Heritage Foundation offers same old New Health Care Reform Plan.

The authors of the Affordable Care Act, the HeritageFoundation, have another reform idea that gets our Republican government freeloaders off the hook when it comes to helping their constituents get care.

Nothing new, something old: If you really want a confusing and costly “system” of health care, Republicans have just the prescription for you, with a heavy dose of "freedom and liberty." They've decided to combine every bad idea into one big bankrupting plan of action:

After Repeal of Obamacare: Moving to Patient-Centered, Market-Based Health Care: Principle #1: Choose, control, and carry your own health insurance. True health reform should promote personal ownership of health insurance. While Obamacare uses government-run insurance exchanges to limit individual choice, real reforms would focus on encouraging Americans to purchase insurance policies that they can take with them from job to job and into retirement in a competitive, free market.

INTO RETIREMENT? That’s right, the Heritage Foundation is assuming our private plans will stay with us for life, breaking the promise of providing Medicare to seniors. Instead, you'll get a subsidy:

Congress should provide seniors with a generous subsidy to purchase a Medicare plan of their choosing. Seniors who choose a plan costing less than the subsidy would pay less, while seniors who choose a plan costing more than the subsidy would pay the difference in price.

And when those plans premiums go up, year after year, way beyond the subsidy, what happens? 

Getting rid of Employer Coverage: While this is a good idea, Heritage makes it worse by allowing an employer subsidy to their employees. But when that employee is let go, who picks up the employer side subsidy? The person without a job? Sounds costly too.

Rather than providing health insurance directly, employers instead would offer cash contributions to their workers, enabling them to buy the plans of their own choosing. Combined with changes in the tax treatment of health insurance and regulatory improvements to enhance portability, moving to a defined contribution model for health insurance would allow workers to buy a health insurance policy in their youth and take that policy with them from job to job into retirement.

Rights of Conscience. This turns whatever reform Heritage is throwing out there into mush, since “conscience” makes health care voluntary, at the whim of the provider. If you thought insurers were brutal canceling policies, just wait till your employer tells you to take a hike:

Congress should protect the rights of consumers, insurers, employers, and medical personnel to refrain from facilitating, participating in, funding, or providing services contrary to their consciences or the tenets of their religious faith. Enacting these protections would prevent Americans from facing the moral dilemma presented by Obamacare, which has forced individuals, employers, and religious organizations to choose between violating the law and violating their faith or consciences.

Walker’s taking the Sgt. Schultz “I know nothing” defense, again in Firing of Racist Grinch-like Aide!

Scott Walker's Teflon defense of ignorance got old a long time ago, but this is getting ridiculous:

WSJ-Mary Spicuzza: Gov. Scott Walker said he didn't support the email his fired campaign staffer sent urging people to donate to his campaign rather than go "Black Friday" shopping for their children. And Walker said he wasn't aware of offensive tweets targeting Latinos that the same staffer had posted several years ago.

Here’s a guy who’s not just running for governor, but president, and still doesn't control his own campaign message or staff?

“Tone:” Walker objects to the "tone," and not necessarily foregoing Christmas gifts for our kids:

"It's certainly not something I would have put out," Walker said of the fundraising email. "I think the tone would have certainly been different. But obviously the reason for that person no longer being there is much bigger than just that particular email."

Palmisano's unusual fundraising email drew national attention and was widely panned. 

Scott Walker’s “I know nothing. I was not here! I did not even get up this morning!” defense:

Walker said he hadn't known about the tweets. "We didn't know about them. I think like

most employers, we don't spend time going back … "But obviously, when it was brought to our attention, it was something that concerned our campaign, and concerned me, and we took action just like we did here at the state."  

Wait a minute! Firing an employee was just like the action Walker took here in the state? He’s using this as a vehicle to repeat his campaign message? 

And Walker had no idea Palmisano held these deeply troubling racist feelings, right?

Palmisano, 23, was a finance intern for the Walker campaign from January to July before being promoted to deputy finance director, according to her profile on Linked-In. She also was previously a finance intern at the Republican Party of Wisconsin. In his newly released book "Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge," Walker credited Palmisano and other members of his campaign staff with building on the success of his previous election teams.

ALEC tells Freedom Loving Conservatives to love their Dependence on Big Energy, and Penalize Solar "Freeriders."

So freeing yourself from big energy, and becoming more self-sufficient, makes you a “freerider?”

The Fear of Freeloaders: Conservatives hate it when others get something for nothing. That’s the tact ALEC is taking to appeal to the conservative base, in what could only be described as a Salvador Dali like agenda attacking green conscious consumers. It's so counter-intuitive.

Freedom loving tea party voters are now being told by their local energy company monopolies, that they’re not free to create their own energy. Huh? In fact, that company can penalize you for feeding your excess solar or wind energy into their noncompetitive infrastructure. Competition? Outrageous.

This convoluted concept is just confusing enough to for low information voters to default to a simpler message from the corporate lobbyists at ALEC, who by the way, include many of your not-so-hardworking Republican legislators. The Guardian:

ALEC: An alliance of corporations and conservative activists is mobilizing to penalize homeowners who install their own solar panels – casting them as "freeriders" – in a sweeping new offensive against renewable energy, the Guardian has learned.

American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) will promote legislation with goals ranging from penalizing individual homeowners and weakening state clean energy regulations ... blocking Barack Obama from cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and state governments from promoting the expansion of wind and solar power through regulations known as Renewable Portfolio Standards.

Documents obtained by the Guardian … Alec wanted to lower the rate electricity companies pay homeowners for direct power generation – and maybe even charge homeowners for feeding power into the grid. "As it stands now, those direct generation customers are essentially freeriders on the system. They are not paying for the infrastructure they are using. In effect, all the other non direct generation customers are being penalized," he said.

Jaw dropping enough? Are you a believer yet? Need more convincing? It’s down the rabbit hole for more:

"How are they going to get that electricity from their solar panel to somebody else's house?" he said. "They should be paying to distribute the surplus electricity." In November, Arizona became the first state to charge customers for installing solar panels. The fee, which works out to about $5 a month for the average homeowner, was far lower than that sought by the main electricity company, which was seeking to add up to $100 a month to customers' bills.

Really, Arizona voters would have been good with their energy company charging them $100 for taking free sunlight or wind energy from Mother Nature? That doesn't sound loco to them, a corporate overreach?

Gabe Elsner, director of the Energy and Policy Institute, said "They are trying to eliminate pro-solar policies in the states to protect utility industry profits."  

Renewable Portfolio Standards require electricity companies to source a share of their power from wind, solar, biomass, or other clean energy. In the confidential materials, prepared for the August board meeting, Alec claimed to have made significant inroads against such clean energy policies in 2013. "Approximately 15 states across the country introduced legislation to reform, freeze or repeal their state's renewable mandate," the taskforce reported.

Walker, Ryan wrong about Food Stamps: "Actually increases economic self-sufficiency when children grow up."

Are Republicans trying to be wrong all the time? Can an ideology be so misguided that everything that springs from is just the opposite of reality?

While Scott Walker and Paul Ryan make complete asses of themselves bashing the poor and their dependence on "government," the cuts to food stamps is one of their most egregious mistakes.

Salon: Hilary Hoynes is a University of California at Berkeley economist who wrote ... Instead of increasing dependency, as conservative critics have repeatedly claimed, Hoyen’s paper showed that, for women at least, food stamp use during pregnancy and early childhood has exactly the opposite impact of what conservatives allege: It actually increases economic self-sufficiency when children grow up, in the next generation.

That was just one of two main results reported in “Long Run Impacts of Childhood Access to the Safety Net,” ... access to food stamps for women leads to “increases in economic self-sufficiency (increases in educational attainment, earnings, and income, and decreases in welfare participation).”  Hoynes and her colleagues took advantage of the fact that food stamp programs were established county-by-county over a period of years, creating a sort of “natural experiment” beginning half a century in the past.

Hoynes herself said, “This work indicates that there are important benefits of the safety net that to date have been ignored. They predict that a more generous safety net can reduce health disparities ... the emerging evidence points to an important role for investments in early life — and those investments generate important returns in terms of better health and economic outcomes in adulthood.”

Or we could just arm people so they can protect themselves from those we didn't invest in. 

Walker still doesn't understand the Health Care Problem, pushing Subsidies on the open market.

Scott Walker doesn't get it. He doesn't understand the individual health care insurance marketplace, he's been a career politician getting taxpayer health benefits. Walker is getting support from low information voters and leaders of the legislature. Here’s Walker idiotic plan:

Two weeks ago, Walker requested that consumers be allowed to use the federal subsidies to buy any health plan offered in Wisconsin. That request, which would represent a substantial change of policy for the Affordable Care Act, is unlikely to win approval from the Obama administration.

What, a substantial change? Not a big deal for a law breaking dictatorial president like Obama, right. But wait, it appears Walker would make that illegal and substantial change if he were president, no matter how the Affordable Care Act was written.

It’s a terrible idea that would only raise rates dramatically, crushing people with what would inevitably be unaffordable premiums:

jsonline: Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said he didn't agree with the larger proposal by Walker to allow consumers to use the federal subsidies to buy health policies not offered on the exchanges. Gruber said the point of the exchange and its more limited coverage choices is to ensure that everyone gets robust insurance and that the market is financially sustainable.

"Right now, the Wisconsin insurance market is highly discriminatory, with young and healthy folks able to get products at low prices and older and sicker folks left out of the system. A primary goal of the ACA is to remedy this...But that can raise average prices as the (insurance) pool gets sicker," Gruber said. "If the young and healthy can use the tax credit to stay out of the reformed insurance market, then it will worsen the price increase in that market."

Makes sense, doesn't it? But Rep. Robin Vos has never been a guy to make sense out of anything, as he heartily, eagerly jumps on board:

But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said he … especially favored the larger one giving consumers the greatest number of options. "I like that even better. More choice is good," Vos said.

Disconnected from the realities of the private individual market? You bet. Despite the much higher prices, as predicted by the creator of the health care marketplaces, Vos likes the free market, because…well, just because? Freedom and liberty!!

Under Scott Walker, Homelessness Increased a Dramatic 5.5%, while nation saw 4% Decline.

Nothing says “it’s working” more than seeing a huge rise in homelessness? 

With thanks to former Gov. Jim Doyle's efforts, Scott Walker’s first year in office saw the continued  decrease in homelessness after the Great Recession. But since then, and under Walker’s austere policies to wean Wisconsinites off government programs, homelessness is rising to near Great Recession levels again. Real presidential stuff here.

4% Down Nationally, 5.5% Rise in Wisconsin: Walker is always bragging about his low unemployment numbers, but what about the uncounted unemployed who've given up the search?

WPR: Figures released by the federal government show that homelessness is falling on a national scale, but that's not the case in Wisconsin. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that since 2011, homelessness has gone down about 4 percent nationally. In Wisconsin, however, it's gone up 5.5 percent.

Steven Schooler, the executive director of Porchlight said, “For those folks that really were at the lower end of the ... socio-economic strata, they never really did recover. The jobs that have been created really didn't cover those folks. As we know, there are a lot of folks that just have given up looking for work,” Schooler said … that's why he's seeing a continued rise in homelessness.

With cuts to food stamps and new requirements meant to purposely drop recipients, Walker has only made things worse:

At Milwaukee's Hope House, executive director Ken Schmidt said food stamp cuts have brought more people to the shelter, since a family's housing budget now goes towards food. “I mean, there's only so much money. Having less money with food stamps does hurt that household budget,” he said.

Food stamp cuts are also a major part of Paul Ryan’s plan to attack the poor:

Many homeless shelters are receiving less federal and state funds and some officials say that money will continue to decline.

MacIver Institute pushes Government Broken Promises, like Medicare/Medicaid Cuts to Nursing Homes. GOP backed Sequestration at fault.

While little is said about the GOP's successful efforts to trip up the Affordable Care Act, you'd think that maybe just one reporter would question Scott Walker's claim the government will probably break its promise funding Medicaid's expansion. "There's a history of broken promises."

Democrats won't Cut Safety Nets, so Who's Breaking those Promises?: Perhaps its a matter of projection? After all, Paul Ryan Republicans want to scale back our the safety nets (hammocks). The GOP has been saying all along that the government "made promises they couldn't keep" regarding Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security. If you can't keep your promises, break them, right?

The MacIver Institute toadies for the Walker Authority kindly offered an example I could finally fact check. In a damning piece of intentional deception, Sec. of Health Services Kitty Rhoades feigned moral outrage over recent unexpected Medicare/Medicaid cuts to nursing homes. The dreaded "broken promise." 



But that's not the whole story, and they know it. Republicans created this problems, just so they could complain about it:

April 10, 2013: CMS changes nursing home inspections in response to sequestration cuts: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will change some nursing home survey procedures in response to budget cuts from sequestration … The CMS Survey & Certification budget has been reduced 5% from 2012, the agency announced.

The CMS memo clearly stated: 

“LSC Survey Focus: In FY2013 and FY2014 we undertake the dual challenge of (a) responding to resource limitations under the new budget sequester, and (b) enforcing…”

Democrats want to kill the sequestration, tea party Republicans love it.

Walker Fires Campaign Aide Promoting War on Christmas Gifts to Kids.

Just amazing. You no longer have to wonder what Scott Walker thinks about immigrants, or says about them around his office and private meetings. His aide spilled the beans.

This is what the administration's position is, based on racism and fear mongering. Maybe reporters should ask Walker why the people around him are saying such racist things. Keep in mind, these comments were made back in 2011. Her recent press release asking parent to forego their kids Christmas gifts for campaign donations was the real reason she was fired. This was Walker damage control, where he didn't want to have any part of what could and still might be...a GOP "war on Christmas." Forget about the two year old racism. Gawker:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who's trying to generate buzz for a possible 2016 presidential run, had to fire a campaign aide today for her past racist Twitter rants against Latinos—the second such incident to rock Walker's administration since last summer.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Taylor Palmisano, Walker's deputy campaign finance director, was let go Tuesday after activists pointed out her old grumpy "fuck"-filled tweets about "illegal" people who were bothering her on the bus and in the library....

This was the second such firing since August, when another Walker aide—Steven Krieser, assistant deputy secretary of the Wisconsin department of transportation—lost his job after writing on Facebook that illegal immigrants were the spawn of Satan: 

[W]e get to be treated to the incredible chutzpah of hundreds of thousands of these criminals marching in the streets in broad daylight, demanding all the benefits of citizenship from a country whose laws they are breaking even as they are standing there. The illegals themselves have bred the animus that many American citizens feel toward them You may see Jesus when you look at them. I see Satan.

Here's WKOW and WISC news coverage:

Minnesota's progressive path to economic strength proof conservative policies a failure.

On WPT's Joy Cardin Show, Scott Walker did his best dance around the great progressive economic results coming from Minnesota's Governor Dayton and his Democratic legislature. Excuse after excuse, Walker fumble this one, bring up Illinois as a better example. Illinois is kicking our ass when it comes to new jobs. Maybe he thought we wouldn't somehow notice.



This Minnesota vs Wisconsin story is rich with campaign ammunition for Scott Walker's Democratic challengers-use it:

NY Times: Wisconsin elected Republicans to majorities in the Legislature and selected a bold and vigorous Republican governor, Scott Walker. Minnesotans elected one of the most progressive candidates for governor in the country, Mark Dayton of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. 

Minnesota raised taxes by $2.1 billion, the largest increase in recent state history. Democrats introduced the fourth highest income tax bracket in the country and targeted the top 1 percent of earners to pay 62 percent of the new taxes, according to the Department of Revenue. A month after Mr. Walker’s inauguration in January 2011, he catapulted himself to the front ranks of national conservative leaders with attacks on the collective bargaining rights of Civil Service unions and sharp reductions in taxes and spending. 

Three years into Mr. Walker’s term, Wisconsin lags behind Minnesota in job creation and economic growth. As a candidate, Mr. Walker promised to produce 250,000 private-sector jobs in his first term, but a year before the next election that number is less than 90,000. Wisconsin ranks 34th for job growth. Mr. Walker’s defenders blame the higher spending and taxes of his Democratic predecessor for these disappointments, but according to Forbes’s annual list of best states for business, Wisconsin continues torank in the bottom half.

Along with California, Minnesota is the fifth fastest growing state economy, with private-sector job growth exceeding pre-recession levels. Forbes rates Minnesota as the eighth best state for business.

Higher taxes and economic growth in Minnesota have attracted a surprisingly broad coalition. Businesses complain about taxes, but many cheered Mr. Dayton’s investments in the Mayo Clinic, the new Vikings stadium, the Mall of America and 3M headquarters.

The lion’s share of Minnesota’s new tax revenue was sunk into human capital. Dayton invested 71 percent of the remaining funds in K-12 schools and higher education as well as a pair of firsts: all-day kindergarten and wider access to early childhood education. Minnesota was one of the few states that raised education spending under the cloud of the Great Recession. 

By contrast, Mr. Walker’s strategy limited Wisconsin’s ability to invest in infrastructure that would have catalyzed private-sector expansion, and he cut state funding of K-12 schools by more than 15 percent. Per student, this was the seventh sharpest decline in the country.

Health care presents another difference.  When Mr. Walker refused to establish a state health insurance exchange or to expand Medicaid, Mr. Dayton is on course to improve Minnesota’s already low uninsured rate. He expanded Medicaid to cover an additional 35,000 people and accepted Washington’s offer to pick up the cost ... Meanwhile, Minnesota’s tradition of innovative medical care and nonprofit insurers produced premiums in its insurance exchange that are, on average, the lowest in the country, well below premiums in Wisconsin. 

The lesson from the upper Midwest is that rigid anti-tax dogma fails to deliver a convincing optimistic vision that widens economic opportunity and security. The excesses of liberalism may lurk, but Minnesota is building a modern progressivism that plows a hopeful path.

Will Pope Francis exorcize Paul Ryan-like Demons from GOP?

Can you imagine how our nation of good Christian conservatives will react to the continuing exploits of the “liberal” Pope?

Think Progress: The leader of the Catholic Church has been quietly sneaking out of the Vatican at night to minister to homeless residents, according to a new report. “Swiss guards confirmed that the pope has ventured out at night, dressed as a regular priest, to meet with homeless men and women,” writes The Huffington Post.

Just months after assuming the papacy, he invited nearly 200 homeless people to join him for dinner at the Vatican. He also deplored the plight of homeless people in the first apostolic exhortation of his papacy last week: “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”

Over the years, the Catholic Church has grown too “obsessed” with abortion, contraception, and gay marriage, Pope Francis argued in May, imploring followers instead to focus on combating trickle-down economics and the world of inequality it produces.

Pope Francis … shedding gold-embroidered robes and an ornate golden throne for white threads and a wooden chair. These pronouncements and actions have earned him the nickname “Pope of the Poor.” 

I've included a more complete version Pope Francis' recent statement below, as proof religious conservatives like Paul Ryan are phonies. A note to reporters, ask the GOP where they stand on the Pope's positions:

Here's what the pope has to say about conservative economic policies, after first arguing that society now treats human beings as part of a "disposable culture," discarding people at the will of the "haves".

"The excluded are still waiting: In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.

To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase; and in the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.

While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realize the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real purchasing power. To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits. In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule.

Today’s economic mechanisms promote inordinate consumption, yet it is evident that unbridled consumerism combined with inequality proves doubly damaging to the social fabric. Inequality eventually engenders a violence which recourse to arms cannot and never will be able to resolve. This serves only to offer false hopes to those clamouring for heightened security, even though nowadays we know that weapons and violence, rather than providing solutions, create new and more serious conflicts. Some simply content themselves with blaming the poor and the poorer countries themselves for their troubles; indulging in unwarranted generalizations, they claim that the solution is an “education” that would tranquilize them, making them tame and harmless. All this becomes even more exasperating for the marginalized in the light of the widespread and deeply rooted corruption found in many countries – in their governments, businesses and institutions – whatever the political ideology of their leaders."

Much farther into the document, the Pope discusses the poor in far more detail with a pointed edge that calls not just for individuals to fight for social justice, but entire governments.

"As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for any of the world's problems or, for that matter, to any problems. Inequality is the root of social ills.

Politics, rhetoric and priorities: "The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies. At times, however, they seem to be a mere addendum imported from without in order to fill out a political discourse lacking in perspectives or plans for true and integral development. How many words prove irksome to this system! It is irksome when the question of ethics is raised, when global solidarity is invoked, when the distribution of goods is mentioned, when reference is made to protecting labour and defending the dignity of the powerless, when allusion is made to a god who demands a commitment to justice. At other times these issues are exploited by a rhetoric which cheapens them. Casual indifference in the face of such questions empties our lives and our words of all meaning."

His prayer for politicians: "I ask God to give us more politicians capable of sincere and effective dialogue aimed at healing the deepest roots – and not simply the appearances – of the evils in our world! Politics, though often denigrated, remains a lofty vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good.
I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor! It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons, working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education and healthcare. Why not turn to God and ask him to inspire their plans? I am firmly convinced that openness to the transcendent can bring about a new political and economic mindset which would help to break down the wall of separation between the economy and the common good of society."

Forget Jobs Promise? Walker focus on unemployment numbers another scam, misdirection play.

Democrats are slow to react to Scott Walker’s ridiculous emphasis on his administrations lower unemployment numbers. Is Walker misdirecting attention away from his jobs promise? Ya think?

On the jobs front, Walker has also succeeded in silencing his critics by oddly sticking to his jobs promise, an obvious ploy, but obtuse enough to confuse reporters.

But didn't Walker just manipulated the unemployment rate? Walker's reforms changed and restricted who could get unemployment. According to Thomas and Thorngren, a company that deals with unemployment cost controls for employers:

Reforms to Wisconsin’s Unemployment Law Favorable for Employers: The new law tightens up UI benefit eligibility by decreasing the number of qualifying quit exceptions for individuals who voluntarily quit from 18 to 9 … A disqualification may now be imposed when the employee is discharged for “misconduct” or for “substantial fault” … (even) when the underlying reasons for discharge do not rise to the level of misconduct.  A claimant must now conduct at least four reasonable search actions for suitable work during a week of unemployment to be eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits for that week.  

Walker reduced the number of people getting unemployment, which in turn, makes his numbers look better than they are. Oddly (but not really), conservatives never talk about the uncounted unemployed-the actual number they site often to bash Obama.

The think (in-the) tank MacIver Institute didn't mind Walker shifting an employer’s increased unemployment taxes to the public...you and me. Yes, we’re now subsidizing business:

The new law also shifts UI tax increases away from employers … When that fund was emptied in 2009, the Wisconsin state government borrowed $1.6 billion from the federal government, a loan that at one point cost $60,000 per day in interest payments. UI taxes on businesses have roughly doubled since the state took that loan in order to pay that interest, but the new law reduces their UI taxes to pre-loan levels by shifting the fiscal burden for the interest payments to the general budget.

The “general budget” is us, the taxpayers. We also threw in an extra $50 million of general taxpayer money to balance the unemployment fund, so the federal government wouldn't increase taxes on businesses. It was a trick, a scam, played on the federal government by using our money to keep businesses from paying in to their unemployment fund.  

Dems lost their Credibility on Health Care? Who Turned down our own Federal Tax Dollars for the hell of it?

Look who’s talking about lost credibility? WKOW:

Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield) said Democrats and groups supporting Obamacare had lost credibility on health care, claiming the Affordable Care Act would "very likely" result in fewer people having insurance coverage in the long run. "They tried to create this utopian plan and it's got egg on its face," he said.

Oh, I think Republicans blew their credibility when they shutdown the government and flushed 24 billion dollars down the toilet. That's a lot more than the websites $600 million. Or their Medicare Part D failure? The Democrats made some great points as well.

This arrogant young lazy accountant is likely to be very, very wrong…again. You might remember this guy Kooyenga. Thinking back…

Remember when Republican State Rep. Dale Kooyenga wanted to clean up state statutes by removing the requirement that dairy state restaurants always provide butter with or without a serving of margarine. Kooyenga, a 32-year-old accountant from Brookfield wants to undo law he calls silly, antiquated and anti-free market. Kooyenga argues that changing the law would save the state money since margarine is typically a third of the cost of butter.

Pretty bad proposal for the DAIRY STATE!!! But just as bad, this arrogant young failed accountant also put on his authoritarian hat and said this:

Republican Rep. Dale Kooyenga: “There are certain values that the state upholds. If the values aren’t consistent at the local level, there is an opportunity for the state to come in and say these are our principles and they are good.”

Walker's Toyless Christmas Wish.

Cognitive Dissidence got the scoop on this amazing un-Christmas like fundraising cheerlessness. We're not only seeing the ugly side of business, but what really matters to Republicans like Scott Walker; a toyless Christmas for kids.

First I thought it was bad when Walmart thought it would be a good idea to hold a food drive for their own employees instead of just paying them a living wage. Then McDonald's comes along and tells their employees to sell off their Christmas gifts so that they can pay their bills. Walker's campaign sent out a fundraising email on Friday that really takes the cake (emphasis mine):

 I've highlighted the warm fuzzy holiday messages from Scott Walker. How did he know my kids wanted lower taxes as adults:

Walker's low road campaign!!! He's even pushing the "Walker hater" talking point to win election in a Tweet. Desperate?

The language of the rightwing authoritarians has always fascinated me. They're marketing animals, pushing new slogans and re-engineered talking points that simply repackage what we already know is a failed ideological system of government.

The Return of the “You just Hate…(fill in the blank)” tactic: It worked so well in defending George W., that what the heck, why not our embattled “divide and conquer” governor Scott Walker.

Walker calmly denies he’s been divisive, and instead, blames fabrications and lies made up by union bosses to "rev you up.” Yea, that’s sounds just like something the “herding cats party” would do. Projection much?

But guess whose Tweet sent me to the following conservative talk radio hate site?

Walker's promoting the "Walker haters" theme as a distraction from actual policy criticisms. We just hate Walker, that's all you need to know. How easy is that for low information voters to argue?

WTAQ's Jerry Bader: During 2011 and 2012 we had a regular feature on my show called the Unhinged Badger. It chronicled the unhinged behavior of Governor Scott Walker haters around the state. Walker's new book "Unintimidated" appears to have awakened the Unhinged Badger. Libs are signing up at Amazon.com to trash a book they obviously never read. 

It’s true, many of the one star comments are from those who've never read the book, but that's true of the 3 and 4 star reviewers. 

You can read some of the reviews for yourself ... Walker haters who never touched the book. Even the liberal Capital Times concedes these reviews are mostly Walker haters who've never read the book ... showing just how strong the Walker hatred is. 

Bader lives in Walker's bubble, so of course, he saw the protest the same way Walker did, from his dark hiding place in the Capitol. In fact, Bader says "it feels very much like Walker's words." How unique?

I've read Walker's book. Actually, he and co-author Marc Theissen did a very good job of capturing what happened in Wisconsin during Act 10. And it feels very much like Walker's words and experiences, not the words of a ghost writer. But, read it for yourself and if you like it, let people at Amazon.com know about it.

And if you don't like it, don't leave a review, or you'll be seen as a "Walker hater."

Democratic Presidents have all the Luck, or are they better managers?

The facts don’t lie:

WaPo: More specifically, since 1947, the U.S. economy has grown at an average rate of 4.35 percent under Democratic presidents, and just 2.54 percent under Republicans. That's a big gap. So why does it persist? One possible explanation is that Democratic policies are better for economic growth. Another is that Republican policies are better for growth — but there's a time lag, so Democrats tend to benefit.

Researchers have decided after extensive analysis, that the Democrats have all the luck. Yet even the reason they gave for that seemed strained and contradictory. I’m going with the idea that Democrats manage the nation better because they believe in good efficient government, where Republicans play out their failed ideological fantasies:

Alternatively, perhaps Democrats just have better economic luck. That third theory is one favored by economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson in their new working paper, “Presidents and the Economy: A Forensic Investigation” (pdf).

Productivity shocks. "As with oil shocks, we consider them as mainly reflecting luck," the authors write. "But, of course, we cannot rule out that they have a policy component as well." The authors don't give much credence to the idea that Democratic presidents inherit stronger economies. In fact, it's actually the opposite: "Democrats inherit growth rates of 1.8% from the final year of the previous term, while Republicans inherit a growth rate of 4.1%." Yet Democratic presidents have still done better, on average, in their first terms since 1947.

Public Opinion Against GOP and they're still getting votes?

A short clip of Chris Matthews reviewing how strongly the public supports the Democratic Party's values. The question is, how do Republicans manage to stay in the race?

Walker says "I have nothing to do with it!" Oh but he does. National media spotlighting Scott Walker's big decision on racist Indian mascots.

Racism is now an official plank of the Republican platform. With every conservative think throwing in their word salad to disguise racism, Republicans can now use that language to fool themselves while at the same time spread the hate.

Walker Republicans have actually written a law making it impossible to stop or remove blatantly obvious racial mascots. That's how in your face these guy want to be. Leave well enough alone? Never.

This national hot button issue about racial mascots is now on Scott Walker's desk, waiting for his signature. With the media spotlight on Walker now, he's about to make it clear to the nation where he stands on the racial divide. Would he be an inclusive candidate for the nations highest office, or will he let racism fester and grow...on a local small government level as he states below? 

Daily Beast: Battles over Native American names are raging nationwide, with none fiercer than in Wisconsin, where a GOP bill awaits the governor’s signature … and the governor ... finds himself caught in a battle he doesn't seem to want to fight.

“I have nothing to do with it,” Walker said. “Other than that I have to choose whether or not I am going to sign it or veto it, it is nothing that I have advocated. In fact, all the while they were debating it I was asked at press conferences what I thought about it, and I would say, ‘It is not on my radar. If it is not about jobs, lower taxes, improving schools, it is not on my priority list.’”

It’s so hard being the accidental governor...what will he do? He knows exactly what he’ll do, even after feigning disinterest in the whole hot button issue conservative voters want passed to justify their deep seated racist feelings.

“I don’t know exactly what I am going to do with it,” Walker suggested that he favored simply repealing the 2009 law and leaving the decision up to local school districts rather than signing into law the “weird hybrid” that passed this month. 

Walker Pushing One-Party Nation, One Courageous Leader.

Scott Walker's whirlwind book tour revealed more to Wisconsinites than all the months he's been in office, where he's courageously hidden away from the hoards of protesters greeting him at every public appearance. Sorry, showing up at closed off right wing corporate speaking engagements don't count as public.

Walker's one party cakewalk utopia in Wisconsin felt so good, he's now pushing the idea nationwide, just in case he becomes president.

In a bizarre cheap shot at Democratic challenger Mary Burke, Walker chides her for not making any promises like he did, knowing she'd be dealing with a radicalized Republican legislature not likely to send anything she wants her way.

And Walker should talk, since he's failed miserably on his 250,000 jobs promise and opening Wisconsin up for business (one person LLC's don't count). Oddly, he's sticking to those promises. Are you getting the feeling he's got another con up his sleeve as a bailout?

BIG MISTAKE: Listen to the career politician talk about business, like he knows something about it:

Walker: "You don't hire someone asking them how long they'er going to work for your company..."

Wow, that is so wrong, so clueless, just ask any business owner. Even more embarrassing, he's repeating that story over and over. I say go for it. But that's not all. Walker also proves he doesn't value a long term LOYAL employee, with this little condescension:

Walker: "What you hire them for, is to say, "What will you do for my company...?" 

From WPT's Here and Now:

Employer Control over Women's Health and Contraception.

The activist conservative Supreme Court will once again help the right wing fulfill their agenda through by giving inanimate, government granted corporations, the same First Amendment rights as people. Here's the intro from The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell:



But will Justice Scalia hold true to this past statement:

9.6 percent swing and drop in teacher enrollment since Act 10.

Thank you Scott Walker, for diminishing a once admired profession, and reducing the number of teachers getting into education:

WSJ: Since Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Legislature enacted sweeping changes to collective bargaining and teacher compensation, the number of junior and senior undergraduates enrolled in state teacher-training programs appears to have dropped, state data show. The 2.8 percent decrease between 2010 and 2012 at University of Wisconsin System campuses comes after a 6.8 percent increase between 2008 and 2010.

That's a 9.6% swing. Walker’s insulting response to statewide teacher hatred? He denies he had anything to do with their vilification, and instead, challenges everyone to search through and watch all of his YouTube videos for just one time he might have said something negative. Gee, can’t wait to do that.

Teaching Poisoned by Politics: And yet, teachers on the front line are now complaining about the politicization of the teaching profession:

Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, associate dean of the UW-Madison School of Education, said some graduates there are now reporting feeling ill prepared for what they call the political atmosphere surrounding teaching. “Until our most recent surveys, we’ve never had a complaint that ‘you didn’t prepare us for the political atmosphere’” of teaching…

Profession now just a Short Term Job: But that’s not all. The future looks even worse for experience educators:

Hanley-Maxwell also said since 2009, the number of survey respondents planning to teach as long as they are able or until retirement has dropped significantly — from 85 percent in 2009 to 39 percent last year. She said she doesn’t know why just yet. “There’s something going on out there — whether it’s Act 10 or negative commentary (about teachers),” she said. “I don’t know what it is, but there’s definitely something going on out there.”

I thought I would include the following comment so everyone could see it.

Actually the decline in teaching candidates is FAR worse than 10%. 

The study only looked at larger UW campuses; in the smaller campuses and private colleges, the decline is closer to 50%.

Even better for Wisconsin's future is that the number of candidates going into STEM areas (science, technology, mathematics) is down about 80%...and most of the recent graduates during the past 2 years have left Wisconsin for teaching jobs in Minnesota, Illinois, or Michigan where a teacher will earn well over 1 million dollars more during their career than if they stay in the WORST place to teach in America: Wisconsin.

One former math teacher put it best: "Life is short, don't waste it in Wisconsin".