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A lie is just a truth that wasn’t <i>precise</i> enough… — 22 Comments

  1. }}} And if the majority of Americans either nod in accord or shrug in disinterest, than we as a people have become profoundly stupid and/or profoundly corrupted.

    I think enough people realize the thing is busted beyond repair. They just don’t know how to fix it, and so are forced into helpless seething.

    What will happen is some event will trigger a phase change, and all that pissed off simmering anger is going to be a scary thing.

    Lots of people are going to get hurt. It’s just a question of when, who, and how.

    And equally worrisome, what the hell is going to happen in that interrim.

    :-/

  2. IGotBupkis:

    I realize most people don’t know how to change it. But if they’re seething, that’s at least something other than nodding in accord or shrugging in disinterest or acceptance.

    That’s what I meant.

  3. The Republicans need to make a 2014 ad with those clips and then a simple message reminding voters that not a single Republicans voted for Obamacare because they knew back then that what was promised could never be delivered.

  4. These statements allow the press to “fact check” and support the Democrat’s position. They are not intended for the general public. The key thing is if the press is not now beginning to run for the exits. This will not end well.

  5. And if the majority of Americans either nod in accord or shrug in disinterest, than we as a people have become profoundly stupid and/or profoundly corrupted.
    Don’t worry, Neo. The policy cancellations are making people angry…and angry trumps stupid and/or indifference.

  6. Matt_SE:

    Depends how many people are getting the notices. I don’t know how many have or how many soon will. There are plenty of people who will be heavily subsidized on the exchanges, and they probably won’t be angry.

    I believe Obama is counting on them.

  7. “…we as a people have become profoundly stupid and/or profoundly corrupted.”

    Well, there’s profoundly servile.

    I believe social science to be mostly inferences made with the objective of necessitating the intrusion of the know-everythings into the lives of the know-nothings by way of government. The know-nothings were beguiled by scientists first, then the intelligentsia, then, finally with mere expertise. The crest of the submissiveness had come not too long after Roe v Wade The emanations from penumbrae were the pié¨ce de résistance — how could anyone argue against so marvelous a thing. And so it went, until Obama.

    Though his know-everything acolytes would attest he was the paragon of them all, Obama’s greatest contribution to this country may, just may, be the ruination of the know-everythings. It becomes more evident with each passing day that scientists, the Harvard-all Ivy, the magna cum laude, the experts, are frauds, pretenders, deceivers, and in the case of Obama, specifically, a hoax.

    It may be human nature to give way to our betters; it’s also human nature to want to tar and feather, at least, grifters and imposters. Just as to everything there is a season, so also to everything there is a threshold — and it’s been breeched by Obama. The servile state has gone a bridge, or rather, an affirmative action star too far.

  8. Lizzy said…
    The Republicans need to make a 2014 ad with those clips and then a simple message reminding voters that not a single Republicans voted for Obamacare because they knew back then that what was promised could never be delivered.

    Yes, but they can’t stop there. They need to have a good alternative to Obamacare that’s easy to explain and good candidates who can sell it.

  9. I think this falls under Neo’s “shameless shills” category — up now at Time.com: The Bright Side of Obamacare’s Broken Promise:

    But the truth is that only a small percentage of Americans will have their health insurance choices narrowed because of the ACA. Approximately 15 million Americans who currently buy health insurance on the open market will see substantial changes to their choices of plans for 2014. Such changes are common on the individual market, but the new health care law will lead to an increase. The rest of the insured population will see very few changes as a result of Obamacare. Here’s why: about 30 percent of the population currently has health coverage through Medicare or Medicaid, public insurance programs in which benefits will continue mostly unchanged. Another 50 percent of Americans get coverage through employers and already have no choice whether they can keep the exact same insurance plan and price structure year-to-year. That decision is made by employers, who offer employees a pre-determined menu of plans and prices.

    See how cleverly they handle the “grandfathered” problem — that 50% covered by employer plans already “have no choice”. So no big deal.

  10. Obama was lying intentionally. He knew that the overwhelming majority of people were satisfied with their health insurance. By promising not to touch them, he stifled opposition to the massive program.

    People who are on an employer’s plan are not out of the woods. If an employer with over 50 full time employees is going to offer health insurance, it must offer all the bells and whistles. That means higher cost for the employer and something has to give. The employer also has the option of dropping insurance and paying a fine.

  11. Elections have consequences. May millions of BHO voters suffer the loss of their perferred doctor, have to travel extra miles to visit their new doctor (added frosting is the new doctor speaks English as a second or third language), and may they find their deductibles and premiums rise 400%.

  12. “if the majority of Americans either nod in accord or shrug in disinterest, than we as a people have become profoundly stupid and/or profoundly corrupted.” neo

    “Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress [and President]. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption.” – James Garfield

    “No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” H. L. Mencken

    “The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.” Herbert Spencer, English philosopher (1820 – 1903)

    The only cure for stupidity is reality, which is often fatal.

  13. @Neo

    “Depends how many people are getting the notices. I don’t know how many have or how many soon will. There are plenty of people who will be heavily subsidized on the exchanges, and they probably won’t be angry.”
    True, but according to projections I’ve seen (http://taxfoundation.org/blog/obamacare-increases-premiums-much-305-percent) there are precious few states that will see premiums go down…and those only by a few percent. Everyone else is going to get hit.
    The ACA is an odd beast as far as wealth-redistribution programs go: it gives some benefit to a few while inflicting pain on the masses.
    The cancellations may “only” add up to 10 million people. We’re discussing that now because the effects are showing up. When the website gets fixed and the rest of America sees it’s premiums skyrocket, then it’s “game over.”

    PS: “Only” 10 million people might be enough in itself to swing quite a few elections.

  14. GB – The only cure for stupidity is reality, which is often fatal.

    Reality is a bitch for ‘progressives’. They just don’t grok Murphy’s Law.

  15. One other observation:
    Obama’s reluctance to delay the individual mandate in the face of mounting DEMOCRAT opposition is a bit…odd.

    Then, I remembered the timeline. Obama has 3 years to:
    1) Get the website fixed and sign people up (may take as much as 6 months to a year)
    2) Let adverse selection destroy the private insurance industry (1 year?)

    He may be thinking that any delay won’t leave enough time to complete the job. Counting on Hillary to be elected and carry on the work is a big gamble.

  16. “Counting on Hillary to be elected and carry on the work is a big gamble.”

    Clintons, if nothing else, are capable of determing the direction of the wind. She will point her nose wherever the wind blows and it doesn’t take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

  17. It depends upon what your definition is “is” is. etc.

    I think a lot of voters are stupid. But, I also know a lot of smart people who have just “tuned out” because they are so sickened by everything and feel that they cannot do anything to change things.

  18. Matt_SE:

    No. This is why: the website you linked to (and most of the others reporting on premium prices) is reporting on the retail price of premiums. In other words, the unsubsidized premiums.

    However, that isn’t all that meaningful because everyone with an income less than 400% of poverty level who has no employment-based insurance available and buys a silver plan on the exchanges will get a subsidy. Many of these subsidies represent an enormous percentage of the premium price. Those under 250% of the poverty level will get subsidies for co-pays and deductibles as well.

    The only real question about that is (a) what will the proportion of heavily subsidized people be versus the number paying full fare, and (b) will the government have to raise taxes to support the subsidies, and if so, on who will the taxes be raised.

    What percentage of the population makes less than 400% of the poverty level? The answer is: two-thirds. Of course, some of these people are on Medicaid and Medicare. I once found a chart—and I’ve been looking for it again but can’t seem to find it—that gave the percentage of the population between 138% and 400% of the poverty level, but I seem to recall it was about half. Of course, most people still (so far, at least) get their insurance at work. So although it’s hard to know how many people will be on the exchanges, it stands to reason a great great many of them will be subsidized and those charts with premium prices are meaningless for them.

  19. Matt_SE:

    Some other things about those charts you linked to–

    Even for those who won’t get subsidies and are paying the full premium price, the people who will see the biggest increases are the young; the old will mostly see premiums go down. That is because there is a cap on the ratio the companies can charge the old compared to the young. The Obamacare exchanges are therefore structured so that the young will pay more than actuarial tables would suggest they should, and the old less.

    Health insurance has been so heavily regulated anyway in recent years on a state by state basis that in many states premiums were already kept from reflecting actuarial realities (i.e. that ratio was already controlled, or pre-existing conditions had to be covered, or insurance had to be community-rated, etc. etc.). But some states were less regulated in that way. That’s why different states will see different amounts of rise or fall as a result of Obamacare—because previously states varied in the methods and rules they used to set premiums.

    In addition, those charts are for 27-year-olds. That is the group that will see the greatest rise in premiums because they would have seen the lowest premiums pre-Obamacare, and under Obamacare their premiums are artificially raised higher in order to balance out the artificially lower premiums of the older set.

  20. Democrat/ 0bama supporters are feeling the lash even now.

    Hence, the beginnings of a revolt in Congress.

    In all of the discussion there’s a tendency to overlook the biggest picture: LIV who are ‘covered’ by their employer’s health plan. Real outlays for this coverage is exploding upward. Consequently, such employers are stepwise terminating their previous workforce and hiring a new one at lower wages — typically $8 to $10 per hour less.

    This is most apparent in the construction trades. CraigsList shows that — after all of the money-printing — that proffered wages are LESS than they were five-years ago! $ 28 per hour is now $18-20 per hour.

    Such declines cross all (non-union shop) trades.

    0bamacare, de facto, spends the income of the blue collar worker before he’s even able to touch it, for the employer ALWAYS calculates the cost of labor based upon ALL of the directly associated add-ons: FICA, Unemployment Tax, 0bamacare, Workmans Comp, Pension, IRA, etc.

    Those adders HAVE to be earned or the employee is cut loose. Period, stop.

    Such bean counting is integral to the software packages used across the construction industry. So even if the owner couldn’t figure out the obvious, Quicken, et. al. spells it out, and breaks it down.

    Look to see a MASSIVE shift towards part-time construction labor. Such was the norm in Hawaii, decades ago. That state adopted HMSA/ Kaiser as a health cartel and forced every employer to kick in. Benefits were due when employees worked even 20hr/week. Consequently, it was common to see young adults holding down 19 + 19 + 19 = 57 hrs a week. Where that wasn’t true, the wages were hyper-suppressed — the minimum wage — as the real payout was the health plan!

    Liberty House, the premier rag merchant in Honolulu, hired nothing but part-timers — save for management — which reached down to assistant department managers. This dynamic was mimicked all over the Islands. It’s coming to the Mainland in a major way.

    Such wage deflation MUST cripple the economic statistics for 2014. The funds most flow from the every man to the medical-pharma cartel. One should think of the Insurance industry as merely being a money broker/ conduit, performing the tasks that would, in a single payer system, be done by unionize Federal employees at thrice the price.

    This collapse in economic equilibrium will be buffered by Yellen’s money-printing surge. This will lift the prices of assets to the moon even as the collectible rents collapse. Wall Street is sure to run out of viable collateral, which ultimately depends upon the economic power of their lessers. With any luck, Wall Street will be slumlord millionaires.

    The Red Chinese will step up and cash in their chips — something that’s already underway. We’re on the cusp of a Chinese ‘invasion’ similar to what’s happened in Canada and Australia. Our whole land will become a panic room for paranoid Red Chinese fleeing the chaos that Beijing will rent loose.

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