I didn’t think they were that stupid!

Finally!  Computers suck so much.  Just now got the “add new post” page to load. 

I’ve been running around like the proverbial just-killed chicken.  SO much to do.  This is EXACTLY WHY I spent most of yesterday glued to the news, so the second a vote came down I could be off and running.  Have tracked down a break-out of the voting record, the CBO report, waiting for confirmation of the 37 state AGs said to be preparing lawsuits for Tuesdayfound a vid of the alleged “racist Tea Party”, my notes file is up to 23 pages in Word and I still need to find out where to make a FOIA request to get the wording that supposedly doubles the IRS’ budget beginning this year.

Good gravy, I could take this in a dozen different directions, just off the top of my head.

Top Five Democrats At Risk

Racial Slurs – Agent Provocateur, Lone Ranger or Tea Party-Approved?

Was this about healthcare or tax revenue?  I’ve head quotes of anything from 12-15000 new IRS agents but until I get my hands on something concrete it would be utter worthless op-ed speculation.  Still… interesting line of thought.

Ye gods, commerce clause.  The internet’s going to explode over this one.  Legislating forced consumption of a product.  Is it constitutional?  Is it designed to stimulate the economy by requiring consumer activity?  What would they legislate we buy next?

Excise tax of 40% on employer-sponsored plans exceeding $10,200 (individual) and $27,500 (family).  How’s THAT going to play out?

Tax for four years, then provide the benefits.  That’s going to go over well.

Are we even going to HAVE doctors after all’s said and done? 

The insurance companies must be loving this.  They’ve just had every American ordered to buy their product or else.  Time to buy stock.  (God, wouldn’t I love that.  “Every American must go see a provider.  We will be checking up on you, so see to it!”)

On the bright side, I’ve had my refusal to ever get a job as a mainstream journalist reaffirmed.  My hackles raise every time I read that we’ve just given Americans “expanded health coverage”.  Bullshit, we’ve been ordered to buy it!  Which, if Americans could afford it, they were likely doing already anyhow.  Ditto with each mention of “riding to the rescue of 32 million uninsured Americans”.  I’ll come back with the actual breakdown of that number, because disinformation campaigns drives me nuts.

You might be thinking that my focus is narrowing down to thr requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance.  You would be correct.  It’s the part of the bill which was unnecessary to the efficiacy of the bits I can get on board with:  No more charging women more than men for identical plans.  No more lifetime limits.  No denials based on pre-existing (and often “pre-existing”, read: bullshit, you made that up) conditions.  No cancelling coverage because now the insured needs to use it.

This wasn’t an “insurance reform” bill, though, and that’s the point.  Those things are what consumers have been howling for action on, for quite some years now.  They’re just the Democratic Incumbent Protection Plan, snuck in there amidst enforced consumption just so that we will please, pretty please, not boot their sorry self-serving arse ends out of office this fall.

Ack.  Off to burn up my keyboard.

Nice to see our money being spent well

I like this daily stats thing.  Both of my income streams are entrepeneurial, meaning I have no one to report to, no one to discuss my day with, no one to keep me on task.   It makes me feel more productive to tell at least the random, faceless readers of this blog what I did today.

Stupid news link of the day:  Yay foreclosures!

Today’s word count:  993

Current project:  A business article comparing executive compensation in US, Europe and Asia.

Curent song on my playlist:  Neil McCoy – Billy’s Got His Beer Goggles On

Every time I write on this blog it seems my playlist is on country music.  Most of my playlist is actually rock.  I’ve got it on shuffle though, so random selections and all that.

Y’all might have the idea that I read a lot of news sites.  Y’all would be correct.  When one specializes in political commentary and the economy, one must actually keep tabs on current events.  It seems as if half the job in freelancing is predicting what the editors are going to want to see next. 

Speaking of news, let’s discuss today’s stupid link.  And by “discuss” I mean “Emily’s going to go off on a bit of a rant”.  I think this quote was the biggest source of my ire, though there were plenty of candidates.

He recommends those loans could be refinanced and insured by the Federal Housing Administration. But that would put the risk of future defaults on taxpayers. 

O rly?  Pray, good sir, have you ever heard of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac?  They run deficits in the B-B-BILLIONS, own half the new paper since the collapse began in 2007, and have been given a blank check by the government.  Yes, a blank check.  Through them, the government is now (I’m pretty sure, but I’ll fact-check if anyone requires verification) the largest single owner of US mortgage paper.  Though the way the Federal Reserve has been propping the mortgage-based securities market, they might have a fair challenge to the position.

My question, of course, is where was this man with his common sense (read: no shit, really?) approach when we bailed out  took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Don’t even get me started on student loans.

The best solution, many analysts say, is to reduce the total mortgage amount for borrowers who owe far more on their home loans than their homes are worth. But Treasury officials are reluctant to subsidize such an effort with taxpayer money.

*smack*  TARP, idiot!  Reluctance?  Reluctance, he says. 

Dante’s fourth circle of hell is bureaucrats.