A)  American’s don’t want a public healthcare plan.

B)  A public health care plan will force out private insurers.

So we don’t want a public option but if it’s offered we’ll all select it??

A)  American’s want their big SUV’s and not fuel-efficient econoboxes.

B)  GM went out of business because it was making cars American’s didn’t want.

So American’s want big SUV’s that GM made but won’t anymore.

A)  Bank of America is Too Big to Fail

B) Bank of America is forced to buy the biggest mortgage lender, Countrywide, and the biggest retail broker, Merrill Lynch.

So stress tests now prove that new bigger Bank of America will no longer fail nor need to be disassembled.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”  (guess the speaker)

We all know the meme, “Government wants to take over health care and get between you and your doctor”, and we all know it’s not that simple.  In fact the UK system is quite simple.  They have guaranteed healthcare for all but you can still get health insurance if you are dissatisfied will the governments system.

Why Both?

In the United Kingdom, both emergency care and standard physician services are guaranteed for all.  Then why do they still have Health Insurance?

There is a grain of truth to the threats of long waiting times for medical procedures under government run health insurance and it typically doesn’t cover “elective” procedures.  This is where health insurance fills in for the governments deficiencies.

For example, an athletic sixty year-old might purchase insurance to cover procedures like hip replacement or optical laser surgery that might be neglected in a government insurance plan.  We can all be sure that the insurance companies will be quite adept at pointing out these gaps in coverage.

Why haven’t we heard this argument from the Dems?  Either they think its a nuance too complicated for our feeble brains to understand or (much worse) they think we might.

I consider myself fairly well versed in the intricacies of finance, but every once in a while I realize how naive even I am.

Via Bloomber.com: House’s Frank Says Municipal Ratings Add Unfair Costs

To paraphrase, ratings agencies have been judging Municipal Debt and Corporate Debt according to different criteria. A single A rated municipality has less of a risk of defaulting on a loan than some AAA rated corporate entities. The result of this double standard being increased cost for cities and states and increased profits for high-net worth investors and debt insurance agencies.

Municipal bonds are only appropriate investments for high net worth individuals because of their tax exempt status. The rating of Debt determines how much the interest rate will be; think of it as a city’s credit score. A municipality with the same ability to pay, or rating as a AAA rated Corporation may only receive a single-A rating and be forced to pay a higher interest then is justified by their ability to pay.  In order to get high net worth investors interested these municipalities will pay large fees for bond insurance to achieve the necessary AAA rating or pay higher interest rates.

Hundreds of municipalities have been paying for this bond insurance to achieve the necessary AAA rating.   This insurance is now approaching worthlessness as the companies who sold this insurance have also insured vast sums of mortgage securities.  As the increasing default rate of mortgage’s saps the funds of the incorrectly named Monoline  insurers (AMBAC, MBIA et all), not only is Municipal Bond insurance possibly worthless, but also unnecessary.

Imagine purchasing Auto insurance only to find out that, not only is the insurance company bankrupt, but your car is really a bicycle.