Business Leaders for Medicare for All
April 9, 2019
Wondering how we can save $$ and cover all Americans?
Business Leaders for Medicare for All
The U.S. has much higher health care administration costs than any other high income country.
Category: “Dead Skunk in The Middle of The Road”
Issues and events that stink to high heaven
Mitch McConnell is destroying the Senate – and American government
The Guardian
Mitch McConnell is destroying the Senate – and American government
Robert Reich, The Guardian April 6, 2019
No person has done more in living memory to undermine the functioning of the US government than the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell.
Related: ‘Our mantra is chaos’: Republican researchers target 2020 Democrats
Yes, Donald Trump has debased and defiled the presidency. He has launched blistering attacks on Democrats, on judges he disagrees with, journalists who criticize him and the intelligence community.
But McConnell is actively and willfully destroying the Senate.
Last Wednesday he used his Republican majority to cut the time for debating Trump’s court appointees from 30 hours to two– thereby enabling Republicans to ram through even more Trump judges.
McConnell doesn’t give a fig about the Senate, or about democracy. He cares only about winning. On the eve of the 2010 midterm elections he famously declared that his top priority was for Barack Obama “to be a one-term president”.
Between 2009 and 2013, McConnell’s Senate Republicans blocked 79 Obama nominees. In the entire history of the United States until that point, only 68 presidential nominees had been blocked.
McConnell’s long game is destroying what was once known as the world’s greatest deliberative body
This unprecedented use of the filibuster finally led Senate Democrats in 2013 to change the rules on some presidential nominees (but not the supreme court), to require simple majorities.
In response, McConnell fumed that “breaking the rules to change the rules is un-American”. If so, McConnell is about as un-American as they come. Once back in control of the Senate he buried Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland for the supreme court by refusing even to hold hearings.
Then, in 2017, McConnell and his Republicans changed the rules again, ending the use of the filibuster even for supreme court nominees and clearing the way for Senate confirmation of Trump’s Neil Gorsuch.
Step by step, McConnell has sacrificed the Senate as an institution to partisan political victories.
There is a vast difference between winning at politics by playing according to the norms of our democracy, and winning by subverting those norms.
To Abraham Lincoln, democracy was a covenant linking past and future. Political institutions, in his view, were “the legacy bequeathed to us”.
On the eve of the Senate’s final vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act in July 2017, the late John McCain returned to Washington from his home in Arizona, where he was being treated for brain cancer, to cast the deciding vote against repeal.
In a small town where people don’t lock their doors or windows, the first thief can effortlessly get into anyone’s house
Knowing he would be criticized by other Republicans, McCain noted that over his career he had known senators who seriously disagreed with each other but nonetheless knew “they had an obligation to work collaboratively to ensure the Senate discharged its constitutional responsibilities effectively”.
In words that have even greater relevance today, McCain added that “it is our responsibility to preserve that, even when it requires us to do something less satisfying than ‘winning’.”
Political success should never be measured solely by partisan victories. It must also be judged by the institutional legacy passed onward. The purpose of political leadership is not merely to win. It is to serve.
In any social or political system it’s always possible to extract benefits by being among the first to break widely accepted norms. In a small town where people don’t lock their doors or windows, the first thief can effortlessly get into anyone’s house. But once broken, the system is never the same. Everyone has to buy locks. Trust deteriorates.
Those, like Mitch McConnell, who break institutional norms for selfish or partisan gains are bequeathing future generations a weakened democracy.
Related: Officials forced way in to Stephen Moore home after failure to pay ex-wife debts
The difference between winning at politics by playing according to the norms and rules of our democracy, and winning by subverting them, could not be greater. Political victories that undermine the integrity of our system are net losses for society.
Great athletes play by the rules because the rules make the game. Unprincipled athletes cheat or change the rules in order to win. Their victories ultimately destroy the game.
In terms of shaping the federal courts, McConnell has played “the long game”, which, incidentally, is the title of his 2016 memoir. Decades from now, McConnell will still be shaping the nation through judges he rammed through the Senate.
But McConnell’s long game is destroying what was once known as the world’s greatest deliberative body.
He is longest-serving leader of Senate Republicans in history but Mitch McConnell is no leader. He is the epitome of unprincipled power. History will not treat him kindly.
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Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. He is also a columnist for Guardian US
The President Is Now Making 22 False Claims a Day
Esquire
The President Is Now Making 22 False Claims a Day. Media Coverage Has Got to Reflect That.
When will the press fully accept that Donald Trump and his allies are not acting in good faith?
By Jack Holmes April 1, 2019
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
It is fitting we mark April Fools’ Day, a day on which people say something is true but it’s not actually true and that constitutes comedy, with an update on the president’s propensity for saying things that are not true. The only thing more flabbergasting than the sheer volume of false claims made by Donald Trump, American president, is the inability of some in The Liberal Media to take that extensive record into account when covering the world’s most powerful man. There is no reason to believe the president, or anyone who works for him, when they say something. This is nothing to celebrate—it’s bad for the country and bad for the world. But it’s a fact.
In case you were holding out hope that the president’s word was still worth a damn, you might consider the findings from the Washington Post this fine Monday. They’ve been tracking the false claims this president made from day one of his presidency, and in short, he’s been continually upping the stakes. It took Trump 601 days to reach 5,000 false claims in public—a prodigious rate. In 2018, he was throwing out 15 a day. But over the last 200 days in particular, he’s outdone himself.
Now, on his 801st day, the count stands at 9,451, according to The Fact Checker’s database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement the president utters. That’s a pace of 22 fishy claims a day over the past 200 days, a steep climb from the average of nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims a day in Trump’s first year in office.
Dave Chappelle has the lowdown here. Trump marked the occasion by lying about the Census, suggesting it’s “meaningless” without a citizenship question, which it has not had for nearly 70 years. He also described asylum—the principle under international law that people fleeing violence and persecution can seek refuge in another country—as a “loophole.”
But the real weapons of mass deception will be deployed as part of Trump’s resuscitated push to repeal Obamacare. You may recall Republicans tried this when they essentially controlled every branch of government in 2017, only to fail spectacularly. But Trump’s Justice Department opted last week gave up fighting a lawsuit lodged by various Republican secretaries of state, raising the possibility the law could be struck down by the kind of unelected judges about which Republicans occasionally used to complain. This raises the specter that the Trump administration—and the Republican Party more generally—will be complicit in throwing millions of Americans off their healthcare coverage heading into a presidential election year.
As the Post report on Trump’s truthiness illustrated, this will occasion a festival of deception from this president, like the dross he trotted out at his Totally Normal Rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the end of last week.
Remember this because it’s very important, and I’m speaking now for the Republican Party: We will always protect patients with preexisting conditions, always.
This goes well with Trump’s batty claim last week that “the Republican Party will become the Party of Healthcare!”
The various abominable healthcare “reform” bills Republicans cooked up in 2017 culminated with the Graham-Cassidy version, which offered states the chance to apply for “waivers” that granted them exemption from Obamacare’s “essential benefits” mandate. That guaranteed insurers had to cover 10 core services, like emergency room visits or prescription drugs or maternity care, but the Republican plan—which they tried to force through the Senate before it could be fully assessed by the Congressional Budget Office—could have waived these for insurance companies in states that applied.
Considering how many red states refused free money from the federal government to expand Medicaid (the Graham-Cassidy bill also rolled back that expansion), it’s safe to say many states would have sought waivers, which could have, according to Politico, jeopardized protections for “pre-existing conditions and undermine[d] prohibitions on annual and lifetime limits for insurance coverage.” As a fun little thing, Trump has tapped Bill Cassidy—the Cassidy in Graham-Cassidy—to develop the new Party of Healthcare’s plan. He’s joined by Rick Scott, who’s got his own stellar record on the issue.
You can safely assume that what you are hearing is a crock of shit, because the president says 22 false things per day in public now. Again, this makes it all the more gobsmacking that when Trump’s hand-picked attorney general wrote a summary of Robert Mueller’s report, members of The Liberal Media treated it as God’s own gospel. William Barr wrote a 19 page memo attacking the Mueller probe before he got the job, and now he’s saying his first letter was never meant to be a comprehensive summary of the Mueller Report’s findings. Yet The Barr Letter wasn’t just taken at face value—it was repeatedly referred to as The Mueller Report itself in press coverage.
Folks: It’s been years now. Lucy is not actually presenting the football for you to kick it.
Public skeptical of the president who cried exoneration
MSNBC
The Rachel Maddow Show / The MaddowBlog
Public skeptical of the president who cried exoneration
By Steve Benen April 1, 2019
Most have probably heard the story of the boy who cried wolf. The moral of the story applies nicely to the president who cried exoneration.
Donald Trump has spent the last several months lying about being exonerated in the Russia scandal. It happened, by my count, at least six times in response to separate and unrelated developments, each of which did not absolve the president, his bogus claims to the contrary notwithstanding.
With this in mind, it felt familiar last week when Trump said Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in a report the president has neither seen nor read, had “totally” exonerated him, specifically on the question of obstruction of justice, despite Mueller writing that his report “does not exonerate” the president. The Associated Press explained this morning, “President Donald Trump is taking his interpretation of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation well beyond the facts.”
Why lie, repeatedly, about being absolved? It’s likely that Trump hoped to deceive the public so that he could try to reap some political and electoral rewards. The trouble is, the president who cried exoneration a few too many times clearly has a credibility problem.
Even as the White House claims vindication from the summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings in the Russia probe, the American public does not see a clear verdict about whether President Donald Trump has been cleared of wrongdoing.
According to a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll, 29 percent of Americans say they believe Trump has been cleared of wrongdoing, based on what they have heard about Mueller’s findings, while 40 percent say they do not believe he has been cleared.
Similarly, the latest Washington Post poll asked respondents, “Mueller’s report states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him’ of obstructing justice. Trump said the report was a ‘complete exoneration.’ Who do you believe more – Trump or Mueller?”
Only 32% sided with the president.
There’s also the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, released late last week, which pointed in the same direction: “Almost six in 10 (56 percent) said that questions still exist, with just 36 percent saying Trump is clear of any wrongdoing.”
It’s possible more Americans would see this story the way the White House has told them to if the president were more trustworthy. It’s also possible the American mainstream is resisting the rush to judgment and wants to see the Mueller report before drawing conclusions about its contents.
Whatever the cause, if Trump assumed the public would accept his spin at face value, he’s probably disappointed that more people expect to see some proof before embracing White House talking points.
White House makes a health care promise it can’t keep
MSNBC
The Rachel Maddow Show – The MaddowBlog
White House makes a health care promise it can’t keep
By Steve Benen April 1, 2019
In the debate over health care policy, Donald Trump and his team have already left a long trail of broken promises, but the White House nevertheless continues to make commitments it will never be able to keep.
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that if the Trump administration succeeds in striking down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act in court, he can guarantee every person who has health coverage because of the Obama-era health law will not lose their coverage.
On “This Week,” ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl asked Mulvaney whether he could provide such a guarantee for the millions of people who enrolled through HealthCare.gov, including those with pre-existing conditions and the people under the age of 26 enrolled under their parents’ plans.
“Yes and here’s why,” Mulvaney said Sunday. “Let’s talk about pre-existing conditions, because it gets a lot of the attention and rightly so. Every single plan that this White House has ever put forward since Donald Trump was elected, covered pre-existing conditions.”
The list of problems with this isn’t short. If the president’s scheme succeeds and the courts tear down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, millions of families will lose their coverage. It’s an unambiguous fact. To hear the acting White House chief of staff tell it, none of those people should worry, however, because those Americans would maintain coverage in a post-ACA landscape.
No one should take this seriously – because there is no Plan B. Mulvaney boasted, for example, “Every single plan that this White House has ever put forward since Donald Trump was elected, covered pre-existing conditions.” That might be reassuring if (a) the White House had ever put forward a health care plan of its own; and (b) the White House hadn’t endorsed a variety of proposals from congressional Republicans that would’ve gutted protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions.
But stepping to look at all of this in the larger context, the root of the problem remains unchanged: GOP policymakers have spent a decade trying to craft an alternative to “Obamacare,” and they’ve failed repeatedly.
Trump and his Republican brethren seem to think this time will be different. They’re wrong – and it’s important to understand why.
On the surface, GOP officials are offering familiar rhetoric, repeated periodically since 2009, that the party’s blueprint is well on its way and will be available sometime soon. “There is a plan,” Kellyanne Conway told Fox News yesterday, adding that the Republican blueprint is “manifold.”
Reality, however, keeps getting in the way. As the Washington Post reported over the weekend, not only do Republicans not have a plan, “there are no plans to make such a plan.”
What about the Senate working group the president pointed to the other day? It now appears the group may not actually exist. Capitol Hill is looking to the White House to lead, the White House is looking to Capitol Hill to lead, and the result is a comedy of errors.
Stepping back, however, there’s a larger point that’s often overlooked. It’s easy to ridicule Republicans over their broken promises, bogus boasts, and imaginary plans, but the fact remains that there is no compelling GOP alternative to the Affordable Care Act because it’s an unobtainable goal.
Bloomberg News had a good report last week that noted in passing, “The problem for GOP lawmakers is the paucity of free-market policy ideas for health care that are politically popular.”
It’s an important detail. For 10 years, Republicans have tried to come up with a health care plan – which voters would actually like – that would bring coverage to millions and protect Americans with pre-existing conditions, without extensive regulation of private insurers, spending a lot of money, raising taxes, or increasing the deficit.
They’ve failed, not simply as a matter of governance, but also as a matter of logic. GOP officials are effectively trying to create a square circle. It can’t be done. It won’t be done.
Republicans are constrained in ways Democrats are not. When Dems began work on the Affordable Care Act, they set out to solve a problem. When GOP policymakers tried to address the same challenge, they set out to solve a problem in an ideologically satisfying way that honored conservative principles about taxes, regulation, and the size of government.
Those self-imposed limits necessarily made their task impossible. After a decade of Republican effort, nothing has happened because nothing can happen.
If GOP officials were sincere about coming up with a model that might meet muster, it would look an awful lot like the Affordable Care Act – which, despite a decade of hysteria, is already the centrist model based entirely on bipartisan principles.
Postscript: There are some reports this morning that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah)) is in “preliminary discussions” about coming up with an ACA replacement plan for his party. Since Romney helped create the first-ever statewide coverage plan, that might seem like a sensible strategy.
The trouble, however, is that Romney’s model served as the basis for “Obamacare,” which Republicans have convinced themselves is unacceptable.
No surprise: Trump appointee does not understand the basics of consumer protection
NowThis Politics
March 31, 2019
This rep exposed a Trump appointee for not understanding the basics of consumer protection.
This rep whipped out the textbook she wrote to school a Trump official on the basics of consumer protection and the dangers of payday loans.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) Uses Her Own Textbook to School Director of the CFPB on The Basics
This rep whipped out the textbook she wrote to school a Trump official on the basics of consumer protection and dangers of payday loans
Posted by NowThis Election on Friday, March 29, 2019
Why the sharing economy hurts workers!
Robert Reich
March 31, 2019
Corporations are trying to kill protections for workers in the gig economy. It’s estimated that soon over 40 percent of the American labor force will be in such temporary or contract work. Here’s what we must do to ensure their rights are protected.
Why the Sharing Economy Hurts Workers
Corporations are trying to kill protections for workers in the gig economy. It’s estimated that soon over 40 percent of the American labor force will be in such temporary or contract work. Here's what we must do to ensure their rights are protected.
Posted by Robert Reich on Sunday, March 31, 2019
India wants to use flesh eating turtles to rid the Ganges of decomposing bodies.
Vice News posted an episode of Vice News Tonight.
March 31, 2019
“The situation is worsening, and in the last 24 years I have seen no improvement at all.”
India wants to use flesh eating turtles to rid the Ganges of decomposing bodies.
India Wants to Use Flesh Eating Turtles to Rid the Ganges of Decomposing Bodies
“The situation is worsening, and in the last 24 years I have seen no improvement at all.”India wants to use flesh eating turtles to rid the Ganges of decomposing bodies.
Posted by VICE News on Friday, March 29, 2019
What are the Koch brothers hiding?
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders
March 31, 2019
The Koch-brothers funded Mercatus Center might not like that their report revealed Medicare for all will save Americans $2 trillion. But numbers don’t lie.
What the Koch Brothers Are Hiding
The Koch-brothers funded Mercatus Center might not like that their report revealed Medicare for all will save Americans $2 trillion. But numbers don't lie.
Posted by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Saturday, March 30, 2019
“This President and his party have no plan to provide care to tens of millions if the (Affordable Care Act) is gone
CNN posted an episode of Cuomo Prime Time.
March 31, 2019
“This President and his party have no plan to provide care to tens of millions if the (Affordable Care Act) is gone,” CNN’s Chris Cuomo says of President Trump’s moves regarding health care and Obamacare. https://cnn.it/2YBgmCS
Chris Cuomo says the President and GOP have no plan if Affordable Care Act is gone
“This President and his party have no plan to provide care to tens of millions if the (Affordable Care Act) is gone,” CNN's Chris Cuomo says of President Donald J. Trump's moves regarding health care and Obamacare. https://cnn.it/2YBgmCS
Posted by CNN on Wednesday, March 27, 2019