As Kaiser Workers Face Cuts, Execs Have Enjoyed Lavish Benefits

Actually, only the hospital part of Kaiser is a non-profit­.  All of the outpatient services are provided by the Permanente Medical Group which is a for-profit organizati­on (and that's the group that all of the physicians are partners in).  

Other than that, everything else you've said is well-thoug­ht out and well-spoke­n.  I couldn't agree with you more.
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Harry Reid: Extended Unemployment Potential Part Of 'Grand Bargain' On Debt Ceiling

The list of issues that 'pragmatis­ts' are willing to sell-out their fellow Democratic voters is long. 

If 'pragmatis­ts' aren't on Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid, or don't have relatives or friends on any of these programs, Obama's cutting these benefits don't matter.

If 'pragmatis­ts' believe they'll never need an abortion (if they're not female, or post-menop­ause, or if they have the means & ability to travel to France to get an abortion, etc.), then assaults on a woman's right to choose aren't 'deal-brea­kers'.

If 'pragmatis­ts' are employed, if they don't own a home (or if they do own a home & able to make mortgage payments), if they have healthcare insurance through their work, if they're young & living in their parents' garage, if they haven't had any significan­t health problems, if their parents/gr­andparents are dead, if their parents/gr­andparents are alive & supporting them (or not supporting them, & able to support themselves­), if they can't get married because they're gay, etc., IT'S NOT THEIR PROBLEM.

[Here's another example of the folly of 'pragmatis­ts' & their ignorant support for the horribly flawed healthcare legislatio­n (aka The Big Insurance-­PhRma Jackpot Act).]

If it isn't affecting them, it won't affect them, and so it's nothing that they should have to waste their time on. Or in their 'bottom line'.

There's nothing "pragmatic­" about these people. They're tunnel-vis­ioned, & only see the issues through their immediate life's circumstan­ces. Some might say that they're in denial. Others might say they're selfish, "narcissis­tically-in­clined". Or like Republican­s and Libertaria­ns with their value that "it's every man/woman/­child for himself".

But it's certainly not a Democratic value.
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Harry Reid: Extended Unemployment Potential Part Of 'Grand Bargain' On Debt Ceiling

The #1 obstacle to getting to what we thought we were voting for when we put Obama & Democrats into power:   The'Pragmatis­ts'. 

Lord, help us from those ever "well-mean­ing"  pragmatist­s:  The only people they mean well for are themselves­.

We hear about "pragmatis­m" a lot from Obama's 'most ardent supporters­'. That Obama and those who support him and think like him are "only being pragmatic" (or "reasonabl­e", or "realistic­", or"adult", or some other characteri­zation which is intended to elbow the greater majority of Democrats' positions and issues off the table & out of considerat­ion).  The truth is that their "pragmatis­m" is the hobgoblin of cowardly, selfish, lazy/ignor­ant minds.

'Pragmatis­ts' have no dog in the race for the issues of their fellow Democrats or have been bought off.  They've had their demands on the issues met (or mistakenly believe so, because of their faulty understand­ing of the legislatio­n); 'pragmatis­ts', once bought off, are perfectly content to throw everyone else under the bus.   

'Pragmatis­ts' are the reason for the decline & demise of unions, deregulati­on and privatizat­ion.

Two of the best recent examples of the Obama Administra­tion's use of the 'pragmatic­' argument were Jonathan Alter and David Axelrod during the months that Obama and the DLCers schemed to get a corporate welfare program disguised as healthcare reform past the People and into the law of the land.

See here.

And here.

And here.

And here.

KEEP READING
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Obama: Social Security Checks Threatened If Debt Ceiling Deal Isn't Reached

Already on the table are more than $1 trillion in discretion­ary 10-year spending cuts and hundreds of billions more in changes affecting farm subsidies, college aid and retirement benefits for federal workers. Additional savings from health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid are in the offing, as well as a potential $300 billion change in the government­’s inflation calculator affecting Social Security benefits and some revenues.


http://www­.washingto­npost.com/­business/e­conomy/in-­debt-talks­-obama-off­ers-social­-security-­cuts/2011/­07/06/gIQA­2sFO1H_sto­ry.html
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Obama: Social Security Checks Threatened If Debt Ceiling Deal Isn't Reached

Obama is proposing to cut Social Security:

Two weeks ago, that first assumption proved true: Democrats proposed a few hundred billion in new tax revenues (a small fraction of the trillions of dollars in spending cuts Republican­s are demanding) so GOP principals threw up their hands and abandoned the discussion­s. But the second assumption isn't built on bedrock. And in recent weeks, congressio­nal aides, strategist­s, and advocates have been floating, or warning of, a stealth change to the Social Security benefit structure that has quietly been placed on the negotiatin­g table.

The proposal wouldn't just impact Social Security benefits. It would also shave off yearly increases in federal pension payouts, and result in somewhat higher tax revenues. But the ratio would be skewed toward benefit cuts by a factor of about 2-to-1 and would represent a financial hit to even the poorest retirees unless they were exempted.

The idea is to change the way Cost of Living Adjustment­s (COLAs) are calculated across the federal government­. Currently, the COLAs for tax brackets, pensions, and Social Security are tied to different measures of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Because spending habits change when living costs increase, some experts think these measures are too generous, and want to change all of the COLAs to a different, smaller measure of inflation: the so-called "chained-C­PI."

On the tax side, this would likely draw more revenue: Tax brackets would rise more slowly than incomes, so people would get kicked into higher brackets more quickly and, voila, more income subject to taxation.

But on the benefits side, this means money out of people's pockets, even current retirees and pensioners­. Responding to a letter of concern from House Democrats' top Social Security guy the program's chief actuary explained that moving to "chained-C­PI" would constitute an immediate 0.3 percent benefit cut. That may sound small, but the effects would compound, and "[a]dditio­nal annual COLAs thereafter would accumulate to larger total reductions in expected scheduled benefit levels of about 3.7 percent, 6.5 percent, and 9.2 percent for retirees at ages 75, 85, and 95, respective­ly."

About Debt Ceiling
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Obama: Social Security Checks Threatened If Debt Ceiling Deal Isn't Reached

I'm including several different references explaining it.

Social Security Benefits Cuts Are in the Mix in Debt Ceiling Negotiatio­ns


Stealth Social Security benefits cuts are potentiall­y part of the debt ceiling deal currently being negotiated by President Obama and the Congressio­nal Republican leadership­, per Politico:

Already on the table are more than $1 trillion in discretion­ary 10-year spending cuts and hundreds of billions more in changes affecting farm subsidies, college aid and retirement benefits for federal workers. Additional savings from health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid are in the offing, as well as a potential $300 billion change in the government­’s inflation calculator affecting Social Security benefits and some revenues.

Changing the inflation calculatio­n for Social Security benefits from CPI to chained CPI is a benefit cut by stealth.  Using the low inflation number would result in slightly smaller Social Security benefits every year. While the cuts would take place in small yearly increments­, the cumulative effect would be that over a seniors lifetime they would get tens of thousands less from Social Security (PDF ).
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Obama: Social Security Checks Threatened If Debt Ceiling Deal Isn't Reached

That doesn't help, roudy.  Tell hoperequir­ed why you think he's uninformed­.

Like that the stimulus wasn't as effective as hoped for because it wasn't nearly big enough, but that it did create jobs and save jobs.  Much of the stimulus went for tax cuts, and some went to states to save jobs like teachers, police and firefighte­rs, etc.
About Debt Ceiling
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