The massive, 1,500 page bill is expected to serve as the backbone for Democratic reform efforts going forward and five senators expressed concerns about one of its main provisions, a 40 percent tax on high-end insurance plans.
Those "high end" plans are what? 12k? 15k? 18k per year?
"Well golly gee, Mr Democratic Representative...I WOULD have donated to your campaign but it seems I have an additional $7,000 in taxes to pay this year..."
Instapundit (and others) have belabored time and again the point that the Legacy Media have one "killer app" left: hard news gathering. And that they choose to kill precisely that one off in favor of more opinionated fluff masquerading as news.
Well, it's not going to happen. The American people have been conditioned to expect entertainment in place of the news.
/focus group research gone amok!
If they actually got hard news from a news organization heads would probably explode. I truly believe that this is why it's so easy for conspiracy theories to be born and multiply like a cancer. People KNOW they're not getting the real news. Their trust in the media is about nil. So phony stories have a fertile environment in which to grow.
I wouldn't worry about it too much, Jack. Very few individuals have insurance plans that cost $8,000, or families that have plans that are over $21,000 (those are the "threshholds"). It mostly applies to very rich people or...um...assembly line workers at Government Motors, who will end up being exempt anyway.
We'll only be taxing the rich. That's fair, right?
Oh, and not being a speed-reader, I won't be reading the finance committee's plan today. But the last I heard we will ALL be paying higher taxes for this boondoggle for several years before it actually kicks in.
PURCELLVILLE, Va. – Just a year after this one-time Confederate state helped elect a black man president, Democrats are desperately trying to hang onto the governorship.
A lot has changed: Loyal Democrats are more subdued than last fall. Republicans are energized. Independents are proving to be ... independent. Voters of all kinds seem disenchanted.
Just like Americans nationwide.
I'm mighty surprised they didn't just declare the Democrat the winner. (Who needs an election?!)
LOL, what dismays me is the thought of moving backwards in terms of take-home pay. I can accept not my net income not going up (although I'm lucky that I have had modest increases each year), but the thought of taking home LESS is so discouraging.
What impacts your take-home pay also effects the ability of businesses to create jobs. With 15 million (plus!) people unemployed or under-employed this will not only be unhelpful, it will be detrimental.
Oh, and if you really want to get depressed, just think! The coming inflation will really rock and sock you in the pocket-book.
Actually the weather hasn't changed from yesterday afternoon. Only difference is that it's darker. About the same temp all bloody night, 11-12 degrees (about 53 for you Murricans). ;)
Well, it's about seasonal here. Actually for awhile it was a little above seasonal. Considering how often this month it's been below, we deserve it. :)
This needs to eventually translate into job growth for the standard of living to increase
What are the chances, 3 wood? Oil is up to $80. The dollar is in trouble. And although I can't find the article right now, I read something (yesterday, I think) about some analysts predicting that a lot of the lost jobs will never come back.
Uh-oh. Looks like the Fed mislead Bank of America on the Merrill Lynch acquisition:
Bank of America Was Told U.S. Aid May Help Shares, E-Mail Shows
"Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. signed off on its government-assisted purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. after U.S. regulators said the deal may boost the shares, e-mails from two executives showed. Instead, the stock collapsed.
“The chairman of the Federal Reserve indicated it would be structured in a manner such that BAC stock should go up when announced,” Chief Financial Officer Joe Price said in a Dec. 29 e-mail to executives of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, including Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis.
Merrill, the world’s biggest broker, agreed to be acquired after more than $50 billion of losses and writedowns tied to the collapse of the U.S. subprime-mortgage market. By Jan. 8, a week after the purchase was completed and before details were disclosed, federal officials changed their view of the deal, according to an e-mail from former Bank of America Treasurer Jeff Brown."
It will be a very, very long time before private business ever trusts the government again.
The study also estimates that the virus — commonly referred to as the swine flu bug — will infect about 60 percent of the U.S. population, although only about 25 percent of Americans will fall ill.
So, theoretically, I might have already caught it and gotten over it without ever even noticing. PANIC!!!!1!!11!!
littleoldlady:Sometimes I sit here and talk/link to myself while you all go to bed.
Careful. You'll go blind.
NYTimes to cut 100 newsroom jobs. — Not like they need them or anything. The opinion columnists can write the news items and no one will know the difference.
Aren't they already doing that?
I'm mighty surprised they didn't just declare the Democrat the winner. (Who needs an election?!)
They can't quite get away with doing that. Yet. But they may Franken the election.
3 wood:It will be a very, very long time before private business ever trusts the government again.
If only it were possible to replace "government" with "Democratic Party" in that sentence. Why any big business would ever donate money to the Dems (apart from the various racial and environmental extortion schemes) is a mystery to me.
I'm not likely to go blind. I had cataract surgery about 10 years ago so my eyes are now FOREVER (albeit fake ;-) It's going CRAZY I really worry about...
"And, isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" -The Tick
Morning C2. I was on the road and see I missed some good topics the past few days. Should have just read up on those instead of watching the Bears drop a big stinker in Atlanta Sunday night. I see one regards a Katrina/global warming lawsuit ... State of Fear, anyone?
Stagehand Moving Props Makes $530,044 at N.Y.C.’s Carnegie Hall
"Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- After you practice for years and get to Carnegie Hall, it’s almost better to move music stands than actually play the piano.
Depending on wattage, a star pianist can receive $20,000 a night at the 118-year-old hall, meaning he or she would have to perform at least 27 times to match the income of Dennis O’Connell, who oversees props at the New York concert hall.
O’Connell made $530,044 in salary and benefits during the fiscal year that ended in June 2008. The four other members of the full-time stage crew -- two carpenters and two electricians -- had an average income of $430,543 during the same period, according to Carnegie Hall’s tax return.
At Carnegie Hall, which has featured on its three stages such varied musicians as Duke Ellington, Bob Dylan and the Berlin Philharmonic, only Artistic and Executive Director Clive Gillinson makes more than the stagehands.
Gillinson earned $946,581 in salary and benefits in the fiscal year that ended in June 2008. Chief Financial Officer Richard Matlaga made $352,139, while General Manager Anna Weber received $341,542."
That's correct, and I have nothing say about it...except that if I was one of the executive managers I'd be just a tad p*ssed off.
My point was, that salary is certainly NOT representative of the jobs in that industry. And I'll bet that at other venues around the country people in the same or similar jobs don't even come CLOSE.
except that if I was one of the executive managers I'd be just a tad p*ssed off.
But rather than reducing the salary of the stage hands (can't get that by the unions), the managers will insist on getting equally huge salaries... the costs to be passed on to the consumers in the form of even higher ticket prices.
Help yourselves!
HAPPY TUESDAY!
ReplyDeleteGood morning Lol :)
ReplyDeleteenuff! :-)
ReplyDeleteHowdy! How's our outdoor real estate investment doing?
Yummy!
ReplyDeleteIt's Lauren Tewes-day!
ReplyDelete;)
OK - they're all used up!
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me?! H1N1 vaccine too late to help most people!?!
ReplyDeleteYeah, sometimes I feel that way on the fruitcup thread..."I can't believe you guys left me there!"
ReplyDelete;-)
littleoldlady said...
ReplyDeleteYeah, sometimes I feel that way on the fruitcup thread..."I can't believe you guys left me there!"
;-)
Huh?!?
Evelyn Wood...phone home!
ReplyDeleteThe finance committee's "health reform" bill is up online. A mere 1,502 pages!
littleoldlady said...
ReplyDeleteEvelyn Wood...phone home!
The finance committee's "health reform" bill is up online. A mere 1,502 pages!
...and also released too late to be effective.
Pi Guy,
ReplyDeleteSometimes I sit here and talk/link to myself while you all go to bed.
/doesn't happen that often anymore, thank goodness! :-)
...and also released too late to be effective.
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing a pattern here...
Oh, this is fun!
ReplyDeleteThe massive, 1,500 page bill is expected to serve as the backbone for Democratic reform efforts going forward and five senators expressed concerns about one of its main provisions, a 40 percent tax on high-end insurance plans.
Those "high end" plans are what? 12k? 15k? 18k per year?
"Well golly gee, Mr Democratic Representative...I WOULD have donated to your campaign but it seems I have an additional $7,000 in taxes to pay this year..."
littleoldlady said...
ReplyDelete...and also released too late to be effective.
I'm seeing a pattern here...
Get used to it.
NYTimes to cut 100 newsroom jobs.
ReplyDeleteNot like they need them or anything. The opinion columnists can write the news items and no one will know the difference.
littleoldlady said...
ReplyDeleteNYTimes to cut 100 newsroom jobs.
Not like they need them or anything. The opinion columnists can write the news items and no one will know the difference.
We were discussing this news earlier, and I found the perfect theme song for the NYT.
And here comes the bailout of the newspapers
ReplyDelete/sheesh
//okay, it's just "a report" but still...it'll be their justification.
Oh yeah, Pi Guy! PERFECT! :-)
ReplyDelete@LoL: touché!
ReplyDeleteInstapundit (and others) have belabored time and again the point that the Legacy Media have one "killer app" left: hard news gathering. And that they choose to kill precisely that one off in favor of more opinionated fluff masquerading as news.
Well, it's time for me to start counting the sheep.
ReplyDeleteGood night, all!
/We've progressed to only half-nekkid babies
Finally Free,
ReplyDeleteWell, it's not going to happen. The American people have been conditioned to expect entertainment in place of the news.
/focus group research gone amok!
If they actually got hard news from a news organization heads would probably explode. I truly believe that this is why it's so easy for conspiracy theories to be born and multiply like a cancer. People KNOW they're not getting the real news. Their trust in the media is about nil. So phony stories have a fertile environment in which to grow.
Ann Margrock! LOL!
ReplyDelete'Night, Pi Guy! :-)
Wow. Great article on J Street!
ReplyDeletea/k/a kapos
....40% tax increase?
ReplyDeleteJack! :-)
ReplyDeleteYou have a problem with that?
/paying taxes is patriotic, donja know!
I have a definite problem with that!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry about it too much, Jack. Very few individuals have insurance plans that cost $8,000, or families that have plans that are over $21,000 (those are the "threshholds"). It mostly applies to very rich people or...um...assembly line workers at Government Motors, who will end up being exempt anyway.
ReplyDeleteWe'll only be taxing the rich. That's fair, right?
Oh, and not being a speed-reader, I won't be reading the finance committee's plan today. But the last I heard we will ALL be paying higher taxes for this boondoggle for several years before it actually kicks in.
ReplyDelete/awaiting affirmation of that "rumor"
OMG! I can't post the whole thing, but read this movie review by Richard Cohen.
ReplyDeleteGAH! It starts out truly disgusting but we soon that ... even the liberals are getting a clue.
we soon see that
ReplyDeleteWhoa! This is an AP story!
ReplyDeletePURCELLVILLE, Va. – Just a year after this one-time Confederate state helped elect a black man president, Democrats are desperately trying to hang onto the governorship.
A lot has changed: Loyal Democrats are more subdued than last fall. Republicans are energized. Independents are proving to be ... independent. Voters of all kinds seem disenchanted.
Just like Americans nationwide.
I'm mighty surprised they didn't just declare the Democrat the winner. (Who needs an election?!)
I should be a frikken genius!
ReplyDelete;-)
Musical interlude while I wait for people to WAKE UP!
ReplyDeleteGood morning, dear ones!
ReplyDeleteLOL, what dismays me is the thought of moving backwards in terms of take-home pay. I can accept not my net income not going up (although I'm lucky that I have had modest increases each year), but the thought of taking home LESS is so discouraging.
Good morning all. {littleoldlady}, {gotc}, enuff. Another day here, actually warm for once.
ReplyDeleteI've got to get ready for school--I'm going to get here earlier tomorrow so I don't have to snarf down my fruitcup! :)
ReplyDeleteGODDESS!
ReplyDeleteSo good to see you! :-)
What impacts your take-home pay also effects the ability of businesses to create jobs. With 15 million (plus!) people unemployed or under-employed this will not only be unhelpful, it will be detrimental.
Oh, and if you really want to get depressed, just think! The coming inflation will really rock and sock you in the pocket-book.
:-(
Hiya, Phil! :-)
ReplyDeleteOverslept?
No littleoldlady, lurking, reading articles, drinking coffee, sneaking fruicup, checking weather......
ReplyDelete/so much to do in the hour I get up before heading to work.
When you checked, was the weather there? ;-)
ReplyDeleteMona Charen: "This is moral leadership?"
Actually the weather hasn't changed from yesterday afternoon. Only difference is that it's darker. About the same temp all bloody night, 11-12 degrees (about 53 for you Murricans). ;)
ReplyDeleteFABULOUS. It's 37° here. This isn't fair! You stole our weather!!! :-(
ReplyDeleteWell, it's about seasonal here. Actually for awhile it was a little above seasonal. Considering how often this month it's been below, we deserve it. :)
ReplyDeleteGood morning.
ReplyDeleteLook for the market to open on the upside as several companies are reporting very good profits. Apple is up 46%, beating all estimates.
This needs to eventually translate into job growth for the standard of living to increase.
time for me to hit the road. See you all at the end of this thread and the start of the next one.
ReplyDeleteHi, 3 wood! :-)
ReplyDeleteBye, Phil! :-)
This needs to eventually translate into job growth for the standard of living to increase
ReplyDeleteWhat are the chances, 3 wood? Oil is up to $80. The dollar is in trouble. And although I can't find the article right now, I read something (yesterday, I think) about some analysts predicting that a lot of the lost jobs will never come back.
Uh-oh. Looks like the Fed mislead Bank of America on the Merrill Lynch acquisition:
ReplyDeleteBank of America Was Told U.S. Aid May Help Shares, E-Mail Shows
"Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. signed off on its government-assisted purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. after U.S. regulators said the deal may boost the shares, e-mails from two executives showed. Instead, the stock collapsed.
“The chairman of the Federal Reserve indicated it would be structured in a manner such that BAC stock should go up when announced,” Chief Financial Officer Joe Price said in a Dec. 29 e-mail to executives of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, including Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis.
Merrill, the world’s biggest broker, agreed to be acquired after more than $50 billion of losses and writedowns tied to the collapse of the U.S. subprime-mortgage market. By Jan. 8, a week after the purchase was completed and before details were disclosed, federal officials changed their view of the deal, according to an e-mail from former Bank of America Treasurer Jeff Brown."
It will be a very, very long time before private business ever trusts the government again.
The study also estimates that the virus — commonly referred to as the swine flu bug — will infect about 60 percent of the U.S. population, although only about 25 percent of Americans will fall ill.
ReplyDeleteSo, theoretically, I might have already caught it and gotten over it without ever even noticing. PANIC!!!!1!!11!!
KIRK! :-)
ReplyDeletelittleoldlady: Sometimes I sit here and talk/link to myself while you all go to bed.
ReplyDeleteCareful. You'll go blind.
NYTimes to cut 100 newsroom jobs. — Not like they need them or anything. The opinion columnists can write the news items and no one will know the difference.
Aren't they already doing that?
I'm mighty surprised they didn't just declare the Democrat the winner. (Who needs an election?!)
They can't quite get away with doing that. Yet. But they may Franken the election.
3 wood: It will be a very, very long time before private business ever trusts the government again.
ReplyDeleteIf only it were possible to replace "government" with "Democratic Party" in that sentence. Why any big business would ever donate money to the Dems (apart from the various racial and environmental extortion schemes) is a mystery to me.
Careful. You'll go blind.
ReplyDeleteI'm not likely to go blind. I had cataract surgery about 10 years ago so my eyes are now FOREVER (albeit fake ;-) It's going CRAZY I really worry about...
It's going CRAZY I really worry about...
ReplyDelete"You're not going crazy. You're going sane in a crazy world!" -The Tick
On the other hand...
ReplyDelete"And, isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!"
-The Tick
Yesterday my horrorscope ended with, "Rational thinking is highly over-rated."
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to process that.
Oh. Wait.
Morning C2. I was on the road and see I missed some good topics the past few days. Should have just read up on those instead of watching the Bears drop a big stinker in Atlanta Sunday night. I see one regards a Katrina/global warming lawsuit ... State of Fear, anyone?
ReplyDeleteMy horoscope: "It's all over but the shouting, but don't worry: It's going to be great shouting."
ReplyDeleteUK's Brown: "There's no Plan B"
ReplyDeleteMy way or the highway? Please, let me spring for a map so you don't get lost on your way home.
Maybe I'll become a stagehand:
ReplyDeleteStagehand Moving Props Makes $530,044 at N.Y.C.’s Carnegie Hall
"Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- After you practice for years and get to Carnegie Hall, it’s almost better to move music stands than actually play the piano.
Depending on wattage, a star pianist can receive $20,000 a night at the 118-year-old hall, meaning he or she would have to perform at least 27 times to match the income of Dennis O’Connell, who oversees props at the New York concert hall.
O’Connell made $530,044 in salary and benefits during the fiscal year that ended in June 2008. The four other members of the full-time stage crew -- two carpenters and two electricians -- had an average income of $430,543 during the same period, according to Carnegie Hall’s tax return.
At Carnegie Hall, which has featured on its three stages such varied musicians as Duke Ellington, Bob Dylan and the Berlin Philharmonic, only Artistic and Executive Director Clive Gillinson makes more than the stagehands.
Gillinson earned $946,581 in salary and benefits in the fiscal year that ended in June 2008. Chief Financial Officer Richard Matlaga made $352,139, while General Manager Anna Weber received $341,542."
And to think I wasted years in grad school.....
Bwahahaha! I'm a Pisces, too!
ReplyDelete/we can spend the day yelling at each other...WOO WOO!
Got to get ready to teach an early class.
ReplyDeleteLater.
3 wood,
ReplyDeleteYou don't get it. They work A LOT of overtime!
3 Wood -- Holy crap!
ReplyDeleteBwahahaha! I'm a Pisces, too!
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of fishy.
I used to work for a stage rigging company. The hourly rate was what you might call "nice money" especially when they had to charge union scale.
ReplyDeleteWhat you posted though, 3 wood...that's OUTRAGEOUS money.
'Morning, Centaur! :-)
ReplyDeleteOh. 3 wood is gone...
We have our PRIORITIES, after all!
ReplyDeleteGov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he's going to sign an environmental exemption bill that will clear the way for construction of the LA Stadium.
What you posted though, 3 wood...that's OUTRAGEOUS money.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is. But what can you do? It's the other guys who decide what salaries are "too greedy" and take it upon themselves to try to limit them.
JamesTKirk,
ReplyDeleteThat's correct, and I have nothing say about it...except that if I was one of the executive managers I'd be just a tad p*ssed off.
My point was, that salary is certainly NOT representative of the jobs in that industry. And I'll bet that at other venues around the country people in the same or similar jobs don't even come CLOSE.
And...there's a new thread! ↑
ReplyDeleteexcept that if I was one of the executive managers I'd be just a tad p*ssed off.
ReplyDeleteBut rather than reducing the salary of the stage hands (can't get that by the unions), the managers will insist on getting equally huge salaries... the costs to be passed on to the consumers in the form of even higher ticket prices.