Krugman

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Does that include former Senators?

Pete

Excepting, of course, those who are above average and get promoted.

I guess we need a senator from Lake Woebegone, where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all of the children are above average.

Regards,

D-Ray

[whell]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Turkey has been a more important strategic ally in the region for decades. Their assistance against the Soviets during the Cold War was essential. Now, we have Turkey and Israel squaring off against each other. If we had to weigh strategically who has done more for us over the years, Turkey would win in a landslide. OTOH, if you're looking at the Jewish vs. Turkish voting blocks in this country, the equation gets skewed a bit methinks.

The Turks don't have much of a voting block in this country, Finn. Let's just see how the Prez and the Dems react to yesterday's election results.

[whell]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

No, the Masters of the Universe own your average senator.

Regards,

D-Ray

While there may be some truth to that, if it were the reason for existence of every Senate and House member, we wouldn't have the likes of the EPA, the NLRB, the Dept of Labor, the Dept of Energy, and a whole host of similar agencies, bureaucracies, and czars.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by whell

The Turks don't have much of a voting block in this country, Finn. Let's just see how the Prez and the Dems react to yesterday's election results.

Our stance towards Israel has everything to do with their voting block, as is the case with the Cubans in South Florida. And it's a damned shame IMHO.

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by whell

While there may be some truth to that, if it were the reason for existence of every Senate and House member, we wouldn't have the likes of the EPA, the NLRB, the Dept of Labor, the Dept of Energy, and a whole host of similar agencies, bureaucracies, and czars.

It does go a long way toward explaining why the public option didn't make it into health care reform and why some of the most important provisions don't take effect until 2014. I suppose one could say that the Masters of the Universe have varying levels of investment in most members of Congress.

Regards,

D-Ray

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by whell

While there may be some truth to that, if it were the reason for existence of every Senate and House member, we wouldn't have the likes of the EPA, the NLRB, the Dept of Labor, the Dept of Energy, and a whole host of similar agencies, bureaucracies, and czars.

You left out the real reason why things are screwed up -NIH.

[whell]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

It does go a long way toward explaining why the public option didn't make it into health care reform and why some of the most important provisions don't take effect until 2014. I suppose one could say that the Masters of the Universe have varying levels of investment in most members of Congress.

Regards,

D-Ray

The delay until 2014 is largely due to the fact that the states need the time and funding to set up the infrastructure for the state - run health care exchanges. Notice that the exchanges are state - run, not Fed run. Nor does health care reform provide much in the way of funding for the exchanges.

This speaks to one of the other big reasons that we didn't get the "public option": the states did not want to give up local control over health care insurance / policy / regulation / revenue. This may also be why the Fed dumped the costs of the expansion of Medicaid on the States: the Fed mauy be laying the groundwork to take that control away.