Category Archives: Obama
ObamaCare Death Spiral
Forbes defines a health insurance death spiral as “adverse selection” which happens when only high risk people buy insurance:
If only people on their death beds buy life insurance, the insurance company would quickly go out of business. Equally, if only sick people buy health insurance, the math will not work…
To reduce the risk of adverse selection, the Affordable Care Act created a penalty for people who do not enroll in insurance. However, the penalty for not having insurance in 2016 was the higher of $695 per individual or 2.5% of income. Although $695 is a lot of money, it is still cheaper than health insurance policies offered on the exchange.
Death Spiral
That’s because ObamaCare rates are going up an average of 25% next year. And, according to the Wall Street Journal, that’s just “for the mid-level insurance plans that are performing the best, not the average increase of all ObamaCare coverage.”
In Arizona premiums will go up 116% next year. Big insurance companies are pulling out of the exchanges.
That same WSJ editorial says President Obama took a victory lap for ObamaCare in Miami last week. He bragged about “all the progress we’ve made in controlling costs.”
CNN says ObamaCare woes will linger long after he’s gone.
United States Russia Reset Gets Rolling
President Obama tried to reset relations with Russia. He tried to be flexible. And what does he get in return? Hacked.
Here’s Krauthammer on how Obama got rolled by the Russians (and how we got rolled on Obamacare).
Elephant In Debate Room
CNN says Hillary Clinton won the debate. Donald Trump disagrees but most other polls aren’t backing him up, so far.
Trump seemed to get the best of Hillary in the first 30 minutes when they tangled over trade rules. He caught her on the wrong side of President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Trade Deal, pointing out that she had called it the “gold standard.” Hillary denied this and then replied it wasn’t her responsibility and that she had changed her mind. So Trump insisted that she say it was Obama’s fault:
TRUMP: You called it the gold standard of trade deals. You said it’s the finest deal you’ve ever seen.
CLINTON: No.
TRUMP: And then you heard what I said about it, and all of a sudden you were against it.
CLINTON: Well, Donald, I know you live in your own reality, but that is not the facts. The facts are — I did say I hoped it would be a good deal, but when it was negotiated…
TRUMP: Not.
CLINTON: … which I was not responsible for, I concluded it wasn’t. I wrote about that in my book…
TRUMP: So is it President Obama’s fault?
CLINTON: … before you even announced.
TRUMP: Is it President Obama’s fault?
CLINTON: Look, there are differences…
TRUMP: Secretary, is it President Obama’s fault?
CLINTON: There are…
TRUMP: Because he’s pushing it.
CLINTON: There are different views about what’s good for our country, our economy, and our leadership in the world. And I think it’s important to look at what we need to do to get the economy going again. That’s why I said new jobs with rising incomes, investments, not in more tax cuts that would add $5 trillion to the debt.
At that point Trump seemed to be mopping the floor with her. But Hillary quickly got under his skin by trashing his business acumen and ethics.
She took a page from the Harry Reid playbook to claim Trump doesn’t pay income taxes. Incredibly, The Donald seemed to agree by saying, “it makes me smart.” For the record, PolitiFact doesn’t agree. It rates her claim mostly false.
But after that Trump seemed Low Eenergy.
Elephant In Debate Room
The elephant in debate room was the fact that Immigration, Benghazi, and the Clinton Foundation didn’t make the cut. Those issues were never brought up by moderator Lester Holt or Trump.
Unburdened of that baggage, Hillary dragged her prey off into the tall grass. There she dismembered the small handed one with accusations of racism and sexism.
She claimed the Stop and Frisk law was ruled unconstitutional and moderator Holt backed her up. She also insisted the murder rate continues to decline. In truth, Stop and Frisk was never ruled unconstitutional. And the FBI released a report the next morning showing the murder rate had surged 10.8% in 2015.
Hillary went on to back up her racism charge using Tulsa and Charlotte as “tragic examples.” Trump lacked the energy to point out that Black people rioted in Charlotte where a black man was killed by a black police officer who worked for a black police chief.
Final Insult
President Obama warned the Congressional Black Caucus that he’ll be “personally insulted” if African Americans don’t vote for Hillary Clinton.
Insult
I don’t know if an entire race took that as an insult. But I’m pretty sure how it would be taken if Trump made the same pitch to caucasians.
No Respect For Obama From Iran Navy
Not long ago I drew ISIS as the Rodney Dangerfield of jihad. But now President Obama is turning out to be the Rodney Dangerfield of the rest of the world. Nobody much seems to respect him. Or fear him.
Iran Navy
Just this past week China snubbed the president during an airport greeting. Then Russian jets buzzed U.S. military aircraft over the Black Sea. And finally the Iran Navy said thanks for the ransom money by harassing U.S. ships with glorified jet skis.
Oh, and the president of the Philippines called him a son-of-a-bitch.
Charles Krauthammer says the the president’s “high minded lectures about global norms and demands that others live up to their “international obligations” are no longer amusing. Now they’re irritating.”
He notes that Obama told CNN that he warned Chinese President Xi to behave in the South China Sea “or there would be consequences.”
Red line anyone?
