Inside The Trump Plan - The Veterans Administration

On the Trump for President website, there is now a "policy paper" that describes his plan for the Veterans Administration.  Here is most of it.  I've excised some of the redundant rhetoric.  My comments are in italics:

Veterans Administration Reforms That Will Make America Great Again

The Goals Of Donald J. Trump’s Veterans Plan
The current state of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is absolutely unacceptable. Over 300,000 veterans died waiting for care. Corruption and incompetence were excused. Politicians in Washington have done too little too slowly to fix it. This situation can never happen again, and when Donald J. Trump is president, it will be fixed – fast.

The Washington Post gave two out of four possible "Pinocchios" to the claim by Carly Fiorina that 307,000 veterans had died while waiting for care.  This claim is highly suspect and definitely misleading.  You can read the details here.  While there is no question that mismanagement and behavior that might well be criminal caused dozens of veterans who were seeking healthcare to die while waiting for care, the real number is nowhere near that amount.


The guiding principle of the Trump plan is ensuring veterans have convenient access to the best quality care. To further this principle, the Trump plan will decrease wait times, improve healthcare outcomes, and facilitate a seamless transition from service into civilian life.

The transition from military service to civilian life, especially in the case of veterans who have recently served in a combat zone will never be seamless.

The only way to significantly decrease wait times is to spend more money.  In this case, a great deal more money.  Trump's tax plan is seriously flawed in that he proposes cutting rather than raising taxes on the wealthiest segments of the population.  Did we not learn from David Stockman's flawed theories during the Reagan Administration that cutting taxes only increases deficits?

 Forbes Magazine ran a piece last year that claims "...the VA healthcare system has consistently out-performed the non-VA/private sector in quality of care and patient safety. In response to criticism in the 1990s about its quality of care, the VA initiated a major reengineering effort, whose principal components included better use of information technology, measurement and reporting of performance, and integration of services. In this respect, the VA system was far ahead of a US healthcare system that was yet to embrace information technology and in the nascent stages of performance measurement."  It cites an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association that provides evidence of the accuracy of the claim by Forbes.

The Trump Plan Will:
 

Ensure our veterans get the care they need wherever and whenever they need it. No more long drives. No more waiting for backlogs. No more excessive red tape. Just the care and support they earned with their service to our country.How?  No specifics.  

Support the whole veteran, not just their physical health care, but also by addressing their invisible wounds, investing in our service members’ post-active duty success, transforming the VA to meet the needs of 21^st century service members, and better meeting the needs of our female veterans. 

Every single VA Medical Center already has a Women Veterans Program Manager.  Every single one.  They are there to support all female veterans and ensure they get the care they need.  I've seen the one at the West L. A. VAMC.  It's one of the newest areas in the facility, kept clean and comfortable (I sometimes have to sit in its waiting room to be seen in an office across the hall).

Make the VA great again by firing the corrupt and incompetent VA executives who let our veterans down, by modernizing the VA, and by empowering the doctors and nurses to ensure our veterans receive the best care available in a timely manner.

Disciplining and terminating the corrupt and incompetent VA employees who engaged in bad practices does need to happen.  But the providers in the VA are already empowered to ensure veterans enrolled in the system get the best care available.  

It's interesting that the only reason wait times are known within the VA system is that the VA started monitoring and measuring them years ago, without a directive to do so.  Given how much complaining I hear about wait times experienced concerning appointment times in the private sector, the VA is at least tracking the issue and trying to improve them.  Getting veterans enrolled into the system is a separate issue and does need attention.  Mostly because Congress hasn't been funding the enrollment operation at a pace that matches the growth in the population of veterans. 
 
The Trump Plan Gives Veterans The Freedom To Choose And Forces The VA To Compete For Their Dollars
Politicians in Washington have tried to fix the VA by holding hearings and blindly throwing money at the problem. None of it has worked. In fact, wait times were 50% higher this summer than they were a year ago. That’s because the VA lacks the right leadership and management. It’s time we stop trusting Washington politicians to fix the problems and empower our veterans to vote with their feet.
Under a Trump Administration, all veterans eligible for VA health care can bring their veteran’s ID card to any doctor or care facility that accepts Medicare to get the care they need immediately. Our veterans have earned the freedom to choose better or more convenient care from the doctor and facility of their choice. The power to choose will stop the wait time backlogs and force the VA to improve and compete if the department wants to keep receiving veterans’ healthcare dollars. The VA will become more responsive to veterans, develop more efficient systems, and improve the quality of care because it will have no other choice.

The VA is already moving in this direction and it is probably a bad idea.  The Medicare system, which Trump wants to use as a model is rife with fraud and abuse.  The federal government works with an acceptable error rate of 5% in processing Medicare claims, more than four times what the private healthcare insurance sector allows.  A 2014 GAO report says that more than $50 billion in improper payments were paid out by CMS, the Medicare payment agency in 2013.  The same fraud and abuse will happen if Mr. Trump's proposal to give veterans unfettered access to private healthcare providers becomes reality.

The Trump Plan Treats The Whole Veteran
We must care for the whole veteran, not just their physical health. We must recognize that today’s veterans have very different needs than those of the Greatest Generation.

The Trump Plan Will:
 

Increase funding for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury and suicide prevention services to address our veterans’ invisible wounds. Service members are five times more likely to develop depression than civilians. They are almost fifteen times more likely to develop PTSD than civilians. This funding will help provide more and better counseling and care. More funding will also support research on best practices and state of the art treatments to keep our veterans alive, healthy and whole. With these steps, the Trump plan will help the veteran community put the unnecessary stigma surrounding mental health behind them and instead encourage acceptance and treatment in our greater society. 

 

Increase funding for job training and placement services (including incentives for companies hiring veterans), educational support and business loans. All Americans agree that we must do everything we can to help put our service men and women on a path to success as they leave active duty by collaborating with the many successful non-profit organizations that are already helping. Service members have learned valuable skills in the military but many need help understanding how to apply those skills in civilian life. Others know how to apply those skills but need help connecting with good jobs to support their families. Still others have an entrepreneurial spirit and are ready to start creating jobs and growing the economy. The Trump plan will strengthen existing programs or replace them with more effective ones to address these needs and to get our veterans working. 

 

Given that Mr. Trump's flawed tax plan will cut taxes on the wealthiest segments of the U. S. tax base, where in the world will he get all the money for his proposed increases in funding?  In fact, VA funding over the last ten fiscal years has more than doubled.  Source:  VA report

 

Transform the VA to meet the needs of 21^st century service members. Today’s veterans have very different needs than those of the generations that came before them. The VA must adapt to meet the needs of this generation of younger, more diverse veterans. The Trump plan will expand VA services for female veterans and ensure the VA is providing the right support for this new generation of veterans. 

 

Better support our women veterans. The fact that many VA hospitals don’t permanently staff OBGYN doctors shows an utter lack of respect for the growing number female veterans. Under the Trump plan, every VA hospital in the country will be fully equipped with OBGYN and other women’s health services. In addition, women veterans can always choose a different OBGYN in their community using their veteran’s ID card. 

 

If there isn't a permanent OB/GYN doctor assigned to a VA medical center, there should be.  Other than this, the presence of a Womens Program Manager at every VAMC shows this is an area being address.  On the VA website, they claim that any female veteran who is served at a VAMC without OB/GYN services can obtain care at VA expense in the private sector.

 

The truth about the independent contractor scam

Amazon is the latest in a long line of employers being sued by people the company has allegedly brought on as independent contractors rather than hiring them as employees.  Four drivers who work for the Prime Now delivery service of Amazon in the Southern California area have sued Amazon and Scoobeez, a courier company Amazon contracts with.  According to the story in the Los Angeles Times, the four wore uniforms with the Amazon logo, were required to allow themselves to be tracked by Amazon tracking devices and made deliveries as instructed by dispatchers who were controlling their work to ensure deliveries were made on schedule. This lawsuit and others regarding people who are being compensated as independent contractors versus as employees turn on a simple question.  What's the difference between the two?

In August of this year, the Internal Revenue Service published an article on their website, IRS website.  The title of the piece is "Independent Contractor (Self-Employed) or Employee?" aid if you're really curious, you can read it for yourself.  Independent Contractor (Self-Employed) or Employee?  But I've extracted the most important part of the article, the definition of an independent contractor according to the IRS.

"People such as doctors, dentists, veterinarians, lawyers, accountants, contractors, subcontractors, public stenographers, or auctioneers who are in an independent trade, business, or profession in which they offer their services to the general public are generally independent contractors. However, whether these people are independent contractors or employees depends on the facts in each case. The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done. The earnings of a person who is working as an independent contractor are subject to Self-Employment Tax."

In the past, the IRS used a 20 factor test to determine if someone was an employee or an independent contractor, and you can see that test (it's lengthy) at 20 Factor Test.  Under both the definition above and more clearly under the old test, the delivery drivers being used by Amazon for the Prime Now service in Orange County, CA appear to be employees.

So why are Amazon, Uber, Lyft, UPS and other employers, large and small, improperly classifying people as ICs rather than employees?  Because it saves money.  As an employer, these businesses would have to pay the employer's portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes.  They'd have to pay the unemployment taxes at the federal and state level.  They'd have to purchase workers compensation insurance.  Instead they engage in the fiction that these people are ICs and not employers, pay them an amount in excess of the minimum wage to partially offset these costs and the savings they realize pump up the business' bottom line.

This is another factor in the ever-growing inequality of income and wealth in the U. S. and it needs to be stopped.  Anyone who has ever been victimized by this scam has a fairly easy remedy available to them.  It is known as the Form SS-8.

The SS-8 is available on the IRS website (Form SS-8) and if you are no longer working for the employer who scammed you, filling it out is risk-free.  You had to file an income tax return claiming this income from "self-employment" as such and pay both employee and employer portions of employment taxes on the net income.  You may have taken some deductions against the income on a Schedule C, which would potentially be lost to you if you are reclassified as an employee, but you'll recover the employer portion of self-employment taxes you paid.

Your former (or current if you're a brave soul) will pay a lot more.  They will have to pay the employer portion of those taxes they should have paid, and will pay a stiff penalty as well.  That penalty can include all of  the following:

$50 for each W-2 that was not issued to the employee instead of the 1099-MISC that was issued.
1.5% of all wages paid.
40% of the employee portion of FICA and Medicare taxes that should have been withheld from the employee.
100% of the employer portion of FICA and Medicare taxes that the employer should have paid.
A failure to pay taxes penalty of 0.5% per month for each month these amounts were not paid, up to a total of 25% of the entire liability from the above three items.

That can be quite stiff.  Conversely, employers who realize they have improperly classified employees as ICs can pay only a very small portion of these amounts, provided they voluntarily reclassify and comply.

It could get even worse.  If the IRS determines fraud or intentional misconduct took place they can up the penalties to as much as 20% of all wages paid plus 100% of both the employer and employee portions of FICA and Medicare taxes.  Criminal penalties of $1,000 per employee and one year in prison could also be added.

A study done by the federal government back in 2011 estimated that more than three million U. S. workers are improperly classified as independent contractors.  Last year a drywall contractor in Arizona paid $600,000 in back wages and penalties for improperly classifying 445 employees as ICs.

Not a risk I'd want to take if I were running a business.

Friday Fun and Not So Fun

Karla Kardashian?  No, that's Ellen DeGeneres as the secret, sixth Kardashian sister.  If I had a talk show and one of my producers suggested I dress up as a Kardashian for Halloween...I wouldn't fire them.  But I wouldn't be pleased.

On Live with Kelly and Michael, the two dressed up as Princess Leia and Lando Calrissian, as well as Michael doing Cookie from Empire and Kelly doing a fierce Donald Trump.

Meanwhile on other talk shows today, Wendy Williams is dressed as Lucy Van Pelt from Peanuts and it's "Nightmare on Springer Street" on the Jerry Springer Show.

Might be time to tune in to the Dragnet re-runs that are on now.

* * *

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is under fire from Christian conservatives for his support of gay rights during his tenure on the Boards of Directors for Costco and Kellogg's.  The candidate claims his positions supporting gay rights in a number of areas is not in opposition with his adamant opposition to same sex marriage.

Being opposed to same-sex marriage may be popular among the Radical right, but the shift is in the other direction among the majority of Americans.  For the first time, recent polling data shows that more American surveyed support government officials being required to do their jobs and issue such marriage licenses; as opposed to July of this year when a poll showed that Americans were evenly split on the issue.

Kim Davis, take note.

* * *

These men aren't related.  Until they met on this airplane flight, they knew nothing about each other.  It must be amazing to board a flight and find your nearly perfect doppelganger.

Stranger still is the fact that they wound up staying at the same hotel in Galway, Ireland (the flight's destination) and ended up hoisting a pint together at the same pub later on that night.

* * *

Most accounts of the U. S. involvement in the Vietnam war show that the first ground troops were sent there by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, some 3,500 of them.  But the first U. S. casualties in that war came six years early.  In 1959, U. S. Army MAJ Dale Buis and MSGT Chester Ovnand were watching a movie on a South Vietnamese Army base near Bien Hoa.  They were killed by small arms fire from six North Vietnamese irregulars.

It's worth noting because of the recent death of U. S. Army MSGT Joshua Wheeler, the first military casualty in our "war" against ISIS.  Now that President Obama has authorized sending "less than 50" combat soldiers to Syria to fight against ISIS, this is all worth taking note of.

Our nation spent 16 years involved in the war in Vietnam, a period that ended in April of 1975 with the fall of Saigon.  One total of U. S. killed in this was is 58,307.  How many U. S. military personnel will lose their lives in the struggle to stop ISIS?  No matter how many, it will be too many.

* * *

With tomorrow being Halloween, this Dear Prudence letter from last year and her outstanding response are worth a second look.

Dear Prudence,
I live in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country, but on one of the more “modest” streets—mostly doctors and lawyers and family business owners. (A few blocks away are billionaires, families with famous last names, media moguls, etc.) I have noticed that on Halloween, what seems like 75 percent of the trick-or-treaters are clearly not from this neighborhood. Kids arrive in overflowing cars from less fortunate areas. I feel this is inappropriate. Halloween isn’t a social service or a charity in which I have to buy candy for less fortunate children. Obviously this makes me feel like a terrible person, because what’s the big deal about making less fortunate kids happy on a holiday? But it just bugs me, because we already pay more than enough taxes toward actual social services. Should Halloween be a neighborhood activity, or is it legitimately a free-for-all in which people hunt down the best candy grounds for their kids?

—Halloween for the 99 Percent

Dear 99,
In the urban neighborhood where I used to live, families who were not from the immediate area would come in fairly large groups to trick-or-treat on our streets, which were safe, well-lit, and full of people overstocked with candy. It was delightful to see the little mermaids, spider-men, ghosts, and the occasional axe murderer excitedly run up and down our front steps, having the time of their lives. So we’d spend an extra $20 to make sure we had enough candy for kids who weren’t as fortunate as ours. There you are, 99, on the impoverished side of Greenwich or Beverly Hills, with the other struggling lawyers, doctors, and business owners. Your whine makes me kind of wish that people from the actual poor side of town come this year not with scary costumes but with real pitchforks. Stop being callous and miserly and go to Costco, you cheapskate, and get enough candy to fill the bags of the kids who come one day a year to marvel at how the 1 percent live.

—Prudie

To the author of the letter I say, no one is forcing you to buy even one piece of candy.  If you don't feel generous, turn out your lights and keep quiet all evening.  Don't answer the knock at the door.  Be as selfish and grinch-like as you please.

* * *

Glamour Magazine has named Caitlyn Jenner as their Woman of the Year  Actually their Women of the Year are  Victoria Beckham, Misty Copeland, Elizabeth Holmes, Caitlyn Jenner, Cecile Richards, Reese Witherspoon, the Women of Charleston, and the U.S. women’s national soccer team.

Noted feminist Germaine Greer was critical of Ms Jenner's inclusion among the Women of the Year, telling reporters "Woman of the Year.” Jenner isn’t a woman. He’s just attention-starved and seeking to steal the limelight from the women in the Kardashian family."

Charlamagne Tha God and Andrew Schulz of the Brilliant Idiots Podcast suggest that Ms Jenner should instead be considered for "Rookie of the Year."

A lot of people are claiming she shouldn't get the award because she hasn't been a woman for a full year yet.

I was one who felt that the ESPY Award Ms Jenner received could have gone to someone more deserving and I haven't changed that opinion.  But all this criticism is off-base.  She's a woman in the eyes of the law, and in how much of our society perceives her.  We are finally coming around to recognize that gender identity is determined by what's in the mind, and not by chromosomes and body parts.

And for all of the people who are self-congratulatory about the final defeat of DOMA and the growing recognition of the transgendered, we need to recognize that the work is nowhere near complete.  Not when we live in a nation where 28 of the 50 states do not provide any employment protections based on sexual orientation.  Just ask James Pittman of Missouri.  There was clearly documented evidence that he was the victim of an extremely hostile work environment at Cook Paper.  He was ultimately fired.  The courts ruled the firing was not a violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act provide protection for discrimination based on gender, but not for that based on sexual orientation.

We have a lot of work ahead, people.

* * *

Cops in several cities and their supporters are planning to boycott the films of Quentin Tarantino because he called cops murderers at a rally in New York City.  They're certainly free to take that position.  Just as he is free to use that label for those police officers who have illegally killed people in the performance of their duties.

Like it or not, there are cops who have committed murder, and worse yet, murder under the color of authority.  These police officers deserve to be prosecuted and punished for their crimes.

But it is wrong to label all cops as murderers.  Not all of them are.  Just as not all members of any one group, racial, ethnic, whatever, are guilty of any one specific crime.

As I've said before, #AllLivesMatter.  But the focus on #BlackLivesMatter is more important at the moment because of the disproportionate number of young Black men and women dying at the hands of law enforcement.  When that stops, we can focus more on #AllLivesMatter.

Questions

That is School Resource Officer, Deputy Ben Fields slamming a 16 year old high school student in Richland County, SC to the floor.  This came after she refused instructions from the teacher and then a school administrator to stop using her cell phone; and then to report to the office.

Clearly slamming a student to the floor in this situation is extremely excessive and unwarranted.  That's why Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott fired Deputy Fields just days after the incident.  Sheriff Lott said "What he should not have done is throw the student.  Police officers make mistakes too. They're human and they need to be held accountable, and that's what we've done with Deputy Ben Fields."

I applaud his action in firing Deputy Fields.  Clearly what he did was completely inappropriate.  Then Raven Symone threw her two cents into the story on The View.  Here are the comments that landed her in hot water:

"The girl was told multiple times to get off the phone, There’s no right or reason for him to be doing this type of harm, that’s ridiculous. But at the same time, you gotta follow the rules in school. First of all, why are there cell phones in school? This shouldn’t even be a problem to begin with, and he shouldn’t have been acting like that on top of it."

Todd Rutherford says he is the attorney hired by the family of the teen, who he only identified by her first name, Shakara, and he said the following:

"She could have been left alone.  She wasn’t yelling. She wasn’t disrupting the class. She wasn’t a threat to anyone."

He went on to say his client refused to leave because she'd put the phone away and she felt the punishment of being made to leave the classroom and report to the office was "unfair."

Let me repeat that what Deputy Fields did was completely in the wrong.  Whatever Shakara did or said did not warrant physical violence.  But what about Shakara's role in the incident?  Does a high school student who is a minor have the right to arbitrarily refuse to comply with the instructions of their teacher or vice-principal because they feel those instructions are unfair?  I don't believe this to be the case.  I'm not saying she asked to be slammed to the floor, dragged across it, or injured.  But she was defiant and that is at least a partial factor in what happened.  Had she complied with the request to report to the office, there would have been no need to call Deputy Fields to the classroom.

Believe me, I understand defiance.  I spent my last week in the 6th grade being suspended from school (my only suspension ever) because I was defiant.  Without going into too much detail, I wound up in a verbal confrontation with my teacher, Mr. Sherry.  He said something and I told him "you know where you can go Mr. Sherry."  It was a colloquialism of the time that was the polite way of telling someone to "go to hell."  He got very angry and told me to report to the principal's office.

Had he told me to apologize, it wouldn't have happened.  I wasn't going to back down one iota.  He was in the wrong and he probably knew it.  But I wasn't going to be defiant either when it came to him telling me to go see the principal.  I knew I had to do what he said.  I was in no position to judge the fairness of his action in any event, and even if I had, telling me to go be disciplined for my defiance was well within his authority.

The lesson I learned early on is that when you've been told you're doing something wrong, you don't argue at that moment.  At least not when it is a teacher, police officer or other person in an authority position.  You can always argue the rights and wrongs later.  If this Shakara felt the punishment of being made to leave was unfair, the proper person to take that up with would have been that vice-principal, in the privacy of their office.

The question is, just what should Deputy Fields have done.  I'll offer my thoughts and I'd be very interested in yours.  I think he should have attempted to deescalate the situation.  Maybe he could have just asked Shakara to sit quietly until the end of class and then asked her to accompany him to the office.  If she'd refused, perhaps then the school should have contacted the parents.  No employee of a school should ever place a hand on a child, unless it is in self-defense and the employee truly feels their life is in danger.

I saw a career teacher lose their job once, because they reacted physically when a student acted up.  This student struck the teacher.  She then slapped the student across the face.  The student was not allowed to return to school the following year.  The teacher lost her job.  You don't put your hands on a minor child in any school environment unless someone's life is at risk.

Can we fault the teacher for poor classroom management?  I'll leave that judgment up to the professional educators of children.  I'm fortunate that I only teach adults these days, although there are moments when my students will act quite childish.

Playing a better variety of your favorite songs from yesterday and today

That was one of the many slogans of one of the FM music stations I was once a DJ for.  It's appropriate to mention this because the blog entry that follows is being done at the request of a friend.  I was live-posting my thoughts on last night's #GOPDebate and this friend could not see my posts (FB isn't available to her in the People's Republic of China).  A note to help in understanding some of these is that they were written contemporaneously with the debate being aired on CNBC, so some of the comments I reference from the candidates are not labeled with the name of the specific candidate.  However I think they are all pretty easy to identify.  Enjoy.

* * *

11,000 seats in the auditorium and university students got less than 200 tickets. Guess that's indicative of the level of importance the RNC and debate organizers place on education. ‪#‎GOPDebate‬.

 It's almost time for the new game show, Name That Boob, aka ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

 The opening of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ on CNBC will be brought to you by the United Marijuana Sellers of Colorado. If ever there was a moment for someone to say "smoke em if you got em" it's the #GOPDebate

The over/under on how many times the GOP candidates will call for the repeal of Obamacare during tonight's debate is 19, according to the Mandalay Bay Race and Sportsbook. ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

Looking for suggestions on a nice cheese to send ‪#‎Trump‬ to go with his Iowa Whine about his poll numbers there. Any ideas? ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

Very appropriate that Geeks Who Drink Pub Quizzes is holding their ‪#‎WalkingDead‬ trivia contest on the night of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

 

How many people watching tonight's ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ are tuning into CNBC for the first time??

Is Mike Huckabee still deluded enough to think he's a relevant/viable candidate? ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

Tonight, after the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬, Gov Chris Christie will be at the West End Tavern in Boulder, to take their Wing King Challenge. He'll have to down 50 wings in 30 minutes. Good luck, Gov Christie.

We already know none of the men on the stage understand the concept of what six inches means, now we're seeing proof they don't know how to count 30 or 60 seconds. ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

FakeFactCheck.trump is running a "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire meter for ‪#‎Trump‬ and so far it's at 2. ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ (this came after Trump's opening comment)

"75% of the America people believe the federal government is corrupt" - Carly Fiorina. Clearly she's saying that 25% of the American people are delusional.

Oh great. A designated driver in Boulder, CO. Now that's a rarity. ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

If you put Hillary Clinton on the same stage with Gov. Christie, better make sure the stage is fully reinforced. ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

"No more debt." Can we start by stopping your pay?

I like that comparison. ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ to Comic Book Men. Seems fitting.

"Dr. Carson, you have a 10% flat tax plan." Yes, just like my flat personality.

Maybe Ben Carson will go into the pizza business and sell us on a 9-9-9 tax plan.

Dr. Ben Carson "I'm going to stimulate the economy." He grabs the defibrillator and yells "charge to $3 trillion in new public debt."

This segment of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ on CNBC is brought to you by the 1995 film "The American President" A recent poll shows that 97.5% of registered voters would rather vote for Andrew Shepherd in 2016 than any of the current candidates.

"I'm the only candidate with a plan to balance the budget, cut taxes and create jobs" which leads to a quote from The American President. Sydney Ellen Wade: Your boss is the chief executive of fantasy land!

"I don't have time to vote on current issues, I've got to run for president to create future issues." Marco Rubio

Buried in Ted Cruz's tax plan is the proposal to tax corporations at a flat rate of 16% on GROSS RECEIPTS, less only the cost of goods sold. That would put a bunch of corporations in the position of making major cutbacks, going out of business, or making big price increases. His plan is not workable.

Listening to these morons leads me to once again conclude the only difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Democrats believe in tax and spend while Republicans believe in borrow and spend. ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

This portion of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ on CNBC is sponsored by the Richland County, SC Sheriff's Department. The department that fired School Resource Officer Ben Fields for bodyslamming a student.

wait...substantive issues at a ‪#‎GOPDebate‬? What a frightening notion!!

Did his eyes just go brown because his inner BS level rose as he maligned the Democratic Candidates during their debate?

It is worth noting that the ‪#‎DemocraticDebate‬ on CNN was marked by civility while the ‪#‎GOPDebates‬ have been anything but.

          "Brian, what's your take on the debate so far?"  "10 morons, no waiting."

Tomorrow on CNBC, at 2:30 A.M., tune in for the debate between the candidates of the Libertarian, Peace and Freedom and Green Party candidates.

Also on CNBC, during the paid programming segment at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, Lyndon Larouche will debate himself.

Confiscated? Did the IRS pull guns and rob us?

I bet he's drawing his full Social Security benefit, the hypocrite.

"It got stolen." Damn, we'd all better file a mass police report. (it got stolen referring to the money we have paid in to Social Security (AKA Social Insecurity)

add $80 trillion to our debt? I think his abacus is broken.

Increasing the age for retirement with full Social Security benefits isn't a bad idea as the average life expectancy increases.

The notion that the money paid into Social Security is "their money" is ridiculous. An analysis done in 2013 showed that a married couple with an average wage, $44,600 per spouse paid $722,000 into Social Security and will receive $966,000 in benefits. So they're getting back more than their money.

      Did u factor in the interest on the $722k?

      Yep. I also factored in the fact that SS benefits are taxable if there is any other significant amount of income present. Taxable or nontaxable. Since the amount taken in FICA tax was taken post-tax, it means that if this was a return of a person's money, it shouldn't be taxable at all, under the theory of no double-taxation.

This segment of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ on CNBC is brought to you by the TV program "Cheaters" They are keeping a close watch on the candidates for us.

The reason Trump doesn't name the other big successful businessmen who "used the Chapter laws" is because the majority of them did not use them.

"124 people died. No one went to jail."  In other words, business as usual in Corporate America. 

"...things against the law" . Like Bridgegate, Governor Christie?

"...a third term of the same economic policies..." In other words, no matter how bad we are, the other people are worse. It doesn't sell well.

"I wanna go back for a moment to what we were talking about." Ms Fiorina, ducking the question expertly. Nice job Ms Fiorina.

This segment of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ on CNBC is brought to you by the new James Bond film "Spectre" as Carly Fiorina raises the spectre of the dangers of socialism.

"...a good Christian education." Did Kim Davis teach their Sunday school classes?

oh, let me pimp my book since you mentioned it.

The next segment of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ on CNBC is brought to you by the new Celebrity Apprentice on NBC. With Arnold Schwarzenegger at the helm, the new Celebrity Apprentice is completely ‪#‎TrumpFree‬

"You should have to advertise this job to Americans for 180 days." In other words, you have to go without an employee for six full months before you can hire a qualified employee who isn't an American. Way to support industry.

Trump - "I wasn't critical of Zuckerberg" . http://money.cnn.com/…/donald-trump-mark-zuckerberg-immigr…/

 "The Democrats have the ultimate SuperPAC - The Mainstream Media." Just as true as Fox News is the Republican SuperPAC.

"I am an original co-sponsor..." Meaning I didn't have my own ideas or plans, but he did.

This segment of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ on CNBC is brought to you by Inequality for All - feature documentary film. The real story of how the rich get richer and the rest of us are going broke.

I just emailed ‪#‎Trump‬ to ask for a small loan of $6.8 million, what the loan of $1 million his dad gave him is worth today.

"Corporations ought to exercise some responsibility." Maybe we should start with government being responsible.

"...sustain high sustained growth." That's a fifteen second penalty flag thrown by the Redundancy Police. ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

"We cut taxes, balanced the budget and created jobs." Yet another elected leader of Fantasyland.

The minute these morons go to the character debate, CNBC should kill their microphones and play this clip.

This segment of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ on CNBC is brought to you by the New York Stock Exchange - Helping the 1% to rob you of your hard-earned money.

"I have created tens of thousands of jobs" - Donald Trump. True, most of them for illegal aliens.

"I have a carry permit." Donald Trump. Maybe we can convince him to play Russian Roulette in one of his casinos.

"I'm wearing a Trump tie." Yeah, made in Mexico or China.

"I fought the Clintons and I won, and I lived to tell the tale." Is he comparing himself to Vince Foster?

"There is no Constitutional role..." The Constitution didn't make men and women equal either, but we moved on from that, you moron.

"We sold the parking structure." Brilliant. Sell a major asset for a big chunk of change now, ignoring the income stream it generates after you've wasted the money you got in a lump sum.

"Daily fantasy sports..." Is that really worthy of discussion in a presidential campaign?

"Solar wind...."  well, there's a lot of non-solar wind in this auditorium tonight.

"Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken..." Well, you could start with the fact that the federal government set the acceptable rate of errors in paying claims at 5%, rather than the insurance industry standard of 1%.

The next segment of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ on CNBC is brought to you by the Internal Revenue Service. The Republicans have cut nearly $3 billion from our budget over the last 7 years, cut 15,000 jobs from our agency, and expect us to do so much more with so less that soon we'll be qualified to do anything with nothing.

"We're going to save Social Security and Medicare" - Donald Trump. He has no specifics on how, just like all of his other hollow promises, but he'll do it. At least he thinks he can. Too bad he's not the little engine that could.

"You can't do nothing" Rand Paul - Republicans have been doing nothing about these issues for ages.

The government is $19 trillion in debt but Republicans aren't worried. They bought plenty of blank paper for the printing presses at the Treasury. ‪#‎GOPDebate‬

This segment of the ‪#‎GOPDebate‬ on CNBC is brought to you by the Pepsi Corporation. We provide plenty of cans for the Republicans to kick further down the road.

The closing statements. Thank goodness. ‪#‎LastDumbAnswer‬ given

"That's how you go from secretary to CEO." More of that same bullshit claim? Seriously??

"I will beat Hillary Clinton." Carly Fiorina. You couldn't beat Barbara Boxer. Hell, you only got 56% of the votes in the Republican primary.

* * *

Thanks very much.  Don't forget, we're here all week and make sure to tip those servers on your way out.  Drive safely.

Donald Trump and the meaning of small

Donald Trump got started in business in 1968 with a loan of $1 million from his father.  He also inherited a big share of his father's $200 million net worth.  While answering questions, Trump describe the loan as a "small loan."  Adjusted for inflation, that loan would be about $6.8 million today.

H. Ross Perot borrowed $1,000 from his mother to start Electronic Data Systems in 1962.  On the most recent Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans, Trump is at 121st with an estimated net worth of $4.5 billion.  Perot is at 129th with an estimated net worth of $4.1 billion.

If $1 million in 1968 was a small loan, how would you label a loan one one-thousandth that size in 1962?

BTW, neither of these men are qualified to be our nation's Chief Executive.

* * *

It wasn't just missing the team's charter flight to Miami that cost Houston Texan's quarterback Ryan Mallett his job.  That was just the final straw.  While his impressive physical skills will almost certainly get another NFL team to take a shot on him, given the dearth of quarterbacks that can play in the league, one has to wonder if he'll ever acquire the maturity required to be successful at it.

* * *

This is a bit lengthy, but well worth a read.

What do you think?  I hope he booted the GF from his home at the same time.

* * *

Right as Leah Rehmini fesses up to Tom Cruise being one of the reasons she left the Church of Scientology, a Dutch court has revoked the tax-exempt status of Scientology in the Netherlands.  The "church" calls the revocation of their tax-exempt status religious discrimination.

The issue revolves around their selling of courses and therapy were intended to generate profits.  Wow, there's a news flash.

They should retitle L. Ron Hubbard's masterpiece as Nickel and Dimeanetics. 

* * *

The news that ESPN laid off 300 employees is well-known.  What's not in the public eye is the reasons behind the cutbacks.  According to Business Insider, the network made two major strategic errors in planning and the combination is making it a necessity to try to trim costs.

Back in 2012 when the network negotiated a new per-subscriber fee of $6 from the cable providers, the providers at the time were guaranteeing ESPN 90% of their subscriber base.  To get the higher fee, ESPN agreed to allow the networks to lower that percentage to 80%.  This allowed the cable companies to start providing packages that did not include ESPN.  This has caused their subscriber base to shrink, rather than continue to grow.

Combine that with the fact that ESPN clearly overpaid to purchase the rights to broadcast some sports (MLB, Monday Night Football and the NBA), and it's a prescription for failure.

Maybe they can right the ship.

* * *

Employees of REI, a retailer of outdoor equipment and clothing will all be doing something other than working on Black Friday this year.  The company has decided it will not only not open on the biggest shopping day of the year, but it is giving all of its more than 11,000 employees the day off with pay.

What a refreshing change of pace.  I also saw a notice that DSW, a big retailer of shoes has chosen to not open on Thanksgiving and to not open any of its stores before 7:00 a.m. local time on Black Friday.

This is a trend other retailers should jump on, rather than worrying on getting a jump on their competition.

* * *

As Jeb Bush continues to flounder in the polls among the candidates for the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential race, he's released his plan to reform Social Security and Medicare on his website.

Under current law, the "full retirement age" increases to 67 in 2022.  Bush proposes adding one month to that age each year thereafter.  This would increase the full retirement age to 68 in 2034 and 69 in 2046.  Given the forward progression in life expectancy this isn't a horrible idea.  People would be able to continue to choose earlier retirement, but with a lower level of benefit payments.

He also wants to decrease benefits to wealthier recipients.  I've been an advocate of means-testing benefits for ages.  Charles Koch is 80.  His brother David Koch is 75.  Neither of them need Social Security benefits for any reason.

He also proposes a couple of intriguing changes.  Eliminate the limit on what a recipient can earn from working after they begin drawing benefits, and further reduce benefits for early retirees.  Then, for those who work beyond age 67, he proposes ending the 6.2% tax these workers pay into the Social Security system.  It's an interesting notion. 

Part of the problem with the Social Security system is that when it was created, there were 16 workers paying in for every one retiree receiving a check.  That ratio is now around two workers to one retiree and it continues to narrow.  This might make that worse, but it will also provide a strong incentive to retirees to keep earning and paying regular income tax.

* * *

There are reports that Kobe Bryant went on a tear at a preseason scrimmage at practice this past Sunday after some trash-talking by some of his younger teammates.  He dropped four straight three-pointers and turned the score of the game around in an instant.

Maybe this is a sign that the "Black Mamba" is close to being 100% fit to play.  Even as he enters his 20th NBA season, his physical gifts are apparently not completely gone.  His competitive spirit and ability to elevate the level of the teammates on the floor with them may prove to be a big surprise for some NBA teams this season.

Go Lakers!!

* * *

The 20 year old Arizona State University student who posted this tweet was fired from her position as an intern at a company in Chandler, AZ.

She's apologized and deleted her social media accounts.  20 years old and this will follow her for the rest of her life.

When will people learn to think before they hit send?

Friday Thoughts

Major League Baseball has 30 teams.  Here is a list of them in alphabetical order.  And to the right of each team, the name of the man who was the President of the U.S. when they last won the World Series:

Angels - George W. Bush, Jr.

Astros - They've never won a World Series

Athletics - George H. W. Bush

Blue Jays - Bill Clinton

Braves - Bill Clinton

Brewers - They've never won a World Series

Cardinals - Barrack Obama

Cubs - Theodore Roosevelt

Diamondbacks - George W. Bush, Jr.

Dodgers - Ronald Reagan

Giants - Barrack Obama

Indians - Harry Truman

Mariners - They've never won a World Series

Marlins - George W. Bush, Jr.

Mets - Ronald Reagan

Nationals - They've never won a World Series

Orioles - Ronald Reagan

Padres - They've never won a World Series

Phillies - George W. Bush, Jr.

Pirates - Jimmy Carter

Rangers - They've never won a World Series

Rays - They've never won a World Series

Red Sox - Barrack Obama

Reds - George H. W. Bush

Rockies - They've never won a World Series

Royals - Ronald Reagan

Tigers - Ronald Reagan

Twins - George H. W. Bush

White Sox - George W. Bush, Jr.

Yankees - Barrack Obama

A lot is made of the inability of the Chicago Cubs to win another World Series.  Don't forget that if it weren't for their win in 2005, the Chicago White Sox line above would have shown Woodrow Wilson as the President the last time they'd won a World Series.  

I'm still overjoyed that the Cubs continue to own the longest streak in professional sports between championships.

* * *

Hillary Clinton survived 11 hours of grilling by the House of Representatives committee investigating Benghazi.  The majority of the media is claiming she came out the "winner" in this confrontation.

The truth is that she was going to win this confrontation the moment Kevin McCarthy said the following:

The biggest mistake whoever she winds up running against next November could make would be to try to make this a major issue.  There are plenty of ways to demonstrate that a candidate believes Hillary can't be trusted without focusing on this partisan witch hunt.

* * *

An era is ending.

Jos A. Bank, a well-known retailer of men's clothing has announced that their long-time practice of holding "buy one, get three free" sales will end with the current offering.  

The company claims the reason they are changing this policy is that these sales became the primary narrative rather than their focus on high quality menswear.

* * *

From the "if it quacks like a duck, when is it not a duck" file.  

The Obama Administration insists we do not have a combat mission in Iraq or anywhere else where U. S. troops are engaged in combat against ISIS.  That didn't stop Defense Secretary Ashton Carter from admitting that U. S. Army MSGT Joshua Wheeler, a 39 year old special forces operator died in combat on a rescue mission in Iraq.

Wheeler was shot while he and other SF operators were involved in supporting a mission where Kurdish rebels were successfully rescuing 70 prisoners being held by ISIS.  It should be noted that Wheeler and his fellow SF operators were not supposed to take part in combat but when they saw "friendlies" being fired upon, they ran to the scene and joined the battle.

We aren't there in a combat role.  But a report released around 6 p.m. EDT on 10/23/2015 claims that the Defense Department has ruled that Wheeler's death makes him eligible for the benefits provided when a military member dies in combat.

Is it combat?  Apparently yes and no.

* * *

From the tough day at an easy job file:

Bad day video 

It would have been a really bad day if she'd fallen forward and face-planted.  Fortunately her false eyelashes would have prevented serious injury.

* * *

President Obama exercised one of his rare presidential vetoes, refusing to sign and approve a $612 billion Defense Department budget.  It was only the 5th veto of his presidency, dating back to January 2009.  

The bulk of the media reported the story as a dispute over increased defense spending when the President wants to make some increases in domestic spending, and exercise a little restraint on weapons systems purchases the military isn't necessarily supporting.

Fox News reported the story as President Obama vetoing a pay increase for American military personnel.

Spin baby, spin.

* * *