Raising the Minimum wage

Seattle recently raised its minimum wage  to $15 an hour, though it wont fully get to that level for some time.
One study said how this went the opposite of usual in these cases and actually lost jobs.
Here is an article citing specific issues with that study and how it was done.
The Journal of Labor Economics cites that increased minim wage does not increase unemployment in most cases.

The trick here is something economists call the elasticity of Labor and Demand.
Many states have a higher minimum wage than the federal level.
Another article here

A state by state review of what states have a higher minimum wage  here is interesting.
Notice something in that list?  Those states are the among there wealthiest around and have the strongest economies.
If you raise the minimum wage you have a lot more people able to spend money, especially younger and poorer people who are more likely to spend it.  This has the opposite effect of Laffer Economics aka Trickle Down Economic where you give taxcuts to the wealthiest in the hopes they will invest it and create more jobs.  We have seen several attempts at this since the Reagan era and it fails every time.
        So why do Republicans favor it?
Why does a party based on conservative values that is against welfare for poor people want it for rich people?  Why does the GOP "Grand Old Party" give loophole after loophole for the rich and tell the poor to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. That they should buy Health Insurance rather than an iPhone.
That These religious leaders..

• 8 Richest pastors in America
• Top 10 richest pastors in the world 2017 updated list.
• Making Money off Miracles
• 15 Christian Leaders that make more money getting out of bed than you'll make all year.
• 6 Wealthy preachers under Investigation.
• Top 50 Ludicrously Wealthy Pastors

are some better than these ones...

• 10 of the Greatest Religious Leaders in History.
• Methodist Salaries
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Mother Teresa
• Mahatma Gandhi
• and yes even Jesus Christ whose teachings they often claim to follow yet their deeds show otherwise.

Think about it for a bit.  This whole thing is why I left the Republican party.  It use to be they were the party of the wealthy and defense while the democrats where for labor and civil rights.

However after Jerry Fallwell sucked them in they have sold out and lost their way.  Now truth be told both parties cater to the wealthy donor class and largely ignore the regular voter.

But the hypocrisy of using God to promote yourself while not following his Word ticks me off more than anything else.  Read your bible and you will see that what is going on is not what it teaches.

Republicans back to Repeal and maybe replace

This would be a disaster for everyone.  Insurance companies have been bailing due to uncertainty and inaction of Congress.  Repeal with no plan would just make that worse in the short term.
Long Term? These people had over 7 years to come up with a plan, how are we supposed to trust them to come up with one now?
I want to see the new plan before they get rid of the old one.
This is not about improving health care its about giving tax cuts to the wealthy. Repeal would make the former worse for everyone, even those not on AHCA.  However it would let them say they did something to the voters while keeping the donors happy with the tax cuts.

Dont let them get away with it.

Oh and in case you missed it earlier I found another article going over an aspect of Trump Care I haven't heard people talking about much. Removing the requirement for large employers to offer employee health insurance

President Trump manages to lower the office of the Presidency even more

This is infuriating.
The Grand Old Party offered this stupid jerk up as the best of them.
He barely even tries to govern, delegating key responsibilities like national defense, and spends more time goofing off and trying to line his pockets than actually running the country.
He has attacked the media, the military, and seems incapable of rational debate.  He keeps getting personal and complaining about people complaining about what he himself say and keeps tweeting over and over.
The latest personal attack is still not enough to get the party of rich old white men to do anything.  A cautious platitudes but we can expect no action.  Had this been a Democrat they would be up in arms and calling for impeachment.  Yet we can all see he is using the office to line his pockets, violates the emolument clause, breaks his oath of office on an almost daily basis and is actually trying to destroy this country.
So why does anyone support him?  The only reason is they think they have something to gain and that is more important than the USA.  No wonder most Republicans are afraid to attend Town Halls.

The last Great Republican

Many people would say the last great Republican President we had was Ronald Reagan.
He certainly was the first one I voted for.  However while he did some good things he is the oen who started the Laffer Economics or Trickle Down Theory that helped skyrocket our national debt and hurt the economy.
In my opinion the last great Republican President was  Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Read more about him here

Remember to see if your representatives are hosting a Town Hall this break

A lot of representatives, especially republicans are not holding Town Halls anymore.  However if your lucky enough to have a rep who wants to listen to his/her constituents please go and voice your opinions and ask your questions.
Remember they work for you.
Use this site to find one in your area.
And you know what? If they wont hold a Town hall host one yourself.
Put it out there and notify the media.  If your rep wont show up you can talk to your neighbors and maybe find someone else to vote for.  Maybe someone who will actually work for YOU.

The republican party does not care about Health Care

Watching Morning Joe  and you know what? He is right here and so is Lawrence O'Donnel,
The Republican party (Not saying all Republicans but certainly the leadership and many of them) do not really care about Health Care, they just want it as a talking point before moving on to what they consider more important matters.
Just look at the facts.

• They have been saying Repeal and Replace Obama Care for over 7 years, yet never in all that time did they come up with an actual plan.
• The House comes up with a plan that is so rushed and half baked it fails to get past their own party in the first vote and they then punt to the Senate hoping they will fix it. They did this so they could "move on to more important matters such as tax reform"
• The Senate comes up with a plan in secret meetings that most of their own party refuse to support. They tried to do it so fast so they could have a talking point and say "We did something!" before the July recess.
• The so called Health Plan is really just a tax cut to the wealthiest Americans and Insurance and Pharmaceutical companies and CEOs.
• Both plans break the promises President Trump made on the campaign trail when he said he would not cut Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security and that premiums and deductibles would be lowered.

I am not saying this should be easy but for crying out loud if something is important to you wouldn't you actually work on it? This has been like high school students cramming the night before finals who never studied the rest of the year!

Despite this being 1/6 of the economy and vital to the lives and well being of millions of Americans they just do not seem to be willing to put  serious work and thought into it.

If I was Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnel or heck anyone on say the Health and Human services committee or had been complaining about it for so long I would have actually worked with my colleagues and come up with a plan during those 7 years.

Wouldn't you?

All this is about is wanting to complain about something you have no clue how to improve and wanting to make the other guys look bad so you can look better.  It is not real leadership and it shows they really do not care about governing and trying to help America, only line their pockets and those of their biggest donors.  the biggest effort here was how to cut taxes for those groups and we will see much more effort put into the tax cut plan when they move onto it.

Please remember this and VOTE in 2018!  Lets kick as many of these people out as we can and get some people who are honest in.

The Insurance Mandate is back and more severe than ever

So The Hill reported that the Senate added a clause to the Health Care bill today.
If you have a lapse in coverage for more than 63 days your not eligible for coverage at all for 6 months.
The House version charged you 30% more on your premium.
These are to replace the tax penalty the AHCA had that was cited as the 'Coverage Mandate' that Republicans said was bad ad they wanted to repeal.

Now no one likes the mandate but to be fair to insurance companies without a requirement young and healthy people, especially men are less likely to get insurance.  That would mean insurance companies have more sick people and fewer healthy people they an bill and so profits would go down.  In fact it might very well be unsustainable at all.

However the 63 day requirement shows just how out of touch the GOP really is.
Most employee health insurance does not kick in till 90 days, plus there is the time your looking for a job.  So if you lose a job or even quit one to take another (say a promotion with a new company) this means you will likely have no insurance for at least 6 months.

How is this better for Americans?"
My suggestion is to combine both of those so people have the option of a 30% hike in premiums or wait 6 months.  The republican party said this was to give us more choice right?

Frankly Medicare for all or Single Payer looks better and better the more the GOP talks,

Related Medical Cost stories.

• How Prices can change dramatically based on where you live
• Texas/Arkansas border cost differences  Ok, I know most GOP supporters will dismiss this one because shes a black woman but the concept is still valid and applies to everyone.
•