Look out for the bull

Today the President signed an Executive Order(EO) changing the Affordable Care Act.   I had argued that this is where the President needed to go.  A libertarian would never have done an EO to make a fix to the ACA.  We needed an apolitical President using the powers assumed by previous presidents to do it.

It isn't birth control that is causing health care costs to skyrocket.  It isn't preventative care that is causing it.  It is the number of people choosing to be criminals and remain uninsured rather than try to afford premiums and deductibles that were part and parcel to the "Affordable" Care Act.  What people need is a safety net.  So, what does the EO do?

Allows people and businesses to form associations, to pool together and buy insurance.

It allows for competition across state lines.

It waives the mandate for the minimal coverage requirements.  This allows people to buy the coverage that really matters, catastrophic coverage.  

The expansion of Health Savings Accounts.

By the way, this only works if you get those that are uninsured to not be criminals.  If they sign up, the numbers work.  If they don't sooner or later, it won't work anyway.

And the most important benefit is that this may cause the do nothings in the Senate, and to a lesser extent the House to do something.  And not just Republicans.  Can you imagine if these ideas show a big turnaround?  And who was there?  Senator Rand Paul, who has been working for months on this.

The next battle is Tax Reform.

The drums are already pounding.  "Revenue Neutral" "Won't support tax cuts for the rich".  "What about the deficits?"

Listen to who is saying these things.  Ask yourself this:  Did any vote for the Continuing Resolution?  Then they are liars.  About the deficit.  About the revenue neutral crap.  That is right they are

LIARS!

They voted for deficit spending.  They voted for tax credits, and subsidies which add to the deficit, and debt.

Do I want to run a deficit?  No. Of course not.  But here is the thing.  As long as money is coming in, more money will go out.  If you reduce revenue, there will be pressure to reduce spending.  Entitlement spending will have to be fixed.  That is the snorlax in the room.  All of  them, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, all of which have funding specific to them, are hemorrhaging badly.  They are in the red.  They will forever be in the red, unless something is done to fix them.  By forcing a discussion on them by reducing revenue, we may actually do something about them.

Taxes are not about revenue, they are about control, and picking winners and losers in the economy.  Otherwise, we would just have a flat tax, and  that would be it.

Lots of things happening.  We will see.