Obamacare

"[O]ver the past year, a U.S. government subjected to constant bad-mouthing, constantly accused of being ineffectual or worse, has, in fact, managed to accomplish a lot. On multiple fronts, government wasn't the problem; it was the solution.

Everyone wants good news, so the government makes it up. The latest fiction is that US real GDP grew 4.6% in the second quarter and 5% in the third.
Where did this growth come from?
Not from rising real consumer incomes.
Not from rising consumer credit.
Not from rising real retail sales.
Not from the housing sector.
Not from a trade surplus.

Most of us know that the NSA is spending billions of our taxpayer dollars to track our every move, though the data is collected and only used if some hired dude, following procedures that look for programmed threats, decides you’re doing something suspicious. We know that companies like Amazon follow your moves on its website so that it can plaster your Internet Protocol (IP) path with purchase recommendations. They use your Tracking Cookies or Browsing history to determine your past inquiries.

By Howard Wait | Black Agenda Report | December 17, 2014 Consider the prospect of buying a car at a certain price, but not knowing what the costs for gasoline, oil changes, tires or other repairs would cost until after you made a purchase. Parking this Obamabile might cost $5 per hour, maybe $500; who […]

Dim-bulb Western PA District Court Judge Arthur J. Schwab, who yesterday struck down the president's executive order on immigration, is pictured here in 2012, when for the second time in four years the Third Circuit U.S.

Last week we took a quick glance at Schumer's anti-Obamacare re-positioning, not because he's Chuckie Schumer, the consummate asshole from Brooklyn, but because he's in charge of DSCC massaging.

Tom Harkin decided to retire at age 75. Chuck Grassley, painfully senile will be 83 when he runs in 2016 and wants another 6 year termTom Harkin must feel horrible. The 75 year, 5 term old Iowa populist, first elected to Congress in 1975, is retiring from the U.S. Senate and a polar opposite, crazed teabagger Joni Ernst, is taking his seat.

by KenThis evening I want to think about two major problems with the way Obamacare works -- one having to do with the way it's set up, which could probably be fixed fairly straightforwardly but won't be because it would require Congress to do the fixing, and one that requires only a change in the way health-care consumers shop for coverage which probably won't be solved because, well, it's just too difficult for shoppers.THE STRUCTURAL PROBELM FOR FAMILIESThis morning on the ra

This photo of Schumer never surprised me; I went to high school with himThere are some good reasons to be unenthusiastic about the congressional action that eventually came to be known as Obamacare. It didn't go nearly far enough towards the modern universal, single-payer system that is desperately needed. And compromises with special interests left unconscionable profits flowing to Big Pharma and Big Insurance.

If the Supreme Court gives the wingnuts their way in the King v. Burell challenge to the ACA, it will mean a mess, yes, says James Surowiecki, but not the end of Obamacare."Obamacare’s opponents may win when the Supreme Court finally decides King, sometime next year.