A number of defects have been discovered in the online marketplace that will offer health insurance to millions of small-business employees, but federal officials said the problems could probably be fixed before the website goes live on Nov. 15.
Reported by Seattle Times 22 hours ago.
Defects found before debut of site for small-business health insurance
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↧
Norquist GOP Congressional Puppets
Before the 2012 election for President and Vice President, I wrote a piece in which I warned that depending on the results of the Presidential and Congressional elections, we could have a United States "Government Takeover" by a private citizen, Grover Norquist. The facts were 234 Republican members of the House of Representatives, (16) more than a simple majority of 218 could defeat any legislation and 41 Republican members of United States Senate, could keep any legislation from passing the Senate by using the filibuster. Thus, Senate Democrats, who had more than a majority of Senators, actually need 60 votes not 51, to pass legislation. The 234 GOP House members and the 41 GOP Senate members had taken the following Oath of Office:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend
the Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance
to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any
mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well
and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am
about to enter: So help me God.
Why is the Oath of Office so important? First and foremost, citizens who decide to be candidates for public office pledge to their constituents that they are honest, free, independent and worthy of the support of the voters in their states, congressional districts and any other political areas that they wish to represent.
Secondly, when they gain the trust of those constituents and are elected to office, they must take the Oath of Office. The Oath states that they solemnly swear that they will defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, and they state that this is an obligation that they take without any reservation or evasion and that they will faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which they are about to enter, and they sum it up by stating: So help me God.
Either before or shortly after swearing to uphold all of these moral commitments and promises to their constituents, with the help of God, GOP Congressmen and GOP senators voluntarily take a second oath, thus abandoning and negating their official Oath of Office.
Most of us have been around long enough to have either learned of or observed military takeovers in foreign countries which are described as "coups". Make no mistake that what has happened in this country is a "coup", planned, not by foreign or domestic military forces, but rather orchestrated by Grover Norquist, the Koch brothers and their very wealthy cohorts as a domestic moral and financial "coup". At this point, where does that leave the office holders, their constituents, and the citizens of the United States of America? Office holders who have negated their Oath of Office have no credibility and are unable to govern because they are now under the control of other persons. The constituents have lost what they believed they had, which was, independence, liberty, freedom and trustworthiness.
Instead of proudly honoring their Oath of Office, they negated and abandoned it, and in its place, signed a different oath to Grover Norquist, thus becoming Norquist GOP Puppets. To make matters worse both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan signed the same Norquist oath and thus became Norquist Puppets. Had Romney/Ryan been elected, Mr. Norquist would have become the Chief Executive Officer of the United States of America. Following is the Norquist oath:
I Senator/Representative, pledge to the taxpayers of the
(_______ district of the) state of _____________ and to the
American people that I will: ONE, oppose any and all efforts to
increase the marginal tax rate for individuals and business; and
TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions
and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further
reducing tax rates.
Fortunately, in 2012, President Obama won his reelection by about 5 million votes. Unfortunately, those 5 million votes cast by citizens of this country had no effect, either on the Norquist GOP Puppets who dominated the House of Representatives or on the Norquist GOP Puppet Senators, including Senator Mitch Mc Connell, who garnered enough votes to continue to rule by filibuster.
In the 2012 campaign, the GOP ran on a platform of cleaning up the income tax code by eliminating unnecessary and costly loopholes, most of which benefit wealthy Americans. The GOP failed to pass one bill eliminating a loophole in the tax code. The President and the Democrats ran on a platform of increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans who had benefitted from the steep Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 which contributed to the deficit. They were only able to get 75 percent of the Bush tax cuts restored.
Virtually no Democratic elected official of the House of Representatives or the United States Senate has signed Mr. Norquist's oath or pledge. Mr. Norquist has stated publicly that his goal is, "To flush the Federal Government down the drain." Some people say that they want to take back this country, but I suspect that they really want to take it down, and they are having their way. The Republican-controlled Congress is simply dysfunctional.
In January, 2014, Speaker Boehner directed Majority Leader Eric Cantor to announce to the House members their working schedule for 2014. Mr. Cantor duly informed the House that between January, 2014, and Election Day, the House would work a grand total of 97 days. Just imagine that Majority Leader Cantor had announced that we in the House are going to work full-time this year to help to get this country moving again. And imagine he then went on to say, we're going to work on the minimum wage, unemployment benefits, immigration, veterans benefits and other measures to help the middle class people who are working hard but really hurting; and one of the first tax loopholes we're going to address is the one that permits U.S. Corporations to move their headquarters to a foreign country so that they can avoid paying income taxes to the U.S. Federal Government. If these things had happened, these Norquist Puppets might be worthy of reelection. But none of this happened. They worked 97 days, I guess, and sat there and wouldn't pass minimum wage, immigration reform, unemployment benefits for hard working Americans who lost their jobs where they work more than 200 days a year, and got nothing; and they sat there and watched corporations move their headquarters to foreign soil with the smug knowledge that those corporations would be donating big cash to the Super Pacs, which would find its way back into their reelection campaigns.
So what did these Norquist Puppets actually do? They did nothing. They tried a few more times to take health insurance away from those Americans who have it for the first time in their lives. One of the annual responsibilities of the House of Representatives is to adopt a 12 month fiscal year budget which starts Oct. 1, 2014, and ends on Sept. 30, 2015. The hard-working GOP Puppets managed to pass only a three-month budget, probably betting that they will be reelected, and in December, they can come back and cut the remaining nine-month budget to suit Mr. Norquist and his wealthy cohorts.
In addition to their clear intention to flush the Federal Government down the drain, almost all GOP members of the House and Senate worked diligently to blame the President for every negative thing that happened either in this country or around the world. And to bolster those efforts, they made up scenarios portraying the President as being weak or on the wrong side of every issue. For example, Putin called the President -- which makes the President look weak; or the President called Putin -- which makes the President look weak. Recently, Speaker Boehner, a Norquist Puppet, declared that the President must have taken a nap. If that were true, then Speaker Boehner must have been in a complete coma.
Just days ago, Boehner stated that Mr. Bush would have punched Putin in the face. I assume that Boehner believes that Bush punched Osama bin Laden in the face. All of this is absolutely silly stuff, but it proves that Speaker Boehner isn't working for the country, but rather is working to denigrate the President, weaken the country, weaken the economy and weaken the spirit of the American people.
The question arises, what have the Norquist GOP Puppets actually accomplished? Practically nothing; except they repeatedly tried to repeal, but not replace the Affordable Care Act, took congressional junkets, showed up for work this year for 97 days between January and November, and made many citizens in 16 States, some of whom were devastated by Hurricane Sandy, wait for at least 90 days before the House of Representatives released the funds that they so desperately needed. Since the GOP constantly complains about the deficit, a large part of which they created themselves when they voted to conduct two unfunded wars, the least they could have done was to address some of the loopholes in the tax code, as they promised in their 2012 campaign, and direct the savings toward lowering the deficit. The GOP talks about freedom and liberty when they have neither, since they traded their Oath of Office to become Puppets of Norquist, the Koch brothers and other wealthy people who control them. Almost all of these wealthy people benefit from tax loopholes. One of the ironies here is that most of the committees through which these wealthy associates furnish millions of dollars to their GOP Norquist Puppets, include terms like Committee on Freedom and Committee on Liberty, which are the very qualities that GOP members of Congress have relinquished and handed to Grover Norquist and all of his partners in their moral and financial COUP of our country. It's the freedom and liberty of Grover Norquist, the Koch brothers, and their associates, not the Congress, not the country and certainly, not the citizens of the United States of America.
Has there been any GOP leadership here? No. President Obama, on the other hand, seeing that the Congress was getting almost nothing done, had to depend on issuing Executive Orders to accomplish anything. This brought howls from the Norquist GOP Puppets that the President was lawless. Again, this is silly stuff. In fact, President Obama has issued fewer Executive Orders during the six years of his two terms than any two-term President, in recent memory, Republican or Democrat.
Finally, what can be done to make sure that we're represented by office holders who take the one official Oath of Office and none other? This responsibility rightly rests with the voters of this country. I would suggest that before casting our votes, we find out which candidates for office and which current office holders are Norquist Puppets, so that we can make sure we don't cast our votes for any of the Puppets. People say that talk is cheap which it is, but a written document is different from talk, it has meaning. Candidates for office and current office holders, including Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell, who sign the Norquist oath or pledge are not loyal and faithful to this country. People who love and loyally support this country are patriots. The same cannot be said of persons who sign an oath or pledge to Grover Norquist, who has publicly stated that he " wants to flush the Federal Government down the drain". Any voter, man or woman, who knowingly votes for any man or woman who is a Norquist GOP Puppet, in effect, becomes a Norquist Voter Puppet. Reported by Huffington Post 22 hours ago.
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend
the Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance
to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any
mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well
and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am
about to enter: So help me God.
Why is the Oath of Office so important? First and foremost, citizens who decide to be candidates for public office pledge to their constituents that they are honest, free, independent and worthy of the support of the voters in their states, congressional districts and any other political areas that they wish to represent.
Secondly, when they gain the trust of those constituents and are elected to office, they must take the Oath of Office. The Oath states that they solemnly swear that they will defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, and they state that this is an obligation that they take without any reservation or evasion and that they will faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which they are about to enter, and they sum it up by stating: So help me God.
Either before or shortly after swearing to uphold all of these moral commitments and promises to their constituents, with the help of God, GOP Congressmen and GOP senators voluntarily take a second oath, thus abandoning and negating their official Oath of Office.
Most of us have been around long enough to have either learned of or observed military takeovers in foreign countries which are described as "coups". Make no mistake that what has happened in this country is a "coup", planned, not by foreign or domestic military forces, but rather orchestrated by Grover Norquist, the Koch brothers and their very wealthy cohorts as a domestic moral and financial "coup". At this point, where does that leave the office holders, their constituents, and the citizens of the United States of America? Office holders who have negated their Oath of Office have no credibility and are unable to govern because they are now under the control of other persons. The constituents have lost what they believed they had, which was, independence, liberty, freedom and trustworthiness.
Instead of proudly honoring their Oath of Office, they negated and abandoned it, and in its place, signed a different oath to Grover Norquist, thus becoming Norquist GOP Puppets. To make matters worse both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan signed the same Norquist oath and thus became Norquist Puppets. Had Romney/Ryan been elected, Mr. Norquist would have become the Chief Executive Officer of the United States of America. Following is the Norquist oath:
I Senator/Representative, pledge to the taxpayers of the
(_______ district of the) state of _____________ and to the
American people that I will: ONE, oppose any and all efforts to
increase the marginal tax rate for individuals and business; and
TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions
and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further
reducing tax rates.
Fortunately, in 2012, President Obama won his reelection by about 5 million votes. Unfortunately, those 5 million votes cast by citizens of this country had no effect, either on the Norquist GOP Puppets who dominated the House of Representatives or on the Norquist GOP Puppet Senators, including Senator Mitch Mc Connell, who garnered enough votes to continue to rule by filibuster.
In the 2012 campaign, the GOP ran on a platform of cleaning up the income tax code by eliminating unnecessary and costly loopholes, most of which benefit wealthy Americans. The GOP failed to pass one bill eliminating a loophole in the tax code. The President and the Democrats ran on a platform of increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans who had benefitted from the steep Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 which contributed to the deficit. They were only able to get 75 percent of the Bush tax cuts restored.
Virtually no Democratic elected official of the House of Representatives or the United States Senate has signed Mr. Norquist's oath or pledge. Mr. Norquist has stated publicly that his goal is, "To flush the Federal Government down the drain." Some people say that they want to take back this country, but I suspect that they really want to take it down, and they are having their way. The Republican-controlled Congress is simply dysfunctional.
In January, 2014, Speaker Boehner directed Majority Leader Eric Cantor to announce to the House members their working schedule for 2014. Mr. Cantor duly informed the House that between January, 2014, and Election Day, the House would work a grand total of 97 days. Just imagine that Majority Leader Cantor had announced that we in the House are going to work full-time this year to help to get this country moving again. And imagine he then went on to say, we're going to work on the minimum wage, unemployment benefits, immigration, veterans benefits and other measures to help the middle class people who are working hard but really hurting; and one of the first tax loopholes we're going to address is the one that permits U.S. Corporations to move their headquarters to a foreign country so that they can avoid paying income taxes to the U.S. Federal Government. If these things had happened, these Norquist Puppets might be worthy of reelection. But none of this happened. They worked 97 days, I guess, and sat there and wouldn't pass minimum wage, immigration reform, unemployment benefits for hard working Americans who lost their jobs where they work more than 200 days a year, and got nothing; and they sat there and watched corporations move their headquarters to foreign soil with the smug knowledge that those corporations would be donating big cash to the Super Pacs, which would find its way back into their reelection campaigns.
So what did these Norquist Puppets actually do? They did nothing. They tried a few more times to take health insurance away from those Americans who have it for the first time in their lives. One of the annual responsibilities of the House of Representatives is to adopt a 12 month fiscal year budget which starts Oct. 1, 2014, and ends on Sept. 30, 2015. The hard-working GOP Puppets managed to pass only a three-month budget, probably betting that they will be reelected, and in December, they can come back and cut the remaining nine-month budget to suit Mr. Norquist and his wealthy cohorts.
In addition to their clear intention to flush the Federal Government down the drain, almost all GOP members of the House and Senate worked diligently to blame the President for every negative thing that happened either in this country or around the world. And to bolster those efforts, they made up scenarios portraying the President as being weak or on the wrong side of every issue. For example, Putin called the President -- which makes the President look weak; or the President called Putin -- which makes the President look weak. Recently, Speaker Boehner, a Norquist Puppet, declared that the President must have taken a nap. If that were true, then Speaker Boehner must have been in a complete coma.
Just days ago, Boehner stated that Mr. Bush would have punched Putin in the face. I assume that Boehner believes that Bush punched Osama bin Laden in the face. All of this is absolutely silly stuff, but it proves that Speaker Boehner isn't working for the country, but rather is working to denigrate the President, weaken the country, weaken the economy and weaken the spirit of the American people.
The question arises, what have the Norquist GOP Puppets actually accomplished? Practically nothing; except they repeatedly tried to repeal, but not replace the Affordable Care Act, took congressional junkets, showed up for work this year for 97 days between January and November, and made many citizens in 16 States, some of whom were devastated by Hurricane Sandy, wait for at least 90 days before the House of Representatives released the funds that they so desperately needed. Since the GOP constantly complains about the deficit, a large part of which they created themselves when they voted to conduct two unfunded wars, the least they could have done was to address some of the loopholes in the tax code, as they promised in their 2012 campaign, and direct the savings toward lowering the deficit. The GOP talks about freedom and liberty when they have neither, since they traded their Oath of Office to become Puppets of Norquist, the Koch brothers and other wealthy people who control them. Almost all of these wealthy people benefit from tax loopholes. One of the ironies here is that most of the committees through which these wealthy associates furnish millions of dollars to their GOP Norquist Puppets, include terms like Committee on Freedom and Committee on Liberty, which are the very qualities that GOP members of Congress have relinquished and handed to Grover Norquist and all of his partners in their moral and financial COUP of our country. It's the freedom and liberty of Grover Norquist, the Koch brothers, and their associates, not the Congress, not the country and certainly, not the citizens of the United States of America.
Has there been any GOP leadership here? No. President Obama, on the other hand, seeing that the Congress was getting almost nothing done, had to depend on issuing Executive Orders to accomplish anything. This brought howls from the Norquist GOP Puppets that the President was lawless. Again, this is silly stuff. In fact, President Obama has issued fewer Executive Orders during the six years of his two terms than any two-term President, in recent memory, Republican or Democrat.
Finally, what can be done to make sure that we're represented by office holders who take the one official Oath of Office and none other? This responsibility rightly rests with the voters of this country. I would suggest that before casting our votes, we find out which candidates for office and which current office holders are Norquist Puppets, so that we can make sure we don't cast our votes for any of the Puppets. People say that talk is cheap which it is, but a written document is different from talk, it has meaning. Candidates for office and current office holders, including Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell, who sign the Norquist oath or pledge are not loyal and faithful to this country. People who love and loyally support this country are patriots. The same cannot be said of persons who sign an oath or pledge to Grover Norquist, who has publicly stated that he " wants to flush the Federal Government down the drain". Any voter, man or woman, who knowingly votes for any man or woman who is a Norquist GOP Puppet, in effect, becomes a Norquist Voter Puppet. Reported by Huffington Post 22 hours ago.
↧
Defects Found Before Debut of Health Insurance Site for Small Businesses
Defects Found Before Debut of Health Insurance Site for Small Businesses
Reported by ajc.com 21 hours ago.
↧
Small-business health insurance site has defects
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has discovered a number of defects in the online marketplace that will offer health insurance to millions of small-business employees, but federal officials said the problems could probably be fixed before the website goes live on Nov. 15.
Reported by TwinCities.com 20 hours ago.
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Impossible Goals and My Quest to Lose 175 Pounds
"If only you believe like I believe, baby
We'd get by
If only you believe in miracles, baby
So would I"
-Jefferson Starship
Motivational gurus like Brian Tracy and Dan Sullivan often describe goal setting as a S.M.A.R.T. system. All goals must be:
-Specific
-Measurable
-Attainable
-Realistic
-Timely
I plan on weighing 199 pounds on December 31, 2015. To do that, I will need to lose 175 pounds. I'm writing a book, Project 199: My Quest to Lose 175 pounds, about my journey.
Some people think aiming to lose 175 pounds is insane. For me, it is the only way to get there. When I've set "impossible" goals in a business setting, I've always made them. I get excited and motivated. Small goals don't interest me at all.
I have a better chance of losing 175 pounds than I do 17.
I was tempted to call my book "The Entrepreneur's Weight Loss Plan" as most successful entrepreneurs are like me. We have "impossible dream" style goals. If we don't have those kinds of goals, we tend to get lost in the weeds.
Google has a goal of digitizing every piece of information in the world. They are a lot closer now than when they started the company. Same with Amazon. Same with any organization or person who wants to break through the negativity and artificial barriers that the world throws in front of them.
Letting the world know that I plan to lose 175 pounds makes it that much closer to being a reality. If you go back to the SMART tenets of goal setting, my goal is specific, measurable and timely. I think it is attainable and realistic.
There are a number of reasons I will make it. The first is accountability. This is the first time I have EVER told anyone, other than my doctors and my wife, my actual weight. Even when it was far lower than now, I would never tell anyone. Now, I am sharing with millions of people who read Huffington Post and millions more on social media.
That is some serious accountability.
Holding a deep dark secret is as much a burden as the weight. It messes with your self-confidence and self-esteem at some level. Hiding something is not how I operate. In fact, I am one of those people who puts all his business in the street. I was made for Facebook and social media long before it was invented.
Having a publicly stated number and publicly stated goal is a huge step. It gives that extra bit of incentive to achieve the goals and a chance to throw it back in the faces of those who think it can't happen. Negative stimulus seems to spur people who start their own businesses or set ambitious goals. Many do great things as a F____ you to people in their lives trying to kill their dreams.
I'm good at making dreams happen. Mark this one down.
*Yo-Yo Dieting through the years. *
In 1989 with Kentucky Secretary of State Bob Babbage (Alison Lundegren Grimes currently holds the office.)
With President Bill Clinton in 1993
My weight has been the only piece of information I won't share with the free world. It's also the only area of my life where I have not been successful. Making this quest so public is partially to inspire other people, but primarily to inspire myself. Now that I am "out," I feel a lot better. Even before anyone has read it.
When you are morbidly obese, it's time to develop new strategies. This is radical, but will work. I am very excited and can see the end zone. At the other end of the field.
People will ask if the goal is realistic. Since high school, I've only weighed less than 199 pounds in one year. In 1989, I started at 270 and got to 179 with an all-liquid, medically-supervised diet. I didn't consume over 500 calories a day for six months. When I started eating again, I gained between half a pound and a pound each week. When I went back for my second run at the liquid diet, three years later, I weighed 295 pounds. I went back five times and never lost less than fifty pounds. Every time, I gained all the weight back and at least 20 more.
This is why I am doing bariatric surgery. I know I can get it off, and the surgery will help to keep it off.*Is Food is an Addiction? *
"I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real"
-Trent Reznor song that was made popular by Johnny Cash
"Well the devil made me do it the first time
The second time I done it on my own"
-Billy Joe Shaver
My mentor is Kentucky journalist, author and philanthropist Al Smith. He nearly drank himself to death in New Orleans. In his mid-30s and written off by most people, a bus dropped him in the small town of Russellville, Kentucky, where he stopped drinking, turned his life around and became one of the greatest living Kentuckians. A great moment of my life was watching Al be honored by AA for staying sober for 50 years. At age 88, Al understands that one drink could put him back on the road to ruin and will not touch alcohol under any circumstances.When I was allowed to witness Al's great feat, it was made extremely clear that it was a onetime exception to allow Al's family and a small group of close friends witness the event, but we were never to tell anyone the details, or who was in the room. Normally they don't allow people who are not alcoholics in the room. The idea of Alcoholics Anonymous is to be anonymous and the philosophy is based on the outlook of "one day at a time."
Publicly stating that I plan to lose 175 pounds goes against everything they believe in.
I'm a big believer in 12 step programs. My dear friend Yvette Hourigan, who heads up Kentucky Lawyer's Assistance Program (KYLAP) for the Kentucky Bar Association and recently won a national award (the David S. Stoner Uncommon Counselor Award) for her nonstop work in educating the Kentucky legal community about depression, suicide, and addiction http://abacolap.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/lap-director-receives-national-award/) I've sent numerous attorney friends to Yvette and written about her program several times. I've also had Al Smith talk to at least 100 people. I've lost a number of very good friends, and very good people, to addiction and suicide. I don't have another tool that works as well as Yvette and her organization.
I'm going to talk about the concept of "trading addictions" at length in my book, but I always thought that if food is an addiction, it is a tricky one. I've proven several times that I can give up food completely for months at a time. If I could have given food up, the same way that people give up drinking or cigarettes, I probably could have done it. Outside of overeating, the rest of my life is as exciting as Donny Osmond's. I rarely drink and I have never even seen drugs like cocaine, heroin, or meth. My only experience with cigarettes or smoking pot happened in high school (I got a lot of things out of my system in high school), and a childhood of watching people gamble brought me to the same conclusion as casino owner Steve Wynn: I'd much rather own a casino than bet in one. I've written best-selling books about lotteries and gambling, but rarely do it myself. I know the percentage will always favor the house.
Thus, if I am going to trade a food addiction for something else, I'm not sure what it would be. It does concern me. My sister had bariatric surgery a decade ago and almost immediately became a non-functioning alcoholic. She had been a heavy drinker before the surgery, but went completely off the rails afterwards. She was going through severe lifestyle changes like divorce and moving to California so I can't pinpoint everything on the surgery, but I have to think it was a factor. She moved back with my mother in Kentucky and cleaned up her life. She had just gotten the job she dreamed of at Proctor and Gamble when she accidentally fell down a flight of steps. I thought at her death that she had probably relapsed, but the autopsy showed that there were no substances of any kind in her body. Just one of those things that could happen to anyone.
I don't know if food is an addiction, but if it is, I need to trade food for a healthier kind of addiction.
*Yo-Yo Dieting Part II *
I weighed 374 pounds on my wedding day in 2012. My all time high.
About 20 pounds lighter in 2014. Yes, that is Jerry Springer in the photo with me.*Making our Dreams Come True *
"Never heard the words impossible, this time's there no stopping us
Doing it our way"
-Theme to the television show Laverne and Shirley
A dream without a goal is a wish. A goal without a plan is just a dream. It's a phrase you hear often, but very true. So what is my plan?
I know I can lose large amounts of weight. Thus that knocks the impossible down to realistic. I am optimistic and going at it with an "all in" strategy.
My primary tool will be bariatric surgery, followed by changes in diet, exercise and lifestyle.
The surgery will get me a long way towards 199, but not all of the way there. There is a formula for calculating your expected weight loss. You take your current weight, subtract your ideal weight and the remaining amount is my excess weight.
Thus in my situation I need to lose roughly 200 pounds to get to my ideal weight. The Gastric Sleeve is usually good for about 50 percent of the weight which would put me at 275 pounds. Not as heavy, but still obese. My surgeon, Dr. Derek Weiss, (who will a primary player in my book) thinks that 70 percent is an attainable goal. That would get me to 235 pounds, with only 36 more pounds between myself and 199.
I'll be out of the obese category at 235. I suspect that I won't be diabetic anymore and the boatload of blood pressure and sleep medicines that I take will be on their way out. I will eventually be able to get rid of my CPAP that allows me to breathe at night, but probably need to get to 199 to make that happen.
Thus, stopping at 235 is not an option. The reason I chose 199 is that breaking 200 pounds has been my great white whale. I got to about 205 the summer between high school and college and stayed there. I would drop as low as 202, or go back up to 210, but was unable to break the barrier. It's my version of breaking the sound barrier or breaking the four minute mile.
Something psychologically held me back. I didn't know anything about nutrients and would try silly and dangerous diets to break the mark, but my body always shut down. When I did pass the 200 point in 1989, I knew I had broken a barrier and could do it again.
On the other hand, 199 is my "impossible" number. When I break it, I will have overcome every phobia about my weight that has been bouncing around in my head for decades. When I keep my weight at that number, I will go a long ways towards giving myself a normal, healthy life expectancy.
At my current weight, my life expectancy is fairly grim. I've ducked doing major damage to my body, but you can only win the lottery so many times. I want to give myself the best odds I can get.
And will by December 31, 2015.
My sister's experience and handling the money for the families of people who died having bariatric surgery kept me away from it for the past decade. (I wrote a long piece about this for Huffington Post.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-mcnay/a-main-street-way-to-help_b_5706747.html
I did enough research to lecture on the topic at John Hopkins Medical School and decided it was my best chance. When I decided to make a move, I found that I could not purchase an individual health insurance plan or a plan for my small business that would even cover the COMPLICATIONS of weight loss surgery. It still irks me. If I worked for a large corporation, I could get them to pay for the surgery. If I go completely broke and wind up on Medicaid, they will also pay for the surgery. I'm 55 years old. If I live for 10 more years and stay healthy enough to have the surgery, Medicare would pay for it at age 65. If I lived in one of 23 other states besides Kentucky, I could purchase insurance from a health care exchange that would pay for it.
If there was ever a provision in the health care laws that sticks it to self-employed entrepreneurs and small businesses, this would be one of them. I am generally a supporter of the Affordable Health Care Act, but they dropped the ball on this one. Bariatric surgery should be offered to everyone.
I'm paying for health insurance, with 100 percent coverage, for my employees, I'm paying for my surgery completely by myself. It is more money than I paid to buy my car, but the decision is worth it. A car can't let me live a longer and healthier life. Bariatric surgery can.
Within the last year, I was referred to Dr. Derek Weiss, Bluegrass Bariatric, http://www.bluegrassbariatrics.com/ who participates in a program called BLIS. http://www.bliscompany.com/news-publications BLIS is an insurance related program that covers the complications of surgery. I've done several interviews with founder Regi Schindler, and I'm definitely going to use BLIS for my surgery. It's a terrific idea and Regi has been a straight shooter. I will be writing more about Dr. Weiss, Regi and BLIS in a future article, and they are important players in my book.
All of this circles back to the idea of setting difficult goals. A business concept more than a weight loss one. I don't remember a lot about high school (as noted, I was working a lot of things out of my system), and never liked poetry, but an English teacher at Covington Catholic High School named Peggy Bertlesman (if you recognize her family name, her husband is a longtime federal judge) had us read the poem "Andrea del Sarto" by Robert Browning with the line, "But a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?" The line stuck with me all these years, along with Man of La Mancha song "The Impossible Dream," which was one of my parent's favorites.
If you dream big enough and set up a plan to get there, the impossible dream suddenly becomes realistic and doable.
I'll see you at 199, but will be writing all along the way.
Don McNay is a best-selling author and the owner of McNay Consulting based in Richmond, Kentucky. http://www.mcnayconsulting.com) He has started numerous successful businesses such as McNay Settlement Group http://www.mcnay.comKentucky Guardianship Administrators http://www.kentuckyguardianship.com and RRP International Publishing and Digital Media http://www.rrpinternational.org Reported by Huffington Post 17 hours ago.
We'd get by
If only you believe in miracles, baby
So would I"
-Jefferson Starship
Motivational gurus like Brian Tracy and Dan Sullivan often describe goal setting as a S.M.A.R.T. system. All goals must be:
-Specific
-Measurable
-Attainable
-Realistic
-Timely
I plan on weighing 199 pounds on December 31, 2015. To do that, I will need to lose 175 pounds. I'm writing a book, Project 199: My Quest to Lose 175 pounds, about my journey.
Some people think aiming to lose 175 pounds is insane. For me, it is the only way to get there. When I've set "impossible" goals in a business setting, I've always made them. I get excited and motivated. Small goals don't interest me at all.
I have a better chance of losing 175 pounds than I do 17.
I was tempted to call my book "The Entrepreneur's Weight Loss Plan" as most successful entrepreneurs are like me. We have "impossible dream" style goals. If we don't have those kinds of goals, we tend to get lost in the weeds.
Google has a goal of digitizing every piece of information in the world. They are a lot closer now than when they started the company. Same with Amazon. Same with any organization or person who wants to break through the negativity and artificial barriers that the world throws in front of them.
Letting the world know that I plan to lose 175 pounds makes it that much closer to being a reality. If you go back to the SMART tenets of goal setting, my goal is specific, measurable and timely. I think it is attainable and realistic.
There are a number of reasons I will make it. The first is accountability. This is the first time I have EVER told anyone, other than my doctors and my wife, my actual weight. Even when it was far lower than now, I would never tell anyone. Now, I am sharing with millions of people who read Huffington Post and millions more on social media.
That is some serious accountability.
Holding a deep dark secret is as much a burden as the weight. It messes with your self-confidence and self-esteem at some level. Hiding something is not how I operate. In fact, I am one of those people who puts all his business in the street. I was made for Facebook and social media long before it was invented.
Having a publicly stated number and publicly stated goal is a huge step. It gives that extra bit of incentive to achieve the goals and a chance to throw it back in the faces of those who think it can't happen. Negative stimulus seems to spur people who start their own businesses or set ambitious goals. Many do great things as a F____ you to people in their lives trying to kill their dreams.
I'm good at making dreams happen. Mark this one down.
*Yo-Yo Dieting through the years. *
In 1989 with Kentucky Secretary of State Bob Babbage (Alison Lundegren Grimes currently holds the office.)
With President Bill Clinton in 1993
My weight has been the only piece of information I won't share with the free world. It's also the only area of my life where I have not been successful. Making this quest so public is partially to inspire other people, but primarily to inspire myself. Now that I am "out," I feel a lot better. Even before anyone has read it.
When you are morbidly obese, it's time to develop new strategies. This is radical, but will work. I am very excited and can see the end zone. At the other end of the field.
People will ask if the goal is realistic. Since high school, I've only weighed less than 199 pounds in one year. In 1989, I started at 270 and got to 179 with an all-liquid, medically-supervised diet. I didn't consume over 500 calories a day for six months. When I started eating again, I gained between half a pound and a pound each week. When I went back for my second run at the liquid diet, three years later, I weighed 295 pounds. I went back five times and never lost less than fifty pounds. Every time, I gained all the weight back and at least 20 more.
This is why I am doing bariatric surgery. I know I can get it off, and the surgery will help to keep it off.*Is Food is an Addiction? *
"I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real"
-Trent Reznor song that was made popular by Johnny Cash
"Well the devil made me do it the first time
The second time I done it on my own"
-Billy Joe Shaver
My mentor is Kentucky journalist, author and philanthropist Al Smith. He nearly drank himself to death in New Orleans. In his mid-30s and written off by most people, a bus dropped him in the small town of Russellville, Kentucky, where he stopped drinking, turned his life around and became one of the greatest living Kentuckians. A great moment of my life was watching Al be honored by AA for staying sober for 50 years. At age 88, Al understands that one drink could put him back on the road to ruin and will not touch alcohol under any circumstances.When I was allowed to witness Al's great feat, it was made extremely clear that it was a onetime exception to allow Al's family and a small group of close friends witness the event, but we were never to tell anyone the details, or who was in the room. Normally they don't allow people who are not alcoholics in the room. The idea of Alcoholics Anonymous is to be anonymous and the philosophy is based on the outlook of "one day at a time."
Publicly stating that I plan to lose 175 pounds goes against everything they believe in.
I'm a big believer in 12 step programs. My dear friend Yvette Hourigan, who heads up Kentucky Lawyer's Assistance Program (KYLAP) for the Kentucky Bar Association and recently won a national award (the David S. Stoner Uncommon Counselor Award) for her nonstop work in educating the Kentucky legal community about depression, suicide, and addiction http://abacolap.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/lap-director-receives-national-award/) I've sent numerous attorney friends to Yvette and written about her program several times. I've also had Al Smith talk to at least 100 people. I've lost a number of very good friends, and very good people, to addiction and suicide. I don't have another tool that works as well as Yvette and her organization.
I'm going to talk about the concept of "trading addictions" at length in my book, but I always thought that if food is an addiction, it is a tricky one. I've proven several times that I can give up food completely for months at a time. If I could have given food up, the same way that people give up drinking or cigarettes, I probably could have done it. Outside of overeating, the rest of my life is as exciting as Donny Osmond's. I rarely drink and I have never even seen drugs like cocaine, heroin, or meth. My only experience with cigarettes or smoking pot happened in high school (I got a lot of things out of my system in high school), and a childhood of watching people gamble brought me to the same conclusion as casino owner Steve Wynn: I'd much rather own a casino than bet in one. I've written best-selling books about lotteries and gambling, but rarely do it myself. I know the percentage will always favor the house.
Thus, if I am going to trade a food addiction for something else, I'm not sure what it would be. It does concern me. My sister had bariatric surgery a decade ago and almost immediately became a non-functioning alcoholic. She had been a heavy drinker before the surgery, but went completely off the rails afterwards. She was going through severe lifestyle changes like divorce and moving to California so I can't pinpoint everything on the surgery, but I have to think it was a factor. She moved back with my mother in Kentucky and cleaned up her life. She had just gotten the job she dreamed of at Proctor and Gamble when she accidentally fell down a flight of steps. I thought at her death that she had probably relapsed, but the autopsy showed that there were no substances of any kind in her body. Just one of those things that could happen to anyone.
I don't know if food is an addiction, but if it is, I need to trade food for a healthier kind of addiction.
*Yo-Yo Dieting Part II *
I weighed 374 pounds on my wedding day in 2012. My all time high.
About 20 pounds lighter in 2014. Yes, that is Jerry Springer in the photo with me.*Making our Dreams Come True *
"Never heard the words impossible, this time's there no stopping us
Doing it our way"
-Theme to the television show Laverne and Shirley
A dream without a goal is a wish. A goal without a plan is just a dream. It's a phrase you hear often, but very true. So what is my plan?
I know I can lose large amounts of weight. Thus that knocks the impossible down to realistic. I am optimistic and going at it with an "all in" strategy.
My primary tool will be bariatric surgery, followed by changes in diet, exercise and lifestyle.
The surgery will get me a long way towards 199, but not all of the way there. There is a formula for calculating your expected weight loss. You take your current weight, subtract your ideal weight and the remaining amount is my excess weight.
Thus in my situation I need to lose roughly 200 pounds to get to my ideal weight. The Gastric Sleeve is usually good for about 50 percent of the weight which would put me at 275 pounds. Not as heavy, but still obese. My surgeon, Dr. Derek Weiss, (who will a primary player in my book) thinks that 70 percent is an attainable goal. That would get me to 235 pounds, with only 36 more pounds between myself and 199.
I'll be out of the obese category at 235. I suspect that I won't be diabetic anymore and the boatload of blood pressure and sleep medicines that I take will be on their way out. I will eventually be able to get rid of my CPAP that allows me to breathe at night, but probably need to get to 199 to make that happen.
Thus, stopping at 235 is not an option. The reason I chose 199 is that breaking 200 pounds has been my great white whale. I got to about 205 the summer between high school and college and stayed there. I would drop as low as 202, or go back up to 210, but was unable to break the barrier. It's my version of breaking the sound barrier or breaking the four minute mile.
Something psychologically held me back. I didn't know anything about nutrients and would try silly and dangerous diets to break the mark, but my body always shut down. When I did pass the 200 point in 1989, I knew I had broken a barrier and could do it again.
On the other hand, 199 is my "impossible" number. When I break it, I will have overcome every phobia about my weight that has been bouncing around in my head for decades. When I keep my weight at that number, I will go a long ways towards giving myself a normal, healthy life expectancy.
At my current weight, my life expectancy is fairly grim. I've ducked doing major damage to my body, but you can only win the lottery so many times. I want to give myself the best odds I can get.
And will by December 31, 2015.
My sister's experience and handling the money for the families of people who died having bariatric surgery kept me away from it for the past decade. (I wrote a long piece about this for Huffington Post.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-mcnay/a-main-street-way-to-help_b_5706747.html
I did enough research to lecture on the topic at John Hopkins Medical School and decided it was my best chance. When I decided to make a move, I found that I could not purchase an individual health insurance plan or a plan for my small business that would even cover the COMPLICATIONS of weight loss surgery. It still irks me. If I worked for a large corporation, I could get them to pay for the surgery. If I go completely broke and wind up on Medicaid, they will also pay for the surgery. I'm 55 years old. If I live for 10 more years and stay healthy enough to have the surgery, Medicare would pay for it at age 65. If I lived in one of 23 other states besides Kentucky, I could purchase insurance from a health care exchange that would pay for it.
If there was ever a provision in the health care laws that sticks it to self-employed entrepreneurs and small businesses, this would be one of them. I am generally a supporter of the Affordable Health Care Act, but they dropped the ball on this one. Bariatric surgery should be offered to everyone.
I'm paying for health insurance, with 100 percent coverage, for my employees, I'm paying for my surgery completely by myself. It is more money than I paid to buy my car, but the decision is worth it. A car can't let me live a longer and healthier life. Bariatric surgery can.
Within the last year, I was referred to Dr. Derek Weiss, Bluegrass Bariatric, http://www.bluegrassbariatrics.com/ who participates in a program called BLIS. http://www.bliscompany.com/news-publications BLIS is an insurance related program that covers the complications of surgery. I've done several interviews with founder Regi Schindler, and I'm definitely going to use BLIS for my surgery. It's a terrific idea and Regi has been a straight shooter. I will be writing more about Dr. Weiss, Regi and BLIS in a future article, and they are important players in my book.
All of this circles back to the idea of setting difficult goals. A business concept more than a weight loss one. I don't remember a lot about high school (as noted, I was working a lot of things out of my system), and never liked poetry, but an English teacher at Covington Catholic High School named Peggy Bertlesman (if you recognize her family name, her husband is a longtime federal judge) had us read the poem "Andrea del Sarto" by Robert Browning with the line, "But a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?" The line stuck with me all these years, along with Man of La Mancha song "The Impossible Dream," which was one of my parent's favorites.
If you dream big enough and set up a plan to get there, the impossible dream suddenly becomes realistic and doable.
I'll see you at 199, but will be writing all along the way.
Don McNay is a best-selling author and the owner of McNay Consulting based in Richmond, Kentucky. http://www.mcnayconsulting.com) He has started numerous successful businesses such as McNay Settlement Group http://www.mcnay.comKentucky Guardianship Administrators http://www.kentuckyguardianship.com and RRP International Publishing and Digital Media http://www.rrpinternational.org Reported by Huffington Post 17 hours ago.
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Why Health Insurers Are Rooting For Democrats To Win Tuesday
Health insurance companies, already seeing an influx of millions of new customers from the Affordable Care Act’s expanded Medicaid program, could see millions more enrollees if Democratic candidates win in Tuesday’s midterm gubernatorial elections.
Reported by Forbes.com 7 hours ago.
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Why Health Insurers May Root For Democratic Wins Tuesday
Health insurance companies, already seeing an influx of millions of new customers from the Affordable Care Act’s expanded Medicaid program, could see millions more enrollees if Democratic candidates win in Tuesday’s midterm gubernatorial elections. Under the health law, states have the option to expand Medicaid coverage to more poor Americans, but [...]
Reported by Forbes.com 7 hours ago.
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The Real Reason You'll Want An Apple Watch: Your Health Insurance Will Go Down (AAPL)
Last week, we attended WSJD Live, a tech conference out in Southern California.We bumped into a venture capitalist investing lots of money into startups in the healthcare space.
We asked her what the coolest healthcare application for the Apple Watch will be.
Her answer: apps that connect your body to your health insurance company.
She offered, as an example, the car insurance industry. Right now insurace companies offer gadgets that you install in your car. These monitor how you drive — whether you stay inside the speed limit, brake too much, and generally obey traffic laws.
If you're a safe driver, insurance companies will cut the rates you pay on car insurance.
The same thing will happen for Apple Watch, this startup investor predicts. Apple Watch applications will monitor how you sleep, how much you exercise, and what you eat. If you follow certainly guidelines, your health insurance premiums will go down.
No doubt some people will find this idea very creepy.
Some of us will be glad to pay less to Aetna every two weeks — over longer lives.
Join the conversation about this story » Reported by Business Insider 3 hours ago.
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Low Auto Insurance Rates for Senior Drivers in TX Now Quoted Online
Low auto insurance rates are now supplied to senior drivers in TX through the Quotes Pros portal at http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.
Austin, TX (PRWEB) November 02, 2014
Older adults can pay more on a monthly basis for automobile insurance due to the increased risk of accidents. The Quotes Pros company is now providing a way for senior drivers in Texas to find low auto insurance rates through its public search system at http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.
Both men and women can use the finder tool to locate pricing for policies that are meant for drivers aged 58 and older. The rates quotation tool that is available requires a valid state of Texas zip code in order to showcase the available providers ready to quote affordable coverage policies for seniors.
"Use of our location system by the public can result in paying less for different types of coverage that agencies supply statewide," said a Quotes Pros source.
The rates that seniors pay for a liability policy can be revealed through use of the location system as well as more refined coverage types. SR22 and risk based policies that can be common for older adults to select can be reviewed for providers and price structures through use of the quotation tool.
"Drivers throughout Texas and nearby states can now connect with providers of insurance using our database and a standard connection to the Internet is needed," said the source.
The Quotes Pros company is scheduled to continue updating the location system throughout the year in preparation for an updated service launch in the new year. Motorists who are not ready to review price data for auto coverage have the option to search for renter, life and health coverage plans at http://quotespros.com/health-insurance.html.
About QuotesPros.com
The QuotesPros.com company is on the national resources average Americans are using to locate insurance costs and agencies nationwide. The computerized system now presented on the company homepage helps to reveal discount providers and policy information from partner agencies. The QuotesPros.com company is scheduled to continue providing motorcycle, automotive, life, renter, homeowner and health coverage providers through its open tool next year. Reported by PRWeb 2 hours ago.
Austin, TX (PRWEB) November 02, 2014
Older adults can pay more on a monthly basis for automobile insurance due to the increased risk of accidents. The Quotes Pros company is now providing a way for senior drivers in Texas to find low auto insurance rates through its public search system at http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.
Both men and women can use the finder tool to locate pricing for policies that are meant for drivers aged 58 and older. The rates quotation tool that is available requires a valid state of Texas zip code in order to showcase the available providers ready to quote affordable coverage policies for seniors.
"Use of our location system by the public can result in paying less for different types of coverage that agencies supply statewide," said a Quotes Pros source.
The rates that seniors pay for a liability policy can be revealed through use of the location system as well as more refined coverage types. SR22 and risk based policies that can be common for older adults to select can be reviewed for providers and price structures through use of the quotation tool.
"Drivers throughout Texas and nearby states can now connect with providers of insurance using our database and a standard connection to the Internet is needed," said the source.
The Quotes Pros company is scheduled to continue updating the location system throughout the year in preparation for an updated service launch in the new year. Motorists who are not ready to review price data for auto coverage have the option to search for renter, life and health coverage plans at http://quotespros.com/health-insurance.html.
About QuotesPros.com
The QuotesPros.com company is on the national resources average Americans are using to locate insurance costs and agencies nationwide. The computerized system now presented on the company homepage helps to reveal discount providers and policy information from partner agencies. The QuotesPros.com company is scheduled to continue providing motorcycle, automotive, life, renter, homeowner and health coverage providers through its open tool next year. Reported by PRWeb 2 hours ago.
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President Obama Rallies For Gov. Malloy In Connecticut Ahead Of Election Day
Obama praised the governor for pushing for an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and helping to create one of the most successful health insurance marketplaces in the country.
Reported by CBS 2 5 minutes ago.
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Hartford Courant Endorses Malloy, Calls Connecticut 'Incubator for Progressive Policies'
While many campaigning Democrats are asking the unpopular President Barack Obama to stay away from their states, Connecticut’s Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy welcomed him with open arms on Sunday at a high school gymnasium in Bridgeport.
The Hartford Courant, which has endorsed Malloy, said the visit could be as beneficial for Obama as it was for Malloy, who is in a tied race with Tom Foley (R):
If the president's 2010 visit contributed at all to Malloy's victory, the trip was well worth it for Obama, who in the past four years has seen Connecticut become an incubator for the progressive policies he has unable [sic] to push through a gridlocked Congress in Washington, D.C. Whether in the area of gun control, a minimum wage increase, universal preschool or the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Malloy has been a champion for the liberal cause, accomplishing in Connecticut what the president has failed to advance federally.
Obama appeared with Malloy to a crowd of 1,900.
“I can’t vote in Connecticut, but I’d tell you who I’d vote for,” Obama said. “Dan’s helped to create one of the best health insurance marketplaces in the country. Dan fought to give Connecticut a minimum wage [and] put Connecticut on the path to universal pre-K.”
Malloy enacted on the state level nearly every policy Obama has championed on the federal level, but has had more success working with a Democrat-led state assembly.
After the Newtown shooting incident in December of 2012, Obama announced stricter gun control laws as a priority of his second term. Last year, Malloy signed a sweeping package of gun restrictions that made his state’s gun laws among the strictest in the country.
When Obama began the call for a federal minimum wage hike, Malloy responded immediately, becoming the first governor to increase the state minimum wage to $10.10.
Obama has also supported the Common Core standards and universal preschool. Malloy has embraced the unpopular standards, and supports a 10-year, $200 million investment in early education.
“Dan’s expanded Medicaid to tens of thousands of folks in Connecticut,” boasted Obama about Malloy’s Access Health CT state-run exchange.
Back in June, a serious data breach of the state’s exchange was believed to have compromised the personal data of about 400 people. But the Obama administration considered Connecticut’s exchange to be so successful that it hired the former CEO of Access Health, Kevin Counihan, to oversee the federal exchange.
Malloy told the crowd on Sunday that “we should be proud of the cut in the uninsured rate here in Connecticut… and that 280,000 people now have health care.”
However, as CTMirror.org observed, Connecticut Medicaid enrollment is at a record high under Obamacare, with nearly one in five state residents covered by the program: ObamaCare changed the way income is calculated.
Malloy boasted of another liberal policy accomplishment during his first term as governor: paid sick leave.
“We were the first state to pass paid sick days… We did it first in 2011,” he said.
Many of Malloy’s opponents, however, believe Malloy’s paid sick days, added to high taxes and other policies, have led to Connecticut being ranked among the worst places to do business in the nation.
Malloy’s tight race against Foley is a rerun of their 2010 rivalry. The current governor won by carrying the state’s three large cities – Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport.
Obama, who won the state in 2012 by 17 percentage points, urged supporters to vote on Tuesday.
“Cynicism is a choice, but hope is a better choice," he said. "That’s why you have to vote.”
Cynthia Morton, a 92-year-old retired teacher from Bridgeport said she recalled paying a poll tax when she voted in Virginia in the 1940’s.
“I lived to see a black president,” Morton said. “That is really something.” Reported by Breitbart 17 hours ago.
The Hartford Courant, which has endorsed Malloy, said the visit could be as beneficial for Obama as it was for Malloy, who is in a tied race with Tom Foley (R):
If the president's 2010 visit contributed at all to Malloy's victory, the trip was well worth it for Obama, who in the past four years has seen Connecticut become an incubator for the progressive policies he has unable [sic] to push through a gridlocked Congress in Washington, D.C. Whether in the area of gun control, a minimum wage increase, universal preschool or the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Malloy has been a champion for the liberal cause, accomplishing in Connecticut what the president has failed to advance federally.
Obama appeared with Malloy to a crowd of 1,900.
“I can’t vote in Connecticut, but I’d tell you who I’d vote for,” Obama said. “Dan’s helped to create one of the best health insurance marketplaces in the country. Dan fought to give Connecticut a minimum wage [and] put Connecticut on the path to universal pre-K.”
Malloy enacted on the state level nearly every policy Obama has championed on the federal level, but has had more success working with a Democrat-led state assembly.
After the Newtown shooting incident in December of 2012, Obama announced stricter gun control laws as a priority of his second term. Last year, Malloy signed a sweeping package of gun restrictions that made his state’s gun laws among the strictest in the country.
When Obama began the call for a federal minimum wage hike, Malloy responded immediately, becoming the first governor to increase the state minimum wage to $10.10.
Obama has also supported the Common Core standards and universal preschool. Malloy has embraced the unpopular standards, and supports a 10-year, $200 million investment in early education.
“Dan’s expanded Medicaid to tens of thousands of folks in Connecticut,” boasted Obama about Malloy’s Access Health CT state-run exchange.
Back in June, a serious data breach of the state’s exchange was believed to have compromised the personal data of about 400 people. But the Obama administration considered Connecticut’s exchange to be so successful that it hired the former CEO of Access Health, Kevin Counihan, to oversee the federal exchange.
Malloy told the crowd on Sunday that “we should be proud of the cut in the uninsured rate here in Connecticut… and that 280,000 people now have health care.”
However, as CTMirror.org observed, Connecticut Medicaid enrollment is at a record high under Obamacare, with nearly one in five state residents covered by the program: ObamaCare changed the way income is calculated.
Malloy boasted of another liberal policy accomplishment during his first term as governor: paid sick leave.
“We were the first state to pass paid sick days… We did it first in 2011,” he said.
Many of Malloy’s opponents, however, believe Malloy’s paid sick days, added to high taxes and other policies, have led to Connecticut being ranked among the worst places to do business in the nation.
Malloy’s tight race against Foley is a rerun of their 2010 rivalry. The current governor won by carrying the state’s three large cities – Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport.
Obama, who won the state in 2012 by 17 percentage points, urged supporters to vote on Tuesday.
“Cynicism is a choice, but hope is a better choice," he said. "That’s why you have to vote.”
Cynthia Morton, a 92-year-old retired teacher from Bridgeport said she recalled paying a poll tax when she voted in Virginia in the 1940’s.
“I lived to see a black president,” Morton said. “That is really something.” Reported by Breitbart 17 hours ago.
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SASid, Inc. Releases Video for Benefit Credits: Employee Benefits, Simplfied
Employers are fed up with the rising cost and complexity of group health insurance. Each year they have to deal with the same message: “Sorry, rates are going up again.”
Janesville, Wisconsin (PRWEB) November 03, 2014
Employers are fed up with the rising cost and complexity of group health insurance. Each year they have to deal with the same message: “Sorry, rates are going up again.”
Each year they must either bite the bullet and pay the increase or change to a different plan, typically one with a higher deductible and/or less coverage. Either way, they aren’t happy with this confusing, time-consuming and increasingly expensive system—and neither are their employees. If only they could offer their employees some good news for a change.
Now they can, and it’s simple: Benefit Credits. Benefit Credits is an insurance marketplace where employees can shop for their benefits online or over the phone. This video explains how Benefit Credits works for the employer, by saving them money and offering employees the power to choose their benefits: http://www.benefitcredits.com.
Employers have four easy steps to offering Benefit Credits:
1. Set aside a fixed amount of money per employee, now called Benefit Credits
2. Select which insurance products to offer employees on the marketplace.
3. Direct your employees to their own online marketplace to shop for benefits.
4. Receive one simple, consolidated bill for everyone.
Employees get to see all the options online, at their fingertips. For those who prefer a live person, our helpful and friendly licensed benefit specialists are able to assist your employees over the phone. Most importantly, they get to choose the coverage best for them.
Blackhawk Propane in South Beloit, Wis. was a company to adopt this new way of offering employee benefits. Owner, Robert Zeek, says he has witnessed its success companywide.
“As a small business owner, I wear so many hats,” Zeek said. “Health insurance is now one thing off my table. We simplified enrollment and saved thousands of dollars. Some of our employees even gained better coverage than what they had before. They had a personal choice and ownership in their coverage.” Better yet, it was easy!
Interested employers and insurance brokers, should go to http://www.benefitcredits.com or call Andy Murray at (608) 3142107 to learn more.
About SASid, Inc.
Located in Janesville, WI, Simple and Smart insurance development (SASid, Inc.) is a privately held company with a solid reputation for building products and insurance marketplaces. Our SASid team enjoys helping people with their insurance needs and consistently providing best-in-class administrative, enrollment, billing and claims customer support. SASid is strategically looking for long term partners to grow, learn, and develop with. Let’s make insurance Simple to understand and Smart to have. Reported by PRWeb 15 hours ago.
Janesville, Wisconsin (PRWEB) November 03, 2014
Employers are fed up with the rising cost and complexity of group health insurance. Each year they have to deal with the same message: “Sorry, rates are going up again.”
Each year they must either bite the bullet and pay the increase or change to a different plan, typically one with a higher deductible and/or less coverage. Either way, they aren’t happy with this confusing, time-consuming and increasingly expensive system—and neither are their employees. If only they could offer their employees some good news for a change.
Now they can, and it’s simple: Benefit Credits. Benefit Credits is an insurance marketplace where employees can shop for their benefits online or over the phone. This video explains how Benefit Credits works for the employer, by saving them money and offering employees the power to choose their benefits: http://www.benefitcredits.com.
Employers have four easy steps to offering Benefit Credits:
1. Set aside a fixed amount of money per employee, now called Benefit Credits
2. Select which insurance products to offer employees on the marketplace.
3. Direct your employees to their own online marketplace to shop for benefits.
4. Receive one simple, consolidated bill for everyone.
Employees get to see all the options online, at their fingertips. For those who prefer a live person, our helpful and friendly licensed benefit specialists are able to assist your employees over the phone. Most importantly, they get to choose the coverage best for them.
Blackhawk Propane in South Beloit, Wis. was a company to adopt this new way of offering employee benefits. Owner, Robert Zeek, says he has witnessed its success companywide.
“As a small business owner, I wear so many hats,” Zeek said. “Health insurance is now one thing off my table. We simplified enrollment and saved thousands of dollars. Some of our employees even gained better coverage than what they had before. They had a personal choice and ownership in their coverage.” Better yet, it was easy!
Interested employers and insurance brokers, should go to http://www.benefitcredits.com or call Andy Murray at (608) 3142107 to learn more.
About SASid, Inc.
Located in Janesville, WI, Simple and Smart insurance development (SASid, Inc.) is a privately held company with a solid reputation for building products and insurance marketplaces. Our SASid team enjoys helping people with their insurance needs and consistently providing best-in-class administrative, enrollment, billing and claims customer support. SASid is strategically looking for long term partners to grow, learn, and develop with. Let’s make insurance Simple to understand and Smart to have. Reported by PRWeb 15 hours ago.
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Home Health Workers Struggle For Better Pay And Health Insurance
Home Health Workers Struggle For Better Pay And Health Insurance
Reported by ajc.com 13 hours ago.
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hipaapoliciesandprocedures.com Launches All New 2015 HIPAA Compliance Policies and Procedures Toolkits for North American Healthcare Providers
The healthcare experts at hipaapoliciesandprocedures.com have launched the HIPAA compliance policies and procedures toolkit for Covered Entities and Business Associates in North America. Containing hundreds of pages of professionally developed documentation, the HIPAA compliance policies and procedures are essential for meeting mandated compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Santa Monica, CA (PRWEB) November 03, 2014
The healthcare experts at hipaapoliciesandprocedures.com have launched the HIPAA compliance policies and procedures toolkit for Covered Entities and Business Associates in North America. Containing hundreds of pages of professionally developed documentation, the HIPAA compliance policies and procedures are essential for meeting mandated compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Available for instant download, the HIPAA compliance policies and procedures toolkits include the following documentation:· HIPAA Information Security Policies and Procedures Manual
· HIPAA Information Systems Hardening Checklists
· HIPAA Disaster Recovery Plan
· HIPAA Handbook & Reference Manual
· HIPAA Security Awareness Training PowerPoint (PPT) Presentation
· HIPAA Security Awareness Training Manual & Employee Quiz
· HIPAA Security Rule & Privacy Rule Checklist & Readiness Assessment
· HIPAA Risk Assessment Template
· Essential HIPAA Forms
· Additional HIPAA Policies and Procedures
· And much more!
The HIPAA compliance policies and procedures toolkits available for instant download have been exhaustively researched and authored by industry leading healthcare compliance professionals with years of experience. The result is documentation that’s essential for ensuring both Covered Entities and Business Associates are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Download the HIPAA compliance policies and procedures toolkits today from hipaapoliciesandprocedures.com. Reported by PRWeb 12 hours ago.
Santa Monica, CA (PRWEB) November 03, 2014
The healthcare experts at hipaapoliciesandprocedures.com have launched the HIPAA compliance policies and procedures toolkit for Covered Entities and Business Associates in North America. Containing hundreds of pages of professionally developed documentation, the HIPAA compliance policies and procedures are essential for meeting mandated compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Available for instant download, the HIPAA compliance policies and procedures toolkits include the following documentation:· HIPAA Information Security Policies and Procedures Manual
· HIPAA Information Systems Hardening Checklists
· HIPAA Disaster Recovery Plan
· HIPAA Handbook & Reference Manual
· HIPAA Security Awareness Training PowerPoint (PPT) Presentation
· HIPAA Security Awareness Training Manual & Employee Quiz
· HIPAA Security Rule & Privacy Rule Checklist & Readiness Assessment
· HIPAA Risk Assessment Template
· Essential HIPAA Forms
· Additional HIPAA Policies and Procedures
· And much more!
The HIPAA compliance policies and procedures toolkits available for instant download have been exhaustively researched and authored by industry leading healthcare compliance professionals with years of experience. The result is documentation that’s essential for ensuring both Covered Entities and Business Associates are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Download the HIPAA compliance policies and procedures toolkits today from hipaapoliciesandprocedures.com. Reported by PRWeb 12 hours ago.
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Wall Street This Week: The Health of MannKind, Humana
Filed under: Company News, Earnings, Market News, Investing*Ben Margot/AP*
From the leading maker of premium plug-in sedans pulling in for its quarterly pit stop to an update on a fast-growing portal making bigger waves overseas than it is close to home, here are some of the things that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street.
*Monday -- One Small Step for MannKind *This should have been a great year for MannKind (MNKD). The fledgling drug developer received regulatory clearance to market Afrezza, its inhaled insulin therapy that will appeal to adults with diabetes seeking a break from the pinprick of insulin needles.
In "sell on the news" fashion, shares of MannKind peaked in anticipation of FDA approval, but the stock has gone on to shed nearly half of its peak value after it got what it wanted. MannKind reports on Monday afternoon. Investors will naturally want to see how Afrezza is coming along ahead of its commercial rollout.
*Tuesday -- Name Your Own Stock Price*
Priceline.com (PCLN) has been a market darling over the years. The "name your own price" travel portal has consistently beaten Wall Street profit targets en route to a four-figure stock price. The are only three stocks out there trading at a higher price on a stateside exchange.
Priceline's success stretches beyond its namesake site that offers travel deals for savvy penny pinchers. Priceline's biggest revenue driver these days is Booking.com, with a strong presence in Europe.
Analysts see revenue and earnings per share climbing 25 percent and 22 percent, respectively. That's the kind of growth that justifies the stock's smooth ascent over the past decade, and let's not forget that history suggests that Priceline's bottom-line growth will exceed what the pros are forecasting.
*Wednesday -- Electric Avenue *
Few companies have captured the spirit of innovation in an otherwise ho-hum industry the way that Tesla Motors (TSLA) has over the past couple of years. The company behind the leading all-electric luxury sedan has made the car industry cool again, with everything from the promise of cars that will drive themselves in a few years to the growing network of Supercharger stations that refuel Tesla's electric cars on the open road at no additional cost.
There have been concerns that growth is slowing at Tesla. Recent moves to offer lower lease rates and 90-day money-back guarantees have some wondering if Tesla's peaked in popularity. That isn't likely, especially with new cars expected to join the Model S soon at different price points. Tesla reports on Wednesday, and CEO Elon Musk is always good for a colorful quote or two.
*Thursday -- Thinking Outside the Cable Box *
Cablevision (CVC) reports on Thursday. The cable provider has been suffering from net cancellations as customers balk at escalating prices. It's easy to see why Cablevision customers are fed up. The average monthly cable revenue per video customer at Cablevision is up to a whopping $174.14.
It's not alone. Leading cable provider Comcast (CMCSA) recently announced another quarter of declining video customers. It has now suffered sequential declines in cable TV subscribers in 28 of the past 30 quarters.
*Friday -- Health Checkup*
Fridays are usually quiet on the financial news front, but that's not the case when we're waist-deep into earnings season. Humana (HUM) will be one of the dozens of companies reporting on Friday morning to wrap up the trading week.
Analysts see the health insurance benefits provider posting mixed results. They see revenue shooting nearly 20 percent higher, but they see profitability going the other way.
Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Priceline Group and Tesla Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days To read about our favorite high-yielding dividend stocks for any investor, check out our free report.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Reported by DailyFinance 12 hours ago.
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Vote for Yourself Tuesday
The rich always vote for themselves. They go for their self-interest, their tax breaks, their liability escapes (think Wall Street). Meanwhile, they’ve relentlessly instructed the non-rich that they too must vote for the rich.
They’ve promised for decades that if the 99 percent just comply with the wishes of the wealthy, bow down, kiss their feet, shine their shoes, then some paltry portion of the bucket-loads of dough that the rich are amassing will dribble down upon the 99 percent.
That trickle-down trick didn’t work for the vast majority of Americans. The rich got richer, all right. But the rest slid backwards. Now income inequality is worse than it was during the era of robber barons. It’s time to turn that around. Political leaders must focus on the needs of the 99 percent. For that to happen, the 99 percent must vote for themselves on Tuesday. They must go for their self-interest, their wages, their health insurance, their Social Security.
*Vote for higher wages for the 99 percent. *
Minimum wage workers in the United States are paid so little that taxpayers subsidize the likes of Walmart and Wendy’s through government programs such as food stamps and Medicaid. That doesn’t happen everywhere.
As the New York Times pointed out last week, McDonald’s, Burger King and Starbucks all pay their workers in Denmark at least $20 an hour and provide paid vacations and pensions. And the companies still make profits.
The one percenter CEOs of these companies, who demand millions in pay for themselves, have squashed efforts to raise the U.S minimum wage, a pittance stuck five years at $7.25. Instead of improving paychecks, McDonald’s told its workers to get second jobs, forego heat in their homes and find health insurance for $20 a month.
When the minimum wage rises, it bumps up pay for everyone else. The 99 percent benefit. And the majority supports lifting the wage.
Voting for raises means voting for Democrats. President Obama has called for an increase, and U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez said the U.S. minimum wage is an international embarrassment. “I mean, we suck. We really do,” he said.
Republicans have consistently blocked a raise. New Jersey’s GOP Gov. Chris Christie, the nation’s fourth highest paid governor at $175,000 a year, said last month that he is “tired of hearing about the minimum wage.”
*Vote for health insurance for the 99 percent. *
The majority of Americans believe that health insurance should be accessible to everyone. The Affordable Care Act moved the nation closer to that, enabling tens of millions to get covered.
It prevented insurers from dumping clients when they get sick and from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, like diabetes. It covered millions of young people to age 26 on their parents’ plans. It protected millions with an expansion of Medicaid.
National surveys have shown that low-income Americans are obtaining health insurance at a faster rate than the rich. There are two reasons for this. The rich already were covered. And the law was designed to help the working poor. This is creating fairness in access to medical care.
Republicans hate the law. Two dozen GOP governors refused to expand Medicaid in their states, and those places now suffer from the highest rate of uninsured residents. Republicans are so intent on denying health care to the working poor that they rejected a program that would cost them nothing for three years.
Now, Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the Senate, has again pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act if the GOP takes control of his chamber. Republicans want to regress to higher inequality in health insurance coverage.
*Vote to preserve and expand Social Security and Medicare. *
These programs are not priorities of the rich. The wealthy are riding high on golden parachutes, gilded pensions, tax-sheltered off-shore accounts, and the built-in security of immense salaries. Social Security wouldn’t pay their country club fees.
For the rest, however, Social Security and Medicare mean fear relief. They’re crucial to the 99 percent.
For years now, however, Republicans have tried to privatize, cut and destroy these programs. U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, repeatedly has issued a “roadmap” for an America in which the rich drive new Ferraris bought with tax breaks and the rest forfeit their wheels because of cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
The overwhelming majority of Americans oppose cuts. Among Democrats, there’s a movement to increase benefits by lifting the $117,000 cap, after which income no longer is taxed for Social Security. The cap means that the rich pay proportionately less into Social Security than the rest.
*Vote for the overwhelming majority, the non-rich, to get their needs met.*
The nation’s richest are more politically engaged and get easier access to high-level politicians than the 99 percent. That isn’t just obvious. It’s also according to surveys and interviews of one-percenters conducted by three university professors. They are Northwestern University’s Benjamin I. Page and Jason Seawright and Vanderbilt’s Larry M. Bartels. Their report is called *Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans.*
The rich minority gets its way. Bartels and another researcher showed in earlier studies that federal government policy corresponds much more closely with the wishes of the rich than the needs of the rest.
Bartels, author of *Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age**,* has noted that no other rich country came close to the United States in cutting the budget based on class preferences. It went this way: the workers lost programs; the wealthy kept perks.
This has got to change. And it could. In states with low voter turnout inequality – that is balloting by the non-rich more closely matching participation rates by the wealthy – there are higher minimum wages, stricter anti-predatory lending laws and better health benefits for the working poor. In other words, when workers vote, they’re more likely to get what they want from politicians.
*Vote for yourself on Tuesday. * Reported by Huffington Post 9 hours ago.
They’ve promised for decades that if the 99 percent just comply with the wishes of the wealthy, bow down, kiss their feet, shine their shoes, then some paltry portion of the bucket-loads of dough that the rich are amassing will dribble down upon the 99 percent.
That trickle-down trick didn’t work for the vast majority of Americans. The rich got richer, all right. But the rest slid backwards. Now income inequality is worse than it was during the era of robber barons. It’s time to turn that around. Political leaders must focus on the needs of the 99 percent. For that to happen, the 99 percent must vote for themselves on Tuesday. They must go for their self-interest, their wages, their health insurance, their Social Security.
*Vote for higher wages for the 99 percent. *
Minimum wage workers in the United States are paid so little that taxpayers subsidize the likes of Walmart and Wendy’s through government programs such as food stamps and Medicaid. That doesn’t happen everywhere.
As the New York Times pointed out last week, McDonald’s, Burger King and Starbucks all pay their workers in Denmark at least $20 an hour and provide paid vacations and pensions. And the companies still make profits.
The one percenter CEOs of these companies, who demand millions in pay for themselves, have squashed efforts to raise the U.S minimum wage, a pittance stuck five years at $7.25. Instead of improving paychecks, McDonald’s told its workers to get second jobs, forego heat in their homes and find health insurance for $20 a month.
When the minimum wage rises, it bumps up pay for everyone else. The 99 percent benefit. And the majority supports lifting the wage.
Voting for raises means voting for Democrats. President Obama has called for an increase, and U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez said the U.S. minimum wage is an international embarrassment. “I mean, we suck. We really do,” he said.
Republicans have consistently blocked a raise. New Jersey’s GOP Gov. Chris Christie, the nation’s fourth highest paid governor at $175,000 a year, said last month that he is “tired of hearing about the minimum wage.”
*Vote for health insurance for the 99 percent. *
The majority of Americans believe that health insurance should be accessible to everyone. The Affordable Care Act moved the nation closer to that, enabling tens of millions to get covered.
It prevented insurers from dumping clients when they get sick and from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, like diabetes. It covered millions of young people to age 26 on their parents’ plans. It protected millions with an expansion of Medicaid.
National surveys have shown that low-income Americans are obtaining health insurance at a faster rate than the rich. There are two reasons for this. The rich already were covered. And the law was designed to help the working poor. This is creating fairness in access to medical care.
Republicans hate the law. Two dozen GOP governors refused to expand Medicaid in their states, and those places now suffer from the highest rate of uninsured residents. Republicans are so intent on denying health care to the working poor that they rejected a program that would cost them nothing for three years.
Now, Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the Senate, has again pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act if the GOP takes control of his chamber. Republicans want to regress to higher inequality in health insurance coverage.
*Vote to preserve and expand Social Security and Medicare. *
These programs are not priorities of the rich. The wealthy are riding high on golden parachutes, gilded pensions, tax-sheltered off-shore accounts, and the built-in security of immense salaries. Social Security wouldn’t pay their country club fees.
For the rest, however, Social Security and Medicare mean fear relief. They’re crucial to the 99 percent.
For years now, however, Republicans have tried to privatize, cut and destroy these programs. U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, repeatedly has issued a “roadmap” for an America in which the rich drive new Ferraris bought with tax breaks and the rest forfeit their wheels because of cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
The overwhelming majority of Americans oppose cuts. Among Democrats, there’s a movement to increase benefits by lifting the $117,000 cap, after which income no longer is taxed for Social Security. The cap means that the rich pay proportionately less into Social Security than the rest.
*Vote for the overwhelming majority, the non-rich, to get their needs met.*
The nation’s richest are more politically engaged and get easier access to high-level politicians than the 99 percent. That isn’t just obvious. It’s also according to surveys and interviews of one-percenters conducted by three university professors. They are Northwestern University’s Benjamin I. Page and Jason Seawright and Vanderbilt’s Larry M. Bartels. Their report is called *Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans.*
The rich minority gets its way. Bartels and another researcher showed in earlier studies that federal government policy corresponds much more closely with the wishes of the rich than the needs of the rest.
Bartels, author of *Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age**,* has noted that no other rich country came close to the United States in cutting the budget based on class preferences. It went this way: the workers lost programs; the wealthy kept perks.
This has got to change. And it could. In states with low voter turnout inequality – that is balloting by the non-rich more closely matching participation rates by the wealthy – there are higher minimum wages, stricter anti-predatory lending laws and better health benefits for the working poor. In other words, when workers vote, they’re more likely to get what they want from politicians.
*Vote for yourself on Tuesday. * Reported by Huffington Post 9 hours ago.
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Family Health Insurance Expert and Author Frank Saltzburg Exposes Secrets of Obtaining Best Health Coverage at Most Affordable Price Both Off-Exchange and On-Exchange
BOCA RATON, Fla., Nov. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Health insurance costs continue creating struggles for millions of families, individuals, and small businesses today. Families and individuals are experiencing up to 40% increases in premiums while small business owners have seen up to...
Reported by PR Newswire 9 hours ago.
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U.S. top court does not act yet on Obamacare subsidies challenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday took no action on a closely watched case that challenges a key part of the Obamacare healthcare law and could limit the availability of federal health insurance subsidies for millions of Americans.
Reported by Reuters 8 hours ago.
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GOP Congress Should Defend Economic Freedom to Restore Prosperity
With control of congress, Republicans could push to lower taxes and repeal the Affordable Care Act, but President Obama has the veto. Instead, a new GOP majority could launch an all-out assault on federal abuses of regulatory powers to defend economic freedom and restore prosperity.The American economy always had plenty of government meddling. However, for the first century of the republic, states, cities, and towns did most of the regulating, applying common law principles regarding public safety and fairness.
Initially, markets were mostly local, and democratic process close to the people ensured accountability limited abuses.
After the Civil War, the telegraph and railroads connected the two coasts, and broader continental markets and national enterprises with monopoly power emerged.
The Interstate Commerce Commission was established in 1887 to curb discrimination in railroad freight rates, and the Sherman Act in 1890 asserted federal antitrust authority to ensure fair pricing across the entire economy.
Nowadays, however, it seems the Federal government regulates and insidiously monitors virtually everything that citizens and businesses do, even when competition would suffice to compel socially responsible behavior.
Houses are built in small local clusters, yet the federal government regulates toilets, hot water heaters, light bulbs, air conditioners, windows, and insulation, even though manufacturers and builders compete for buyers by touting the energy efficiency of their products.
Fuel economy in the auto industry was rising before Obama imposed new, higher mileage standards, because customers were demanding improvement.
Washington now compels health insurance, limits choices to four plans, and only from a few companies willing to do business on each local exchange.
Federal rules are manipulated to benefit friends of presidents and powerful members of congress. For example, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts is a major Democratic fund raiser and Obama golf buddy. He will likely get a merger with Time-Warner, even though a less harmful combination between Sprint and T-Mobile was nixed by federal regulators.
The federal income tax enacted in 1913 was fairly simple and non-intrusive but has become grotesquely complex. It discourages all kinds of commercial behavior and encourages others—in no small measure thanks to political manipulation. For example, the Treasury recently decided that telecom wires are real estate, and thereby subject to special treatment and lower tax rates, which will boost profits for Comcast.
Federal tax rates would be prohibitively high but for deductions and credits. Accessing those, however, requires millions of citizens and small businesses to chronicle the details of their everyday purchases, movements, and donations.
The administration doesn’t need to dump cell phone records to track our movements and political activities—it’s got income tax returns—and overzealous IRS employees to persecute folks who don’t share the president’s views.
Civil liberties aside, all this distorts—and generally gums up—economic decisions, raises costs, and focuses enterprises on compliance instead of innovation.
No surprise money spent on lobbying and political campaigns increases more rapidly than productive investment. The best way to grow a business in America is to get the tax laws and regulations written to advance its strategic plan.
This overreach and abuse scaled up when the GOP captured control of the congress during the Clinton administration, and the president read federal statutes aggressively and pursued enforcement to end run the legislative branch.
No surprise, after growing at a 3.4 percent pace through 2000, GDP has since slowed to only 1.7 percent—and median family incomes began falling, poverty rising, and inequality worsening.
A GOP congress may not be able to roll back Obama’s executive orders, but it could initiate a broadside of hearings to cast sunshine on these follies, and cut the budgets of the agencies prosecuting this tyranny.
Ask Detroit, nothing drives change like a shortage of cash.
Peter Morici is an economist and professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, and a national columnist. He tweets @pmorici1. Reported by Breitbart 7 hours ago.
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Federal lawsuit filed against GE for terminating some retiree health benefits
A federal lawsuit is seeking to prevent General Electric Co., one of the largest employers in the Albany, New York region, from terminating a health insurance plan affecting thousands of its retirees. Two retired GE employees -- Evelyn Kauffman and Dennis Rocheleau -- contend the company with thousands of employees in the Albany region improperly terminated its GE Medicare Plan for some retirees, effective Jan. 1, 2015. That is according to the lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court for…
Reported by bizjournals 7 hours ago.
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