Both sides of the CBO report: Today's news for March 14th

Both sides of the political divide, otherwise known as Fox News and CNN, had different takes on the news about the Congressional Budget Office's report on the new Republican bill to "repeal and replace" Obamacare. Or should I call it the American Health Care Act, which is to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act?

Whatever you want to call it, let's start with the good news:

Fox News:

Trump administration disagrees with CBO report on health care

The Trump administration on Monday lashed out at the Congressional Budget Office’s report that estimated that about 24 million more Americans in a few years would be uninsured under the new legislation.

The bill, called the American Health Care Act, would be “less generous” with new tax credits for those receiving subsidies under the current law and the plan would likely increase average premiums in the nongroup market until 2020.

Tom Price, the Health and Human Services secretary, downplayed the report and said, “we disagree strenuously with the report that was put out. It’s just not believable is what we would suggest.”

This reminds me of the following scene from A Few Good Men:


Aside from that political silliness, there is some good news about the AHCA:

The CBO report, compiled along with staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, also determined that the Republicans’ American Health Care Act would save money for taxpayers. According to the study, it would reduce federal deficits by $337 billion from 2017 to 2026.

Any wagers that money gets spent before Trump's signature is even dry on the new law?

In news of the screamingly obvious:

According to the CBO, the projected loss in insurance coverage is related mostly to a provision repealing penalties associated with the ACA’s requirement to buy insurance. 

Amazingly, when people aren't threatened with death or kidnapping by the federal government, they tend to do what they would have done if left to their own priorities. People are funny that way.

Anyway, to the other side of the political divide:

CNN:

How CBO report could help Democrats beat Trump

Democrats are finally back on the offensive on health care, brandishing an explosive new report stocked with damaging information about the Republicans' plans to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Their new ammunition: 24 million more Americans would be uninsured by 2026 under a House Republican proposal, while premiums would skyrocket for some of the most vulnerable Americans, including low-income elderly patients, according to analysis released on Monday by the Congressional Budget Office.

The article fails to point out how many of those 24 million would voluntarily drop health insurance without the government-enforced-by-threat-of death-or-kidnapping mandate.

And then there is this example:

A 64-year-old making $26,500 would pay $1,700 for coverage in 2026 under Obamacare, thanks to its subsidies -- but under the [American Health Care Act], that person would get hit with a annual premium bill of $14,600.

Anyone dare to guess how much of that annual premium bill is due to government interference in the health care market? The "assistance" of our elitist superiors running the government comes with a heavy price tag, and that is before we even get the tax bill.

But back to the story from the Clinton News Network. The following bit of hyperbole is priceless:

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the liberal independent from Vermont who challenged Hillary Clinton from the left in the 2016 presidential primary, was characteristically blunt: Thousands will "die," he said, if the GOP bill is passed.

"Throwing 24 million Americans off of health insurance, raising premiums for older low-income Americans, while giving $285 billion in tax breaks to the top 2% is a disgusting and immoral proposal," Sanders said. "Thousands of Americans will die if this legislation is passed and we have to do everything that we can to see that is defeated."

Here is some cold hard TRUTH for Bernie: Every single American alive today is going to die. Every single American alive within the next 10 years will also die. Over 300 million Americans are going to die, regardless of what the government does with health care.

Do you think he cares this much about how many Americans will die from law enforcement? He might toss out a few crocodile tears when one of his favorite minority groups gets killed by a cop, before he proceeds to make more laws for cops to enforce on everyone, including his favorite minority groups. Communists like Sanders have a real cognitive dissonance issue with this topic.

Speaking of mentally confused people in government...

Remember when President Trump accused former President Obama of wiretapping him?

CNN:

Spicer: Trump didn't mean wiretapping when he tweeted about wiretapping

The White House on Monday walked back a key point of President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated allegation that President Barack Obama wiretapped his phones in Trump Tower during the 2016 election.

Namely, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump wasn't referring to wiretapping when he tweeted about wiretapping.

"I think there's no question that the Obama administration, that there were actions about surveillance and other activities that occurred in the 2016 election," Spicer said. "The President used the word wiretaps in quotes to mean, broadly, surveillance and other activities."

That was awkward. It must be tough trying to move forward when you're walking something back?

Finally, in the latest news from across the pond...

Daily Mail:

Scots warned of economic chaos: Country would have to raise tax or slash their spending 

if it became independent, says top economist

Scotland would be forced to raise taxes or slash spending if it became independent, a leading economist warned yesterday.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the nation could also be pushed into joining the euro if it wanted to remain in the EU.

And he pointed to how public spending is more than £1,000 higher per person north of the border, despite tax revenues being similar.

...He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: ‘Two things have changed since the last Scottish referendum … the Scottish fiscal situation has got worse, relative to that of the rest of the UK, because the oil price has gone down …

‘Secondly, the Brexit vote means the UK looks like it is going to come out of the single market. But if an independent Scotland were to be in the EU, within the single market … that potentially hinders it very badly in terms of its access to the UK market.’ Business leaders warned a second vote would create uncertainty for firms.

This actually makes an interesting comparison to California's situation. If California is seriously considering leaving the United States, it needs to consider this little fact, from the San Diego Tribune back in 2012:

34%
Of the nation’s welfare recipients live in California but only …
12%
… of the U.S. population resides here.

California is third among states in per-capita spending on welfare:
$179

Call it a hunch, but the welfare queens on the Left coast aren't going anywhere.