I’m sure Democrats will take these deaths as seriously as Treyvon Martin’s death.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

What? I hope you are just reacting to the tone of the post. The facts are quite clear that wealth is positively correlated with age, both mean and median. Older households are far wealthier than younger ones. Only the racial demographic is more skewed (or do you not think that white households are wealthier than black ones?).

“poverty…is significantly worse than under official estimates”

shocker

What I find interesting about these kinds of reports is that older households are the most well off – most likely to have home equity, most likely to have savings, most likely to have pensions, etc.

It’s even worse as you look at younger households.

But of course none of that matters. Go Blue Team. The Red Team is being mean and unfair.

And there is no inflation. Everyone can afford food and housing and medical care!

whocoodanode

The Rube Goldberg aspects as they pertain to employers are some of the most bizarre and underappreciated (naturally, of course, since most people not involved in business generally and HR in particular have no working knowledge of the spectacular level of idiocy and waste involved).

Of course, it’s difficult to design a sensible system when the premise itself – employer provided health insurance – is flawed.

DSWright, is it passe to call you a professional leftist?

Why are you being so mean to the good hearted people at Think Progress? They know life is complicated and Obama is doing his best.

Agree the deficit fetishists should be simultaneously mocked and ignored.

However, I think touting CBO projections is actually quite dangerous, because what they do is extrapolate current trends. That’s valuable for knowing where things are headed at current rates, but it hides the fact that current conditions can’t continue. We simply are on an unsustainable trajectory.

There are huge problems in the financial sector (evidenced by the fact that the banksters are unjailable, the Fed can’t remove the ‘emergency’ backstops, and virtually all lending is backed by the government – student loans, home mortgages, auto industry). When the other shoe drops, it is going to require either significant further bailouts or a change in policy from bailouts to something else. Either way, deficit projections are irrelevant and the ‘better economy’ little more than a mirage, a kicking the can of problems rather than solving them.

Thanks for the reply. Now I know it is unintentional humor, which is even funnier.

What do the number of faux teabaggers in Congress have to do with the devil-in-the-details mess that is PPACA?

I don’t think ObamaCare is the end of the world. I think it’s irrelevant. We had major healthcare problems before passage, and we have the exact same major problems after passage.

Plus some specific new inefficiencies to ridicule.

For the love of all that is good on this planet, please, please tell me that is snarkalicious? That is just too funny. 2007 called, they want their Obama memes back.

This really is the trifecta. 1) Expansion of healthcare in the 1960s wasn’t anything significant (remember when Obama was pushing the greatest health reform since the 1930s, nevermind that whole Medicare thingy?), 2) Icky Edwards and Screamin’ Dean! Run!, 3) Obama tried, really…it was all the GOP/Congress’ fault…neverimnd that it was Obama that pushed back against every option brought up by Democrats, from the 2008 party platform to healthcare specifics in the primaries to all options on the table but single payer rhetoric as President. I mean, he even went on national TV and said abortion isn’t a healthcare issue.

But poor ‘ole Barry. Just doing his best, but screwed by Democrats, the GOP, and the whole gosh darn world that just won’t be as progressive as he deep down wants to be. He doesn’t want to advocate corporatist policies that run directly counter to the desires of the citizenry…Boehner makes him.

Oh yeah, I forgot it was AP that broke the NYPD spying stuff! Kevin, you will never run out of material.

Great title Jon.

It is very difficult to discuss the hilarity that is PPACA/ObamaCare without serious snark.

This is a fascinating story. At once disgusting assault on the Constitution. Yet, simultaneously, just another assault on the Constitution. I assume that the White House has authorized spying on journalists, just as I assume the White House has authorized abuse of prisoners and protecting financial crooks and war criminals from prosecution.

It’s like, Earth to AP, the Constitution is under assault. Please, like, do some reportin’ on it! (Or if you’re on their team, stop complainin’ and just cash your checks already.)

sweet

Thanks for the update. This story just keeps getting weirder and more disgusting.

But I think that’s actually good news. It is flushing out these kinds of faux leadership structures into the light of day that is really important to actually changing anything.

Thanks!

@newcarguy: hopefully they weren’t past their expiration date

You’re being optimistic. You’re assuming that exchanges will be up and running next year :)

Well said.

I remember finding the campaign meme about being a Constitutional lawyer particularly hilarious. What the beliefs were that he held about the Constitution were, of course, irrelevant. The point was, he had them!

Democrats owe George Bush so many apologies it is difficult to keep track of ‘em all.

That was such a fun management case study. If you run a small-time fraud, you have to remember that you are ultimately dependent upon keeping up appearances and maintaining some bit of credibility to keep the money train rolling.

Only the really Big Time fish can so flagrantly flaunt their fiefdoms.