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September 25, 2014 07:01 AM UTC

Thursday Open Thread

  • 76 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

"Fear and greed are potent motivators. When both of these forces push in the same direction, virtually no human being can resist."

–Andrew Weil

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76 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

    1. No, actually I said I expect that the Republicans pick up 7 seats.

      3 already over, MT, SD and WV;

      3 of 4 from: AK, AR, LA and NC; and 

      1 of 2 from IA and CO.

      Dems have spent a ton of money in North Carolina which have driven down Tillis numbers, but not driven up Hagan numbers.  She is ahead, but still on the ropes.

        2. The two most recent published polls have Hagan leading 42 to 40 (High Point) and 41 to 36 (Fox).  As the incumbent polling at 42 and 41% she is in real trouble.  The undecideds are likely to break away from her.

            1. I was in NC two weeks ago and met the Moral Monday folks.  We can give a lot of credit to their activisim for keeping Hagan in the lead.  These people have more morality and integrity in their pinkie finger than WIF does in his entire being.

            1. This Koch troll trafficks in severe delusion, conjecture, wild suppostion, wishful thinking, and "magical" assumptions. Like his mentally ill party, he kicked the reality-based facts "habit" many moons agao.

        3. Did you see in the NY Times article about Jeb Bush campaigning in Greenboro, NC for Tillis?  Tillis moved away from Jebbie when he went off on the need for immigration reform and Common Core!

          1. Priceless! And this is but a tiny preview of what Jebbie can look forward to should he make the mistake of trying to run in '16. The (other, less nuanced) Teabags will hack him up into little political pieces.

        1. His political ass-whipping will come in early November, and then he'll slink away, back under his rock. lacking the courage to face us after his party's defeat in many of the close Senate races, including here in CO.

    1. Fianl paragraph from this long, incredibly important piece:

      "The Koch brothers get richer as the costs of what Koch destroys are foisted on the rest of us – in the form of ill health, foul water and a climate crisis that threatens life as we know it on this planet. Now nearing 80 – owning a large chunk of the Alberta tar sands and using his billions to transform the modern Republican Party into a protection racket for Koch Industries' profits – Charles Koch is not about to see the light. Nor does the CEO of one of America's most toxic firms have any notion of slowing down. He has made it clear that he has no retirement plans: "I'm going to ride my bicycle till I fall off."

  6. Why the uproar about the recent Gardner ad?

    Gardner puts out an ad that starts off with Udall is a really nice guy.  Dems shouldn't have a problem so far.

    The ad mentions facts contained on Udall's site like his family legacy of being Senators and Congressmen and even that his father ran for the Dem nomination to be President.  Dems can't really dispute those facts.

    So why the uproar?  Those facts fit in nicely with the narrative that Udall and the Dems are the party of the status quo and Gardner is the agent of change.

    Dems, particularly the old hippie types, have a self-image problem admitting that they are now the status quo and the broken machine.

    Sometimes reality hurts.

        3. I'm a socialist, although I register as a Democratic to have a hand in selecting candidates in primaries.  What is it about being a socialist that you think I should be ashamed of?

          1. Nothing, but if you are a socialist, don't tell anybody else that they do not know what reality is.

            Socialism is a concept that works in limited settings, like a family unit, but when applied in larger settings like a national government has not worked out so well.

            2. And when, according to this unassailable, irrefutable chart, did everything start going straight to hell economically for everyone in this country but the very wealthy?

              UNDER RONALD REAGAN. And it's been all downhill for the rest of us ever since.

              Hmm…I wonder why…

              You won't respond. You can't. And we all know the reason.

              1. The reason the "rich" are doing so much better than the poor recently is the stock market and the fed policy of keeping interest rates down.  About 20% of Americans own any stock.  Obama and the Dems are in bed with Wall Street just as much as the Republicans were.

                1. Well, Duh!  The CEO's with their cronies on interlocking board of directors off-shore their company profits and all the middle class jobs, leaving the middle class to scavenge for minimum wage jobs.

                  Then cut funding for higher education, but make sure the banks get the gravy from student loan business with zero risk due to government guarantees, you insure the next generation of low-paid, heavily indebted workers will beg for whatever scraps you toss their way.

                  That's the GOP plan…

            3. I should be OK with that, since that's still more settings than Libertarianism works in.

              Free public education, Medicare, social secuirty, food aid, rural electrification, public housing, protections for collective bargaining.  I really wish just one of these had worked, even just a little.

              Now, admittedly, I would like to see government control over more means of production (and finance, which produces nothing).  I'd like to see a government monopoly on extractive industries, for instance, to ensure protection of the commons and use at home before abroad.  I'd also like to see a national bank that was content to make a little scratch from good loans and nothing else.  I'd also like to see cities become developers for rental and other properties rather than funders of private developers.

              1. And as to those other things you would like to see government control, that I do not, there are multiple historical examples where those attempts did now work out so well.

                My view is that there is not a one size fits all model that works.  The solution to a problem needs to be driven by which model when applied to a particular problem produces the best results and the least adverse side effects.

                2. Socialism is a concept that works in limited settings, like a family unit, but when applied in larger settings like a national government has not worked out so well.

                  The alacrity and ease with which you abandon your positions in the face of opposing evidence marks you as a true member of the faithful, my son.

            4. "…don't tell anybody else that they do not know what reality is".

              Good one, WIF.  And you might want to grasp that the Gardner family has prospered in a rural town almost exclusively because of social(ist) policy:  we electrificed our communites under FDR's New Deal, our local coops, telelphone companies and hardware stores are cooperatives.  The federal farm program has created a safety net for our farmers that makes it possible for farmers to buy those tractors.  In fact, in our county of 10,000, our farming community received $547 million in federal subsidies over the past decade.  Wrap your arms around that number. 

              I've made it clear on this page before, I don't have a problem with farm safety nets – it's roots are in our nation's chosen 'cheap food policy'.  What I have a problem with is these free market patriots running around yacking about things like food assistance while they are simultaneously robbing the federal treasury. 

              I'd suggest you get a clue – but given that the election is fast approaching and you'll vaporize into the darkness after election day, forget it.  We'll just suffer your ignorance a few more weeks.  

                1. I guess this is the part where the socialist tells you that you don't know what reality is.  Just because you read some random bunch of idiocy in the Washington Times, doesn't mean you know something.  In fact, it probably means you know less than when you started reading.

                  Norway is a very successful country– scoring second overall on the OECD's Better Life Index.  As for the oil wealth they've "squandered," well, they have about the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio of any first world country.  And they foolishly have made sure that limited mineral resources benefit future generations through the better part of a trillion dollars in The Oil Fund.

                  sosialistiske drittsekker!

                  1. About that oil fund:

                    First, the oil fund is a mathematical artifice. At three-quarters of a trillion dollars, the Norwegian Oil Fund appears to provide plenty for a country with scarcely 5 million citizens. Yet the country has accumulated a foreign debt that, at $657 billion, is almost as massive. Subtracting the debt from the fund’s $740 billion leaves a balance of only $83 billion. In other words, there is a treasure chest, but it is almost empty: Njord’s prize for future generations is only a little more than 10 percent of its putative value.

                    http://peakoil.com/publicpolicy/norways-shame-how-a-nation-squandered-its-oil-riches

                    1. That's a copy of the Washington Times piece.  I don't have time to teach you economics today, but you've just said that Norway is badly off because it can only instantly repay its national debt and still have a $100 billion left.  Even if that were the whole story (it isn't, for example, borrowing cheap money on time can actually cost less than laying out cash when inflation and returns are figured in, for example), That's a pretty enviable position to be in.

                      Both you and the work you cite betray a childlike understanding of debt and its role in the national economy (sorry for the insult, kids).  It pairs well with your befuddlement  at the way the rest of the world works, though.

                    2. Apparently " deficits don't matter " to Andrew and his ilk, but if there's a SURPLUS, hey lets try to criticize it !

                      I bet Andrew can even understand this, but i'll make it extra simple:

                      A SURPLUS is always better than a DEFICIT.

                    3. Holy shit, we only have 83 BILLION FREE AND CLEAR after the bills are paid, whatever are we going to do ?

            7. "Those damn socialist Scandanavians keep outperforming everyone in everything."  — Rick Eichhorn

              The  Nordic social democracies seem to be doing OK. 

              And Finland rocks in its public education.  Harrison District 2 just announced a dramatic turnaround in one its lowest performing schools using a similar philosophy. 

          1. Typical rightwing WIF troll, "Americans can't do it we have to follow China and India's lead!"

             

            Oh, and you are Full of shit too:

            Renewable Energy Investment Attractiveness Sees China Soar, US & UK Lose Ground

            China Leads In Renewable Investment – Again!

             

             

            Brazil Soars in Clean Energy Rankings

            With almost half of its energy supply generated by renewable sources, Brazil increasingly looks like a positive example for the rest of the world.

             

             

             

          3. After all the 'hair on fire' moments by the RWNJ that Germany, the world's eighth largest economy, didn't attend – they apparently missed the fact that German and EU targets are already well above the proposed targets by POTUS and they are well on their way to meeting them.

            Only our WIF would sell his champion steer at the county fair for half the price of the reserve grand champion – and think he won.

  9. So today the Sentinel has a story wherein Don Suppes gets a little more specific about the unnamed staffer that may or may not have hacked and or posted unauthorized content to a twitter site that Don may or may not have set up himself–'she' was 'hispanic.'   

    Suppes said he didn’t know if that staffer, who he declined to identify other than to say that she was of Hispanic descent, agreed with items on the website or merely meant to point out its vitriolic nature.

    Regardless, it was an unauthorized posting, and Suppes said he was dismayed at how many others were quick to believe that he somehow is a nutty, racist conspiracy theorist.

    “It’s sad that we’ve reached a point in society were this stuff takes place,” he said in an interview.

    Now if one Googles "Don Suppes hispanic staffer" looks what pops up:

    • Don Suppes for Colorado

      www.donsuppes.com/

      •  
      •  

       

      Your Republican candidate for Colorado State Senate District 5.

      Missing: hispanic ‎staffer

     

  11. HHS: Obamacare coverage is reducing hospitals’ unpaid bills

    The Obama administration is projecting that hospitals will face $5.7 billion less in uncompensated care costs than they otherwise would have in the first full year of the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion.

    Millions more people with health insurance means fewer uninsured patients are coming through hospitals' doors. That means fewer costs from bad debt or charity care from people unable to pay their bills, which amounted to about $50 billion for the nation's hospitals in 2012.

    Five years ago, when advocates were still trying to build support for the bill that became the ACA, they saw the potential for reducing the costs of uncompensated care as a big selling point. That's because those costs were already getting passed along to the tabs of people who could pay. This "hidden tax" amounted to about $1,000 for family coverage, according to a2009 analysis from Families USA.

    "When there's uncompensated care, it gets fed back into premiums," Council of Economic Advisers chairman Jason Furman said Wednesday in a briefing with reporters. However, officials said they didn't specifically calculate how the lower costs from uncompensated care would show up in the premiums people pay for coverage.

    The reduction in uncompensated care is much greater in states that expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act, according to the new report. About three-quarters of the reduction in uncompensated care, or $4.2 billion, will be seen in about half the states that expanded their Medicaid programs under the federal health care law.

    When the new laws on medical loss ratios require insurance companies to refund excess premiums or lower theire rates, will citizens in the confederate conservative states that didn't take the Mediciad expansion apply some political pressure to their electeds?

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