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No There There by James Kwak, baselinescenario.com | September 11, 2012
On the one hand, over in Romney headquarters, they can take heart from the fact that the economy continues to sputter, as evidenced by the latest jobs report. On the other hand, as the election draws near, people will only ask more questions about what President Romney would actually do. For months now, the campaign has whispered one thing to the base (e.g., “severely conservative”) while being purposefully vague to everyone else, hoping that independents will assume he is still the moderate who introduced universal health care to Massachusetts. Now that strategy is breaking down. Exhibit A is Sunday’s comical back-and-forth-and-forth-and-back on the Affordable Care Act. But the more important Exhibit B is the Romney “tax plan.” read more »Progressive Breakfast by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | September 11, 2012
On the menu this morning: MORNING MESSAGE: Deficit Rorschach Test: The Presidents, the Editors, and the Truth More Romney Tax Problems Dithering on Obamacare Chicago Teachers Strike GOP Polling Panic Breakfast Sides read more »Bill Clinton: Wonk-In-Chief by Ezra Klein, The Washington Post | September 6, 2012
“People ask me all the time how we delivered four surplus budgets,” former President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday night. “What new ideas did we bring? I always give a one-word answer: arithmetic.” That’s also the one-word answer to what Clinton brought to his convention speech. To a degree unusual in political rhetoric, this was a 48-minute speech about arithmetic. About math. About budgets. In that way, Clinton’s speech fit neatly into the emergent Democratic strategy to be, in this election, the party of policy. To be sure, they don’t have much of a choice. The difference between the Democratic and Republican tickets right now is the Democrats are stuck with thousands of pages of policy while the Republicans have made a strategic decision to avoid having much policy at all. read more »The Illusory Promise Of Free-Market Health Care Miracles by Wendell Potter, publicintegrity.org | September 5, 2012
The proponents of a pure free-market health care system hope that Americans have amnesia and can be persuaded to blame President Obama for the problems that grew almost immeasurably worse between the demise of the Clinton plan and the passage of the Affordable Care Act. They want us to believe, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that health insurers and the largely unfettered, loosely regulated marketplace can somehow turn things around. And that we should reward insurers for their failure by turning the Medicare program over to them. In many respects, the free market approach to health care has indeed been just what the doctor ordered, although not for patients. There is fresh evidence almost every week that our uniquely American free market health care system continues to fail us. read more »The Medicare Killers by Paul Krugman, The New York Times | August 31, 2012
Paul Ryan’s speech Wednesday night may have accomplished one good thing: It finally may have dispelled the myth that he is a Serious, Honest Conservative. Indeed, Mr. Ryan’s brazen dishonesty left even his critics breathless. Some of his fibs were trivial but telling, like his suggestion that President Obama is responsible for a closed auto plant in his hometown, even though the plant closed before Mr. Obama took office. Others were infuriating, like his sanctimonious declaration that “the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves.” This from a man proposing savage cuts in Medicaid, which would cause tens of millions of vulnerable Americans to lose health coverage. But Mr. Ryan’s big lie — and, yes, it deserves that designation — was his claim that “a Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare.” Actually, it would kill the program. read more »How Romney Keeps Lying Through His Big White Teeth by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | August 29, 2012
“We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers,” says Neil Newhouse, a Romney pollster. A half dozen fact-checking organizations and websites have refuted Romney’s claims that Obama removed the work requirement from the welfare law and will cut Medicare benefits by $216 billion. Last Sunday’s New York Times even reported on its front page that Romney has been “falsely charging” President Obama with removing the work requirement. Those are strong words from the venerable Times. Yet Romney is still making the false charge. Ads containing it continue to be aired. Presumably the Romney campaign continues its false claims because they’re effective. But this raises a more basic question: How can they remain effective when they’ve been so overwhelmingly discredited by the media? The answer is the Republican Party has developed three means of bypassing the mainstream media and its fact-checkers. read more »Why "Playing The Race Card" Works for Conservatives by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | August 29, 2012
Come the revolution, rich, white, male conservatives will be the only people left who can "play the race card" and get away with it. Actually, that revolution is already here. And, with apologies to Gil Scott-Heron, it is being televised — in the form of Mitt Romney's attack ads, focused on Obama's imaginary "gutting" of welfare reform. There's a dark, bitter irony in this latest chapter in the ongoing saga of race in America. Our first African-American president can't talk about race. As Ta-Nehisi Coates explains in his excellent article in The Atlantic, "Fear of a Black President," Barack Obama has become "the most successful black politician in American history," by steering clear of "the radioactive racial issues of yesteryear." Yet the success of the GOP's Romney/Ryan ticket, dubbed "white and whiter" by Salon columnist Joan Walsh, actually depends on exploiting the "radioactive racial issues of yesteryear." At this stage in the game, there's only one reason a campaign doubles down on a particular strategy — especially one with so much potential to backfire: it's working. The question is: Why does it work? There are at least a few reasons why it works. See Dave Johnson's post and Digby's post for more about why we on the left are part of the reason it works, and how we can begin to do something about it. For my purposes, I'm going to focus on to big reasons why playing the race card works so well for conservatives: the media, and the base. read more »Republicans Steal Medicare From The Democrats by Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post | August 28, 2012
Who knew? In the hall-of-mirrors parallel universe where the Republican National Convention is taking place, the GOP stands tall and proud as the party of Medicare. I’m still a little confused about the historical timeline in this alternate reality. Was it President Goldwater who signed into law the nation’s health-care guarantee for seniors? Was it President Dole who made sure the program remained solvent? Did John McCain win in 2008? It must be that in RNC World, the past simply doesn’t exist. There is no other explanation for all the Great Society rhetoric coming from Republicans who once claimed to favor small government, limited entitlements and a balanced budget. read more »George W. Bush as Hurricane Isaac by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | August 28, 2012
There is nothing Republicans would rather the American people forget more than George W. Bush, who doesn’t even have a bit-part at the GOP convention opening in Tampa. But W’s ghost may be there, anyway. The National Weather Service says tropical storm Isaac is now heading for New Orleans, and Isaac is projected to become a Category 1 hurricane by the time it makes landfall late Monday or early Tuesday. The GOP was intent on not even bringing up Bush’s name at the GOP convention, because the former president might also remind Americans how little the Republicans care about average Americans, like those caught in Hurricane Katrina, and how much they care about top corporate and Wall Street executives, like those being entertained in Tampa. But Hurricane Isaac seems likely to remind Americans anyway. read more »Romney’s First 100 Days by David Leonhardt, The New York Times | August 27, 2012
It is the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 7, and after a long night of celebrating and a short night of sleep, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan wake up to confront the question awaiting every new administration: Of the campaign’s many promises, which few will become the real priorities? If they win the White House, Republicans are also more likely than not to hold on to the House of Representatives and win a narrow majority in the Senate. The party could then embark on the kind of aggressive legislative push that President Obama and the Democrats did in 2009. Only four years after Democrats seemed on the verge of historic policy gains, Republicans could reverse many of those gains and then some. They could cut the top tax rate to its lowest level in 80 years (as Mr. Romney proposes) and make major changes to federal programs. read more »
The Latest
Group: Public Plan Could Save Money Faster, Reuters | June 24, 2009
that includes a Medicare-like government option could save $1.8 trillion more than if only private plans are offered, a prominent private U.S. health policy group said. read more »
Obama Signs Tobacco Bill Into Law, BBC News | June 23, 2009
U.S. President Barack Obama has signed into law America's strongest anti-smoking measure ever, saying it will save lives. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration now has new powers to regulate the content and marketing of tobacco products. Hailed as a milestone in the history of tobacco regulation, the bill was passed by Congress earlier this month. read more »
Study: Americans Struggling To Pay For Health Care, Reuters | June 22, 2009
Americans are struggling to pay for health care in the ongoing economic recession, with a quarter saying they have had trouble in the past 12 months, according to a survey released. read more »
Report: Health Care Costs to Rise 9% in 2010, USA Today | June 18, 2009
mployers who offer health insurance coverage could see a 9% cost increase next year, and their workers may face an even bigger hit, according to a report from consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Costs will rise in part because workers worried about losing their jobs are using their health care more while they still have it, the firm said in the report released to the Associated Press. read more »
Budget Chief Sees "Hard Slog" on Health Reform, USA Today | June 17, 2009
Overhauling the nation's health care system won't easily lead to the long-term budget savings that President Obama hopes to achieve, the director of the Congressional Budget Office says. Obama has said that "health care reform is entitlement reform," but he plans to use savings from Medicare and Medicaid over 10 years to extend health insurance coverage to millions of people. read more »
Former Senators to Present Health Reform Compromise, Associated Press | June 17, 2009
Trying to prevent a repeat of the 1990s standoff over health care, four former Senate leaders are preparing a plan that combines ideas from both political parties to guarantee coverage for all. read more »
Sebelius: Single-Payer Health Care Not In Plans, npr.org | June 16, 2009
As lawmakers on Capitol Hill hammer out legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system this year, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says that a single-payer option is not on the table. "This is not a trick. This is not single-payer," Sebelius told Steve Inskeep. read more »
Pelosi: "No Health Care Reform Without Public Plan", Huffington Post | June 12, 2009
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Huffington Post Thursday that a health care overhaul that did not include a public option wouldn't make it through the House because it "wouldn't have the votes." At a press conference earlier in the morning, Pelosi had been asked if including a public plan that would compete with private insurance was "essential" to health care reform.
Out-Of-Pocket Health Costs up 34% in 3 Years, Marketwatch | June 3, 2009
Americans with job-based health insurance saw their protection from higher out-of-pocket costs erode between 2004 and 2007, especially those who were sick and of modest means, according to a new study. The majority of people with health insurance, about 160 million Americans, receive it through their jobs. read more »
Uninsured Face Avalanche of Health Costs, Reuters | May 28, 2009
With unemployment rising to its highest level in more than a quarter century, more Americans are confronting the double crisis of losing both their jobs and their employer-sponsored insurance, which covers 177 million people. Many unemployed Americans say they cannot afford the high premiums insurance companies charge for personal policies. read more »
