I thought we could finally move on to jobs but it looks like we are still stuck on HCR.

[dkf]

What will it take to make the economy priority? Must everyone give in on HCR first because everything else will be on the backburner?

The country is screaming at our high unemployment rate. Does no one care?

[Little Star]

1. HCR is part of the economic problem. I think we may

be talking about it until the bill either dies or we get the HCR that people want, like Medicare for all or such.

[dkf]

3. Its not the main problem though.

In the meantime the cause of the problem is going unsolved. So far we have had one concrete proposal to stop banks from speculating with taxpayer insured deposits that hasn't shown up in any type of legislation.

The HCR bill won't do much for the economy. It attempts to solve a longer term problem like Social Security and Global Warming.

[babylonsister]

10. Quit it! That proposal was proposed last week. WTF do you expect?

You want legislation on the table already? Get real.

As for your other boring and misinformed contentions, quit bellyaching unless you know better than these folks do. We'll know soon enough how this plays out.

Healthcare overhaul could save money and boost jobs, researchers say

In a report to be released today, Harvard and USC economists say legislation being considered would slow cost increases and free up money for companies to raise wages and hire more workers.

January 08, 2010|By Duke Helfand


National healthcare legislation in Congress could slow the growth of medical costs, allowing employers to create 250,000 to 400,000 new jobs a year over the next decade, economists from Harvard University and USC are predicting.

Wading into the hotly debated issue of whether the legislation is a job creator or a job killer, researchers from the two universities say that the reforms under consideration would slow the rate of cost increases and free up money for companies to raise wages and hire more workers.

Specifically, healthcare savings could be achieved through proposals for greater competition in insurance markets, better coordination of care and shrinking administrative expenses, they said in a report to be released today. With those changes, employers could then reallocate money now spent on ever-growing premiums to other business priorities.

"We could achieve huge productivity gains," said Harvard economist David Cutler, one of the study's authors and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

more...

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/08/business/la-fi-health-jobs8-2010jan08

[dkf]

13. This is the same crew that thinks the Cadillac tax is a good idea?

And Obama isn't going to get what he wants on his financial reform without a fight. Barney Frank was on CNBC saying he would give banks 3-5 years to comply. Apparently Tim Johnson is not supportive either. His HCR approach doesn't give much hope that Obama will lead on this. One can only hope.

[inna]

26. you should post this as an OP. really.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

2. I certainly don't want to spend any more than 2-3 months on HCR, but if we can pass the Senate Bill,

then I think it will be worth it.


After that, it HAS to be the economy and job creation. I think it was a mistake to not make that priority #1 in his first year (with HCR a close second priority).



If you can't support your family (or yourself), then nothing else really matters.

[dkf]

5. It will be too late to have any effect by the election.

We're already dead ducks aren't we?

[BlueIdaho]

7. Really?

The MSM is busy creating this bullshit narrative of a Democratic party completely out of touch with the suffering of Americans. But they don't want you to ask one simple question. "Will we all really be better off by turning the government over the the republicans again?" The republican party that drove us into the ditch in the first place. The republican party that coldly calculates its better for them - politically - to stop the government from acting on anything than doing the difficult work of moving America forward.

We're dead ducks if we believe this narrative and throw in the towel after one year of our President's first term.

[dkf]

11. Doesn't sound like the Dems want to fix the financial system.

Neither party is doing much. I don't know where that leaves voters. I do know its easy to be mad at something a person has done. Repub challengers haven't screwed up yet.

[babylonsister]

12. Then you're not paying attention or being willfully ignorant...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x147916
Obama's Showdown With Wall Street

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7535758
Obama getting high marks for his banking reforms

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x143535
A return to sanity in banking-Obama bank plan is a response that fits the crisis

[dkf]

19. I am paying attention. I have the news on all day at work.

I saw Barney Frank on several shows with my own two eyes saying banks would have years to do somethig about this. 5 years he said.

And then I found this at FT.COM:

Nor can Mr Obama rely on unity within his own party, which has been in disarray, if not panic, since Tuesday. For example, Mr Obama’s more populist tack on Wall Street re-regulation failed to attract endorsement from Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, even though he was present when Mr Obama made the announcement.

Others, such as Tim Johnson, Democratic senator for South Dakota and a senior member of the banking committee, were already opposed to elements of Mr Obama’s regulatory proposals including the plan to establish a consumer financial protection agency.

snip

Finally, there is increasingly open Democratic disaffection about the way Mr Obama is managing relations with Capitol Hill. Many believe that Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama’s aggressive chief of staff, served Mr Obama badly by persuading the president that his election was a transformational moment in US politics that gave him the opportunity to push through long-cherished Democratic goals, such as healthcare reform.

In fact, exit polls from Mr Obama’s election showed that almost two-thirds of the voters cited the economy as their chief concern, with fewer than one in 10 mentioning healthcare. Mr Emanuel is also perceived to have mishandled the day-to-day logistics of getting healthcare through Congress.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/821dce96-0786-11df-915f-00144feabdc0.html

[babylonsister]

22. So go read some positive articles; they're out there, but you tend to

drift towards the negative. You know what they say about opinions, and that includes yours and mine. Expand your horizons!

[dkf]

24. I'm negative because Obama is driving me nuts

I find him frustrating beyond belief. I'm one of the people yelling "can you hear me now?"

He can turn this around but its not his natural personality. When will he see its not working?

[babylonsister]

25. Patience, grasshopper. He had such a bloody mess to clean up,

and he's still doing that. If he could have started out fresh without having to contend with someone else's FUBARs, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[BlueIdaho]

17. True enough - willful gridlock by both parties

is the real problem. Its better to do nothing on Congress and keep your feet under the table. But republicans have records too - and they are as vulnerable as Democrats. Even if some fresh faced contender throws their hat in the ring - we can saddle them with their party's philosophy and track record. They can pose as populists as long as we let them. Driving your pickup truck to the country club doesn't exactly make you Joe Sixpack. If we throw in the towel when things get tough instead of digging in our heals, finding our spines, and showing America we have a better way - then perhaps we don't deserve to be in power.

[Hello_Kitty]

9. Seriously. I will qualify for Medicaid under this bill.

Which is more than I have now (nothing) but I can't eat Medicaid.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

23. Exactly.. we need to do something QUICKLY on HCR to help as many as possible,

but then we MUST focus on the economy and jobs to help people put food on their table.

:hug:

[AndyA]

4. You can bet that's part of the GOP's plan: keep the Dems on HCR

so they can't get to jobs. That will help the GOP come November.

They have no qualms whatsoever about sacrificing people and families for their own good. Party first, everything else when it benefits them most.

[dkf]

6. We walked right into that one.

They played us like a fiddle. I hate it when they outstrategize us.

[BlueIdaho]

8. You assume we can only do one thing at a time.

What is that proves not to be true?

[Impedimentus]

14. The Dems could have passed HCR, and ...

a lot more, if they had shown some leadership and stood up for the principles they campaigned on. What a wasted opportunity the last year has been. We can only pray they see the danger they are in and start governing.

[ProSense]

15. This sounds just like the meme the media is pushing.

Obama held a jobs summit in early December. He and Biden addressed jobs at the Conference of Mayors last week. Health care is in the very final stages of negotiations, why would anyone assume the Democrats can't do more than one thing at a time?

[babylonsister]

20. And the R/W...

:think:

[ChicagoSuz219]

16. They're not mutually exclusive. n/t

[totodeinhere]

18. Look, people are dying as we speak due to a lack of health insurance,

We need heath care reform now. Yes, the economy is important, but people's lives come first. Of course we care about the unemployed rate, but what good will it be to be employed if you don't have adequate health care and die anyway?

[Donnachaidh]

29. and how many people are dying because they've been out of work for months

and are homeless?

The economy is NOT *getting better* as the pundits say. My DH just got a job after being out for 18 MONTHS -- and we're not in as bad shape as some of our neighbors.

It's not to devalue the folks without insurance -- we're included in that list. But you die pretty damned fast when you have no food and no roof over your head.

We were pretty damned speedy about bailing out the banks -- WHY isn't this being done for the working class?

[Bitwit1234]

21. It may sound silly but why doesn't Obama do what FDR did.

He is giving stimulus money to the states. Why doesn't the government set up the Work Projects themselves for each state. Give the state the money to run them and then why will be sure it creates jobs.

You say what about the electronic fields. Well do the same thing. We need good people to work in these type of jobs. Get the states to train these people to do the jobs here instead of overseas. Since they were sent to India because it was costing too much here. Set the jobs with lower salaries. Living wages but not like 30 to 40 dollars an hour.

If someone in DC would only think straight there are a lot of jobs they could start up. And they wouldn't have to give any money to big business for them to do it.

Also look in to the monopoly situation of the big banks and big corporations like Comcast buying up all the cable companies. The government is overlooking a lot of the stuff they could handle, which should be under their control anyway.

[backscatter712]

27. Contrary to popular belief, Congress can multitask.

There's a jobs bill in the works - it already passed the House, the Choakley fiasco motivated the Senate to fast-track their jobs bill, hopefully, it'll be on President Obama's desk pretty soon.

Then it's time to work on Wall Street reform, ideally with Volcker Rules, and then we push Alan Grayson's campaign finance reform (which includes a 500% excise tax on corporate political spending.)

[Skittles]

28. LOL

right

[ProSense]

30. It is right.

House narrowly approves Democratic jobs plan

[Skittles]

31. aw gee they finally got around to JOBS?

woo hoo

[burning rain]

32. The House can multitask; the Senate can barely even singletask.

.

[Captain Hilts]

33. You must have health insurance. I do not. nt