Episode 118 – Romney Care, Budget Votes and Entitlement Reform

In this episode, Jeff and Glenn get into an interesting discussion about Glenn’s experiences with Mitt Romney’s health care plan in Massachusetts. They discuss various aspects of the health care situation in Mass, and then how it can impact Romney’s bid for the Presidency, and his criticism of ObamaCare. They then get into an interesting discussion of Michele Bachmann’s run for the White House, and how it doesn’t matter how many mistakes she makes on the way as long as she continues to stick her thumb in the nose of the establishment, because that’s what her constituents want (as much as it makes Jeff sick). Keeping the theme of getting sick, your stomach will turn when Jeff explains what’s really going on with the budget, CR and debt ceiling votes, and they close the show with an interesting talk about how we can achieve meaningful entitlement reform.

Best Friends. Vast Experience. Engaging political discussion without the fighting…and with a few laughs. It’s PoliTalk, your weekly political podcast.

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Episode 113 – Understanding the Florida Health Care Ruling, Ronald Reagan Liberal Icon

Is Ronald Reagan, Conservative Republican Diety, in fact a liberal icon? What would the 2012 GOP field say about a politician who raised taxes, grew the size of government, doubled the size of a federal agency he proposed to abolish (education), restored social security solvency instead of changing the program as promised and backed pro-union legislation? Could a candidate with those views survive the Republican Primary? What if that candidate was Ronald Regan? What does the ruling on health care reform mean? Is the individual mandate dead? What would people think if they knew the individual mandate was first proposed by Republican Senator Bob Dole in reaction to Hilary Clinton’s proposed employer mandate?  Is the individual mandate a good idea on its merits? How did it find its way into health care reform legislation? The show is kicked off this week with a discussion of the politics of Egypt and what it means for U.S. politics and foreign policy.

Best Friends. Vast Experience. Engaging political discussion without the fighting…and with a few laughs. It’s PoliTalk, your weekly political podcast.

You can get the PoliTalk Podcast on iTunes and Zune

Of you can play right the show here by clicking on the play button below:

Episode 76 – Long Live Unions! The Unions Must Go!

Confused? Don’t be. Glenn and Jeff explain why some unions are badly need to protect the safety and economic security of workers, and without the unions people will suffer. They also explain why one union in particular represents the single biggest obstacle to reaching one of our country’ most important policy objectives. Can you think of any job where you can’t be fired for poor performance? In fact, you most likely will be rewarded? Where there are high expectations but little accountability? The answer may surprise you. The solution is exceptionally easy, but politically impossible for Democrats. Refreshingly civilized, irreverent and informative political talk…with a few laughs. It’s PoliTalk, your source for political information.

PoliTalk: Best Friends. Vast Experience. Political Discussion without the Fighting…and lots of laughs.

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Health Care Reform Poll – It’s Your Turn

We spent the last 14 months hearing from the politicians about health care reform… now it’s your turn. Tell us what you think in our very un-scientific poll:

Hungry, Hungry Hippos

Remember that game we played as kids called Hungry Hungry Hippos? You remember, it is the game where you have four people all pulling their own lever that has their plastic “Hippos” take as many marbles from the middle of the board for themselves. Well, apparently the folks in the Senate were really good at this game as kids and are even better at it now. Here are some of the marbles that the Senate Heath Care Bill contains according to the Associated Press:

• $600 million over the next decade to Vermont in added federal payments for Medicaid and nearly as much to Massachusetts.
• Connecticut would get $100 million to build a hospital
• About 800,000 Florida seniors could keep certain Medicare benefits
• Asbestos-disease victims in tiny Libby, Montana, would get help
• Coal miners in West Virginia with black lung disease or their widows would get help
• $300 million for Louisiana
• $100 million in extra Medicaid money provided solely to Nebraska
• Extra money for hospitals and doctors in North and South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming

It would be a nice change when the Congress can actually put a bill forth that doesn’t contain special “marbles” for individual states. Have the Democrats and Republicans figured out that this is bad PR? It is up to all of us to keep reminding them that this will have consequences.

- Glenn

Episode 72 – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Democrats consider a ban on earmarks. Sarah Palin admits that she went to Canada to get health care. Sen. Durbin considers forcing Republicans to actually physically fillibuster, rather than just announce their intentions to do so, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan talks policy, health care reform rests on the brink of passage, without a public option and likely through reconciliation, the White House goes off message, again, with stories about internal strife, President Obama focuses on jobs…health care…the economy…and future plans for NASA. Politicians carp about national security, scoring political points, while their remains no head of the TSA, thanks to Republican objections. Will the President’s new nominee fare well? Congressman Massa shows how to burn every bridge on his way out of Congress, RNC fundraising sinks to a new low, disparaging their own contributors and mocking the President of the United States. Reaching a new low, our Reactionary Lunatic of the Week Award goes to Liz Cheney, who so far has been rebuked by 19 members of her father’s administration over her comments disparaging Justice Department lawyers. Glenn and Jeff explain the Good, The Bad and The Ugly this week. It’s PoliTalk. A refreshingly fun, informative look at politics. It’s PoliTalk – your weekly political podcast featuring Jeff Kimball and Glenn Gaudet.

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Episode 71 – I Object: Sen. Bunning vs. The Senate

Confused by what’s really going on in the Senate as Sen. Bunning objects to funding unemployment benefits, payments to physicians through Medicare and certain highway construction projects? Well, Jeff and Glenn explain what’s really going on, and what the ramifications are, both politically and from a policy perspective. They’re in a firing mood this week, calling not only on Sen. Bunning to stop grandstanding, but also on NY Gov. Patterson to step down and NY Congressman Charlie Rangel to relinquish his Chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee due to violations of the House ethics rules. They also have a completely new idea about why President Obama’s team is struggling, and explain how that relates to the upcoming health care reform vote. Everything you needed to know about Washington politics, you’ll find here in this convenient, fun episode. PoliTalk: Best Friends. Vast Experience. Intelligent political discussion without the fighting…and with some laughs.  A refreshingly fun, informative look at politics. It’s PoliTalk, your weekly political podcast.

PoliTalk: Best Friends. Vast Experience. Political Discussion without the Fighting…and lots of laughs

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The 800lb Gorilla

Lets state the obvious.  In a perfect world, all of us want every person in America to have the best healthcare in the world, at the lowest cost, or free if they cannot afford it.

I think that’s a truth.  Yes there might be those extreme libertarians to whom nothing is a right and everything is a privilege. Regardless, a wealthy and generous nation such as the United States wants this for its people.

The Gorilla in the Room – we are generous, but in financial terms we are not wealthy.  That may come as a shock to people, but we as a nation are broke, living on our credit card.

In Episode 70 – Jeff pointed out that Eric Cantor made the very simple argument that sums up Republican opposition to health care.  But unfortunately, this argument can only be whispered.  It was only mentioned once in the healthcare summit.  “We just can’t afford it” is what Representative Cantor said, talking about covering 30 million Americans.

Take away the controversy around government run, socialism, death panels, cross state competition, insurance exchanges, tort reform, and any other buzz word you want to put in.  We can’t pay for it!  We can cook the books and even make it look like we are better off for about 10 years, but in the end, the expenses crush our budget and explode our debt.  Just read the actual CBO report.

The United States, based on our current spending, cannot offer every one in the country health insurance without increasing taxes to an enormous rate on every American, and/or slashing entitlements and/or cutting the defense budget in a time of war.

What we can do apparently, is expand coverage to 30 million people, then kick the can down the road 10 years, making it someone else’s problem to pay for it.  I reference David Brooks from Thursday’s New York Times, referencing the deal cut with Union leaders to protect the high end health plans.

The Democrats (and the Republicans) conveniently neglected to mention the fact that they had just gutted the long-term revenue source for their entire package, the excise tax on high-cost insurance plans. That tax was diluted and postponed until 2018. There is no way that members of a Congress eight years from now are going to accede to a $1 trillion tax increase to pay for a measure that the 2010 Congress wasn’t brave enough to pay for itself

Fast-forward 8 years.  Lets think about the Congress sitting down and passing a $1 Trillion tax increase to start to pay for the famous “out-years” of this plan.

Because we are broke, if we tackle healthcare, it has to be in incremental steps, and it has to include spending cuts that take effect today.

When the Republicans say they want incremental changes, it’s just a politically safe way of saying that we just can’t afford to extend healthcare to all Americans.  It’s an inconvenient truth, but a truth none-the-less.

At some point, we have to draw lines in the sand on debt and spending in order to bring America back to a state where we can afford health care for all Americans.

If not now, then when?

What do you think?

Guest Blogger – Jeff Hine

Episode 70 – The Great Divide: The White House Health Care Summit

We take over 6 hours of partisan bickering and posturing, cut through the hyperbole, and tell you everything you need to know about the historic health care summit, helping you make a more informed decision about the proposed health care plans. Glenn explains why President Obama was a the top of his game in deconstructing Republican arguments and presenting a clear, forceful case. Jeff explains why President Obama won the battle but lost the war, solidifying his reputation as the Conciliator in Chief, and warning that the summit needs to be judged not by what was said today, but what will be done tomorrow.

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Mystery of Government Incompetence Solved!

This month, a library book was returned to the New Bedford Public Library in Massachusetts. The book was 99 years overdue. The title of the book “Facts I Ought to Know About the Government of My Country”.

Had only we the electorate had access to this book for the past century; we might not be in our current predicament. A more informed electorate certainly would have elected more effective and prudent representation.

I took this title to heart and figured there were plenty of things about my government that I did not know. In fact as I looked over a composite of the US budget by department, I recognized the agency names, but what the department really did was a mystery. I chose the US Dept. of Agriculture a.k.a USDA, with one of the heftier budgets, and dove into their yearly filing of how they use their budget and measure success.

First observation, it was a really well put together document. They clearly wanted people to know how they spent their money, why it was important, and how they were going to measure effectiveness.

The amount of the budget was surprising to me. About $97B in 2009. That seemed like an awful lot to protect the integrity of our food supply. But as I thought of all the food we consume and our population size, it occurred to me how enormous the task must be to make sure it’s all safe.

Then I noticed something that surprised me. About 2/3 of the budget, or $62B, was a government entitlement program for nutritional assistance. Also known as Food Stamps.

Let me be clear. Civilized nations should not let their citizens go hungry. All communities should make basic nutritional assistance available leveraging public and private sector resources to feed people in need. But it is staggering to me that there is $62B worth of hunger in the US?

For a cynical on govt. guy like me, it’s was a red flag of inefficiency. No way do we have a $62B hunger problem in America. And if we did, is giving away $62B of free food the best way to solve the problem? How about hiring folks directly to do something valuable for others? I know its very FDR but its better for everyone. Pay them, and they can buy their own food. How about hiring community organizers to match up restaurants and other food services that have extra food, with soup kitchens and faith based orgs so they can distribute existing food without waste? I refuse to believe that we could not solve this problem for much less money, in a better way.

Anyway, I learned that our government takes the easy way out, always. We give people fish because it’s easy, it only cost tax dollars. We don’t teach people to fish because that’s hard work, and takes outside the box thinking. We don’t keep our budget balanced because that’s even harder. Pass the problem along to the next guy.

Whether you agree with my comments or not, I encourage you to dive into the budgets of our government agencies. Its time we all learned the things we ought to know about our government, and started solving problems like hunger, healthcare, and education in ways that don’t involve borrowing more money from China.

Guest Blogger – Jeff Hine