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Did someone say "Circus"?

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Comments

  • What future obligations for ACA? What are you talking about? No one's kicking it down the road so far as I can see from reading.

    I see you don't know about the future costs of Obamacare. I'm not going to go into it considering all the information that is available on the subject on the net. There are two aspects to it - what the gov't will be paying and what the individual will be paying. Both are set to explode.

    The article below is form 2014 - you should do some research on the cost.

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/cbo-obamacares-10-year-costs-will-now-eclipse-2-trillion/article/778723
    Well, now the CBO is out with a new report on Obamacare’s costs, and—sure enough—its 10-year price-tag now eclipses $2 trillion.



  • As for debt, what matters is percentage of GDP, not total, and there are legitimate arguments about that percentage, and of course about taxation and spending.
    But we've been through that already here. It's not like a household with credit cards or mortgages, or a business issuing bonds. It's money we largely owe ourselves.

    As for inflation, if you feel certain about that massive explosion, does that mean you're going to be buying TIPS? 5y, 10y, and 30y.

    I see you don't know about the relationship between the total US Gov't debt and interest rates. The US Gov't is currently paying unusually low rates; historically speaking. As rates rise the interest payments will increase, especially since so much of the debt is short term debt. You can do the math on what the interest payments would be if historical norms interest rates were applied to the current debt.

    Again there there is a lot of info on the net about this. Here is an example.

    The CBO's assumptions are probably conservative.

    http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn/articles/Will-Rising-U-S-Debt-Levels-Keep-the-Fed-On-Hold
    "In the current fiscal year, interest costs are expected to be 6.1% of total outlays. By 2026 the cost will more than double to 13.1%, according to the CBO’s assumptions."

  • >> doesn't want to increase the national debt

    Does it? They are issued in response to demand?
  • Wait, you are citing a 2.5yo article from a Kristol rightwing mag? Seriously?
    Talk about not knowing things.

    Maybe ACA is going to kill us all. In any case, it is reckoned with as it unfolds, by and large, not down the road, invisibly. I thought (somehow) that was your point.

    (And do you have better ideas?)

    As for debt vs rates, as I say, you better load up on TIPS. Before rising rates kill us all.

    As though there will be no effect on GDP from rate increases. Talk about rudimentary econ.

    There is a ton of other wider reading to do. For starters, some of us can hopefully imagine scenarios where there is buy-in and states fold and do the right thing for their citizens. Maybe that can be more strongly ... enforced (?) under Madame President.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/opinion/obamacare-hits-a-bump.html
    http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2016/08/is_obamacare_doomed_all_your_questions_answered.html
    https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-future-of-the-affordable-care-act-reassessment-and-revision/

    It is not a coincidence that nearly all the states suffering from a lack of competition of private plans under Obamacare are states that did not bother to create their own exchanges or undertake the kind of public-education measures that might have encouraged broader enrollment and that have made the ACA successful in places like California. ... many of the states fighting Obamacare implementation are the very states that made a federal solution necessary by using their power under the preexisting Medicaid program to shirk healthcare access for poor people with serious health problems.

    Or we can just keep on watching Designated Survivor with its nifty fantasies of insurrection and catastrophe.
  • Wait, you are citing a 2.5yo article from a Kristol rightwing mag? Seriously?
    Talk about not knowing things.

    Read the CBO's latest report if 2.5 years is too old for you.
  • edited October 2016
    Will do, tnx.

    Of course 2.5y is too old. How could it not be? I am not sure you understand what these kinds of reports are for. Fortunately even this WDC modulates and changes (a little), as does economic performance.

    The latest is again fascinating, the first four chapters anyway. It necessarily assumes stasis, so it is easy to see how small fixes of a few degrees ($) would change the projected trajectory.

    https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/114th-congress-2015-2016/reports/51580-LTBO-One-Col-2.pdf

    Did you answer the query about what you yourself advise and advocate? I missed it if so.


  • Did you answer the query about what you yourself advise and advocate? I missed it if so.

    About what?

  • jeez, just read up a few inches

    >> Maybe ACA is going to kill us all. In any case, it is reckoned with as it unfolds, by and large, not down the road, invisibly. I thought (somehow) that was your point.
    >> (And do you have better ideas?)
  • jeez, just read up a few inches

    >> Maybe ACA is going to kill us all. In any case, it is reckoned with as it unfolds, by and large, not down the road, invisibly. I thought (somehow) that was your point.
    >> (And do you have better ideas?)

    You need to go to the first page of this thread and read about the life cycle of Empire.

    It is a fools errand to discuss a better idea for the ACA. It is only a milepost along the journey.

  • Oh, I inferred you had substantive thoughts. My bad.

    Gotta go wring my hands. As a history minor I read plenty about supposed empire lifecycles and the stages.

    ACA as milepost to collapse is a new notion, though. Someone better tell all those millions of newly insured.


  • ACA as milepost to collapse is a new notion, though. Someone better tell all those millions of newly insured.

    Why?

  • Ringling Brothers says: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! It is time to stop besmirching the circus' good name!!

    image
    http://live.reuters.com/Event/Election_2016/414200541

    Video declaration:
    https://www.ringling.com/ringling-bros-declares-circus-wants-circus-back/
    “You can do and say silly things and slap on colorful ties and pantsuits all you want, but that does not make you a Ringling Bros. clown,” added Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Presents Circus XTREME® Boss Clown, Taylor Albin. “We take clowning very seriously! We’re part of the The Greatest Show on Earth, so trust me, we know a little something about making things great. Circus is what Ringling Bros. knows best, and we would like to cordially invite everyone to take a break from the absurdity and re-experience the real circus.”
  • edited October 2016
    @heez

    LOL - If I worked honorably in a circus, I'd be frightened, distressed, and embarrassed by the cheap imitation.

    cheap: Of decidedly inferior quality
    synonyms: base, lousy, miserable, paltry, poor, rotten, shoddy, sleazy, trashy, cheesy http://thesaurus.yourdictionary.com/cheap

    Take your pick.:)
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