This'n'That; September 10th[Wilson;Facts;Unemployment]

FINALLY; Testicular Fortitude!!

[For the life of me, I can't understand why some feel compelled to apologize for the truth!! Rep Wilson seems to be the only legislator with the "testicular fortitude [balls!!]" to speak for the majority of the population who would utter the same phrase, but for the platform to do so!!!]

Fluffy obama was bloviating before the "dead-wood" of Congress when he started talking about healthcare, illegal immigrants and money when unexpectedly, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina spoke up. "YOU LIE" the RepublicRAT congressman blurted out on the floor of the House immediately after the president said: "the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally." It was Rep. Wilson who had been speaking on the "death panels" that are hidden in the healthcare reform proposal. He called it an "end-of-life counseling program, which has been correctly highlighted by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a program which could lead to seniors being encouraged to seek less care in order to protect the government´s bottom line." After the speech, senator John McCain, "The Great Apologizer," criticized the outburst as "totally disrespectful" and demanded that Rep. Wilson apologize to the president. Wilson issued a half-hearted apology shortly after the speech: “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the healthcare bill. While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”

More {Insert "L-word" Here}!!

A look at some of Fluffy's claims and how they square with the facts or the fuller story: FLUFFY: "I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits either now or in the future. Period." THE FACTS: Though there's no final plan yet, the White House and congressional Democrats already have shown they're ready to skirt the no-new-deficits pledge. House Democrats offered a bill that the Congressional Budget Office said would add $220 billion to the deficit over 10 years. But Democrats and Obama administration officials claimed the bill actually was deficit-neutral. They said they simply didn't have to count $245 billion of it — the cost of adjusting Medicare reimbursement rates so physicians don't face big annual pay cuts. Their reasoning was that they already had decided to exempt this "doc fix" from congressional rules that require new programs to be paid for. In other words, it doesn't have to be paid for because they decided it doesn't have to be paid for. The administration also said that since Obama already had included the doctor payment in his 10-year budget proposal, it didn't have to be counted again. That aside, the long-term prognosis for costs of the health care legislation has not been good. {CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf had this to say in July: "We do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount."} ___ FLUFFY: "Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have." THE FACTS: That's correct, as far as it goes. But neither can the plan guarantee that people can keep their current coverage. Employers sponsor coverage for most families, and they'd be free to change their health plans in ways that workers may not like, or drop insurance altogether. The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the health care bill written by House Democrats and said that by 2016 some 3 million people who now have employer-based care would lose it because their employers would decide to stop offering it. In the past Obama repeatedly said, "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period." Now he's stopping short of that unconditional guarantee by saying nothing in the plan "requires" any change. ___ FLUFFY: "The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally." One congressman, South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson, shouted "You lie!" from his seat in the House chamber when Obama made this assertion. Wilson later apologized. THE FACTS: The facts back up Obama. The House version of the health care bill explicitly prohibits spending any federal money to help illegal immigrants get health care coverage. Illegal immigrants could buy private health insurance, as many do now, but wouldn't get tax subsidies to help them. Still, Republicans say there are not sufficient citizenship verification requirements to ensure illegal immigrants are excluded from benefits they are not due. ___ FLUFFY: "Don't pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut. ... That will never happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare." THE FACTS: Obama and congressional Democrats want to pay for their health care plans in part by reducing Medicare payments to providers by more than $500 billion over 10 years. The cuts would largely hit hospitals and Medicare Advantage, the part of the Medicare program operated through private insurance companies. Although wasteful spending in Medicare is widely acknowledged, many experts believe some seniors almost certainly would see reduced benefits from the cuts. That's particularly true for the 25 percent of Medicare users covered through Medicare Advantage. Supporters contend that providers could absorb the cuts by improving how they operate and wouldn't have to reduce benefits or pass along costs. But there's certainly no guarantee they wouldn't. ___ FLUFFY: Requiring insurance companies to cover preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies "makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives." THE FACTS: Studies have shown that much preventive care — particularly tests like the ones Obama mentions — actually costs money instead of saving it. That's because detecting acute diseases like breast cancer in their early stages involves testing many people who would never end up developing the disease. The costs of a large number of tests, even if they're relatively cheap, will outweigh the costs of caring for the minority of people who would have ended up getting sick without the testing. {The Congressional Budget Office wrote in August: "The evidence suggests that for most preventive services, expanded utilization leads to higher, not lower, medical spending overall."} That doesn't mean preventive care doesn't make sense or save lives. It just doesn't save money. ___ FLUFFY: "If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage. If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage." THE FACTS: It's not just a matter of being able to get coverage. Most people would have to get coverage under the law, if his plan is adopted. In his speech, Obama endorsed mandatory coverage for individuals, an approach he did not embrace as a candidate. He proposed during the campaign — as he does now — that larger businesses be required to offer insurance to workers or else pay into a fund. But he rejected the idea of requiring individuals to obtain insurance. He said people would get insurance without being forced to do so by the law, if coverage were made affordable. And he repeatedly criticized his Democratic primary rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, for proposing to mandate coverage. "To force people to get health insurance, you've got to have a very harsh penalty," he said in a February 2008 debate. Now, he says, "individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance — just as most states require you to carry auto insurance." He proposes a hardship waiver, exempting from the requirement those who cannot afford coverage despite increased federal aid. ___ FLUFFY: "There are now more than 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage." THE FACTS: Obama time and again has referred to the number of uninsured as 46 million, a figure based on year-old Census data. The new number is based on an analysis by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, which concluded that about two-thirds of Americans without insurance are poor or near poor. "These individuals are less likely to be offered employer-sponsored coverage or to be able to afford to purchase their own coverage," the report said. By using the new figure, Obama avoids criticism that he is including individuals, particularly healthy young people, who choose not to obtain health insurance.

Unemployment: Confused?

Are you as confused as I am over the various rates of unemployment? I found this chart that attempts to explain the various levels of unemployment. In my personal opinion, the government should include ALL UNEMPLOYED PERSONS when talking about the economy, the recession, the unemployment rates, etc. Think they ever will ?? Doubt it, the administration will slant the numbers in their favor; the republicRATs will slant them in their direction.

• U1: Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.
• U2: Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.
• U3: Official unemployment rate per ILO definition.
• U4: U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.
• U5: U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.
• U6: U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons.

And now: the democRAT version:

• * U1: This is the proportion of the civilian labor force that has been unemployed for 15 weeks or longer. This unemployment rate measures workers who are chronically unemployed. During business-cycle expansions, this rate captures structural unemployment. However, during lengthy business-cycle contractions, this rate is also likely to include a significant amount of cyclical unemployment. U1 tends to be relatively small, in the range of 1-2 percent.
• * U2: This is the proportion of the civilian labor force that is classified as job losers (workers who have been involuntarily fired or laid off from their jobs) and people who have completed temporary jobs. During business-cycle expansions, this rate is likely to capture some degree of frictional unemployment. However, during business-cycle contractions, this rate is most likely to consist of cyclical unemployment. U2 is larger than U1, but still remains substantially less than the official unemployment rate (U3).
• * U3: This is the official unemployment rate, which is the proportion of the civilian labor force that is unemployed but actively seeking employment.
• * U4: This is the official unemployment rate that is adjusted for discouraged workers. In other words, discouraged workers are treated just like other workers who are officially classified as unemployed, being included in both the ranks of the unemployed and the labor force. It is technically specified as the proportion of the civilian labor force (plus discouraged workers) that is either unemployed but actively seeking employment or discouraged workers. The addition of discouraged workers generally adds a few tenths of a percentage point to the official unemployment rate.
• * U5: This augments U4 by including marginally-attached workers to the unemployment rate calculation. Marginally attached workers are potential workers who have given up seeking employment for various reasons. One of these reasons is that the workers believe such effort would be futile, which places them in the discouraged worker category. Those who have other reasons for not seeking employment are placed in the broader marginally-attached workers category. The addition of marginally-attached workers adds a few more tenths of a percentage point to the official unemployment rate.
• * U6: This augments U5 by including part-time workers to the unemployment rate calculation. The addition of part-time workers adds a full 2-3 percentage points to the official unemployment rate. This measure of unemployment is perhaps the most comprehensive measure of labor resource unemployment available.

I've been trying to find the current unemployment levels for the various categories.... man, talk about confusing, hidden information; but.... I SHALL NOT BE DETERRED!!

I found this in a Bureau of Labor Statistics PDF file;

Table A-12; at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

Unemployment rates by category:

• U-1: 4.9%
• U-2: 6.0%
• U-3: 9.6%
• U-4: 10.0%
• U-5: 10.9%
• U-6: 16.9%

The European press I check out regularly are saying the American recession has ended, but recovery will be slow. How the Hell can they say that and justify the percentages above?!?!

MORE CONFUSED THAN EVER??

Til Nex'Time....