Finding out what’s in ObamaCare: premium hikes
posted at 10:12 am on September 8, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
After the polls showed that the newly-passed ObamaCare bill remained deeply unpopular with voters, the Obama administration reshuffled the rollout in order to convince Americans what a great deal they would get. By “front-loading” the most popular provisions to make them effective immediately, the White House hoped that the momentum would shift to support for the one legislative achievement of Barack Obama’s turn — or at least neutralize its negative influence. Instead, ObamaCare remains as unpopular as ever, and the bill will come due just before the midterms:
Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats’ efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections.
Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.
These and other insurers say Congress’s landmark refashioning of U.S. health coverage, which passed in March after a brutal fight, is causing them to pass on more costs to consumers than Democrats predicted.
There is more than a little irony involved:
In addition to pledging that the law would restrain increases in Americans’ insurance premiums, Democrats front-loaded the legislation with early provisions they hoped would boost public support. Those include letting children stay on their parents’ insurance policies until age 26, eliminating co-payments for preventive care and barring insurers from denying policies to children with pre-existing conditions, plus the elimination of the coverage caps.
Weeks before the election, insurance companies began telling state regulators it is those very provisions that are forcing them to increase their rates.
And even more irony: these premium hikes will hit individual and small-group plans hardest. The ObamaCare bill was supposed to make it easier on individual policy holders, not tougher. Instead, they’ll pay the biggest cost in the short term.
The White House has already accused these insurers of unfair pricing, but that just proves that the administration didn’t understand the industry they wanted to run themselves. Front-loading new benefit mandates means higher costs for insurers. Insurers pass higher costs to consumers in premium increases. If there were no costs associated with these new benefit mandates, they wouldn’t have had to been mandated in the first place. This is Econ 101, and yet no one in the Obama administration appeared to have realized what “front-loading” new benefits would mean.
Democrats have tried pleading that ObamaCare will eventually lower costs for everyone while giving more benefits to everyone, an empty promise that will get exposed much sooner than they anticipated, thanks to the Obama administration. Small wonder most of them have stopped talking about ObamaCare on the campaign trail.
Blowback
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Count it!
lorien1973 on September 8, 2010 at 10:15 AM
So massive tax hikes and brutal regulations RAISE COSTS????
Chuck Schick on September 8, 2010 at 10:15 AM
they don’t understand how to run the country
cmsinaz on September 8, 2010 at 10:17 AM
He SAID he was gonna do this! How the phuq do people vote for him if they don’t like the policies he TOLD us he was gonna implement???!!!
Tony737 on September 8, 2010 at 10:18 AM
Pat Cadell was on Fox Business Saturday, and made the definitive statement that socialized medicine will be de jure or de facto repealed next year. You should find that clip, Ed.
Vashta.Nerada on September 8, 2010 at 10:19 AM
Hoocoodanode?
Inkblots on September 8, 2010 at 10:20 AM
They understand how to run it into the ground, which is probably the point.
WesternActor on September 8, 2010 at 10:20 AM
Hard to believe a bunch of attorneys, professors and professional political hacks wouldn’t understand probably the most complicated industry in the United States.
If you can’t be competent, can you just be smart enough to know that you don’t know what you are doing and leave well enough alone?
That’s why I think we’d be better off with complete gridlock. The Republicans need to make the case that they can write intelligible legislation because the clown Democrat Congress puts out absolute sewage and that dunce Obama signs it without even reading it.
NoDonkey on September 8, 2010 at 10:21 AM
And NOBODY on the Left saw this coming, eh? ALL you super-smart lefties out there who thought that you were gonna get “FREE” health care, get your
morgageRENT paid for and your car payment taken care of and …Tony737 on September 8, 2010 at 10:21 AM
I guess it’s a good thing that I already lost my healthcare coverage.
Lanceman on September 8, 2010 at 10:22 AM
It’s almost as if they have no clue what the hell they’re doing.
Or, looked at another way, it’s almost as if they know exactly the hell what they’re doing and they don’t care.
Either way, they FAIL.
Good Lt on September 8, 2010 at 10:23 AM
The Insurance providers now need to watch their P’s & Q’s. If they need to hike rates in order to compensate for this POS legislation, fine, but it will not look good if company execs are seen frolicking on yachts and taking bonuses in the millions. It will be too easy for Leftists to demagogue. The only hope for the insurance companies is to place themselves squarely on the side of the people, and demonstrate it. Otherwise, they will be demonized in a final push toward single-payer taxpayer-funded government-run health care.
IronDioPriest on September 8, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Every day, in every way, Obama proves that he does not know what he’s doing.
LASue on September 8, 2010 at 10:24 AM
My Carefirst BlueCross BlueShield expenses immediately increased by 20%. The small co (13 people) I work for reworked our benefits so the amount taken out of our checks was the same. Getting less for the same cost as before.
Stevel on September 8, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Count it!
lorien1973 on September 8, 2010 at 10:15 AM
What is Count it? I’m not b*tching that you write that, just curious why…
SHARPTOOTH on September 8, 2010 at 10:25 AM
Can we please get past the notion that the President and/or Congress “runs the country”?
We run ourselves, thank you very much. The goverment’s job is to provide and protect our freedom to do that.
Bat Chain Puller on September 8, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Rather than going to Econ 101, Dear Liar’s administration sat around doing bong hits and listening to Jimi Hendrix records.
rbj on September 8, 2010 at 10:27 AM
Never saw this comin’, it’s almost as if the ‘rats were trying to hide the real results of their health care scheme.
Bishop on September 8, 2010 at 10:28 AM
My private (self-employed) health insurance premium jumps over 30% on renewal this fall. It’s almost $1000/month now for 2 adults and 2 adult progeny (no longer “children”) and high deductables. Unfreakin’ believable… Thanks, Dems.
Fallon on September 8, 2010 at 10:28 AM
A dear close relative who is also a big Obama supporter has suffered from depression her entire adult life. Last time I saw her she hopefully suggested her treatment (which is not now covered) will be covered under the new health care plan. But you have to ask … who pays? And if health care is provided to everyone without charge, won’t it be used so much more than it is today, again driving costs up, thru the roof? Especially if mental health issues are covered. To me, covering mental health issues is like opening Pandora’s box.
Paul-Cincy on September 8, 2010 at 10:30 AM
I have an individual BC/BS policy. Premiums were raised $40 per month, starting this month.
Thanks a lot Democrats.
AZCoyote on September 8, 2010 at 10:31 AM
You mean that I am not going to save $2500? But he promised me.
What the Hell.
DuctTapeMyBrain on September 8, 2010 at 10:31 AM
You guys are assuming this is an oversight. I say it’s part of the plan to make single payer more palatable.
The Dems are forcing higher rates onto those least able to afford them, using the insurance companies as the bad guy. The next step is to show how much cheaper the “public option” will be compared to the evil health insurance companies who, by the way, just raised your rates.
This is class warfare 101, and it trumps Econ 101 every time.
BobMbx on September 8, 2010 at 10:31 AM
R E P E A L
WisCon on September 8, 2010 at 10:32 AM
One of our trolls used to type it when Obama did something it approved of. I use it to show the consequences of those things.
lorien1973 on September 8, 2010 at 10:34 AM
Our small company’s benefit cycle is Oct. 1. We got our sticker shock last month; a 40% increase in benefit costs with greater out-of-pocket expenses, over 2/3rds directly attributable to Obamacare. Total additional costs for employees with families is between $2,000 and $4,000!
The Dems have set themselves up for a really nasty ‘October surprise’. The GOP and- more importantly- the Tea Parties need to make sure the blame is laid where it belongs; on those that passed Obamacare. The Dems and the MSM will try to shift it to the ‘evil insurance companies’ but there is huge competition right now in the benefits market and, by shopping around, our company cannot find much better rates.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks; wait until major playors in the insurance business start pulling out.
michaelo on September 8, 2010 at 10:36 AM
“… attorneys, professors and professional political hacks…”
We take it for granted that these types know nothing about even basic economics. Ed’s post shows also just how intellectually lazy they all are and how they all truly live in bubbles of some type that they haven’t learned ANYTHING over the last 30 years. Even by osmosis they should all have a basic understanding of economics by now. Obama makes McCain look like Art Laffer by comparison and Mac is as intellectually lazy as they come from what I can tell. Or so I thought. I continue to be amazed at how Obama actually seems to think socialism can/will work. What an astonishing useful idiot.
JimP on September 8, 2010 at 10:36 AM
Well, we know where he stands on capitalism, cronysism, racial issues, religous issues, health care, abortion and vacation time. We know he can’t run a country, much less a lemonade stand. But can he make his own bowl of cereal for petes sake?
Repeat after me! MORON!!!!!!!
capejasmine on September 8, 2010 at 10:36 AM
Thanks, Dems. – Fallon
Thanks a lot Democrats. – AZCoyote
Now that’s more like it! You wingnuts oughta get down on your hands and knees and PRAISE Obama for giving you free health care! /Lefty Dumbas (that’s pronounced “Doo-MAHZ”)
Tony737 on September 8, 2010 at 10:37 AM
Of course they knew this. Just as we knew this was nothing but groundwork for single-payer hc.
Bee on September 8, 2010 at 10:37 AM
I’m afraid that most of the blame will fall directly on the insurers. Unless they make it a point to tell people why costs are going up, or the GOP ties the increases to Obamacare, the anger will be against the private sector and not the government.
The point of this bill as to put a wedge between companies and customers and convince them that it’s so bad that single payer would be the only solution.
Asher on September 8, 2010 at 10:38 AM
Just saw your comment. oops. :)
Bee on September 8, 2010 at 10:38 AM
Paul-Cincy on September 8, 2010 at 10:30 AM
Of course it is. Our health care is currently plagued by fraud.
Mental “health” is notoriously diagnose, treat and to cure.
Everyone could be said to have some sort of problem that requires treatment, especially according to mental health professionals.
Most mental health problems are chronic as well. They don’t go away.
So to volunteer to pick up the tab on a multitude of ailments you can’t nail down in any way shape or form, just opens us up to throwing billions down the drain on what most normal people would classify as everyday problems.
NoDonkey on September 8, 2010 at 10:40 AM
Mental “health” is notoriously difficult to diagnose, treat and to cure.
NoDonkey on September 8, 2010 at 10:41 AM
It is impossible to speak the truth too many times.
BobMbx on September 8, 2010 at 10:41 AM
Won’t this also cause higher unemployment as Insurance Companies try to absorb the costs? In effect creating a greater burden on government programs and costing the fewer and fewer taxpayers even more. How does Obama think he is going to keep funding his idiocy? Just how many jobs is this administration going to destroy before the corporations themselves stand up to him?
Tommy_G on September 8, 2010 at 10:42 AM
I am retired Navy and covered under TRICARE Prime. I also get care at the VA. The military now is the “last payer in line”, something that has not really been enforced or done before. If you or your spouse has any form of private insurance TRICARE now goes after them for payment up front. They used to only do that for big things like accidents or long term illness. Every time I go for care now, I have to sign and certify that I have no other health insurance and if they find out that I do, I am subject to fines and stuff. So much for free health care for life.
Johnnyreb on September 8, 2010 at 10:42 AM
You gotta love Obama: we’ll undo 90% of his damage within six months of a new GOP presidency… but there won’t be another Democratic president until at least 2024. People who think he’s a Manchurian Candidate are right: for conservatives!
VastRightWingConspirator on September 8, 2010 at 10:42 AM
If Congress and the unions were subject to this crap, they would not stand for it.
It’s 28th amendment time, baby.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on September 8, 2010 at 10:42 AM
Thats right. Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.
BobMbx on September 8, 2010 at 10:42 AM
BobMbx and Asher: I agree. The front-loading of benefits with the expected rise in premiums by private health insurers to meet those costs is intended to demonize private health insurance.
onlineanalyst on September 8, 2010 at 10:42 AM
A business owner close to me said their premiums are going up 28%. There’s no way they’re going to eat that cost he said, otherwise, his employees would not experience the lesson of pain: realizing that elections have consequences.
hoosiermama on September 8, 2010 at 10:43 AM
Au contraire…I think he knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s “Cloward and Pivening” the health care industry into a socialist single-payer system. He/they have to collapse the private insurance industry first, and it’s working. Hell, we already dropped our insurance last year cuz we could no longer afford it.
ornery_independent on September 8, 2010 at 10:44 AM
Count it!
lorien1973 on September 8, 2010 at 10:15 AM
atlgal on September 8, 2010 at 10:44 AM
How fortunate that this is coming out before the elections. The Lord’s good hand is in this tsunami of bad news for the Dems.
paul1149 on September 8, 2010 at 10:45 AM
Shoot…messed up my quote…sorry!
atlgal on September 8, 2010 at 10:45 AM
Shhhhhhhhh Ed, didn’t you get the memo?
No talkie about Obamacare.
fogw on September 8, 2010 at 10:46 AM
Empty promise? It was a lie, and they all knew it was a lie.
I have been much amused by all the “What went wrong?” hand wringing that has been coming out in the wake of disastrous poll numbers for Democrats that can no longer be ignored.
What is so hard to understand? Obama ran as a centrist bridge builder. He then governed as a far-left partisan. Democrats were swept into office on accusations of Republican economic profligacy, incompetence and corruption. They then massively outspent Republican sand created generational national debt while displaying even greater levels of incompetence and corruption. They passed the massive Obamacare bill in the face of opposition by a solid majority of voters. Eric Holder’s perversion of the Justice department, giving Black Panther thugs a pass, ignoring electoral corruption so long as it appeared to benefit Democrats, and suing Arizona over an immigration enforcement law that not only paralleled federal law and the laws of other states, but was supported by a majority of voters nationally. Not to mention Obama’s repeated apologies for America on the international stage, his bowing to tyrants and his pandering to America’s critics and even its enemies.
And they can’t figure out what went wrong?
novaculus on September 8, 2010 at 10:46 AM
Thank You. Needed a little optimism today.
Tommy_G on September 8, 2010 at 10:47 AM
Criminal. What’s that website again, something like snitch.gov? Can you collect rewards for turning in scofflaws with no health insurance?
And a new cottage industry is born.
/s
GnuBreed on September 8, 2010 at 10:49 AM
I think the immediate effect will be people losing their medical insurance. The Ins. Co’s will not absorb the additional costs. Why should they? You aren’t in business very long if your business model requires spending more than your revenue.
The Obama administration is legislatively creating a market for a product it intends to sell by removing the supply of that product by forcing higher premiums. When large swaths of the population can no longer afford any sort of insurance, the feds will suddenly appear to have the answer: single payer.
Higher rates are not a bug. Its a feature.
BobMbx on September 8, 2010 at 10:51 AM
I think that there are many people out there (the average democrat) who seriously thought that the only reason insurance companies didn’t provide all these benefits is because no one told them to. It will come as quite a shock for them to find out that the real reason is because all these benefits are expensive and no one wants to pay for it.
Folks, Obama stores his stash in your pocket and now he wants it back.
Lily on September 8, 2010 at 10:51 AM
It’s all about the car metaphore. When you want to go forward into Depression you put the car in “D”. When you want to go back to Recovery you put the car in “R”.
The HCR bill looks like it was put together in a scene from a Three Stooges movie. Pelosi is Moe, Obama is Larry, Biden is Curly and Reid is Shemp.
Onus on September 8, 2010 at 10:51 AM
I’ve heard you can get an extra choco ration for each counter-progressive you snitch on. Now turn and face the screen.
BobMbx on September 8, 2010 at 10:52 AM
Never underestimate the stupidity of the voting public. That’s why I’m not getting my hopes up too high for this November. I hope for the best obviously and will do my part and vote but as with most things out of my complete control, I prepare for the worst.
Yakko77 on September 8, 2010 at 10:53 AM
Yep. I work at an insurance company and the gossip ’round here is that they are getting rid of jobs left and right in anticipation of the company losing a crapton of money over the next few years….
mjk on September 8, 2010 at 10:54 AM
It’s time to start rolling out the anecdotes… along with The Won’s “If you like your insurance, you can keep it” quote. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Joe Wilson was right.
HE LIED!
either orr on September 8, 2010 at 10:54 AM
I’ve tried to explain that to people for YEARS. But basic economics is beyond the scope of most people’s brains.
mjk on September 8, 2010 at 10:56 AM
Trumpet? I thought they were running and hiding from it?
Dash on September 8, 2010 at 10:56 AM
That’s amazing, massive new big government boondoggles cost money, deliver nothing.
tarpon on September 8, 2010 at 10:59 AM
I used to subscribe to the “it’s all part of their cunning plan” theory but the more I see them do or hear them say, I’m fast coming to the conclusion that the administration is hoplesssly, helplessly, criminally stupid. They’re more and more like children who think they want something, rush into it without considering the consequences, and then react with surprise when things don’t go the way they thought they would. Someone bright enough to craft a “master plan” for changing the country radically would presumably be bright enough to forsee pitfalls and problems and circumvent them. Let’s face it folks, these are just not very smart people.
Trafalgar on September 8, 2010 at 11:00 AM
When costs increase, businesses don’t raise their prices, the owners just take home less money. At least that’s what Øbama was told by his union buddies.
Kafir on September 8, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Democrats really suck.
tommer74 on September 8, 2010 at 11:02 AM
That is exactly right.
tigerlily on September 8, 2010 at 11:02 AM
Know someone, 22..just started job at small bank. His insurance premiums are over 400 per month
jp on September 8, 2010 at 11:02 AM
I think that’s really the strategy, but it may be starting to backfire a little. The punters are going to notice that 0bamacare passed and then was immediately followed by increased insurance cost. Any attempt to demonize the insurance companies in this is going to be met by a highly skeptical public. But, like another poster pointed out, the last thing we need is insurance company CEO’s being featured on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”. Let’s hope they’re aware of that.
mr.blacksheep on September 8, 2010 at 11:03 AM
I just got a letter from Healthnet last week to let me know that Obamacare is raising my premium by over 20% starting in October.
I knew it was inevitable, but I didn’t think this initial Obamacare increase (oh yea, there are many more to come) would be more than 10% to 15% at the most.
Democrats are stupid and a danger to economies, families and other living things.
DrDeano on September 8, 2010 at 11:03 AM
I want to go in Reverse!
As in Repeal,
Replace with Reform (tort) and
Right to Sell Insurance Across State Lines
It is what they should have done in the first place.
journeyintothewhirlwind on September 8, 2010 at 11:08 AM
Politics 101 indicates this statement should read, that just proves the administration is lying through their teeth.
burt on September 8, 2010 at 11:11 AM
With a (barely) closeted socialist Alinskyite in the Oval Office, you should expect these tactics. Unfortunately for the Emperor Obama and Lord Axelrod, Minister of Propaganda, folks are beginning to see through the Emperor’s new clothes.
novaculus on September 8, 2010 at 11:13 AM
Yes. it would have been $2,500 dollars more without his interventioon.
seven on September 8, 2010 at 11:17 AM
Ask a Democrat about ObamaCare and all you get is a vacant expression. Like they haven’t a clue as to what you’re talking about.
GarandFan on September 8, 2010 at 11:17 AM
B.I.N.G.O.
IronDioPriest on September 8, 2010 at 11:20 AM
Well said Ed, as usual. Do you ever get the feeling it’s like explaining things to an infant?
Norbitz on September 8, 2010 at 11:20 AM
Which puts it way over their heads.
CurtZHP on September 8, 2010 at 11:20 AM
These simply are not very bright people. Remember that story Barry told about how, as a recent law school graduate, he called his auto insurance company to find out how much they’d pay for some collision damage to his car, and was shocked and outraged to learn his policy didn’t cover it? (“It’s a rip off!”). Here he was, with his Harvard Law School juris doctor degree, and he couldn’t even read and comprehend the terms of his own liability-only insurance contract. Had to have a claims adjuster explain it to him.
Is it any wonder this super-smart, Ivy-educated president can’t understand the basics of health insurance?
AZCoyote on September 8, 2010 at 11:24 AM
FIFY
Aviator on September 8, 2010 at 11:24 AM
My Blue Cross individual plan updates in October , currently at 196 per month I expect it to go to $250 .00
Thanks Democrats for everything !!!
ELMO Q on September 8, 2010 at 11:29 AM
Our company premiums are going up 14% because of the new mandates.
Centurion68 on September 8, 2010 at 11:29 AM
Well, it’s just as Pelosi said: they had to pass the bill, so we could find out what was in the bill…
Tzetzes on September 8, 2010 at 11:30 AM
We call it ObamaCare because he pushed it, and then signed it into law. At no time do I give credit, such as it is, to The One for creating the 2000 page bill. Nor should Pelosi or Reid get that credit either.
The credit for penning the bill should go to Tom Daschle, who, except for some tax problems, was going to be the HealthCare Czar. This bill has been in the making most likely for years. The Dems finally got their chance to bring it to the floor with super majorities in both chambers, realizing that they finally had the votes to pass it. Ignoring the economy was a pill they had to swallow, because this chance may not come again.
Obama himself was just serendipity. When he says “I’m not familiar with that provision”, he’s probably telling the truth. Circumstantial proof of this can be found in the debates, where he scolds Hillary for including a public option in her healthcare reform plan. He probably had not been privy to the Daschle draft, simply because at that time it was not certain he would be the Dem nominee. When it became clear he would the Dem candidate, his healthcare reform plan started to change. It had to. Otherwise, the monstrosity known as ObamaCare would have to be aborted, and the socialist powers that be were not going to allow that.
BobMbx on September 8, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Funny how the ads touting “YOUR NEW HOME IN AUSTRALIA” keep popping up on threads like this. Micro-marketing at its best.
I have a private plan with United Healthcare/Oxford, and I’ve already got the notice informing me they’ll be asking the state for rate increases of up to 6% on top of their annual 7% increase.
Yay, let’s hear it for central planning marxist turdbag resentment monger bureaucrats with no job experience!
Western_Civ on September 8, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Love that subheading: “White House Questions Logic”
“B-b-b-ut, but, but… this is not right! You can’t do this!”
Nice job, chumps. Even if the narrative about insurance companies being greedy, evil bastards were true and the Democrats were out to stop it with Obamacare, doesn’t this development just cement that perception? Are they this utterly stupid?
Yes. And yes.
somewhatconcerned on September 8, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Couldn’t disagree more.
Those “pitfalls and problems” you mention are problems only for those whose ox obama wishes to gore: the People and private enterprise.
They are the only way to force the shutdown of private healthcare and the herding of the People into govt. run healthcare, which is the goal, the holy grail, of every tyrannical govt. The entire 2700 pages, which have yet to be revealed in all their unconstitutional horror, are designed to that end.
The “pitfalls and problems”, are really features, not bugs, and are intended, not unintended consequences and are unavoidable if their goal is to be achieved.
obama’s globalist handlers and obama himself intended to finesse the whole thing to the great unwashed rubes with obama’s lies, payoffs, and the legendary con that got him elected and got him to own over 60% of private industry to date. They didn’t count on the Tea Parties and are continually seeking to destroy the movement.
However, it is still in grave question whether the GOP, if returned to power, have the spine to relegate the bill to the trash heap. And the unaccounted for TRILLION+ that has been stolen in the name of stimulus, tarp and omnibus are also out there, some of it being used by ACORN and unions to implode our electoral system with unprecedented fraud which the People are completely unprepared to counter.
If you think that they will ever leave power without attempting every criminal, completely off the rails and treasonous act possible, (fraud being the least of these acts) I do have a bridge to sell you.
And while obama himself, although cunning and an accomplished liar, may well be stupid, along with some, but not all of his down-stream but very cunning toadies, his Soros, Rothschild, Rockefeller, globalist-banking-multi-billion and multi-national grifter handlers are not.
They are dangerous to this Republic in the extreme. He wants to be where they are some day and he answers to them and them alone. obama and every order from his globalist masters that he has executed or will execute are dangerous to this Repbulic in the extreme.
tigerlily on September 8, 2010 at 11:34 AM
Didn’t you people know?
Obama and the bureaucrats in DC are much smarter than millions of consumers and the people who have worked in the industry for decades..
The colossal stupidity of the American Public 2 years ago still has me stunned beyond belief.
DavidM on September 8, 2010 at 11:37 AM
For some strange and unknown reason, when I read that, a mental image of “Josie and the Pussycats” popped into my head.
It could be that I’m associating both groups as a cartoon characters. I need a cigar ;)
BobMbx on September 8, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Preparing the battlefield for single payer health care…
d1carter on September 8, 2010 at 11:43 AM
I would like to see Boehner & McConnell hold a press conf. where they tell the American people “we will not write or pass any bill that is longer than 50 pgs. There is no need for all this garbage in these bills. They will be straightforward and every member will be required to sign a sworn statement that they have read and understand what they are voting on.”
JAM on September 8, 2010 at 11:44 AM
Among the many stupid provisions, I’ve always thought that these two were absolutely juvenile and reflected the Democratic pattern of creating policy by anecdotal stories.
BuckeyeSam on September 8, 2010 at 11:54 AM
I think the continual “they’re really all stupid” drumbeat from Ed and Allah flies in the face of our current reality and is premature gloating for a victory that is FAR from won. This underestimation of the enemy is going to undo us all. Answer the following honestly, then think before you post another agreement to the Ed and Allah stupid meme fest.
How stupid is it to own 60% of the private economy of the United States of America?
How stupid is it to have passed every communist’s dream of a health care bill?
How stupid is it to have destroyed the economy with Fannie and Freddie, blame the GOP, have it stick for the most part, and write a new FinReg bill that leaves Fannie and Freddie to CONTINUE the madness, with bottomless bailouts from us, all the while constraining us and private enterprise five ways from Sunday, much if not all of it probably unconstitutional.
How stupid is it to have grabbed another 55 MILLION acres of land out west?
How stupid is it to now have the government control 95% of all mortgages written and all student loans granted?
How stupid is it to now be in control of the banking industry and have a “pay czar” dictating pay to private citizens?
How stupid is it to have set up a shadow government of 40 unappointed, unaccountable, but funded with our $$, “czars” and staff, doing God knows what, every minute of the day?
How stupid is it to take over GM and Chrysler, fire the head of the largest private manufacterer in the nation, violate 150 years of bankruptcy law by stealing the BILLIONS that belonged to the secured bondholders of said manufacturers to give to unions to buy themselves a piece of the corporation for themselves with the stolen money?
How stupid is it to pass TRILLION dollar thefts known as TARP, stimulus, omnibus, etc., where the money has disappeared down a rathole with no one asking where it has gone???
How stupid are we to sit here posting smug, superior articles about how obama and co. are morons, the implication of these articles being that such fools should be easy to sweep out of office?
How stupid are some posters to agree with these articles, adding to the almost giddy and completely unwarranted atmosphere of “victory as good as won” against these boobs in the WH?
How stupid are we that obama got elected and controls all levers of power, including but not limited to, hundreds of thousands of pages of laws, regulations, Executive Orders, Presidential Review Directives, Presidential Decision Directives, National Security Reviews, National Security Directives, National Security Presidential Directives, Homeland Security Directives, and now directives, regulations, laws, and orders from Czars?
How stupid are we not to realize that the above has been planned by evil geniuses for decades and the plan is now merely being executed someone who they hardly could have dared dream of: an actual sitting U.S. President.
How stupid are we to be unprepared for the tsunami of vote fraud heading our way in ’10 and ’12 that the Dems have been perfecting for years?
How is it that we have not impeached every single person that the Constitution allows for these crimes, which have all been accomplished and are dangerous to our nation in the gravest manner possible?
tigerlily on September 8, 2010 at 12:09 PM
And the Democrats that voted for it are hiding from it. Face it, these people do not care what American want – they do as they please just as they have always done.
jdawg on September 8, 2010 at 12:20 PM
heh heh. “We need to pass it so we can see whats in it.” Well those words need to ring through the elections forever. You never sign or vote on something you havent read. Common sense. These people are lawyers. They know better. A 5 year old knows better these days. Well, I’m reading my ballot before I check it off and anyone who signed something without reading it gets a failing grade. Whats worse is they signed something who we are not sure who wrote it. Like the Teleprompter. Someone is blindly runnging this country. I wonder who is really driving.
johnnyU on September 8, 2010 at 12:24 PM
Christina Romer is SHOCKED !!
SHOCKED, I tell ya.
sigh
pambi on September 8, 2010 at 12:27 PM
my point is that don’t know how do that…
cmsinaz on September 8, 2010 at 12:33 PM
You both make excellent points…thank you. Maybe I was being intellectually lazy or in denial that anyone can be this evil, this against the people they supposedly serve, this…this…grrrrrr! I’ll stand by my assertion that Obama is personally not very bright; however, the Soros, Rockerfeller, et al cabal is indede frightening. Thank you.
Trafalgar on September 8, 2010 at 12:42 PM
Yes, Cloward and Piven. As small health insurance companies fail, they will be let go unless they pay off the right democratics. The big insurance companies will fail, but they are ‘too big to fail’ so they will become the Government Motors of the health industry. When the government has taken them all over, we have single-payer.
slickwillie2001 on September 8, 2010 at 12:58 PM
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