House to vote on health care reform Sunday.

[Zanza]

There is always an exception.

I think there is no rule. So I think that your generalization does not make any sense.

Scandinavia, with low population density, lots of resources, and a culture which suited nicely the "collectivist" nature of socialism is hardly your typical example.

I am intrigued. I get the culture point, but how is low population density an advantage? That only makes it more expensive to supply services to the population. And what resources does e.g. Denmark have? Pigs and christmas trees? 

[Admiral Yi]

There's an article on the back page of the NYT by a former OMB director that says the bill will actually increase the deficit by 586 billion.

[grumbler]

There's an article on the back page of the NYT by a former OMB director that says the bill will actually increase the deficit by 586 billion.

I am going with 674 skajillian dollars, myself.

There are three kinds of lies:  Lies, Hans's "truths," and government cost projections.

[DGuller]

Wow, Pelosi is a terrible speaker.  She stumbles over every second word.

[Caliga]

Wow, Pelosi is...terrible.

[DGuller]

Stupid Comcast, I want CSPAN in HD.

[garbon]

Wow, Pelosi is...terrible.

[Caliga]

Well, to be fair, in the last election your choice was either her or Cindy Sheehan, right?

[garbon]

I voted for the Republican candidate who called those two the most dangerous women in the US.

[Caliga]

I voted for the Republican candidate who called those two the most dangerous women in the US.

Oh... I didn't realize there actually were Republicans in downtown San Francisco. 

[garbon]

In other local news, black people now soapbox in downtown sf about do-nothing obama.

[garbon]

Oh... I didn't realize there actually were Republicans in downtown San Francisco. 

I think she owns a boutique or something...although now that she's revealed her loyalties, she might have been forced out of business.

[garbon]

[Habbaku]

Sigh.

[Hansmeister]

And now the fun begins.  The tax hikes go into effect immediately and are designed in a way to maximise reduction in growth by making them so top heavy (and driving up insurance premiums by targeting medical suppliers).  Combined with the expiration of the Bsuh tax cuts you'll have a serious double-whammy on the economy next year.  Throw in  aexpected spike in mortgage foreclosure due to a rise in AMT resets next year and you're looking at a double-dip recession.  Of course the creation of about 150 new medical regulatory bodies will result in sharply higher insurance premiums as well.  Not to mention the ending of stimulus money to the States next year will result in sharp cuts in their spending which will hit Medicaid hard, which Congress just expanded while billing the States (except Nebraska, of course).

And to top it all off, to make the budget numbers not look so bad they deferred actual spending on all those new programs until 2014, which means the Dumbocrats will have to fight the next two election cycles on fucking over the health care system and the economy with nothing actually to show for it.  Brilliant! 

Now the US is looking at a ratings downgrade which will create further shockwaves.  US gov't bonds have already dropped below some corporate bonds (and a full 50 basis points below Germany's bonds).  The Democrats apparently went to the hugo Chavez School of Economics.

I couldn't have designed a better bill to discredit the Democrats than they've done, nor designed a more tawdry process in which to do it.  It'll be interesting to see the epic meltdown at the polls this November.  I figured back in 2008 that whoever won the presidency that year would probably be a one term President due to financial crisis taking usually several years to recover from, but Obama has been such a train wreck that the effect will be much larger than i had thought possible.

the US had a lot of long-term structural problems that neither party was particularly interested in addressing, Obama has moved the whole timetable up and the crisis is now far more immediate.