Remember Trying to Explain to Trump and Trumpers Why Winning with More Delegates Rather Than Votes Didn't Make an Election Rigged?

Remember trying to explain to Trump and Trumpers why winning with more delegates rather than votes didn't make an election rigged? Apparently the message finally got through! Heh.

We are up to 128.5 million votes cast in the 2016 election, just 700k shy of 2012 with plenty left to count out West. pic.twitter.com/cL2cNEGTld

— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) November 12, 2016

Strange how when your side wins what used to be horrible, anti-democratic and against "we the people" is perfectly okay.

Democrats have been really great at this, and Republicans are proving themselves to be just as capable.

Some eye-popping numbers on Clinton's growing popular vote lead, via at @TheAtlantic pic.twitter.com/0LbsgxgCSG

— James Pethokoukis (@JimPethokoukis) November 12, 2016

Remember when the filibuster was a fundamental tradition of the Senate and needed to prevent majority overreach? Watch all the arguments against it by "conservatives" and Republicans when it is used against the Trump/Republican agenda to block the will of the "we the people" minority who won the election fair and square like George W. Bush in 2000.

Too few understand the importance of the electoral college and the filibuster any more. They both are part of the checks and balances system that slows down the rush to legislate and use government force for this or that popular idea.

Republican Healthcare Insurance Proposals Mired in Obamacare Expectations

I've been following some of the commentary on Republican proposals for replacing Obamacare.

Seems Republicans and President-elect Trump want to keep the popular portions of Obamacare. Inability to be excluded for preexisting conditions and kids staying on their parents' plans until age 26 being two of them.

Some are saying the money problem with preexisting conditions is that people don't have to buy insurance until they are sick. The fix is supposedly to require that people have ongoing insurance if they get to keep being covered. Thus, you force people to pay for insurance when they are well if they want it when they are sick (the usual carrot for buying any kind of insurance) ever onward.

But, how that differs from the pre-Obamacare model of not being accepted if you have a preexisting condition is a question. If you already had healthcare insurance then you would already have been accepted before getting your condition. So preexisting condition would not be an issue. (However, the change would help those who were dumped when a serious health condition came on or for those who had a preexisting condition as children before ever getting their own health insurance.)

More importantly, the individual market is not presently a big generator of health insurance premiums. Only 7% of people currently covered do it through the individual market. The elephant in the room is employer coverage. That amounts to 49% of the coverage given.

It's hard to find apples to apples statistics, but Kaiser Foundation research shows that the average individual employer covered plan cost $6,251 per year in 2015. By contrast the 2015 average "second lowest cost silver plan" for "a 40 Year Old Non-Smoker Making $30,000 / Year" before subsidies was $3,192. So, employers pay about double the average rate as individuals for an individual policy. That would make employer covered policies the biggest income producer for health insurance companies.

So, the employer mandate requiring companies to cover their employees is much more important for health care insurance providers than the individual mandate requiring individuals to buy insurance. This is both in terms of the premiums paid (about double) and the number of policies issued (about 7x more).

Obamacare's nice benefits cost money. So, if we're going to keep requiring health care insurance companies to provide them, we can't expect health insurance costs to go down. Or at least not without insurance companies being forced to pull out of markets or go bankrupt.

Full service healthcare for everyone is a wonderful goal. But, it costs lots of money. And when people don't directly see how much a service costs and have a stake in paying that cost, non-essential services will be recommended and accepted just because they're available at little or no extra cost. Similarly, high cost peripherals will be used because they are as readily available as lower cost options. In almost every other area of life (food, clothing, transportation, education, recreation, technology) you choose the level you want and pay for the level you choose. But, if the "Virgin Mobile paylo healthcare plan" costs about the same as the "iPhone healthcare plan", who wouldn't choose the iPhone version?

There needs to be a clear incentive for the individual to cut medical costs to services and supplies that are important or essential. Until then we're fooling ourselves about this plan being substantially better than that plan. Right now the Republicans do not have a plan significantly different than Obamacare.

Donald Trump Mellows or Returns to Type--Whichever You Prefer

President-elect Trump on Hillary Clinton:

Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. (emphasis added)

Actually, I agree with this statement. I'm not a Hillary hater even though I think she is vile at times. Shoot, I even stood up for her against the poor treatment the media gave her in 2008. (here, here and here) So, this is not a new position for me.

I don't want to see her in prison any more than I wanted to see Richard Nixon in prison or Bill Clinton in prison. I don't like punishing presidents for less than true "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" (and am not sure what high misdemeanors might be even after reading Justice Story's Commentaries on the Constitution).

President-elect Trump on President Barack Obama:

“I have great respect. . . . I very much look forward to dealing with the President in the future including counsel. . . .Very good man — very good man.” (emphasis added)

(minutes 1 to 4)

The meeting lasted for 90 minutes instead of the 10 to 15 minutes scheduled. There was super-friendliness between them. Obama said very positive things about wanting to make Trump a success.

Does that sound like how President Obama has talked about any Republican in the last eight years? Certainly not his attitude toward House or Senate leadership. Or his attitude toward outgoing President George W. Bush. That was pretty icy. No kissy-kissy even though Bush went out of his way to welcome Obama to the White House.

So, is this all just "hail-fellow-well-met" stuff like the upper class usually does to each other? Or is the friendliness due to the fact that Trump has been a liberal all his life up to eight years ago and has really not changed that much.

Perhaps the insults were not Donald Trump but his act. The "believe me" statements were not what he believed, but an act.

The good thing about either Donald Trump suddenly mellowing or having put on an act and actually being a mellow guy all along is that he will not be the "burn down the house" agent of change that many of his followers think he is. He might turn out to be a mellower version of Hillary Clinton--not driven as far left as she was by Obama and then Sanders.

In other words, we may have missed the bullet of a contentious far left presidency under Hillary and only be in for a moderate left presidency under Trump.

Looks Like We're Going on Another National Spending Binge

Looks like we're going on another national spending binge. This time compliments of Republicans.

From President-elect Trump's speech last night:

We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.

The inner cities will be fixed (!) under the Trump administration. Well, that's good news.

The federal government will rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. (Why would anyone think that bridges, tunnels, airports, schools and hospitals should be a local responsibility? Obviously, Washington, D. C., knows better than the local folks do.)

And millions of people will be put to work on short term federally-funded projects. That should fix unemployment.

Lots of money running through the federal trough. That should drain the swamp.

Lots of money that won't get funded through taxation but through borrowing. That should help the national debt.

This was a "bring us together" speech, and it certainly did the trick. Why, oh, why didn't Republicans not only back but encourage a big increase in Obama's meager "second stimulus" in 2010? We could have been on the same page six years ago. Our economy would have been humming by now.

Poor Sarah Palin Attracts Small Crowds for Trump

Sarah Palin has been called back in to campaign for Donald Trump after living too far away to attend or speak at the Republican Convention in Cleveland this summer.

Yesterday and today she spoke to some small crowds--50 to 100 people. Even her larger crowds at Fayette County Airport (about 200) and Alpena, Michigan (about 700) are nothing like crowds she attracted in the past. More like a normal politician's crowd.

Here's her facebook photo of the crowd in Zanesville.

Her appearance at a Detroit tavern drew about 50 and a fight. Here's a newspaper photo.

Some people in the tavern protested and were tossed out. When they tried to come back in an inept Palin/Trump supporter sprayed them with pepper spray. Unfortunately the wind blew the spray back into the tavern.

“The guys who were put outside were beating on the window, and some guys went outside,” the eyewitness said. “Then the protesters were trying to come back in but then the next thing I knew there was pepper spray. Me and the rest of the people sitting near the door couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. Of course the man was trying to spray it at the protesters, but the wind took it back inside.”

Gateway Pundit reported that a "leftist goon" did the spraying.  Jim Hoft links to the report done the next day which posted the photo above. But, apparently didn't search well enough to find the report done the night before which printed the above account. So much for blog fact checking. I wonder if Hoft will do any sort of retraction.

Make American Selfishness Great Again?

I've laid out in many posts the most serious charges against Donald Trump's policies and character. But, here are two lesser points that rankle.

1. What sort of person wants the poor to subsidize them? I've had some hard financial times in my life, but I've never wanted to grab money out of the hands of people much poorer than I. Still, that's what the "make Mexico pay for the wall" Trump boast is about.

Mexico is so much poorer as a country than the United States. I know that by per capita adult wealth the U.S. isn't the richest nation in the world (we're number 4 at $352,996 per adult). But statistics lie. The United States is hands down the richest country in the world. Mexico isn't even close. Nor are any of the countries Trump wants to beat on trade deals. When is the last time you heard a trade tirade against the wealthiest nations?

1. Switzerland
2. New Zealand
3. Australia
5. Iceland
6. Norway
7. United Kingdom
8. Sweden
9. Luxembourg
10. Singapore
11. France
12. Belgium
13. Denmark
14. Canada
15. Italy

So, who is supposedly eating our lunch? #53 Mexico at $25,949 (NAFTA!), #59 China at $22,513. It's hard for me to work up anger at trade policies with countries that have 6% per adult of what Americans have.

I lived in Brazil #73 for awhile. I have nothing but compassion for the many poor in that country. For the kids begging on the streets. The people living in favelas. People who pull junk carts around on hot days up and down hills trying to make a living. People who work hard.

I just can't work up a feeling of being victimized by people who have a tiny fraction of the wealth that I have. I am so incredibly rich compared to the rest of the world even though my net worth is in the bottom 20% in the U.S.

2. Punishing American companies for taking manufacturing jobs out of the U.S. to much poorer countries.

Much worse are the people like me who send money to charitable agencies that give money to the poor in those countries without making them work for it. Right? No, but isn't giving people a job what we want? Not only for the poor around the world, but for the poor in our own country? We don't want people on welfare. We want them working. Work builds character and gives self-respect besides adding goods and services to the local community and beyond.

It seems these two positions above of Mexico pays for the wall and no American company jobs abroad support the "it's all about me" selfishness and entitlement mentality that is pervading American culture. It's make American selfishness great again.

It's like complaining that the disabled get too many special benefits and privileges. Ramps, parking spaces, social security benefits. Who would argue for leveling the playing field so there are no special accommodations for the disabled?

In the Old Testament, there were special rules for the poor. Their "surety" was to be given back each night. They were allowed to glean after the first picking on other people's land, and land owners were told not to go back over their fields but to leave what was left for foreigners, the poor and animals. Actually, that's part of the story line of the book of Ruth.

A society that doesn't value self-discipline and sacrifice is a society in collapse. A society that looks on the goods of the poor with greedy eyes is despicable.

Pew Research: Harder for Clinton Supporters to Respect Trump Supporters than Vice Versa

I didn't see this coming. Maybe because of the "Put her in jail" chants with no corresponding "Put him in jail" chants. Though there is low level chortling about Trump ruining his brand and literally paying for it in low revenues in the years to come.

Pew Research:

Nearly six-in-ten registered voters who back Clinton (58%) say they have a “hard time” respecting someone who supports Trump for president; 40% say they have “no trouble” with it. Nearly the opposite is true among Trump supporters, with 56% saying they have no trouble respecting someone who backs Clinton and 40% saying they do have trouble with it.

Blacks (50%) , Hispanics (53%), senior citizens (49%), and those without a college degree (46%) are the most accepting among Hillary supporters. White Women (68%) and college grads (66%) are most negative among Clinton supporters.

Trump supporters 65 and over (48%) have the hardest time respecting Clinton supporters. Younger Trump supporters, 18-35 (69%), find it easiest.