Democracy for Vancouver

The prez-gnat yesterday:

…And so we cut taxes. And I mean we cut them on everybody.
…
And the plan worked. If you think about where we were coming out of 2001 and where we are today, you can’t help but say the plan worked; cutting taxes helped stimulate economic growth. …And so we’ve had a pretty good economic run here in the country: six years of growth; we’ve had 51 straight months of increased job employment, it’s the largest — longest period of uninterrupted job growth in the nation’s history…

LIAR. Here is a graph of job growth during the last 6 years:

As you can see, total job creation has only very rarely exceeded job demand during Bush’s presidency:

But back to Dummy:

So one thing I want to share with you today is, I’ll veto any tax increase. I don’t think Congress needs more money. I think they need to learn how to set better priorities.

Like, abandoning the budgetary blackhole we’ve got going on over in Iraq, perhaps? Nope:

As I say, I’m hopeful, and I appreciate those on Capitol Hill are working hard to come up with a good appropriations package. And that appropriations package, by the way, must also include funding for our troops in harm’s way.

Evidently getting our troops out of harm’s way isn’t worth budgeting for.

But now, on to the housing crisis. Mr. MBA has it well in hand:
And the issue — the housing issue has changed. I can remember the first home I bought in Midland, Texas. I remember going down to the savings and loan and sitting down with the savings and loan officer and negotiating with the savings and loan officer. Well, this day and age you’re going to use — mortgages have been bundled, so the savings and loan doesn’t own the mortgage anymore, or the bank doesn’t loan [sic] the mortgage anymore, the local lending institute doesn’t loan [sic] the mortgage anymore: it’s owned by some international group, perhaps, or it’s been bundled into an asset. And so there’s hardly anybody to negotiate with. And so some lenders [sic] aren’t sure where to turn. They have credit-worthiness, they may get pinched as their interest rates reset.

You IDIOT. The broker or the lender sets the terms BEFORE the loans are bundled into investment packages. And more often than not the borrower is going to an altogether different broker/lender to refinance, they’re not going to the note-holder to “negotiate.” You are such an ass.

On to that other economic menace, healthcare:

Part of the problem in health care is that there is no consumerism — I shouldn’t say “no consumerism,” obviously there is some consumerism. But when a third party pays your bill, you tend not to worry about price.

No, you moron. The problem is that there are 47 million uninsured so worried about price that they can’t get medical care.

[T]here’s a disincentive for people to be purchasing health care on the individual market and, therefore, the individual market hasn’t grown. So I proposed to Congress that we allow families — everybody, regardless of your employment status — to be able to deduct $15,000 off your income taxes, or $7,500 as an individual — all aimed at level the playing field so that an individual market begins to grow.

No, the individual market hasn’t grown because:

1) on an individual basis, insurance companies can reject individuals that have actual medical problems; and,

2) IT’S TOO GODDAMN EXPENSIVE FOR INDIVIDUALS TO AFFORD, especially if you’re making too little money to take advantage of any future tax break.

I don’t know how many of you ever go to your doctor and say, what are you charging, you know, compared to your neighbor. I suspect you do that when it comes an automobile, but you don’t when it comes to purchasing health care. I never have, frankly. I don’t remember asking my buddies in Midland, who are my doctors, how much are you charging relative to the person down the street.

You really are a dipshit. Don’t you realize that the insurance companies decide how much doctors will be paid for a given service?

Third, there needs to be products like health savings accounts expanded. If you’re a small business owner, I strongly urge you to look at a health savings account for a way to help your employees or yourself save for everyday expenses — medical expenses on a tax-free basis, coupled with a catastrophic health plan.

How are you supposed to save money in an HSA if you can’t afford health insurance?

Fourth, small businesses ought to be allowed to pool risk across jurisdictional boundaries.

Yes, and pooling risk is why universal Medicare is the best idea.

Fifth, health care needs to be better at incorporating information technologies… My dream is for all of us to have a medical electronics record within a decade. My only caveat is I want to make sure that your material is private, that nobody can access it; it’s your material alone.

Unless you need it for national security purposes, right? Or to give interrogators information to help persuade a detainee to talk?

Finally, if you’re truly interested in making sure health care is available and affordable, then you need to join the outcry on these frivolous and junk lawsuits. There are too many lawsuits running too many doctors out of practice.

LIAR. According to the GAO, malpractice claims and awards are not appreciably increasing, and in some instances are declining. In New Jersey, for instance, malpractice payments declined by 21 percent from 2001 to 2003.

Malpractice insurance premiums have surged however. Why? Because decreases in investment income made insurance companies plump their margins by increasing premiums. So, it’s not just the AMA’s bidding that Bush is doing, but the malpractice insurers, as well. And there is no guarantee that capping malpractice claims will do anything to cap malpractice insurance premiums when insurers’ stockholders are clambering for ever-higher profits.

Back to the asshole-in-chief:

I’ll be glad to answer any questions. (Applause.) From anybody other than the press corps. (Laughter.) If I wanted to have a press conference, I’d call a press conference, right Herman?

MR. HERMAN: (Inaudible.)

What was that, Mr. Herman? Did we hear “cough-DOUCHEBAG-cough”?

…One of the interesting things that is taking place around the country, though, is that the higher price of oil has caused people to invest in new technologies…

Now, refineries is a different issue. We haven’t built any new refineries. Now, we’ve expanded some refineries. We’re not building new refineries, and it makes no sense not to increase the supply of gasoline…

And so one of the proposals I put forth to the Congress was, as we shut down bases, through the BRAC process, why don’t we provide land on those old bases for refineries to encourage the expansion of refineries here in the United States.

The oil companies don’t want any new refineries, you halfwit. They’ve shut down 50 refineries in the last 20 years and despite a pledge to build more have not done so. They want to keep control on supply. You’re a supply-sider, aren’t you?

I’ll tell you another thing we ought to be doing, is we ought to be exploring for oil and gas in the Arctic — up in Alaska.

This one is a bad penny - like Bush’s tax cuts because of the surplus becoming tax cuts because of an economic downturn. It’s his all-purpose answer, because he’s a craven twit. Opening ANWR to oil development would only reduce America’s dependence on imports by about 4% and would lower oil prices by less than 50 cents a barrel, according to the Energy Department.

Q I’m a commercial lender here in Fredericksburg… [W]e’re looking at (inaudible) evaluating financial statements daily, or the income statements, health care expenses, fuel expenses. What about my big customers that are driving diesel-powered equipment? (Inaudible) fuel goes to $3.25 a gallon to $5.00, while at the same time that you’re having an escalated health care expenses. …[R]evenues aren’t necessarily expanding in this soft economy that we’re in. So what happens in ‘08 and ‘09 when the –

THE PRESIDENT: No, I appreciate that. That’s why I’m against raising the gasoline tax.

Idiot. The gas tax isn’t this man’s problem. The economy and your fucking oil war are.

But it’s — yes, look, that’s the concern, and I fully understand the pinch some of your folks are going to feel.

Having said that, this economy is pretty good. There are some — there’s definitely some storm clouds and concerns, but the underpinning is good, and we’ll work our way through this period. But I couldn’t agree with you more that there’s — your people have got some concerns… The quick fix — at least what sounds like a quick fix — is going to be, don’t worry, we’ll handle it for you at the federal government.

WTF is he talking about? Gas prices? Healthcare? The soft economy?

And now, more assholery:

Q You may have noticed that transportation is an issue for us in this area, and –

THE PRESIDENT: Actually, the helicopter didn’t get stuck in any traffic. (Laughter and applause.)

DICK.

And here comes the plant:

Q Mr. President, my name is Mike West. I’m a Stafford resident here. It’s a pleasure to have –

THE PRESIDENT: How long have you been living here, Mike?

Q Seven years. We moved from Charleston, West Virginia.

My question is, I have three children in the school system here, and I’m very concerned about their well-being, living in this country — and you’ve done a wonderful job of protecting our nation. But I’m concerned about the nations like Iraq, who now have nuclear weapons –

THE PRESIDENT: Iran.

Q Iran and Iraq both.

THE PRESIDENT: Not Iraq. (Laughter.)

That one just gets funnier and funnier every time you hear it.

Q I’m a physician, and I happen to agree with your attitude about health care. And I think that the consumerism aspect of it needs to be emphasized. I think we’re going to have too many options out there to offer to the American public and we won’t be able to afford all of them; we can’t hardly afford it now. But do you have new legislation out that you may propose for next year that would try to implement some of the ideas that you have, other than the health savings account?

(In other words, what you’ve proposed so far won’t do shit, Chimpy.) Bush’s answer? To repeat all of the bullshit this doctor’s already heard:

THE PRESIDENT: AHPs, we’ll run it again, associated health plans. That’s the plan that enables small businesses to pool across jurisdictional boundaries. …

Secondly, we’ll run the tax deductibility again…

We may run tort reform again; I’ll see what it looks like.

…I’m going to tell you something — we have fabulous health care in America, just so you know. I think it’s very important — before people start griping about the health care system here — and of course there’s always grounds for complaint — just to compare it with other systems around the world… But whatever we do, we don’t want to undermine the fact that we’ve got great health care.

So quit your bitching.

It’s good to be the king.