Robert Reich on the Fight for a Public Option

[cano21]

Robert. You are a creepy eugenist. Go away.

[warrenbattistejazz]

Reich a douchnozzle of the first order.  It is over

[bigtex501]

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics..

OBAMER ECONOMICS...

Unemployment rate JUMPS from 9.8% (15.1 MILLION) to....

10.2% (15.7 MILLION)

TOTAL UNEMPLOYMENT....

JUMPS from 16.8% to 17.5% of the civilian population or 41.4 MILLION PEOPLE.

Of those that can't afford to get H.C. insurance..

HOW MANY are DUE to NO JOBS?????

Obamer....

IT'S THE "ECONOMY STUPID"!!!

[bigtex501]

CBS NEWS

(OBAMER ECONOMICS)

The Treasury Department announced that the federal government ran a $1.42 TRILLION BUDGET DEFICIT in 2009, about 10% of GDP.

That's the largest nominal budget deficit in history, & the largest as a percentage of GDP since World War II!

From 1789 to 2008, the federal government borrowed about $5.8 trillion!

In just two years, 2009 & 2010, the government will borrow...

***$3 TRILLION MORE***!

[dukeraider2]

Defense spending is 40% of GDP while education is 2% of GDP where where you guys when that happened

[bigtex501]

TODAY'S POLLS!

-13 obamer approval index!

52% DISAPPROVE of obamer & ONLY 46% approve!

JUST 15% of voters NOW GIVE CONGRESS good or excellent ratings

54% OPPOSE the "PELOSI HEALTH CARE Plan"!

(42% **STRONGLY** OPPOSE "THE PELOSI Plan"!)

72% say H.C. Plan LIKELY to shift employees from PRIVATE ins. to the GOVERNMENT PLAN!!!

63% of voters nationwide say...

"Guaranteeing that NO ONE is FORCED to change their H.C coverage is a HIGHER PRIORITY than giving choice of a "PUBLIC OPTION"!!!

[bigtex501]

Congressional Budget Office Reports...

All told, H.R. 3962 would reduce the federal deficit by CUTTING $426 Billion from Medicare itself. (and... ALL the TAXATION needed to fund the remaining $770 BILLION!)

...Consequently, CBO expects that the legislation would ***slightly reduce*** federal budget deficits in the following decade (2019 to 2029) relative to those projected under current law...

with a total effect during that decade that in a broad range between....

"ZERO" and .25% of GDP!

[bigtex501]

Congressional Budget Office Reports

H.R. 3962

To REDUCE direct spending by $426 billion over the 2010 - 2019 period...

.. Permanent REDUCTIONS in the annual updates to MEDICARE'S payment rates for most services in the fee-for-service sector! (namely, the effects of those changes on payments to Medicare Advantage plans & collections of Part B premiums.) (SAVING $229 BILLION)

.. Setting payment rates in the MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PROGRAM on the basis of Medicare spending! (SAVING $170 BILLION)

[bigtex501]

H.R. 3962 & "DOC FIX" Legislation CBO.. NET INCREASE in FED DEFICITS.. $425 BILLION in Medicaid & CHIP $605 BILLION in FED Subsidies SUB TOTAL.. $1,055 billion in subsidies by exchanges & related spending! + $245 BILLION "DOC FIX" = $1.3 TRILLION TOTAL! Offsets - $167 billion in penalties paid by individuals & employers 10 years. NET reduction in fed budget deficits of $104 billion over 2010-2019 period With "DOC FIX" GRAND TOTAL of Health Care Proposal? $ 1,196,000,000,000.00!

[bigtex501]

$245 BILLION "DOC FIX" Legislation

Sen. Stabenow (D-Mich)

"Dem leaders hoped to PASS THE PROPOSAL QUICKLY, so as to DISASSOCIATE it from the larger health reform proposal."

"Were doing the doc fix (formula to pay doctors treating Medicare patients) first so as not to get it confused with health care reform," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said.

"Were going to try to pass it as an emergency-type of spending so that it DOESNT CONNECT to the health care reform bill & FIGURE IN AS A COST OF IT."

[dukeraider2]

other counties citizens don't have to deal with a denial of service clause when it come to health-care so why in world should we deal with it here in the GOOD ole USA. what part of the American dram don't you guys understand. LIFE-LIBERTY-HAPPINESS well i guess you have all three but just don't get sick then there no guarantee.

[uhclem]

Aw let the commies destroy the country! Who cares anymore really?

They'll just blame it on Bushit regardless...

[Coltonmw]

Actually the definition of Socialism is pretty appealing, if you look at it without thinking of it as a boogey-man:

so⋅cial⋅ism [soh-shuh-liz-uhm]

a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

Not bad, if you ask me - considering our health care system is currently in the hands of just a few of us. Give me a break!

[bigtex501]

obamer's DEFINITION of...

***HOPE*** & ***CHANGE***....

...the advancement of any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods!

.... a system of society or group living in which there is no private property!

....a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state!

WEBSTER'S DEFINES THESE AS....

***SOCIALISM***!!!

[bigtex501]

Latest Polling!!!!!

49% say passing ***NO health care reform bill*** this year is BETTER than passing the plan currently proposed by Congress!

ONLY 39% say they support these plans for health care!

[bigtex501]

During the ELECTIONS.. TOP ISSUES WERE 44% said the ECONOMY 14% said the National Defense & Foreign Policies ONLY 5% said HEALTH CARE????? PEOPLE SAY ***TODAY****.. TOP priority? CBS 45% Economy 20% Health Care CNN 41% Economy 20% Health Care NBC 30% Economy 21% Health care obamer IT'S THE ECONOMY STUPID!!!

[bigtex501]

VOTERS TRUST REPUBLICANS MORE THAN DEMOCRATS on all 10 key electoral issues STILL! 46% to 40% on HEALTH CARE!!!! 50% to 35% on TAXES!!!! 49% to 35% on the Economy 54% to 35% on National Security 50% to 31% on Iraq 45% to 37% on Social Security 43% to 38% on Education 47% to 35% on Abortion 42% would vote for Republican congressional candidate while 37% would for his or her Democratic opponent!

[dukeraider2]

The only thing I trust Republicans Officials to do is

1. Get us involved in more wars

2. Cover up 9/11,

3. Use human suffering as political leverage,

4. Use God's name in vain during election cycles but get caught in affair when the get vetted for higher office.

5. Make excuses for there out of line radical fringe who spout ethnic slurs toward the President Of The United States

6. Except bribes oh my bad "Campaign donation"

7. Not give a crap about education or social issues of minorities

[racer500gp]

Communist bastard

[tannsolo]

DON'T BE FOOLED INTO THINKING IT"S OVER.

"The important thing is to reach out to your public representative to tell them how important the public option is."

"Email is better than nothing.

"A phone call is better than an email.

"A hand-written letter is better than a phone call. . . .

[MissileExpansion]

anyone think that a non-religious opt-out, i.e. you keep the current system where you pay nothing til you need it, then pay out the ass, would help?

i'm all for the public option, i'm right at the poverty level but there's no freakin free clinics or the like around here. just wondering if it'd help get it through congress.

i DO NOT want to see a religious opt-out. that's a load of crap. either every american can opt out, regardless of religion, or no-one can.

[megasept]

Real "audacity of hope" would include a Public Option not watered down for Blue Dog insurance corporate lackys pretending to "reach across the aisle" for one measly vote (Sen Olympia Snowe).

Call President Obama at 1.202.456.1414 (comment line) and demand what Mr. Reich lays out, a genuine Public Option now, not watered down by triggers/opt-out. We are too close to give up!

[eltigueremacorisano]

This is not exactly what we demand but the psychological impact for continuing the fight for a Strong Public Option is inarguable.

[rpmcestmoi]

Yo, RR,

This Feinstein millionaire is not an easy case to crack. I would give money to any independent candidate or a democratic opponent to defeat this woman who will not get on board against the insurance industry.

[KJamesB]

I've called, e-mail and will now write. The time is now. No more stupidity. America has a place for ignorance (Fox), and we'll support their un-evolved thinking, despite their efforts to shoot their "friends" in the face, like a discharged Dick Cheney hunting accident...

[Chuckanutrose]

great

[antonscottgoustin]

Only zombies like FOX-News and other bobbleheads are afraid of the public option. The public option is essential to bootstrap the US economy after the Bush-Cheney economic collapse!

[joelgusa]

You are probably to indoctrinated to reason with, but what the heck. Have you considered the idea that without private property a free society is no more? If I have the right to your property (your time, your money, your stuff) then your life is no longer yours but mine. The only way to guarantee one group of people medical care is to take by force the property of other people, which would include you. Would you really be willing to sign away your rights to private property for free medical?

[mikepalomino]

@Joelgusa:

Talk about too "indoctrinated to reason with" - your statement betrays a serious lack of common sense.

I will demonstrate by rewording your statement and it doesn't make it any more true:

" The only way to guarantee one group of people [national defense] is to take by force the property of other people, which would include you."

And we spend trillions more yearly on defense than we do on healthcare. Yet magically, in your view, a public option will turn us into the USSRA.

[joelgusa]

You have a serious lack of understanding how things work. America was set up to fund all of the legitimate functions of government, such as National Defense, without a direct tax on income. This was done because the only way to limit the size of government is too limit the amount of money government could take in. This meant that for the first time in history, the individual was protected from government, not subject to it. This is clearly lost on you.

[mikepalomino]

Moreover, if you're going to talk about convoluted logic let's look at your own:

You suggest that spending on a public option will magically lead to a dissolution of property rights yet spending hundreds of billions a year on military spending will not.

Methinks I see a double standard.

Don't kid yourself, spending is spending.

That said: as an American I'd rather my tax dollars go to help the most people with a public option than dump billions into the miltary industrial complex.

[joelgusa]

Its difficult to really educate you on how things really work in this limited space. Suffice to say that it all comes down to control. People always have, and always invariably will go for more control over other people. You seem to be incapable of understanding that limiting the control and scope of government is a good thing, not a bad thing. People in government are no less greedy or hungry for power than the private sector. The difference is government can use force to obtain its ends.

[mikepalomino]

In fairness, what you say is true but the difference (and a significant one at that, at least in my mind) is government has two overriding factors: it offers methods by which it may be petitioned & amended and the methods by which that process is engendered is guaranteed.

The private sector has no such thing.

Market forces are no guarantee that they will do the right thing for the public, only for their bottom line, and more often than not those two objectives are contrary to each other.

[mikepalomino]

All that cynicism and distrust you have for the government you should turn toward the corporations and those who run them - the health insurance industry, big pharmaceuticals, etc...

If they did the right thing for the public - and not just for their bottom lines - we wouldn't need healthcare reform in the first place.

So when it comes down to who I trust - I trust government - at least I know that I can vote them out of office in 4 years. You can't do that with the private sector.

[joelgusa]

Sorry but its extremely naive to think that government is good and business is evil. For example, can you really vote out the Federal Reserve, which has all power to create and control money, with no accountability or responsibility to the electorate? Which according to both Friedman and Bernanke himself, caused the great depression? Or take the current economic crisis. Government has transferred the debt from those who incurred it to all of us and our kids. Can you vote that out?

[BlameRepublicans]

Why is it your prediction (which is pure shit) didn't happen in Canada, Australia, or the EU?

[antonscottgoustin]

This question is absurd. Britain, Germany, France, Japan all are capitalistic societies with private property. They also provide free medical care to their citizens. THERE IS NO CONTRADITION. Grow up!

[joelgusa]

On the contrary, are you really free if you have to give 70% of what you earn over under threat of force (as in Britain and france) The government owns all of your property, you just are ALLOWED to keep a bit of it. Isn't the idea that you are born in financial bondage to the government exactly the idea our country was set up to. PS, contradition is not a word.

[antonscottgoustin]

I thought the subject was private property. So, you admit that there is not an essential contradiction between private property (capitalism) and a national healthcare system! GREAT!  I agree with you: capitalism will not only survive Obama's healthcare reform, it will profit from Obama's leadership.

[BlameRepublicans]

This is just more right wing fear mongering and greedy whining. Private industry has YET AGAIN failed and shows the world if you want something done properly you can't count on the shysters in 3 piece suits who think the world owes them a living.

[mikepalomino]

@Joelgusa: Funny, your selective view of history shows either your own lack of understanding or an intellectually dishonest attempt to obfuscate the truth.

Yes, national defense is a legitimate function of government. But that's beside the point since providing for the "General Welfare" is also a legitimate function of government, which national healthcare epitomizes.

Interesting how you emphasize one while ignoring the other when they are part of the same clause in the Constitution.

[joelgusa]

Comical. Lets see, under what the general welfare meant, don't take my word, take that of James Madison, the guy who wrote it. "If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare...it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America".

[Lucian14]

Bravo!

[Ci44Ci]

Thanks for this voice of reason.