The heathcare debate continues! As if it will ever end! To start, here is a link that everyone who is confused about the healthcare debate should read:
http://www.time.com/time/healthcaredebate
The final Senate bill was completed on Monday and is currently being analyzed by the CBO
(Congressional Budget Office) to determine the ultimate costs of the bill.
The completed bill, which is a combination of the Senate Finance Committee bill and the Senate Health Committee bill currently includes a public option with a provision that allows states to opt-out in case they want to continue to contribute to the incredibly disheartening budget deficit. Why on earth they would choose to opt-out, when nobody would be forced into the plan is anyone’s guess. This appears to be a move by Senator Harry Reid (Democratic Majority Leader in the Senate) to appease the moderates and conservatives who are vehemently against a public option. Of course, as noted in a Time article this week, fewer than 5% of Americans are expected to sign up for the public option. http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091027/us_time/08599193239700
So the fight is on. Moderate Democrats are suggesting that perhaps a public option should only be available to states where only one or two insurers control the market and “premiums are high” (whatever that means), so the state would have to invite the federal government’s plan in, rather than opting out.
Meanwhile, the GOP has actually threatened to filibuster the bill on the Senate floor and will do so for any bill that contains a public option. (This could be political suicide considering the most recent polls: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/10/27/Poll-Majority-favors-public-option/UPI-55041256619076/.) Independent Senator Joe Lieberman said yesterday that he would back a Republican filibuster of Reid’s healthcare bill.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get uglier, “anti-abortion activist Randall Terry is calling on people to burn effigies of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this Halloween, as part of a ‘Burn in Hell’ video contest to protest the health care legislation in Congress.” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_go_co/us_health_overhaul_burn_in_hell. Wow. Do they not realize that abortions are covered by many private insurance companies? I mean, think about it, one procedure is a whole lot cheaper for an insurance company than pre-natal appointment after pre-natal appointment followed by the actual visit to the hospital to give birth. (Yes, I realize that was way harsh, but really people, we’re talking about Fortune 500 companies which had billions of dollars in profits in 2008, and they didn’t get there by not thinking about things like that.) Perhaps these people should be burning an effigy of Leonard Schaeffer (CEO of Wellpoint Health Networks, formerly Blue Cross/Blue Shield) as well?
Have a happy and safe Halloween everyone!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Proposition 8: One Year Later
Almost a year after the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage, the same fight is emerging for the Nov 3rd election in Maine. The election there is almost an exact replica of what happened in California last year.
Remember the cute couple who were worried about what their son was learning in school after gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts? Well, after they moved from Massachusetts to California (only to discover that someone had given gays rights here too), they moved again to Maine! Now they’re running into the same gosh darn problem of those same-sex marriages. Maybe they should move to Alaska if they’re so worried about it. Oh, what’s that you say? They never moved out of Massachusetts!? Then why are they sticking their nose into my business?
Schubert Flint Public Affairs, the public relations firm hired to run the pro-Proposition 8 campaign has also been hired to run the campaign in Maine.
Meanwhile, has California forgotten about Proposition 8 already? Oh no, don’t worry, we have certainly not heard the last of this issue. Liberal advocacy group Courage Campaign is currently collecting signatures (and money) to put an initiative on the 2010 ballot to repeal Proposition 8. However, the major player on the anti-Proposition 8 side, Equality California, has announced that it will wait until 2012 to bring an initiative to California to legalize gay marriage and will spend the next three years on an extensive outreach campaign to educate Californians about the issue.
I’m oddly ok with the delay only because I am so tired of seeing ads (for and against the healthcare bill, for and against your favorite politicians, or for or against same-sex marriage) that make me want to break my TV. (It’s nice, it’s big, and I paid a lot of money for it so frankly, I prefer it remain intact.) So really, since 2012 is an election year anyway, and you can only imagine how ugly that’s going to get, you might as well throw in something else that gets everyone all worked up.
In a small win for same-sex marriage proponents, Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed a bill recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. Although the couples will not be considered technically “married” under the law, "the same legal protections available to couples that enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships in other states," Schwarzenegger wrote in his signing message. "In short, this measure honors the will of the people in enacting Proposition 8 while providing important protections to those unions legally entered into in other states." http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/2248216.html
In a small win for opponents of same-sex marriages, President Obama’s administration went to court to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act just last month even though the President has stated that he personally opposes the statute and would support a repeal. The act (commonly referred to as DOMA) bars federal agencies (including the IRS) from recognizing same-sex marriages.
If you’d like to be able to follow this issue from afar, NPR has a very cool map showing all 50 states and their current laws related to gay marriage. It’s also interesting to see the issue from this perspective. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112448663
Remember the cute couple who were worried about what their son was learning in school after gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts? Well, after they moved from Massachusetts to California (only to discover that someone had given gays rights here too), they moved again to Maine! Now they’re running into the same gosh darn problem of those same-sex marriages. Maybe they should move to Alaska if they’re so worried about it. Oh, what’s that you say? They never moved out of Massachusetts!? Then why are they sticking their nose into my business?
Schubert Flint Public Affairs, the public relations firm hired to run the pro-Proposition 8 campaign has also been hired to run the campaign in Maine.
Meanwhile, has California forgotten about Proposition 8 already? Oh no, don’t worry, we have certainly not heard the last of this issue. Liberal advocacy group Courage Campaign is currently collecting signatures (and money) to put an initiative on the 2010 ballot to repeal Proposition 8. However, the major player on the anti-Proposition 8 side, Equality California, has announced that it will wait until 2012 to bring an initiative to California to legalize gay marriage and will spend the next three years on an extensive outreach campaign to educate Californians about the issue.
I’m oddly ok with the delay only because I am so tired of seeing ads (for and against the healthcare bill, for and against your favorite politicians, or for or against same-sex marriage) that make me want to break my TV. (It’s nice, it’s big, and I paid a lot of money for it so frankly, I prefer it remain intact.) So really, since 2012 is an election year anyway, and you can only imagine how ugly that’s going to get, you might as well throw in something else that gets everyone all worked up.
In a small win for same-sex marriage proponents, Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed a bill recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. Although the couples will not be considered technically “married” under the law, "the same legal protections available to couples that enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships in other states," Schwarzenegger wrote in his signing message. "In short, this measure honors the will of the people in enacting Proposition 8 while providing important protections to those unions legally entered into in other states." http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/2248216.html
In a small win for opponents of same-sex marriages, President Obama’s administration went to court to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act just last month even though the President has stated that he personally opposes the statute and would support a repeal. The act (commonly referred to as DOMA) bars federal agencies (including the IRS) from recognizing same-sex marriages.
If you’d like to be able to follow this issue from afar, NPR has a very cool map showing all 50 states and their current laws related to gay marriage. It’s also interesting to see the issue from this perspective. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112448663
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Financial Regulation: It's What I Want!
Let’s talk about money: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=insVgcOVVDQ&feature=related
Amid the highest unemployment rate since the great depression, an expected additional 11% drop in housing prices, and a 6.5% increase in tuition at public colleges, you have to wonder who’s looking out for Joe the Plumber (who we heard so darn much about during the election) these days?
Here are a few pieces of legislation that are en route to the floor of the congress:
- House Majority leader Rep Steny Hoyer (D-MD) plans to introduce legislation that would attack the controversial Wall Street practice of short selling. Short selling, the practice of borrowing a security and selling it with the expectation the price will go down, allows the borrower to go back into the market and buy it back at a lower price before returning the security to the owner thus making a profit. Short selling was banned briefly after the stock market tumble. While this doesn’t sound so terrible, what you may not be aware of is that brokerage houses can use their customers’ shares in short selling without their knowledge. Hoyer wants to ensure that brokers are disclosing when they are using customers’ shares for short selling, and that the customers are appropriately compensated. http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20091020/pl_cq_politics/politics3226440
- Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is currently listening to arguments both for and against his bill, which would allow people forced into bankruptcy from medical bills to waive certain credit counseling requirements, would help them protect their homes from creditors, and give them the option of paying attorney fees at a later time. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_go_co/us_bankruptcy_medical_bill
- Today, the House Financial Services Committee will vote on whether to establish the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and whether or not the agency will share regulatory power with individual states. The vote could potentially give states new authority to protect consumers through additional credit card and mortgage regulation. On the other hand, the bill also contains a provision through which banks could obtain exemptions from specific state laws if granted by federal regulators. (I’d love to know who will be granting those.) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_go_co/us_financial_overhaul
- Congress is looking to extend a new homebuyer tax credit past November, the original expiration date. According to the National Association of Realtors, “The housing market would not have moved without this tax credit.” So why on earth wouldn’t we want to extend it!? Since the initiation of the program back in February, the IRS has 107,000 questionable claims cases related to the tax credit and has uncovered 167 criminal schemes. Damned. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_go_co/us_tax_credit_problems
Well, I suppose all of those things are all well and good (or have the potential to be all well and good), but they feel like drops in a big, wide ocean of financial regulation mumbo-jumbo that don’t make much sense. I consider myself fairly well educated in the ways of the almighty dollar, but I have my doubts about whether or not I’ll be able to understand my mortgage even after all these fine laws are passed. Of course, that’s if I can even ever afford a mortgage at all. As always, thanks for your help Congress!
Amid the highest unemployment rate since the great depression, an expected additional 11% drop in housing prices, and a 6.5% increase in tuition at public colleges, you have to wonder who’s looking out for Joe the Plumber (who we heard so darn much about during the election) these days?
Here are a few pieces of legislation that are en route to the floor of the congress:
- House Majority leader Rep Steny Hoyer (D-MD) plans to introduce legislation that would attack the controversial Wall Street practice of short selling. Short selling, the practice of borrowing a security and selling it with the expectation the price will go down, allows the borrower to go back into the market and buy it back at a lower price before returning the security to the owner thus making a profit. Short selling was banned briefly after the stock market tumble. While this doesn’t sound so terrible, what you may not be aware of is that brokerage houses can use their customers’ shares in short selling without their knowledge. Hoyer wants to ensure that brokers are disclosing when they are using customers’ shares for short selling, and that the customers are appropriately compensated. http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20091020/pl_cq_politics/politics3226440
- Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is currently listening to arguments both for and against his bill, which would allow people forced into bankruptcy from medical bills to waive certain credit counseling requirements, would help them protect their homes from creditors, and give them the option of paying attorney fees at a later time. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_go_co/us_bankruptcy_medical_bill
- Today, the House Financial Services Committee will vote on whether to establish the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and whether or not the agency will share regulatory power with individual states. The vote could potentially give states new authority to protect consumers through additional credit card and mortgage regulation. On the other hand, the bill also contains a provision through which banks could obtain exemptions from specific state laws if granted by federal regulators. (I’d love to know who will be granting those.) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_go_co/us_financial_overhaul
- Congress is looking to extend a new homebuyer tax credit past November, the original expiration date. According to the National Association of Realtors, “The housing market would not have moved without this tax credit.” So why on earth wouldn’t we want to extend it!? Since the initiation of the program back in February, the IRS has 107,000 questionable claims cases related to the tax credit and has uncovered 167 criminal schemes. Damned. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_go_co/us_tax_credit_problems
Well, I suppose all of those things are all well and good (or have the potential to be all well and good), but they feel like drops in a big, wide ocean of financial regulation mumbo-jumbo that don’t make much sense. I consider myself fairly well educated in the ways of the almighty dollar, but I have my doubts about whether or not I’ll be able to understand my mortgage even after all these fine laws are passed. Of course, that’s if I can even ever afford a mortgage at all. As always, thanks for your help Congress!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Know Your Future Governator: Gavin Newsom
This week in Know Your Future Governator, meet Gavin Newsom!
As Mr. Newsom is the current Mayor of San Francisco and I have several pending job applications with the city and county of San Francisco, I am not considering myself to be independent and am thus providing you with an anti-blog. However, I certainly do not want to leave you in the dark about Mr. Newsom so here are a few links to get you started.
Official Website:
http://www.gavinnewsom.com/
Bill Clinton endorses Newsom:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/bill-clinton-supports-gavin-newsom-for-california-governor.html
Gavin’s Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/GavinNewsom
Gavin Newsom T-Shirts:
http://www.gavinnewsomtshirts.com/
And lastly… is Mr. Newsom dropping out of the race???
http://www.queerty.com/is-gavin-newsom-already-dead-in-the-governors-water-20091007/
Happy reading!
As Mr. Newsom is the current Mayor of San Francisco and I have several pending job applications with the city and county of San Francisco, I am not considering myself to be independent and am thus providing you with an anti-blog. However, I certainly do not want to leave you in the dark about Mr. Newsom so here are a few links to get you started.
Official Website:
http://www.gavinnewsom.com/
Bill Clinton endorses Newsom:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/bill-clinton-supports-gavin-newsom-for-california-governor.html
Gavin’s Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/GavinNewsom
Gavin Newsom T-Shirts:
http://www.gavinnewsomtshirts.com/
And lastly… is Mr. Newsom dropping out of the race???
http://www.queerty.com/is-gavin-newsom-already-dead-in-the-governors-water-20091007/
Happy reading!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Coming Back to Healthcare
The big news in Congress this week? Healthcare! Glad I didn’t miss anything in the three weeks I was gone.
Yesterday, in a 14-9 vote, the Senate Finance Committee voted to approve the healthcare bill proposed by Senator Max Baucus. By far the most conservative of the bills passed by the various senate committees, the Finance Committee version does not contain a proposal for a public option and would impose fines on people who do not obtain health insurance.
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), the Senate majority leader (who you can usually see putting the moves on Nancy Pelosi during their joint press conferences), plans to combine the Finance Committee bill with the more liberal Health Committee bill and the final version will come before the full senate (tentatively) the week of October 26th.
With the vote yesterday, healthcare reform is officially the farthest it’s ever been in the U.S. Government. Since FDR first proposed reform almost an entire century ago, the fact that there is about to be a real debate on the floor of the full Senate is practically a miracle.
On the other hand, if you thought it was ugly before, this is just the beginning. The Democratic leadership on the Finance Committee has pledged that a public option will be part of the combined bill, which as you might imagine, is going to send insurance companies and their lobbyists spinning.
Plan to see scary articles about how much your insurance costs will go up if a public option goes into play. Including the letter to the editor in the San Jose Mercury News last Sunday, entitled “Public option would merely shift costs”:
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_13528549?nclick_check=1
Notice that the author of the letter is the CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters Arlington, VA, the people who ultimately decide whether or not you are worthy of health insurance.
Oh, and don’t forget the study done by PricewaterhouseCoopers (sounds legit right?), paid for by health insurance companies which concludes that the costs to the average consumer for healthcare will skyrocket based on certain provisions in the Finance Committee bill. As it turns out, the study only looked at the four most costly provisions and did not include any analysis of the impact of new subsidies on insurance costs to households.
http://www.politico.com/livepulse/1009/PWC_statement__Not_so_helpful_for_AHIP.html
Expect to see a backlash from the other side also. Almost thirty unions are already running ads in your newspaper letting everyone know they are opposed to the Senate Finance Committee healthcare reform bill. Citing the lack of a public option and the tax on expensive policies, labor leaders plan to use the tag line “real health care reform and nothing less.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091013/ap_on_go_co/us_health_overhaul_union_ad
Yesterday, in a 14-9 vote, the Senate Finance Committee voted to approve the healthcare bill proposed by Senator Max Baucus. By far the most conservative of the bills passed by the various senate committees, the Finance Committee version does not contain a proposal for a public option and would impose fines on people who do not obtain health insurance.
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), the Senate majority leader (who you can usually see putting the moves on Nancy Pelosi during their joint press conferences), plans to combine the Finance Committee bill with the more liberal Health Committee bill and the final version will come before the full senate (tentatively) the week of October 26th.
With the vote yesterday, healthcare reform is officially the farthest it’s ever been in the U.S. Government. Since FDR first proposed reform almost an entire century ago, the fact that there is about to be a real debate on the floor of the full Senate is practically a miracle.
On the other hand, if you thought it was ugly before, this is just the beginning. The Democratic leadership on the Finance Committee has pledged that a public option will be part of the combined bill, which as you might imagine, is going to send insurance companies and their lobbyists spinning.
Plan to see scary articles about how much your insurance costs will go up if a public option goes into play. Including the letter to the editor in the San Jose Mercury News last Sunday, entitled “Public option would merely shift costs”:
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_13528549?nclick_check=1
Notice that the author of the letter is the CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters Arlington, VA, the people who ultimately decide whether or not you are worthy of health insurance.
Oh, and don’t forget the study done by PricewaterhouseCoopers (sounds legit right?), paid for by health insurance companies which concludes that the costs to the average consumer for healthcare will skyrocket based on certain provisions in the Finance Committee bill. As it turns out, the study only looked at the four most costly provisions and did not include any analysis of the impact of new subsidies on insurance costs to households.
http://www.politico.com/livepulse/1009/PWC_statement__Not_so_helpful_for_AHIP.html
Expect to see a backlash from the other side also. Almost thirty unions are already running ads in your newspaper letting everyone know they are opposed to the Senate Finance Committee healthcare reform bill. Citing the lack of a public option and the tax on expensive policies, labor leaders plan to use the tag line “real health care reform and nothing less.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091013/ap_on_go_co/us_health_overhaul_union_ad
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