The Soviet schlubs, er, citizens, had to learn to read PRAVDA. Turns out the truth was often mixed in with the continuous lies.
What you paid attention to, as I understand it, was what they excluded and chose not to say.
Here, because the numbers are faked, no source are offered, merely their assurance.
Very helpful to me. Now I know not to even read it. It's another lie.
The problem with a political culture based on such lies is that soon enough things grind to a halt. No one can act on bullshit, so they wait to see what actually happens. Over time, nothing happens, everyone waits.
What is disappointing to me is that although many Obama supporters have seriously lost their enthusiasm, they continue to believe each lie in turn one after another. They have lost their enthusiasm, but have not learned a single thing over all these years with their unbroken stream of lies quietly and grudgingly accepting the disappointment of each lie one fading into the others.
I now fully expect them to totally buy even his last lie after 8 years and to continue on with that even after he is out of office, sighting his new lies as political wisdom, living a lifetime as battered lovers for whom the rest of us will just shake our heads and say "poor thing."
"...soon enough things grind to a halt...over time, nothing happens, everyone waits."
What I think you're predicting is collapse. I, for one, fervently hope it happens. The suffering will be immense. But, given that our ruling class WILL NOT rein in its appetite, what else stands a chance of forcing a radically downsized state? First collapse. Then a citizenry so enraged by what the best and the brightest have done that The People are immunized (for a while) against supporting more of the same. Of course it's just as likely that collapse will be followed by an even more massive draconian state. That said I see no hope at all without collapse first.
P.S. By collapse I mean dollar collapse, which is already baked in the cake, IMO.
Okay, I will make this mini-rant one more time. No news media outlet, including Fox News, has mentioned it even once to the best of my knowledge. Even the talking heads on Fox, and shrieking elsewhere, keep yammering about how Republicans have not offered any alternative to Obamacare, the PPACA.
They are all lying. Including the usual suspects plus O'Reily, Van Sustren, and Beckel at Fox just this week.
Why do they feel the need to lie?
What they choose to say doesn't exist is recorded clearly in the Federal Register. About 3 clicks on Google or Bing will produce the information.
Among the alternative proposals has been H. R. 3319, which just happens to put to paper an proposal made by John Kerry in the 2004 campaign ... to utilize the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) for non-government employees as well...e.g., individuals and businesses (who would be allowed to subscribe and pay a portion just as they do now). Means testing could be introduced (add 2 pages the already huge 6 pages, eh) for individuals that need subsidy/assistance and have no means otherwise.
Why was this a good idea, even if from Kerry, and now Issa?
1. Because it is already standing up and has been for 50+ years working smoothly. The contracting mechanism is already in place within OPM and the administration could be expanded without forming any new agency or department, merely expand the employees (GS-5 to GS-13 range max) required to manage a higher participation...everything is already in place, and tested, no surprises. No whopping new sub-contracting for a database design...it is already there.
2. Because pre-existing condition limitations are NOT allowed.
3. Because it is systemically portable over all 50 states...e.g., you can select a new carrier if necessary, if you move to another state region, without penalty.
4. Because virtually every carrier you have heard of in your location is available to select...in my area the list is about a dozen, and every single one is accepted at every hospital in the state.
5. There would be no reason for current carriers to cancel existing satisfied clients to met arbitrary mandated features. What required features there are (like no prior condition exclusion) already within the existing contracts....and at any rate could and would be negotiated by the existing contracting officers in OPM who are already intimately familiar with the system.
In short, the plan outlined in HR 3319 covers every single political thing that the PPACA allegedly covers. And it does so with an already existing and proven system. It does so without onerous government mandated coverages that individuals may or may not want. Those would be "choices" in the FEHBP system, just as they are now. The horror...individual choice, go figure.
The first bald faced lie is simply that a new system like the PPACA was needed at all...as if John Kerry had not already proposed the FEHBP approach in 2004. Democrats didn't recall that? Right.
Yes, premium costs could or would go up, due to adding indigent individuals and no one is falsely claiming they would not ... and those are just the facts if we purportedly add up to 30 million indigent uninsured to the rolls.
Finally...myself as example: I have Medicare A & B plus an FEHBP supplemental plan. I elected an HMO centered on a local teaching hospital, where my doctors are, becasue it offered compelte coverage for the lest premium cost.
In 2013 I received a check from the Medicare administrator for $9.47 ... a refund of a small overpayment by me in co-pays in excess of the statutory deductibles....and this in a period where I was being treated (successfully) for cancer and undergoing multiple tests such as PET/CT with contrast, and countless endoscopies via every possible orifice.For all extents and purposes I had no significant out of pocket costs in 2012, 2013 and so far in 2014. Damn near fell of my chair when I opened the envelope and saw that refund check.
Summary: FEHBP works...why was it considered back when or now...even by the liars on television?
My guess is that to use FEHBP system would not have generated enough added power to government and not enough money for pointless contracting, to defense contractors who've never systematically dealt with health-care before...some of which is not yet even done...still in the RFQ/RFP stage.
We are screwed if no one tells even a sliver of the truth...in fact those with the biggest bully pulpit either outright lie or ignore items of record in the Federal Register as if they are not there.
I have damn near given up after this past month of "news." First liar no longer stands a chance.
Sorry for the potentially scroll worthy rant, but it expands on what Bagoh20 said about lies up-thread.
Godwin Alert: Herr Goebbels was very right about the power of repetition in making lies "fact."
For the record, since most of you haven't known me throughout my various "careers" (in my brief private sector period I administered company health-care plans for a small business as part of the General Manager job)...I have had many vices, some horrid, however one virtue (in my opinion, and just maybe my only one) is that, once burned, I have always refused to not tell the truth to power...no big agenda, just answering and reporting the truth, document-able, when asked or ordered to report.
To this very day, 8 years in to retirement I am still consulting with selected Dept of Army individuals, voluntarily, on how to do this without the costs it brought on to me...mainly by contemporaneous record memorandums that explain why they didn't agree but had no choice because the activity was not under their control (at least fully)...etc. etc. I advise others to not be like me, because I always fought with anyone who insisted on BS, and in two cases that was a general. It cost me, both in rank and pay, and that is all I will say on that matter...except I do NOT regret one iota of the stances I took.
My obtuse attitude began when I witnessed, standing in formation under a f'ing hot sun, in 1969, then Vice President Agnew pin a medal on "my general" for something he did NOT do...and suddenly I realized I had aided and abetted the charade inadvertently...e.g., by doing what my predecessors in theater had done. It was all BS. That was general number one. He later stood by oblivious to an AR 15-6 investigation and Board of Inquiry that targeted me and another NCO a year later. The punk. We wee NCO's won and the BOI was adjourned.
The next one was a 1-star guy (with a "P" next to his official name listing...e.g., approved for 2 stars) who literally "ordered" me, and my Commander, to say we were all good to go on a DOD-IG-Finance audit and resolutions would be done in 30 days or less. I asserted we were not in compliance and it would take 90 days plus to rectify....e.g., that caused a "bad" report to be made to the DOD-IG. So sad. Chicken-crap stuff, really so....
I asked my Commander if he wanted me to lie, that I would if he wished it, because he was otherwise a great Commander. His response was "don't you even dare lie..my job is back my command and anyone in it telling the truth, I'll deal with the general!"
That Commander was West Point grad Colonel Thomas Magness IV, now retired, and one of the v-e-r-y few commanders I had in my last decade or two that I would have followed in to harms way if asked or ordered. You can Google his name. He was and is very much the real deal.
Ari, a similar thing happened at the FRB that caused me to disrespect management. So much so as to not care to be part of it. For I too am a self-righteous bastard and the deity portion that abides within me goes, "Right on, Dood!" *high fives* ))) whap (((
16 comments:
BOGUS MEDIA.
Chip, I think you made the ears bigger instead of the nose by mistake. Just one of those minor mental glitches, I'm sure.
The Soviet schlubs, er, citizens, had to learn to read PRAVDA. Turns out the truth was often mixed in with the continuous lies.
What you paid attention to, as I understand it, was what they excluded and chose not to say.
Here, because the numbers are faked, no source are offered, merely their assurance.
Very helpful to me. Now I know not to even read it. It's another lie.
The problem with a political culture based on such lies is that soon enough things grind to a halt. No one can act on bullshit, so they wait to see what actually happens. Over time, nothing happens, everyone waits.
My health insurance costs more and I get less. Thanks Obama and Pelosi!
What is disappointing to me is that although many Obama supporters have seriously lost their enthusiasm, they continue to believe each lie in turn one after another. They have lost their enthusiasm, but have not learned a single thing over all these years with their unbroken stream of lies quietly and grudgingly accepting the disappointment of each lie one fading into the others.
I now fully expect them to totally buy even his last lie after 8 years and to continue on with that even after he is out of office, sighting his new lies as political wisdom, living a lifetime as battered lovers for whom the rest of us will just shake our heads and say "poor thing."
"...soon enough things grind to a halt...over time, nothing happens, everyone waits."
What I think you're predicting is collapse. I, for one, fervently hope it happens. The suffering will be immense. But, given that our ruling class WILL NOT rein in its appetite, what else stands a chance of forcing a radically downsized state? First collapse. Then a citizenry so enraged by what the best and the brightest have done that The People are immunized (for a while) against supporting more of the same. Of course it's just as likely that collapse will be followed by an even more massive draconian state. That said I see no hope at all without collapse first.
P.S. By collapse I mean dollar collapse, which is already baked in the cake, IMO.
Okay, I will make this mini-rant one more time. No news media outlet, including Fox News, has mentioned it even once to the best of my knowledge. Even the talking heads on Fox, and shrieking elsewhere, keep yammering about how Republicans have not offered any alternative to Obamacare, the PPACA.
They are all lying. Including the usual suspects plus O'Reily, Van Sustren, and Beckel at Fox just this week.
Why do they feel the need to lie?
What they choose to say doesn't exist is recorded clearly in the Federal Register. About 3 clicks on Google or Bing will produce the information.
Among the alternative proposals has been H. R. 3319, which just happens to put to paper an proposal made by John Kerry in the 2004 campaign ... to utilize the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) for non-government employees as well...e.g., individuals and businesses (who would be allowed to subscribe and pay a portion just as they do now). Means testing could be introduced (add 2 pages the already huge 6 pages, eh) for individuals that need subsidy/assistance and have no means otherwise.
Why was this a good idea, even if from Kerry, and now Issa?
1. Because it is already standing up and has been for 50+ years working smoothly. The contracting mechanism is already in place within OPM and the administration could be expanded without forming any new agency or department, merely expand the employees (GS-5 to GS-13 range max) required to manage a higher participation...everything is already in place, and tested, no surprises. No whopping new sub-contracting for a database design...it is already there.
2. Because pre-existing condition limitations are NOT allowed.
3. Because it is systemically portable over all 50 states...e.g., you can select a new carrier if necessary, if you move to another state region, without penalty.
4. Because virtually every carrier you have heard of in your location is available to select...in my area the list is about a dozen, and every single one is accepted at every hospital in the state.
5. There would be no reason for current carriers to cancel existing satisfied clients to met arbitrary mandated features. What required features there are (like no prior condition exclusion) already within the existing contracts....and at any rate could and would be negotiated by the existing contracting officers in OPM who are already intimately familiar with the system.
To be continued...
Continuation...
In short, the plan outlined in HR 3319 covers every single political thing that the PPACA allegedly covers. And it does so with an already existing and proven system. It does so without onerous government mandated coverages that individuals may or may not want. Those would be "choices" in the FEHBP system, just as they are now. The horror...individual choice, go figure.
The first bald faced lie is simply that a new system like the PPACA was needed at all...as if John Kerry had not already proposed the FEHBP approach in 2004. Democrats didn't recall that? Right.
Yes, premium costs could or would go up, due to adding indigent individuals and no one is falsely claiming they would not ... and those are just the facts if we purportedly add up to 30 million indigent uninsured to the rolls.
Finally...myself as example: I have Medicare A & B plus an FEHBP supplemental plan. I elected an HMO centered on a local teaching hospital, where my doctors are, becasue it offered compelte coverage for the lest premium cost.
In 2013 I received a check from the Medicare administrator for $9.47 ... a refund of a small overpayment by me in co-pays in excess of the statutory deductibles....and this in a period where I was being treated (successfully) for cancer and undergoing multiple tests such as PET/CT with contrast, and countless endoscopies via every possible orifice.For all extents and purposes I had no significant out of pocket costs in 2012, 2013 and so far in 2014. Damn near fell of my chair when I opened the envelope and saw that refund check.
Summary: FEHBP works...why was it considered back when or now...even by the liars on television?
My guess is that to use FEHBP system would not have generated enough added power to government and not enough money for pointless contracting, to defense contractors who've never systematically dealt with health-care before...some of which is not yet even done...still in the RFQ/RFP stage.
We are screwed if no one tells even a sliver of the truth...in fact those with the biggest bully pulpit either outright lie or ignore items of record in the Federal Register as if they are not there.
I have damn near given up after this past month of "news." First liar no longer stands a chance.
Interesting that even some in the Lefty media are calling this is Mission Accomplished moment.
Obviously where I said...
...why was it considered...
I meant "...why was it NOT considered..."
One more thing (epistle) ....:)
Sorry for the potentially scroll worthy rant, but it expands on what Bagoh20 said about lies up-thread.
Godwin Alert: Herr Goebbels was very right about the power of repetition in making lies "fact."
For the record, since most of you haven't known me throughout my various "careers" (in my brief private sector period I administered company health-care plans for a small business as part of the General Manager job)...I have had many vices, some horrid, however one virtue (in my opinion, and just maybe my only one) is that, once burned, I have always refused to not tell the truth to power...no big agenda, just answering and reporting the truth, document-able, when asked or ordered to report.
To this very day, 8 years in to retirement I am still consulting with selected Dept of Army individuals, voluntarily, on how to do this without the costs it brought on to me...mainly by contemporaneous record memorandums that explain why they didn't agree but had no choice because the activity was not under their control (at least fully)...etc. etc. I advise others to not be like me, because I always fought with anyone who insisted on BS, and in two cases that was a general. It cost me, both in rank and pay, and that is all I will say on that matter...except I do NOT regret one iota of the stances I took.
My obtuse attitude began when I witnessed, standing in formation under a f'ing hot sun, in 1969, then Vice President Agnew pin a medal on "my general" for something he did NOT do...and suddenly I realized I had aided and abetted the charade inadvertently...e.g., by doing what my predecessors in theater had done. It was all BS. That was general number one. He later stood by oblivious to an AR 15-6 investigation and Board of Inquiry that targeted me and another NCO a year later. The punk. We wee NCO's won and the BOI was adjourned.
The next one was a 1-star guy (with a "P" next to his official name listing...e.g., approved for 2 stars) who literally "ordered" me, and my Commander, to say we were all good to go on a DOD-IG-Finance audit and resolutions would be done in 30 days or less. I asserted we were not in compliance and it would take 90 days plus to rectify....e.g., that caused a "bad" report to be made to the DOD-IG. So sad. Chicken-crap stuff, really so....
I asked my Commander if he wanted me to lie, that I would if he wished it, because he was otherwise a great Commander. His response was "don't you even dare lie..my job is back my command and anyone in it telling the truth, I'll deal with the general!"
That Commander was West Point grad Colonel Thomas Magness IV, now retired, and one of the v-e-r-y few commanders I had in my last decade or two that I would have followed in to harms way if asked or ordered. You can Google his name. He was and is very much the real deal.
I am the thread killer for sure. Don't no one want to comment on the obvious. I am quite sorry, actually.
We are fucked and we've done it to ourselves.
Ari, you magnificent bastard!
Ari, a similar thing happened at the FRB that caused me to disrespect management. So much so as to not care to be part of it. For I too am a self-righteous bastard and the deity portion that abides within me goes, "Right on, Dood!" *high fives* ))) whap (((
The key question remains...why was was and is the obvious choice considered, even when mentioned by John Kerry ... and several others IIRC?
Why does even alleged "conservative" media ignore it and in fact lie that it doesn't exist?
Are we really that far under control now?
I would not doubt it.
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