NowISeetheLight
NowISeetheLight's JournalEven Angrier After Reading This
I read a lot of articles about hospital finance in my daily Beckers CFO / Hospital / Payer daily emails. Beckers is a hospital trade industry news website (non-partisan). It's just facts. I'm retired now but still get them in my personal email. I knew the tax cut would decimate Medicaid and Medicare but today read something in Beckers that really showed just how bad it is.
https://www.beckerspayer.com/payer/aca/the-cost-of-health-insurance-will-explode-insurers-hospitals-urge-aca-tax-credit-extension/?origin=CFOE&utm_source=CFOE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=6600G4473978A6K
According to this if the ACA premium tax credits aren't extended the costs will be crazy. "“If the tax credit expires, a typical family of four making $64,000 would see their health care premiums increase by $2,600, an almost impossible amount for a household already stretched by rising costs,” the groups wrote. “For a 60-year-old couple with an income of $80,000, premiums would skyrocket by a staggering $17,500.”"
The artice also notes "A permanent extension could cost tax payers $335 billion over the next decade according to the CBO".
Now another article I read indicates that $1 TRILLION dollars of the overall cost of the tax cut goes as benefit to the top 1% of taxpayers. So for less than HALF of what the super super super rich 1% gets back, they could TOTALLY fund the ACA extension and make healthcare more affordable.
https://itep.org/top-1-to-receive-1-trillion-tax-cut-from-trump-megabill-over-next-decade/
The Office of Tax Analysis report breaks it all down.
https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/The-Cost-and-Distribution-of-Extending-Expiring-Provisions-of-TCJA-01102025.pdf
The report also notes that 60% of the total cost of the tax cut goes to the top 10% (those making over $217,000 a year).
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities breaks it down well noting "Under the bill, the average family earning less than $50,000 would get under $300 in tax cuts in 2027, less than $1 a day, while the average tax filer earning $1 million or more a year would receive about $90,000 in tax breaks."
https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/by-the-numbers-house-republican-tax-agenda-favors-the-wealthy-and-leaves#:~:text=Under%20the%20bill%2C%20the%20average,because%20of%20the%20Trump%20tariffs.
I like a lot of these articles (linked) because they have simple graphs and charts that anyone should be able to understand. It's a sick joke. When I see MAGA Mike Johnson and his Trump Loving Cronies on TV kissing up and saying how this super bill lets "people keep more of their hard earned money" I just get so angry. They are LIARS of the maximum magnitude. It makes me furious that they are basically allowed to completely lie with impunity and immunity. Honesty is just not in their vocabulary at all.
I hate them and what they're doing to America. It'll kill people and they could care less as long as their rich buddies get more money. It's just infuriating and I wish people in these Red states that voted for these people could pull their heads out of their dark place and figure it out. They are repeatedly screwing themselves. In the end they are the ones who will be hurt and they're welcoming it. It's disgusting.
No Tax on Overtime & Tips - I Hope I'm Wrong
If I’m reading this correctly the ‘No tax on Overtime and Tips” provision of the Big Bastards Bill (BBB) is going to have a serious consequence for peoples retirements.
Currently Social Security and SS Disability is based on earnings. That means you pay SS tax on your gross earnings and the 35 top years earnings is then set to determine your retirement benefit. So as I see it if income is not taxed, it’s not counted. Am I thinking right?
So if you work a 40 hr a week job and are doing an average of ten hours a week of OT (which at time and a half is like 15 hours of base pay) over the course of a year you’d “not” earn over 700 hours of pay (as far as the government is concerned). Because you’re not taxed on that money your annual pay is lower and that in return lowers what you’ll get for Social Security.
Am I thinking of this correctly? Or do they still plan to collect SS on the overtime and declared tips? I honestly don’t know. Anyone have an answer?
A Way to Justice for the real J6 Victims?
Now that Herr Trump has opened the prisons (not borders) and released the convicted J6 TRAITORS, plus given them pardon and commutations, I had a question.
While these traitors have escaped criminal justice (just like their Messiah), can the REAL VICTIMS of J6 sue THEM? Why can't the 100+ injured police officers sue these domestic terrorists directly?
We see all the time where individuals rightly sue police for malfeasance. So why not have the police sue the criminals?
Sure, they have "pardons" or whatever now, but don't forget that the bar for civil actions is much lower. There are tens of thousands of hours of video evidence of these crimes. Federal agencies have a database of these traitors.
I have no idea what the statute of limitations is for something like this. But I could get at least some satisfaction from seeing these people "Guiliani'd" (My term for being sued to hell and back).
People died and were permanently injured. Police officers had to retire with PTSD. I'm beyond outraged. There has to be some kind of class action lawsuit against these individuals and organizations.
Why not?
Today in a Red Bar
I live near Palm Springs. 
Being gay, retiring here was an easy choice (compared to the Deep South where I was).
So today I stopped by my local bar for a couple drinks and a fish n'chips. I will say right off the bat this is a Red bar, so I never talk politics. Well, I walked in and on the TV was "Biden backs out of race". The first I'd heard of it.
What I heard was "We are fucxxd" from the Republican crowd. There was a guy in an Elephant T-Shirt there and he was pissed. "Now Kamala is running, there goes the blacks! ." Another guy was ranting about who the VP pick would be. He was bitching it would probably be the Democrat Governor of Pennsylvania "Josh sonething". "They'll take the state then, we need that state."
I heard people in panicked distress. I sat there, nodded a lot, and I was laughing inside. It was a good lunch.
Question - Shouldn't This Be Considered Income?
I was watching Seth Meyers clip tonight on youtube. He said Trump had spent over $100m from his "Save America PAC" on his legal expenses.
My question is why isnt this considered income for him then? Like a gift tax or something? It should be taxed. It benefits him personally.
Im not a tax lawyer so i dont know. But it just seems wrong.
Abortion 2024 VIctory? I Have Hope
I was reading an article in Politico this evening about Flori-duh and their planned abortion ballot measure. It was basically an article about how DeSatans hand-picked conservative Supreme Court screwed him. The article featured a nice map showing the 12 states where Abortion could be on the ballot in 2024.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/03/desantis-just-lost-the-judicial-firewall-he-boasted-about-00150251
Looking at the map gives me some real hope for 2024. I expect Biden to win anyway because Trump is demented and deranged. However this map gives me a lot of hope for down ballot victories in some states that are often Red or Red leaning.
On Ballot in 2024 - Florida, Maryland, New York
Pending for the 2024 ballot - Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Maine
Approved in a past election - California, Kansas, Ohio, Michigan
Some of these states like Arizona, Colorado and Nevada are very purple and could go either way. Abortion is a definite issue that could turn them nicely Blue. I can see the House turning Blue and picking up a couple extra senate seats if all goes well.
Corrupt SCOTUS? Yeah.
I was wondering. That Texas law that allows the state to arrest undocumented immigrants. Yet the Colorado case about removing Trump from the ballot was squashed. SCOTUS seems to be in direct contradiction. States cant remove Trump because its Federal, yet a state can basically enact its own immigration policy. It just confirms to me that SCOTUS is completely corrupted.
Incest... Not... Opps... Strike That
A new Kentucky Republican legislator had introduced a bill that included removing "first cousin" from the incest law.
Nothing like Talibangelical Family Values!
Anyway... After it went viral he quickly backtracked and put "first cousin" back in, saying it was a mistake.
SURE IT WAS!!!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article284338699.html
Unbelievable..
Wilson said he filed the bill to “combat a problem of familial and cyclical abuse that transcends generations of Kentuckians.” “I understand that I made a mistake, but I sincerely hope my mistake doesn’t hurt the chances of the corrected version of the bill,” he wrote. “It is a good bill, and I hope it will get a second chance.”
https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article284338699.html#storylink=cpy
Austrian Heiress - She Gets It
An Heiress, set to inherit a fortune, has asked the people for help spending it. She's asking 50 people to help her spend $27m. It's her way of addressing wealth inequality.
https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/austria-heiress-marlene-engelhorn-chosing-50-people-spend-27-million-wealth-guter-rat/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h
She has sent invitations to 10,000 randomly selected people in Austria, asking them to complete a survey. Out of those who complete it, she will narrow the pile down to 50 people of different backgrounds that she feels represent the Austrian population.
They will become Guter Rat – which translates to Good Council – and will help her develop ideas for how to distribute $25 million euros – more than $27 million U.S. dollars.
In her mission statement, Engelhorn says her wealth was accumulated before she was even born. "It was accumulated because other people did the work, but my family was able to inherit the ownership of an enterprise and thus all claims to the fruits of its labour," she writes on the project's website. "
It so recognizes the problem of wealth inequality. The right wing is so big on "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" while at the same time ignoring the fact some people have so much of an advantage THEY DONT DO CRAP (excuse my French).
She so seems to get it.
In her mission statement, Engelhorn says her wealth was accumulated before she was even born. "It was accumulated because other people did the work, but my family was able to inherit the ownership of an enterprise and thus all claims to the fruits of its labour," she writes on the project's website.
Engelhorn doesn't want the family we are born into to determine if we have a good life. Instead of just donating the money herself, which she says "grants me power that I shouldn't have," she wants others to help her redistribute the money.
So, the council of 50 will meet over six weekends between March and June to have moderated discussions about how to use her wealth to create change. She will pay for their travel and stay during the conferences and will also compensate them.
The wealthiest 1% of the population in Austria holds 50% of the nation's net wealth, according to the Guter Rat website. Most of that 1% inherited their wealth, like Engelhorn.
Austria has no estate, inheritance, or wealth taxes and yet more than 2/3 of Austrians are in favor of taxes on wealth, according to Guter Rat.
Investigate Rep Stefanik
Now that Rep Stefanik (R-NY) has celebrated the removal of Harvard President Dr Gay, maybe SHE should be subject to some scrutiny.
We can start with her vote to KEEP George Santos in Congress. So she's all for playing high and mighty by demanding Dr Gay be crucified for some "improper citations" on some papers. I wonder what a review of every school document Rep Stefanik authored would reveal? A review of every speech she has given and every story she has told.
You live in a glass house... so you want to throw some stones? Turnabout is fair play. I'm sure there is a chance there are a few skeletons in this person's closet.
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