Day: September 29, 2009

Yes, I will admit it, I watched/listened to several hours of debate on CSPAN. Anyone who really wants to understand the process of legislation should watch. First, almost all the members, whether a D or an R debated with professionalism and respect. It came down to a difference in ideology and not who was a “real” patriot and who was not. I was truly impressed. This is what I learned. The Rockefeller Amendment was the public option and it failed 8-15, click here to read more.
What that simply means is that people could buy into Medicare if they so chose. It was NOT the same as an entitlement because you had to pay the entire cost. Now, CBO, said that initially there would be approximately 8 million participants, but within a few years, the total estimated number would go to 6 million. What the public option would do, is guarantee real competition. It isn’t enough to have the “exchange” model that this package is promoting. One thing ALL members agreed upon was that there needed to be REAL competition. Over half the states had only a few providers that would compete against each other, THAT is not true competition.

What blew me away was that even a few Republicans agreed that a “non profit” insurance company would be the key to bringing down prices. I believe it was Senator Rockefeller who replied “well, if we could water a public option like grass, and have it grow, that would be great, but that is NOT going to happen.”

“We need a public option to create competition and bring down costs,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who will bring up a separate public option amendment later in the committee markup.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that by 2015, about 8 million people would sign up for Rockefeller’s plan, though that number would decline as pay rates to medical providers rise above what Medicare pays after two years. Over 10 years, Rockefeller’s public option would save the federal government $50 billion, the CBO projects.

Medicare is unsustainable because of waste and skyrocketing health care costs. Bring down health care and you resolve a majority of that problem. Private Insurance companies had a net profit almost 500 billion dollars last year. Enough is enough.

One year ago today, the Dow dropped 777 in one day, the most points in one day ever. Mouths dropped as the stock market plummets in what appeared to be a free fall.

The markets were to continue to fall after September 29, 2008. Even though we have been involved in a rather significant rally since March, we still haven’t recovered to the point where we were on 9/29/08. Stocks finished off around 10,365. Today we are just under 9800.

Events that led up to the free fall of 9/29/08 were the 2 week earlier failure of Lehman Bros and the failure of the House to pass Tarp. As soon as vote went through, the bottom fell out.

Now people want to know when the optomism Wall Street has experienced the past 6 months will move on over to Main Street.

Prince William Circuit Court Judge Mary Grace O’Brien found Xavier Jamaal Pinckney, 18, guilty of robbery, two counts of capital murder and three counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony for the double homicide.

“This case represents perhaps a family’s worst nightmare,” Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert said in his closing argument.

In a written confession entered into evidence during the trial, Pinckney said he broke into the Smiths’ house on Langford Court that day, looking for things to steal.

Todays Manassas News and Messenger carries the story of how this dreadful day unfolded for a Dale City family who lost a mother and a son.