US Politics Mega-thread - Page 8279

On August 02 2017 11:54 Nyxisto wrote:
It seems a little reflective of the whole "hire American buy American" thing that Trump has going on. In the politico interview someone posted earlier he was referring to Jefferson while he defended his protectionism. I don't really think going back to the economic policy of provincial farmers of the 18th century is a great idea. It's funny that the US at the same time are so successul at producing global businesses with some of the smartest guys from all around the globe but have this huge streak of nativist politics going on at the same time.

On August 02 2017 11:59 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:


Neoliberalism has gutted this country. In a perfect world we would be like Germany but with tighter immigration.

On August 02 2017 08:41 mozoku wrote:

You need to have an annual gross income of $15,600 for a single individual. Which was my income ($15,000) as a TA in grad school, so I know exactly how poor you have to be. I lived without food stamps, loans, and managed to build myself a $1k gaming computer and pay $2k out-of-pocket for my wisdom teeth surgery within a year and a half of savings at that income.

On August 02 2017 11:54 Nyxisto wrote:
It seems a little reflective of the whole "hire American buy American" thing that Trump has going on. In the politico interview someone posted earlier he was referring to Jefferson while he defended his protectionism. I don't really think going back to the economic policy of provincial farmers of the 18th century is a great idea. It's funny that the US at the same time are so successul at producing global businesses with some of the smartest guys from all around the globe but have this huge streak of nativist politics going on at the same time.

On August 02 2017 09:14 ChristianS wrote:

Mind clarifying what you meant by this bit? Do you think that giving food stamps to people making $15,000 a year or less is an overgrown safety net? Do you think people with that kind of income should be able to survive on ~$13,000 like you did (when subtracting the additional expenses you mentioned)?

If so, it seems like you oughta give a little more detail on why that was possible. What was your housing situation, and what was it costing you? Were you eating nothing but plain rice and water? Were your utilities paid for by some third party? Were you making frequent use of some kind of public resources (e.g. showering at the Y)?

Because I know my city is fairly expensive, but here at least, if you got a 2 bed room in a pretty cheap neighborhood and split the rent between 4 people, you'd still be paying ~$400 a month in rent, which is already more than a third of the $13,000 you want people to live on. Unless you're wanting 3 or 4 people to share a studio or something, I'm not really sure how you want people to swing that.

Republicans lawmakers are urging Donald Trump to continue paying critical health insurance subsidies that help lower-income people afford it, amid growing concern that the president will follow through on his threat to cancel them.

Frustrated by his party’s failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Trump has dangled the possibility that he would stop the payments – a move that experts say would send insurance markets into turmoil and cause premiums to rise dramatically.

Democrats have called the threat an attempt to “sabotage” the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare.

Senator Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Senate health, education, labor and pensions Committee, announced on Tuesday that his committee would begin holding hearings after Labor Day to discuss bipartisan legislation “to stabilize and strengthen the individual health insurance market” in 2018.

“There are a number of issues with the American healthcare system but if your house is on fire you want to put out the fire,” Alexander said in introductory remarks at the start of a committee hearing on Tuesday afternoon. “And the fire in this case is the individual health insurance market. Both Republicans and Democrats agree on this.”

Alexander publicly called on the president to continue the payments to insurance companies, knowns as cost sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies. The payments help insurance companies off-set low-income customers out-of-pocket medical expenses such as deductibles and co-payments.

“Without payment of these cost-sharing reductions Americans will be hurt,” he said.

He described the impact of cutting off the payments, which total an estimated $7bn in 2017 and cover roughly 7 million people. Without the funding, he said, the insurance markets would unravel and insurers would likely leave the marketplaces leaving consumers with few, or possibly no, coverage options to buy insurance through the marketplace exchanges.

The insurers that stay will likely have to raise insurance premiums in order to offset the loss of the payments. He cited an analysis by the America’s Health Insurance Plans that found insurance premiums would increase by roughly 20%. Middle-class Americans would largely bear the brunt of the increases, as poorer customers could still access the subsidies.

The announcement was the first attempt by senators of both parties to cooperate on healthcare after a Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act collapsed in dramatic fashion on the chamber floor. On Monday, the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of House members, unveiled a suite of fixes to the healthcare law to stabilize the insurance markets. The most significant of their five proposals would appropriate funding for the law’s cost-sharing subsidies.

Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility that he might cancel the payments to insurance companies in an attempt to undermine the Affordable Care Act.

“If ObamaCare is hurting people, & it is, why shouldn’t it hurt the insurance companies & why should Congress not be paying what public pays?” Trump tweeted on Monday.

Democrats have accused the administration of trying to inject uncertainty into the insurance market.

“The American people need a president who puts their interests first,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech on Tuesday, “not someone who plays political games with their healthcare.”

On Tuesday, several Republican senators joined Democrats in urging the president to continue payments.

“Just thinking about those families that would be hurt were they not [continued], I think it would be better to continue them,” said Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana. “And I think it would be better then for Congress to do the constitutional thing and get it appropriated for a year or two.”

Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine who helped thwart the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, said it was “absolutely essential” that the president continue funding for the subsidies.

On August 02 2017 11:59 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:


Neoliberalism has gutted this country. In a perfect world we would be like Germany but with tighter immigration.

On August 02 2017 12:29 Nyxisto wrote:


Critizing the fact that America draws people from all over the world is kind of terrible, it's the unique strength of the US. It's like your superpower. Immigration criticism in the US is like critizing engineering and beer in Germany. It's what keeps the country running.