The Tipping Point

America is at a crossroads. Yesterdays events in Madison Wisconsin made headlines as teachers unions protested a plan by Wisconsin's governor to eliminate collective bargaining for teachers for employee benefits and to contribute 12.5% toward the cost of their health insurance and 5.6% toward the cost of thier pensions. Minority Democrats fled the state to prevent a vote.In New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie has come under fire from public sector unions for his attempts to  raise the retirement age, eliminate the cost-of-living adjustment, increasing employee pension contributions, and rolling back a 9% pay increase.

At a time when his budget is DOA on capitol hill President Obama even opined on the Wisconsin situation as an assault on unions which incidently places his view of the situation in Wisconsin as completely in line with the NY Times Editorial page. The thing is both governor Christie and Walker are speaking the truth when they state the obvious fact that their states simply do not have the funds. Governor Christie said it well;

“Here’s the deal: I understand you’re angry, and I understand you’re frustrated, and I understand you feel deceived and betrayed.” And, he said, they were right: “For 20 years, governors have come into this room and lied to you, promised you benefits that they had no way of paying for, making promises they knew they couldn’t keep, and just hoping that they wouldn’t be the man or women left holding the bag. I understand why you feel angry and betrayed and deceived by those people. Here’s what I don’t understand. Why are you booing the first guy who came in here and told you the truth?”



So call this an intervention from an adult who fully understands the consequences for our nation if we continue to act like Greece and expect China to pay for our binge. The New York Times Editorial Board, many unions and certainly many cowardly politicians in both parties remind me of the crowd at at a Robert Earl Keen Concert. Thank God  some Governors are starting to act like designated drivers.

Coming to Newstand Near You

Have you Heard Our Government is planning a comic book to explain Health Care Reform to its citizens.

A new comic book to explain President Obama's health-care reform is coming! It's being written by Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist behind many of the reform's concepts!
We're talking in exclamation points because we hope the comic book borrows from the over-exclamation of such hallowed comics as Rex Morgan, MD and Mary Worth!
OK, the new venture may not go that far, says a Pulse report in the Boston Herald, but the idea of a 2,400-page document being reduced to splashy-colored panels with captions ought to amuse -- no matter on which side of the aisle you sit.
Gruber promises lots of pictures and text. That's because it's a graphic novel, a long-form comic book. But that doesn't mean it's a novel-novel, as in fiction. Gruber says he'll be using facts to tell the tale.
It already has a catchy title: Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It's Necessary, How It Works

Pretty sure (NSFW Satire in following links)  Robot Chicken may have some fun with this during Adult Swim but I digress. Psst here is my favorite comic about the constitution.

Live From The Cook County Jail

Truth is somehow stranger than fiction. Hat tip to Jim McGovern who shared an excellent piece on FMLA from a very well done blog. It seems that one in five Cook County Sheriff's Office Employees and one in four Cook County Jail Employees miss work each day for an FMLA Event. Cook County Illinois includes Chicago Illinois hometown of our president and where former Obama Chief Of Staff Rahm Emanuel is running for Mayor. The thrill is definitely gone may appear in a campaign commercial in 2012 you heard it here first.

Uh Oh

EBN has included the best discussion I have yet found on the non-discrimination provisions of PPACA relating to carveout's. Kudos to Vanessa Scott for getting it right.

The Internal Revenue Service recently issued Notice 2011-1 regarding the application of the nondiscrimination rules under Internal Revenue Code (Code) section 105(h) to non-grandfathered insured group health plans pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.According to the Notice, the IRS will not require insured plans to comply with nondiscrimination rules until further guidance has been issued. Furthermore, to allow insured plans adequate time to comply with the rules, it is likely that future guidance will not apply until plan years beginning at some time after the date that the guidance is issued.


Thus, plan sponsors will not be required to pay excise taxes associated with noncompliance with the nondiscrimination requirements until then. The Notice also requested comments on a number of issues that may be addressed in future guidance.

I personally feel that every federal worker or citizen who exposes an instance where federal regulations lead to confusion, job loss, higher costs and havoc being wrought on the citizens should get a free uh oh! hat. The initiative would be privately funded of course lest we bankrupt the Treasury. By the time the superbowl was played the entire stadium could be filled with patriotic hats.

PPACA In The Real World

Queen Sheila was bucking for some sound bites today for the evening news. Evidently, in her reality, repealing ObamaCare will result in citizens dying. As if the whole POS was not adopted  rife with flaws on a party line vote which required the fixes to be passed using reconciliation, In that spirit let me add just a few real life repercussions of PPACA from the front lines where business people must live.

A client called today seeking assistance with finding a child only individual health insurance policy. Ju8st a responsible parent trying to make sure her child was covered with health insurance. It seems they had tried finding a policy online with no success. Both parents are covered at work but the cost for their child to be covered was prohibitive. Unfortunately, PPACA leaves many Americans without a market for individual major medical child only policy options since dependent children now must be covered with no pre-existing condition exclusion. Many elected not to offer policies which were guaranteed to lose money and since the mandates do not kick in until 2014 the risk pool will be contaminated prior to then and their stockholders and customers may not understand. So today many Americans find themselves with no access to inexpensive (relative to Group policies) individual health insurance on a child only basis. How many of them will die due to the self-serving liberal Democrats like Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee who voted for PPACA which left them without a viable child only market? Care to answer that Queen Sheila?

Then there is the group client who covers management with a major medical policy while providing non-management employees with a mini-medical policy for those in minimum wage jobs. Since the company is non-unionized, located in a right to work state, with owners who would have been very unlikely to contribute to democratic politicians, what are the odds HHS gives their limited medical plan a waiver? What are the odds the non-management personnel get a free mini-med in 2014?  I am sure there are some readers thinking well in 2014 they will have to pay or play so they will be required to either provide health care or pay the fine and that is true if the mandate proves to be constitutional, which is highly debatable. However, do the math for yourself its a simple calculation; Either you pay $2,000 per employee as a fine or you pay for $5,000 per employee to provide health insurance. Lets say you are retail business, how do you possibly choose the latter and stay in business? Can you answer that Queen Sheila?

And lets discuss the impact of passing a 40% payroll cost increase through to the public on our nation from an inflationary perspective in the middle of a recession? And PPACA is not a job-killer? Does no one in the Democratic Party take economics? Have you no common sense whatsoever Democrats? And by the way what is the client to do until 2014 since your precious PPACA has further eliminated all remaining markets for management only carve-outs in the group market Madam Congressman Lee? And by the way how many jobs did PPACA kill at Principal Financial Group & Humana when your ill-conceived carve-out killer passed? I heard a businessman today spell out he could either pay $140,000 in fines beginning in 2014 or $250,000 to provide health care or he could just shut down one location get below 50 employees and solve the whole problem until representatives with an ounce of common sense held majorities in the House and Senate. Which do you think he is leaning toward?

Its long past time for the American people to tell the Democratic Party to drop the crack pipe and pay attention. Stop Spending our freaking money! Stop helping us!  Your precious PPACA is killing jobs and restricting options today in the real world.  November elections were no accident. People all over the nation will contribute to the opponents of the embarrassing representatives like Sheila Hackson Lee who pontificate about matters like PPACA without any real understanding of the damage they have already brought to average American's. Unlike that nut job in AZ we will do so at the ballot box Queen Sheila you arrogant windbag,

States Warn of $2.5 Trillion Pension Shortfall

If you think you 401(k) is doing poorly take a peek at what state pensions look like in the US.

See Ya!