By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  February 14th at 07:59 AM  | 

The Amicus brief argues that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) ObamaCare deprives Americans of liberty by removing health care choices; and that the legislation and associated regulations will decimate the “bronze” plan options, leaving even fewer choices, further restricting liberty and greatly increasing the cost and therefore the burden of the mandate to purchase health insurance on individuals, small businesses and States. | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  December 29th at 01:21 PM  | 

Roy Ramthun has written a great paper on HHS’s proposed-final regulation on Medical Loss Ratio, and how it will impact HSAs and other Bronze Plans in the exchanges: The final medical loss ratio (MLR) regulations will likely create a vacuum for affordable coverage that cannot be filled by Bronze plans under the state insurance exchanges. If the “essential benefits” and “actuarial value” requirements are equally | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  December 5th at 09:35 AM  | 

The urge of government health care bureaucrats to impose their will on the market, regardless of warnings and repeated petitioning for redress for relief, overpowered petitions in the latest medical loss ratio (MLR) rule by HHS. The result of the new rule will mean one thing: no bronze plans, at all, in the ObamaCare exchanges. (Bronze plans are the low cost plan that ObamaCare envisioned | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  November 28th at 02:07 PM  | 

Cowards have no business making hard choices. They are psychologically, physiologically and spiritually deficient, and cannot (are incapable) of making the right choice. They are not built for it — because they are cowards. Furthermore, they are so afraid, they will not allow those with courage to make the right choice for them. Cowardliness is rampant in the West and epidemic in the Western financial | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  November 10th at 01:00 PM  | 

In a little noticed conference call between the White House and the media last week, the Obama Administration’s embrace of the Occupy Wall Street radicals went from the courting stage to a full-blown love-fest. In an effort to force Senate Republicans to capitulate and confirm ethically challenged former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head a new regulation producing agency known as the Consumer Financial | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  November 9th at 09:22 AM  | 

From the diaries by Erick So, this morning, were the lead stories on television that Nancy Pelosi, whose belittling and famous “Are you serious? Are you serious?” response to being asked about the challenge to the ObamaCare individual mandate, was the perfect illustration of her radical and out-of-touch mental state — and that she is as out of touch as former President Bush was when | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  October 14th at 08:36 AM  | 

Wait, there is yet another “Greek financial crisis” story out of Europe. Yawn. Yawn again. When the royalty of Europe spent to much, the result was, “Quick — tax the subjects!” This has been the preferred mode in dealing with bailing out those who lent to Greece. But now the lenders are now finding out it was the gypsy Madame Zorba who wrote their fictional | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  October 7th at 01:17 PM  | 

The arrogance of man knows no bounds. Just look at “the One,” our President. His arrogance is destructive and blinding to his own eyes, and those closest to him. Listening to “the One” is like listening to the patronizing and condescending tones of scientists explaining nothing can travel faster than light. Except now, 160 scientists from 11 countries can’t figure out how a particle from | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  September 21st at 07:17 AM  | 

Certainly, most Presidents have been tempted to do what ever it is they want, and most do not, because they listen to those around them and find out they do not know as much as they thought they knew. This problem has zero impact on our current President — as Peretz writes in the New Republic — “the arrogance that is so characteristic of his | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  September 16th at 11:32 AM  | 

As whispers became shrill rumors of a Greek default last week, it became clear that the Federal Reserve was going to “inject liquidity” into the French banks that could not find overnight funds on the open market. Markets are disciplined. The Federal Reserve magic money machine is not. When the market decided the three French banks were over-extended in Greece, and loaning them money was | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  September 13th at 02:01 PM  | 

It’s amazing what happens when the White House actually produces a bill, you know, with the proposal in legislative language. It’s a half a trillion dollar stimulus bill, which raises taxes on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Here is an analysis of the bill on RedState. If you make north of a household income of “x” there is a new type of tax increase for you | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  September 13th at 01:19 PM  | 

Well, get ready for the next crash — and for the Federal Reserve to start cranking up the printing presses — or, rather, creating tens and hundreds of billions via their computer keyboard. After all, why print dollars, when you can type? Printing is expensive and time consuming and typing is faster — you can create tens of billions in seconds. When French banks can’t | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  September 9th at 10:58 PM  | 

I went to see Contagion tonight, and can tell you, dear reader, it’s an entertaining film. A new virus enters the human population, a mutated version of the bird flu, and the film chronicles how Americans, governments and others in the world, including China, muddle through. “Muddle through” is a phrase used to describe the human condition during the greatest pandemic, caused by the 1918 | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  September 6th at 06:29 PM  | 

As Perry solidified his lead for the GOP nomination, the opposite has happened to “the One,” who, in short, has become obviously and glaringly undone — in a way that has been so dramatic that even the main stream media cannot ignore it, downplay it or talk around it. Basically, if there is a credible pollster, Obama has hit that pollster’s all time low, including | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  August 29th at 05:17 PM  | 

The great appeal Of Gods and Men is it’s message and it’s story telling. This film made it into my top ten list of movies when I watched it last night, and it has won many awards. First, it is historically accurate. Second, the power of the film is undeniable, even though it has subtitles and the majority of its dialogue is in either French | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  August 28th at 07:18 PM  | 

I was expecting the anti-nuclear power crowd at the White House would have used the recent earthquake in Virginia to wring their hands and nod solemnly about the need to frighten “be concerned” about the close proximity of a nuclear power plant to the epicenter of the quake. But, wait — silence, even from the White House, who took the ignition of Deep Horizon in | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  July 26th at 04:34 PM  | 

Now that the Speaker’s plan is going to be voted on tomorrow, and it is in writing, we have this handy comparison chart between the cut, cap and balance plan and the Boehner Debt and Tax Hike plan, I thought we should review what the debt hike and tax hike plan does: It does not include the Balanced Budget Amendment, just passed by the U.S. | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  July 24th at 08:20 PM  | 

It is irrational to expect different results from promising cuts in the future and raising the debt limit immediately. The Dem trap is simple, wait out and refuse any real cuts, and then use Wall Street and the Federal Reserve and others to force Congress into granting new debt immediately, with promises of cuts in ten years. The new deal sounds like the same old | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  July 12th at 10:17 AM  | 

The deal that The One is offering is to increase the debt limit by $2.4 Trillion, increase taxes by $1 Trillion (on top of the ObamaCare taxes) in return for promises to cut trillions from government spending. The Debt Limit becomes law immediately. The taxes become law immediately. The spending cuts never, ever become law — they are promises never kept — ever. The GOP | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  June 20th at 10:27 AM  | 

It is unclear how much clearer things need to get before the elite get it: the strategic correlation of forces is steadily and regularly eroding the position of the West vis-à-vis the Muslim world. Ironically, Greece, the cradle of early democracy, may or may not, be the proximate cause of the collapse of the leading Western currency: the Euro. For those Americans who don’t get | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  June 8th at 08:29 PM  | 

At least something good has come out of the Rep. Wiener scandal, a new word. My friend and colleague, who insisted I take his name out of this post, made it up. From now on, any lewd tweet accidentally sent to the tweet universe, should be henceforth known as a twiener (sounded out, it’s tweener). A Goggle search for the term “twiener” turns up no | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  April 30th at 08:30 AM  | 

From the diaries by Erick Note to the universe: do you really think the Supreme Court will act like there is a severability clause in ObamaCare, when one does not exist? It’s not like the Supremes spend their dawns poring over statutes, line by line, or anything at all like that. So, President Clinton thought he might mention it. And now TIME magazine is reporting | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  April 25th at 12:58 PM  | 

This is real simple: The One and Senate Democrats refuse to ever cut spending in a meaningful way. As a result, paltry cuts are well-reported but never actually occur. The GOP, in control of only the U.S. House, will not precipitate a crisis by refusing to raise the debt ceiling. The White House will call their non-bluff. This will end any ability of the GOP | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  April 23rd at 07:07 AM  | 

This is the part where the U.S. debt crisis could, maybe, perhaps, possibly get real. If Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling, so the tax-borrow-and-spend-some-more cycle in D.C. can not continue without change, then Congress and the White House would have to do something real about the debt ceiling. Without the crisis of not raising the debt limit, the U.S. will simply never change | Read More »

By: Dan Perrin (Diary)  |  April 22nd at 07:07 AM  | 

This just in, Estonia — the former Soviet communist captive state — has a better financial rating than the United States. Here is the U.S. strategic financial situation — a complete joke. While the public tries to sort out if CBO was right, and the great budget deal only cut $350 million, or the $38 billion widely reported by the mainstream media, Rome is burning. | Read More »