#1: Health Care Reform for Seniors
“We're doing things that we know are going to save you, your children and your grand children billions of dollars over the next years. But we're not able to prove it." (AARP Meeting - Virginia)
The Middle Class Task Force met in Alexandria, Virginia with healthcare pertaining to aging Americans on their minds. Today’s afternoon meeting at the Dr. Oswald Durant Memorial Center included HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle and AARP CEO Barry Rand. They discussed fixing “The Medicare Doughnut Hole,” which is costing seniors $15 billion on their prescription drugs each year. They also discussed other health care reform proposals – no denial based on pre-existing conditions, no age discrimination and no fee hikes for sick patients. His comments will undoubtedly become sound bites for that last clause – “But we’re not able to prove it” – but he did try to rebound with his claim that it will actually save taxpayers money in the long run. He optimistically added, “We’ve never been so close. Everyone sees that we need it and we are going to get it right this time.”
#2: AARP Gaffe
“Folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable. It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation. Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’ The answer is yes, that's what I’m telling you.” (7/16/09 - Virginia, AARP Health Meeting)
Did he really just say that? We're going to go bankrupt as a nation... and that the only real plan is to spend our way out of it? For political pundits, Biden's gaffes are the gift that keeps giving. These assurances do precious little to make us feel secure. It's a tough position to be in.. having to applaud this experiment in taxpayers' dollars, when there is no calculable evidence that the economy is any better off now than it was before. The White House's approach seems to point out the small, anecdotal "success" stories -- a plant opening here, a plant opening there. Yet, these efforts are hardly impressing the local people directly affected, so why would the rest of the nation care? We need jobless rates and foreclosure rates to go down, period. We need the stock market to climb and we need price stability in our markets.
# 3: Sheriff Joe Says “No” To Stimulus Money in Ohio
“The use of Recovery funds for the potential relocation of jobs from one state to another is not an approved use of Recovery Funds. If the city of Columbus applied for Recovery Act funds to purchase a facility to house NCR to facilitate the relocation of jobs from Ohio to Georgia, the request would not be granted.” (7/14/09 letter to Ohio congressmen Mike Turner and John Boehner)
Last month, NCR Corporation announced they would start to manufacture Automatic Teller Machines in a new Ohio plant -- creating 872 local jobs. The city of Columbus was happy to oblige, saying they could just use the $5.5 million from the stimulus money coming their way and immediately purchasing the building. There was just one snafu: NCR also planned to move their corporate world headquarters (which houses 1,300 employees) from Dayton, Ohio to Atlanta, Georgia. However, Becca Hardin, executive VP for the city Chamber of Commerce, argues that these are two totally separate deals and that “not one job is transferring from Dayton to Columbus.” Worse case scenario, the city will have to use their own funding from the trust and eventually repay themselves.
Comments
Is overwhelming stupidity an impeachable offense or has overwhelming stupidity become a protected form of diversity?
If only shutting down this sophomoric section of examiner.com along with Duke Nuken were an impeachable offense, we could get rid of both and the world would be a far better place. How embarrassing for you.
You're kidding, right? is actually DEFENDING this BOOB?
"“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.”
“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.
“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, that's what I’m telling you.” (Listen to Audio)"
Duke - It seems like impeachment comes in and out of vogue... the seventies with Nixon... nineties with Clinton... perhaps after 2010, we'll come back to it as an option.
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