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PoliGAF 2013 |OT2| Worth 77% of OT1

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B

Black Mamba

Member
B-Dubs said:
That's the whole point of a bikini!



Shocking.
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1) Republicans are far, far more likely to want lawmakers to fight to ensure Obamacare fails than independents are. To begin with, even Republicans are split on this topic. But still, 43 percent of Republicans are in the “make it fail” camp.

By contrast, only 23 percent of independents are in the “make it fail” category. Among independents overall, 36 percent support the law, while 58 percent oppose it (yes, Obamacare polls very badly). That 58 in opposition, though, breaks down into 32 percent who want lawmakers to make the law work versus the 23 percent who are advocating for failure. (Discrepancies in totals are the result of “don’t know” respondents.)

What that means is that a total of 68 percent of independents either supports the law or opposes it but wants lawmakers to make it work. By contrast, fewer than one quarter of them align roughly with the position of conservatives (and to a lesser degree with the GOP leadership position, which is essentially a posture that favors undermining the law rather than making it work).

What’s more, a lot of these independent voters who want the law to fail, Dimock says, are Republican aligned Tea Party types who no longer self-identify as Republicans because the party has disappointed them. The independent group rooting for failure “scoops up a fair number of pretty strong ideologues,” Dimock explains.

2) Meanwhile, the Pew poll finds that sentiment in favor of the law failing is largely driven by Tea Party Republicans. But it turns out this group has disproportionate influence, because the percentage who want the law to fail is far higher among definite primary voters.

Among Republicans who say they “always” vote in primaries, 53 percent oppose the law and want lawmakers to make it fail. Among Republicans who do not “always” vote in primaries, only 38 percent express that view, Dimock says.

And there you have it. The “make Obamacare fail” position is a minority preoccupation that is driven largely by Tea Party Republicans and has very little support even among independents — including fewer than half of those independents who oppose the law. Yet it’s exerting an enormous influence over the GOP’s posture heading into this fall’s fiscal fights, and by contrast, over our political situation in general and potentially over the fate of the economy. In case you wondered why the situation is so lopsided and unbalanced, the above goes some way towards explaining it.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...e-the-make-obamacare-fail-dead-enders-anyway/
 
B

Black Mamba

Member
Last week I wrote about Trader Joe's decision to cut health insurance benefits for employees who work fewer than 30 hours a week. After that, one reader forwarded along a response received from Trader Joe's after inquiring about the matter. It's one of the more thorough explanations I've seen from a company cutting in benefits, so I've posted it here. It acknowledges, surprisingly bluntly, that some employees will be worse off for the decision and that others might benefit. Here is the full response:

Thank you for writing to us. It's possible you have been misled, at least to some degree, by the headlines in some articles regarding our reasons for implementing the [Affordable Care Act] in January. We'd like to take this opportunity to clarify some facts.

For over 77% of our Crew Members there is absolutely no change to their healthcare coverage provided by Trader Joe's.

The ACA brings a new potential player into the arena for the acquisition of health care. Stated quite simply, the law is centered on providing low cost options to people who do not make a lot of money. Somewhat by definition, the law provides those people a pretty good deal for insurance ... a deal that can't be matched by us -- or any company. However, an individual employee (we call them Crew Member) is only able to receive the tax credit from the exchanges under the act if we do not offer them insurance under our company plan.

Perhaps an example will help. A Crew Member called in the other day and was quite unhappy that she was being dropped from our coverage unless she worked more hours. She is a single mom with one child who makes $18 per hour and works about 25 hours per week. We ran the numbers for her. She currently pays $166.50 per month for her coverage with Trader Joe's. Because of the tax credits under the ACA she can go to an exchange and purchase insurance that is almost identical to our plan for $69.59 per month. Accordingly, by going to the exchange she will save $1,175 each year ... and that is before counting the $500 we will give her in January.

While we understand her fear of change, at her income level this is a big benefit that we will help her achieve.

Clearly, there are others who will go to the exchanges and will be required to pay more. That is usually because they have other income and typically a spouse who had a job with no benefits and they do not qualify for the subsidies under the ACA.

One example of that we had yesterday was the male Crew Member who worked an average of 20 hours per week but had a spouse who is a contract consultant who makes more than $200,000 per year. The Crew Member worked for the medical benefits and unfortunately for them they are likely to have to pay more because of their real income. We understand how important healthcare coverage is to our Crew Members and we are pleased to be able to provide and support this program.

We do hope this information helps, and we appreciate your interest in Trader Joe's.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...nefits-last-week-heres-its-side-of-the-story/

Awesome response from Trader Joe's. Lack of information for people in understanding what the law is doing is a major problem.

Trader Joe's is trying to help its part-time workers here.
 
B

Black Mamba

Member
Dax01 said:
Aha. Did I mention I don't like to drink alcohol?
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ioSwICRoEa9aI.gif
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
I made an outstanding drink for milady this weekend. Some orange liqueur mixed with Mango and Watermelon juice. Went over pretty well. We're almost out of our last bottle of Ron Barcelo from the Dominican finally though.:(
 
B

Black Mamba

Member
Dax01 said:
Guuuuuys! I posted a picture of me only a couple weeks ago! Have you all forgotten?
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ClassyPenguin said:
That's it!
Back in the binder with you.
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XOyU2Ye.jpg


Indeed. (i should have painted the hair blonde) editL http://i.imgur.com/jftsPsm.jpg haha, quick and dirty.

They're finally opening locations here in South Florida later this year and next year. Can't wait.
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Awesome. You'll love it. Their fruit/veggies are high quality but pricey. But wine/beer/crackers/cheese are great. Good eggs too. I'd imagine it's pretty decent for salami and those types of meats in places different than out here in LA (since we have so many euro markets for that).

Picking what cheese you want is such a chore. So many choices.
 
Link

Link

The Autumn Wind
Black Mamba said:
Awesome. You'll love it. Their fruit/veggies are high quality but pricey. But wine/beer/crackers/cheese are great. Good eggs too. I'd imagine it's pretty decent for salami and those types of meats in places different than out here in LA (since we have so many euro markets for that).

Picking what cheese you want is such a chore. So many choices.
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I've been to them out west. That's why I'm excited.
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
Hopefully they open one near Palm Coast, FL, so I don't have to listen to my grandparents rave about the damn place every time they come back from California.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Dax01 said:
Thompson is dropping out of the NYC Mayoral race.

Poor people at the naval shipyard. :(
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Haven't heard any bad news from the people I knew who work there, NAVSEA is two buildings over from MUSN where I used to work. Frankly if they had a badge it wouldn't have been hard to get a gun in from the pedestrian entrances.
 
T

The Librarian

Banned
Black Mamba said:
http://i.imgur.com/XOyU2Ye.jpg[/IMG

Indeed. (i should have painted the hair blonde) editL [url]http://i.imgur.com/jftsPsm.jpg[/url] haha, quick and dirty.[/QUOTE]
Why do you still have that?!
[quote="pigeon, post: 82207601"]I appreciate the admission that you just don't like good movies.[/QUOTE]

I do like good movies!

[img]http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/annie-scream.gif
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