2017 Jan 4^th

A long time ago there was an irregular guest on the old Jack Paar show named Alexander King. Mr. King, as with many Paar guests, was an irascible humorist, author and all ‘round character. His parting shot as he left his seat as a guest was to say to Paar, “May your house be safe from tigers.” Eventually came this exchange: Paar “Why do you always say ‘may your house be safe from tigers’?” King replied, “Has your house ever been attacked by tigers?” Paar, “Well, no.” King, “Now you know why.” Preserving Paar’s house from tigers is a lot easier than preserving our country from Donald Trump.

I listened to Paul Ryan and Mike Pence give an abbreviated press conference within the past few minutes. The primary topic was the replacement of the Affordable Care Act. Ryan was asked about the replacement, but about all he could talk about was how awful the ACA was. When asked about the acts replacement he claimed the incoming administration had many ideas. That’s political speak for they really don’t know exactly what they’ll replace it with.

The leading candidate for replacing the ACA is a program to provide everyone with a tax-free portion of their own income to buy insurance. The sum mentioned is five thousand dollars. If you’re making 20 thousand a year, (That’s about ten dollars an hour, well above the minimum wage,) setting aside five thousand dollars for insurance will probably be just a tad difficult. Do these politicians really believe a family of four, and with some members with health problems, can buy decent health insurance by paying about 420 dollars a month? One day in Intensive Care will cost you, or your insurance, about 2,800 dollars.

If you are unemployed, these Republicans will provide you with three thousand dollars with which to buy insurance. That’s 250 dollars a month. So an unemployed man with a family of four will have 250 a month to buy insurance; on what planet? That’s almost as sick a joke as nominating Trump for the presidency!

I just watched a Republican congressman interviewed who said that some years ago when he had graduated from college jobs were plentiful and so was healthcare for employees. Then he said, “Now with this terrible economy….” The interviewer never interrupted to remind him that the current unemployment rate is below 5 percent. Why these Republicans are allowed to lie about the economy must be because if the interviewer got a reputation for correcting the lies, the interviewers would have no “guests.”

Then we have the Republican complaints about how awful it was for President Obama to use executive orders to get anything dome. His executive orders were just anathema to all those Republican obstructionist. Guess what technique Trump plans to use to counter Obama’s programs? You guessed it, he’ll use executive orders.