ALL HAIL PRESIDENT TRUMP

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鬼殺し wrote:

I could be talking about any cult leader. But I'm not. I'm talking about the president of the United States, who was voted in on a platform of promises, including getting the Mexicans to pay for a giant wall. Wall not built, wall not paid for my the Mexicans, Trump couldn't deliver his promise...so hey, let's pay for it ourselves.

In essence, you have people who refuse to hold their leader culpable and are instead tapping their own resources to support his failure.

So I ask again: have I gotten it wrong above or are these people really that stupid?

Yes, Murkans are, collectively and individually, that stupid. More on that later.

Not to derail, but it's got to be mentioned. Obama ran on a platform of healthcare for all Murkans. What we got was the ironically named Affordable Care Act, which required citizens to buy health insurance if they couldn't find someone else to foot the bill. Not really making it affordable. That is to say, In essence, you have people who refuse to hold their leader culpable and are instead tapping their own resources to support his failure. If you like insult with your injury, health care costs have skyrocketed over the last 10 years, and it doesn't look t get better anytime soon.

I could do this for 40+ years of presidents in my lifetime.

Back to the topic of the Shining Idiocracy on the Hill.

1. It's no secret that Murkan ejukashun ranks pathetic amongst Western nations, in spite of the dumptrucks of money spent per student. The top systemic problem is that the model for Murkan education hasn;t changed since the early years of the 20th century, where manufacturing facilities* needed people to understand basic written instructions and be able to solve the occasional geometry/algebra equation.In the century since then, the world grew up and the educational needs of industry evolved... but the model didn't.
(*Manufacturing jobs... pfft... pansy Murkans don't need that nonsense...)

This in and of itself doesn't make people stupid per se, it just means we have a populace of people who have issues with things like 1st grade math and 2nd grade reading comprehension. Never mind common sense stuff like being toilet-trained or having manners.

2. So those manufacturing jobs have gone overseas, and that means more people are working low-wage jobs to make ends meet. The really lucky people get to work TWO (or more) such jobs to be able to afford luxury items. Being that the standard work week is 40 hours- I hear you Europeans laughing at us, and we deserve it- once you add in commute times and off-time workload, the 40 hour week ends up consuming closer to 60-70 hours of the week, time which could be spent actually paying attention to what's going on in the world... for those whose comprehension skills have surpassed 2nd grade, that is.

That's the real secret to the success off cable news media, people just having to take their word for it because they either don't know any better or don't have the time to debunk it properly.

3. Can't be bothered to do the research, but I'd bet my right testicle that the Gucci Gang "artists" are Murkan. (See INo's thread here if you don't get the reference : https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2237571 )Remember what I said about cultural lacktivity? Probably made 10M$US off that single... that's like, half a million per word in the lyrics. And this from a country that either created or shaped every musical genre from the 20th century. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

TL;DR the answer to your pressing question is a resounding "YES"

I stopped selling health insurance because ACA made it impossible to keep a straight face. Policies that would have been considered jokes before, were actually being sold!

Ours was $1.8k per month (for 2 adults) with a 24k annual deductible. No I did not forget the decimal point. $24,000.00 per year. That is actually a really expensive, very poor catastrophic policy which ACA made illegal btw, unless you are under 30 (if I remember this stupid shit correctly).

Who is that affordable for? You have to realize that:

24000 + 1800 x 12 = $45600

So if I had to hospitalized for more than a few days, that is my annual bill.

Oh wait. I'm full of shit. Because AFTER I PAY THE DEDUCTIBLE THEY STILL WILL NOT COVER 100%. So how is this affordable? You are talking about paying more, potentially, than most people make in a year.

When it started I had to spend all this time training to be authorized to sell this offal and I just threw up and moved on.

Thinking of selling the non-ACA plans now that the penalty is going away but a lot of them are also rubbish. :(

On a brighter note, the low income folks that had no insurance before have crappy (but better than nothing) plans now. If they are truly low income, or have a tribe of kids, they will not pay anything. It really is only a good deal for the poor (especially good in some states that had robust medicaid to begin with).

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鬼殺し wrote:

Yeah, you sort of didn't get what I was saying at all, but no worries. I know you mean well.

When I read that line just now, about 'cheap joke', I remember Trump mocking that disabled reporter. How soon people forget. Anyone who watched that video can see plain as day that that is exactly what he's doing.

Even that far back, we were calling into question the moral fortitude of his supporters. A leader typically exemplifies the characteristics of his or her willing followers, often in amplified form. Connecting the dots wasn't hard.

The fact that he was still voted in after travesties like this show just how far America has fallen. Continues to fall. Shame on him, and shame on anyone who supports him.

Never normalise this. Never accept it. NEVER forget it. This is who he is.

no, I did, I just didn't reply to it.

Sorry I was not clear at all.

The policy we had was an ACA one. What I meant was that it was not called catastrophic (because like all of them it did cover preventative and the essentials) but ANY policy with a huge deductible like that, is really not worth a piece of dog shit.

From a sales perspective, it was impossible for me to sell such a thing. JUST NO.

Yeah, it was a ridiculous piece of legislation. Obama actually invited the industry to "help them write the law"! Can you imagine? Once I heard that, I knew we were screwed.

Regarding what you googled:

One of the controversies over ACA is that the essentials don't make sense and are not al a carte (which I agree with). Why should I pay for maternity coverage? Shouldn't I be able to opt into or out of a policy that covers mental health (and pay more if I want it but it is my choice)? When I buy homeowners, it's my choice whether or no earthquakes are covered, as a simple example.

The other problem is that ACA was supposed to lower healthcare costs but it has failed. They have risen just as they did before. The right wing that blames the rising costs on ACA are full of shit. They were going up before. It just never stopped.

I'm trying to be brief, because, as you said, this is not the point of the thread. The bottom line, as I said previously, if you are poor it is probably a real improvement (more so in states with better medicaid programs). If you are not, and do not have insurance at work or are self employed, it sucks. If you are a small biz owner, it is a catastrophe.

As an aside, I'm only partly American. The wife is though.

Americans pay double per person for medical coverage compared to any other country in the world. Yet, our amount of people not covered for medical care is far greater than any other first world country. This was before the ACA. Probably still close but haven't checked. Just goes to show you that our medical system is still broken.

The ACA improved the number of people covered for medical care and lowered premiums significantly for people over 40. For people under 30 the premiums are higher.

The ACA forces the insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions which kolyaboo hates but most of the rest of the USA loves. A specific pre-existing condition that kolyaboo hates that is forced to be covered is being female.

I think this one explains a bit why el´muricanas have to work two jobs to cover their medical needs incase they spill acids on their hands during workhours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWTic9btP38
They insist on working for chemical plants.

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Turtledove wrote:

Americans pay double per person for medical coverage compared to any other country in the world. Yet, our amount of people not covered for medical care is far greater than any other first world country. This was before the ACA. Probably still close but haven't checked. Just goes to show you that our medical system is still broken.

The ACA improved the number of people covered for medical care and lowered premiums significantly for people over 40. For people under 30 the premiums are higher.

The ACA forces the insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions which kolyaboo hates but most of the rest of the USA loves. A specific pre-existing condition that kolyaboo hates that is forced to be covered is being female.

Healthcare in the USA sucks cause the hospitals charge insane prices for every little thing. A stale grilled cheese and a fruit cup at a hospital costs more than a bone in ribeye at a steakhouse.

When you have a baby, they charge you like $1000 for the privilege of holding your baby "skin on skin" after your kid is born.

You get a broken ankle set, the anesthesiologist charges you $4000 just to sit there for 15 minutes and tell a nurse how much numbing drugs to give you. That doesn't count the nurse & drugs, there is another bill for that.

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/422730-markets-plunge-following-mnuchin-outreach-to-banks

I'm 99% sure the Dotard told Mnuchin to do it.

I'm also 100% sure Dotard is considering firing Mnuchin now.

Stock markets are likely to continue to drop. No-one has confidence in the future with Dotard at the top.

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鬼殺し wrote:

Still dead, eh? Either our local Trumpeteers went and got lives (good for them!) or they're quietly aware that there is no defending the level of stupidity associated with a GoFundMe for a project that formed a bulwark of a campaign promise that remains infamously unfunded and unfulfilled...a project to be undertaken by a department that doesn't even take donations.

Well most of us have jobs, and do our internet forums posting at work, like responsible US Americans. We play video games when we are at home on holidays!

https://thehill.com/policy/international/422704-chinas-us-soybean-imports-drop-to-zero-for-first-time-since-trade-war?fbclid=IwAR2tBy8cYuuntNXMOFAHwPygJzecoug0oZgPDv8W9Zd_baF5HY0J3H9rAT8

Trump-loving farmers really shot themselves in the foot.

On a related note, it's only fair Trump-loving farmers be drug-tested too before receiving their welfare subsidies.