Category Archives: morality

Surrender

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Under threat of sanctions from the US and Europe, the Russians have finalized their annexation of Crimea.  One of the targets of the US’ “sanctions,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, expressed his feelings about them in a tweet:

Comrade Obama, what should those who have neither accounts nor property abroad do? Have you not thought about it?  I think the decree of the President of the United States was written by some joker.

The “sanctions?”  They

freeze any assets the targeted individuals have under US jurisdiction, make it illegal for Americans to do business with them and discourage international banks and financial institutions from having relationships with them, administration officials said.  The officials, however, would or could not say if those targeted actually have assets in US jurisdictions.

Hence the joke.  Does anybody believe, given the length of time this administration has been nattering on about freezing personal assets that there are any left that we can “freeze?”  Other than the amateurs in the White House, I mean.

Meanwhile, Europe has done even less.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Tuesday that leaders of the Group of Eight world powers have suspended Russia’s participation in the club amid tensions over Ukraine and Russia’s incursion into Crimea.

Travel bans and the freezing of a few personal bank accounts—yeah.  That’ll show ’em.

And echoing John Kerry’s pleas to Putin not to take US actions personally; we really don’t mean to hurt your feelings, ” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier bleats that sanctions must leave “ways and possibilities open to prevent a further escalation that could lead to the division of Europe.”

Also meanwhile, Ukrainian government officials met with US lawmakers pleading for military aid—not troops, but arms and ammunition.

“They wanted arms,” [one of the US] lawmaker[s] said, “even recognizing that it could be cited by Putin as an excuse, a provocation for further military action by him.  They said Putin’s goal has never been Crimea; his goal is Kiev.”

But this administration already has said, “No.”

For all of this abject surrender in the face of Russia’s naked aggression, though, President Barack Obama is happy to meet with terrorists, directly and personally.  He even insists that any “peace” agreement be based on Israel’s pre-1967, and so wholly indefensible, borders.

In the final meanwhile, watch Iran and their nuclear weapons program and the People’s Republic of China and their territorial grabs in the East and South China Seas.

Some More re Obamacare

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The Wall Street Journal provided an interactive and a graph earlier this week in their online issue.

The Healthcare.gov Explorer, available here, allows you to quickly explore the highlights of what’s available in your county.  As I’ve mentioned before, what I can get in my little county in Texas would be vastly more expensive in terms of premiums required and deductibles to be paid by me before the health plan would begin to pay (only) some of my expenses, were I to have to replace what my wife’s employer provides due to the employer’s decision to cancel its program.

This (these) graph(s) shows the subsidies you’re paying, both in terms of additional Obamacare taxes and in terms of those higher premiums and deductibles in order to pay for someone else’s health plan.  I’ve broken the WSJ‘s single image into two parts for convenience.  Keep in mind that the example presented is for a single person (and for that person living in Ohio).  The first part gives the basis for subsidy calculations:

This second part gives the additional subsidies that are available under Obamacare:

I’ve written elsewhere about the poverty trap that is government welfare, and the rational nature of the economic decision to stay on welfare rather than take a wage increase which is that trap.  Here, we see that a person making $11,490 (a student, perhaps) who graduates and takes an entry-level job at $28,725 will see his health plan out-of-pocket costs skyrocket from $1,000/yr to $5,000 and his $100 deductible go to $1,500.  He’ll also see his monthly premium (heroically assuming that the two plans in these two graphs have identical premiums, but you get the idea) increase by $1,212 per year.  The total health plan cost increase of $6,612 per year represents nearly 40% of that wage increase—and this is before considering the other welfare subsidies which this man also loses from that wage increase.

Budget Lies

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President Barack Obama, aided and abetted by the mendacious NLMSM, is touting his latest “budget” proposal as cutting spending by $600 billion over the next 10 years.  But Scott Rasmussen, cited in The Wall Street Journal, has noted,

in the current year, the federal government is expected to spend $3,651 billion.  …the president’s budget calls for spending $3,901 billion in 2015.  That’s $250 billion more than this year.  It’s not a one-year aberration either.  Spending increases are projected every single year for the next decade and beyond.

Calling that a spending cut is an outright lie.  Even if the spending increases are smaller increases than originally planned, they’re still increases, not cuts.

As Rasmussen also pointed out, this isn’t unique to Obama, though; it’s been going on since at least the ’70s.  But it’s got to stop.  Full stop.

Stern Words

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Stern words, indeed, from our Secretary of State and motor boat skipper John Kerry.  Even that liberal paragon who is George Stephanopoulos is becoming skeptical; that’s visible, too, in this interview excerpt, via The Daily Caller.

“Russia has engaged in a military act of aggression against another country, and it has huge risks, George,” he said.  “It’s a 19th-century act in the 21st century that really puts at—at question Russia’s capacity to, uh—be within the G-8….”

“All those violations, sir,” Stephanopoulos cut in, “so what’s the penalty for what Russia has already done?”

The Secretary of State noted the United States was still “busy coordinating” with allies, and that President Barack Obama had spoken with Putin for 90 minutes yesterday.

“I think all options are on the table,” Kerry later commented. “There’s no question but that Russia needs to understand this is serious.  And we and the other friends and allies engaged in this are all deadly serious about this.  We call on Russia to engage with the government of the Ukraine.  We’re prepared to work very closely with Russia in order to address any legitimate concerns that exist.  We believe there are many alternatives before you get to an invasion, and none of those have been tried at this point.”

“But the invasion has already happened, hasn’t it?” Stephanopoulos again interrupted.

“The invasion of Crimea has already happened, that’s absolutely accurate,” Kerry replied, “and we believe that President Putin should make the decision to roll it back.”

No G-8.  Yeah.  Huge risk.  And all options are on the table.  Every one of them.  Including the (gutted) military one, that means.  Oh, wait—that’s the same all options including military that’s standard fare for Obama’s empty, rhetorical “threats.”

And Russia needs to be serious.  Yes, indeedy.  We’re serious.  We’ve got our game faces on.  Deadly serious.  But no penalty answered Stephanopoulos’ question.

We’ve got Putin’s attention, now.  Just maybe not the way we want it.

Annals of Obamacare Lies

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Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is spouting more of them.  And with a straight face, too; it’s like she actually believes what she’s saying.  Which would be even worse.

There is absolutely no evidence and every economist will tell you this, that there is any job loss related to the Affordable Care Act.

Leaving aside the well-documented instances of reduced hours, delayed (or canceled) hiring, canceled plant expansions, and so on that are occurring as a direct result of Obamacare, Sebelius is having a negative impact on jobs with her own Departmental edicts.  She’s already ordered, for instance, the Obamacare-maximum allowed cuts to funding for home health care services.

The cuts were deep enough that officials offered a damaging prediction of the impact saying, it was estimated that approximately 40% of providers would have negative margins.

In fact, those cuts put in jeopardy 498,000 jobs of home health care workers who work just for that 40% of firms that will be forced into the red—the kind of home health workers who allow Yvonne Wightman, 98, to avoid expensive hospital or nursing home stays by getting care at home.

But it’s all good: now Ms Wightman has that lowered-cost Obamacare Plan to cover those stays.  Oh, wait….