Congressional Budget Office Obamacare Report - What You Should Know

Summary courtesy of Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times:

The Congressional Budget Office is out with its latest report on the Affordable Care Act, and here are a few bottom lines:  

— The ACA is cheaper than it expected.  

— It will “markedly increase” the number of Americans with health insurance.  

— The risk-adjustment provisions, which Congressional Republicans want to overturn as a “bailout” of the insurance industry, will actually turn a profit to the U.S. Treasury. 

The CBO report also shows the federal deficit falling to $514 billion - the lowest since President Obama took office 5 years ago.

You're not likely to hear much about this on your news programs or newspapers, but what you will hear is Republican talking points regurgitated as misinformation  =cough=ChuckTodd=cough= , because the right-wing wurlitzer has been doing a fantastic job of spinning the CBO's report into... Obamacare is a job-killer.  While the report estimates that there will be a decline in the number of full time equivalent workers of about 2.5 million by 2024, what's behind that number is what Republicans and their handmaidens in the media are choosing to ignore:

Because of Obamacare, the national labor force could shrink by the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time workers, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released Tuesday. While that may seem like a dire prediction, it would largely be the result of Americans having more choices for how they get health coverage -- not the result of businesses hiring less. [snip]

As the White House noted in a statement Tuesday, the people most likely to reduce their hours or stop working are those who have a job mainly to get affordable health coverage -- people like second wage earners in a household, potential entrepreneurs or workers close to retirement. 

"Individuals will be empowered to make choices about their own lives and livelihoods, like retiring on time rather than working into their elderly years or choosing to spend more time with their families," the statement reads. 

This phenomenon of workers sticking in a gig just to get insurance is called “job lock,” and economists consider it a labor market inefficiency, Gould said. 

So keep that in mind in the coming days and weeks as you see this issue "reported" and distorted.

UPDATE:  Here we go.

UPDATE II:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog has a good reading of the phenomenon.

Cartoon of the Day

(click to enlarge)

As we noted yesterday, whether it's Coca-Cola or anything else, wingnuts on the right will foam at the mouth over ads that show harmony, diversity, or tolerance.  They're on the wrong side of history and they seem to know it.

(cartoon: Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, via Gocomics.com)

Sandra Fluke Takes Step Toward Candidacy

Sandra Fluke, the former Georgetown University law student who challenged her university's denial of contraceptives under their health insurance plan, has filed papers with the California Democratic Party to seek their endorsement for retiring Rep. Henry Waxman's seat in Congress from California.  The Dem field will be crowded, given Waxman's long tenure and the long line waiting for him to retire, but Fluke is nationally known, given her fight and the notoriety of attacks on her by the likes of misogynist Rush Limpballs, who called Fluke a "slut."  (Limpballs -- who has been known to take sex tours of third world countries -- later reluctantly apologized under intense pressure from sponsors and the radio network that carries his malignant buffoonery).

We wish Ms. Fluke well in her career.  If she's successful, perhaps one day she can challenge the FCC on re-instating the Fairness Doctrine, which would provide an opportunity for voices opposing the hate speech of Limpballs and his ilk to be widely heard.

UPDATE:  She's already out of the Congressional race, and will go for a State senate seat instead.

Are The National Review's Days Numbered?

The right-wing magazine founded decades ago by the late William F. Buckley, the National Review, may have the fight of its life in a defamation lawsuit.  The lawsuit, brought by climatologist Dr. Michael Mann, claims that the National Review and its wingnut blogger Mark Steyn defamed Dr. Mann, comparing him to a child molester and alleging that he manipulated climate data in his research.  (Since the lawsuit was brought, National Review and Steyn have parted company).  Steyn, a former drama critic with no scientific credentials, is well-loved among the radical right for his extremely nasty commentary.

Years ago, William F. Buckley "excommunicated" the extreme right from the conservative movement, including the John Birch Society.  He may have sensed then that the conservative movement was in danger of being captured by the unhinged on the far right.  He was 50 years too soon.

America The Beautiful vs. America The Ugly

This is the Coca-Cola Super Bowl ad the right-wingers are freaking out about:



Coverage of the wingnut outrage here, here, and here, for starters.  To really see those tiny wingnut heads explode, they should have this ad playing in the background of that mixed-race Cheerios ad.

Good for Coca-Cola and good for Cheerios.

The Obamacare Horror Story That Wasn't, Cont.

Here's more background on yesterday's blog on the Obamacare horror story told by Republican grifter Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Liar) in her State of the Union address response, courtesy of Paul Krugman:

Bette’s tale had policy wonks scratching their heads; it was hard to see, given what we know about premiums and how the health law works, how anyone could face that large a rate increase. Sure enough, when a local newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, contacted Bette Grenier, it discovered that the real story was very different from the image Ms. McMorris Rodgers conveyed. First of all, she was comparing her previous policy with one of the pricier alternatives her insurance company was offering — and she refused to look for cheaper alternatives on the Washington insurance exchange, declaring, “I wouldn’t go on that Obama website.” 

Even more important, all Ms. Grenier and her husband had before was a minimalist insurance plan, with a $10,000 deductible, offering very little financial protection. So yes, the new law requires that they spend more, but they would get far better coverage in return.

So was this the best story Ms. McMorris Rodgers could come up with? The answer, probably, is yes, since just about every tale of health reform horror the G.O.P. has tried to peddle has similarly fallen apart once the details were revealed. The truth is that the campaign against Obamacare relies on misleading stories at best, and often on outright deceit.  (our emphasis)

Not only will Republicans shamelessly lie about Obamacare, they will lie about immigration reform, they will lie about BENGHAZI!!!, they will lie about who was responsible for the government shutdown, they will lie about gun control, they will lie about the economy and income inequality -- in short, they will lie about anything and everything to advance their cynical, social Darwinist, nativist, plutocratic agenda.  If anyone is still surprised or shocked by this at this late date, please welcome them back to planet Earth for us.

UPDATE:  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is asking McMorris Rodgers to apologize for lying about the "Bette" story.  A positive response is not expected.

(Photo:  Rep. McMorris Rodgers - so many lies, so little time!)

From The Sports Desk, Cont.

Norman Chad ("Coach Slouch") had a funny take on the Bob Dylan Super Bowl ad shown in the post below:

"9:04:  Bob Dylan for Chrysler?  What's next, Franz Kafka for Skittles?"

BONUS:  Another reason we're ok with the Broncos losing?  Republican Social Darwinist John Elway.

From The Sports Desk

Apparently there was a big football game last night, and the Seattle Seahawks won by an overwhelming 43 - 8 over the Denver Broncos.  The betting going in was that the League's best offense (Denver) would be victorious over the League's best defense, but that was blown up in the first half of the game, when Seattle led 22 - 0.  Broncos quarterback and Papa John's Pizza shill Peyton Manning, whom every sports talking head had been praising for the past month, choked (even though he ended up with a record 34 completions, many of which were short tosses).

It was nice to see the underdog Seahawks clobber the anointed Broncos, and a second year quarterback Russell Wilson (On Wisconsin!) win the Super Bowl with plenty of help from his defense and special teams.  Manning will almost certainly come back next year, and in the interim can introduce a new Papa John's Pizza variety:  the Bronco Buster, with horse meat and crow.

UPDATE:  The commercials are always talked about, almost as much as the game itself.  One favorite was the Budweiser ad with the little puppy and the Clydesdale, which had the cuteness factor.  The surprise ad featured a spry looking Bob Dylan narrating and appearing in an ad for Chrysler (and indirectly for Detroit and its auto workers).  Check it out:

The Obamacare Horror Story That Wasn't

Brian Beutler has some thoughts on "Bette," the woman cited by Rethuglican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Liar-Wingnuttia) as an Obamacare horror story in her response to the State of the Union address:

Take Bette: The reason she didn’t visit the Washington state health exchange was basically #OBUMMER. “I wouldn’t go on that Obama website at all,” she said. This didn’t start with her cancelation. This started years ago. Republicans told Bette, and others inclined to distrust Obamacare, that they’d face death panels and rationing boards. That their options would be unaffordable, and irredeemable. That the exchange sites would make their personal information vulnerable to hackers and that creepy Uncle Sam would sexually violate them. They said all this in the hope that people like Bette wouldn’t give the law a fair shake, then turned around and feigned outrage on their behalf when the plan worked. 

Republicans aren’t sincerely distressed about the things they hear from people like Bette. People like Bette are the goal.

Read the rest of Brian's piece because it really frames the position of the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party extremely well.  They're not interested in the general welfare of the American public. They're interested in perpetuating their successful, decades-long grift of low-information people like "Bette," to keep the distance between the "makers" and the "takers" for as long as they can get away with it.  Because FREEDUMB!

(Photo:  McMorris Rodgers - she's lying when her lips are moving.)

Be Careful What You Wish For - Citizens United Edition

The Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case was assumed to be an unalloyed victory for the forces of the far right, who would overwhelm progressives with campaign and voter suppression spending by shadowy corporate- and plutocrat-funded groups =cough=Koch brothers= cough=.   Well, it seems for now anyway that all that money sloshing around may end up swamping some high-profile Republican boats:

The jabs at Mitch McConnell have been coming on the air and in the mail, accusing the Senate Republican leader of helping President Obama and letting down Kentucky voters. 

The attacks are not the work of McConnell’s conservative primary challenger. Instead, they are coming from independent groups that want to unseat him and are benefitting from a new system of unlimited contributions ushered in by the Supreme Court in its 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling. 

Conservatives cheered that decision, described at the time by McConnell as a “First Amendment triumph.” But, as McConnell’s experience now illustrates, the loosened rules are causing political headaches for the GOP — allowing tea party groups to bring more financial firepower to challenges against Republican incumbents.  (our emphasis)

Can we get an "amen," or at least a "hee-haw!"

This is about the only (unintended) consequence of the Citizens United ruling that progressives can cheer about.  Every dollar spent by the likes of the Club for Growth or Americans for Plutocrat Prosperity to support a tea bagger challenge to an "establishment" Republican is a dollar that won't be used against a progressive candidate, or in a voter suppression effort.  Every ad put up by these groups attacking a Republican deemed to be "not- quite- crazy- enough" is an ad that intensifies the circular firing squad that has become the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party today.  It's an outcome they may not have seen coming, but it certainly is one they richly (no pun intended) deserve.

At Least He Didn't Sing "Bridge Over Troubled Waters"

A news item about New Jersey mob boss Gov. Chris "Krispykreme" Christie's appearance at Howard Stern's birthday party on Friday contained this priceless nugget:

"The governor (Christie) then joked that he's not the 'representative from New Jersey' that the crowd wanted to see and introduced Sayreville native Jon Bon Jovi. 'The representative of New Jersey you want to see right now ... is one of New Jersey's favorite sons, one of my good friends, and a great artist' Christie said. 'Ladies and gentlemen, Jon Bon Jovi.'  Bon Jovi then performed his band's 1987 hit 'Wanted Dead Or Alive.'"

Bwahahaha!

UPDATE:  As you might have expected, the Christie team is going into full attack/ infantile character assassination mode.   Be sure to read the embedded email to get the full sense of how desperate the Christie camp has become.

Happy New Lunar Year!

It's the Year of the Horse.

Taking Responsibility, Wingnut Style

Right-wing hack and provocateur Dinesh "Gunga Dim" D'Souza got himself in hot water recently when he was indicted by a Federal grand jury for campaign finance fraud involving a Senate race in New York.  Gunga Dim is accused of laundering money through "contributors" to exceed campaign finance limits.

When he appeared on hatemeister Sean "Heil" Hannity's poo-fest, Gunga Dim complied with Heil's prompting to speculate that the indictment was based on the Obama Administration's displeasure with his criticism smears of the President.  To that, we would advise Mr. Dim:  rediscover your gonads / man up / take responsibility for your actions and stop pretending it's someone else's fault.  Trying to stir up the flying monkeys that tune in to Heil's program with a gross lie is Gunga Dim's style, but for once he should take responsibility for his bad choices.

The President's Weekly Address - Opportunity and Income Inequality

Today's Cartoon - Plutocrat Pity Party

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(Jack Ohman, The Sacramento Bee)

Note the Republican elephant bust and the portrait of St. Ronnie Reagan - lol.

Yes, we have plutocrats crying in their Chateau Lafite Rothschilds about the abuse they're getting! Wah!  Also, wah!  Right-wing media to the rescue!