An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
With the exception of choice and guns people are in agreement about 80% of the time. Which means they are in disagreement with government about 90% of the time. It's been like that for a long time.
Faced with all the winning the pussy-grabbing birther promised and is delivering in between tweets and checking his microwave oven for CIA/NSA/FBI spying equipment, the public has rebelled. It's just too unfair to be winning all the time.
Since Trump has now made America great again, it is time to dissolve Congress, the Supreme Court and all vestiges of the Republic. The planets are in alignment, and It is time for the demigod to be unveiled as Emperor Donald. As befitting an Emperor, an heir must be of pure blood. Emperor Donald and the soon to be Empress Ivanka will present their pure-blooded child as the heir apparent in nine months' time. Mysteriously, the only other bride of pure blood available at the time of the wedding of Donald and Ivanka is still missing. Tiffany Trump was twenty-three years of age at the time of her disappearance.
John that's pretty funny. Not that I support the disappearance of anyone mind you.
It's embarrassing to watch the republicans try to govern. Especially when their base is full of creationists, nutty libertarians, and toothless idiots who want to exchange chickens for health care services, you know when MERICA was great.
It's also why Congress has always had an abysmal approval rating whether it be under Obama or the loony Marmalade Manchild and his band of merry GOP sadists. Right now is even more apparent a lot of what's been brewing in conservative and libertarian circles is batshit. I'm glad Drumpf is serving as America's ipecac so we can all remember how horrible Repubicans truly are.
I wonder if my health insurance will quarter and go back to $50/mo when I don't have to subsidize all the poor slobs.
Let them have disease.
NMP.
You know what would be cool, if we could have our political parties offer competing governments and benefits. Let people chose which health insurance they want. The Ryan plan or the Obama plan. Let people chose which tax system they prefer. Which set of minimum wages. Some areas it wouldn't work, but in many governance systems, we could have Red and Blue systems operating at the same time.
I'm all up for a whole modernization of how this country works suited for the 21st century so I can piss off all the moron libertarians who worship the Constitution as if it were the Bible and fitted for the public purpose, but I like the above idea as well. All the idiots who want Randroid care can get it while others can go into the blue areas and seek alternatives.
I'm glad Drumpf is serving as America's ipecac so we can all remember how horrible Repubicans truly are.
Let's not lose sight of the fact that tRump won because the DEMs are as bad as the GOP. That being said, the sooner the government implodes the better. tRump and the GOP will just accelerate the process. I say we try out parliamentary democracy next time. More than 2 parties, you need a coalition to rule, and the leader can be removed by a simple vote of no-confidence.
Democrats have done well where I am from. Republicans are also reasonable and a good counterbalance, and have supported universal healthcare. The reason we can't get that in Washington is because of crazy faith based economic theories, and a general anti-science attitude in the red states. Conspiracy theories over facts. tRump was able to capitalize on this. Give him credit for being able to sense this.
Blue California has nice weather and scenery but I go there and the freeways are the same as in 1975. The water system hasn't been maintained in 40 years. Electricity is three times the cost. Houses are ancient, though maintained. Their idea of a major development is 100 houses or a 20 story building.
When I come back to Red Texas, we've modern infrastructure, our cities are designed for convenience in practice rather than centrally planned zoning. Everything is affordable. A major development is 50,000 houses or 10,000 new apartments.
N. Ca has homogenous culture and intolerant ideology, anti-science, anti-engineering, everything is organic, non-gmo, no-development because environment and tax credits for anything virtue signalling.
Texas is diverse racially and religiously and ideologically. Low taxes with credits and safety nets for the poor instead of rich.
Feels like we are on a collision course, two trains speeding away from each tied by a frail chain together. LA is more diverse, less intolerant than SF maybe they will moderate the crazy half of CA.
I live (barely) in one of the most exclusive and expensive resorts in the US. The roads are crap, public services are non-existent, the very cheapest house is > $1m. Rents start at $1,000 per room. Basic services like construction and landscaping are supplied by Latinos, many illegal, packed into illegal share houses by the dozen.
Meanwhile the rich jet in and out, drink $30 cocktails, eat at fancy restaurants, and negotiate the price of the services they buy after the fact. Classic trickle-down, it really doesn't have anything to do with Red and Blue. The only color that really matters is green.
And people here are supposed to know a USD is functionally equivalent to a tax credit...
I say "And people here are supposed to know allocate a tax credit effectively between preventive care and adequate catastrophic insurance?"
That is the reason a single payer system works - people just want something that will get them the care they need when they need it. They do not want "to look under the hood." Making an efficient allocation requires that they know how the car works, and how to repair it themselves.
Single payer will not work if the payer thinks they are "out of money!"...
Listen to any MD, they provide care to Medicaid people without expecting to get paid... if they get paid, its just gravy... many GPs wont accept Medicaid (single payer) patients... they lose munnie if they see these patients because the payer (who thinks "we're out of money!) will only pay 50 bucks..
"the law's two-year pay raise for primary care doctors like him who see Medicaid patients expired Wednesday, resulting in fee reductions of 43% on average across the country, according to the non-partisan Urban Institute.
"I don't want to do this," Pasternak said about his refusal to see additional Medicaid patients. But now that the temporary pay raise is gone, he and other Nevada doctors will see their fees drop from $75 on average to less than $50 for routine office visits.
"We will lose money when they come to the office," he said."
so if the guy can see one patient every 30 minutes, works 8 hours a day that is $1600/day gross... and the guy has rent at $25/psf, HVAC, receptionist, nurse, records management, etc....
Forget it.... not going to work... 'its about price not quantity...'
"Let people chose which health insurance they want."
Competition is outrageous in a free market economy! Why not allow the public to decide if they want a government plan, call it (extended) Medicare, for themselves and their families at, say, $50 or $100 per month, basically at cost? The private insurers can compete with the newly extended Medicare. What's wrong with that? Privatised medicine still exists in the "socialist" healthcare systems of Canada and Europe.
You can either opt in or opt out of this new government insurance/tax scheme. Opting in would require you accepting the new extended Medicare insurance/tax, or if self-employed having your bank account debited each month. The alleged free market would still exist. Is that so unacceptable? It'd be a variation on single payer but more acceptable to American sensibilities. Those who wish to keep their private plans can do so, but anyone who wishes to choose the government extended Medicare plan can do so. Private healthcare wouldn't be touched, although one presumes a lot would go to the wall because so many would choose extended Medicare. The problem is that it would be so popular, with at least 70% of the public signing up in the first year, and pretty much the rest of the population within a few more years.
Self employed pay SS/Medicare tax but is called the self-employment tax rather than payroll tax. Same tax rate though. It could be expanded to pay for government insurance option too.
I don't know why the GOP is opposed to expanding Medicare. Probably worried it will become another handout for the rich and middle class who don't need it and will abuse it. Boob jobs, liposuction, amphetamines weight loss and for the kiddos adhd so they don't have to exercise, dental braces for the kids, annual designer frames and glasses along with the obligatory viagra and the $500/mo birth control are viewed as health care essentials for the middle and upper classes, all for free, no out of pocket and coupons and rebates from the mfrs of course that can be used to buy non-medical stuff all part of the package.
"Boob jobs, liposuction, amphetamines weight loss and for the kiddos adhd so they don't have to exercise, dental braces for the kids, annual designer frames and glasses along with the obligatory viagra and the $500/mo birth control are viewed as health care essentials for the middle and upper classes, all for free, no out of pocket and coupons and rebates from the mfrs of course that can be used to buy non-medical stuff all part of the package."
No reason for vanity healthcare to not be accessible on an expanded Medicare scheme. Vanity healthcare is unavailable in the UK's NHS, unless there's an unimaginably good reason, which there almost never is. It isn't impossible for vanity healthcare to be accessed on the state rather than privately, but I have never heard of a single case, and the NHS budget for this type of stuff is so tiny that it is essentially nonexistent. An expanded Medicare scheme can simply rule all this stuff out. Most Americans are like most people everywhere else: they simply want a decent universal medical health system, not $50,000 Hollywood smiles.
So is California - everything you say about Texas there applies to California as well. California, just as Texas was a part of Mexico as well, and became a part of the Union five years after Texas did.
The main difference between California and Texas is/was the effects of Prop 13, as well as the years of the Reagan Governorship, and Presidency - they were really aimed at and felt in California, and resulted in the effects you see today.
25 comments:
At least people can agree on that.
Since when does it matter what voters think?
With the exception of choice and guns people are in agreement about 80% of the time. Which means they are in disagreement with government about 90% of the time. It's been like that for a long time.
Did these same polls show Hillary winning by a wide margin>
Faced with all the winning the pussy-grabbing birther promised and is delivering in between tweets and checking his microwave oven for CIA/NSA/FBI spying equipment, the public has rebelled. It's just too unfair to be winning all the time.
Since Trump has now made America great again, it is time to dissolve Congress, the Supreme Court and all vestiges of the Republic. The planets are in alignment, and It is time for the demigod to be unveiled as Emperor Donald. As befitting an Emperor, an heir must be of pure blood. Emperor Donald and the soon to be Empress Ivanka will present their pure-blooded child as the heir apparent in nine months' time. Mysteriously, the only other bride of pure blood available at the time of the wedding of Donald and Ivanka is still missing. Tiffany Trump was twenty-three years of age at the time of her disappearance.
John that's pretty funny. Not that I support the disappearance of anyone mind you.
It's embarrassing to watch the republicans try to govern. Especially when their base is full of creationists, nutty libertarians, and toothless idiots who want to exchange chickens for health care services, you know when MERICA was great.
Who knew health care was so complicated?
That's probably a higher percentage than here at mne
And people here are supposed to know a USD is functionally equivalent to a tax credit...
The biases trump all...
It's also why Congress has always had an abysmal approval rating whether it be under Obama or the loony Marmalade Manchild and his band of merry GOP sadists. Right now is even more apparent a lot of what's been brewing in conservative and libertarian circles is batshit. I'm glad Drumpf is serving as America's ipecac so we can all remember how horrible Repubicans truly are.
I wonder if my health insurance will quarter and go back to $50/mo when I don't have to subsidize all the poor slobs.
Let them have disease.
NMP.
You know what would be cool, if we could have our political parties offer competing governments and benefits. Let people chose which health insurance they want. The Ryan plan or the Obama plan. Let people chose which tax system they prefer. Which set of minimum wages. Some areas it wouldn't work, but in many governance systems, we could have Red and Blue systems operating at the same time.
I'm all up for a whole modernization of how this country works suited for the 21st century so I can piss off all the moron libertarians who worship the Constitution as if it were the Bible and fitted for the public purpose, but I like the above idea as well. All the idiots who want Randroid care can get it while others can go into the blue areas and seek alternatives.
Material systems competency and greed go hand in hand.... material conditions would be of higher quality in the red sectors....
I'm glad Drumpf is serving as America's ipecac so we can all remember how horrible Repubicans truly are.
Let's not lose sight of the fact that tRump won because the DEMs are as bad as the GOP. That being said, the sooner the government implodes the better. tRump and the GOP will just accelerate the process. I say we try out parliamentary democracy next time. More than 2 parties, you need a coalition to rule, and the leader can be removed by a simple vote of no-confidence.
Democrats have done well where I am from. Republicans are also reasonable and a good counterbalance, and have supported universal healthcare. The reason we can't get that in Washington is because of crazy faith based economic theories, and a general anti-science attitude in the red states. Conspiracy theories over facts. tRump was able to capitalize on this. Give him credit for being able to sense this.
Blue California has nice weather and scenery but I go there and the freeways are the same as in 1975. The water system hasn't been maintained in 40 years. Electricity is three times the cost. Houses are ancient, though maintained. Their idea of a major development is 100 houses or a 20 story building.
When I come back to Red Texas, we've modern infrastructure, our cities are designed for convenience in practice rather than centrally planned zoning. Everything is affordable. A major development is 50,000 houses or 10,000 new apartments.
N. Ca has homogenous culture and intolerant ideology, anti-science, anti-engineering, everything is organic, non-gmo, no-development because environment and tax credits for anything virtue signalling.
Texas is diverse racially and religiously and ideologically. Low taxes with credits and safety nets for the poor instead of rich.
Feels like we are on a collision course, two trains speeding away from each tied by a frail chain together. LA is more diverse, less intolerant than SF maybe they will moderate the crazy half of CA.
More like different countries every year.
I live (barely) in one of the most exclusive and expensive resorts in the US. The roads are crap, public services are non-existent, the very cheapest house is > $1m. Rents start at $1,000 per room. Basic services like construction and landscaping are supplied by Latinos, many illegal, packed into illegal share houses by the dozen.
Meanwhile the rich jet in and out, drink $30 cocktails, eat at fancy restaurants, and negotiate the price of the services they buy after the fact. Classic trickle-down, it really doesn't have anything to do with Red and Blue. The only color that really matters is green.
Material systems competency and greed go hand in hand.... material conditions would be of higher quality in the red sectors..
Like Brownback's Kansas?
Matt, you said
And people here are supposed to know a USD is functionally equivalent to a tax credit...
I say "And people here are supposed to know allocate a tax credit effectively between preventive care and adequate catastrophic insurance?"
That is the reason a single payer system works - people just want something that will get them the care they need when they need it. They do not want "to look under the hood." Making an efficient allocation requires that they know how the car works, and how to repair it themselves.
Well why dont the providers just stand up their own networks and cut out the insurance middlemen?
Your cell phone co has figured out they can get it all done for $99/mo taking on all comers...
Single payer will not work if the payer thinks they are "out of money!"...
Listen to any MD, they provide care to Medicaid people without expecting to get paid... if they get paid, its just gravy... many GPs wont accept Medicaid (single payer) patients... they lose munnie if they see these patients because the payer (who thinks "we're out of money!) will only pay 50 bucks..
Here:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/04/kaiser-health-news-docs-face-big-cuts-in-medicaid-pay/21227683/
"the law's two-year pay raise for primary care doctors like him who see Medicaid patients expired Wednesday, resulting in fee reductions of 43% on average across the country, according to the non-partisan Urban Institute.
"I don't want to do this," Pasternak said about his refusal to see additional Medicaid patients. But now that the temporary pay raise is gone, he and other Nevada doctors will see their fees drop from $75 on average to less than $50 for routine office visits.
"We will lose money when they come to the office," he said."
so if the guy can see one patient every 30 minutes, works 8 hours a day that is $1600/day gross... and the guy has rent at $25/psf, HVAC, receptionist, nurse, records management, etc....
Forget it.... not going to work... 'its about price not quantity...'
"Let people chose which health insurance they want."
Competition is outrageous in a free market economy! Why not allow the public to decide if they want a government plan, call it (extended) Medicare, for themselves and their families at, say, $50 or $100 per month, basically at cost? The private insurers can compete with the newly extended Medicare. What's wrong with that? Privatised medicine still exists in the "socialist" healthcare systems of Canada and Europe.
You can either opt in or opt out of this new government insurance/tax scheme. Opting in would require you accepting the new extended Medicare insurance/tax, or if self-employed having your bank account debited each month. The alleged free market would still exist. Is that so unacceptable? It'd be a variation on single payer but more acceptable to American sensibilities. Those who wish to keep their private plans can do so, but anyone who wishes to choose the government extended Medicare plan can do so. Private healthcare wouldn't be touched, although one presumes a lot would go to the wall because so many would choose extended Medicare. The problem is that it would be so popular, with at least 70% of the public signing up in the first year, and pretty much the rest of the population within a few more years.
Self employed pay SS/Medicare tax but is called the self-employment tax rather than payroll tax. Same tax rate though. It could be expanded to pay for government insurance option too.
I don't know why the GOP is opposed to expanding Medicare. Probably worried it will become another handout for the rich and middle class who don't need it and will abuse it. Boob jobs, liposuction, amphetamines weight loss and for the kiddos adhd so they don't have to exercise, dental braces for the kids, annual designer frames and glasses along with the obligatory viagra and the $500/mo birth control are viewed as health care essentials for the middle and upper classes, all for free, no out of pocket and coupons and rebates from the mfrs of course that can be used to buy non-medical stuff all part of the package.
I don't know why the GOP is opposed to expanding Medicare.
> $7 billion in lobbying, and it's not just the GOP. BO killed a single payer option in the ACA ostensibly to "protect" insurance corp. jobs.
"Boob jobs, liposuction, amphetamines weight loss and for the kiddos adhd so they don't have to exercise, dental braces for the kids, annual designer frames and glasses along with the obligatory viagra and the $500/mo birth control are viewed as health care essentials for the middle and upper classes, all for free, no out of pocket and coupons and rebates from the mfrs of course that can be used to buy non-medical stuff all part of the package."
No reason for vanity healthcare to not be accessible on an expanded Medicare scheme. Vanity healthcare is unavailable in the UK's NHS, unless there's an unimaginably good reason, which there almost never is. It isn't impossible for vanity healthcare to be accessed on the state rather than privately, but I have never heard of a single case, and the NHS budget for this type of stuff is so tiny that it is essentially nonexistent. An expanded Medicare scheme can simply rule all this stuff out. Most Americans are like most people everywhere else: they simply want a decent universal medical health system, not $50,000 Hollywood smiles.
Ryan Harris - "Texas is diverse racially and religiously and ideologically. Low taxes with credits and safety nets for the poor instead of rich. "
Then how do you explain this? "Millions of Seniors Left in Need"
The Map shows that in Texas, over 20% of seniors are struggling with hunger, compared to between 15 and 20% for California.
Ryan - Next, we are a border state.
So is California - everything you say about Texas there applies to California as well. California, just as Texas was a part of Mexico as well, and became a part of the Union five years after Texas did.
The main difference between California and Texas is/was the effects of Prop 13, as well as the years of the Reagan Governorship, and Presidency - they were really aimed at and felt in California, and resulted in the effects you see today.
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