Saturday, September 14, 2013

IT'S COME TO THIS:  The unions were for until Obama was elected.  This double cross goes down as one of those things you best not wish for, at least if you are a union leader.  It looks like about all the incredibly shrinking unions have to offer these days is a favorably priced private owned and operated health care policy.  If that's off the table, what's left to attract the already poorly union-served members? What's disheartening about all this back and forth about Obamacare is the reality that once in place the healthcare bureaucrats will make everything worse than it already is.  One can expect the companies now providing healthcare insurance as a benefit to begin moving their workers to the exchanges and more-or-less letting them fend for themselves.  They would probably do this by giving workers a salary bump the equivalent of the cost of their individual policy and let the worker buy what they want to with that "bump" on the exchange. Then what you're apt to see is employees opting out of the exchange, paying the fine and pocketing the difference and going without insurance, or maybe buying a less comprehensive policy and pocketing the difference.  Meanwhile companies are happy because they are out from under the headaches and burdens of managing their employees' healthcare and the individual will have to assume responsibility for managing it.  This could be a good outcome however it won't be. The pricing of medical services will be set by the government thus there will be no incentive to shop better pricing by consumers since there will be no competition among providers. All in all this plan will work no better here than it has in any other socialist state now employing it.

LICENSING REPORTERS? Shield laws are not a good idea  Since the advent of blogs and blogging, it's become hard to define who's a 'reporter' in the old definition of the word and who's not.  It shouldn't make any difference especially after noting the revolving door now between the old media (MSM), and this administration.  The latest "reporter" in the door is the TIME magazine hack who has moved over to the State Department.  Jay Carney was also a Time alumnus.  These guys and gals, 21 are reported to have made the move in this administration, are really just PR flacks for the administration while at their media posts so why not join the party formally.  Good for the resume.  It would be nice to know if their pay is the same.  My guess is the government pays them more than Time, which is on the skids badly.  Just for the record FDR hired a lot of "journalists" for his administration in order to co-opt critical press, so this is nothing new for Democrats.  Also, I recall Tony Snow of Fox News, joining the Bush Administration but I don't recall any others from the media side doing the same.