Welfare-Warfare State

This Wins the “Booby Prize” for Great Moments in Government-Run Healthcare

"I confess to being a bit skeptical of this story. Then again, who would have guessed that the government in the United Kingdom would provide taxpayer-financed sex trips to Amsterdam? Or that the bureaucrats at the European Commission would be able to get penile implants at public expense? Closer to home, let’s not forget that Obamacare allows taxpayer-subsidized viagra for sex offenders! And Medicare pays for penis pumps, which creates frightening visual images. So even if this specific story isn’t true, I have no doubt that the British government has squandered money in similar ways." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThis Wins the “Booby Prize” for Great Moments in Government-Run Healthcare

An Obamacare Chart to Make You Cry…Balanced by Obamacare Cartoons to Make You Laugh

"I’ve shared a nightmarish flowchart to show the Byzantine complexity of America’s healthcare system under Obamacare. Sort of makes you wonder whether the healthcare system will now be more complicated than the internal revenue code. But some people may be skeptical because this flowchart was prepared by Republicans from the Joint Economic Committee. Well, here’s a flowchart from the pro-Obamacare Washington Post, and it shows how just one small piece of the law will require complicated gymnastics." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAn Obamacare Chart to Make You Cry…Balanced by Obamacare Cartoons to Make You Laugh

Former Atlanta school superintendent and 34 others charged with racketeering in cheating probe

"The former superintendent of Atlanta’s public school system was among 35 people indicted on Friday in connection with a cheating scandal that dates back to 2001. Beverly Hall, former Atlanta Public Schools human relations director Millicent Few and other administrators were indicted on 57 counts of making false statements, along with five counts of theft, two counts of influencing a witness and one count of racketeering. A grand jury recommended bail be set at $7.5 million for Hall. She, along with her fellow defendants, is expected to turn herself in to authorities by Tuesday. Hall faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Atlanta school superintendent and 34 others charged with racketeering in cheating probe

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

Beware Of All Enterprises That Require New Clothes

"Despite sequestration and Big Sister's threats that the reduced growth of the TSA's budget -- not its actual operating one -- will delay passengers in hours'-long lines, the agency signed a $50-million contract with VF Imagewear for uniforms. Yes, those ugly, neon brown-sorry, blue polyester shirts that the thugs at the checkpoint wear cost a pretty penny. But this is old news. I'm bothering you with it because VF Imagewear is 'better known for its Lee and Wrangler brand jeans.' Additional lines include 'Vanity Fair®, ... The North Face®, and JanSport®.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBeware Of All Enterprises That Require New Clothes

French workers hold company heads captive after they’re fired without pay

"Workers at a French greetings card firm on Friday sequestered the head of their company and the chief of the Dutch firm which owns it after sacked employees were told they would not get their dues. The protest at the office of French firm Edit66 and the Dutch owner Mercurius, targeted their two chiefs Paul Denis and Merthus Bezemer. The town’s socialist mayor Jean Vila said he backed the action. France’s economy, the second biggest in the eurozone, has been stagnating in recent months. Unemployment is just shy of the record level of 3.195 million last reached in 1997 and the spending power of French households fell in late 2012 for the first time since 1984." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrench workers hold company heads captive after they’re fired without pay

Dead Letter Office: Even U.S. Government Doesn’t Use the U.S. Postal Service

"How bad is the United States Postal Service? In order to get a straight answer on this, ask the federal government. The federal government uses the Postal Service 2% of the time. Here is an agency that is so utterly incompetent that the United States government will not use it. How’s that for a testimonial? Here is an agency run by the government that the rest of the agencies regard as so utterly unreliable and expensive, that they refuse to use it. The Postal Service has had a monopoly over first-class mail ever since the time of Benjamin Franklin. That is the longest monopoly in American history. Yet it cannot persuade the federal government to use it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDead Letter Office: Even U.S. Government Doesn’t Use the U.S. Postal Service

Repeal the “War on Terror”

"When Congress approved the post-911 'Authorization for Use of Military Force' on September 14, 2001, Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California was the only member of the House to vote against it. The Authorization for Use of Military Force has been used to justify torture, warrantless surveillance, and now summary execution of terror suspects – including at least three US citizens, among them a 16-year-old boy – by drone strikes. That measure is the American equivalent of the 'Enabling Act' passed by the German Reichstag in 1933 – a blank check for both foreign military adventurism and domestic repression." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRepeal the “War on Terror”

Police restrain crowd from taking food to be thrown away after supermarket eviction

"Law enforcement officials pushed back hundreds of people who were crowding around a large pile of merchandise outside an Augusta grocery store Tuesday afternoon. But the goods sitting in the parking lot of the Laney Supermarket didn't make into anyone's hands. Instead, the food people hoped to take home was tossed into the trash. SunTrust Bank in Atlanta owns the property and they're sending the merchandise to the landfill after evicting the Chois, the owners of the grocery store." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice restrain crowd from taking food to be thrown away after supermarket eviction

Student Loan Debt Growing, Along With Delinquency Rate

"Total student debt was the only type of household debt that continued to rise throughout the recent recession while most households were de-leveraging, and is now second only to mortgage debt. You’ve probably heard the 'trillion dollar' number in the news. I think the most worrying stat is the increasing rate of defaults. Actual delinquency rates are often understated because almost half of these loans are currently in deferment or in grace periods and therefore are not in the repayment cycle. Among loans that are actually subject to repayment, delinquency rates are over 30% overall and rising." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudent Loan Debt Growing, Along With Delinquency Rate