Motors Co. is planning to boost early production of the highly anticipated plug-in vehicle, which rolls into showrooms later this year. … GM's Parks said the automaker could build up to 60,000 Volts in 2012, up from 45,000 announced in July, a figure that had already been raised from 30,000. "Starting in '12, we'll be at this max rate of 60,000," Parks said. GM hopes to sell every model it builds that year and could boost capacity further in 2012 or 2013. The Detroit News

IN OTHER NEWS

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Time to get real about climate change

When the public finally comes to realize how it has been so seriously misled on what has become a central theme of modern environmentalism, efforts to address real environmental problems may very well be set back decades.

By Tom Harris – The Washington Times 10-14-10

EXCERPTS:

"Based on the paleoclimatic data I and others have collected, it's obvious that climate is and always has been variable. In fact, the only constant about climate is change; it changes continually."

The "denier" label is simply an attempt to equate those of us who question political correctness on climate change to Holocaust deniers.

Climate data analyst John McLean of Melbourne, Australia, has demonstrated repeatedly that only a few dozen scientist participants in the IPCC process even commented on the issue.

We cannot forecast climate decades from now any better than we can predict the weather two weeks ahead. The system is simply too complex and our understanding of the science too primitive.

Many scientists who work with the IPCC know this. They even stated in their Third Assessment Report: "In climate research and modeling, we should recognize that we are dealing with a coupled nonlinear chaotic system, and therefore that long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible."

"science provides no unambiguous evidence that dangerous global warming or even measurable human-caused global warming is occurring … despite the expenditure since 1990 of many tens of billions of dollars searching for it."

In the meantime, billions of dollars are wasted and thousands of jobs threatened, all for an unproven hypothesis that never made any sense in the first place.

HEADLINES

Friday, October 15, 2010

Fall for their deflationary warnings at your own risk. The Fed only knows one course and is embarked on it big-time — INFLATION!

From Monty Pelerine

A Little History

Scoreboard year-to-date in percentages — Agricultural

Inflation Calculator

QE is Coming, No Matter What

RELATED STORIES:

Understanding that failed government policies, not market failure, caused our economic challenges is critical to defining the appropriate cures. Since government created the problem, i.e. caused the disaster, it is irrational to believe that more government is the cure.

To understand how we got here and why current economic policies will make things worse, read this paper:

The House That Uncle Sam Built

The Untold Story of the Great Recession of 2008

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Republican Opens Investigation Into Hedge Fund and Advocacy Group Groups Deny They Worked to Inflate Housing Bubble

The Housing Boom and Bust by Thomas Sowell» A must read to all of us who are interested in the housing boom and bust, which led to the current financial crisis.

The Verdict Is In: Medicare Advantage Will Suffer Under Obamacare

The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.October 15, 2010 10:00:05 AM Kathryn Nix

Health Care CMS Medicare Advantage Obamacare PPACA

When the public finally comes to realize how it has been so seriously misled on what has become a central theme of modern environmentalism, efforts to address real environmental problems may very well be set back decades.

By Tom Harris – The Washington Times 10-14-10

RELATED STORIES:

The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.
October 15, 2010 10:00:05 AM
Kathryn Nix