Year: 2016

Illinois Obamacare Co-Op Goes Bust Leaving Tens of Thousands at Risk

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The fact that Obamacare is a gigantic train wreck barreling uncontrollably into a brick wall is pretty much undeniable at this point. I’ve covered this reality from several angles in 2016, with one of the more popular posts being, The Health Insurance Scam – “Coverage” Doesn’t Mean Affordability or Access, in which I noted: 

Politicians, particularly those of the Democratic persuasion, love to throw around statistics about how many additional people have healthcare coverage without ever talking about the cost of such coverage, or whether it actually translates into actual access in the real world.

While a greater number of Americans having health insurance is a good thing when it comes to protecting against unexpected catastrophic events or extended hospital stays, it doesn’t tell you anything about two very important variables: 1) How much does it cost? 2) What kind of access does it provide? As usual, the devil is in the details.

We’ve all seen headlines about higher monthly premiums, but that’s just the tip of iceberg. Once you’ve paid your premium, you’re far from off the hook. Another one-two punch of deductibles, copays and out of pocket maximums appear which can collectively run into the thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars for families.

In my opinion, the above situation represents the number one failure of Obamacare, but there are others. Today’s piece focuses in on the state of Obamacare co-ops, which were “created under the federal health law to provide cost-effective coverage and competition in state insurance markets.”

Just like with Obamacare in general, stark reality is not living up to the sales pitch, and 16 of the 23 nonprofit cooperatives created nationwide have now failed.

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Video of the Day – CNN Reporter Cut Off As She Critiques Hillary Clinton

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So did CNN intentionally pull the plug on its reporter, or was it just a convenient coincidence.

I’ll let you decide.

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Donations to Jill Stein’s Campaign Jump 1000% Following the Bernie Betrayal

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Headline of the day, courtesy of Yahoo.


People are going to be pissed off no matter who wins this election and that is a very important social dynamic I believe is vastly under appreciated by the majority of mainstream pundits and analysts out there.  This is also very distinct from the environment that prevailed in 2008.  Four years ago, the financial markets were crashing and the economic future of America was circling the toilet bowl, yet a majority of Americans embraced the potential of a young, inexperienced biracial politician from Illinois who was saying all of the right things.  Despite the gigantic disappointment he has proven to be as President, there is no denying that he had all of the Democrats and most Independents under his spell on this day four years ago.

Fast forward to 2012 and the county isn’t “divided” as mainstream media talking heads like to say.  The country is pissed off.  Genuine and legitimate frustration permeates the land from sea to shining sea and rightly so.  Ever since the banker coup of 2008, crony capitalism has been institutionalized as the only real way to make money.  If you aren’t connected or “too big to fail,” sorry but America isn’t the place for you.  What makes the economic nightmare so much worse is that it is being coupled with a complete and total decimation of civil liberties.  One by one the Bill of Rights is being ignored and indeed trampled on systemically by the political and economic oligarchs emboldened by their successful takeover of the executive, legislative and for the most part judicial branches of government. 

– From the 2012 post: The Seventy Percent

Most Americans dislike both Presidential candidates on offer from the two major political parties. I would include myself in this category, with the caveat that I haven’t liked a major party candidate for President since I was born.

So while I’ve always been hard to please curmudgeon, this election really is different from a general public perspective. For example, here are a few remarkable findings from a recent Associated Press-GfK poll:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The vast majority of Americans say they are afraid of at least one of the two major candidates — Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump — winning the White House, a remarkable finding that reflects an unsettled nation unhappy with its choice.

Eighty-one percent of Americans say they would feel afraid following the election of one of the two polarizing politicians, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. That includes a quarter who say it doesn’t matter who wins: they’re scared of both.

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Clinton Cash Author Reports – “The Strange Gaps in Hillary Clinton’s Email Traffic”

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Peter Schweizer, author of Clinton Cash, has published a very important and disturbing piece over at Politico titled, The Strange Gaps in Hillary Clinton’s Email Traffic.

Here are some key excerpts:

But, when it comes to Clinton’s correspondence, the most basic and troubling questions still remain unanswered: Why are there gaps in Clinton’s email history? Did she or her team delete emails that she should have made public?

The State Department has released what is said to represent all of the work-related, or “official,” emails Clinton sent during her tenure as secretary—a number totaling about 30,000. According to Clinton and her campaign, when they were choosing what correspondence to turn over to State for public release, they deleted 31,830 other emails deemed “personal and private.” But a numeric analysis of the emails that have been made public, focusing on conspicuous lapses in email activity, raises troubling concerns that Clinton or her team might have deleted a number of work-related emails.

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People Just Want to Kill the Status Quo – Thoughts on Trump’s Swing State Surge

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Two weeks ago, I wrote a post titled, Don’t Count Out Donald Trump Yet. Let’s take a moment to revisit a few of my observations:

Trump experienced a horrible period from mid-May to mid-June, which culminated in the dismissal of campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Based on my Twitter feed, Trump is finished. I’ve been incessantly bombarded with articles highlighting an ever widening lead for Hillary Clinton nationally in the polls. So is Trump finished? Not by a long shot.

First off, let’s discuss the macro environment. As the Brexit vote demonstrated in spades, people are not in a cheery mood and appear willing to suffer negative consequences in the short-term in order to blow up the status quo. This is hugely important and a huge part of the Trump phenomenon. I also think the arrogant, dismissive, undemocratic and paternalistic attitude of so-called “elites” in the aftermath of Brexit will not be lost on U.S. voters.

Equally interesting, is how incredibly close the race between Clinton and Trump is in a wide variety of swing states, as well as states that typically lean one way or the other. The reason this is happening is we essentially have a race between a nativist populist versus a Wall Street neocon for the first time in recent memory. As such, anyone claiming they know how this will play out is full of…

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Liberty Links 7/12/16

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15 links today. Enjoy. Images of Militarized Police in Baton Rouge Draw Global Attention (Must read of the day, The Intercept) Obama Calls For Turret-Mounted Video Cameras On All Police Tanks (From 2014, The Onion) Dallas Cop-Killer Micah Johnson Was Blacklisted by Black-Power Groups as ‘Unstable’ (The Daily Beast) When Cops Kill, and When Cops Die … Read more

Video of the Day – U.S. Official Can’t Answer Any Questions About the Covert Arming of Syrian Rebels

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If for some bizarre reason you still have any faith left in the U.S. government, this should take care of it.

Why hold a press conference at all?

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New Evidence Proves HSBC Avoided Criminal Prosecution Due to “Market Risk”

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All that said, if anyone is a top contender for the worst of the worst of the Obama Administration, it’s Eric Holder. As head of the Department of Justice, he was the one man who could’ve played an enormously positive role in American society, by punishing those responsible for creating the financial crisis that destroyed tens of millions of lives globally. Instead, he chose to actively protect the financial oligarchs and ushered in a tragic new era for these United States. One in which the world suddenly realized that the U.S. is little more than a glorified oligarchy. Essentially an aggressive Banana Republic armed with nuclear weapons and the swagger of a third world dictator.

– From the post: Cronyism Pays – Eric “Too Big to Jail” Holder Triumphantly Returns to His Prior Corporate Law Firm Job

The precedent was set with the TBTF mega banks, and it was continued last week with the non-indictment of Hillary Clinton.

The rule of law simply no longer exists in America. Laws do not apply to the rich and powerful, only apply to the peasant citizens.

The following is absolutely disgusting. From the BBC:

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This is What Hillary Clinton’s Advisors Really Think of the American Public

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Back in 2014, we received confirmation of what politicians and their “very smart” advisers think of the American public. Namely, that we’re a bunch of stupid slobs who need to be tricked into agreeing to elitists legislation that always ends up working against us. I’m specifically referring to comments from Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber exposed in the post, Video of the Day – Obamacare Architect Credits “Lack of Transparency” and “Stupidity of the American People” for Passage of Healthcare Law. Here’s some of what we learned:

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