They got ya by the balls....

$806 Billion: The Real Cost of the GOP Failed Medicare Privatization Experiment

Medicare Part D (the Medicare prescription Drug Program), is the second Republican attempt at privatizing Medicare. Medicare Advantage was the first and this Program cost the American taxpayer 14% more than original Medicare.

Over the next 10 years, Medicare Part D will cost the American taxpayer a whopping $806 billion. (in contrast, Medicare Part A cost the American taxpayer nothing).

It was passed in 2003, by a Republican Congress. Representative Paul Ryan (the author of the current GOP privatization plan for Medicare) was one of its champions.

Before we look at how well or how poorly the program is working, let’s first look at why Republicans want to privatize Medicare. Extreme right wing Republicans do not believe there is any place for government in the role of its citizens, other than defense. They also believe that a “free market” place will keep costs down both for seniors and for the government. That is their ideological basis for “privatization.”

http://www.seniorinfo4u.com/blog/featured-blog-posts/860-billion-the-real-cost-of-the-gop-failed-
medicare-privatization-experiment/


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End of article is a good graph....

Europeans, Canadians baffled by U.S. furor on healthcare

As the news spread that the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld the law and its requirement that most people buy health insurance, some people across Europe took to Twitter to ask: What’s the big deal?

“Dear Americans. Health insurance is very important for your health and life. Don’t forget. We have it in Germany,” one Twitter user from Germany wrote, adding a smiley face to the end.

Rafael Dohms, a computer engineer living in the Netherlands, wrote, “I’m forced to pay health insurance here in the [Netherlands] … not as bad as I would have imagined.”

And Parisian filmmaker Vincent Galiano joked, “At least USA becomes a modern nation! Soon even the education could be good!”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/06/europeans-on-obamacare.html

Boehner vows to take Holder to court

Source: Politico

House Speaker John Boehner says Republicans will push a contempt case against Attorney General Eric Holder in federal court over his decision to withhold documents in the "Fast and Furious" gun trafficking investigation.

In an interview aired Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation," the Ohio congressman said he expected fellow Republicans would file a lawsuit in federal court following the House's vote last week to hold Holder in contempt of Congress. That suit, he said, would likely come over "the next several weeks."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2012/07/boehner-says-gop-will-go-to-court-over-holder-127826.html

Mitch McConnell: GOP Only Needs 51 Votes to Overturn Mandate

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated today that Republicans believe they will only need 51 votes to overturn the centerpiece of the 2010 health care law.

In an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," the Kentucky Republican repeatedly referred to the mandate that individuals buy health insurance as a tax, citing the recent Supreme Court decision.

If Republicans take the majority in the Senate in the 2012 elections, McConnell said, he would use budget reconciliation to overturn the law — a move that would not be subject to the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster.

"Reconciliation is available because the Supreme Court has now declared it a tax," McConnell said. "They have unearthed the massive deception that was practiced by the president and the Democrats to constantly deny that it was a tax. ... And as a tax, it is eligible for reconciliation."

http://www.rollcall.com/news/-215873-1.html

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If there ever was a most vile and evil man in politics, this man personifies that title....

Banking scandal: how document trail reveals global scam

It's not a comfortable weekend for the men heading some of the world's biggest banks. Barclays has already been hit by a £290m fine for rigging interest rates but that could be dwarfed by a series of global lawsuits which could cost banks billions.

The interest rate rigging scandal that has engulfed Barclays was the result of a coordinated attempt at collusion by traders working for a coterie of leading banks over at least five years, according to a series of lawsuits and legal rulings filed in courts in Asia and North America.

The lawsuits allege the fraud was extensive, spanning at least three continents and involving trades worth tens of billions of pounds. The allegations raise further serious questions about the banks' ability to police themselves and the role of senior management in monitoring the activities of their employees.

In a 28-page statement of facts relating to last week's revelation that Barclays had been fined a total of £290m, the US Department of Justice discloses how a network of traders working on both sides of the Atlantic conspired to influence both the Libor and Euribor interest rates – the rates at which banks lend to each other. It was, in effect, a worldwide conspiracy against the free functioning of the market.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/30/banking-scandal-barclays-lawsuits-libor?CMP=twt_gu