‘Free’ benefits in ObamaCare come with hidden costs

‘Free’ benefits in ObamaCare come with hidden costs | Fox News.

The administration points to a host of free services as one of the early benefits of the new law.

“That means free check-ups, free mammograms, immunizations and other basic services,” President Obama said last year.

First of all, you are paying for them with your premiums. Second of all, if you’re receiving a subsidy, they someone else is helping you pay for them.

This sums it up, for those of you with any economic common sense…

The new health care law promises all sorts of free benefits — but analysts argue nothing is ultimately free, and ObamaCare is no exception.

P. J. O’Rourke famously said that if you think health care is expensive now, wait until it’s free,” said Avik Roy, of the Manhattan Institute. “Once you lard on all these additional things, all these extras that insurers must provide, you have to pay for that.” (emphasis added)

 

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Global Warming Expedition Foiled By Ice

Global Warming Expedition Foiled By Ice | Power Line.

So the expedition is being abandoned. Did this experience cause any second thoughts on the global warming campaign? Of course not!

Let me extract this quote as well….

“This has been the coldest season with the most ice since we started Arctic Watch in 2000. Almost no whales. The NWPassage is still blocked with ice. Some of the bays still have not melted!”

The march towards Boulder municipalization and expensive green energy moves forward. Thankfully at least there’s a vote in November.

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Trumka: ‘Mistakes’ Were Made in the Writing of ObamaCare, Not Thought Through

Ya don’t say… Trumka: ‘Mistakes’ Were Made in the Writing of ObamaCare, Not Thought Through.

 
Updated: Video at link. I had it embedded but the autostart “feature” is not acceptable.

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“Why Are There So Few Conservatives in Higher Education, and Does It Matter?”

Steven Hayward: Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy addresses conservatism in higher ed | Alumni Association.

The presentation, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Aug. 29, is titled “Why Are There So Few Conservatives in Higher Education, and Does It Matter?”

The presentation will be held in Old Main Chapel on campus. It is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the CU-Boulder Center for Western Civilization.

The Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy is a three-year pilot program supported by private funds. More than 20 donors have raised $1 million to support the program.

This fall, Hayward will teach two courses in political science: “Constitutional Law 1″ and “Special Topics: Varieties of Conservative Experience.”

I’ll be there, so should you! 

I have it on good sources that Constitutional Law has been predominately taught by graduate students! What a breath of much needed fresh air for Steven Hayward to be teach Contitutional Law 1.

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Private school vs. public school

Private school vs. public school: Only bad people send their kids to private school. – Slate Magazine.

You are a bad person if you send your children to private school. Not bad like murderer bad—but bad like ruining-one-of-our-nation’s-most-essential-institutions-in-order-to-get-what’s-best-for-your-kid bad. So, pretty bad.

My children both went to public school and with few exceptions color me not impressed. If I had it to do over again, I might well be a “bad person” and damn proud of it. Case closed.

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The Great Shift: Labor Force Participation Graphs

From The Great Shift: Where Have All the Workers Gone (download pdf by clicking link). I have included both graphs for labor force participation so it doesn’t appear I’m “cherry picking”

Labor force participation

In post-recession America, the labor force participation rate (LFPR) — or percentage of adults who have a job or are looking for one — has declined to a 34-year low.

The decline is a “tragedy in the making, and its impact on the country has been underestimated. When Americans quit looking for work because they conclude not working beats working, America faces a significant problem,” the white paper reports.

The paper answers the pressing question, “Where have all the workers gone?” It also breaks down the causes and consequences of low labor force participation.

Baby Boomers’ retirement is one of the causes of the low LFPR and perhaps the most obvious one, but their retirement is only half the story. Younger Americans are giving up and leaving the workforce in a trend that has been called surprising, unexpected and unprecedented. In addition, more Americans than ever are trapped in taxpayer funded social safety nets.

Skills are a problem.

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Labor Participation Rate

So hey, let’s increase the minimum wage, that should address the problem: Labor Participation Rate Hits 34-Year Low.

The percentage of Americans who have a job or are looking for one, known as the labor force participation rate (LFPR), has plunged to a 34-year low, according to a new report from staffing company Express Employment Professionals.

Graphs at link.

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Obama offers new gun control steps. Doesn’t prevent criminals from getting weapons

Obama offers new gun control steps.

Striving to take action where Congress would not, the Obama administration announced new steps Thursday on gun control, curbing the import of military surplus weapons and proposing to close a little-known loophole that lets felons and others circumvent background checks by registering guns to corporations.

The NRA response?

The National Rifle Association dismissed the administration’s moves as misdirected, arguing that background checks for corporations and a ban on reimporting outdated guns wouldn’t keep criminals from getting weapons.

“The Obama administration has once again completely missed the mark when it comes to stopping violent crime,” said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. “This administration should get serious about prosecuting violent criminals who misuse guns and stop focusing its efforts on law-abiding gun owners.”

Frankly I think they have a point.

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Strike for a living wage

Fast food strike gets super-sized over wages – Yahoo! Finance.

The battle to boost the minimum wage escalated Thursday when thousands of workers at fast-food restaurants in 50 U.S. cities walked off the job to demand a “decent” wage.

From San Diego to New York, workers stopped flipping burgers, frying fries, and slathering on secret sauce in what organizers called the largest strikes against the nation’s fast food companies ever.

“You’re trying to go up and you’re just going down,” said protester Shantel Walker, 31, of Brooklyn, who makes $7.25 working at a Papa John’s (PZZA) in Manhattan. “All of us are in the same financial crunch. We’re trying to take care of our families and our livelihood.”

I’m for abolishing the minimum wage. An entry level job is an entry level job. At the end of the day, when you leave your entry level job are you trying to learn a new skill or increase your value to your present employer?

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Obama’s Affordable Care Act Looking a Bit Unaffordable

Obama’s Affordable Care Act Looking a Bit Unaffordable – NationalJournal.com.

Republicans have long blamed President Obama’s signature health care initiative for increasing insurance costs, dubbing it the “Unaffordable Care Act.”

Turns out, they might be right.

For the vast majority of Americans, premium prices will be higher in the individual exchange than what they’re currently paying for employer-sponsored benefits, according to a National Journal analysis of new coverage and cost data. Adding even more out-of-pocket expenses to consumers’ monthly insurance bills is a swell in deductibles under the Affordable Care Act.

Once Colorado based insurance company is sticking their current policy holders with HUGE rate increase this year. The result being that many will actually receive a rate reduction when they switch to an Obamacare plan. Unbelievable.

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Fast-food strikes set for cities nationwide

I volunteer to walk the picket line and work for no wages: Fast-food strikes set for cities nationwide – AP News .

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Trainwreck: Obamacare Roll-Out Hits Rocky Mountain Snags

Trainwreck: Obamacare Roll-Out Hits Rocky Mountain Snags – Guy Benson.

Colorado’s Democratic Insurance Commissioner is “bracing” for “bumps in the road” as Obamacare comes on line in her state. Residents shouldn’t expect a seamless process, she warns, even though the public was initially promised near perfection.

Don’t worry, just trust us. The progressive mantra.

My Prediction: Chaos

I do agree that Colorado is probably better prepared than most states.

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WHAT GOOD IS SPYING ON EVERYONE’S EMAILS IF YOU’RE TOO DUMB TO RESPOND TO WHAT YOU READ?

asks Glenn Reynolds.

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The “new and improved” school food….

Well… may not so much: Kentucky students to first lady: food ‘tastes like vomit’ | The Daily Caller.

Students in a rural Kentucky county — and their parents — are the latest to join a growing national chorus of scorn for the healthy school lunches touted by first lady Michelle Obama.

“They say it tastes like vomit,” said Harlan County Public Schools board member Myra Mosley at a contentious board meeting last week, reports The Harlan Daily Enterprise.

Based on media reports, her husband doesn’t care for it either. Idiotic micromanagement from big brother IMHO.

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Slowest Start To A Hurricane Season On Record

Slowest Start To A Hurricane Season On Record | Real Science.

Obama’s presidency has also seen the fewest US hurricane landfalls of any president. Three hurricanes have hit the US while he was in office, compared to twenty-six while Grover Cleveland was in office.

Nothing to see here, move along.

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Marijuana: Just make Obamacare cover it

D.C. government program to subsidize marijuana for poor patients – Washington Times.

Seems obvious, if you want the poor to sign up, cover (medical) marijuana with a generic drug copay. Now THERE’s a marketing campaign for ya.

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No worries Boulderites, global warming will come back with a vengence

Separating Science From Spin on the Global-Warming ‘Pause’ – NationalJournal.com.

The IPCC report attributes this hiatus to short-term factors that result in temporary cooling periods, including volcanoes, solar cycles, absorbent oceans, non-greenhouse-gas pollutants, and a string of other temporary-yet-powerful natural forces.

Well, the climate change scientists better hurry up and get their models to coincide with reality. Then the models will break again. Rinse and repeat.

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Fast-food workers urged to stage nationwide strike

A very employee friendly article from Erik Sherman. The comments, now that’s another story altogether! Fast-food workers urged to stage nationwide strike – CBS News.

Idiots.

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“Weldistan” moves forward

Rural Coloradans to vote on forming new state – Washington Times.

The effort to create the 51st state, called “Weldistan” by it’s detractors (and others) takes a few baby steps forward as the idea becomes a ballot issue this fall.

Why?

The Weld County Commissioners voted unanimously at Monday’s meeting to place a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot asking voters whether they want the county to join other rural counties in forming another state.

“The concerns of rural Coloradans have been ignored for years,” William Garcia, chairman of the Weld County Commissioners, said in a statement. “The last session was the straw that broke the camel’s back for many people. They want change. They want to be heard.”

Three other rural counties — Cheyenne, Sedgwick and Yuma — also plan to place the 51st state referendum on the fall ballot. At least three more counties plan to consider the proposal this week at their commission meetings, said Jeffrey Hare, spokesman for the 51st State Initiative.

Known for its agriculture and oil and gas production, Weld is the largest of the Colorado counties exploring a break with the state after the legislature’s sharp turn to the left with bills restricting access to firearms and doubling the state’s renewable-energy mandate for rural areas.

Other options include….

Given the complexities involved with creating a state, Mr. Hare said, the Northern Colorado movement is considering two other options: asking Wyoming to annex Colorado’s northern counties or requesting that the state legislature redraw its Senate districts to give a senator to each of the state’s 64 counties, analogous to how the U.S. apportions seats by state, regardless of their populations.

There is no doubt the politics of Colorado is being driven by the liberal/progressive front range. I find the concept at the least every entertaining and it certainly brings much needed attention to the front range elites lack of engagement with the rest of the state. Yes, I”m talking to you Jared Polis.

From the comments… (Roxiecolorado)

the Californikats also invaded Colorado in the late 80’s thus the problems Colorado has now

Hard to argue with that.

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Virtual Editorial Board: Subdivision paving

Virtual Editorial Board: Subdivision paving – Boulder Daily Camera.

The Daily Camera wades into the subdivision paving issue. Since the question has only been posted on the DC website for 30 minutes there are no opinions yet. That will change so check back.

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