Obama blew it. He took a hands off approach to formulating a healthcare reform bill, then he stood on the sidelines while the plan drew incredible flak from an outraged citizenry. The bill was pure fascism....1. the bill said that once passed, it was immune from any judicial review...2. if you didn't buy a plan, then you had to pay a 2.5% annual tax- if you didn't pay this tax and went into "total noncompliance," then you could get up to five years in prison....3. the bill steals from Medicare, essentially destroying a struggling program 4. the bill gave the Feds direct access to your bank accounts...and it goes down hill from there.
Obama is already a lame duck, after just 340 days in office. If he had gone the incremental route, had just focused on one thing, like ending denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, a 50 page bill, then he might have had a chance. It was total arrogance that caused the debacle. Now, a Republican has won Kennedys old seat in Massachusetts...the hope and change man is now nearly hopeless and just wants your spare change.
The Supremes have delivered a body blow to American (semi)-democracy. In a 5-4 decision (all Republican appointees, I think) The Court now says that unlimited corporate money can flow into election campaigns. A proxy holding of The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, or the Saudi Bin Laden construction group, can now incorporate in Deleware and pour unlimited amounts of money into any race in the US, no questions asked.
Obama announced a federal spending freeze...due to kick in next year. All this means is that the bankers have gobbled up all the money and now there's none left for you poor slobs.
The great recession isn't over. Those faltering securities and credit default swaps, leveraged derivatives looking for a profit that will never come, all those unfunded obligations, future entitlement payments, , underwater mortgages, all this stuff is still out there on the books, ready to explode.
We could have decent healthcare for all if we just restored America's manufacturing base and brought back decent wage jobs for working people. That way, families could afford healthcare plans on there own, assuming the companies involved were reigned in and behaved the way they did in the 1950- 1960's, and stopeed being absurdly venal, as allowed by their paid- off regulators.
Obama is already a lame duck, after just 340 days in office. If he had gone the incremental route, had just focused on one thing, like ending denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, a 50 page bill, then he might have had a chance. It was total arrogance that caused the debacle. Now, a Republican has won Kennedys old seat in Massachusetts...the hope and change man is now nearly hopeless and just wants your spare change.
The Supremes have delivered a body blow to American (semi)-democracy. In a 5-4 decision (all Republican appointees, I think) The Court now says that unlimited corporate money can flow into election campaigns. A proxy holding of The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, or the Saudi Bin Laden construction group, can now incorporate in Deleware and pour unlimited amounts of money into any race in the US, no questions asked.
Obama announced a federal spending freeze...due to kick in next year. All this means is that the bankers have gobbled up all the money and now there's none left for you poor slobs.
The great recession isn't over. Those faltering securities and credit default swaps, leveraged derivatives looking for a profit that will never come, all those unfunded obligations, future entitlement payments, , underwater mortgages, all this stuff is still out there on the books, ready to explode.
We could have decent healthcare for all if we just restored America's manufacturing base and brought back decent wage jobs for working people. That way, families could afford healthcare plans on there own, assuming the companies involved were reigned in and behaved the way they did in the 1950- 1960's, and stopeed being absurdly venal, as allowed by their paid- off regulators.
posted by Zero at 11:07 AM
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