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And The Biggest "Contributor" To Q3 GDP Was...
If you said "the Supreme Court-approved tax that is Obamacare", then give yourself a pat on the back.
As we broke down earlier, Q1 GDP rose at a disappointing 1.5% CAGR, rising to $16.394 trillion in chained dollars, an increase of $61 billion, and a modest annual increase of just 2% compared to Q3 2014, the lowest Y/Y increase since the 1.7% recorded in Q1 2014.
Yet with most components disappointing, growth had to come from somewhere. So where did it come from?
The answer: of the $60.6 billion annualized increase, the biggest contributor came from one specific spending category which accounted for $18.2 billion of this, or 30% of the total.
That "category" is highlighted in the chart below.
And so, for the 5th consecutive quarter, Obamacare once again comes to the "rescue" of the US economy.
Now if only all other taxes could be added as GDP growth line items, then the US economy would be well and truly flying.
Finally, to those asking how the collapsing U.S. middle class spent a whopping $10.4 billion on Recreational goods and vehicles in the 3rd quarter, please don't ask * we have no idea.
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At least Americans are healthy and spending lots of time on recreation. <sarcasm>
See? I told you guys that forced spending was a better way to run the economy than relying on people's voluntary purchases. Now we can make GDP whatever we want it to be by simple government mandate.
I tried that with Mrs K and it worked marvelously.
It's called the; "Your new earrings make you butt look smaller." program.
Anybody seen that dickhead Gruber? I got $50 real cash money for anyone who kicks him square in the sack.
I suspect that sack is empty. . .
Naw, a meatbag.
The economic segment called "Recreational Goods and Vehicles and Other" grew exceptionally well. My guess is that gun sales contributed significantly.
Yet "Recreation Services" was in the red. Seems contradictory
And yet, healthcare is never mentioned in inflation numbers.
Don't worry my fellow comrades of the USSA, we'll have obesity and diabetes cured in decades at this rate of government contribution.
Buffalo Wild Wings shares nosedive after sales and earnings whiff
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/buffalo-wild-wings-shares-nosedive-2015380...
Da peeples cant even afford chicken wings!
At a buck a wing, fuck them.
Buy gubmint ordered stuff - OR GO TO JAIL.
Thanks Obama, and ignorant a$$holes who support this Marxist crap.
I've been thinking about opening a new franchise called Buffalo Wild Feet. Gonna sell chicken feet under 50 cents a piece. The smart money is already fleeing BWW.
Gumint will make obesity and diabetes illegal...then shoot it.
I expect many are doing what I did two years ago: Becoming a full time RVer. Yep, bought a used 25' Class A RV and a camping membership, paid in full. Current "membership dues" (what I call rent) per mo: $35. Not for everyone, but I like living way below my means and being able to travel when I like. Wintering over in SoCal playing golf 3 times a week.
Maybe the flooding in some parts of the country caused people to have to vacate their houses for awhile. After Katrina, the travel trailer sales lots emptied out.
Recreational Vehicle=RV=new home.
http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid...
I'll match that fifty.
I'll do it for free.
spent more on "Healthcare", then Food, Gasoline, Cars and Housing COMBIND !
All hail King Obama for making the economy grow!
The term "insurance" implies that I am buying a product to protect myself against some sort of catastrophic loss. Insurance stops being insurance when in fact- it actually becomes that certain catastrophic loss that I sought to protect myself from in the first place.
Recreation ....................Down!!!!!!!
Is Hookers and blow..................in Recreation.......................say it ain't so.......................things must be bad
Pretty much
Have you seen the size of women in thsi country. Yikes, even a beached whale looks slim
Have you seen the size of women in thsi country. Yikes, even a beached whale looks slim
I am Jobe,
Yes.
On average, disgustingly huge.
Finding an exercise, food intake, health conscious woman, is like looking for a needle in a stack of bowling pins.
Duck pins at that, not candle pins.
Add no sexual abuse or addiction(from text to meth), or parental hate, good luck.
Finally, discovering a woman who is one and recognizes what a man sincerely would, could, and should always be, unlikely. Raised without television is an attribute to seek as media has made woman an equal man, and man genderless.
Divide and Conquer on ALL fronts. To assume otherwise is foolhardy.
Probably all the "fitbits" that I see people wearing all day long.
Can I just vent a bit about this shit?
Why is it that today in society that to even go for a walk you have to somehow chain yourself into technology? Is the walk any better when you have metrics on it? Have we sunk that far where the "feeling" you get from doing something is overridded by the "feeling" you get by telling or showing another exactly what you did?
Are we removing every connection we have to ourselves, or maybe inserting some type of (data mineable) technology in between our feel good feedback loops?
Do people not realize that looking at a picture of the food presented in front of you will not stimulate you the same way that actually seeing, smelling and tasting it will?
Why do we have to marginalize our experiences by doing this? Is anything not real anymore unless it is "liked" by others?
pods
Who needs a RFID chip implanted under your skin when you've got a fitbit.
I must be getting old but who the heck would wear one of these i-watches or fitbits?!........the only wearable tech I'll ever own is a cell phone that gets ditched regularly when not on call. Seems like buying exercise equipment (hope) that just sits there as an expensive clothes hanger, I'm old fashioned but get off your butt and go do something outside if you need exercise.
You nailed it, Pods. I don't get the whole "look at what I'm having for dinner" thing. Has our society become so narcissistic that we have to try to outshine all of our friends and acquaintances by trying to one-up everyone? Selfies are an epidemic. The selfie-stick is the perfect symbol for how self-absorbed and self-centered our society has become. It's ridiculous. It makes me sad. I weep for the future of this country.
Blessings upon you, Dawg!
The words of honesty and insights, product of the Awakenings.
LOL, it all fixes itself after the EMP
No worries
I keep thinking that it must be one of the signs of the end. The world ends not with a bang but with a dumbass iSomething telling us that it is all over.
Personally, if I'm going out anyhow, I'd rather be banging than looking at some technology.
Great posts you guys!!! Basically it comes down to this: People today will do pretty much anything to avoid introspection. We, the denizens of the 21st century don't like to look at our gnarls and patchy imperfections... Yup, smells like narcissism to me.
;-D
Some people are getting it. Actually had a conversation (haha, people do still have those) yesterday with a smoking buddy at work. We were talking about how when you take pictures nowadays, you end up with 1000 pics that you never look at again. In the olden days, you had limited film, so you took a few pics that years later you would look at, recreating the memory.
Now we are trying to encase that memory in digital ink and live there. It is sad. A memory is many times more powerful than any image you see. And we are forgetting how to remember things. We can only immerse ourselves in a picture timeline.
Our narcisistic society drives me nuts. Now you cannot even take a car ride where you would converse and absorb a trip (anyone have any good memories of car trips?) because your new Chevy is WiFi enabled and you all can stay plugged in to whatever dopamine drip you are hooked on.
I pity people more and more. And not that good pity.
pods
Sociologists and statisticians are showing people can only remember about 5-6 numbers at a time. It used to be that they could remember 10-12. (I still know phone numbers despite the asses around me who just push the button to talk to someone.)
Of course we're at war with Eastasia. We've always been at war with Eastasia. Have you somehow forgotten this, Comerade?
Let me ask you a simple question; are you as perfect as Jesus? If you will honestly answer no and do not do something about that problem, then you will be with the very people you pity for an eternity. Really! One thing that no one escapes is physical death and all people have eternal souls.
As it is written, in the latter days the "love of many will grow cold"; we see it everywhere; don't we? But that is just a foolish book full of old fables.
Funny you mentioned that Pods. My wife just fell into the fitbit craze and it makes me want to scream, "WTF do you need a fitbit to tell you to get up and do soemthing?" "Put the damn phone down, take the damn thing off your wrist and go for a walk." They're nothing but a look at me fanshion statement anyway.
Well, it can help you if you need exercise. I don't want to totally poo poo it. It just seems that today we cannot umplug, and that is scary.
I could see you using it to check your personal bests in running, etc.
I just see a better way to be healthy is to find something you like to do that involves execise, instead of exercising in and of itself. Like when we used to hike to find a stream that was off the beaten path, or build a log cabin in the woods, digging for gold (that is REALLY tough). People need a way to connect again with nature. I see stories that just make me sad. Girls calling the cops because they saw a mouse. People feinting when they see a snake, or spider. We are too removed from the natural world. And we are embracing it it seems.
pods
Sounds good in theory but those Fitbits are not very accurate. I love it when people use treadmills. How far removed is that? You can't just go for a walk and get some fresh air and enjoy the outdoors? They use electricity to run a treadmill to get exercise! How ridiculous is that? They could at least be generating electricity with their exercise.
I'm often in France. (I know, I know.) And my French friends always ask why we Americans get our meat in little plastic coffins. Then they come to my house (in the States) and see the chickens, the rabbits, etc. They eat with us and know that we have the real stuff. In fact I'll be sending about 25 chickens off to freezer camp this weekend. The kids get involved in it. My daughter loves the biology/anatomy lessons and welcomes friends to come watch. This 9 year old knows more about how chicken systems work and what they should look like than many vets probably do. She will probably end up as a surgeon...or a serial killer.
I can see your point. I'm a naturally active person, so they just annoy the crap out of me. I don't understand a sedentary lifestyle, and the need for a gadget to remind me to get off my ass. There was a point where technology fascinated me, but as I watched it grab hold of my kids it really started getting under my skin. Technology is a double edged sword, and too much of anything is a bad thing (king of cliches here btw).
I had to look up what a fitbit is, doc. All of this "wearable" shit annoys me too. Knowing what's going on is great, but sometimes, it is nice to get out of service and not worry about things.
Connecting globally and electronically, discourages bulding of local, personal relationships. It also increases rudeness when one is unable to see into the eyes of another.
There will be nobody to come together build, man, and maintain the guillotines, if everybody is staring at their FitShit, and posting results on Strava. Perhaps this is an intended outcome? Mind control? Pfft. The new paradigm is vanity. Let the sheep-holes do the heavy lifting.
Just as we were warned in the old & outdated manuscript called the Bible.
You are right everyone wants to feel they are better than everyone else. Why don't they show the pics on social media of changing diapers, screaming kids, their dirty nasty house, the fights about money, and the reduction in pay they just recieved. Its always sunshine and roses. When I see people starting to say their life sucks then social media will be truthful. Until then I will be anxiously awaiting an EMP>
They'd just get unfriended for negativity.
The word of Truth has told us these very things; it is our very nature and everyone is infected and there is only one cure. Heaven will be pure joy, the like a man cannot imagine, but only a few will admit to their sin natures, turn from them and submit to Christ...what a shame, but that is man's rebellious nature exactly as described several times in the NT & OT. But hey; people are smarter than God.
"Though a staunch Obamacare critic, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has enrolled his family in one of its health plans and will accept a $10,000 federal subsidy that some fellow Republicans rejected as a “special deal.”
> Congress has 535 voting members: 435 Representatives and 100 Senators
>"So far, about 10 other senators and a handful of U.S. House members have rejected or avoided receiving the annual subsidy."
So ~10 out of 100 Senators have declined an ObamaCare subsidy...what was the "repeal ObamaCare" vote in the Senate?
49-43
If I did the math right, roughly 39 of the Republican Senators RECIEVING A HEFTY OBAMACARE SUBSIDY voted to repeal ObamaCare..
Hypocrisy level is off the charts.
PS> How in the Hell can you earn ~200k a year and still get a $10,000 Welfare/ObamaCare subsidy...oh, you wrote the rules..
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marco Rubio defends $10k subsidy after Obamacare signuphttp://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article1958567.html
This is exactly the purpose of gubmint. Write rules that serve your self interests. Convince others of the wisdom of your "plans" at gunpoint.
My congressman told me and another person that he and his wife are uninsured, period. He read all of the ACA and says that it is probably illegal for him to enroll in Obamacare.
I am insured through an individual plan that is ACA-compliant, but I did not go through the Obamacare enrollment process. For the equivalent of a bronze PPO plan, I pay $566/month. Now the company wants to quit writing those policies and is offering an HMO policy for $570. Somehow, I have to think the (yet undisclosed) provider network will be an exact match to the Medicaid replacement product. Not interested. Some of the bottom of the barrel providers sued or otherwise strong-armed their way into Medicaid replacement product provider networks 20 years ago. I am thinking about dropping coverage, paying the (sure to grow) penalty, and going to Mexico for anything that can wait or paying cash for more immediate needs.
I'll die when God decides it is time for me to go.
Obummer's #1 job was to break healthcare so that it can increase revenues for his owners...Hitlery's #1 and #2 jobs will be to dismantle the 2nd Amendment and IRAs/401Ks. Bet on it.
The Congress only real function is to give the illusion we are under a Constitution; the direct violation via Executive Orders and the Courts legislating from the bench are all the evidence you will ever need to the veracity of what i have said.
I constantly teach my children that whatever they teach about "liberties" based on the Constitution is a lie and give specific examples. I teach them that to be an elected official at the State or National level you must be first sell your soul to Satan and you must be a liar and corrupt to the core and the exceptions are never heard from.
Yes of course, the Washington establishment fucks the American people once again. Disgraceful lies and games never ending!
Well done Obozo...fucking loser.
You give the ‘leading actor’ of the play to much credit – the applause should be directed at the people writing the manuscript (that is loyally followed by the political establishment no-matter what ‘label’ – demo/rep.).
Forcing people to participate in the insurance swindle called a ‘healthcare’-system was not invented by Obama:
“The core of “Obamacare,” the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance, traces back to Stuart Butler at the conservative Heritage Foundation in the late 1980s. This can be seen in a 1989 Heritage monograph (p. 51). Ezra Klein points to University of Pennsylvania economics professor and conservative Mark Pauly as the father of the individual mandate based on Pauly’s co-authored 1991 Health Affairs paper (p. 8, item 3) supporting the idea.
Two years after Pauly’s paper, and using the same argument Pauly made about mandatory auto insurance, conservative Republican Newt Gingrich appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press enthusiastically supporting the mandate. (Gingrich re-endorsed the mandate on the same program on May 15, 2011, then recanted the next day after a firestorm of criticism and ridicule.)
A Republican governor, Mitt Romney, signed the mandate into law in Massachusetts in April of 2006. Barack Obama, as a presidential primary candidate in 2008, firmly opposed the mandate but as president signed it into U.S. law on March 23, 2010.”
That's a good point. It's interesting - I believe Obamacare was designed as a step on the path to single-payer and it's death-spiral was understood by it's supporters from the get-go. In that sense the election of Clinton would be well-timed - taking the reigns to finish what she started as the first lady.
But I buy auto insurance. I buy a policy with more than the mandated minimum coverage because I want it. I buy it in a competitive market. So the auto insurance mandate appears to me - to work. It's not a government program, but government has set some standards. Many competitors still want to make money selling me insurance. I get to choose from multiple vendors.
So - what's gone wrong? Why can't that work for health insurance?
My health coverage premiums - I am self-employed - have more than doubled in the last 3 years. I use an HSA and I have a high-deductible policy married to it. When I shop for alternative vendors - there is one other offerror - at no cost savings. It's not working. The health insurance market for the self-employed is being destroyed. I may be forced onto Obamacare before it's over - that will force me to stop contributing to my HSA. My true expectation is to be paying cash for medical attention before they're finished monkeying around.
Why does the mandated minimum coverage work for automobile insurance but not for healthcare?
"I believe Obamacare was designed as a step on the path to single-payer"
You "believe" wrong.
ObamaCare was designed to further strengthen the US SickCare monopoly. The ACA created a bunch of new insurers to add some "competition"...most of which are failing...exactly as planned...the big insurers "agreed" to new competition because they knew they could CRUSH THEM...and while the competition may disappear, the $100 BILLION in ACA funding would still be there for the few GIANT insurers that remain.
OBAMACARE was a BIG STEP on the path to ROCK SOLID monopoly status for a tiny group of Insurers...Coincidentally, I'm sure, the same people that "invested" $500,000,000 "shaping" the ACA through lobbyists just before it passed.
One difference is that heath insurance is really not insurance it is a a form of prepayment as everyone will eventually use there health 'insurance' and therefore it needs more money to cover the expenses. Auto insurance is much less likely to be used.
You know it is a fraud when you can't find out ahead of time how much you will owe; you have to find out after the fact. Therefore you cannot shop around, which would make it more competitive. Not to mention the mistakes are hidden to protect the bad doctors.
Both auto and homeowners insurance are rackets and the prices are not as competitive as many think. People in the mid-west are always subsidizing the ones who choose to live along major water-fronts. Insurance prices should be based on a small regional basis imo.
Almost every year I go through the process of having my agent go through the list of providers. One year i have Liberty Mutual, then the next it was SafeCo (owned by Liberty Mutual), then Travelers, then back to SafeCo. Each year your vehicles are worth less and the home is about the same; yet the insurance rates go up on both. Homes use to be about 1/3 of insuring 2 cars; now a home is about 2/3-3/4 of the cars with less coverage because of subsidizing the rich.
The assumption is that Democrats & Republicans are different; they are not...it is "good-cop vs bad-cop", but one party.
The other assumption is that people in academia are some how tied to reality and they are not; most of them and certainly Pauly & Butler were/are not by their own admissions.
When you write laws and exempt yourselves, then the outcome is predictable...that being "it is good for you as long as it is not for us."
US have – and have had – a sick healthcare system. The only winners in the US-‘healthcare’-system is the owners of the private hospitals and the insurance companies.
the current US healthcare system is based on the Swiss one, at least originally. very liberal (classic), with the caveat of "insurance obligation"
nearly all the other healthcare systems in europe are based on a "socialist" or "social" model, i.e. "single payer", with small differences among them
interestingly, in the european comparison of healthcare systems, the Swiss is the most expensive one. just saying
but I have one question which I can't answer because I am so ignorant about so many things about the US and "Obamacare" is so damn... complex. can't people in the US form their own health care insurance cooperatives? that would be one method of cutting out the middleman that is making so much dough out of it and press down the prices of the hospitals and doctors that are making the other part of it
I think that is a numbers game. Many co-ops have gone under due to bad forecasting about members.
There are actually concierge doctors who are setting up practice. I might look into that. All in probably cheaper, and much less of a hassle than go to your primary, fill out 4 pages of paperwork, wait, get escorted into room, wait, have BP and temp taken, wait, see doc 5 min and leave with a huge ass bill and some scripts.
pods
Ghordius, a pearl for you: healthcare is a crown of the non manufacturing economy of late 21 st century America..only systems which concentrate power and wealth in mega corps and Washinton dc, can be allowed to operate. priority one is this conc of power and wealth. a simple pay for service model was more effective and cheaper, but did not add to the above agenda.
today we have one mega pharmacy chain wallgreens buying anther mega pharmacy chain riteaid, concentration centralization.quality health is very low on the leadership list of to do's
"can't people in the US form their own health care insurance cooperatives?"
States can, but individuals can not. BTW- most of the state-sponsored co-ops set up shortly after Obamacare are going broke and folding. Which then sends those people to... the Federal level. Adverse selection is a bitch so it keeps getting kicked upstairs to the Federal level where it doesn't matter how badly those insurance plans go upside-down because the Federal government has endless money to fill the hole.
For an "individual" co-op you're talking about a company-sponsored health plan (what used to be the backbone of our healthcare coverage system). That's probably about the closest thing to a "co-op" that you would recognize.
Complexity is only the surface level of Obamacare. What's underneath is basically just increased taxation for most people and a 3X increase in Medicaid (state-paid healthcare coverage for those under a certain income level not otherwise covered by a company-sponsored plan). If you're poor, you win. If you are a healthcare insurance company, you win. Everyone else loses.
None of this, of course, improves the QUALITY of the healthcare you receive or the ability to ACCESS that healthcare in any way.
"can't people in the US form their own health care insurance cooperatives"
Not sure if that is legal or not...but I would bet a fortune that if anyone tried it, it would be made illegal IMMEDIATELY!
The whole US Sickcare system depends heavily upon monopoly status and anything that, even slightly, threatens that monopoly cash cow is shot out of the sky using the biggest of guns...the US Government.
The ObamaCare was designed/destined to fail because the ultimate goal is a single-payer system. If you give a financially painful system that you shoved down everyone's throat that you knew would not work, then people will demand something new.
Problem, reaction and solution; where the problem is designed by the ones with the predetermined solution and use psyops/propaganda designed to stir up emotions within the populace with a desired direction to provide the solution. It Psychopathy 101 as far as I am concerned, but it is very effective because people are very predictable in regards to emotional outcomes.
Only if you are a church...apparently.
"can't people in the US form their own health care insurance cooperatives?"
There are some, but they must meet the legal requirements of ObamaCareLess and there in lies the issue.
What exactly do insurance companies actually do? The only thing I see is they negotiate a lower-high price for an overpriced procedure or doctor.
I have a son who cut himself, by accident, with a box cutter back in the summer. Since it was late on a Sunday, the doc's and Urgent Cares were closed, so we took him to the emergency room where my spouse works (preferred in-network - wink wink). He received 4 stitches on a finger and the total cost was $1700.00. That was more than the birth of two children including all the gynecological visits. Just for some perspective on how bad this has become over the past.
Just remember their is no honor with thieves; that includes the doctors and hospitals. Doctors are some of the nastiest people on the face of the earth. The nurses and their elves are some of the sweetest as they often have more "working" knowledge than the doctors. Unfortunately with all the lawyers; all medicine is practiced in defensive mode and that is because the average person is as greedy, at the end of the day, as the others. It is a problem with man's nature.
You'd be "nasty" too, if after years of work and effort your livelihood could be taken away by somebody looking over your shoulder because you weren't perfect and after the fact somebody with all the time in the world, but having never treated or operated on somebody else and has all the time in the world to Monday morning quarterback your decisions.
If you think Doctors don't know their job, talk to a lawyer. The practice of medicine will always be an art, but the practice of law will always be a dark art.
Actually the nasty part, just to clarify, is based on experience with the way they treat underlings; the doctorates go to their heads and admitting they made a mistake or apologizing after a "bitch-session" is most difficult for them (pride & arrogance) only to find out the underling was correct is what I am referring to.
We agree the pressure by the legal system makes for defensive medicine and is never good for either the doctors or the patients. I think we agree more than we disagree.
I must have been a very lucky nurse.
On top of my 30% premium increase last year (for 2015), got a notice yesertday. 40% increase this year ((for 2016). Now my premium has doubled in the past 3 years.
I am now a cotributor to the GDP? What a life.
just drop your health ins if it costs too much, oh wait. if you do you get a tax penalty..catch 22..insane but very very clever..many yrs ago health economists all understood the healthy must pay for the sick..mandatory ins was born.
If it's a tax, it should be tax deductible. We should all listed in the itemized deductions list
With a free pass to print out of thin-air, there is no need for any Federal Taxes whatsoever.
As a nation we should help the sick and the lame and we have more than enough resources to do that; the problem is and always has been greed & corruption feeding the greedy and corrupt.
Our labors are squandered by bureaucrats, but this is the history of all civilizations. The problems are cured by Christ, the Great Physician of the soul (the part of man that is eternal) and the Prince of Peace and the Perfect Master, but most will not humble themselves before anyone except themselves, such is our inherited nature.
Government has become God and family to most people. Our society is destroying itself by not dealing with social issues on a face-to-face basis. The disconnectedness fostered by tech toys is an extension of the loss of human contact.
In a way, I guess one of the good things about the skimpiness of the food stamp program in Texas is that there is good support for the food pantries. People around here are aware of the needy and freely give to provide for food that the recipients take home and prepare for themselves. Our pantry is run by a coalition of churches. The most popular item at the local food pantry is canned green beans, not junk food. The federal government feeds kids through the national school lunch program and the summer feeding programs. Kids are the priority. The Lions Club or the Rotary Club has their weekend backpack program through which it sends home groceries with the kids on the lowest end of the scale. The elderly tend to be forgotten, so the food pantry fills an important gap. At least one of the churches has a soup kitchen open one day a week. It is staffed by volunteers. The poor will always be with us. Some of them have toiled for their entire lives and are physically broken. Their needs are human and should be dealt with as a matter of humanity, not as a government fiefdom that is a career-builder for bureaucrats. The food pantry is able to right size itself. When the need is great and the shelves are poorly stocked, all it takes is an article in the local paper or announces in churches to bring in the donations of food and money.
"just drop your health ins if it costs too much, oh wait. if you do you get a tax penalty"
So, you'd rather pay THOUSANDS of DOLLARS in premiums for insurance you don't need rather than HUNDREDS of DOLLARS in penalties for going without?
TAKE YOUR MEDS!
PS. Yes, I know, in your fantasy world, you wouldn't have to pay either...but, as I said, that is a fantasy world.
You can fantasize about how the world "SHOULD BE" all you want, but at some point you've got to deal with reality.
How about some $$$ amounts instead of %%% amounts?
Premium went from $100 to $200 or $1000 to $2000..BIG DIFFERENCE!
What happened to your coverage? More out of pocket, less out of pocket?
My premiums increased too, $350 to $460, but my OUT OF POCKET went down because of lower deductables and more items covered.
Rates were increasing Pre-ACA with DECREASING coverage and my costs were ramping.
Rates are increasing Post-ACA with INCREASING coverage so I'm close to a "no real change" (maybe even a gain) as far as health spending in Post vs Pre ACA.
IF, I have a major health issue, the ACA is going to save me a fortune. Pre-ACA, I was on the hook for the first $15,000 in expenses with caps, limits, tons of fine print that would certainly ensure a medical bankruptcy. My Post-ACA plan, while more expensive, has eliminated the posibility of a Medical Bankruptcy.
So, personally, I'm calling the ACA a win for me...about f'n time...oh, and, it's ain't welfare when I get the checks by the way...only those other people are welfare queens...like Rubio and his $10,000 ObamaCare subsidy...
I can tellyou my private sector premiums rose and coverages declined. You must be in government or defense.
I suggest you review your plan and shop around. Every, higher priced, plan I reviewed offered more coverage. Someone is screwing you hard if you're paying more for less.
There's no escaping paying more, but it's also quite easy to get more for the dollars paid.
Insurance is really about the cost to reduce your financial health risk; for me, personally, the ACA has made it much more affordable to dramatically reduce my risk of a "Medical Bankruptcy".
Pre-ACA, and one major health issue, and I'm filing bankruptcy.
Post-ACA, threat of bankrupcty is removed...that's worth a lot to me.
System is still screwing ALL OF US hard, but at least I sleep better not worrying about a serious illness taking everything I have.
Firebrander is right: My premiums more than doubled and my out of pocket expenses have quadrupled -- but I definitely have more coverage. For example, I now get comprehensive pregnancy care for my payments -- even though I'm a man.
Fuck Obamacare.
unicorns and rainbows
What is the print without Barry Care?
So, I'm first? Ok, here you go: forget the GDP, buy Bitcoin!
First down arrow. Congrats!
::: dove clap :::
Whatever the name of the Act or the Bill or the Program or name of an Agency; add the antithesis and you now know what it is. (i.e. Affordable Healthcare Act = Unaffordable Healtcare Act or Dept of Treasury = Department of Debt or Internal Revenue Service = External Raping Service or Patriot Act = Treason Act )
The one coming that will suppress freedom of speech further was the "Net Neutrality Act"; add the antithesis and you get "Net Preferentiality Act" ; the most favored ("YES MEN") will get most favorable status, the rest will be out of business.
Will trade electronic block chain beanie baby for food.
"Don't try to understand 'em
Just ride and rope and brand'em..................."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052504/
"Finally, to those asking how the collapsing U.S. middle class spent a whopping $10.4 billion on Recreational goods and vehicles in the 3rd quarter, please don't ask * we have no idea."
Ow,Ow(frantically waving hand to answer the question)
The elite are putting the finishing touches on their prepping, getting their four wheelers etc.
Nice try, but it's because more people who can't afford rent are moving into campers and motorhomes.
Actually, lots of that around here. The math is pretty straightforward.
Land is relatively cheap, like $2000/acre. Campers in relatively good condition can run anywhere from $2000 to $200,000. Most people will opt for about $7-8K.
So, $10k and you're set for life, until, that is, the neighbors and code compliance officers come calling. That's when it's good to have a friend who lets you use their home address as yours. You tell the compliance officer and neighbors that you're "camping."
That's what I did, anyhow, with 5.7 acres and a $500 motorhome (was $76k new in 1984, and everything works - deal of the century, for me).
Next year, I'll put up a pole barn and park the camper inside it. Instant biosphere.
Is my contribution to GDP now complete? Can I have more peas?
+1
This is exactly what the wife and I did last year. Got rid of the double we were living in and out last two rentals. Bought a brand new 37 ft. travel trailer and downsized the rest of our lives...should have done this a long time ago. We are living on a LOT LESS, but no huge nut to crack every month.
Good for you. Another part of the problem is overcapacity, which, actually, should bring rental and home-buying prices down, but in bizarro world, property values keep rising.
The banks are keeping millions of homes off the market. These are known as zombie homes, or homes in various stages of foreclosure. To think that seven years hence from the housing crash, the banks are still dealing with this shit, shows just how fucked up the whole economy is.
Here's the deal, though, from a micro perspective.
Where I grew up, suburban Rochester, NY (Irondequoit), there was our house and a house on either side, plus many more, but, for purposes of this demonstration, let's just use these three houses.
We had five people living in our house. The house on the West side of ours housed a family of nine (parents and seven kids). On the East side, there were five.
So, three houses, roughly 1500 sq ft. on average, 19 people. That was 1960s to 1970s.
Fast forward to 2015. House on West side: 1 person. My house: 1 person (me). House on East side: 2 people (husband and wife in 50s).
So, the same houses that 19 people used ot live in are now occupied by four. Make that three. I took a buyout in foreclosure (estate) and moved.
On the other side of the street, the opposite is happening. Nice couple used to live in SFH on the corner. About two years ago, Muslims moved in. Three women, four males, too many children to count (at least eight). Yep, its a rental.
Bizarro world cannot compete with Americna suburbs.
got the property, building a garage with game room attached. fifth wheel pad going in with septic, water, electric. be set in about 4 or 5 months...
My dad's been doing that since 1995, I bought the trailer next door from my aunt in 2012. In Illinois home of the highest property taxes campers and mobile homes are excluded as long as tongue and axles are still attached. I laugh my ass off inside(don't want to piss em off) whenever my neighbors complains about tax bill going up again.
Amazing the scale of non-value-producing profit opportunities that can be created with a maze of government regulation.
here where we live the local hospital is the largets employer and they are buying up properties all over town. They bought up all the small practices by telling them either they join or the hospital will bring somebody in under their roof to offer the same services. They have become some of the most ruthless pricks a person could know.
Betcha them fuckers ain't a couple nice old fashioned family practitioners, what?
Big Healthcare, Insurance, Pahrma, etc.*
Margaret Atwood is right.**
*Does this make UKnowWho a "HomoPath"?
** I can't wait for the New Trade Agreement.
And you're a doctor so..... oh, I get it now.
Lol..., yeah that's what I am, a doctor. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Same thing happening in Central Illinois, Hospitals expanding 24/7 with construction/expansion, at the same time, the State trying to hide the fact, they are broke, a fcking mess beyond belief, Peoria, turning into little Chicago, # of shootings/drivebys/murders up through the roof, fck it, I'm heading to FLA....
And this right here^^^^^^ (spelling and grammar) is why you don't comment until you recover from the bottle of wine you drank the night before.
Thanks so much Doc, I needed that....
recover from the bottle of wine...
You can afford the stuff in a bottle? I should've stayed in school.
Lol..., excellent username.
so, do all "Taxes" count towards GDP?
No, but the insurance premiums that you are now required to pay do.
yes. everything the gov spends counts as GDP. the gov gets about 2/3s of what it spends through taxation. So all taxes are GDP enhancing. The other printed money also counts since it gets spent. So if the gov taxed us 100% and printed another 2-3 times that amount GDP would be through the roof.
How much of these health insurance increases are coming due to claims for happening because the insurance companies bond portfolio yields are collapsing and they are passing the yield losses on to their policy holders? The FED is not only destroying jobs but destroying the financial lives of millions of Americans. When will America wake up?
Obamacare is not rescuing the economy.
It's the cancer that is killing it.
And the Republicans who have failed to even slow it down, are complicit in every way.
The Establishment Republicans (Operative word here, being "Establishment") want Hillary for President.
Aintcha noticed?
Nuff said about slowing down the Leviathan
obamacare was challenged in court, but it was saved by a Republican.
It you look at obamacare as corporate welfare, then it works perfectly.
It was a republican, the Dread Pirate Roberts, who saved obamacare as chief justice.
He was criticised by republicans as betraying the country, but he was actually consistent in his life's work. He started out as a corporate lawyer, and when given a chance on the court, he did what was necessary to save the biggest corporate welfare scam in history.
He started out a corporate lawyer and remains one to this day.
My single pre-Obamacare premium, no coinsurance after $2k deductible: $168. Post O-Care, avoiding Exchanges and staying on existing plan, no changes in health: $257 (bumped up 'cause insurers know joining a gov't plan is much higher). Cost if I went to a less good, "Silver" Obama-care plan: $400 - 500
That recreational node should be paid some very close attention: GUNS, AMMO, LONG TERM FOOD, OPTICS, ETC...
Preparations for a civil war!
I think you're on to something there. I've never seen so many people talking about prepping. Combined with talk of gun confiscation, I wouldn't be surprised if gun sales alone made up that line.
I think it also explains the infatuation with the Walking Dead; people are concerned about how to prepare for the apocolypse.
I've thought the same in terms of why 'Walking Dead' is interesting to people right now. Remember those sitcoms back in 1999/2000, including the one called 'Bull' about really attractive investment bankers looking to start their own partnership focusing on the 'new economy'? That died in its first season (2000), right about the time the stock market collapsed faster than the World Trade Center.
We're going to see interesting times in this nation. I'm ready to get some payback.
Shush. Prepping and talking about preppping gets the NSA and Homeland Security goons all worked up.
You don't want to be tazed, now, do you, bro?
You can keep your doctor, the check is in the mail, and I won't cum in your mouth.
Damn Mick, that's the first thing I read today!!! lol Kind of harsh, but the truth usually is!
For the record Big Pharma and Insurance Cos are Happy. Doctors are not.
That pie is being sliced by Big Government, not the free market.
Biggest contribution? Clinton talking about how she murdered 4 Americans in Benghazi.
Am I close??
Meanwhile the proles on my bus prattle on about pro football.
If there is hope, it lies with the proles.
Obamacare will ensure that there is no small businesses growth in th US. Without small business growth, there can be no increase in employment.
The destruction of America ahead...all according to plan.
"Finally, to those asking how the collapsing U.S. middle class spent a whopping $10.4 billion on Recreational goods and vehicles in the 3rd quarter, please don't ask * we have no idea."
They have to buy tents. Tent camping is the new renting
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/26/live-in-this-silicon-valley-mans-tent-for-900-a-month.html
Or, those who don't like "roughing it," buy cars with decent leg room
http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Tech-bus-drivers-forced-to-live-in-cars-to-make-6517928.php
Paul Eberhart thought that since we are talking about healthcare, instead of saying biggest why do we not say most obese? pauleberhart.com
Recreational spending up...very simple. Young people paying back their student loans... sugardaddyforme.com
Brilliant manner of doublespeak... perhaps one of the greatest ever. Force the public to pay for a product - that is really a tax - and even though is it most significantly crippling our personal economies - count it as a positive financial indicator... BRILLIANT!!!
Forward Soviet Comrade
(fux yuz obama bitchz)
Austerity is the biggest threat to the colossal debt edifice engineered by the US Federal Reserve. Consumption and money velocity is it's lifeblood. Obamacare had nothing to do with affordable access to health care and everything to do with forced consumption....prying needed savings from prudent subjects. Forcing those idle FRN's back through the crippled system.
The US is rapidly degenerating into the Eurofascist model.Note the following...
Obamacare-Consumption spending by edict
Record high Federal taxes across the board
0% interest rates
Currency restrictions
Record transfer payments (foodstamps, student grants, etc)
Try to protect yourself as best you can.
The European model of ObamaCare under another Ponzi scheme has been exposed.
Tell us how its going to work Hillary.
Largest TAX increase the nation has ever known. Guess everyone forgets that. This is why Obama gets his new 19.6 trillion debt. ceiling and 50 billion in discretionary spending next year. High fives in Washington Tax receipts at record highs.
So basically, higher inflation now means higher GDP eh?
First, killl all the lawyers.
Its all good, I am looking forward to the day when the US healthcare system generates so much wealth that it removes the need for old fashioned farming and manufacturing...
We can all get rich then treating each others ailments, in fact the only worry is that we might run out of diseases and conditions to treat? Perhaps the US should scour the world for people with bad health and bring them to the US to keep this prosperity going.
"Finally, to those asking how the collapsing U.S. middle class spent a whopping $10.4 billion on Recreational goods and vehicles in the 3rd quarter, please don't ask * we have no idea."
Why the presumption that this was primarily driven by middle class spending? Well I suppose where you draw the lines would have a bearing.
Just think of all the government programs that are going to be needed to help cover the cost of O care premiums. I mean the likelihood for theft, graft and out right larceny is just. . . . wide open.
Paging Chicken Little...
The recreational expenditures are being driven my long term, 10yr, ultra low interest loans.
50-65% to 80% of so-called "health" care (HC) is spent on the sickest 5-10% to 20%.
HC spending is at 19% of GDP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$10,000 per capita (person)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$26,000 per household!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
50% equivalent of private and public wages and salaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TWICE profits after tax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
100%+ equivalent of total federal gov't spending!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The vast majority of 50-80% of spending on the sickest 5-20% is for people aging with chronic conditions resulting from smoking, alcohol abuse, apallingly unhealthy diets, and lack of exercise, as well as obscenely costly end-of-life treatments and procedures for aging and dying people.
It costs a bloody bleeping FORTUNE to age and die in the US.
The US does not have a "health" care system but a for-profit, dis-ease-promotion and -treatment system that is now utterly unaffordable for anyone but the top 0.001-1%.
Get mad, bitchez!!!
Doctors and meds makers are trying to break into the 1%
.....or, in the case of meds makers, making sure they stay there.
Despite Crude Oil WTI soaring, I don't think that entering a short-term long position is justified at the moment in terms of risk and reward.
http://tripstrading.com/crude-oil-wti-1h-chart/
Despite Crude Oil WTI soaring, I don't think that entering a short-term long position is justified at the moment in terms of risk and reward.
http://tripstrading.com/crude-oil-wti-1h-chart/
So many food service and bartending jobs have been created but that is only a tiny fraction of spending.