Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Wild Hoss]

The great irony is that there is a big push- including by many Republicans- to bring in more "skilled" workers from India, China, etc.

Why, I wonder, is there no outcry about foreigners taking these, presumably better, jobs? And do we really want to contort policy and spending to point Americans toward filling low-end employment while we import talent for higher-end positions?

Maybe it should be the other way around....kinda like how its been evolving naturally?

[Ghengis Jon]

I would like to see infrastructure up as the next piece of considered legislation. Like I said above, this could be a bipartisan success. Which means Not My President Chump will instruct Ryan to work on tax reform. This will be every bit as difficult as health reform. So why go that way when there's an easy victory? With the health care debacle, the GOP is concerned (rightly or wrongly) that the House/Senate may be in danger at the midterms. If they lose their majority, they lose their ability to ass-rape the middle class and poor with impunity. I would think the GOP would like a large bipartisan victory led by Republicans fresh in voter's minds when they hit the polling stations. But, as usual, the GOP will put ideology/party above country. If the GOP goes for tax reform first and is as successful as their 8 year crusade against Obamacare, 2018 could be very bloody.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump in GOP Senate meeting:

[ame]https://twitter.com/AndrewBeatty/status/887716363191676929[/ame]

[Dr. Strangelove]

Something we haven't talked about yet: Jeff Sessions just made it easier for the police to seize and sell all your property if you're even suspected of a crime.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sessions-signals-more-police-property-seizures-coming-from-justice-department/

[Dr. Strangelove]

Kris Kobach, the Kansas fraud that Trump has charged with soothing his ego and finding 5 million illegal votes, tells NBC that "we may never know" if Hillary Clinton actually won the popular vote.

Of course, Trump's vote totals aren't remotely in doubt.

[hack]

I would like to see infrastructure up as the next piece of considered legislation. Like I said above, this could be a bipartisan success. Which means Not My President Chump will instruct Ryan to work on tax reform. This will be every bit as difficult as health reform. So why go that way when there's an easy victory?

IMO what we're seeing suggests that it's not Trump setting the agenda. It's the GOP. He can have an easy victory any time he wants, in trade. Throwing up barriers is something he promised to do, sounds good on the surface to his voters, and he doesn't need Congressional approval for. He has the authority to do it unilaterally. It's not happening. Could very well be because many of the trad financial backers of the GOP would lose out if it did.

[Dr. Strangelove]

CBO scores the Repeal-and-Delay plan. 17 million more w/o insurance almost immediately; 32 million after 10 years. Premiums will go up 25% in the first year and by about 100% after 10 years. The CBO also projects 2 million who currently have employer-based insurance will lose their coverage; I think this is the first of the Republican options that has significantly impacted people covered through their employer.

[iam416]

Of that 17M, how many are young folks who simply choose not to buy?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Of that 17M, how many are young folks who simply choose not to buy?

Probably a significant chunk. Maybe a majority. I was careful to not say "had their insurance taken away" for that group. I'm more comfortable saying "had their insurance taken away" with the employer-based people. But I guess technically speaking no one EVER has their insurance taken away; it just becomes too much to afford.

But obviously, if 17M young and healthy people decided to drop their insurance overnight, premiums will rise dramatically for everyone left.

[AlabamAlum]

Obamacare needs to be repealed or reworked before 2018/2020's "Cadillac Tax" horseshit hits. Or if he can line-item that out, yeah, that'd be great.

[SeattleLionsFan]

Premiums would probably increase 25% DSL. .

[Dr. Strangelove]

Of that 17M, how many are young folks who simply choose not to buy?

On a related note I think the Obamacare penalty for going without coverage may be somewhat exaggerated. The average individual plan in early 2017 cost $391 a month or about $4700 annually. The maximum Obamacare penalty you could pay is the higher amount between the following:

1) $695 (on a per person basis)
2) $2.5% of your income - this maxes out at the average annual costs of a "Bronze" insurance plan so say the $4700 from above

A lot of people people who work fulltime are going to pay more than $695 (that's 2.5% for someone making $27,800 annually). But you'd have to be making $188,000 annually for the penalty to be equal to or more than $4700. A very, very cheap insurance plan that covers mostly nothing and has a high deductible could be cheaper than the penalty for a lot of those folks; but even the average insurance plan will cost you more than the penalty for almost everyone earning under $200,000 a year.

Maybe there are numbers that document how many healthy/young people were compelled by the tax penalty into buying insurance that didn't want it. Maybe they flat out contradict my 'hunch' that that portion of the pool could be exaggerated. Or maybe a lot of people feel pressured to take the less financially smart move because it's 'the law'.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Um...wow. Turkey's state news agency publishes the location, troop count, and purpose of 10 US military bases inside Syria. Only 2 were publicly known previously. Erdogan seems hellbent on destroying post-WWII relationship with the US.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/turkey-leaks-secret-locations-of-us-troops-in-syria

[Mainevent]

I forget, is that one of the dictators Trump has praised or not?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump gives an interview to the failing NY Times

And before getting into the substance...for you few Trump supporters here...if you think deep inside, he doesn't crave and urgently NEED the approval of elite, east coast institutions like the Times...think again. Like Nixon did, he desperately wants to be accepted into that world. Your support will NEVER mean as much to him as positive editorial in the Times would.

As for the interview:

1) Trump relationship with Jeff Sessions seems unmendable. He's STILL mad about something that occurred 6 months ago. And there's a recording of this part in the link so don't tell me it's just "fake news". Trump says he never would've picked Sessions if he knew Jeff would "betray" him as he did with his recusal.

2) Plenty of griping about Comey. Implies Comey tried to blackmail him into keeping his job.

3) Warns Robert Mueller not to investigate Trump Organization finances unrelated to Russia; that would cross a line. Also says, without any exmaples, how Mueller's investigation team is full of conflicts of interest (because some are Democrats or have represented Democrats, apparently). This is similar to Trump insisting that Judge Curiel's race was an inherent conflict of interest in deciding the Trump U case.

4) Other bitching about DOJ employees, namely Rod Rosenstein.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-sessions-russia.html