"Trump and his band of incompetents don't care at all about those in need of Medicaid or Medicare. Trump is an autocrat, a convicted felon, a racist and a bully. Instead of dealing with a high deficit budget the republicans should be dealing with controlling trump"- WaPo Comment
"While America sinks further into debt, Trump's elite billionaire cronies will get richer than ever. In a few years, the U.S.A. will be bankrupt and impoverished, and the billionaires will just fly off to one of their other mansions. Their own money is safely hidden in offshore crypto accounts. They couldn't care less what happens to the rest of us after that." - WaPo Comment
“If you didn’t like the so-called era of neoliberalism, wait
until you experience how much fun postliberalism will be. Trump is taking a
sledgehammer to the sources of American prosperity: global competition,
immigrant talent, scientific research and the universities." – David Brooks, ‘Can We Please Stop
Lying About Obama?’, “ NY Times
With the massive Trump-GOP tax cut bill now passed in the House (early this morning),
Divided House GOP tries to push Trump’s tax bill over finish line - The Washington Post
It appears massive Medicare cuts – along with Medicaid cuts – could emerge next year, under a draconian process called sequestration.
First some history: Sequestration emerged as a hopeful and presumptively rational counter-strategy soon after the Tea Party took over the House in 2011, then proceeded to hold hostage the full faith and credit of the United States during the 2011 debt ceiling debacle. This, notwithstanding the Constitution’s injunction that the public debt of the United States “not be questioned.”
At that time, numerous bloggers - like me - had repeatedly implored Obama (in assorted posts) not to cave in to these miscreants but to invoke the 14th amendment instead, even if it meant a possible “constitutional crisis”. But Obama caved to GOP extortion prompting media cartoons like the ones below:
Anyway, having taken the only feasible weapon (in the 14th amendment) off the table, Obama and the WH agreed with the Tea Bagger-driven Reeps to harsh and arbitrary “sequestered” spending cuts if they couldn’t come up with a more reasonable deal in the interim. But the Reeps had no intention of agreeing to a more reasonable plan, i.e. including defense cuts in the mix. They knew the only way to dismember the federal government was through large social program spending cuts without tax increases on the wealthy- and they knew they could get their own side howling with patriotic fervor by including steep defense cuts too.
When Tea Bagger driven Reepos continued their
shutdown foolishness into the debt ceiling deadline, it meant the draconian
creature called “sequestration” was the only route out of the impasse. I.e. if
a critical deficit level was crossed a generally untouched program – like Medicare-
would have to face cuts.
The sequestration “solution” in the summer of 2011 was spawned
from a "committee" of 6 Reeps and 6 Demos who would decide on what
further cuts to enact, barring a debt ceiling increase. At that
time if no “gang of 12” resolution transpired by Thanksgiving it meant an
immediate $900b cut to Medicare providers.
(This year a 2.8% cut to Medicare providers is already in the works,
which is separate from the $500b cut to Medicare which could emerge next year
from Trump’s tax cut bill)
As I wrote back on July 29th, 2011:
“At the behest of benefactors like Peter G. Peterson, they see
a golden opportunity to employ the mania and hysteria for "deficit
reduction" as a means to gut Social Security and Medicare.”
And as I wrote in my Aug. 1, 2011 post:
“The sequestration deal coming merely confirms former defense
analyst's Chuck Spinney's prediction that the increase of military spending as
percent of GDP (back in 2006) would see military spending squaring off against
Medicare. THAT is precisely what we have!:
In this latest reincarnation, because Trump and the GOP’s budget
reconciliation package would add $2.3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years a new sequestration
would be triggered. This could force nearly $500 billion in cuts to Medicare
beginning in 2026,
This has been projected
by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO, forcing budget officials to mandate
across-the-board spending cuts over that window that would hit Medicare the
federal health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities.
When legislation significantly adds to the national debt,
which already exceeds $36.2 trillion, it triggers “sequestration,” or
compulsory budgetary reductions. In that scenario, Medicare cuts would be
capped at 4 percent annually, or $490 billion over 10 years, the CBO reported
in response to a request from Rep. Brendan Boyle (Pennsylvania), the top
Democrat on the Budget Committee.
Make no mistake, any cut in Medicare funding would have a
chilling effect on older Americans and people with disabilities at a time when
a fast-aging population and rising health-care costs are already straining the
system. Many hospitals, especially in rural areas, rely on Medicare for more
than half of their funding, said McBride of Washington University. And the political
consequences would be dire, potentially a clobbering of the Reeps in the midterms
next year.
What form would such cuts take? From past proposals the most likely are:
- Beneficiaries would cough up co-pays for each visit (including traditional Medicare folks)
- Denial of access to most expensive options (i.e. My ER visit due to lung issues back in February, costing $27,000, would have been denied.)
- Limited access to needed drugs, i.e. such as my ADT chemo drug Firmagon.
- Increased eligibility age - i.e. from 65 to 66 or 67.
- Limited primary physician (as well as specialist) access.
These are the most plausible cuts but don't assume the degenerate Reeps would not come away with more i.e. as the bill moves towards reconciliation in the Senate. That might even include seniors having to put in x hours a month to work for a particular benefit or access. You read it here first!
See Also:
Opinion | Democrats can respond to Trump’s budget bill with three C’s - The Washington Post
And:
by Heather Digby Parton | May 24, 2025 - 5:27am | permalink
Considering that the country is in political crisis unseen in any of our lifetimes, it seems a little strange that the top issue being discussed among many in the media is a rehash of the story that people around former President Biden allegedly covered up that he aged demonstrably in office since we all saw that with our own eyes. Seeing as this issue will almost certainly never happen again and has no relevance for the future, it is odd that we are spending so much bandwidth discussing what feels like ancient history amid an overwhelming tsunami of critical political news.
I'm not particularly interested in the story, but for those who are, enjoy. However, I have been hearing a lot of the people who are obsessing over it repeat a devastating quote from the first debate, one which may have sealed Biden's fate. In his closing argument, Biden stumbled and inexplicably said, "We beat Medicare!" It was obviously bizarre, but in context, it was clear that he meant "we beat Pharma."
I thought of that when I heard our almost 79-year-old current president say this on his recent overseas trip:
And:
— from Robert Reich's Substack
The old professor in me thinks the best way to convey to you how utterly awful the so-called “one big beautiful bill” passed by the House last night actually is would be to give you this short 10-question exam. (Answers are in parenthesis but first try to answer without looking at them.)
1. Does the House’s “one big beautiful bill” cut Medicare? (Answer: Yes, by an estimated $500 billion.)
2. Because the bill cuts Medicaid, how many Americans are expected to lose Medicaid coverage? (At least 8.6 million.)
3. Will the tax cut in the bill benefit the rich or the poor or everyone?(Overwhelmingly, the rich.)
4. How much will the top 0.1% of earners stand to gain from it? (Nearly $390,000 per year).
And:
Attack of the Sadistic Zombies - Paul Krugman
Excerpt:
The belief that many Americans receiving government support are malingering, that they could and should be working but are choosing to be lazy, is a classic zombie idea. That is, like the claim that cutting taxes on the rich will unleash an economic miracle, it’s a doctrine that should be long dead. It has, after all, been proved wrong by experience again and again.
But right-wingers simply refuse to accept the reality that almost everyone on Medicaid is either a child, a senior, disabled or between jobs. A recent article in the Times by Matt Bruenig had a very illuminating chart:
Only 3 percent of Medicaid recipients were non-disabled working-age adults persistently not working — the kind of people right-wingers imagine infest the program. And it’s a good bet that a fair number of these people had extenuating circumstances of some kind.
As I see it, right-wingers’ rhetoric about the budget deficit is a lot like their rhetoric about antisemitism. It’s not something they actually care about. It’s just a club they can use to bash their opponents.
But in that case, why the cruelty toward less-fortunate Americans? Well, as I see it the cruelty, as opposed to the dollars saved, is actually the point. Inflicting harm on the vulnerable isn’t something they do with regret, it’s something they do with a sense of satisfaction.
And:
by Severo Ornstein | May 18, 2025 - 5:26am | permalink
History and literature abound with examples of charismatic individuals leading followers astray. The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a classic example: when the townspeople of Hamelin refused to pay the Piper for ridding the town of rats by charming them to their doom with his pipe, he drew many of the town’s children away similarly, and they disappeared forever.
A powerful fictional example comes from Willam Golding’s The Lord of the Flies in which a leader evolves among a group of young boys stranded on a desert island. The group soon reverts to primitivism and the leader persuades the others to shun, taunt, pursue and ultimately kill an unacceptably non-conformist member of the troupe. He then rallies them to pursue the only other individual who had accepted the dead boy. That individual is saved at the last moment when the spell is broken by the sudden appearance of an adult rescue mission from the outside world.
And:
by Robert Reich | May 22, 2025 - 5:29am | permalink
— from Robert Reich's Substack
Friends,
I’ve been following with a mixture of dismay and disgust Trump’s One Big Ugly Bill, soon to emerge from the House. I’ll report back to you on it.
But I want to alert you to one detail inside it that’s especially alarming. With one stroke, it would allow Trump to crown himself king.
As you know, Trump has been trying to neuter the courts by ignoring them.
The Supreme Court has told Trump to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia, a legal resident of the United States whom even the Trump regime admits was erroneously sent to a brutal prison in El Salvador. Trump has essentially thumbed his nose at the Court by doing nothing.
And:
And:
And:
It May Now Be Time To Mint Some Trillion Dollar Coins To Avert A Repuke Terror Act: Debt Default
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