Open thread

Rather than try to concoct a post at this late hour, you're free to discuss amongst yourselves until Chris wakes up in Paris. Gnite. Read the rest of this post...

"The reality is if you get real sick, no matter if you're insured or not, you're probably financially f**ked."

That headline was posted by Sardine over at Eschaton. And they're right. It's a point I've been trying to make for a while. Health care reform isn't just about poor people, and we should stop trying to sell it to the rest of America by using that argument. I think most Americans feel a sense of empathy with those in need, but when the economy, their job, and their family's livelihood is hanging by a thread, I think that most Americans become less generous and more selfish. And I propose that we play to their selfishness when pitching health care reform.

No matter how good you think your health insurance, answer me these questions off the top of your head:

1. What's the annual limit on prescription benefits under your plan? Do you have a limit? I didn't think I did until last year when Blue Cross cut me off and I had to pay for my $250 a month asthma medicine, and more, out of my own pocket.

2. What's the lifetime limit on our major medical plan? What do I mean? Lots of health care plans only cover your major medical up until a certain point, then if you cost them too much, they cut you off. What's your cut off, and would getting cancer push you beyond that cut off?

3. How much does an appendectomy cost? We know from Joe that is costs $19,000 in Washington, DC. How much does your insurance cover? Joe has good insurance, and his still required him to pay $1,500 of that. What would yours require? You don't know? Then how do you know your insurance is so good?

4. Would your insurance pay for an MRI? For radiation and chemotherapy treatments? For a liver transplants? What if your mom or dad has cataracts? Or a detached retina? What about diabetes?

I don't think most people have a clue what their insurance really covers. I know I didn't. I simply told Blue Cross 12 years ago to give me the most expensive PPO they had, because I assumed that a PPO, and the most expensive one, was the "good" coverage.

Silly me.

I didn't know what my good plan covered until I got asthma as a result of my allergies. Now I know that my asthma drugs cost a whopping $471 a month. That's $5,652 a year. After Blue Cross' paltry share, that leaves me with $4,152 a year in asthma drugs (not counting any other prescriptions I may have to take for other unrelated problems that may arise). My insurance costs me nearly $420 a month. That's another $5,040 a year. And the premium goes up around 25% a year. Imagine how much it's going to be in ten years when I'm 55. And the joke, Blue Cross will still only give me $1500 in prescription drug coverage ten years from now - that's the way their policy works. I got $1500 when I started 12 years ago with them, and I'll have $1500 in ten years.

I have no idea what I would do if I came down with something really serious (as though my asthma isn't - I was told that things won't be pretty in 20 years if we don't get it under control now). This is how a lot of Americans live, but I think most have no idea just how precarious things are. We all love to think that our health insurance will protect us, as if Blue Cross actually gave a damn. They don't. They're a company out to make money. And helping you live doesn't help them make money - in fact, if you think about it, if you get sick, your insurance company is better off financially if you die. That's one hell of a crazy incentive to base a nation's health on.

PS And before anyone tells me - aha, you want more in drugs than you paid for your health care! - health insurance like all insurance is a gamble. For the past 45 years of my life, Blue Cross and all the rest have done pretty damn well having me on their policies. It's about time we played a little catch up. Read the rest of this post...

JPMorgan also delivers a big quarter

Who would have known that basic "blocking and tackling" during a recession could be so profitable? Could it be that Bush and then Obama were too easy on the banks? Obviously we need healthy banks but this does seem to be a bit much considering how many banks were technically insolvent only a few months back. How exactly are they generating such profits and are they now leading us into the next problem? This fails the smell test. Read the rest of this post...

Roubini: worst may be behind us

He's much more believable than others so it's no wonder the market reacted. It's not over and more struggles are ahead but maybe, just maybe, the worst of the worst is behind us.

Roubini still warned that the US may need a second fiscal stimulus package of up to $250 billion by the end of the year to boost the deteriorating labor market, Reuters reported.

The stimulus "cannot be too small, but it cannot be too large," Roubini said, or financial markets will become too worried about the sustainability of the U.S. debt.

Roubini, of RGE Global Monitor, is one of the few economists who foretold much of the current financial turmoil. But until now, he has remained pessimistic even amid signs that the economy was beginning to turn.

Read the rest of this post...

RNC Web site promoting anti-Semitic, anti-Latino, and pornographic literature

(UPDATE: I understand the Latino book is not anti-Latino, but in fact debunks anti-Latino prejudice. Fair enough. But I'm still looking forward to the RNC's explanation for including "bondage," "anal," and "clitoris." )

It's not very often the boys at AMERICAblog get to type the word "clitoris" in a political blog post, but thanks to Michael Steele and the headquarters of the Republican party, today is that special day.

Forget that copy of Playboy, kids, you don't need to go any further than your local RNC.com Web site. Of course, in all seriousness, it's far worse than that - the Web site of the Republican National Committee is also promoting literature that is overtly anti-Semitic and anti-Latino.

It all started when earlier this week the GOP started promoting it's new Web site, http://www.gop.com/obamacard/. The site is supposed to showcase how much money President Obama is supposedly spending by letting you, the visitor, spend money too on your new "Obama credit card."



Just what products does the RNC propose you buy with your new Obama credit card? Anti-semitic, anti-Latino, and overtly pornographic literature - with pictures to boot.

Basically, the RNC site is set up as a faux online business, like Amazon.com, where you can buy goods by doing word searches. Search for the word "car," for instance, and you get pictures of various cars and how much you can pay for them with your ObamaCard.



But don't stop there. Do a search for products dealing with the word "Jew" and the RNC suggests you buy the book "The Jews and Their Lies" (bottom left).



Type in "Latino" and get "The Latino Threat."



But the real fun starts when you type in the word "gay."

Gay, you see, is banned by the RNC (at least they haven't lost their sense of irony). "Homosexual," however, is a product you can buy at the RNC site, and oh what they showcase with that word (note the two men in the upper left corner - perhaps they're just very close friends, like Lindsey Graham and Aaron Schock).



A few other fun words you can search for on the RNC Web site...

Bondage:



Escorts:



And anal:



And if you have the time, try "boob" and "clitoris" too - you won't be sorry. But don't try "vagina" - Republicans ban vaginas. But you already knew that. Read the rest of this post...

AMA supports House health care reform bill. Will Blue Dogs Democrats support Doctors and patients or the insurance industry?

Wow. I have to say, I didn't expect this from the American Medical Association. Could it be that doctors have finally figured out just how much they get screwed by insurance companies? I hope so. But, this move by the AMA is key. It really shows that this is a battle for real health care reform and a healthier country:

The influential American Medical Association on Thursday said it supported the healthcare overhaul legislation moving through committees in the Democratic-led House of Representatives and urged its approval.

"This legislation includes a broad range of provisions that are key to effective, comprehensive health system reform," AMA executive vice president Michael Maves wrote to the House committee leaders.

In particular, he said, the doctors' group backs the insurance market reforms that seek to expand healthcare coverage and the proposed health insurance exchange. In this exchange consumers would choose between private insurers and a public plan.

He also cited the ban on exclusion from coverage for pre-existing conditions and an increased reliance on primary care doctors.

Doctors should be doctors, not the functionaries of insurance companies.

Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee started marking up the House health care reform bill, HR 3200, The America's Affordable Health Choices Act. This is where we can expect serious trouble from Blue Dog Democrats. As I noted this morning, Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR) claims he has the votes to kill health care reform in this committee.

Now, with the doctors on our side, Ross and his colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee have to decide whose side their on. They are either with their constituents and doctors who want reform or they are with the insurance companies and the Republicans who want to kill reform. That's the choice.

Besides Mike Ross (AR-02), these are the problem Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee: John Barrow (GA-12), Bruce Braley (IA-01), Bart Gordon (TN-04), Baron Hill (IN-09), Jay Inslee (WA-01), Jim Matheson (UT-02), Charlie Melancon LA-03, Zack Space (OH-18) and Bart Stupak (MI-01).

These Democrats, actually all House Democrats, must hear from their constituents. Believe me, they are hearing plenty from the army of insurance company lobbyists. And, it is an army of lobbyists. Meanwhile, the Republicans want health care reform to fail because to them, politics comes first. They want Obama and the Democrats to fail.

This is crunch time. So, if call your members of Congress today. And, tomorrow. And, next week. Have your friends and family call, too. This is not time to be shy. The main switchboard number at the Capitol is 202-225-3121. Read the rest of this post...

DNC hits Cantor hard over stimulus opposition

This is excellent. The Democrats need to defend the president's stimulus plan that was already passed, lest the Republicans rewrite history and convince the public that the stimulus monies were wasted. Not only might that hurt us come next election, but it could doom a second stimulus if one is needed (and many think it is needed). Read the rest of this post...

Foreclosures hit new record

The trend is not going in the right direction and as unemployment goes up, there is going to be even more pressure on the economy. Delaying the second stimulus is delaying the recovery.

A record 1.53 million properties were in the foreclosure process -- default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- during the first six months of 2009. That was 9% more than the previous six months and 15% more than the same period of 2008, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac.

There were a total of 1.91 million filings resulting in 1 out of every 84 U.S. properties receiving at least filing in the first half of the year. Banks repossessed 386,800 properties.

"What this means is, despite the intensity of the efforts on the part of government and lenders we don't have a handle on foreclosures yet," said Rick Sharga, a spokesman for RealtyTrac.

And, in a bad sign for a housing recovery, there was no recorded improvement in June, the last month of the cycle. More than 336,000 homes reported foreclosure filings, the fourth straight 300,000-plus month. Filings were up 33% over last June and nearly 5% compared with May.

Read the rest of this post...

New jobless claims down, but not necessarily a good sign

Financial Times:

The number of US workers claiming unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level since January last week, as the pace of job cuts eased and car companies shifted the timing of their layoffs.

New jobless claims fell by 47,000 to 522,000 in the week ending July 11, according to the labour department. The drop was more than economists expected, although many warned against false hopes, pointing to distortions due to automobile makers being forced to impose more severe job cuts earlier in the year.

Read the rest of this post...

Paulson was right to play hardball with BofA

The mistake that he (and Geithner) made was caving once the cash was handed over to do the deal. Both failed to go the distance. There is nothing wrong at all with getting tough with CEOs including threatening them with losing their jobs during such times. The US taxpayer had enough of an investment in the banks to demand change so it's a non-issue. Shareholders deserve the right to make demands and money talks. The same applied for GM when Obama sacked Wagoner though for some reason, Obama does not want to let regular shareholders have this right. One of these days the Obama administration is going to have to come around to giving shareholders a true voice in the process.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that he acted appropriately in warning Bank of AmericaChief Executive Kenneth Lewis that top executives could be ousted if they walked away from a merger with Merrill Lynch.

While Paulson acknowledged in testimony prepared for delivery to a congressional panel on Thursday that he told Lewis the Federal Reserve could oust the bank's management and board if it walked away from the deal, he said Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke never instructed him to indicate to Lewis any actions the Fed might take.

Read the rest of this post...

AP Keeps Overstating Cost of Health Bill by $500 Billion

And what a surprise, not only is AP getting the numbers wrong, but now Gingrich is using AP's incorrect numbers. Look, we all make mistakes. But AP, considering its importance, should be especially careful about fixing mistakes quickly. This is very bad. Read the rest of this post...

Will California legalize pot to help budget deficit?

When President Obama got asked whether the US should consider legalizing marijuana in order to help the economy recently, a number of us laughed. But with California issuing IOUs to debtors, it's not so funny anymore. The California tax board, analyzing proposed legislation to legalize pot in that state, says the state could make $1.4 billion a year off the sales. So what do you think about legalizing pot in California or nationwide? To each his own, a necessary step in dire times, or a good thing gone too far?

California could see a nearly $1.4 billion per year increase in state revenues were it to legalize marijuana, the state Board of Equalization says in an analysis of pending legislation to to do that.

The bill (Assembly Bill 390) by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, is still awaiting its first committee hearing and is likely not to be considered until next year. It would impose not only sales taxes but a $50 per ounce fee on marijuana sales, which would be licensed by the state much as alcoholic beverages are regulated.

Read the rest of this post...

Democrat Congressman Mike Ross (AR) vows to kill health care reform if he doesn't get his way.

This is the exact problem we've been warning about. Democrats will kill health care reform. It's the damn Blue Dogs, led by Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR):

Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, who has been negotiating the legislation on behalf of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition, went a step further, telling reporters Wednesday that he has enough votes at this point to defeat the bill when it comes up for a vote in the Energy and Commerce Committee unless drastic changes are made.

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) promised to work with Ross and others before he brings the bill up for a vote.

“We’re going to have to work together,” Waxman told a group of reporters asking about the Ross threat.

How sick is that? Ross said he'd defeat the signature issue of the Democratic Party and Barack Obama. How very GOP of him, really. And, he is counting on all the Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to vote with him to defeat the bill.

The insurance industry and Republicans must be laughing their asses off. Here's a Democrat willing to kill reform unless he gets his way. Ross and his fellow Blue Dogs are doing the dirty work for the insurance lobby and the GOP. Now, the insurance lobbyists and GOPers really want to kill reform. But, one other option is to get a bill that gives even more power and profits to the insurance companies. Or, they can just push for a really crappy bill that won't work, thus destroying the credibility of Democrats on health care reform for decades. Seems like Ross and the Blue Dogs are willing pawns in that game.

Ross should know better. But, he's not alone. We promised to name names of those who are trying to block real reform. I've been rooting around to find a list of Democrats who should be doing the right thing, but aren't. The list of Democrats who are willing to do the GOP's dirty work, maybe unwittingly, but that doesn't matter, includes: Barrow (GA), Boucher (VA), Gordon (TN), Hill (IN), Kind (WI), Matheson (UT), Melancon (LA), Pomeroy (ND), Space (OH), Stupak (MI) and Tanner (TN). If any of these guys represent you, call their offices. The Hill switchboard is 202-225-3121. Or get the local numbers via the House website. Don't be shy about calling. These guys are getting plenty of love from the insurance industry lobbyists. Actually, check the list of House members who serve on Energy and Commerce. They all need calls to say support the America's Affordable Health Choices Act -- and don't kill real reform.

We can't let Democrats be the death of real health care reform. (One does wish the progressive Democrats would play hard ball like the Blue Dogs do.) Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Another day of Sotomayor hearings. She should wrap up this morning. Then, we get to witnesses from both sides. Watching the GOP witnesses will be interesting -- in a disturbing way. Most of them don't know it's 2009. That's why they're GOP witnesses.

The health care debate is really, really heating up. The House Education and Labor Committee will be voting on amendments during its markup today. The insurance industry is at DEFCON 5. Insurance companies and their trade groups have hired almost every lobbying firm in town -- sometimes, those firms are paid very good money just to reach one member. This is going to be an ugly battle -- and the Democrats are the one who can screw it up.

Let's roll... Read the rest of this post...

Obama financial regulations head to Congress

At a high level, this is good news. Adding some order to the wild west world of hedge funds makes a lot of sense following the bloody losses that piled up and decimated American retirement investments. Pushing oversight to the Federal Reserve is less reassuring and the arguments against that decision sound valid to me. The Federal Reserve is already made up of too many industry insiders so to ask them to monitor risks from their friends runs counter to where we need to be going. Also, the Federal Reserve needs to be re-gain the confidence of the market after horribly failed policies in recent years. Asking the Fed to add new responsibilities when they could not even handle their base responsibilities does sound risky.

The representatives from the banking and mortgage industry argued that the agency -- which would have broad powers to guard consumers from abusive lending practices by overseeing mortgages, credit cards and other financial products -- could cause more harm than good.

They said that creating a new federal bureaucracy would further complicate an already convoluted regulatory system. It would increase costs to consumers, they said, stifle financial innovation and leave customers with fewer choices in credit products. They also claim that consumer-protection issues are inextricably linked to an institution's "safety and soundness," and that dividing oversight of those roles between regulators could be ruinous.

Separately, in New York, an investors group led by former Securities and Exchange Commission chairmen William Donaldson and Arthur Levitt broke with the administration, saying that a small, independent board, not the Fed, should oversee risks that large and complex financial institutions and products pose to the broader financial system.

Read the rest of this post...

Swine flu cases increasing again in UK

A troubling trend, especially since the vaccine is months away.

The number of people diagnosed with swine flu soared almost sixfold during the course of last week in some parts of England, NHS figures revealed today.

The virus is spreading fast across much of the country and the total of those affected rose by 42% in the seven days up to last Sunday, according to data provided by family doctors.

Information collected by the Royal College of General Practitioners' research and surveillance centre in Birmingham, which monitors communicable and respiratory disease, shows that the rate of people diagnosed with influenza-like illness in the north of England leapt from 6.6 per 100,000 of population during 29 June to 6 July to 37.2 per 100,000 between 6 and 16 July.

Read the rest of this post...

UK backs Blair for EU president

And the trend of failed politicians to Brussels continues. Europe really knows how to prevent the EU from making progress and being viewed as a joke by its constitutes. If there's a country that doesn't send its rejects to Brussels I'm now aware of it. This is precisely why the EU Parliament and Brussels in general are viewed as a non-serious sideshow that is ignored by most. Think of it as a retirement plan for politicians who are past their sell-by date. In Blair's case, not only did he lead an invasion of another country but now he's cashing in by working with bankers who he propped up who then dragged down the economy. How convenient for everyone to ignore that little detail as the UK figures out how to work through this deep recession.

In 10 years as prime minister, Blair shunned the single currency, backed Bush over Brussels and went to war in Iraq. Many in Europe have never forgiven him.

But the long-held suspicion in European politics was confirmed when Lady Kinnock, the Europe minister in Strasbourg for the parliament's opening session, said that although Blair had not formally declared his candidacy, it was "certainly" the government position to support him.

"I am sure they would not do it without asking him," she said. "The UK government is supporting Tony Blair's candidature for president of the council."

Read the rest of this post...