Tag Archives: morality

What if They Had a Government Shutdown?

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…and nobody cared?

A lot of financial sector data, for instance flow from the Federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Department of Commerce.  However, these data also flow from private sector entities—organizations like the Institute of Supply Management (a host of forward- and backward-looking management surveys across a wide range of economic sectors), ADP (weekly jobs reports), the University of Michigan (confidence surveys), the Conference Board (roughly complementary confidence surveys), and so on.

Intuit makes, among other things, accounting and tax software—and it collects (with permission) employment data from 200,000+ businesses.  Its monthly employment reports, based on based on these real-time aggregated data, are current.  The best the government can do here (even when it isn’t shutdown) is eight months to a year behind real-time.

Etc.

And there’s Google and Bing.

Separately, but related, comes this…admission…from the just “shutdown” government:

The EPA said its plan for dealing with a shutdown would classify 1,069 employees, out of 16,205, as essential.

The Feds are saying that some 93% of its EPA employees are nonessential.  It’s reasonable to extend from that that the vast majority of these nonessentials are, in fact, surplus.  The EPA is a relatively extreme example, but it illustrates the degree of fat in the Federal government that could be cut—that is being cut by the present shutdown, at least for the duration.

Next there’s the actual impact of this government shutdown.  80% of all Federal employees are still at work (the EPA, et al., notwithstanding).  Parks are closed, which inconveniences several travelers (other than WWII veterans who forced their way into their War Memorial with the help of some Republican Congressmen and the acquiescence of the Memorial’s guards, who had more sense than their Park Service employers), and other frankly similarly minor items, but the government remains fully functional.

Finally, there’s this Federal hardship: First Lady Michelle Obama’s office announced via Twitter: “Due to Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government, updates to this account will be limited.”

Negotiations

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President Barack Obama spent 15-20 minutes in a Tuesday Rose Garden speech proudly proclaiming his refusal to negotiate with Republicans over the budget or the nation’s debt limit.  He spent another hour Wednesday afternoon telling Republican leadership directly that he would not negotiate with them.  After all, he has said through his representatives and Congressional colleagues that Republicans are terrorists and have bombs strapped to their chests, and that they want to burn the US economy; with what/whom is there to negotiate?

However, Obama, directly or through subordinates, will treat with actual terrorists:

Hassan Rouhani (phone call)

Ayatollah Khamenei (letter)

Muammar Qadhafi (meeting)

Bashar al Assad (via Senator/Sec State Kerry)

Mahmoud Abbas (meeting)

Hugo Chavez (meeting)

Najib Mikati (via Senator/Sec State Clinton)

 

h/t AEIdeas, which has imagery.

This Is

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…what President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, UT) and other Democrats want to shut down our government in order to protect:

California: 58,000 will lose their plans under Obamacare. …exodus from the…state’s Obamacare exchange: Aetna, UnitedHealth, Anthem Blue Cross (which left the Obamacare exchange for small businesses,t too)

54% of Californians expect to lose their coverage….

Missouri: Patients of the state’s largest hospital system—13 hospitals—will not be covered by the largest insurer on Obamacare exchanges, Anthem BlueCross BlueShield.  Anthem’s 79,000 Missouri patients may seek subsidies on Obamacare’s exchanges, but they won’t be able to see any doctors in the BJC HealthCare system.

Connecticut: Aetna…won’t offer insurance on the Obamacare exchange: “We believe the modification to the rates filed by Aetna will not allow us to collect enough premiums to cover the cost of the plans and meet the service expectations of our customers.”

Maryland: Aetna and (recently purchased)…canceled plans to offer insurance in the [Obamacare] exchange when state officials wouldn’t allow them to charge premiums high enough to cover costs.

South Carolina: Medical Mutual of Ohio left SC entirely in July due to Obamacare’s “vast and quite complex” new regulations.

New York: Aetna pulled out of New York’s exchange…to keep their plans “financially viable.”

New Jersey: Aetna won’t be a part of the [Obamacare] exchange.

Iowa: Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield…decided not to offer plans in the Obamacare exchange.

Wisconsin: United Healthcare and Humana [will not offer] insurance on Obamacare exchanges.

Georgia: Medical Mutual of Ohio, Aetna, and Coventry left due to Obamacare regulations.

More than a million-and-a-quarter insurees and potential insurees are affected by this Democratic Party action.

Mendacious

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Offered, repeatedly, House-passed bills to fund the government for the next several months, the Senate Democrats rejected every one.  They did so with no counteroffer; they simply refused to negotiate.

And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says, “They’ve lost their minds.”

That’s all Democrats have.  They refuse to address the issues at hand; all they’re willing to do is make scurrilous ad hominem attacks.

Their shutdown of the government is the temper tantrum of a tired, bitter old man.

Or, it’s the measure of the integrity in the Senate.

Some More on Obamacare

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…which Democrats want to shut down the government rather than negotiate about.

“Do you have a large deductible?” asks [former Congressional Budget Office Director Doug] Holtz-Eakin.  “How much do you have to pay before the insurance starts picking up the cost?”

Analysts expect deductibles to be in the $5,000 to $6,000 range for the lowest level of [Obamacare] coverage, the Bronze Plan.

Dan Mendelson, CEO and founder at Avalere Health in Washington,says, “So, if you’re in a Bronze Plan, the premiums are going to be relatively low, you know, as HHS said, in some cases people won’t pay premiums at all.

“But there are going to be very high out of pocket costs and deductibles in some cases are going to be over $5,500.”

And that $5,500 is, amortized, an additional $460/mo in potential medical expenses that have to be paid by the “insurance” policy holder before the policy itself pays a dime.  Co-pays are on top of that.

Look again at that deductible.  In order to be eligible for an HSA, a man had to buy a “high-deductible” insurance policy.  A policy with an annual deductible of $3,000 or more.  Hmm….

Current policies, which rapidly are becoming unavailable, were not that expensive.