News Burst: July 19, 2017 (+ Vacation Notes) (Patreon)

I hope this News Burst finds you well!

Not to beat a dead horse (although I fucking love beating horses), but I’m headed to the airport in about an hour from now, and will be “on vacation” until I return to Santa Monica a week from today.

Tomorrow’s episode is slotted and ready to go. If all goes according to plan, the video will auto-publish at 9a PT on YouTube, per usual, and threads will automatically pop here on Patreon with the video (in the morning) and the audio (at night) for your convenience.

This will be the final News Burst until Thursday, July 27th. However, thanks to your friends at the $10+/month level, who pretty much universally gave their blessing, I’ll be posting March’s, April’s, and May’s Patreon-exclusive Q&As for all Patrons to hold you over. (Just don’t spoil the surprise for your $1/month and $2/month brethren!) Keep an eye out for those over the next week.

Okay, that’s all. Thanks, as always, for your support. I hope you all have a really fantastic next seven days, and I’ll see you upon my return. Onto the news!

Health Care Reform Dies: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-idUSKBN1A40UX

My Take: Not for nothing, but I called this months ago. Then again, other folks did, too. After trying to ram through a “repeal-and-replace” health care initiative that would have undone Obamacare in lieu of something new, the Congress tried to simply repeal Obamacare, and then give themselves two years to get a replacement in place. Obviously, that was going to be an even bigger non-starter, not only because straight-up repeal would require 60 votes in the Senate, but because no one should trust the House and Senate to do their work properly. Repealing Obamacare with nothing else in place would have been one of the most predictable political disasters in modern American history.

Here’s the thing about health care reform: It’s absolutely, positively necessary. Obamacare has some really nice ideas, in my opinion, including allowing 20-somethings to stay on their parents’ insurance, capping yearly cumulative payments, and eliminating the rigmarole for pre-existing conditions. That’s all really, really good stuff, and even as a small government guy, I think that level of regulation on the insurance industry is necessary, and benefits all. But Obamacare needs heavy tweaking. It’s massively spiking deductibles and premiums, insurers and doctors alike are ducking in and out of the exchanges, and while Obamacare has solved many problems, it’s created a whole host of new ones, including ones that Republicans predicted back when Obama and the Democratic Congress rammed Obamacare through.

What bothers me about this entire issue is that, like everything else, it gets reduced to politics. Moreover, it exposes the inherent weaknesses in the Republican structure. The GOP controls the entire federal apparatus, and they can’t get a single thing done. It’s absolutely embarrassing, and raises questions on if the Republican party is dying, even as it’s in power. I want to do a video on this issue (the GOP, not health care) when I get back, because it’s insane to see the people at the levers of power so incredibly inept and ineffective. Doing things just to do them makes no sense. Keeping promises is important, but scorching the Earth in the process seems counterproductive.

(Related Story | Trump v. GOP Tensions Running High: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/342650-tensions-reach-new-high-between-trump-gop)

SCOTUS Sides With Trump on Travel Ban: https://www.apnews.com/79d90882a9ee4f5ba3e2f1150ae218ee/Justices-allow-strict-enforcement-of-Trump-refugee-ban

My Take: This is a bit of an ongoing saga, as we all know, and I feel like it was only a week or two ago that I wrote about the Supreme Court’s decision, which -- surprisingly or not (depending on your outlook) -- overturned many objections from various lower courts in allowing the Trump administration to execute on their so-called “travel ban” while the appeals process takes its course. As I said at that time, the strangest thing about this ordeal is that if the ban had just been allowed to go into effect, it would have lapsed already. The courts’ involvement in the ban has elongated it and kept it on the books. It’s ironic, to be sure, but the people have the right to protest and the courts have a right to rule, so, that’s neither here nor there.

The interesting thing about this particular order, which is mixed in its delivery and intent, is that it leaves in limbo some 24,000 Middle Eastern refugees who were on the verge of getting into the United States. Then again, those seeking asylum (or simply a new life) in the United States from the targeted countries will have a wider swath of people that they can reach out to for tangible US-based connections that will allow them entry, including brothers-and-sisters-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren, and more. The court is calling this a “bona fide relationship.”

As time has gone on, the most glaring omission from the travel ban hit me in the face: Saudi Arabia. While I don’t disagree that we have to better vet people that are coming into the United States, and that we have an absolute, sovereign right to dictate who comes in, when, from where, and for how long, the “travel ban” doesn’t target a few countries with connections to terrorism, archaic societal rules, and oppressive regimes. Politics, as usual, gets in the way of policy.

Will Trump and Congress Botch Tax Reform, Too?: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/19/tax-reform-becomes-must-win-for-trump-240691

My Take: If I were a betting man, my answer would be a hearty “yes!” Neither Trump nor Congress has shown any propensity whatsoever in getting things done these last six months. There’s no reason whatsoever to believe that that’s suddenly going to change now that the issues have pivoted away from health care and other non-starters to something as deep, complicated, and frankly in need of massive reform as the American tax structure. Why would anyone believe anyone in charge can get any of this done? I’d love for them to pass comprehensive tax reform, but I simply don’t believe it’s going to happen.

You’ll remember that tax reform at one point hinged on health care reform, specifically because money from health care reform would be used to pay for tax cuts, negating their budgetary effects. Alas, that never happened, and now you have to wonder if that’s simply another domino in a series of dominoes that will tip the next over, as complete paralysis overtakes the federal government, with the people in power either unwilling or unable to do the people’s work. The fact is, Americans across the board pay too much in taxes. Everyone. Businesses, too. This should be easy to fix. But the political experience of 2017 proves that nothing is as easy as it should be.

The common theme with a lot of commentators is true, though: Should the GOP fail to pass tax reform just as it has failed to pass health care reform, the Republican party should hold on tight for a very rough 2018, and a really terrible rest of Trump’s (first?) term. Those two issues have been perpetual pillars of the conservative platform since Obama took office (and for tax reform, it’s been a conservative pillar for decades). Rarely is a party in the position to exact whatever changes it wants like the Republicans are right now. What you’re seeing with your own two eyes, in complete slow motion, is an epic dropping of the ball.

(Related Story | The House Holds the Keys: http://www.recorder.com/House-budget-blueprint-key-to-success-of-Trump-tax-agenda-11357282)