Category: 2010 and Beyond

I was there the day my friend hit a Hole In One.   It was a few years ago on a Sunday morning when Dave (We aren’t changing the name of someone who hits a Hole In One!) aced #14 at Pineridge.  I had never seen one.  I have been within inches, but I’ve never had one.  Dave’s shot had a beautiful, high trajectory.  The ball landed softly on the green, bounced once, and went into the cup.  Those who play golf will understand that our entire foursome was happy for him.

Imagine if a conversation took place later that evening.  Basking in the glory of the great shot, his hips said to the rest of his body, “Did you see how we rotated through the shot?  We are the reason we get to celebrate tonight!”  His shoulders would hear none of that.  “With all of the issues we’ve had, we, Dave’s shoulders, performed miraculously and overcame our pain to deliver this Hole In One to the rest of you!”  It was quite a squabble as his knees, his right arm, and then his left joined into the fight.  Every part of his body declared its importance.  It took a while, but his mind finally decided to intervene.  “We would not be celebrating this great victory today if any one of us had failed.  Our arms, are eyes, our hips, and all of the rest came together to help us card an Ace.  And, we can’t ignore that there is always a touch of luck involved, too.”  There was a touch of grumbling, but all of his body parts eventually recognized that they were part of a whole.

President John F. Kennedy popularized the expression, “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan”.

Tuesday was an amazing night for Democrats across the country.  Ohio!  Kansas!  TEXAS!  Even the most optimistic predictions were nowhere near as monumental as the actual results.  And of course, before the evening was over, before the votes were completely counted on the West Coast, the pundits were all claiming the victory as theirs and theirs alone.

It has not yet been a week, but I have already been inundated with an overwhelming number of self-congratulatory missives.  There are those that will tell you that the key to our success was our left flank, our noisiest protests, and perhaps even the new DSA.  Others are quick to highlight the centrists who flipped seats in previous bright red districts.  I’ve heard from independents and people who frankly don’t care about any of this.  They are just pissed about the price of gas and food.  And of course, some people voted Blue because they were so turned off by Republican candidates like Ramaswamy and Paxton.

A Blue Tsunami, like any wave, involves a massive number of individuals (people or drops of water).  Each are separate.  Each are different.  Trying to name the one real reason why the Dems won on Tuesday seems counterproductive to me.  We will only see our particular faction as the key.  Rushing to claim credit only serves to deny the importance of the rest of the team.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – More Useful In Someone Else’s Hands – David L Cunix

“William never spoke for he stood turned to stone as he stooped; and Bert and Tom were stuck like rocks as they looked at him.  And there they stand to this day, all alone unless the birds perch on them; for trolls, as you probably know, must be underground before dawn, or they go back to the stuff of the mountains they are made of, and never move again.”  The Hobbit.

The AD.  The Ad was so vile, so reprehensible that my readers from Washington State to the tip of Florida immediately recognize the reference.  But the Ad paled in comparison to the candidate who greenlighted its creation, reveled in its cruelty, and promoted it shamelessly.  We did not need to wait for the sunrise of November 4^th.  Amy Acton vanquished the troll before the close of day on November 3^rd.  Her personal strength should not be underestimated.

We had a number of horrific television ads this campaign season.  Many of the worst were courtesy of the Senate Leadership Fund.  These ads were not used to sing the praises of appointed Senator Jon Husted.  The Washington Republicans spent untold dollars to attack Sherrod Brown.  The most amazing (by amazing I mean shocking and dishonorable) was the ad featuring Soren Aldaco, a very unhappy woman from Texas.  Yes, Texas.  Soon-to-be former Senator Husted never felt compelled to denounce this or any of the other misleading or totally false ads.  He did want the voters of Ohio to know that Senator-elect Brown has held public offices almost his entire adult life.  But Jon never mentions that he has held elected office since winning election in 2000, 26 years ago.  What a troll.  His goal has always been to be Mike DeWine or Sherrod Brown, lifetime public servants.  He might share their ambitions, but he lacks their humanity.  His time in the Senate was brief and unremarkable.

Decency was on ballots across the country.  It won more often than not.  There were candidates, from both the Democrats and the Republicans, that tested the voters’ internal values.  Would they vote for Candidate X simply because he is a Democrat?  Would they pull the lever for unqualified Candidate Y because she is a Republican?  Does your county councilperson really want men to play in girls’ sports?  Really?  Is it even an issue?  Is your state rep really a conman?  Was it a sin that your elected official raised taxes to provide the services you and your community want and need?  It can be tiring.  So much misinformation and fearmongering.  It became so overwhelming that the American public started to miss local car lot ads.  And yet, we, the voters, overcame the best efforts of the Super PACs and the dark money.

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I worked outside my local polling site for six hours on election day.  It turns out that six hours is a really long time to stand.  As you can see from the picture at the top of this post, I was offering sample ballots to the in-person voters.  I was stationed on the driveway.  Every vehicle passed me on the way to the parking lot.  One of the first was a pickup truck.  The driver slowed down, opened his window, and aggressively gave me the finger.  I believe he may have also shouted something wildly inappropriate.  My initial thought was that I was glad that I got that out of the way.  The rest of the day should be more positive.

The rest of the day was a breeze.  I got lots of waves and thumbs ups. People stopped to get a sample ballot or showed me that they had brought one from home.  Some came over to thank me and talk politics.  Others intentionally looked away from me or gave me thumbs downs.  I was surprised by how many people wanted me to know whether they were on my team or the other.

Several vehicles came in at the same time.  The first two stopped and took a sample ballot for each voter in the car.  The driver of the third car waved me off once he realized what I had.  “No, I don’t need that.  It would only tell me who not to vote for.”  I said, “That’s Ok.  Thank you for voting.”

You might be surprised that I thanked someone for coming to the polls to vote for the other side, all of the other side.  But Elie Wiesel famously noted that “The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference”.   58% of Ohio’s registered voters participated in the midterm elections.  Those are the people we should celebrate.  Whether they voted by mail, took advantage of early voting, or came to their local polling station on Tuesday, these voters care.  They are doing their civic duty.  It is up to our candidates and our party to persuade these voters to choose us.  We have that opportunity every 2 to 4 years to do a better job.  I hope that we can convince more voters, not to reject the other side, but to make a positive move towards us.

And I hope that we have enough sunlight to vanquish the trolls.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – The Other Side Says Eat at Joe’s – David L Cunix

 

 

Jasmine Crockett is more than a little disappointed and she is not exerting any energy to hide it.  Ms. Crockett is a two term Congresswoman from Texas.  Attractive, smart, and incredibly quick-witted, she was a frequent guest on the national news and political shows.  It appeared that she was destined to have a lengthy career, if she chose her fights carefully.  She did not.  Whether by design or because of the Trump ordered Texas Congressional mid-decade redistricting, Jasmine Crockett declared herself a candidate for the US Senate on December 8, 2025.  Unfortunately for her, James Talarico, a member of the Texas House since 2018, had already declared three months earlier.  She was positive that she could beat Talarico and then take down the sitting Republican Senator, John Cornyn.  Talarico won easily with over 52% of the vote.  Congresswoman Crockett has officially endorsed her opponent, but she is not campaigning for him.  She is working for down ballot candidates.  It may seem a touch petty, since she really doesn’t have many legislative differences with Talarico.  However, this is her right.  And we, you and I, also have the right to pick and choose who we support.

The distance from my house to my friend Howard’s is about 700 miles.  Our politics are just as close.  We have been friends for over 30 years.  One thing we do share is our concern about candidate quality.  If Howard lived here in Ohio, I am certain that he would have no problem voting for Senator Jon Husted.  I proudly support Husted’s opponent, Sherrod Brown, who I first met in 1991.  But I can’t imagine Howard willingly voting for the vile Ken Paxton, if he lived in Texas.  And right now I’m really happy that I don’t live in Michigan where working for down ballot candidates may become a popular activity.

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I had State Farm for over 40 years.  The key word in that sentence was had.  I dropped them last month.  The problem wasn’t the insurance company, per se.  I have had a few claims over the years with little to no issue.  The problem occurred when I got a new car (next section) and the rate looked a little high.  I called the office to talk to the agent.  His gatekeepers insisted that I could only talk to them.  When I specifically asked to talk to their employer, I was told that he “doesn’t know anything about rates.  I take care of this”.  I have a little experience as an insurance agent.  I wanted to talk to my agent.  I said to his employee, “Stop talking over me.  Just have him call me.”  She hung up on me!  I sent the agent an email and he responded with useful information the next day.  Too late.  I couldn’t fire his office workers, so I fired him instead.

I have a number of great P&C agents for clients.  They have sent their clients to me and I have referred my clients to them.  I’ve known Mike Lambert since the early 1990’s.  No gatekeepers.  He answers his phone himself.  He is now my agent.  And though it felt odd changing companies, the hundreds of dollars I saved helped to assuage my disappointment.

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The woman from Lincoln Financial and I were playing phone tag.  I had received one last survey from Lincoln and I gave them 5’s on a scale of 1 to 10.  Lincoln needed to know why.  In truth, if their system cross-referenced all of our communications from the last 2 ½ years, they would have thought that my 5’s were generous.

Sally and I had had six Ford/Lincoln vehicles.  She had three Ford Fiestas in a row.  I had had three Lincolns, one sedan and two SUV’s.  We got rid of Sally’s Ford right after the dealership attempted to talk us into $3,500 of unnecessary repairs.  My last Lincoln was a disaster from the moment I dealt with the double-talking sales manager, through the service issues, to the day I dumped it with six months left on the lease.  At one point in 2024 I got what passes as an apology, a $250 gift card and a worthless long-term warranty.  I expected better from a luxury car line and the dealerships allowed to market their cars.  I was wrong.   It turns out that the Lincoln dealership is allowed to tack on extra fees when they take back a leased car.  Lots of fees.  Can’t stop them.  Turns out I am allowed to make sure that everyone I know hears how foolish it is to lease a Lincoln.  Funny how it works that way.

Sally now has a Nissan Sentra and I just got a 2027 Kia Sportage.    

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Our lives may have their share of disappointments, large and small.  But we can acknowledge the setbacks without letting them rule our lives.  I spent this morning at a Bris.  I met the beaming father 30+ years ago at his Bris.  I’ve known the grandparents even longer.  There must have been over fifty people including the out-of-state relatives.  It was a celebration of continuation.  Governments come and go.  Politics, corporations, fads and fashions are of the moment.  We fret about them now, these important things that will soon be forgotten.  But in a quiet, peaceful suburban back yard we celebrated a tradition that is thousands of years old.

I hope that you, too, have a moment of joy this week.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – Sally and I Visiting the Trump Reflecting Pool In The Cleveland Metroparks – David L Cunix

 

The title of today’s post is the very cynical last line of American Gothic, a song by David Ackles.  I have long used this as the theme song for the most cynical man in Washington.  That man is now in a Washington DC hospital, surrounded by all of his friends.  Reports differ.  Some say he is braindead, kept alive by the miracles of modern medicine, but has suffered a complete and permanent loss of all function.  We don’t really know.  His wife, former Trump Cabinet Secretary Elaine Chao, took off to China.  His daughters are suddenly off social media.  Scott Jennings of CNN said that he talked by phone with Mitch for 17 minutes, which is hardly credible.

Many senior Washington insiders are either loved or respected or both.  Not Mitch.  In 2024 the Kentucky State AFL-CIO took the time to list The 17 Worst Things Mitch McConnell Did To Destroy Democracy (there’s that 17 again).  Some of those items would also be on every MAGA list.  Even the three Republican trying to replace him fling his name as a curse at their opponents.

Forbes reports that there is video footage of Mitch being taken from his home by ambulance.  The 911 call is public.  An unconscious individual needed Advanced Life Support.  Cardiac Arrest!  CPR!  And now he is totally alone in a hospital room.  Will he ever leave that room on his own power?  Who knows.  There is even talk that some Kentucky politicians are hoping that he can be kept alive until August 3^rd so that the seat would remain vacant for the balance of this term.  And wouldn’t that be the most cynical and fitting end to both Mitch’s life and his political legacy, kept alive to wait out the clock?

There will be a long line, one day, of Americans patiently waiting to piss on Mitch McConnell’s grave.  I truly hope that with G-d’s grace he lives another 40 years.  I’m in no rush.  I just want to be healthy enough to stand in that line.

Dave

www.againreally.com  

Picture – A Likeable Turtle – David L Cunix

 

 

Sally and I were waiting to be seated for dinner.  It was our annual trip to Punta Cana and we were in a short line.  The couple in front of us were from a town about an hour north of Toronto.  They were talking with another Canadian.  I overheard them say that they had planned to take their teenagers to Washington DC this summer.  The other guy shot them a look.  The wife then quickly explained that no, they weren’t going to go now.  It isn’t safe now.  The other guy was relieved.  They then exchanged stories about the difficulties Canadians had faced at our border.  They were particularly shocked that visitors had had their social media reviewed.

We weren’t in an hour-long traffic jam.  We were just standing in line.  This was just a couple of minutes of the kind of conversations that are happening right now, not just on a resort in the Caribbean, but throughout the developed world.

We didn’t have a single conversation, in two weeks, with anyone from the US.  We talked with countless Canadians, several couples from England, and even a guy who was born in South Africa, but nobody from the states.  Our conversations all started the same way, cautiously.  Canadians from Ontario and Nova Scotia were the most political.  At some point we could tell that they wanted to be careful about what they said.  I would assure them that they were among friends and that I was part of the leadership of our local Democratic club.  They would smile and we would then have a great conversation.  When we’d meet someone from Nova Scotia or New Brunswick I would mention that Punta Cana attracts a lot of visitors from the Maritime Provinces. (Using the term Maritime Provinces is like vacationing in the South of France and someone tells you about the great sandwich they had 20 years ago at Corky and Lenny’s.)   It was not surprising to hear how many of the people we met had visited the US in the past.  Some had vacationed frequently both in the sunny south as well as in our major cities such as New York and Chicago.  What was surprising was how adamant they were in their decision to never visit the US again.

Our friends up north feel betrayed.  They are offended and a little hurt that we would discard our long-standing relationship.  And they have zero interest in becoming part of the US.  We were once Fab.  We certainly aren’t now.

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My newspaper column used to end with my wish to one day be rich enough to be considered eccentric.  Now I know that I should have aimed higher.  I should have dreamt to one day to be rich enough to be above the law.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – A Brief Respite – David L Cunix

 

It was just before 5 PM and most of the sunbathers had left the beach.  Sally was looking for a few more shells.  I was siting on a recliner, watching the waves.  More specifically, I was watching someone trying to swim to the shore.  I could only see his head.  There was a row of buoys a couple of hundred yards out.  He(?) was about half way in between.  I watched him tack to the left and the right.  It looked like he was getting closer, but his progress was painfully slow.  And I watched.  I had to act.  I went up to the guy collecting the towels from the beach.  Towels were his mission and he would not be deterred.  I ran over to the watersports shop.  The two guys saw what I saw.  One ran off to find a lifeguard.  I went to the shoreline where a few others were also watching the guy.  Not seeing a lifeguard, I went into the water.  The waves were high, much higher than when Sally and I had been in the ocean a few days earlier.  I waded into the water. Chin high, it was time to start swimming.  I was about to dive in when I heard Sally screaming from the shore.  The other guy at the watersport store must have found binoculars.  He was positive that this wasn’t a person.  Actually, he thought it could be a large coconut on string, a low-rent second set of buoys.

I learned a valuable lesson – it is ok to risk your life to save a coconut.

Actually, I learned an even more important lesson.  There are times when you, me, or one of our friends will jump into action when we see someone in danger.  It is too early to know the full details about the death of Alex J. Petti, the VA Hospital ICU nurse from Minneapolis.  We do know that he tried to help a woman being jumped by a group of ICE agents.  We also know that everything Kristi Noem said about him were lies.  But, it is too early to know all of the details.

There is no way to know where ICE agents will turn up next.  You may be attending protests.  Be careful.  You might be simply driving to work one morning and find yourself in the middle of an ICE agent riot.  We live in dangerous times.  Your first inclination may be to help.  Try to assess the risk.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – Too Tanned To Visit Minneapolis – David L Cunix

My clients were small businesses and the self-employed.  Some of my clients were artists, machine shops, and even religious institutions. I had lots of self-employed rabbis and ministers. And of course. I also had accountants and attorneys.  To be honest, the artists, ministers, and rabbis were often the most interesting. The exception was Attorney Mark and his downtown law office.

Attorney Mark, who may finally be retired by the time you read this, brought integrity and talent to the practice of personal injury.  We routinely talked business, politics, and life.  But neither Mark nor either of his partners was the most interesting guy in the office.  That position was held by his Of Council, Michael.

Mike was a big guy dwarfed by his even bigger personality.  I remember meeting him in his office.  My monogrammed dress shirts had my initials on the sleeve.  His had the word “OCCUPANT” stitched above the shirt pocket. He kept tabs on who noticed and he became friends with those that laughed.   I laughed.  Michael’s specialty was domestic relations. It could be deadly serious.  Humor was his safety valve.

I needed Michael’s services a few years later.  What a meeting!  It was the summer of 2005. We sat in his office, neither of us used any paper or notes.  I laid out what I thought was relevant.  He asked a few questions.  The two of us then did the math in our heads and came up with the same number.  That number, and our quickly agreed to fee, was the most this divorce would cost me if it was decided by the judge.  I told him that I would offer my soon-to-be ex more to get this over sooner.  He assured me that I would be wasting my time.  That entire conversation took less than 10 minutes.  We spent most of the hour talking baseball and our mutual hobby of doing Sudoku, which he always did in red ink.

The divorce, the perfect example of greed and stupidity, took over a year.  All of my offers were in excess of the final cost, a touch less than Michael’s initial prediction.  It had been his clarity and confidence that made the 15-month ordeal tolerable.

I am relating this story to you because Michael and his wife died in the last two months.  They will be missed.

Michael’s death is another reminder of why I had to retire.  It wasn’t the hours.  I truly enjoyed my clients and the problem solving.  The issues for me were the death and destruction.  The clients, some I’ve known for 20, 30, 40(!) years, are disappearing.  They weren’t faceless sales or numbers on a spreadsheet.   They are/were my people.  And the destruction? The greed and shortsightedness of the current insurance companies are doing irreparable damage to the industry.  Add that to government incompetence and you have a very predictable disaster. It is all so painful.  I had to step aside.

I mentioned Michael’s passing to Bruce, another Family Law practitioner.  He was shocked since he had seen Michael in court sometime in the last year. But Bruce immediately noted what a great attorney Michael and been.  And then he told me a quick Michael story, because everyone who knew Michael has a quick Michael story.  Michael was respected and he brought a little joy and personality to one of the darker corners of the courthouse.

And I have run out of red ink.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – Blue Will Do – David L Cunix

 

 

My father was a retail jeweler.  I have always felt at home in a store or at the mall.  I have been concerned about our economy, in general, and our local brick and mortar in particular.  The reports I have received this holiday season have been worrisome.  Friends and clients in retail are talking about treading water.  The two closest malls to my home, Beachwood Place and Great Lakes Mall, do not have enough traffic.  Saturday, December 20^th, was the first time I saw the mall really busy this season.  There were shoppers, the amount I expected to see a week after Thanksgiving, not the Saturday before Christmas.  And where were they?  The bags came from stores that had red signs screaming 40% off.  There had been a game of “Chicken”.  Who would blink first, the stores who would be forced to markdown the prices or the customers who would be forced to pay full price?  The customers won.  The purchases were by department.  One store had significant sales in one area and full price or small reductions in another.  The section with the 40% off signs was busy.  The other side didn’t have a single customer.

The customers in the mall aren’t giving this economy an A++++.  I think that we may be in for a rough ride.

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I have been ordered to change the name of my health insurance blog.  The new name is Health Insurance Issues With DONALD and Dave.

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You’ve heard of the “Do Nothing Congress”.  Thanks to Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, we now have the “They Ain’t Here Congress”.  As in: Where is Congress? I don’t know. They ain’t here.

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It just seems odd that we suffer a Black Out every time the Department of Justice has to release documents related to Donald Trump.  You may remember what Bill Barr did to The Mueller Report. And now Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, who both think that they are Trump’s personal attorneys not ours, are redacting entire pages from the Epstein files.  And they are removing pictures and info that might be embarrassing to Trump. In this case the cover up is not worse than the crime, but it is disconcerting.  And when this is all over, Trump’s core supporters will shrug their shoulders and move on.  This won’t change a whole lot.  There will be no criminal convictions.  Others have suffered.  Others will suffer, but not the perpetrators.  Trump will pardon Bondi and Blanche for any future charges such as the destruction of evidence or contempt.  I wonder if they will be, like Rudi, disbarred.

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Some of you are convinced that President Trump, the Republican controlled House, and the Republican controlled Senate are doing a fabulous job.  Heck, you might even be thrilled with Mike DeWine and the gang in Columbus.  Our representatives in the state capitol are passing lots of legislation this year.  Some of you might even be big fans of Project 2025.

NOT ME!

If, like me, you are worried about the direction we appear to be heading as a country, if you are worried about democracy, if you wonder about the future for our children and grandchildren, then it is not enough to complain or to write snarky comments on Facebook and blogs.  No, it is time for each of us to act.  How?  That is up to you.  I have accepted a leadership position in the Hillcrest Democratic Club which serves Mayfield Heights, Mayfield Village, Highland Heights, and Gates Mills.  I am also running to be the Precinct Person so that my neighborhood is represented at the Central Committee Meetings.  And I’ll work to help elect some of our candidates running in the midterm elections.  It is not a lot, but it is what I can do.  What can you do?

The first step is the decision to do something.  The next step might be to contribute to a campaign or to go to a local meeting.  Whatever you decide to do, I promise you, you won’t be alone.

Dave

www.againreally.com   

Picture – The Only Sign That Mattered – David L Cunix

 

Sally and I were trying to get in a quick walk around our condo complex.  It was chilly, almost 6 PM.  A small SUV, a Mercedes, pulled up next to us.  A guy got out.  He looked to have been in his late 50’s or early 60’s.  He carried a package of food from the street through the driveway and up a flight of stairs to the door of a condo.  We saw him return quickly to his vehicle and drive away.  Grub Hub?  Uber Eats?  I didn’t think it was my place to ask.  And why was a guy driving a Mercedes running food?  Is he retired and bored?  That would be a nice story.  But what if he was laid off and this is the only way he can make ends meet?  What if this is the way he is putting food on HIS table?  I don’t think you can make enough money to afford a Mercedes lifestyle delivering for a food service.  So, if this is a gig of necessity, what would you think if you saw him in line at a church or a community pantry picking up food for his family?  Did he need this gig?  It wasn’t my place to ask.  It certainly wasn’t my place to judge.

Last summer’s Big Beautiful Bill will result in many people losing their health insurance.

1. The cuts to Medicaid will prevent some Americans from accessing health care except in emergency situations, force more rural hospitals to close, and increase our insurance premiums as the doctors and hospitals are forced to shift the cost of their services to those of us paying for care.
2. The intentional choice to ignore the expiration of the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits will price a large number of Americans age 50 – 64 ½ out of the insurance market. If they are lucky, they can find jobs with benefits.  As they drop their insurance, these people will be forced to purchase short-term major-medical policies, junk contracts, non-insurance insurance policies, or just go bare and hope for the best.  With only the sick and the responsible purchasing plans, the rates have to increase.  There is a huge difference between insuring a risk and guaranteeing payment for a certainty.  And when the uninsured and underinsured access the hospitals and visit the doctors, this, too, will increase the rates for the rest of us.
3. Every price increase will force a certain number of Americans to abandon their insurance. We are creating a death spiral.

What I find odd is that every time I get into a conversation about Medicaid, someone feels compelled to tell me about the guy beating the system.  It happened again today.  The lawyer wanted me to know that his client is driving a nice car, has a nice watch, and is on Medicaid (free health care).  Say the words Food Bank and you will hear about all of the Volvos and BMWs in line for free food.

I don’t judge and I don’t care.

Being poor is a full-time job, one that you don’t really want.  I have helped people try to get Medicaid, people who more than qualified for the social safety program, people who had a real need.  It has never been easy.  I have been tossed out of the CareSource office, twice, while trying to get clients enrolled into Medicaid.  The stigma of needing help was relieved, in part, by the design of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).  And yet, the judgement never ends.  The nerve of some poor people not groveling, not advertising their shame.

We don’t know why someone needs help.  And it is true that some of the people who take help don’t need it.  How many businesses took advantage of the COVID era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP Loans) that didn’t need the help?  You may remember the poorly targeted Loans that were quickly forgiven.  Even the smallest of businesses could claim $20,000, $50,000, or more, even if the business wasn’t likely to be impacted by the pandemic.  But this was money going to businesses, so it was OK.

We shouldn’t need to fight to provide food, shelter, and medical care for people in need.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – Better Times Are Around The Bend – David L Cunix

Bonus Link – Sally wanted you to have this Mercedes link.

Gosh you’ve seen this movie.  The hero is about to capture the villain.  Good is about conquer evil when somehow, someway, the villain manages to grab a child or a beautiful woman.  The villain quickly puts his gun to the head of his hostage and orders our hero to put down his weapon.  The camera focuses on our hero’s eyes.  We see his steely resolve.  Now we see the ruthlessness, the pure evil of the gunman.  Stalemate.  It seems like forever.  The villain cocks his weapon.  Our hero relents and places his gun on the ground.  In the next scene we see our now captured hero and the hostage tied to chairs by the villain’s henchmen.  As you already know, either they will miraculously free themselves or someone (Batman, the movie’s real hero, or a dog) will somehow save them.

The problem is that you aren’t watching an old movie on Turner Broadcasting System.  You are watching CNN.

We are six weeks into the government shutdown.  How fitting that the core issue is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).  We have been watching the Republicans complain about this law for 15 years, literally 15 years.  Even if you ignore how the law was crafted as a compromise to attract Republican support, how at its core it is the natural evolution of ideas formulated by the Heritage Foundation in the late 80’s, the talking points of Newt Gingrich in the early 90’s, and Romneycare of 2006, the most important fact is that 15 years later the Repeal and Replace crowd have yet to offer a viable replacement.  The idea that we could disrupt the health care market, 20% of our economy, and torch health insurance, the way most Americans access and pay for health care, without an alternative is irresponsible at best.  And yet, we keep on being dragged to the brink of disaster.

There were many ways to improve the ACA.  Democrats had difficulty admitting publicly that Obamacare needed improvement lest their admission would be included in the next attack ad.  Republicans did not want to publicly improve the ACA, because they couldn’t appear to want to make it work.  (Notice how odd it was to hear MTG’s recent comments about the enhanced tax credit subsidies.)

The Enhanced Premium Tax Credit Subsidies were a part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.  This was the first meaningful tweak of Obamacare.  The focus was to make health insurance more affordable by tying the tax credit subsidies to a percentage of the individual’s/family’s income.   These subsidies were a huge help to people age 55 to 64 ½, individuals who pay higher premiums due to their age.  And the enhanced tax credit subsidies of the ARPA also made health insurance affordable to the residents of states that chose to not expand Medicaid.  Many, perhaps millions, of Americans will lose their health insurance if the enhanced premium tax credits are eliminated.  This was the intentional choice of the Republican Congress and Donald Trump.  The One Big Beautiful Bill of earlier this year intentionally excluded the continuation of the enhanced premium tax credit subsidies.

The One Big Beautiful Bill was passed by reconciliation.  The bill included significant cuts to the social safety net and big tax cuts for the wealthy.  The Republicans only needed a simple majority to ram through the legislation.  The only chance the Democrats had to slow down or stop this Robinhood in Reverse was now through the filibuster, preventing the quick passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government.   Hence the government shut-down.

Donald Trump has no interest in health care or health insurance.  We have been waiting for his plan for 10 years.  He does hate/resent President Obama and would love to terminate Obamacare.  Instead of negotiating with the Democrats, he chose to take the American people hostage.  Trump cut off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to 42 million Americans.  The courts ordered the administration to utilize emergency funds.  Trump took this to the Supreme Court, twice.  The Trump administration fought hard to not provide food for children and the elderly, even threatening the states that tried to fund the missing money.  Other Americans were experiencing problems at the airports.  In short, the president, his administration, and the Republican Congress were doing everything they could do to inflict pain.  Our most vulnerable were being held hostage.

Who would blink?  Look into the eyes of the Democrats.  See the steely resolve.  Now look at Donald Trump withholding money for food.  Look again at the Dems.  Now back to Trump who is about to treat the social safety net like the east wing of the White House.  Would the villain starve millions of Americans?  YES.  Eight of the Democratic Senators broke ranks and surrendered.  The government shutdown will end in a few days.  Government employees will be paid.  SNAP benefits will eventually be released.  There will be a vote in the Senate, sometime in December, to extend the enhanced tax credits.  The bill will be fiercely negotiated, the benefits watered down, and it will still be defeated.  A meaningful health insurance bill will not be signed by this president.

It was a terrible choice, food or health care.  These movies usually have a happy ending.  I can’t promise that this time.  Right now the Dems and the American public are waiting for Batman, a real hero, or a dog.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – Hey Moreno, Not So Tight! – David L Cunix