rdan A reader complained of lack of coverage of the ME at AB now compared to a few years ago, and charged it was a ‘pass’ on President Obama because he was our darling messiah. And of course ignoring the build up in Afganistan. Now this memo could be used to declare victory of the […]
rdan Wendall Potter in his new position at the Center for Media and Democracy will hopefully provide insights into the inner workings of his former employer, health insurance company CIGNA corporation. Bill Moyers has a series of interviews scheduled where Wendall Potter lays out his case. As a consumer, if predictions come true that premiums […]
rdan SIGTARP’s Niel Barofsky and his staff have issued a first try at a cohesive description of funds expended for the fifty or so programs handing out money, but also a description of the potential expenditure (unlikely to happen). The link is to the site, which contains the report and the data in two separate, […]
by Bruce Webb I haven’t posted on Social Security for a while for a pretty simple reason. Nothing has been going on. Until today when Social Security released the following Policy Brief: Distributional Effects of Raising the Social Security Taxable Maximum. This policy brief analyzes the effects on taxpayers and Social Security beneficiaries of either […]
by Bruce Webb Max Baucus of Montana (pop 935,670- 89.2% white)Kent Conrad of North Dakota (pop 636,677- 90.1% white)Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico (pop 1,928,384- 42.8% white)Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming (pop 509,294- 88.8% white)Charles E. Grassley of Iowa (pop 2,966,334- 91.5% white)Olympia Snowe of Maine (pop 1,321,505 – 96% white). Most people following the […]
by Bruce Webb On Sunday the CBO released a letter addressed to Rep. Dave Camp, the Ranking Member on Ways and Means, which among other things measured the impact of HR3200 (the House Tri-Committee Health Care Affordability bill) and a public option on employer covered insurance. On net it turns out that they project more […]
rdanBirth and Hawaii at TPM. The House resolution to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hawaiian statehood — which included language recognizing the state as President Obama’s birthplace, in a none-too-subtle jab at the Birthers — passed this evening by a 378-0 vote. Among the Yes votes: Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), the lead sponsor of the […]
Robret Waldmann Gang of 6 senators who correspond to 6.5 representatives. The US senate has an extreme rural bias. It has outdone itself by allowing Max Baucus to empower a bipartisan group of 6 senators to redesign health care reform. The states represented by the 6 senators (Iowa, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and […]
Robert Waldmann The AP writes on the current state of negotiations in the 6 member Baucus Bipartisan ad hoc committee. Their plan includes an idea that is worse than I imagined possible. I mean that literally. Officials also said a bipartisan compromise would not subject companies to a penalty if they declined to offer coverage […]
I have generally decided that the NYT’s attempt at becoming the WSJ on its editorial page is not worth the trouble of discussing. An editorial staph that replaces the despicable but somewhat coherent Bill Kristol with the execrable incoherence of Ross Douthat is clearly suffering a fatal infection, and therefore not deserving of support. But […]