The Truth About Obamacare

Here’s what you need to know about why we need the Affordable Health Care Act, sometimes called Obamacare.

  1. The U.S. spends more, far more, on health care per person than any other industrialized nation.
  2. Despite that, as Fareed Zakia points out in his strongly pro-Obamacare article in Time magazine, “We do worse than most other countries on almost every measure of health outcomes: healthy-life expectancy, infant mortality and–crucially–patient satisfaction. Put simply, we have the most expensive, least efficient system of any rich country on the planet.”
  3. Republicans did nothing about this situation during all the years they were in power!
  4. Prior to the AHCA, insurance companies could tack on a lifetime limit of payments. That means you could be in the hospital being treated for a life-threatening disease, and you are suddenly on the hook for all medical payments. After Obamacare, that can no longer happen.
  5. More than 17.6 million children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage.
  6. The controversial “individual mandate” that you heard about means that everyone is required to buy health insurance. (Poor people will get assistance in buying the insurance.) Right now, more than 30 million Americans don’t have that insurance, but if they go to an emergency room, they get treatment. Who pays? Everyone else! That’s exactly the kind of “free-loader” stuff that usually gets right-wingers angry, and in fact, the individual mandate was proposed years ago by the conservative Heritage Foundation, and prior to Obama, it had been proposed by many Republicans. But now that Barack wants it, they don’t! (Mitt Romney signed it into law when he was governor of Massachusetts.)
  7. There are many more benefits of Obamacare. Check out this summary. And check this site out to learn about the myths and facts.

Right now the Supreme Court is considering whether to overturn all or parts of the Affordable Health Care Act, and Romney says if elected he would push to kill it.

It’s a crazy situation, and it’s another reason we need Obama, and Democrats, to win in November.

Ken

 

Obama and Israel II

Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, many continue to believe that Obama is “anti-Israel.”

Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer-prize winning author and columnist, spends big chunks of the year abroad, developing a keen sense of the inter-connectedness of nations. He frequently focuses on the Middle East.

He is not an unwavering Obama fan. In fact, he has been calling for the formation of a new third party movement because of his dissatisfaction with both Republicans and Democrats.

Nonetheless, his recent column gets right to the point with stunning clarity. It begins:

“The only question I have when it comes to President Obama and Israel is whether he is the most pro-Israel president in history or just one of the most.”

Friedman goes on to explain how Obama brilliantly re-framed the issue of Iran getting a nuke from being an Israeli problem to being a problem for America, the entire Middle East and indeed, the whole world.

Friedman closes the column with another powerful paragraph:

“If it comes to war, let it be because the ayatollahs were ready to sacrifice their whole economy to get a nuke and, therefore, America — the only country that can truly take down Iran’s nuclear program — had to act to protect the global system, not just Israel. I respect that this is a deadly serious issue for Israel — which has the right to act on its own — but President Obama has built a solid strategic and political case for letting America take the lead.”

As I’ve said previously, disagreeing with the President’s policies is fine; labeling him as anti-Israel is absurd.

 

GOP’s “Scary” Predictions

The Republican party of Dwight Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller and John Lindsay was a party guided by rational thinkers. No longer. The GOP of the 21st century is overflowing with wackos. Not just Tea Party wackos. No, today the leaders are nuts.

Watch their presidential candidates as they crisscross the country, throwing red meat to the radical right. They tell the faithful, “the president” or “the Democrats” or “Liberals” want to … fill in the blank with some awful thing. But I have been a liberal Democrat for decades, and I watch them and wonder, Who the hell are they talking about? They just make shit up.

Remember Bill Ayers? Four years ago Sarah Palin kept bringing up the name of this “terrorist” that Obama “pals around with.” No one brings up his name anymore because it was a bad joke then, and now everyone knows it.

For a trip down memory lane of the 2008 race for the White House, check out this segment from The Daily Show. The horror-predictions Jon Stewart’s staff dug up are just the tiniest tip of the iceberg. There were thousands of other clips they could have shown.

And in part two of that segment, he gives you a few of the nutty things being said, in total seriousness, in the current campaign. While all are weird, the well-publicized speech by the head of the NRA is so bizarre that you have to wonder if even he believes it. The sound-bite doesn’t do justice to the strangeness of what he said in that speech, and elsewhere. In a nutshell, he’s been telling his robotic followers that Obama signed pro-gun legislation – which I wasn’t happy about – as part of a brilliantly clever ruse to lull guns owners into a false sense of security, and then in his second term, wham!, he will take away all your guns!

For the radical right, paranoia runs deep.

Ken

P.S. To my mind this segment has one of Jon Stewart’s best lines: “Barack Obama has failed to keep many of the campaign promises that his opponents made for him.”

Occupy This.

Why are the Occupy-ers upset? Their complaints are many, their solutions are few. But a recent NY Times column by the normally dry-as-dust Floyd Norris summed it up nicely.

“For companies, these are boom times. For workers, the opposite is true.”

Within the article are a series of graphs that paint a clear picture; it’s a great time to be a corporation, especially a big one. Not so for almost everyone else.

The graphs also showed that effective tax rates, both corporate and personal, are well below where they were during most of the past 50 years.

So again, beyond any doubt the rich are getting richer while everyone else treads water. Or worse.  And yet so many of my fellow one-percenters are whining about “class warfare” being waged by Obama. The class warfare, if such a thing exists in the U.S., is built into the system. (I’ll have more to say on this topic in a later post.)

And speaking of my fellow Wall Street insiders (which I’m not really), I’m happy to report that a few agree with me that the system is dangerously unbalanced. Here’s an article that shows that yes, some insiders “get it.”

Reporter Jesse Eisinger interviewed a few enlightened insiders and gives us some of the best lines written about both the financial collapse and the (non)reaction to it. He presents the problem in a nutshell …

Wall Street is already occupied — from within.

The insiders have a critique similar to that of the outsiders. The financial industry has strayed far from being an intermediary between companies that want to raise capital so they can sell people things they want. Instead, it is a machine to enrich itself, fleecing customers and widening income inequality. When it goes off the rails, it impoverishes the rest of us. When the crises come, as they inevitably do, banks hold the economy hostage, warning that they will shoot us in the head if we don’t bail them out.

I would love to hear from anyone who disagrees with those damning words.

Obama, Israel and Jews

Well, everyone knows Barack Obama hates Israel.  Ask any Republican. Ask any right-wing Israeli. Ask former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat who endorsed a Republican (who was running against an Orthodox Jew!) in that special election to fill Anthony Weiner’s Congressional seat.  Koch said it was his way to “send a message” to Obama on his policies toward Israel. And of course, you can ask that Murdoch-controlled rag, the NY Post, whose editorial board wrote of “Obama’s radically anti-Israel stance.”

Except for one thing – Obama is flat out pro-Israel.  He does not kowtow to the hardline conservatives who dominate the current Israel government, nor should he.  Within days after Obama’s May 20th speech on his vision for the area, a full-page ad ran in the NY Times in support of his plan. It was signed by dozens of Israel’s most highly honored citizens. Are they “radically anti-Israel” as well?

Is every American president supposed to rubber stamp whatever any Israeli government demands? What happens when the next Israeli government comes into power?

Obama’s proposals are an amalgam of proposals from previous Israeli governments. His (their) vision may be right or wrong. But labeling him as anti-Israel because he doesn’t agree with Netanyahu is as silly as claiming that an Israeli who supports, say, Rick Perry, is anti-American.

New York Magazine’s Sept. 26th cover shows a close-up of the back of Obama’s head, covered with a white yarmulke. The headline: “The First Jewish President.” The sub-head is, “The truth? Barack Obama is the best friend Israel has right now.” And when you go inside to the story, it begins,

“Barack Obama is the best thing Israel has going for it right now. Why is that so difficult for Netanyahu and his American Jewish allies to understand?”

The writer of the piece, John Heilman, goes into great detail to back up those claims. And if you need further details of Obama staunch pro-Israel actions (along with some fair criticism), check out this editorial from the NY Times.

Personally, I am saddened and slightly disgusted by American Jews who vote based on what they perceive is best for Israel. If that’s their major concern, they should make aliyah and move there. While you live here, you should vote based on what’s best for America! Every U.S. president will strongly support Israel – they just may not do it in a way that suits every Jew everywhere.

And finally, as a close friend reminded me, the Christian religious right supports Israel not because of any love of the country or Jews but because Israel’s statehood fits their Biblical prophesies for the coming “End of Days.”

So the next time you hear Rick Perry profess his love for Israel, please keep that in mind.

L’shona tova.

“Poor.” Another reason to hate Fox News.

If you make less than around $22,000 per year for a family of four you are officially poor, according to the U.S. Government. But not according to Fox News.

Take a look at this segment from The Daily Show (There are unavoidable commercials at the start and in the middle of the segment; you may need to click here to get to the second half.)

I could write an essay about every 15 second slice of that funny – and infuriating – video essay. But for now, let’s just focus on what happens towards the last part of the video, when Jon Stewart shows a slew of Foxies mocking the “poor” in our country. Yes, they put the word in quotes, clearly signifying maybe you whose family makes less than $22,350 really might be well off.

Are you? Right now you can buy a name brand dishwasher for $170. But perhaps you already have one, bought say, five or six years ago, when you and your spouse were both working. Whatever, you are among the 25% of “poor” who own a dishwasher. That, for Foxies, is outrageous. Clearly, you and your ”moocher” friends with your dishwashers and $59 microwaves and $29 coffee makers are just fine and in fact, YOU need to pay more taxes!

Think I’m kidding? Watch the clips. The bottom 50% of the U.S. population controls a whopping 2.5% of the country’s wealth, but the GOP says don’t ask the top two percent to pay even one dollar more in taxes.

I watch the fools on Fox News and I just want to slap them.

Just a Few Facts About the Deficit

No need to click on this – unless you meet a doofus who tells you that the deficit skyrocketed under Obama. (Scroll halfway down to the two long columns and look at the green column on the right.)

And for a more detailed look at who is most responsible for the deficit, take a look at “The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling.”

Please don’t try and sound intelligent about the current economic mess until you take a good look at these two articles.

 

Loopholes and Billionaires

Usually I stick to big broad themes. Not today. Today’s post is more targeted, and this is personal. I know this stuff because I am a Registered Investment Advisor, and tax loopholes infuriate me. And in a few moments, you ought to be angry as well.

As we all know, Republicans refuse to talk about raising taxes on anyone. They are happy to cut programs for everyone – the poor, the middle class, college students – but don’t dare ask the wealthy to share the burden in any way. (Oh, wait – as John Stewart so brilliantly showed with a flurry of TV clips, Republicans are not allowed to call anyone “wealthy” any more. No, they must be called “job creators.” Ha! That’s another story for another time.

Outrage #1.

You probably don’t know about something called “carried interest.” As you can read in the linked articles, these loopholes allow some of the super-wealthiest Americans – hedge fund managers and others employed in the game of moving money around – to enjoy lower tax rates than you and I pay. As the New York Times reports:

“These fund managers are compensated mostly with a performance bonus of 20 percent or more of the profits they make. Under this carried interest loophole, that 20 percent is eligible to be taxed at the long-term capital gains rate (if the fund’s underlying assets are held long enough) of just 15 percent rather than the regular personal income rate of 35 percent.”

Got that? While you are paying up to 35% on the income you earn, these guys pay only 20%. I would be thrilled if one of my Republican friends can explain to me (and I’ll post it on my blog) how this helps America in our time of need.

I live in this world. I understand compensation for performance. This is a total tax scam. Period.

Outrage #2.

As bad as the carried interest loophole is, this might be even worse. It primarily affects day traders and speculators who buy and sell futures contracts.

Read this, and explain to me why this is fair to you and me…

“For years, futures contracts, which are essentially bets on the price of commodities, stock indexes and the like, have received a more favorable tax treatment than stocks. A trader who buys and sells an oil contract in less than a year — even in a matter of minutes — pays no more than a 23 percent tax on the profits.”

Again, you and I, and all my clients, must pay 35% for any profitable investment held less than 12 months.

America’s greatest investor sums it up nicely…

“There are so many ways to attack the logic of it,” Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway said in an interview …”It doesn’t make sense.”

While Democrats are not blameless in developing these loopholes, predominantly it has been Republicans who fight hard for these loopholes. (Yes, it looks like some loopholes may be closed in the current negotiations, but rest assured the GOP will push to reinstate them ASAP.)

So the biggest question is – why does anyone in the middle class support the politicians who vigorously support these policies?
Ken

As always, here are links to my source material:
Day Traders and Speculators
Carried Interest

The Auto Industry Bailout: A Profile of Political Courage

The post below, about the success of the auto industry bailout, was sent out 8/5/10.

Today we learned that Chrysler is paying off its loan years ahead of schedule.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=13676213

========================================

Republicans love to make dire predictions about every economic proposal put forth by the Democrats. If you follow politics at all, you know that our president is a “socialist” whose policies are leading us down a path to totalitarian communistic hell. Except, of course, he’s not. When newly-elected President Obama had to make the intensely difficult decision about whether or not to bail out the rapidly sinking US auto industry, the GOP, with virtually one voice, shouted their favorite word, NO! This video was broadcast last week, on August 3, 2010. It reminds you, with video clips, of what the GOP was saying about a year and a half ago. Where are they now, when all three US auto companies are showing healthy profits, and tens of thousands (at least) of American jobs have been saved? Try to watch at least the first 7 minutes or so – up until Gov. Granholm comes on.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#38497026

Stick It to the Poor. Again.

Are you following the debate about how to fix the economy? For the average non-economist, trying to make sense of the arguments is futile. Both sides seem to have good arguments.That’s why a recent Op-Ed piece in the NY Times by David Stockman is so important. Stockman served as Ronald Reagan’s Budget Director for several years, and prior to that was a Republican Congressman.

Stockman took a look at the highly-touted plan offered by Republican Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee. Republicans, and much of the media, are making a hero out  of Rep. Ryan. He’s young, photogenic and people give him credit for being “courageous” because he is “willing” to discuss changes to entitlement programs, i.e., Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps

But Stockman bluntly says that Ryan’s plan puts “the entire burden of entitlement reform on the poor.”

Got that? Our GOP friends, according to one their own, want to fix the deficit by making life harder for the people who can least afford it. And of course, he, like all good Republicans, refuses to even consider letting tax rates for the wealthy go back to where they were under Clinton, when we are all doing well.

Does that make you proud to be an American? Is that what you stand for? Hurt the poor and middle class, while asking nothing extra from millionaires and billionaires?

Where is the “shared sacrifice” that politicians ask for?

And actually, it’s not a matter of raising taxes on the wealthy – it’s simply letting the Bush tax cuts expire. Those cuts were meant to be temporary; they were put in place because Bill Clinton handed George W. Bush a large budget surplus, and Bush basically said the U.S. should give back the “excess” taxes that were collected.

On the same day as the Stockman article appeared, Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman wrote that the Ryan/GOP plan calls “for tax cuts, with taxes on the wealthy falling to their lowest level since 1931.” Right. The US is desperate for income, yet Ryan says cut rates for the wealthiest even more!

Republicans claim, with a straight face, that we can’t raise taxes on millionaires because that would stifle job creation. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP.  Business people – and I’m one – hire or fire based on what is best for our business. The idea that I would not hire another person for my firm merely because I had to pay slightly higher taxes is absurd beyond belief.

Sadly, few in the media ever challenge the GOP absurdity. We can only hope that the people will eventually see how the poor and middle class are getting screwed.

Below are links to the two articles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/opinion/24stockman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=stockman&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/opinion/25krugman.html?scp=1&sq=krugman&st=Search