On the other hand, a double-sided copy would weigh 9.8 pounds, consist of 1,000 pages and be slightly over 4 inches thick.

By SemiPundit on 11.20.09 8:45 am

And this will help how? I foresee having H&R Block opening up branch offices to explain and assist the average person in filling out their health insurance forms and making sure that they aren’t breaking any rules. I mean that it will be so simple since even those responsible for the bill itself don’t understand it.

Yeah, simple, cheap and efficient. I’m sure that this health insurace fiasco will go down in history as a good thing.

By BCB on 11.20.09 10:00 am

ABC News Jonathon Karl explains why this bill is so dang huge.

“On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”
“The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”
“I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.
“In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.)
“Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu.
“How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.”

Yeah, good things to come…. at the tax payers expense to buy a dang vote. If it was so great for our nation, we wouldn’t need to buy votes, they would be lining up. This entire issue is a giant FOOTBALL BAT!!

By BCB on 11.20.09 12:15 pm

BCB, there won’t need to H&R Blocks as it is written in the bill that govt. health insurance be available through the Department of Motor Vehicles. You can get your driver’s license and health insurance at the same time…

By TNOPINION on 11.20.09 1:33 pm

And with the ultra-high caliber of employees that are traditionally associated with the DMV, we might as well cash in our chips now.

By BCB on 11.20.09 2:42 pm

Semi: I find it incredible that you boil down a piece of legislation of this size to such a pithy comment. The size is relevant as those papers contain words, my friend.

By Terry on 11.21.09 11:29 am

It was so big Bob Corker sat on it at his desk to reach the “No” button.

By Bender on 11.22.09 7:04 am

Eventually the DMV or Social Security Admin will become the one stop shopping place for your DL, SSN, health insurance, union card, USA food stamp card with the patriotic flag, student loan application, medicare admin and Democrat voter registration card.

Since the dolts of D.C. think they can save money by creating a new entitlement or expanding an existing entitlement, why not save real estate and increase efficiencies by placing all the parasite programs under one roof and call it the Ministry of Redistribution? And rename the IRS to the Eternal Revenue Service while they are at it. Better yet, give each parent a take home packet when their child is born with all the government entitlement gift cards in a leather personal organizer with their initials embossed in gold. And they can collect their $5,000 citizen check as well, courtesy of Nancy and Harry’s money factory.

By Pogo on 11.26.09 10:56 am

Pogo, the only problem that I see with that plan is that if we make it more efficient, we also get rid of workers. Since the government is the only sector that has seen a hiring increase that wouldn’t fit into the plan very well. It might cut caluable union workers.

By BCB on 11.27.09 8:00 am

Would it be a good idea to totally deregulate health insurance companies and let the free market run the whole show? Would consumers benefit from that? Also, if interstate competition is a good thing, then wouldn’t it make sense to open that market to international companies for an even better competitive environment?

By SemiPundit on 11.27.09 10:28 am

BCB, there wouldn’t be a reduction in the workforce. How many times have you been to the post office or DMV only to see one line open while several other workers stand around wielding their measly power to force people to grovel to meet the requirements of the state?

And now we hear of stimulus II with ideas like taxpayer subsidies to businesses to meet payrolls. Given how the treasury is dictating to TARP recipients how to conduct private business, one can only wonder how much control over the rest of the free market Obama would exert. Maybe harken back to FDRs NRA that controlled everything from the means of production to the wages paid employees. Though the NRA was found unconstitutional then resulting in FDR trying to stack the SCOTUS, with the flippant remarks from Congress on the constitutionality of Obamacare, you can be sure it will be passed under the auspices of “promoting the general welfare”.

The argument from government health care supporters that forced regulated health insurance is akin to auto insurance flys out the door. Especially when you see auto insurance companies vigorously competing on TV for your business with claims of 25-50% savings. Competing across state boundaries with little regulation.

By Pogo on 11.27.09 12:10 pm

I stand corrected Pogo. haha

Semi, Why would TRUE competition be bad? Are you implying that international competition would be bad? Are you against international banks competing for our dollar?

Monopolies are the real and most immediate threat to competition and if there is a monopoly that truly rules out true competition. So what are you afraid of? What would competition do but hold the lazy or those that choose poorly in their financial decisions accountable? Why is accountability such a bad word for liberals? They hold Bush responsibile for everything and yet the crackhead is somehow a victim. Semi, is the crackhead a victim of Bush? I think that your president would have you believe they are. Why is government the only solution to a problem caused solely by that same government? Why am I smart enough to have a job, earn money, and arange my own health insurance but not smart enough to be allowed to? Is that “no job holding” presidnet that much smarter or more expeirenced than I in dealing with the problems of the average person? Or maybe it’s because union corruption (SEIU) and racial set-asides (ACORN) are his true agenda?

By BCB on 11.27.09 6:10 pm

All interesting points.

Do you believe that Cigna, Aetna, Wellpoint, and the handful of other health insurers in the U.S. would really welcome more competition, particularly from, say, a new company based in Venezuela?

By SemiPundit on 11.28.09 12:35 pm

Nope, no more than Ford, GM and Chrysler wanted Toyota and Honda to come in. I don’t remember them asking for any bailouts either. That’s what makes it so attractive: better products, lower prices. You gotta love it. And those that don’t keep up can go the way of the Yugo.

By BCB on 11.28.09 7:44 pm

“I don’t remember them asking for any bailouts either.”

Maybe not, if you don’t count a tariff as a bailout.

Semi, have you noticed how many Venezuelan Citgo gas stations have been “rebranded” in the last couple of years? If free people aren’t forced to buy their insurance from socialist dictators, they probably won’t.

By Eric Holcombe on 11.30.09 10:39 am

How about China, then. Would you favor allowing the Chinese to market health insurance in the U.S.?

By SemiPundit on 11.30.09 2:04 pm

Semi, why do you continue to ask questions that are counter to the goals of those you appear to follow? If they can compete, let them compete. But don’t give subsidies and don’t charge the tariffs on those from outside. We will still sell Hummers and they are now going to be from China so what’s the difference? Competition is competition and BHO doesn’t want it and can’t allow it. It’s about power. It’s about freedom. It’s about liberty. He only wants one of those for himself and he can’t let us have the other twoor it won’t work for him and his ilk.

Eric, I realize that tariffs are in place but the cars made here compete against those that are made here. Tarifs work both ways and I don’t think that it often works to OUR advantage either way. Could we charge a tariff on those coming over the border to offset some of our deficit? lol

By BCB on 11.30.09 2:17 pm

Terry, I have reconsidered my remark. However, it should be noted that if the single-sided document were double spaced, it would weigh 39.2 pounds and stand 16.5 inches high.

BCB, regarding competition, few of today’s American capitalists believe in it. They are constantly jockeying for position to gain advantage through influence of legislatures, governmental executive offices, and local political leadeship. That is why many communities fail to live up to their social and economic potential while a handful of individuals (many times just a few families) get fat.

Nationally, corporate interests run rampant, erect and maintain barriers to entry, and essentially own lawmakers, and that is against the real spirit of free market enterprise. When we say we have choice, it usually means to buy or do without.

Remember, there is no such thing as a free market.

By SemiPundit on 12.01.09 10:45 am

Semi, I agree that many companies try to gain an advantage through legislative swindles. So why does the government continue to do it? Leave teh market alone for a while. Don’t show favoritism. Don’t protect poor performers. Don’t penalize those that succeed. And maybe more will actually try to succeed. The alternative is what a friend of mine showed me on Facebook. An 18 year old mother was complaining about having to go to an appointment for her WIC (Women, Infants and Children) voucher. Another young friend replied that it was the normal steps in becoming a mother. Somehow these people that live off the govt think that having to sign up for more govt aid is just a natural consequence of growing up. Pathetic. And that is the alternative to a free market?

Get govt out of my life.

By BCB on 12.01.09 10:02 pm

BCB, I was thinking about the Lee Iacocca days and Chrysler Bailout #1. Back then the Datsuns and Toyotas weren’t “made” or even “assembled” here.

I like to say my gas grill was “made” in Tennessee, since I bolted it together at my house.

Agree with you on the tariffs.

By Eric Holcombe on 12.02.09 2:02 pm

Eric, you are right, that problem was another problem but a real one. And apparently one that we didn’t learn from. And coincidentally, who was in office then too? haha Carter and now we have his understudy, BHO.

By BCB on 12.03.09 7:08 pm