Follow the money

The Senate is currently on their third....or is it their fourth or fifth....iteration of a "Repeal and Replace ObamaCare" attempt, and this one is no better than the ones that came before it.  As bad as ObamaCare supposedly is, all their attempts to date have been giant steps BACKWARD.  The highlight of the current Republican bill is to give each state a "block grant", essentially a pot of cash, and then tell them to figure out what to do with health care.  "Not my circus, not my monkey" the Feds can then say.

Polls show less than 20% of Americans like this giant step backwards.  Neither does AARP, or the American Medical Association, or the various hospital associations, or the insurers, or the drug makers, or the American Cancer Society, The American Heart Association, the Diabetes Foundation, or any other group advocating on behalf of people with health issues.  So why are Republicans so hellbent on ramming this "reform" down our throats?  Who wins in this deal?

FOLLOW THE MONEY

The only logical explanation I can come up with is that, to Republicans, "Repeal and Replace ObamaCare" is simply a means to a greater goal.  They have told their ultra-wealthy mega-donors that they will deliver to them a giant tax cut, but before they can do that, they first have to come up with a pile of cash from somewhere.  That "somewhere", they have decreed, will be from the Federal healthcare kitty....cut a few hundred billion here, transfer it on to there.  But if they can't realize big savings via a repeal/replace bill, their promised wealth transfer, their REAL goal, is dead in the water.  

If you can think of another reason why congressional Republicans are pushing so hard to pass such a supremely unpopular bill, please let me know.

If they should ever succeed in achieving this goal, hold on!  Their next target will be Medicare and Social Security.  Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has already (correctly) labeled them as the two most expensive Federal programs that can be looted...er..."reformed" in order to realize great savings.  He just never tells us where those savings will go.

So, as is always the case, FOLLOW THE MONEY.  That will show you who is pulling the strings, and who the big winner will always be.

S

Playing both ends against the middle....and losing

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is today unveiling the new, improved version of the GOP's repeal / replace healthcare legislation.  Early reports are that its success is already hanging by a thread, with enough Republican Senators against or leaning against to likely doom it. What seems to be the problem?

The problem is Republicans are facing an existential (life or death) conundrum.  On the one hand, they want to keep their voters happy, because more than anything in the world they want to keep their jobs.  They, and in fairness this applies to both Democrats and Republicans, would throw their mama under the bus if need be to keep their privileged positions in Congress.

But on the other hand they want to keep their wealthy special interests happy, too, for it is they who fund their political careers.  Without their money they can't buy all those media ads and send out all those slick mailers.  It's their special interest's money that keeps their privileged world spinning smoothly.

Their conundrum is they can't do both when it comes to healthcare.  When the less affluent and steadily shrinking middle class heard "repeal and replace", they envisioned putting in place something BETTER than what they had.  When the wealthy special interests heard "repeal and replace", they envisioned GUTTING federal government involvement in healthcare, resulting in a huge one TRILLION dollar +/- savings which would then come back to them as a tax cut.  The American people don't care about a tax cut for the wealthy special interests, and the wealthy special interests don't care about healthcare for the American people.

The latest polls say only 12 - 17% of the American people approve of either the Republican's House or Senate healthcare plans.  The American Medical Association...the doctors...and the American Hospital Association OPPOSE either of the GOP's plans because they know with 20,000,000+ fewer people being insured, they won't get paid.  They'll ethically and morally still treat these people, but know they'll never get paid for their services, and will then have to charge those who are insured even more.  So much for lower premiums! 

Likewise AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, is OPPOSED to the GOP plans because they know it will adversely affect many / most of their 38,000,000 members.  FACT:  Medicaid pays the costs for 45% of all elderly nursing home residents.  How are nursing homes going to provide care to these people if fewer and fewer can afford to pay?  They can't just give it away!  Can families bring their loved ones home and properly provide 24 / 7 care themselves?

If Congressional Republicans truly cared about healthcare for our citizens, they could vote the money needed to pay for it.  But that would mean cancelling many of the special sweetheart tax breaks and subsidies the wealthy now receive, and then kissing goodbye the future financial support of the very upper crust of our society.

They're screwed if they support their constituents, and screwed if they support their benefactors. All signs now suggest the odds-on favorites to win this tug-of-war are the wealthy.  Money talks.  How else can you explain why Republicans go home to town hall meetings every week and try to sell a plan they know is supported by only 12% of their constituents?

Gee, what's a spineless, two-faced Congressman to do?

S  

Let's put some lipstick on this pig....

For years now we've heard about how our enemies were eating the USA alive via cyber-warfare.  They (N Korea, China, Iran, Russia, Russia, Russia) have been relentless in getting into every nook and cranny where we might hide our intellectual jewels.  They long ago mastered corporate espionage, stealing plans for everything we design and make.  And now they've hacked into our CIA, revealing our most sensitive national security secrets.  They say the most recent WikiLeaks information dump dwarfs anything Edward Snowden ever thought about handing over to the bad guys.

Throughout all this I've wondered, "So what are WE doing to THEM?  Surely we're not gonna just sit still while they bend us over?  Please tell me our nerds are better than their nerds."

Our nerds are better than their nerds.  

Our nerds long ago figured out how to hack into every TV, tablet, cell phone, hearing aid, picture frame, Viagra bottle, and toaster in the world.  Our spooks can listen in on every two-bit terrorist in the sandbox as he whispers sweet nothings into his camel's ear.  The night shift at CIA HQ probably makes prank phone calls to the Kremlin and makes it look like it's coming from Kim Jong Fatty Fat Fat's little pink princess phone on his nightstand.  Yes, we're THAT good!

Now the bad guys have figured out how to get into our secret stuff.  Scary, but at least I now know we have nerds that can go toe-to-toe with anyone, anywhere, anytime.   Game on!  More lipstick?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Republican's new health care plan, whatever they care to call it, has already crashed and burned.  They're just putting on a show to make it look like they're at least trying.  Besides Speaker Ryan and Donnie John Trump, virtually no one else wants to be seen anywhere near it.

The Tea Party says it doesn't cut deep enough, that there are still too many poor swine getting gubment freebees.  The Liberals say they aren't about to turn poor people away from getting life-saving healthcare they otherwise can't afford.  Libertarians say "no" to any further "entitlements".  The American  Medical Association and various hospital groups are against it because they say poor people will lose their insurance and will all show up in emergency rooms again demanding to be seen for free.  The Old Folks...er...AARP says its members can't afford premiums 5-times as expensive as the younguns, on and on.

The only ones who like it are the US Chamber of Commerce, because their members will save a buttload, and those making over $200,000 a year who will save an even bigger buttload.

Even lipstick isn't going to sell this wagon load of shit manure.

D....O....A

S