Patterico's Pontifications

11/6/2013

Extra! Extra! Barack Obama Continues to Lie

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:21 am



I know, I know: it’s not really news. We still have to keep reporting it.

Los Angeles Times:

The president also has added caveats to his once-unqualified promise that no one will be forced to change their insurance plans. It’s now clear that more than a million Americans who buy insurance on the individual market may be forced to find new policies because their old ones do not offer benefits required under the Affordable Care Act.

“What we said was, you could keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law was passed,” Obama told supporters Monday night.

I’m not sure what this “it’s now clear” business is. Maybe it was unclear to you, L.A. Times editors, but it has always been clear to us.

This is kind of obvious, but sometimes restating the truth is necessary even when it is obvious. This “what we said was” business is flatly false. That qualification Obama wants to pretend he gave us? Didn’t happen. Here, once again, is the proof:

To recap, as Ellison used to say:

Barack Obama then: “We will keep this promise to the American people. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period.”

Barack Obama now: “What we said was, you could keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law was passed.”

Stop lying, Mr. President.

Stop lying.

87 Responses to “Extra! Extra! Barack Obama Continues to Lie”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. I never get tired of watching that video.

    Helps fuel the outrage.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  3. Stop lying, Mr. President.

    Stop lying.

    Why would he stop now? Lying is what got him where he is – in the White House. Vetting even the most innocuous statements uttered by him will as often as not reveal a lie, half-truth or deception. It is pathological with him and his sycophants. His behavior has never led to negative repercussions as long as he steadfastly maintains his lies.

    in_awe (7c859a)

  4. He can’t stop lying because it is who he is. He has no idea how to make his program work but what is worse is that none of the political hacks appointed to do so know either. One problem is that the entire concept will not work without massive repression. The theory they are working with is that you can promise the moon but control the land rush that creates by rationing use. The IPAB is there to control utilization but medicine is too complex to control that way. If that worked, the Soviet Union would still be with us.

    This will destroy the entire US health insurance market. I don’t agree this was their intent all along.

    “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.”

    Napoleon Bonaparte

    The French Revolution did not have a plan. We are now adrift on the currents of leftist stupidity.

    MikeK (dc6ffe)

  5. He thinks that truth is what he believes.

    He is only barely connected to reality.

    The first rule of holes, in his mind, is to know that you are not in a hole.

    htom (412a17)

  6. his legacy

    my god it’s a handful of sh!t

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  7. He and his ilk simply do not consider broken campaign promises to be lying in the conventional sense. They coldly view it as necessary political narrative to achieve an end. They see it as theater, as storytelling, that can change as the circumstances warrant and will be tolerated.

    A new generation is getting their education ala

    A chicken in every pot
    Seven acres and a mule

    elissa (0c331f)

  8. ==This will destroy the entire US health insurance market. I don’t agree this was their intent all along.==

    Mike K.–You are most probably right that this was not Obama’s or maybe even Pelosi’s and certainly not the average Dem congressloon’s intent or plan because they are too stupid and disconnected from actual reality to know what they were doing. But you’ll be hard pressed to convince me that there are not powerful and evil forces “behind the curtain” whose goal has been to destroy the US Health insurance market and eagerly used a popular elected puppet to do so.

    elissa (0c331f)

  9. If it wasn’t clear b4 now, the miasma is now burned off:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-06/fukushima-debris-island-size-texas-near-us-west-coast

    Go East, young man, old man, everyman.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  10. I think it’s over 2 million now who have been canceled. The reporters at the LAT must be sobbing at their desks.

    Patricia (be0117)

  11. So when Obama says, “Period,” what he really means is, “Asterisk.”

    John T (ef9bb0)

  12. The Obama administration can use the so-called “Toronto Defense” and say they designed teh ACA when they were in a drunken stupor.

    Colonel Haiku (a8bbc8)

  13. 8. Fast and Furious, Green Shoots, Dirty Coal, Big Oil, NPS, Arab Spring, IRS vetting of Non-Profits, Benghazi, BPS and Sandy cleanup, MF Global and JPM,..

    Seriously, I know incompetence. I’ve been battling incompetence personally my whole adult life, primarily my own.

    Incompetents luck out. We come out smelling like a rose when our plan and performance totally sucked, not once but often.

    If you want us to believe this fairytale it behooves you to come up with some Executive action that bumbled blithely into serendipity.

    Even one time.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  14. BP Oil, Doh.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  15. He just needs to apologize. Something like:

    I’m sorry if you misunderstood what I said about keeping your insurance and your doctor.

    There. That ought to do it.

    Joe Miller (00407a)

  16. “This will destroy the entire US health insurance market.”

    MikeK – Too early to tell. There will certainly be damage and reassessments of why everything had to change just to address the issues of a few. Hopefully conservative proposals regarding the tax deductibility of insurance purchased in the individual market, cross state selling of insurance and other measures will be resurrected and given serious consideration.

    In the meantime, various reinsurance arrangements the government built into Obamacare to help induce/bludgeon health insurers into participating on the exchanges are in place to both mitigate damages to insurers from underpriced policies and limit their profits from overpriced policies during the first three years.

    I haven’t seen these arrangement get much play at least where I’ve been looking, but the following piece provides a good description:

    http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/delaying-the-individual-mandate-would-be-a-headache-for-insurers-but-it-wouldnt-induce-a-death-spiral/

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  17. 4. Comment by MikeK (dc6ffe) — 11/6/2013 @ 7:42 am

    One problem is that the entire concept will not work without massive repression.

    Which they deliberately decided not to do. The mandate is small, especially for 2014. The mandate has no teeth. Chief Justie John Roberts hinted it might even be unconstitutional for it to have too many teeth.

    It is a compromise with reality. It is Rube Goldberg financial engineering.

    They think maybe they can fool people into buying bad, expensive for them, insurance. They will not get very many takers. They also don’t realize how bad and impossible to pay for policies they are.

    All their talk is how cheap it is. Well, this is a big lie. People who will get it cheap or free will get it. Other people, unless they have very high incomes or assets, will not. They openly admit that if that is the case, Obamacare will fail. Obama seems to think people maybe in a fit of absent-mindedness, will sign – and keep contracts that seriously crimp their lifestyle.

    It won’t even get to the point of rationing – well actually it starts out that way, and one reason not too many people will buy these policies. Only people who get it for almost free will.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  18. Barack Obama lies.
    Water is wet.
    Cubs lose.

    JD (5c1832)

  19. I read they are worried the reinsurance won’t work because too few young and healthy people will sign up.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  20. “Which they deliberately decided not to do.”

    Sammy – Therein lies the problem. The administration is fully aware from looking at states which experiments with different forms of health insurance reform that instituting community rating and guaranteed issue without a an enforceable virtually ensures dramatically higher rates and the collapse of a competitive market.

    That is the factual evidence. It cannot be denied.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  21. enforceable mandate

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  22. 18. Agreed. When the employer mandate kicks in the number of cancellations will balloon, by WH estimates, to 93 Million.

    Others are putting the number as high as 120 Million.

    To paraphrase Churchill, we’ll be watching the rubble bounce until its dust.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  23. Re: Comment by Colonel Haiku (a8bbc8) — 11/6/2013 @ 8:39 am

    Maybe the “Toronto Defense” can be used to explain the web site too.

    John T (ef9bb0)

  24. “I read they are worried the reinsurance won’t work because too few young and healthy people will sign up.”

    Sammy – Read the article.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  25. Or on crack, John T

    Colonel Haiku (a8bbc8)

  26. When he said ” PERIOD” in such a dramatic tone.
    It chilling reminded me of the same type lie , as President Clinton’s finger jab into our faces through the camera – when he lied about “not having sex with that woman.”
    The finger pointing of his, and the PERIOD ! stating by President Obama made their lies so powerful, and mocked us, and made us seem like fools for doubting their statements.
    Sickening.

    BuilderDoug (233455)

  27. This is a ‘crime’?

    Nah, drawing ninjas with guns blazing is a crime.

    This was recycling.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  28. Word to the young flim-flam artist. These two examples should learn you not to fall in love with your lifestyle.

    Be ready at any moment to move on. In fact, do so as a matter of course, quasi-randomly.

    http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-bernie-madoff-of-politics-who.html

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  29. Maybe it was unclear to you, L.A. Times editors, but it has always been clear to us.

    That would mean that Barack Obama didn’t lie when he said they had always said “you could keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law was passed.”

    Except of course they hadn’t always said it. To most people. Or even any. That’s what the law said, maybe.

    And “said” is a metaphpr. The law is written, not oral. I don’t think you could find one speech, or fragment of videotape, where anybody said anything like that.

    I don’t think this was even clear to Ted Cruz when he made that long speech in the Senate in September. Did he say that people were going to have their policies terminated at the end of this year? I don’t think he did.

    This is almost Orwellian. Except that Barack Obama isn’t really trying to make people beleive that. He’s just hoping it will fly for a day or two and slow people down. Reporters will have to work checking that out. And there does exist some kind of a paragraph somewhere stating that. Naybe after a day or two he won’t be getting asked about this any more.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  30. SF: “I read they are worried the reinsurance won’t work because too few young and healthy people will sign up.”

    25. Daleyrocks: Sammy – Read the article.

    if the actual allowable cost is more than 103 percent of the QHP’s target amount, a percentage of the difference will be paid back to the QHP (limiting loss).

    What if the total loss turns out to be 105% 110% 120% or 150% of premiums?

    What if nobody underestimates?

    What if the estimates aren’t even close???

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  31. What if the reinsurance fails?

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  32. A little while ago, I saw a bumper sticker that simply asks, “Who is Barry Soetoro ?

    Anyone else seen tthat bumper sticker ?
    Just curious.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  33. 21. Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 11/6/2013 @ 9:38 am

    The administration is fully aware from looking at states which experiments with different forms of health insurance reform that instituting community rating and guaranteed issue without a an enforceable virtually ensures dramatically higher rates and the collapse of a competitive market.

    That is the factual evidence. It cannot be denied.

    But it can be pretended that the mandate will be enforced by the means chosen.

    That’s why their Rube Goldberg financial engineering is best described as a compromise with reality.

    Obama and company keep on arguing it is a good deal….and lying about the prices people will pay!!

    I mean the people whom he needs to sign up will encounter – it’s no good if only those people who pay less than $100 or nothing sign up.

    What is it – 80% of the people aigning up so far fall into that category, or is that only the percentage of those who qualify for Medicaid?

    He needs, what? – 50% to be paying higher premiums than what he’s talking about? They keep on hoping things will get better. Lhota had better chances of being elected Mayor of New York City. And there it was only convincing people to vote one way or the other, not to spend money.

    A good deal? Affordable? It’s not a good deal. It’s not affordable for the people he needs to support the whole insurance scheme.

    And one difference from Massachusetts is that I think Massachusetts did not limit choice of doctors as much as is soresent herr do away with any old insurance (or did it?)

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  34. You would think that someone experienced with campaigns would know when he’s got a problem.

    Well, he probably does know. That’s why he wants to keep enrollment data secret.

    He and his advisers can comfort themselves with the idea that maybe as time goes on, more people will sign up, or can be motivated to do so.

    It’s all hope and self-delusion.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  35. Of course he’s asking for money, not votes. That alone woulds not shake him.

    Well, he has experience with that, too.

    But the difference is, with his campaigns, he was asking only a small percentage of the population to give money – here he is asking a cross section of everyone.

    And with the campaigns they figured out what a person might reasonably give and targeted that amount – the fundraising costs, via electrnic nmneans, were minimal. Even small amounts were worth getting.

    Here, they start out with a target – a target that I think he knows is too high. And he’s disregarding tghat, because not to disregard that is to give up on the whole Rube Goldberg scheme.

    There’s a reason the White House keeps on citing numbers like $50, $100, or earlier, the cost of a cellphone plan.

    Now here is the self-delusion: Can anybody possibly believe that when coinfronted by a dollar figure, people will suddenly agree to spend the money? Does he think hiding it until the last moment will do the trick?

    But then Obama has never marketed anything where he couldn’t radically reduce the cost and still be all right. For donations, you can ask for $5 and it is stil worth doing. here, it is no good if only people who spend less than $100 or even $200 a month sign up

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  36. He said “period”. There’s no question he was lying to the American people. Hard to elaborate when the point is so simple.

    Dustin (303dca)

  37. Yeah, that’s the ticket Barry.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  38. I’m sorry if you misunderstood what I said about keeping your insurance and your doctor.

    More like “I’m sorry if you were too stupid to understand what I meant to say about keeping your insurance and your doctor.”

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  39. “What if the total loss turns out to be 105% 110% 120% or 150% of premiums?

    What if nobody underestimates?

    What if the estimates aren’t even close???”

    Sammy – As I said, read the article. You might notice a handy table in it which covers the situations you are wondering about.

    derp

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  40. Comment by Dustin (303dca) — 11/6/2013 @ 10:55 am

    Isn’t “period” spelled: a…s…t…e…r…i…s…k?

    askeptic (b8ab92)

  41. “Except of course they hadn’t always said it. To most people. Or even any.”

    Sammy – Ergo, Obama lied when he said they always said that. He was talking about his words, not the written law as well. He was asking Americans to trust him, not read 2,700 pages of law and the narrow grandfathering provisions which had not even been written yet.

    Republicans were 100% correct to point out that Obamacare would lead to higher insurance prices. There is no free lunch.

    You can stop shilling any time.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  42. So, if Obama says “I am not a liar!” is that an admission?

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  43. So what? Obama said what he said and he didn’t believe a word of it when he said it, over and over, and the truth is neither did anyone else. It was an obvious lie, and he’s an obvious liar. You know it, I know it, he knows it, and so does everyone else with the brains of a crab apple. A=A, and a thing is itself. That’s logic.

    Barack Obama is a liar, plain and simple, it’s what he does, it’s the story of his life, he lies to rally his supporters, he lies to cover his crimes, he lies to give MSM ammunition to use against anyone who opposes his nostrums, and he lies to annoy his detractors. He lies because it pisses people off and they can’t do squat about it.

    And, Barack Obama lies because he enjoys lying, it gives him a peculiar pleasure to lie, obviously, boldly, and insolently, right to people’s faces, and he enjoys watching them squirm in silence consumed with self-conflict. They know he’s lying but they’re too frightened to call him on it. He’s sacrosanct. Can’t let the first Black President fail, or be exposed for the malignant lying jerk he so obviously is. It’s better to keep quiet and let him destroy the nation. Right?

    Recall when Congressman Joe Wilson called him out at the State of the Union Speech, You lie! and then, later, shamefully Joe went hat in hand to apologize to the liar (for telling the truth).

    Kissing the ass of the Anointed One is what makes this country great, now am I right or am I right?

    ropelight (a19b6f)

  44. You’re spitting in the wind, ropelight, but it’s my kind of spit.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  45. The WH boys (Pfeiffer, Burton, Rhodes et al.) remind me of the movie Glengary Glenn Ross.

    Nothing matters except the sale. Just close! Whatever happens next is immaterial.

    Patricia (be0117)

  46. Night before:
    You won’t get pregnant. Period.

    Morning after:
    What I said was, you won’t get pregnant if you are already on birth control.

    Amphipolis (d3e04f)

  47. Next day:
    You can get an abortion.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  48. I know it doesn’t really fit your clever ObamaCare analogy but I couldn’t resist.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  49. Actually, it fits pretty well.

    SPQR (768505)

  50. I’d love to abort ObamaCare.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  51. I don’t want something complicated baby
    I just want something simple like the truth

    Amphipolis (d3e04f)

  52. “But you’ll be hard pressed to convince me that there are not powerful and evil forces “behind the curtain” whose goal has been to destroy the US Health insurance market and eagerly used a popular elected puppet to do so.”

    You may be right in terms of intent but these people are not capable of taking advantage of chaos. Read this.

    Jones: And I’ve heard you mention that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) deciding to run the show was also a mistake.

    Charette: CMS doesn’t even have a track record as a system integrator, and system integration is the hardest job of all. You have to have a full understanding of the system. You have to make these tradeoffs, and you have to be almost dictatorial about making decisions and making them stick. But of course once you do, you also have to be able to reverse a decision very quickly upon figuring out that, oops, that isn’t how things work. And from all the press reports, CMS was the wrong organization, had the wrong expertise, and did not have the management capability to be the entity that has to make those decisions.

    We have not yet seen the beginning of he problems. Identity theft will be one.

    Jones: So what does that mean for the average person who doesn’t get employer-sponsored insurance?

    Charette: I’m one of those people. And what it means is that I have to do a personal risk assessment. I’m asking myself, What’s the risk of having identity theft and the subsequent issues that come with that versus not using the federal marketplace and paying a higher insurance rate because I can’t afford to have something like that happen?

    The employer market will also collapse. Why do you think unions wanted an exemption ?

    Mike K (dc6ffe)

  53. “The employer market will also collapse.”

    Mike K – Do you think the prospect of the employer market collapsing immediately before next year’s midterm elections will force a radical rethinking of the current version of 404Care?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  54. A wee tad OT, but connected to Dog’s lie about raising the ceiling does nothing to our debt.

    Last week Finland reveal to its inmates that it’d been ‘leasing’ its gold.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-06/move-over-fx-and-libor-wholesale-market-manipulation-and-banging-close-comes-crude-a

    The idea is Ben, Mario, et al., would beat back the price and buy at the bottom. See also Germany having requested its gold be returned will accept delivery on or before 2020.

    Maybe.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  55. 45. Comment by ropelight (a19b6f) — 11/6/2013 @ 11:21 am

    So what? Obama said what he said and he didn’t believe a word of it when he said it, over and over, and the truth is neither did anyone else. It was an obvious lie, and he’s an obvious liar.

    It was an obvious lie (since keeping your insurance is not always underr your control) but it was not obvious how big a lie it was.

    It was rerasonably interprted to mean, nobody would lose insurance because of the law. But that’s not exactly so.

    The law compelled inmsurance commpanies to stop offering certain policies. I did not know this.

    The law did not allow any policy to continue.

    There was a very mimportant catch: Any plan that existed on March 23, 2010 could continue after December 31, 2013 if it had remained virtually unchanged all that time – more than 3 1/2 years later. He didn’t say if you liked your plan back on Marech 23, 2010, the law won’t stop it from continuing past December 31, 2013, if it still exists.

    You know it, I know it, he knows it, and so does everyone else with the brains of a crab apple. A=A, and a thing is itself. That’s logic.

    Barack Obama is a liar, plain and simple, it’s what he does, it’s the story of his life, he lies to rally his supporters, he lies to cover his crimes,

    No. Mostly he lies about issues of public policy. Not about what his position is, but what the policy would do.

    The only possible crimes (not counting possible constitutional violations and strained interpretations of law) I see are:

    1) Accepting illegal campaign contributions by disabling address checking of credit cards.

    2) Accepting gratuities in the form of a job for his wife (this kind of thing is now getting J. P. Morgan and other banks in trouble with regard to hiring relatives of people in China and other places in Asia) and help from Rezco in purchasing a house. The statute of limitations has no doubt expired on that anyway, and it’s a really gray area.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  56. And, Barack Obama lies because he enjoys lying, it gives him a peculiar pleasure to lie, obviously, boldly, and insolently, right to people’s faces, and he enjoys watching them squirm in silence consumed with self-conflict.

    Are you talking about the Supreme Court when he mischaracterized the Citizens United decision?

    They know he’s lying but they’re too frightened to call him on it. He’s sacrosanct. Can’t let the first Black President fail, or be exposed for the malignant lying jerk he so obviously is. It’s better to keep quiet and let him destroy the nation. Right?

    Recall when Congressman Joe Wilson called him out at the State of the Union Speech, You lie! and then, later, shamefully Joe went hat in hand to apologize to the liar (for telling the truth).

    Kissing the ass of the Anointed One is what makes this country great, now am I right or am I right?

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  57. They know he’s lying but they’re too frightened to call him on it. He’s sacrosanct. Can’t let the first Black President fail, or be exposed for the malignant lying jerk he so obviously is. It’s better to keep quiet and let him destroy the nation. Right?

    I think it is the fact he is president, not really that he’s a black president. Anyway only Democats very readily do thid.

    Recall when Congressman Joe Wilson called him out at the State of the Union Speech, You lie! and then, later, shamefully Joe went hat in hand to apologize to the liar (for telling the truth).

    It was the wrong lie to pick, and anyway it’s not a counter.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  58. “Mike K – Do you think the prospect of the employer market collapsing immediately before next year’s midterm elections will force a radical rethinking of the current version of 404Care?”

    I don’t know what they can do. The whole program is DOA, as Tip O’Neill used to say about Reagan’s budget. I don’t think it can be fixed. Redesign will take years. The FBI spent ten years on the “Virtual case” program. And then, they started over.

    We may have to design a new system on the fly but first we need the feds to get out of the way.

    Mike K (dc6ffe)

  59. Mike Enzi, pointed out last night, that he was among the first to identify the problem,

    narciso (3fec35)

  60. Too late to abort ChaunceyCare, it must be strangled in the crib.

    Colonel Haiku (fb49f6)

  61. Mike K’s Spectrum interview link at 54 is an absolute must read. There is info there I’ve not seen elsewhere. It needs to be spread far and wide.

    elissa (d0035d)

  62. I do believe that when we’re in late Spring/early Summer 2014 and employers start sharing the impact of the law on employer provided coverage with employees… the proverbial defecation will hit the ventilation… low… medium… and high settings.

    Colonel Haiku (0f1c4b)

  63. I agree, Col. But I don’t think anyone knows what to do to stop it even then, tho they now know it can’t be fixed. The avalanche is just getting bigger and faster and more deadly to all in its path. And look how many more taxpayer millions will be down the drain. In the meantime the identity fraud probability is horrible and scary. Thanks Nancy. You’ve left yourself and your party quite a legacy.

    elissa (d0035d)

  64. There is no salvaging this, I’m afraid, that is the McAuliffe/Corzine/ Rattner mindset, they always find a lifeboat, most everyone else can drown, in their view.

    narciso (3fec35)

  65. Its a neat trick to break 1/6 of a stagnant economy.

    Guess they just wanted to shake things up a bit.

    Kinda like setting a hobo on fire.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  66. It’s arrogance and a fundamental lack of understanding how business – and industry in general – both work. It’s giving the Democrats the benefit of the doubt to say they had no idea how much damage would be wrought on the healthcare industry. A case can definitely be made that the destruction of the industry was what some of them were after.

    One thing’s for certain: there must be a criminal investigation of the money trail. Hundreds of millions of dollars down the sh*tter. Both Obamas and their friends and cronies have been enriched during his tenure.

    Colonel Haiku (ebff43)

  67. There is an analogy here… as New Mexico goes, so goes America…

    “REPORT: Man Anally Probed 8 Times After Traffic Stop… Sent $6,000 Bill”

    Colonel Haiku (ebff43)

  68. He thinks (and I fear he’s correct) that if he keeps on lying, it will become a non-story, and the lie will be revealed truth. To stop lying will be to confirm that he had lied, and that the lie was false.

    The lie will continue until he’s replaced.

    htom (412a17)

  69. I know things have gotten very, very bad when the following observation by an insider makes rumors that Obama also is involved in peculiar extracurricular activities seem truly tame and innocuous by comparison. Quite seriously, Barry could hold a press conference tomorrow and announce he was divorcing Michelle in favor of Reggie Love and that would be a somewhat positive distraction for him, his administration, and his sycophants in general.

    infowars.com via drudgereport.com:

    [Former Secret Service agent] Dan Bongino has protected numerous Presidents over his career, including President Obama. He has been within ear-shot of many a discussion in the Oval Office, but up until this administration has stayed out of the lime light. Apparently, however, the activities of this administration are so abhorrent that he could no longer keep quiet.

    “The President sees government – and I think it’s because of his lack of experience and maybe community organizing in the past – as this shiny new toy. For all the disagreements I had with Clinton, Carter and Bush there were always limits…there was that line you just didn’t cross… We cross it seemingly every day. We’re lost in the scandals…

    The Jamie Dimon shakedown at Chase… the HHS scandal… Kathleen Sebelius shaking down the health care industry for money… the IRS… it’s to the point where these scandals in and of themselves would be huge back-breaking scandals [but] are just lost in the scandal fog of this administration…

    It’s worse than people know… and I’m not trying to scare you either.”

    Mark (58ea35)

  70. Mark #72,

    Dan Bongino is an excellent guy.
    He is a former NYPD officer, who then spent 12 years as a Secret Service agent.
    He resigned in order to run for the US Senate in Maryland against incumbent Democrat Ben Cardin in 2012.
    Bongino lost, obviously, but now he’s running for a Congressional seat in the more conservative central and western Maryland counties.
    Occasionally, he has been guest host for Sean Hannity as well as Mark Levin.
    If he can get elected, he will be an important voice in the House. He’s very smart, and speaks very well.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  71. I don’t want to be an alarmist. Mike Enzi predicted this in 2010.

    They don’t know what to do. They are too ignorant to understand the trouble we are in. As next year comes up, they may be willing to suspend implementation but it is too late for the insurance market. What we have is a cargo cult program. It looks similar to something that could work but there is no prospect that it will.

    Maybe we can get approval for new policies that are catastrophic type. They would be cheap and would cover the prospect of serious illness. The pre-existing condition provision could be handled as it only affects a small group, about 250,000 people.

    If we went to a cash market for routine care and real insurance for insurable events, we could actually end up OK. For the poor, there is Medicaid and the drive to kill private health insurance is an old goal of the left. They may be punch drunk by next October. Maybe we could get real reform. The GOP has been nibbling around the edges for years.

    Mike K (dc6ffe)

  72. Longish article on China’s yuan trade:

    http://www.vancouversun.com/Business/asia-pacific/China+yuan+makes+waves+international+currency/9123015/story.html

    17% of its trade is in its own currency, up from 1% in 2009.

    Oil coming soon?

    We’ll check back after January budget battles.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  73. Unexpectedly, CMS’s chief technology officer is “retiring” before healthcare.gov is scheduled to be back up … or just up … whatever

    This is totally “unexpectedly” … whatever

    Neo (d1c681)

  74. This may not be helpful, but it is illustrative:
    http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2013/11/scientific-diagram-illustrates-how.html

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  75. The reinsurance arrangements I described earlier in the thread the government provided to induce/bludgeon insurers to participate in the exchanges remind me of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act the government put in place after 9/11 when insurance markets got disrupted. Prior to 9/11 insurers did not separately price risks for acts of terrorism in the U.S., but afterwards, many became wary of insuring large buildings in major metropolitan areas or large workers’ comp exposures in what were viewed as terror exposed locations or industries without excluding terrorism risks. Lenders and investors, however, insisted on insurance coverage for terrorism risk so the government stepped in with what was initially viewed as a temporary backstop facility under the markets could figure out how to price the risk. Needless to say, it has been renewed a few times and the current version is in place until 2014. That may foreshadow what happens with Unaffordable 404Care if it survives the initial three years.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  76. Anyone who couldn’t figure out he was lying from the beginning is an idiot.

    AZ Bob (ade845)

  77. Of course, Obamacare requires insurers to change the policies. So they all change and no one can keep their insurance, doctor, or hospital.

    kimsch (2a7c0d)

  78. Did anyone ever truly believe him? You all need a true American president instead of an imposter.

    Hoosier (980291)

  79. Reminds me of how the Jews were forced to board the death trains. Looks like a dominating socialist dictator’s way of beautifying the exterior appearance of the train, but once you step inside, please be seated. Get your seatbelt on, and get ready for a one-way ride OF your life!

    Hoosier (980291)

  80. Pass this Bill, he shouted. You have to pass the Bill to see what’s in it, she craftily remarked. Fool Americans once, shame on you. Fool Americans more than twice, then you are a Fool.

    Hoosier (980291)

  81. Since there’s not enough money to pay down the national debt, reach deeper beyond the people’s wallets and purse; go for their bank accounts and liquid assets. Pretend they are getting a great deal on the socialists’ medicine plan. Stupid Americans. So freaking gullible to have believed in their so-called president. Impeachment Happens.

    Hoosier (980291)

  82. Reinsurance arrangements: I see that after 103% and then even more 108% the cost of the extra claims gets shared between the government and the insurance companies.

    A very high ratio will lead to financial trouble for insurance companies, which may even need to be bailed out, and a death spiral in insurance charges.

    A death spiral is quite possible.

    Sammy Finkelman (9e0380)

  83. 86. And thus the ‘wisdom’ of the Senate GOP.

    “Let Obamacare collapse under its own weight. We are powerless”.

    Profiles in courage.

    At least Chamberlain got that fool piece of paper.

    A vote for a Republican is equivalent to stepping into the boxcar.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)


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