Don’t you dare tell the truth when the Washington establishment is involved.
Tag Archives: Congress
Lawmakers and aides leaving Capitol Hill because they will be forced into Obamacare
Currently congresspeople and their staffs have 75% of their premiums paid for by the taxpayer. The plans they enjoy are also top notch. Top top notch.
But because of the way Obamacare was written, the law we needed to pass before we knew what was in it, lawmakers and their aides are about to be thrown into the vortex of the Obamacare healthcare “exchanges.” And guess what? They don’t wan’t to go down the hole.
Now, it’s perfectly OK for the average American to deal with this nightmare.
Bond Funds Want Government to Continue Backing Freddie and Fannie
Bond funds trading mortgage backed securities, which are in large part ultimately backed by the US taxpayer, don’t want the government backstop to go away.
Banks’ Lobbyists “Help” in Drafting Financial Bills
Who writes the laws? The lobbyists.This isn’t completely true, but it is true to a very large extent as this article explains.
The thicker the law, the more opaque the legislation, the more opportunities there are to make money. There’s a reason Obamacare is a stack of papers taller than a man, same for Dodd-Frank. Both laws deal with impossibly complex areas of the economy best left to market mechanisms. To a very large extent the problems which both Obamacare and Dodd-Frank seek to address, access to healthcare and a corrupt banking system respectively, are problems created by prior government involvement in the marketplace.
The GOP Has a Blurry View of Free Markets In Medicine (Eye professionals battle it out)
Do you know the difference between an ophthalmologist and an optometrist? The ophthalmologists are afraid you don’t and that optometrists are edging onto their turf taking business which is ophthalmologist business. The ophthalmologists have sought to solve this problem (as they see it) via their friends in Congress.
This effort reflects a trend generally toward seeking to limit health options for consumers in the name of medical licensure and increased public safety. In truth it’s an effort to protect a monopoly or near monopoly.
Ron Paul says, “Sound money is the bedrock for prosperity and the best check on… crony capitalism.”
What can I say? The guy is right. He’s right almost all of the time, and on this point he is especially right.
The Recording Industry Uses Crony Government to Limit Competition
According to the attached article Pandora and Slacker (online radio services) have to pay 6 times in royalties what their satellite and cable radio competitors have to.
SEC Subpoenas ‘Political Intelligence’ Firms in a Case of Leaked Information
This is what happens when all the decisions (most anyway) which affect the American economy happen in Washington DC. People with money pay top dollar to know what is going on, and an industry has grown up around this.
Lawmakers May Exempt Themselves and Their Staffs from Obamacare.
Leadership in both Houses of Congress are getting together to make sure Obamacare doesn’t saddle their staffs with thousand of dollars in new healthcare costs. The congresspeople are not too keen on giving up their current plans either.
Immigration Bill Contains 400 Waivers, Exceptions and Exemptions
The issue from our perspective is not immigration per se. Our beef is with the complexity of the bill which comes in at over 800 pages. (In the end it will likely be more.) It is reportedly chock full of goodies and loopholes written by lobbyists with various agendas. I know, who would have thought?
