Monthly Archives: October 2013

2009 article reminds us that health insurance costs were rising far more than inflation before Obamacare

  By Cyrus | October 27, 2013 - 10:19 am | Health Care
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This is an article from 2009:  Health insurance costs rise far more than inflation – Sep. 15, 2009. The reason I post it is because it highlights the skyrocketing cost of healthcare BEFORE OBAMACARE WAS EVEN PASSED. Many opponents of Obamacare point to the still rising cost of healthcare and blame it on Obamacare (in fact costs have flattened for the first time in decades since Obamacare was passed, though it’s too early to know if it’s a trend).  The point is that the main reason Obama and Democrats moved mountains to pass such a transformitive law was because skyrocketing … Continue reading this post →

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A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning – NYTimes.com

  By Cyrus | October 6, 2013 - 12:53 pm | Uncategorized
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via A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning – NYTimes.com. Amid disingenuous representations by Republican leaders that it’s the Democrats who want a government shutdown, it’s very useful to look back at the genesis of this hostage-taking strategy as this article does. In summary, the Republican plan dubbed the “blueprint to defunding Obamacare”, conservatives “articulated a take-no-prisoners legislative strategy that had long percolated in conservative circles: that Republicans could derail the health care overhaul if conservative lawmakers were willing to push fellow Republicans — including their cautious leaders — into cutting off financing for the entire federal government.” This is … Continue reading this post →

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Republicans reap the fruits of redistricting – The Maddow Blog

  By Cyrus | October 2, 2013 - 12:58 pm | 2012 Election, Elections, Voting, and Campaign Finance
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Republicans reap the fruits of redistricting – The Maddow Blog. This is fantastic analysis showing the raw 2012 vote results for the House in key states vs. the vote outcome in terms of the number of seats that went to each party in that state.  The key takeaway is that even in states where Democratic House candidates received a majority of votes, Republicans actually won a majority of House seats due to redistricting that gerrymanders safe Republican districts. For example, in Michigan, Democrats garnered 2,327,985 votes to Republicans 2,086,804, but thanks to gerrymandered districts, that resulted in Republicans winning 9 … Continue reading this post →

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