Transparency...........

[justashooter 430]

Yeah, this hope and change and transparency thing is going well.

Lets try to hide the facts so we can push through the health care thing and cap and trade - that way it will be too late for the people to react.

I don't think I’ve said this lately but F - Obama.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seems things are getting so bad that Barry and Co. don't want to release the bad news before the Congress goes on their August recess.

Can't have the sheep figuring out and then flipping out on the scam we are getting from Washington.

White House putting off release of budget update

By TOM RAUM (AP) – 8 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The White House is being forced to acknowledge the wide gap between its once-upbeat predictions about the economy and today's bleak landscape.

The administration's annual midsummer budget update is sure to show higher deficits and unemployment and slower growth than projected in President Barack Obama's budget in February and update in May, and that could complicate his efforts to get his signature health care and global-warming proposals through Congress.

The release of the update — usually scheduled for mid-July — has been put off until the middle of next month, giving rise to speculation the White House is delaying the bad news at least until Congress leaves town on its August 7 summer recess.

The administration is pressing for votes before then on its $1 trillion health care initiative, which lawmakers are arguing over how to finance.

The White House budget director, Peter Orszag, said on Sunday that the administration believes the "chances are high" of getting a health care bill by then. But new analyses showing runaway costs are jeopardizing Senate passage.

"Instead of a dream, this routine report could be a nightmare," Tony Fratto, a former Treasury Department official and White House spokesman under President George W. Bush, said of the delayed budget update. "There are some things that can't be escaped."

The administration earlier this year predicted that unemployment would peak at about 9 percent without a big stimulus package and 8 percent with one. Congress did pass a $787 billion two-year stimulus measure, yet unemployment soared to 9.5 percent in June and appears headed for double digits.

Obama's current forecast anticipates 3.2 percent growth next year, then 4 percent or higher growth from 2011 to 2013. Private forecasts are less optimistic, especially for next year.

Any downward revision in growth or revenue projections would mean that budget deficits would be far higher than the administration is now suggesting.

Setting the stage for bleaker projections, Vice President Joe Biden recently conceded, "We misread how bad the economy was" in January. Obama modified that by suggesting the White House had "incomplete" information.

The new budget update comes as the public and members of Congress are becoming increasingly anxious over Obama's economic policies.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...CAqvWwD99I1PS00

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

i wonder what the approval ratings will be after aug is over.

[Peikko 1,575]

Politicians, don't you just love 'em? It's very foolish to try to hide the facts, even when unpalatable - if that is what is going on. As I don't know the precedence for such a move (is it equitable to the UK chancellor not issuing a budget on time?) I don't know how serious this is but it does smell funny.

[Peikko 1,575]

Obama launches campaign urging Congress to pass healthcare reform

US president goes on the offensive following attacks from Republicans who've criticised cost of overhaul

President Barack Obama has launched a vigorous campaign to force an overhaul of healthcare through Congress within weeks, and extend affordable medical insurance to all Americans, as the centrepiece of his domestic agenda is threatened by Republicans exploiting divisions in the president's party and rising public anxiety over the cost of reform.

Obama has accused his opponents of playing the politics of "delay and defeat" as he urges Congress to pass legislation before it goes into recess next month out of concern that if the process drags on late into the year public and congressional support will further erode. The Republicans are now openly attempting to stall the reforms and have said that they see an opportunity to deliver Obama a damaging political defeat.

The president has gone on the offensive by lobbying members of Congress and by appealing directly to the voters in warning that the existing system "works for the insurance and drug companies" while ordinary people face escalating insurance premiums.

"The need for reform is urgent and it is indisputable," Obama said. "We've talked this problem to death, year after year."

Several bills working their way through Congress would expand health insurance through a new government scheme that would ensure 97% of the population is covered. An estimated 47 million Americans, one in six of the population, is without health coverage. The legislation would subsidise premiums for those on low incomes.

Under a bill before the House of Representatives, the new scheme would in part be paid for with a tax surcharge of between 1% and 5% on high earners. Employers will also be required to provide health benefits to workers or pay the government to do so.

But the process is running in to problems. Six senators, three of them Democrats, have written to Obama urging him to slow passage of the legislation and win the agreement of both parties. One of the senators, Joe Lieberman, described the reforms as "enormous and complicated" and said they shouldn't be rushed.

Even in the House of Representatives there are signs that doubts are beginning to set in over warnings about cost.

Obama has said he will not sign any healthcare bill that raises the deficit and has argued that reform can be paid for in part by reducing the escalating cost of treatment through the power of the government to negotiate preferential prices with drug companies.

But the president was delivered a significant blow last week when the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) director, Doug Elmendorf, warned that far from saving money, the proposed reforms would add $239bn to the national debt over ten years.

That has proven to be particularly sensitive in the present economic climate with opinion polls showing that public support for Obama on healthcare reform has slumped to less than 50% in part over concerns at the cost.

The president's position was not helped when a meeting of governors also raised concerns about being landed with the cost of underwriting insurance for the poor.

Then yesterday a hospital Obama has praised as an example of affordable quality healthcare, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, came out against his plan.

"The proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher-quality, more affordable healthcare for patients. In fact, it will do the opposite," the hospital said.

The Republicans have pounced on the concerns. The Huffington Post published what it said is a private Republican party memo outlining strategies to defeat Obama's proposals through delay. These include a publicity campaign that claims the reforms will deepen the national debt, that the president is endangering healthcare and the economy by experimenting with change, and that the government will take over control of patient care and medicines.

Some Republicans sense Obama is on the back foot. Senator Jim DeMint was recorded in a conference call discussion saying that Republicans should block healthcare reform to undermine the president.

"If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," he said.

The president responded directly to DeMint by accusing some Republicans of playing with an issue as important as healthcare in order to try and regain control of Congress at the next election.

"Think about that. This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a healthcare system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses and breaking America's economy. And we can't afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to healthcare, not this time, not now," he said.

Obama has also come under criticism for not going to Congress with a detailed plan and instead relying on members to shape the legislation, apparently out of a wish to avoid President Bill Clinton's mistake in trying to impose healthcare reform and watching it fail.

Obama warned that his opponents are attempting to repeat the strategy.

"They explicitly went after the Clintons, said we're not going to get this done. So it was a pure political play, a show of strength by the Republicans that helped them regain the House. I think there are folks who think that we should try to dust off that old playbook," he said.

Link

This is pretty transparent

[GaryC 7]

I just don't understand something. A project as big and as important as reforming health care shouldn't be "pushed through" in a rush like this. Once done and signed we will have to live with it. Why not take your time and get it right? We already have seen what happens when something is just rushed through without any of the lawmakers even reading it, we got the bail-out that by all accounts is money thrown down the drain. Why rush it?

[GaryC 7]

I am sorry, was that to hard of a question? What is the rush anyway?

[Scott & Lai 12]

Where's the chirping crickets emoticon?

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

Where's the chirping crickets emoticon?

i know how to get them all back in here

FREE HEALTHCARE!

BUSH SUCKS!

[GaryC 7]

Sorry, I didn't mean to stump them. I thought it was a reasonable question.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

I just don't understand something. A project as big and as important as reforming health care shouldn't be "pushed through" in a rush like this. Once done and signed we will have to live with it. Why not take your time and get it right? We already have seen what happens when something is just rushed through without any of the lawmakers even reading it, we got the bail-out that by all accounts is money thrown down the drain. Why rush it?

Let Rahm explain it to you.

[GaryC 7]

Yeah I get it, a crisis gives them the chance to do something they normally couldn't get done. But I ask again, why rush? They have a lock on things, there is no reason to push through something just so they can say they did it. Why not take their time and really get it right? All they are doing is sewing their own destruction by pushing through something that has very little chance of working.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I just don't understand something. A project as big and as important as reforming health care shouldn't be "pushed through" in a rush like this. Once done and signed we will have to live with it. Why not take your time and get it right? We already have seen what happens when something is just rushed through without any of the lawmakers even reading it, we got the bail-out that by all accounts is money thrown down the drain. Why rush it?

Why indeed.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Yeah I get it, a crisis gives them the chance to do something they normally couldn't get done. But I ask again, why rush? They have a lock on things, there is no reason to push through something just so they can say they did it. Why not take their time and really get it right? All they are doing is sewing their own destruction by pushing through something that has very little chance of working.

Gary, I'm surprised you have to ask. These are not forward thinking people behind this; they're hippies with power. They are buried up to their necks in every old rebel's dream to save the environment, rape the evil capitalists, proletariat rule, ban the bourgeois, and end every form of inequality BS that the 60's is known for. They've waited 40 years to get their chance to have their dreams come true, and they want it to happen NOW.

[GaryC 7]

Yeah I get it, a crisis gives them the chance to do something they normally couldn't get done. But I ask again, why rush? They have a lock on things, there is no reason to push through something just so they can say they did it. Why not take their time and really get it right? All they are doing is sewing their own destruction by pushing through something that has very little chance of working.

Gary, I'm surprised you have to ask. These are not forward thinking people behind this; they're hippies with power. They are buried up to their necks in every old rebel's dream to save the environment, rape the evil capitalists, proletariat rule, ban the bourgeois, and end every form of inequality BS that the 60's is known for. They've waited 40 years to get their chance to have their dreams come true, and they want it to happen NOW.

Even a fool wouldn't purposely screw things up like that. Some aspect of self preservation would have to exist. They would have to know that if they get this wrong the entire country would rise up. I mean, sure the health care system we have now has some real problems but it does serve the majority well enough. If they just push through something just to say they did it without really trying to get it right is a sure recipe for disaster. I am not in favor of a government solution but it seems we are on that path without much chance of changing it. So if we must have a government solution I honestly don't see the reason to have it done by August like Obama is calling for. Anything of that magnitude just can't get thrown together in that short of time. There would be no one person in the country that would really know what the full ramifications of this would be. I am honestly at a loss to explain the reasons for forcing this thing to happen in such a short length of time.

Edited July 22, 2009 by GaryC

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The unfortunate truth is that nothing major ever gets done in an election year. As we all know, 2010 will be an election year and there will be no health care reform measure going through Congress. It's sad but it's that simple. If nothing happens this year, certainly nothing is going to happen next year and to try and pick this back up in 2011 is wishful thinking at best.

I am not at all happy with what is circulating through Congress right now - there's unfortunately not much - if anything - in terms of reform in these bills. They had a good discussion on the News Hours last night with two Senators (Alexander (R,TN) and Dodd (D, CT)) and two Congressmen (Cooper (D,TN) and Ryan (R,WI)) talked about whether and how a bi-partisan deal can be reached. All but one of them - Dodd - seem to agree that - seeing that we're already paying 2.5 times per capita on healthcare compared to other developed nations with universal health care models - we should be able to get at least near universal coverage without increasing the total cost of the health care system.

What none of them said, however, was that in order for more people to get care for the same total sum, someone will have to get paid less. This is what they're all afraid of - to tell the medical providers, the pharma industry and - first and foremost - the insurance companies that the fat years are over. Until this is said and until this gets done, nothing will be reformed.

Edited July 22, 2009 by Mr. Big Dog