A civil war is breaking out within the left of the Democratic Party pitting the Congressional Black Caucus against the first African-American president….
The battle began when California Rep. Maxine Waters complained publicly about the administration's failure to do more to help minority-owned businesses in the current recession. (Translation: In the new stimulus of "jobs" bill making its way through Congress, they want a larger take.) It continued yesterday when 10 members of the Black Caucus refused to participate in a meeting of the House Banking Committee that was considering the bill to restructure financial regulations, forcing Chairman Barney Frank to push the bill through by the uncomfortable margin of only 31-27.
The latest shot in the battle was fired by Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., a card carrying regular of the Black Caucus. Faced with the need to investigate the gate-crashing at the White House during the recent state dinner for India, he chose to embarrass the administration by subpoenaing White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers rather than quietly negotiating for her appearance. Read more...
Larry Kudlow: Fess Up, Ben
Fed head Ben Bernanke got hammered during his reconfirmation hearing in front of the Senate Banking Committee this week. Jim Bunning was Bernanke's toughest critic, followed by Richard Shelby, Jim DeMint, and yes, Chris Dodd, the beleaguered committee chair who in all likelihood will be defeated in Connecticut next year. |
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Blue Cross Blue Patients - Another study predicts higher insurance prices.
Another day, another study confirming that ObamaCare will increase the price of health insurance. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has found that premiums in the individual market will rise on average by 54% over the status quo, which translates into an extra $3,341 a year for families and $1,576 for singles. The White House denounced the report as a "sham" before it was even released, which shows how seriously it takes such concerns.
The Congressional Budget Office also found this week that ObamaCare will boost premiums in the individual market by as much as 13%. But the White House called that a triumph because the higher costs will be offset by taxpayer subsidies that will be transferred to the federal balance sheet.
The Blue Cross study is in fact more precise than CBO's because it is based on real market data, rather than modeling assumptions. The association mined the actuarial data from its six million individual or small-business policies, nearly one-eighth of those sold in the U.S.
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