Thursday, November 13, 2014

I read the law from page one to end and there was nothing wrong at all with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

He is one of the many cockroaches that came out of the right wing woodwork in 2008. Don't worry about it. It's pure slander of Democrats.

"I don't know who he is. He didn't help write our bill," she told reporters at her weekly briefing. (click here)

The Republican cockroaches can take it up with the man who really wrote the bill. My his soul rest in peace. 

Gruber is a paranoid right winger. This is the kind of crap he writes. He's a pundit.

“Does Church Attendance Cause People to Vote? Using Blue Laws’ Repeal to Estimate the Effect of Religiosity on Voter Turnout,” British Journal of Political Science, forthcoming (also available as NBER Working Paper #14303, September 2008) (with Alan Gerber and Dan Hungerman).

Hello? A church is suppose to be a non-profit and it cannot mix prayers with politics. Like I said, this Gruber guy is a pundit.

This paper analyzes (click here) Thailand’s 2001 healthcare reform, “30 Baht”. The program increased funding available to hospitals to care for the poor and reduced copays to 30 Baht (~$0.75). Our estimates suggest the supply-side funding of the program increased healthcare utilization, especially amongst the poor. Moreover, we find significant impacts on infant mortality: prior to 30 Baht poorer provinces had significantly higher infant mortality rates than richer provinces. After 30 Baht this correlation evaporates to zero. The results suggest that increased access to healthcare among the poor can significantly reduce their infant mortality rates.

When the health care law was being written it was long before President Obama came into office. The Democratic legislators had the bill ready to go. I remember being surprised at the level of detail of the legislation and realized it wasn't written overnight. There was a lot of thought that went into it and the MODEL for the national law was the Massachusetts law. So there was no economist involved to the point where he wrote the law. He didn't write the law, he was in places like India while the law was being written.

The cockroach with the fancy education was writing about health care reform in journals in 2009 while the debate was taking place. This article he authored talked about the place where funding could be found for the ACA.

...There are a number of possible sources.(click here)  One is reductions in existing government spending on health care through cost controls. President Barack Obama proposed more than $300 billion of such cost controls in his budget, but it is not clear that either politicians or providers have the appetite to go further. Another is increased taxation of “sin goods” — cigarettes, alcohol, and high-sugar or high-fat foods that cause obesity — whose use raises the cost of health care for all Americans. These taxes make sense, yet it is difficult to raise sufficient revenues from them. The government can also look outside the health care system to increased revenues from taxes on carbon emissions or on other goods and services. But this approach would involve expanding the fight over health care into other realms, compounding the difficulty of passing any legislation.


There is one final potential source: the elimination or limiting of the income-tax exclusion for expenditures on employer-sponsored insurance. Ending the massive tax subsidy for such insurance would result in both the most natural source of financing for health care reform and one of the few that is clearly large enough to finance the necessary subsidies.
The $250 billion per year in foregone revenues attributable to the tax exclusion of employers' health insurance expenditures represents the federal government's second-largest health insurance expenditure (after Medicare). When my employer pays me in cash wages, I am taxed on those wages. But the roughly $10,000 per year that my employer spends on my health insurance is not taxed, and it translates into a tax break for me of about $4,000. To be clear, this exclusion represents a tax break for individuals, not for firms; firms are largely indifferent about whether they pay employees in wages or in health insurance. But employees are not indifferent: they pay taxes on the former but not on the latter....
So, if cockroach Gruber wants to become a noted expert with the right wing he can find his fame interrupted by THE TRUTH.

This is from January 2011.

The Importance of the Individual Mandate — Evidence from
Massachusetts (click here)

The most contentious aspect of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the individual mandate requiring that most documented U.S. residents obtain health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Many experts have long advocated a mandate as a central pillar of private-sector–based health care reform. Others, however, have argued that a mandate is not necessary for successful reform....

...At the beginning of the mandate's phase-in in mid-2007, there was a greater increase in the number of healthy enrollees than in the number of enrollees with chronic illness. When the mandate became fully effective at the end of 2007, there was an enormous increase in the number of healthy enrollees and a far smaller bump in the enrollment of people with chronic illness. The gap then shrank to premandate levels as the remaining uninsured residents complied with the mandate, but clearly the mandate brought many more healthy people than nonhealthy ones into the risk pool. The large jump in healthy enrollees that occurred when the program became fully effective suggests that enrollment by the healthy was not simply slower than enrollment by the unhealthy, but rather that the mandate had a causal role in improving risk selection....

Eat Shit, Boner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At what point in time are your House Republicans going to become civilized ?

This study of the Massachusetts individual mandate PROVES people come to the new health care law to have health care no matter their physical condition AND they maintain their insurance from then forward. There is EXTREMELY healthy balances of income from subscription rates collected to administer to those that need the coverage and it's use. Everyone in an exchange or private employer receives FREE health care when it comes to physical exams and PREVENTIVE health.

I could do this all day long.

The cockroach Republicans can crawl back into their holes now!

I applaud President Obama.

He should never pay attention to the extremist views of the Republican Party. They are a bunch of immoral hoodlums. Their opinions and strong arming the people of this country is at the very least fraudulent.

They have never worked with President Obama and they never will work with President Obama. When President Obama was inclusive in their measures to be placed in legislation they still didn't praise the President. I have never heard one word of praise for President Obama. They can all go to hell. 


November 13, 2014
By Erick Wasson and Heidi Przybyla
Washington — A group (click here) of House and Senate Republicans wants to use spending legislation to block President Barack Obama from easing immigration policies unilaterally, a mechanism the party used last year to shut down the government.
Obama has said he will use executive orders to revise immigration policy by the end of the year.
"There is a debate raging on," said Rep. Matt Salmon of Arizona, who has been pressing fellow Republicans to ensure that legislation to fund the government denies money for actions in a potential immigration executive order.
House Speaker John Boehner told party members Thursday that he doesn't want a federal shutdown, no matter what happens with a spending bill, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.
Salmon told reporters he agreed with Boehner that "nobody wants a shutdown."...

This is the most incredible accomplishment. Definitely the news of the day.

Rosetta mission’s (click here) safe landing gives scientists their first chance to ride a comet and study close up what happens as it gets closer to the sun

According to the scientists that have achieved this incredible feat, the lander named "Philae" it bounced upon reaching the comet. And the bounce lasted about 2 hours. That means the scientists had the velocity of Philae exactly right and while it wasn't touching the comet it was still traveling EXACTLY at the same speed of the comet.



Philae now travels at the same rate of speed as comet 67P.

I have great optimism Philae will be transmitting information for a long time as it's batteries receive sunlight. What is exciting is to realize Philae will be with comet 67P when it comes close to Earth.

I haven't heard any speculation yet as to whether Philae's interaction with comet P67 caused in change in course. And what is to come of the mother ship. Will it continue to travel alongside Philae relaying information as well?


...The signal broke a seven-hour wait of agonising intensity and sparked scenes of jubilation at the European Space Agency’s mission control in Darmstadt. The team in charge of the Rosetta mission achieved what at times seemed an impossible task by landing a robotic spacecraft on a comet for the first time in history.
The moment the tension broke came shortly after 1600 GMT when the Philae called home. “We are there. We are sitting on the surface. Philae is talking to us,” said a jubilant Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander manager at the DLR German space centre. “We are on the comet.”
Andrea Accomazzo, the Rosetta flight operations director, added: “We cannot be happier than we are now.”...

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Nothing short of a miracle in Mexico as well. Jose Diaz-Balart is witnessing bravery by the people of that country for the love of their children.

Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart (click here) will take over MSNBC's 10 a.m. timeslot when Chris Jansing leaves in June.

MSNBC announced the news in a statement on Tuesday. Díaz-Balart currently hosts the news on Telemundo, and anchors the network's Sunday public affairs show "Enfoque." He will host his MSNBC show from Miami, and continue his current role at Telemundo.

The tragedy of this story is the loss of so many students at the hand of their government. Mexico has been plagued with instability due to drug cartels and now there is evidence the government is entrenched with the cartels at least at the local level.

How are people going to stop deadly corruption when their own government is a part of the cartel?

The parents of the dead cannot change the outcomes of the Mexican people alone. They need a global community to take notice of what chronic supply of small arms has done to an entire country that is only south of the USA. 

The global community has to find a way to limit or end the movement of arms to these dangerous cartels. The cartels have ingrained themselves into Mexico and over most of Latin America to the extent they are the ruling class.

Taking a moment to realize what has occurred here can only be realized to the very troubling reality of the good people that seek nothing but peace and prosperity to their for themselves and their country. The deaths over the years of innocent people are enormous when realizing the drug cartels have control. 

A mayor's wife became annoyed with the students attempting to raise money for their activities. She then told her husband, the mayor, to get rid of the students. The mayor then calls upon the drug cartel in the area to carry out the final act of his wife's wishes to 'get rid of them.'

The request of the mayor's wife proves a class struggle within the corruption by cartels. She has no patience, interest or priority to the students that are the future of the country. The annoyed her and that is all anyone in power needed to know.

It is not unusual to have communities relinquish their own power to gangs with guns. It can be noted on every continent on this planet. What is especially notable about this event in Mexico is that it is just south of the USA borders. This is tragic beyond the deaths of these students. Why would anyone want to live in such circumstances, but, only to find a way across the border to find a safe place to live. To just live.

This event cannot be ignored. These students were the future of their country and with these deaths that future is delayed by their loss. This is a sovereign issue in Mexico. It goes beyond police. Police die at the hands of the cartels. The police have learned their lessons well to survive the corruption. There needs to be a permanent method to end the threat of cartels in Mexico.

Landing on a comet. Amazing.

Live Streaming Event from NASA (click here)

On 12 November, (click here) Rosetta’s Philae probe is set to make the first-ever landing on a comet when it touches down on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Senator Sanders has the right idea, capitalize on the rest of the year.

It is unethical for Republican Senators to threaten the Democrats. The Republicans have no interest in being serious about good will for next year, only threatening any remaining authority of this session of Congress. 

November 10, 2014
By Burgess Everett

...“Let’s clear the decks, (click here) unless we can get some agreement with Republicans,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “We should stay all night and all weekend getting the president’s nominees on the job.”
Added independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont: “We still have the majority. I think we should be as aggressive as we can.”...

The two nominees to the cabinet have to be voted through to start the new year out right. And Majority Leader Reid may want to check with President Obama regarding any measures that have to be handled in this session. President Obama has come home with very promising foreign policy with China in regard to a peace initiative along China's sovereign shoreline. He also has landed a direly important agreement between the two country in regard to the climate crisis. Senator Reid has to act on this before the next session of Congress. The urgency of these measures cannot be measured in time. There is no more time to wait for either the nominees or the President's accomplishments.

Alaska seems to have decided Dan Sullivan is the new US Senator.

The reason it takes a long time in Alaska is because of the large land area and distant towns. There are many who mail in absentee ballots; currently there have been 12,541 mailed. Those using absentee ballots in Alaska have up to 15 days after the election to be legally received and counted.

But, that is not all.

November 6, 2014
By Shushannah Walshe 

...There are also an unknown (click here) amount of provisional ballots, which are ballots that may have been cast at an incorrect polling location or if a poll monitor couldn’t find a voter’s name, amongst other possible irregularities. In 2010, there were about 13,000, but they have no idea if the number will be the same. The ballots are currently being reviewed for eligibility. There are also an additional 2,651 statewide early votes that remain to be counted. On top of those votes, there are absentee ballots coming in daily from Alaska’s over 200 in-person voting locations. Some that arrived before Election Day have been counted, but none of the ballots coming in from as many as 120 rural communities have been tabulated yet. The number of those are completely unknown. In addition to these ballots there are about 2,000 urban early votes that have yet to be counted. They will be counted on November 11th, 14th, and then from the 17th through the 19th if necessary. Remember in Alaska, absentees are sent in from remote locales so these races may not be called for quite a while....

The USA and China are jointly leading to a climate of hope. This is amazing. Thank you.

November 11, 2014
By Mark Landler

...Administration officials (click here) said the agreement, which was worked out quietly between the United States and China over nine months and included a letter from Mr. Obama to Mr. Xi proposing a joint approach, could galvanize efforts to negotiate a new global climate agreement by 2015....

Thank you. China does want to be a good partner. 

...It was the signature achievement of an unexpectedly productive two days of meetings between the leaders. Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi also agreed to a military accord designed to avert clashes between Chinese and American planes and warships in the tense waters off the Chinese coast, as well as an understanding to cut tariffs for technology products....

Magnificent.

...A climate deal between China and the United States, the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 carbon polluters, is viewed as essential to concluding a new global accord. Unless Beijing and Washington can resolve their differences, climate experts say, few other countries will agree to mandatory cuts in emissions, and any meaningful worldwide pact will be likely to founder.

“The United States and China have often been seen as antagonists,” said a senior official, speaking in advance of Mr. Obama’s remarks. “We hope that this announcement can usher in a new day in which China and the U.S. can act much more as partners.”

As part of the agreement, Mr. Obama announced that the United States would emit 26 percent to 28 percent less carbon in 2025 than it did in 2005. That is double the pace of reduction it targeted for the period from 2005 to 2020....

Welcome home, Mr. President.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Governor Nixon is afraid of his own people.

November 11, 2014
By Jim Salter
WELDON SPRING, Mo. (AP) — Police (click here) will work to protect peaceful protesters after a grand jury's decision in the Michael Brown shooting case is announced, but those who cross the line into violence will face consequences, Missouri Gov.Jay Nixon warned Tuesday.
More than 1,000 police officers have received special training ahead of a decision expected later this month about whether Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, will face criminal charges for fatally shooting Brown, 18, who was black and unarmed....
The protesters will no doubt want to bring attention to the injustice of the death of Michael Brown, Jr. But, parents of unjustly dead young black men have already moved to seek understanding in the human rights violation.
November 11, 2014
Brandie Piper
GENEVA – The parents (click here) of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown have testified before the United Nations Committee Against Torture. Brown's parents are urging international human rights experts to help make changes in the United States. Committee members will review their concerns and if they deem it necessary, determine if recommendations need to be made about how matters are being addressed in Ferguson, Missouri.
The UN Committee Against Torture reviews the federal government's compliance with the Convention Against Torture. The convention against torture is an international human rights treaty that outlines specific guidelines to prevent governments from taking part in any kind of torture, or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment....
The wager Putin believes he has to play is energy dependence. It is winter. Putin believes he can simply walk all over sovereignty of Ukraine and put missiles in the middle of NATO because of energy issues in Europe and Ukraine. 

That is a ridiculous gamble and he has to be stopped. Energy issues are completely different than nuclear capacity missiles. If Europe wants to 'wait and see' than I don't believe the USA has to be vigilant to a NATO outcome.

I am sure Norway has plenty of capacity for Europe, they have to be asked. Norway's sovereign waters could easily become another front as well. There were the fly overs with drones in France and military maneuvers adjacent to Europe's borders. He is attempting to weaken resolve because no one wants war. The 'mind tricks' have to stop and real military strength has to take over. This is crazy to believe Putin isn't going to take on Europe. He and China both for all we know. 

October 19, 2014
By Peter Walker


...Sweden’s military has spent three days (click here) scouring the waters off Stockholm for what has so far been officially described only as “foreign underwater activity”. However, intelligence briefings to local newspapers suggest a Russian submarine might have had mechanical problems while on a secret mission in the region.
In scenes reminiscent of the 1970s and 80s – when neutral Sweden regularly hunted for Soviet spy submarines in the Baltic Sea around the capital – 200 service personnel were mobilised along with helicopters, minesweepers and an anti-submarine corvette fitted with stealth-type anti-radar masking.
The operation began late on Friday following what Sweden’s armed forces said was a reliable tipoff about something in the Stockholm archipelago, which has 30,000 islands and rocky outcrops around which a submarine could lurk. The officer leading the operation declined to give more details, saying only that there had been no armed contact....

Put unlimited war in the middle of this and what comes of this "new power agreement?" Either Beijing is attempting to lull the USA to sleep or China is scared silly about Putin and Russia.

November 9, 2014
By Jane Perlez

BEIJING — When Xi Jinping (click here) stood next to Hillary Rodham Clinton and addressed a high-powered lunch audience on the seventh floor of the State Department nearly three years ago, he was still China’s vice president and only the heir apparent to the Communist Party leadership. But even during that visit he spoke expansively of forging a “new type of great power relations” with the United States....

Now that Mr. Xi is president and has consolidated power as China’s undisputed leader, that phrase has taken on new significance....


There is nothing like launching short range nuclear missiles into Syria and Iraq while USA troops are deployed there. The Crimea is located in an area where short range nukes could be launched throughout Europe and into the Middle East.

President Obama has a reason to talk to Putin now. He is completely dissolving any reasonable adherence to the original treaty with Ukraine and the West.

I don't believe it is too early to state we have another Cuban Missile Crisis. I don't know what the leaders of NATO are thinking at this point, but, they have to act to match Putin's aggression. That would mean cooperation with Ukraine to stabilize it's border with Russia and end the migration of deadly serious weapons into Crimea.

November 11, 2013
NAPLES, Italy — NATO’s top commander (click here) says Russia is reinforcing its bases in disputed Crimea, but there is no clear assessment of whether that includes deployment of nuclear weapons.
U.S. Gen. Philip Breedlove said Tuesday that Russian forces “capable of being nuclear” are being moved to the Crimean Peninsula, but NATO doesn’t know if nuclear weapons are actually in place.
Breedlove also told news agencies at a NATO base near Naples that about eight Russian battalion task groups have been sighted along the border between Ukraine and Russia. Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine despite a cease-fire proclaimed weeks ago....

It doesn't matter if 'the real nuclear thing' is being moved into Crimea, it is an overt threat to Europe and puts Russian missiles right in the middle of NATO. This type of blatant aggression cannot be allowed. NATO has to seek permission from Ukraine to move it's military assets into the country. Putin has to be stopped. 

Does it risk war? You betcha. But, war is obviously what the Russia President has bargained for. It is best to mount an offensive with conventional weapons now while it is only begun in Ukraine than risk nuclear exchanges later. The interceptors will have to go into the region and the conventional weapons of NATO will have to be deployed to stabilize the border with Russia. I don't see there is a choice. Putin has stepped over the line. The sanctions were to bring back stability without war, but, this is an overt threat that sanctions are meaningless.

No can be a dove when vultures are gathering.

Zoos across the country today have opened their gates for free admission to Veterans and their families.




November 11, 2014
By Brian Stallard

The Pittsburgh Zoo (click here) is being investigated by the USDA after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a complaint against the zoo concerning its treatment of captive elephants. The animal rights organization has focused its complaint on the use of dogs to herd the elephants around....

The question is do the elephants experience stress from dog herding. Is there potential for danger to the dogs and their handlers if the elephants react badly?
Basically, is everyone safe in these practices?

Some time ago the Pittsburgh Zoo did experience a fatality. Some of that probably enters into the decision to use dogs.


Tuesday, November 19, 2002
By Ann Belser and Marylynne Pitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writers

On mornings when weather permits, (click here) elephants at the Pittsburgh Zoo are brought out of their enclosure to walk with their keepers around the grounds.

Yesterday, two keepers were about halfway around the zoo with a 20-year-old mother elephant and her 3-year-old female calf when the mother elephant stopped near the Northern Shores Cafe building.
When the keeper urged her to move along, the elephant butted him and pinned him to the ground with her head, crushing him.

The trainer, Mike Gatti, 46, an elephant keeper at the zoo for nearly six years, was taken to UPMC St. Margaret, where he was pronounced dead....

It is unclear that using dogs will result in a safety zone rather than an antagonistic zone. This is a very different methods in caring for elephants by a zoo. I don't recall hearing about this method before, at least not with elephants.

This was four years ago. Obviously the elephants were not a problem then and the people enjoy them with their children.

USA GDP vs China GDP

See the small dip in the USA line on the graph, that was 2008. See how brief that dip existed. That was the small business community in the USA recovering the USA economy.

China's economy has no blip at the same point in 2008 the USA has. Why? Because China's practices supply side economics and when there are recessions in places like the USA, China already has ready products to pick up where the USA recovery was beginning. We know for a fact the big box stores never even felt the Great Recession because their products are cheap.


Now the GDP is $16.8 Trillion in the USA. Where does the wealth of those $16.8 trillion go in the USA?

Now, the income and wealth inequality occurs in huge and measurable ways because the bottom 80% or so never reap the rewards of their labor while they are the people that produced the goods and GDP.

The TPP wants to redistribute the wealth in the USA's GDP depriving the Working Poor and Middle Class in their claim to wealth.


...In 2007, (click here) the share of after-tax income going to the top 1 percent hit its highest level (17.1 percent) since 1979, while the share going to the middle one-fifth of Americans shrank to its lowest level during this period (14.1 percent).
Between 1979 and 2007, average after-tax incomes for the top 1 percent rose by 281 percent after adjusting for inflation — an increase in income of $973,100 per household — compared to increases of 25 percent ($11,200 per household) for the middle fifth of households and 16 percent ($2,400 per household) for the bottom fifth....

This article is from 2007 at the brink of the beginning of the Great Recession. Even before the Great Recession the wealth distribution in the USA was way out of balance.

That pie chart is actually worse today and promises to continue getting worse if the TPP is invoked.

The problem with any trade agreement is that it adds competition to the American market place. In the 1970s it was the Japanese car companies. As the population in the USA has grown and more quality is demanded from car manufacturing the competition became more level and today there is healthy competition. But, that competition came after the collapse of the industry in the USA and after it had survived the trade assaults of the past.

“This isn’t a business as usual recovery (click here) for the United States – the pace of growth is slow in historical perspective,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said during the Survey launch in Washington with Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors.

“Steadfast action is needed to implement the reforms that will bolster the economy’s growth potential and make it more inclusive and greener. In this regard, I particularly welcome President Obama’s recent announcement of concrete measures to cut carbon emissions.”

What this report identifies is the USA's late development of clean energy. The cost of the climate crisis is holding back the best economic outcomes of the USA.

When realizing the amount of RECOVERY and rebuilding the USA chronically is undertaking adds to the COST of products and trade in the USA. If there were trouble free economics that would be inaccurate to state.

Yes, there was climate distrubance before in Earth and USA history, however, the degree at which that disturbance occurs today in 2014 places the USA at a disadvantage right from the start in it's economic growth. The climate crisis is more than a drag on the USA economy, it is now impacting the USA national debt and inhibits THE BEST of the USA economy to be realized.

Eventually, the RECOVERY from the climate crisis in the USA will outpace military spending annually.

It is a foregone conclusion that the more money in the hands of the Middle Class the greater the economic growth of any economy. What happened in the beginning of 2014 that altered the economic growth of the USA?


...After spiking (click here) in February and early March, prices have remained above $4 per MCF. In the past month, they've even ticked higher.
And the companies that supply natural gas are benefiting.
For example, oil and gas giant ExxonMobil recently announced its average U.S. natural gas sale price increased 49% last quarter. The price rise helped the company beat earnings estimates despite a drop in total oil and gas production....

What natural climate structure (and yes it is a gaseous structure) destabilized because of the lack of ice in the Arctic Ocean AND the movement of equatorial warm air to the Arctic Circle.

What natural climate structure is now returning frigid temperatures AGAIN to the lower latitudes of Earth?

Both years were experiencing the Polar Vortex displacement because of the hot air transport from the Equator to the Arctic Circle while temperatures over the Arctic Ocean have risen higher than any other location on Earth.

The Polar Vortex results in lower latitudes due to the heat transfer systems this blog has charted since October 3, 2002. The Arctic Ocean no longer has enough ice to 'counter' the heat transfer from the Equator, therefore as the hot air comes over the frigid air, it displaces the frigid air to lower latitudes.

Those actual and valid physics results DIRECTLY into economic shifts in the USA. When monies leave the hands of the American Middle Class it has a drastic outcome in other economic sectors. While Wall Street energy companies are happier than a pig in shit, the rest of the economy experiences reductions in economic gains. This is EXACTLY what OECD is referring to. The USA is not consistent in it's economic stability to qualify as a high income partner globally. The climate crisis is why and Inhofe is nothing more than a story teller for whomever wants to listen at FOX News.

Bill Cassidy has just accepted the endorsement of Bobby Jindal. Bad idea.

As governor, Bobby Jindal, instituted "The Flat Tax" (three categories for personal taxes and fiive for business) and Cassidy wants to make it a national strategy. It removes taxes from business and the wealthy and places it on the Middle Class, Working Poor and Poor. It puts a tax liability on every individual equally.

While that sounds like a democratic principle it is proving to be a disaster to the states that implemented it, including Louisiana.

November 10, 2014
By Julia O'Donoghue
...In an analysis of last year's state revenue, (click here) Albrecht has also called Louisiana's flat personal income tax collection worrisome overall. "Sustained growth in the overall revenue base requires sustained growth in [personal income and sales] taxes, and sustained growth has yet to be exhibited by either of them," he wrote in October.

State Treasurer John Kennedy has also sounded the alarm about state revenue collections possibly being lower than expected. His office is moving money around significantly more to cover basic expenses because not as much state income has come into Louisiana's general fund coffers at this point in the year.

At the end of October, the state general fund -- which pays for services like health care and higher education -- was running a $925 million deficit. Kennedy said this is the highest October deficit the general fund has run in at least five years, and $268 million more than last year's deficit tally....

The Flat Tax removes income from the poor and increases wealth to those with the most income. Realizing the best economy has to be attractive to all the people to move goods and services, the added burden of higher taxes on the Working Poor only reduces their ability to provide for their family. They have less income after payroll taxes are removed.

DEFINITION OF 'FLAT TAX'
A system that applies the same tax rate to every taxpayer regardless of income bracket. A flat tax applies the same tax rate to all taxpayers, with no deductions or exemptions allowed. Supporters of a flat tax system propose that it would give taxpayers incentive to earn more because they would not be penalized with a higher tax bracket. In addition, supporters argue that a flat tax system is fairer because it imposed the tax on all taxpayers regardless of income.

The ideology of The Flat Tax depends on the ability of people to move up in income to have a better life. The ideology does not allow for the 'ability' of people to move up in income. It is just another scheme by the wealthy for the wealthy. It has nothing to do with increasing upward movement of the Working Poor. The Flat Tax is an ideology and that is where it should remain.

Just to get the record straight, Louisiana under Jindal ranks in the mid 40s out of 50 states for good business climate. In isolating just the southern states Louisiana ranks first in offering a business climate. That says a lot about the climate for businesses in the south, but, defines how Louisiana has become isolated for the country's methods of business and upward movement of citizens. Cassidy wants to expand this method to the entire country to bring Louisiana into a better rating. He wants to alter the success of other states in the country to improve the overall business environment for Louisiana. Cassidy is wrong for Louisiana and definitely wrong for the country. 

The correct incentive for southern states, including Louisiana is to reach for higher values and improve employment and pay to their citizens, hence, increasing their economic outcomes. It is wrong to employ lower standards of quality simply to make the numbers look more attractive to business. It is ridiculous.

The states that have instituted the Medicaid expansion (click here) have also seen growth in employment. That growth is probably for several reasons, including the physical health of the work force, but mostly because medical bills are now paid adding circulating capital to the economy. People have more disposal income. Louisiana never accepted the Medicaid expansion for political reasons and it shows, both, in income and business climate.

Normal tax structure looks like this:


Senator Landrieu has an interesting view of the problems caused by the petroleum industry.

April 7, 2014
By Lauren McGaughy
..."We're already tied up in a lawsuit," (click here) she added, referring to the fight over RESTORE Act funds for Gulf Coast states after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. "So forgive me for having a little it of a negative views about lawsuits sometimes because you can never get it out of court. We need money on the ground right now building, you know, building the levees that we need."...

To say she is frustrated with the legal wrangling currently facing the people of Louisiana over the Deepwater Horizon Disaster is an understatment. She isn't interested in abolishing the rights of any party to sue for damges, but, she wants things to change NOW not a decade from now to bring about a better quality of life for all the people. 

She wants to institute a strong revenue sharing paradigm. What that means is Louisiana will receive what can be considered royalties from the petroleum industry. In other words, the states will receive monies from current leases to bring about a better outcome for Louisiana. A royalty to state governments would help the Gulf Coast states immensely and realizing the need for revenues to Louisiana it would solve a lot of problems.

Louisiana has the highest domestic violence rate in the United States.

November 19, 2013
By Alex Woodward
Two glass doors (click here) and an elevator. Those are the only barriers Mary Claire Landry wants families to see between the chronic violence at home and resources Landry and dozens of others make available to them inside the New Orleans Family Justice Center (FJC).
  A few blocks from the Superdome and a few floors above the Amtrak and Greyhound station, security buzzes people in from the building's lobby through a second set of doors and up an elevator. The FJC office overlooks the U.S. Postal Service Tower's side drive on Loyola Avenue, where the sound of trucks being loaded rumbles over the faint ringtones from FJC desk phones. FJC staff members answer with a hushed, calm series of questions: Where are you? When did that happen? Did you call the police?
  Landry, FJC's executive director, points out the offices that circle the lobby: legal services, a large conference room, children's services, mental health counselors, domestic violence detectives from the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) and her office.
  "It just takes a tremendous amount of effort to let people know what we have here," Landry says....

To begin with Senator Landrieu has a long history of serving in government. And she has seen presidents come and has seen presidents go and in no way can be connected to any particular President as a weak representative for Louisiana. 

She knows Louisiana well and advocates for the people repeatedly, bringing resources to them.

Mary Landrieu has worked the hardest of any Louisiana's elected officials to bring services and notable change for women, children and families:
- May 1999 - Voted no on killing restrictions on violent videos to minors
- 1998 - she wrote a book "Mothers Make Good Senators, too." 
- August 2000 - Give parents tools to balance work and family
- April 2003 - Small business loans for child care businesses.
- March 2008 - Supports adoption and foster care reform 
- March 2008 - Called for a White House Conference on Children and Youth
- January 2013 - More funding and services for victims on domestic violence.

What kind of bull is in your china shop, Angus, Hereford, Texas Long Horn?

China is literally the bull in the china shop.

...But, (click here) China's competitive advantage is to some degree based in it's inadequate governance....

Or better said, the bully in the china shop.

China is like the Republican Tea Party, they have so much clout in it's potential to destroy the USA's quality of life they are ungovernable. 

When Germany exports BMWs to the USA there are specific standards for safety, materials, etc. that has to be met. They are called import standards. Germany, being a First World Country, has absolutely no problem meeting and in many instances exceeding those standards.

I am only using Germany as an example. What makes Germany a good trading partner is that the quality of their goods come from a country well governed with values similar to those of the USA.

What has occurred in China is the 'promise' of having a good trading partner with similar products to that of Americans, but, lack in quality. I am sure all the hideous problems Americans faced with Chinese products can be recalled, melamine, etc. Not that China doesn't take these problems seriously, they do. They executed people for the deaths from products produced in China. China is taking everything very seriously. 

The problem as it remains today is that investors have placed too much hope in China's expanding markets and that is what has led to many recessions in the USA because of loss of jobs. Outsourcing is causing a great deal of problems to First World Countries. The standard of living is different. 

The USA has been trading with other nations in the Pacific such as Japan, New Zealand, Australia, etc. for a long time. We have waxed and waned in our economies together and have been rival currencies on some days, but, we are never so drastically different in our GOVERNANCE that quality of products or being competitive was ever in question.

The TPP is causing global quakes in that reality. The TPP as it is being constructed will create economic isolationism and not global trading. The goods coming from countries where poor governance is still a problem will be shunned by consumers. It is not something that is negotiable on paper or guaranteed with a handshake, the products simply don't pass muster. 

Not only the products, but, the loss in jobs and wages will cause even greater isolationism. The treaty is not worth the paper it is written on. It will cause a decrease in tax bases and there is no government on this Earth that can afford it.

China has a middle class now and to that end there are improvements in governance, but, at the same time to demand broad ranging changes in governance in other countries to accommodate the captains of Wall Street is not realistic.

The TPP is not benevolent at all. It is hostile and it is insulting to democracy and the capitalism used in it's economies. Each one of these countries need to work within a trade relationship with each other, including the USA. But, lumping all the economic dynamics of 12 countries at varying degrees of governance and standards of quality is not good for anyone. 

Trade agreements are suppose to strengthen both countries economies and not hack away at what already exists to reduce quality of life for the citizens dependent on strong economic relationships.

The Pacific nations aren't there yet and if that is uncomfortable for Wall Street, then they really have extended a lot of bad investment to their stockholders. It's unfortunate, but, not so unfortunate that Americans or any one else will accept unreasonable standards in trade. The corrupted Wall Street congress may not care, but, the businesses and the people of the USA will. 

At this point, the TPP has very limited ability to produce good relationships. It is those relationships between countries that is far more important than the impatience and idiocy of Wall Street.

Why do Republicans hate so called big government? Because they really do prefer ungovernable anarchy.