STARTING A BUSINESS

That snarky comment about poor people pulling themselves up by their bootstraps usually is accompanied by " They could start a business."

That clearly would require some money, ( can you define the word "poor" ? )

How many people in the USA are poor ? Fifty million.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/poverty-rate-government-aid_n_4227925.html 

So FIFTY MILLION people could start a business to become " unpoor "

Granted that figure includes children, so let's say TWENTY MILLION people could start a business to become " unpoor "

Now the conundrum, if everyone in the country is an employer, where do we get employees ?

Who are the customers ?

I know you think I am being snarky myself now, or too simplistic. I just have this funny feeling that not everyone can own a business.

I cannot figure this out,

ED

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

KEYSTONE PIPELINE
For all of you that are tired of hearing about the job producing pipeline that the Republicans think can save the country with a lot of  jobs, read the following critique :

http://www.livescience.com/38735-putting-keystone-pipeline-job-numbers-in-context.html

The construction of Keystone XL, which would generate 3,950 person-years of work according to the U.S. Department of State, has a job creation potential on par with building a shopping mall or the campus renovations the University of Oregon announced last week.
Moreover, after it's built, Keystone XL will only employ between 35 and 50 people — and some of those positions will be filled in Canada. That's a small fraction of the long-term employment benefits one could expect from a shopping mall.

While the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline is not a national jobs creator, it would be a significant new source of climate pollution, adding 1.2 billion metric tons of carbon pollution to the atmosphere over its estimated lifespan. For that reason it fails the President's climate test and should be rejected.

Facts are really hard to disprove because they are, you guessed it, FACTS

ED

SOCIALISM NONSENSE

Tweets flowing out to the world during and following the SOTU address by President Barack Obama were a telling diatribe against a President that Republicans have deemed to be a dangerous radical Socialist. Terms bandied about are creative nonsensical tripe like:
Kommandant -in-Chef (yes that's the way the tweet was worded) from Texas Republican Representative Randy ( I am trying to be relevant ) Weber

Randy Weber        ✔ @TXRandy14

On floor of house waitin on "Kommandant-In-Chef"... the Socialistic dictator who's been feeding US a line or is it "A-Lying?"

8:09 PM - 28 Jan 2014
And from FOX NEWS resident snark :

Citizenship is standing up and defying a tyrannical ruler

Monica Crowley @MonicaCrowley

The Skinny Socialist is about to speak. #HELP

9:15 PM - 28 Jan 2014
And from the Senator who thinks he is relevant :

Ted Cruz        ✔ @tedcruz

“President Obama meets every definition of an imperial presidency. He is the president [Nixon] always wanted to be.” http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2014/01/28/Video-Obama-s-Abuse-Of-Power …

5:38 PM - 28 Jan 2014

So now we have a kommandant-in-chef, skinny socialist, imperial presidency.
Oh wait, I forgot the Tyrannical Ruler part.

Whew, I am exhausted

ED

This just in:
Some Republicans have decided to file a class action suit against the President of the United States apparently claiming that his use of Executive orders violates the Constitution. 
They obviously have not seen this chart from New York Magazine :

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/01/obama-executive-orders-gun

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REPUBLICAN HEALTHCARE NONPLAN

From The Dailybeast.com :
"Republicans haven’t offered a response to this because, as of this moment, the party doesn’t have a response. Yes, there are conservative intellectuals with ideas for reform, but as an institution, the GOP has little to say about the constellation of problems in American health care. Even in their drive for repeal, Republicans failed to offer an alternative. At most, lawmakers like Bob Corker of Tennessee have tentatively called for “market-driven” reforms, like changes to the tax code, and allowing insurers to sell across state lines. Ironically, the Affordable Care Act allows for these changes, but that doesn’t seem to matter to the GOP."

From your host Edward L. Nice :
I would like to posit some here on a couple of simple issues I have with the big thrust of the Republicans whenever they claim to have an alternative to the ACA. 
Number one:
This business of selling health insurance across state lines. That is a ridiculous idea and is easily refuted. There is a very real reason that insurance companies have different rates for not only each state but different areas of each state. The cost of healthcare in metropolitan areas is significantly lower than in remote or sparsely populated areas. The idea that a person in remote parts of Texas or Alaska can access healthcare at the lower cost of a person in Chicago or Columbus or Pittsburgh just doesn't work out. If everyone got healthcare at the same price that would be part of Socialistic policy that the Republicans decry. 
Number two:
So-called TORT REFORM. While this may have merit and could be a reasonable reform that could lower physicians insurance cost there is a Republican gimmick. 
I watched hours and hours of committee hearings during the run up to the Affordable Care Act.
If you drill down to the tort reform proposed by the Republicans, you will find that they propose limiting the amount that plaintiffs attorneys can charge for a malpractice suit. They did NOT, however, limit the amount that the defendants attorneys could charge. I don't need to go very far with an argument here. Any person with a brain knows the outcome of a court case when one side can spend without limit (read millions) and the plaintiff can only spend thousands. That is the gimmick.
They always have a gimmick.
I can't make it up, check the transcripts,
ED

SOTU COMES AND GOES

Last night I recorded the SOTU. I was really interested as I am every year to hear the proposals, watch the sideshow of the pols jostling for position to shake hands with the president they claim to despise, and finally to watch the reactions on the faces of  both sides. I was sure for awhile that Speaker Boehner had been replaced with a cardboard cutout, grimaced and painted orangish brown so that he could just watch on TV while smoking a fag and sipping Merlot. But then, then he moved ! It really was him.
So, anyway, the speech came and went. The Republicans came out with rebuttals. This year it took FOUR Republicans to refute everything the President proposed, even the ones that Republicans used to tout when they claimed they knew everything before Socialism came to Washington. Oh well.
You can't make these spectacles up, I won't try to.
ED

THEY NEVER FINISH THE SENTENCE

The naysayers, Republicans, Tea Party Anarchists, Glennbeckistanians and cable news pundits never finish the sentence " millions of people are losing their health insurance." The real ending to the sentence is this, " because the insurance companies sold policies after the Affordable Care Act was passed that they knew were not compliant with the new law."
In other words, outside of the normal policy changes that occur EVERY YEAR, these policies were deliberately marketed to try to trick the populace into buying an inferior product that the insurance companies knew would require an upgrade on January 1, 2014.
The sale of these policies was just another perverse attempt to derail the progress of the Affordable Care Act.
I cannot make these things up,
ED

NEWS OF THE DAY

Item #1
 Republican Senator John Cornyn got deep in the cellar of his brain to come up with this gem :
“ I think the current administration has taken lying to a new level "
I cannot unthink this statement ! Sen. Cornyn is one of the constant benders of the truth in regards to the Affordable Care Act, Benghazi, the IRS, Fast and Furious, etc. It is simply unbelievable that he is the one that makes this statement.

Item #2
An amazing number of people in this country continue to call in to C-Span and complain about this " Obamacare socialized medicine thing "
The depth of ignorance this conjures up is stunning. Our education system seems to have failed to teach our youth the most simple concepts of governance. When private insurance companies are the basis for the Affordable Care Act, the result is a free market system. That is a Democracy solution not   
Socialism. I challenge everyone reading this when at your local hospital to ask to see the Federal Government Representative. Or ask where his or her office is. Or ask to see the Government Insurance Agent. Or ask to speak to the Government Doctor. Or maybe start out looking for the Government Hospital in your area. 

Item #3
An acquaintance recently informed me that he was against any assistance to poor people. He claimed to only care about his family and that any aid to those less fortunate than him amounted to a taking of his money. The very concept is outrageous and repulsive to me. It belies all value of mankind to withhold assistance to those in need. 
 The possible result of such a policy is terrifying. The poor and disenfranchised would fall to such despair and dejection that the only answer would be an uprising that would destroy the country from within.
 Such utter selfishness seems to be an increasing sickness in our country. My brain hurts when I think about this. The absurd side of this is that a lot of this selfishness is promulgated by the Christian Right. I cannot wrap my mind around that fact.