[tomder55]

The good news is the government is opening. The bad news is the government is opening.

Many issues to discuss in detail which I won't do here.

Obamacare "temporary " subsidies. Dems want them permanent to disguise a terminally flawed system. The Repubs want them gone as well as the system itself. They have a little over a month to solve this. It is unfair to people in the system to pull the plug without a reasonable alternative. Therefore, the best alternative to the current reality is to temporarily extend them. I like the idea of giving the subsidies directly to Americans in Health Savings Accounts and making that part of a permanent system of people having a choice.

The shut down delayed the release of some jobs reports that I believe will not look good.

Epstein files. The delay of swearing in of Adelita Grijalva means a vote to release the Epstein files will happen. I contend that they should've been released a long time ago, as far back as the emperor's reign. Trump's DOJ acted buffoonish in denying there is nothing there.
The real scandal untold is not who is on the list. The real scandal is that the FBI's Maurine Comey (daughter of James Comey) offered a plea deal to Epstein IF he implicated Trump. Epstein did not take the deal and that is why he ended up "committing suicide " in an unguarded jail cell.

Arctic Frost will be back in the news. Jack Smith trampled on lawmaker's rights, and they are going to fight back. Bills to protect them from future snooping will be debated and passed. They include phone companies will be required to inform them if the government is snooping on them if they are not the actual target of an investigation: AND the lawmakers will retroactively have the right to sue the government for damages. Not sure if those rights are extended to us peons.

[tomder55]

These Epstein files is more fun than any of the normal BS posturing. I don't know what to think . The emails about or by Virginia Giuffre clearly implicate ????? Trump the Dems say. Put this in the dead people tell no tales . Like Epstein she "committed suicide ". Prior to this she had stated multiple times that Trump did nothing and that she never even saw him at Epstein's house. And if there is proof it should be readily available since Epstein covered his home with pin prick hidden cameras so he could blackmail his guests if needed. So barring anything new it is safe to assume that the Dems shot their Epstein load to cover for their screw up of the shut down .

[tomder55]

quick hit . I get that Air traffic has to be regulated by the government . Does that mean that the ATC needs to be a government agency ? The Dems like to point to Canada and Europe as examples of the better way. Canada sold it off in 1996 . UK is privatized with government oversight . New Zealand went private in 1987 . Germany is privatized . There are at least 8 other Euro nations that also operate privately .

I get that the US is a bigger nation .But the model appears to work

The thing that bothered me most about the shut down was that the government demanded that "essential " employees had to show up for work with no guarantee that they would be paid for their services any time soon. Name a private employer who could get away with that cr*p .

How does Canada do it without dipping into tax revenue or print monopoly bucks ? They charge the users based on weight and distance of the flight. It works . Canadian controllers do not have to look for secondary jobs to support their families because a$$wipes decide to shut things down so illegals can get freebees .

Is this a new idea ? No ;it has been proposed since like forever . The US has just not acted on it . The swamp does not give up power willingly .

Earlier this year reforming ATC was all the rage . I never heard privatization as a viable solution although it is painfully obvious that is the direction the US should take

[tomder55]

If the Dems had anything on Trump they went for the kill shot . Clueless Joe's DOJ and various states compiled 88 charges against him. You would think if they had anything that could've stuck against him in his dealings with Epstein ,they would've done so.

Trump did not help his cause altering between full transparency release of the files to calling the whole thing a hoax. Why ? What is he hiding that the Dems would not bother making public ? Was he secretly working as an informant in the time before the Epstein indictments ? Why did he allow Ghiselle Maxwell to be transferred to 'Club Fed ' ? Does he not want friends implicated or smeared with guilt by association as is happening to him now ?

He is in a bind because some of his base want the transparency of a release of the files . If he wants to maintain that stand in the wake of probable Congressional action he should ;or maybe Pam Bondi should come forward and make the case why the files should not be released .

[tomder55]

Trump's on again off again Epstein game took a bizarre turn . He campaigned on releasing the files. Then he reversed that and opposed it. He tried to get Lauren Boebert to vote against releasing the files .He did the same with Nancy Mace. He called MTG a traitor for her Epstein file release positions and her siding with the Dems on Obamacare subsidies . He wants Thomas Massie primaried .

Now he says he is fine with them being released and said the Repubs should vote in favor of releasing the files .

This whole thing has been a clown show .

[tomder55]

It is now Dec 8 ;days away from Congress packing up and going home for the holidays . Something has to be done about the Obamacare subsidies before the new year or many people will see massive increases in the premiums that they owe.

Clearly there is no time to do anything about it . Neither side is doing any of the leg work necessary to reform this debacle. There are some bipartisan mumblings that amount to continuing the "temporary " subsides .

At this point there is little alternative . I therefore see no option but to back a plan Senator Susan Collins ;the so called "moderate " Repub.;has put forward. Between all the yada yada yada it amounts to a 2 year extension.

This would take the topic off of the table for the 2026 elections and allow the new Congress however it is constituted to change it. The biggest change in her plan is that it would be capped for people with incomes over $200,000 . To me that is a no brainer .

Senate Republican pitches Obamacare subsidy compromise | Semafor

I would add provisions to do more to end Obamacare fraud .Minnesota showed us how easy it is to game the system. If the Dems don't want to address that then let them explain why it is cool to take Federal heath care dollars from autistic children and food from the mouths of dependent children. For that matter maybe they can explain how a system they exclusively designed to address health care affordability (there's that word again) has become so unaffordable.
Yeah I know ;extending the subsidies enables that ;true . But give Dems their due . By delaying a resolution they have succeeded in forcing a resolution in their favor.

Me ;I would've transitioned away from it a long time ago. Trump is right in that if the government is going to give health care subsidies at all; it should go directly to the person and not to insurance providers. Measures ensuring price transparency should be mandated . Then armed with those facts ;the consumer could rationally choose a plan for themselves and their families.