Health Insurance Under Obamacare: “The More You Make The More You’ll Pay”

"A friend familiar with the industry emails and points me to a summary at the NOLO legal encyclopedia that explains how healthcare insurance premiums are going to become income based. My friend concludes: This is the provision that I was told about by somebody who works at Blue Cross, but the government and even the media has been keeping very mum about it…. One provision not mentioned in this article is about the grandfathering of current plans back to sometime in 2010, where if you have had the same policy since then you won’t be charged based on income." Continue reading

Continue ReadingHealth Insurance Under Obamacare: “The More You Make The More You’ll Pay”

Which Nation Has the Most Per-Capita Government Spending on Healthcare?

"Is it Canada or the United Kingdom, which are famous (or, if these stories are any indication, infamous would be a better description) for single-payer healthcare systems? Is it Sweden, the home of the cradle-to-grave welfare state? Or France, the land of the world’s most statist people? How about Italy or Greece, nations that have spent themselves into fiscal crisis? Nope, nope, nope, and nope. The United States spends more money, on a per-capita basis, than any of those countries." Continue reading

Continue ReadingWhich Nation Has the Most Per-Capita Government Spending on Healthcare?

What’s the Difference Between Romneycare and Obamacare?

"That’s a trick question, of course, as illustrated by this biting Henry Payne cartoon. But let’s look at one of the commonalities of Romneycare and Obamacare – higher premiums, thanks to mandates and third-party payer. Here’s a quick look at what’s been happening to premiums in Massachusetts. The same thing is already happening with Obamacare." Continue reading

Continue ReadingWhat’s the Difference Between Romneycare and Obamacare?

Can New UK Health Czar Cure NHS’s ‘Enormous Sickness’?

"When industries and participants are not exposed to competition, there is no incentive to maintain performance. When this takes place within the context of health care, lives are at risk. Over time, there are needless deaths. Our prediction would be that NHS problems will get worse and worse and that the entire system will eventually be overturned. From what we can tell, the only reason the public tolerates it currently is because many of the problems associated with it are not reported." Continue reading

Continue ReadingCan New UK Health Czar Cure NHS’s ‘Enormous Sickness’?

Tax Prof: ObamaCare Tax Increases Are Double Original Estimate

"The Joint Committee on Taxation recently released a 96 page report on the tax provisions associated with Affordable Care Act. The report describes the 21 tax increases included in Obamacare, totaling $1.058 trillion – a steep increase from initial assessment, according to the Tax Prof Blog. The summer 2012 estimate is nearly twice the $569 billion estimate produced at the time of the passage of the law in March 2010." Continue reading

Continue ReadingTax Prof: ObamaCare Tax Increases Are Double Original Estimate

Study: Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost U.S. up to $6 trillion

"The Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost the United States between $4-6 trillion in the long term. Harvard University scholar Linda Bilmes concluded that the United States will face increasing costs to care for an estimated 2.5 million veterans, and to pay down debt incurred by borrowing to pay for the wars. Bilmes said that costs will climb over decades. She wrote that the peak year for disability payments over World War I, which ended in 1918, was 1969 as veterans became elderly. Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary under Bush, said before the invasion that the Iraq war would cost around $50 billion and called higher estimates 'baloney.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingStudy: Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost U.S. up to $6 trillion

Glenn Greenwald: Domestic drones and their unique dangers

"What possible reason could someone identify as to why these small, portable weaponized UAS products will not imminently be used by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the US? They're designed to protect their users in dangerous situations and to enable a target to be more easily killed. Police agencies and the increasingly powerful drone industry will tout their utility in capturing and killing dangerous criminals and their ability to keep officers safe, and media reports will do the same. One has to be incredibly naïve to think that these 'assassin bugs' and other lethal drone products will not be widely used on US soil." Continue reading

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Domestic drones and their unique dangers

Study: Economists Willing To Sacrifice Body Parts For Prestigious Journal Publications

"The time tradeoff (TTO) method is popular in medical decision making for valuing health states. We use it to elicit economists’ preferences for publishing in top economic journals and for living without limbs. The economists value journal publications highly and have a clear preference among them, with the American Economic Review (AER) the most preferred. Their responses imply they would sacrifice more than half a thumb for an AER publication. These TTO results are consistent with ranking and willingness to pay results, and indicate that journal preferences are not entirely determined by impact factors or by expectations of a salary increase." Continue reading

Continue ReadingStudy: Economists Willing To Sacrifice Body Parts For Prestigious Journal Publications

The Great Super Fantastic Bank of Cyprus & Its Awards of Excellence

"The Bank of Cyprus, which is stealing up to 40% of deposits from those with more than 100k Euros, had quite a veil of legitimacy. Check out the prestigious awards that the bank recently earned. The Central Banking heart pumps propaganda with every single beat. The arteries in the U.S., including The New York Times, Slate, The Atlantic, BusinessInsider, WashingtonPost etc....carry the propaganda to the people in the U.S. in the exact same way that the publications listed above did in Cyprus." Continue reading

Continue ReadingThe Great Super Fantastic Bank of Cyprus & Its Awards of Excellence

You’re Crazy Not to Have Some Cash

"Banks have been closed for over a week. Do you have enough cash on hand to buy gas, food, and other essentials for a week? Two weeks? Most of the preppers reading this are smiling, since they have these commodities and cash on hand already. Even in a major 'End of the World' style collapse, cash will be accepted by many people for a few days until the new reality sets in. In a minor disaster, such as Cyprus, having cash on hand will help you sleep better at night knowing you can feed yourself and your family, gas up the car, and potentially get out of Dodge if need be." Continue reading

Continue ReadingYou’re Crazy Not to Have Some Cash