[Plantagenet]

National Public radio (NPR) is doing a special series this week on the explosion in disability (SSI) claims in the USA. About 250,000 people per month have gone on disability since the WORST RECOVERY EVER began in 2009----far more than then ca. 150,000 per month who have been finding work.

Why are 14 million people on disability? Has it turned into an under-the-radar welfare program for the 21st century?

Their next show on NPR will be on the huckster lawyers who have made a cottage industry out of getting people qualified for SSI

[John_A]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '
')Their next show on NPR will be on the huckster lawyers who have made a cottage industry out of getting people qualified for SSI

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('John_A', 'm')illions being wasted on disability...

[Plantagenet]

The WORST RECOVERY EVER still is dragging on, and now its time to start paying those Obamacare taxes.

Right on schedule, Employers are seeking a new federal program to pay their costs under Obamacare

Employers want Obamacare to pay their costs

Obama promised the recipients would be subsidized and the employers would pay.
Now the employers want to be subsidized as well. So who will pay for it all?

I know---lets screw the taxpayers again! Lets make the taxpayers pay for it all

[Plantagenet]

Actuarial study shows Obamacare will drive up health insurances costs by about 33%

Insurance costs set to rise dramatically due to Obamacare

Just what we don't need as we muddle along in the WORST RECOVERY EVER---a huge jump in health care costs because of the misbegotten Obamacare law!


Its time for your Obamacare!!!!

[ralfy]

Related?

"Why Is American Health Care So Ridiculously Expensive?"

"Near the end of the book, Reid expands on two big reasons why U.S. health care is so expensive: (1) Unlike other countries, the U.S. government doesn't manage prices; and (2) the complications created by our for-profit system adds tremendous costs. "

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... ve/274425/

[Plantagenet]

Much is being made by the MSM of the supposed recovery in housing in the USA. Its supposedly like the "green shoots" of 2010 all over again but for real this time.

And indeed, housing prices have moved up from the bottoms to the point that they are now near 2004 values.

But the number of mortgage applications iS WAY below normal levels---Indeed, it has hardly budged from the depths of the recession. So even when you look at the housing market we remain in the WORST RECOVERY EVER.

mortgages applications still near record lows---there is very little sign of recovery in the US housing market

[Plantagenet]

I was disappointed to see that the regulations for Obamacare, now being written in DC, are going to include coverage of gender change surgery under Obamacare.

Government healthcare has never before included coverage for elective surgery that isn't related to a disease. Cosmetic Face lifts, tummy tucks and boob jobs were not covered in the past because they aren't surgeries needed for disease treatment.

But in the future under Obamacare, elective surgical removal of male or female genitalia for transgendering will be at taxpayer expense, even though no disease is involved. THis kind of surgery is very expensive----mandating that such elective surgery be covered under Obamacare is going to INCREASE heathcare insurance costs, not decrease them.

The latest estimates are that healthcare costs will go up as much as 33% under Obamacare---.

The inclusion of taxpayer funded transgender surgery in Obamacare is puzzling, as such elective surgery has never been covered before. It appears to yet another payoff by Obama to one of his base constituencies.

[Plantagenet]

Americans now more hopeful about the economy than any other country

Americans most hopeful about economy

Well I'll be darned----I thought Obama wouldn't keep a single one of his campaign promises, but here we here in the middle of the WORST RECOVERY EVER and people are filled with hope, just like Obama campaigned on in 2008. We never got the millions of good-paying green jobs Obama promised, but by god at least we've got HOPE!


Americans are now more hopeful about the economy then any other country on earth...hoo-RAY!

[Plantagenet]

Just as Obamacare is being rolled out across the country, a new lawsuit is challenging its constitutionality.

The new lawsuit derives from the 2012 Supreme Court ruling that Obamacare is a tax. This legal question wasn't raised before now, because the Obama administration had previously claimed both that Obamacare isn't a tax and that it is a tax. OK---now its settled --- Obamacare is a tax.

Under the US constitution, taxes can only originate in the House. But the Obamacare law originated in the Senate---ergo it's passage into law was unconstitutional. Maybe the courts will OK an exception for Obamacare from the normal constitutional rules or maybe not....time will tell.

Since Obamacare is a tax it was enacted unconstitutionally

Just what we needed in the middle of the WORST RECOVERY EVER---even more economic uncertainty coming from questions about the constitutionality of the flawed Obamacare law.

[Plantagenet]

Liberals are slowly starting to realize the economy is busted

liberals finally figuring out the economy is busted

We've been in the WORST RECOVERY EVER for four years now, but liberals are finally starting to figure it out.

[Plantagenet]

Poverty rates still going up---US now has highest poverty rate in 50 years

---50 million Americans now living in poverty

Curiously, Obama remains silent about the 50 million Americans living in poverty on his watch during the WORST RECOVERY EVER. You'd think he'd be out there lecturing them to believe in HOPE and CHANGE but no---he just ignores them.

[Plantagenet]

NYC fast food workers strike over low wages. Burger King, taco bell, McDonalds all face walk outs at the same time.

burger slingers on strike in NYC

Most of the jobs created since 2009 in the WORST RECOVERY EVER have been minimum wage service jobs like these----I hope the workers bring the Burger King to his knees.

[Plantagenet]

I can't wait for someone in the Obama administration to stride up to the podium and boast about how great the economy is because the unemployment rate just went down 0.1%.

Of course, no one will mention that only 88,000 jobs were created, or that the jobs are mostly low-paying part-time work. Or that millions of people dropped out of the workforce by going on disability *(ie. the new welfare) over the last couple of years.

Nope---it will be business as usual in the WORST RECOVERY EVER.

[ROCKMAN]

P – In some ways I can be a bit sympathetic with the current administration. I certainly don’t agree with all the president’s social and fiscal policies but I think there is a limit to how big a difference any president of either party can change the dynamics especially in the area of energy. As shocking as it might be to hear from an oil patch hand but as far as the president’s dealing with the energy industry we don’t really have a lot to complain about. Not approving the Keystone Pipeline border crossing permit is just PR for his liberal base IMHO. It hasn’t stopped one bbl of oil from reaching the US. There are 6 other pipelines that cross the border and he’s done nothing to curtail their use as well as offered no interference to the truck/rail transport of oil sands production to the US. In fact, during President Obama’s watch more Canadian oil was exported to the US in 2012 than ever before in history.

And that’s not all. In the last 12 months he’s offered 1 million acres of fed offshore leases for bid. Just since the Macondo blow out and one of the worse oil spills in history he has approved over 400 new offshore drill permits with many in the same Deep Water trend. He has also given a green light 14 major offshore oil production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. He also recently permitted Shell Oil’s rather embarrassing efforts in the Arctic Ocean. And closer to home for me, just two years ago his EPA approved the last Clean Air permit that would allow the construction of the White Stallion coal-fired power plant in Texas...ironically planned to be built on top of a NG field I’m developing. A plant that would be fed with coal railed half way across the country from Illinois for the next 30 years. He’s also approved the export of LNG from Texas to England. If we can export a lot more maybe I’ll be able to charge American consumers more in time. He’s done nothing to hinder the export of coal from the US to other countries. He’s done nothing to hinder initial efforts to develop oil sands in Utah (which don’t appear to have nearly as much potential as the Canadian oil sands). He hasn’t even discussed the prospect of raising motor fuel taxes let alone putting forth a recommendation to do so. The refiners love him for that. No effort to impose an “excess profits” tax on the oil patch as previous administrations had threatened at one time. He’s talked about changing tax laws that benefit the oil patch but nothing has changed yet.

If we had an R as president today how much better could things be for the oil patch? One might argue that an R president might not have been as accommodating to the oil patch for fear of driving the middle to the left a tad. President Obama probably has little fear of driving his base into the arms of Newt. IMHO there’s a classic symbiotic relationship between the oil patch and the govt regardless of which party controls the Congress or White House. The largest single income for the govt after income taxes is the oil/NG royalty revenue. The largest owner of mineral rights leased to the oil patch is the US govt.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', 'a')s the president’s dealing with the energy industry we don’t really have a lot to complain about. Not approving the Keystone Pipeline border crossing permit is just PR for his liberal base IMHO.

[ROCKMAN]

P - And that's why I don't walk around with a perpetual smile on my face. The oil patch is doing great but at the expense of a lot of other folks. We go through absurd cycles of good times/bad times and usually at the opposite end from the rest of society. I see the other side of the coin on a regular basis working with impoverished folks. Some of these folks don't cope very well when the economy is doing great. A month ago I was scheduled to help a young lady open a checking account. She never showed up at the bank. Took a week to find out she just felt too intimidated.

I've made the point before to folks that offer one solution to our problems is to stop buying all that unnecessary junk. Or do we need 30 Starbucks in Houston or thousands of fast food joints. No…we don’t. But there’s a large portion of society that disparity needs those businesses: the folks who work there because they lack the skills to do better. At the end of the day there is a ratio of energy consumption to employment. I’m not smart enough to figure exactly what it is but it affects employment. We can’t turn folks who work at minimum skill jobs into solar panel designers or wind turbine mechanics. So we need to expand the social net to help them. But that’s at the same time the govt sees less income. So what do we do: borrow. And like all debt that works…for a while. The potential Mad Max I envision isn’t folks running up and down the streets with guns taking food from the unarmed. It’s those folks at the low end with few options and insufficient support from the system.

Thank goodness I won’t be able to see them on the other side of my 12’ walls. That would be really depressing. LOL.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', 'd')o we need 30 Starbucks in Houston or thousands of fast food joints. No…we don’t. But there’s a large portion of society that disparity needs those businesses: the folks who work there because they lack the skills to do better. ....The potential Mad Max I envision isn’t folks running up and down the streets with guns taking food from the unarmed. It’s those folks at the low end with few options and insufficient support from the system.

Thank goodness I won’t be able to see them on the other side of my 12’ walls. That would be really depressing. LOL.

[Plantagenet]

In March the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.6% even though only 88,000 jobs were created. This is odd because the economy needs to create 150-200,000 jobs each month just to keep up with population growth.

When you drill into the numbers, about half the 88,000 jobs were part-time and the drop in "unemployment" occurred because over 600,000 people left the workforce. Some retired and some went on disability (the new welfare) but most were classified as "discouraged".

If this trend continues we'll be back at full employment soon. All the BO administration has to do is classify millions more people as "discouraged workers."

[Plantagenet]

Ever wonder why there are so many "discouraged workers" in the US these days?