A new report estimates that currently 68 adults under age 65 die every day because they don’t have adequate health insurance coverage.
That’s over 2000 Americans every month, almost as many as were killed on 9/11.
9/11 is happening every month.
(but only if you’re under 65)
Because those over 65 qualify for our wildly popular single-payer socialized-medicine program, Medicare.
Sure, you can challenge the numbers, but let’s say it’s greatly exaggerated. What if it’s half that?
What if it’s only a quarter?
Hell, what if only ONE American under the age of 65 dies each month from lack of health insurance? Is that acceptable?
NO FUCKING WAY.
I encourage you to share this with your friends, neighbors, followers, parents, uncles, aunts, pundits, naysayers, doom-and-gloomers, eternal optimists, Senators and Representatives.
At the time, I really didn’t know if it would work. Keynes’ economic theories had never been fully tested in this type of a crisis scenario…and we were certainly in one. So here we are a year later….did it work?
First of all, a bit of a clarification: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by Barack Obama is “the stimulus.” This is the money that went to fund road projects and pay firemen. It’s been called “the stimulus package” or “The recovery act”, and every Republican (except 3) voted AGAINST it. The Recovery Act contained the following provisions:
Financial assistance to states that were about to fire scores of workers, from firefighters to police officers to teachers, as well as an extension of unemployment benefits and generous COBRA health insurance subsidies.
Spending on new infrastructure and manufacturing: those newly smoothed roads and highways on your commute to work, along with spending on transit and green energy technology.
The largest middle class tax cut in American history — $288 billion in tax relief which, I might add, every Republican (save for three) voted against.
Unfortunately many Americans confuse the stimulus package with “the bailout”. TARP. The $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program signed by George W. Bush. Hundreds of banks received money from this program…a few have repaid…many have not.
A recent CNN poll showed that 54% of Americans think the stimulus has helped bankers and investors. Obama is losing the PR battle, because Americans think that the Stimulus and the Bailout are the same: They’re Not. While there is much to complain about TARP, the Recovery Act appears to be working. Wall Street seems to think so:
Okay…but that’s just Wall Street…what about jobs?
Looks pretty good there too. Okay..but these numbers might be fudged. How about GDP? That’s the real pulse of the economy, right?
So does this mean that Keynes is vindicated? That supply-side economics is dead? That Adam Smith’s invisible hand has vanished?
I don’t know the answer…I’m just a piano player. But I do know that it looks like we may have dodged a very big bullet…for now. For more on this, visit: Bob Cesca: Happy Anniversary, Recovery Act.
“Every time the reform seems less likely that it will happen, the entire group trades higher,” said Perry, who has advised his clients to buy shares of Wellcare Health Plans Inc. (WCG), recently up 1.3% to $36.74, and Humana Inc. (HUM), up 1% to $42.26.
Among the other recent gainers in the sector, Aetna rose 2.7% to $32.65, Cigna Corp. (CI) added 2.3% to $36.41 and Well Point Inc. (WLP) gained 2.7% to $58.07. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) added 1.6% to $30.99.
In 2010, tens of thousands of overqualified MBAs will emerge with nowhere exciting to go. A very few will land jobs in investment banking, but those who want grand jobs in big companies or consultancies will be disappointed. Increasingly they will go crawling back to their old employers to do pretty much whatever they were doing before for pretty much the same money. As the efficacy of a business school is measured according to the salary one gets when one finishes, both students and employers will question whether it is really worth the $160,000 that a top MBA costs.
This animated map provides a striking visual of employment trends over the last business cycle using net change in jobs from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on a rolling 12-month basis. The graphic highlights the 100 largest metropolitan areas.
The timeline begins in 2004 as the country starts its recovery from the 2001 recession, following the bursting of the dot-com bubble. Broad economic and job growth was apparent across most of the country.
The map also captures the dramatic job losses in New Orleans in 2005 as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
By 2007, regional evidence of the coming economic downturn starts to appear. Employment growth in California and Florida starts to wane, with the first signs of actual losses beginning in the middle of the year in Los Angeles and Tampa.
By 2009, it starts to look like the computer simulation from Wargames.
“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” – Henry Ford
The Freegans. These are people who who renounce all money and possessions. They often live in the woods, on the fringes of civilization, abandoned buildings or caves. For food they rely on handouts, dumpster diving, foraging, fishing, and (some of them) hunting. Individuals and groups have have risen out of a desire to boycott what they see as a consumer system and a waste of resources. They are today’s hippie communes.
It’s important to note that this lifestyle would not probably not fly in a place that didn’t have dumpsters and free libraries or generous neighbors. Yet there is certainly something very freeing about living outside the constraints and trappings of modern society.
It’s hard to imagine NOT using money, almost impossible for me to comprehend.
One of my favorite books growing up, one that I’ve read dozens of times was called “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean George. It’s about a boy who runs away from home to the Catskill Mountains and learn how to live in the wild. I often thought about whether it’s something that I could do. Maybe for a short while I concluded. But I like Twizzlers too much.
Warning, what you will see in this video includes predominantly white, overweight, ignorant Americans who attended the Glenn Beck 9/12 Tea Party protest in Washington D.C. this past weekend.
To these people, Communism, Fascism and Socialism are pretty much the same thing. (6:01)
To these people, the Bible says that Barack Obama’s name means “Antichrist”. (4:51)
To these people, Obama is giving land to Czars. (7:41)
From CafePress to CreateSpace, here’s Mashable’s list of where let your creativity run wild and make money (or at least try). I still don’t see anyone who can make Crangerale.
I wrote a really long (and potentially award-winning) post about this two nights ago that got lost in the vapors of the Interverse. I was crushed to the point that I can’t bring myself to re-write it.
Here’s a link to one of the articles I used for research. It gets the point across in a much less humorous way than I did…
Sunday, February 28
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By 2009, it starts to look like the computer simulation from Wargames.