Our hands-off Congress

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

U.S. Response to the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa - IMG_7160

Isn’t it ironic? They want to micromanage everything, but when it comes to their constitutional duties, they don’t do a damn thing:

In recent years, congressional Republicans have been almost hysterical about presidential overreach, condemning the White House for alleged abuses that leave Congress out of the policymaking process. In nearly every instance, their evidence has fallen somewhere between baseless and ridiculous.
And yet, here’s a legitimate example of Obama ignoring Congress when he shouldn’t, and those same Republicans who pretended to care about this institutional dynamic are sitting on their hands, perfectly content to ignore their constitutional responsibilities in the name of political convenience.
The United States has begun a bombing campaign in Syria, but don’t bet on Congress returning to Washington to vote on a new war authorization anytime soon.
Shortly after airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria started, some lawmakers started pushing again for an authorization vote. But so far, leaders aren’t gearing up to bring their members back to town.
Asked to explain why Congress is satisfied doing nothing, House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office told Roll Call, “As the Speaker has said, he thinks it would be good for the country to have a new authorization for the use of military force covering our actions against ISIL, but traditionally such an authorization is requested and written by the commander-in-chief – and President Obama has not done that.”
Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) added that Obama “should seek a new congressional authorization.”
Republicans may not fully appreciate just how extraordinary this approach to governing really is.
According to leading Republicans on Capitol Hill, Congress isn’t doing anything, and that’s the president’s fault. Why? Because the executive branch hasn’t written a bill for the legislative branch. Sure, lawmakers could write a bill on their own – it’s literally what they’re paid to do – but they’re instead waiting for the president to serve as a check on his own power.

How costs have screwed working families

~ susie

Supermarket in Katowice

Whenever you leave Republicans in charge of anything, we’re sure to pay for it:

The picture painted by a report from the Center for American Progress released Wednesday is a gloomy one.

For a typical married couple with two children, the combined cost of health care, day care, housing and savings for college and retirement jumped 32 percent from 2000 to 2012 – after adjusting for inflation. Average income barely rose in that time once you factor in inflation.

The figures marked a sharp change from the preceding 12 years ending in 2000, when average income for a four-person family rose 20 percent, after inflation, and college and health care costs rose more slowly.

Here’s how costs have grown in some key categories:
Continue reading “How costs have screwed working families” →

Surprise!

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

google_glass_italy_doctors_operating_room_hashslush2

This was a really interesting piece that was in the Times the other day — how hospitals and doctors jack up the charges to evade cost controls. You should read it in self-defense:

Before his three-hour neck surgery for herniated disks in December, Peter Drier, 37, signed a pile of consent forms. A bank technology manager who had researched his insurance coverage, Mr. Drier was prepared when the bills started arriving: $56,000 from Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, $4,300 from the anesthesiologist and even $133,000 from his orthopedist, who he knew would accept a fraction of that fee.

He was blindsided, though, by a bill of about $117,000 from an “assistant surgeon,” a Queens-based neurosurgeon whom Mr. Drier did not recall meeting.

“I thought I understood the risks,” Mr. Drier, who lives in New York City, said later. “But this was just so wrong — I had no choice and no negotiating power.”

The FIOS borg

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Verizon Fios Bus On the scene

So they’re all over the neighborhood, signing people up for FIOS. One nice young lady banged on my door yesterday and said, “My manager sent me out here yesterday to find out why you don’t want to sign up.”

“You want to know? Fine, I’ll tell you,” I said. “Because Verizon handed over everyone’s personal data to the federal government without a warrant.”

She looked at me. “Yeah, that’s a good reason.”

“Damn straight, it’s a good reason.”

She kept trying. I told her contract employees with no benefits were another reason.

“The people who do the installations are all union employees with benefits,” she said.

“Yeah? How about the people who will be answering service calls?”

“I’m pretty sure they are, too.”

I looked at her. “Now, you know I’m going to call and check on that, right? Because they’re not.”

Then she started telling me about the $300 gift card I would get with a two-year contract. “Uh huh. And by then, you’re the new monopoly and you’re free to jack up the rates,” I said.

“Oh no, we’re regulated. Not like Comcast.”

“Yes, and your company is lobbying even as we speak to try to change that.”

She said she didn’t understand why I didn’t “want to save money.” I told her when I had Verizon DSL, the service from their contract workers was the worst I’d ever had. (I didn’t tell her that one of them told me, “We don’t care because we don’t have to. That’s the company motto.”) I remember at one point, I went three weeks without service, and they couldn’t figure out why.

Plus, you know how it is. You have to change all the mailing list stuff under your old address, and it’s a pain in the ass. As much as I hate Comcast, and as much as I suspect Comcast is also BFF with the NSA, I don’t know for sure. Yet.

I imagine the salespeople get some kind of bonus for signing up the entire block, but oh well.