10-13-2016, 11:38 PM
(10-13-2016, 10:18 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: 1. And a lot more people are now unable to afford their previous healthcare because their premiums and deductables skyrocketed. I don't personally know anyone who is better off due to the ACA. Only people who are now paying more money for equal/less service. Now they're going to raise the penalty, so there goes more people's money. Knew someone who had a small business selling medical instruments to hospitals who went out of business because ACA added the medical device tax and he went out of business. My Uncle's pension dropped his healthcare because it became too expensive after the ACA. It helped some people, and hurt the shit out of a LOT more.
Your friend is lying when he blames the medical device tax for going out of business. The tax applied to every vendor equally and the sale of medical devices did not decline.
Healthcare and insurance costs were skyrocketing before the ACA. The ACA did not fix that problem, but it did not crerate it either.
I am not a huge fan of the ACA, but more people benefited from the ACA than were hurt.
(10-13-2016, 10:18 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: 2. The US just sent MORE troops to Iraq. Even once they start pulling troops from Afghanistan, they're still leaving 8,600 there. Not to mention the numerous new places the US has started fighting in under Obama. (Syria, Yemen, etc) How'd it go getting Guantanamo Bay closed? Also now relations between the US and the rest of the world they currently aren't at war with seems to be rather shit.
Still better off than under the last Republican President, and Hillary is the one who wants to keep our troops out of another unwinnable quagmire while the Republicans are eager to start getting them killed again.
(10-13-2016, 10:18 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: 3. Their unemployment numbers are hardcore faked. That 4.5% or whatever that was floating around doesn't include people who are working part-time with college degrees, people with college degrees who can't find jobs in their field, people who are working jobs they are vastly overqualified for, people who's unemployment benefits have run out, people who have just quit trying to find a job. Sure it's better than it was, but that's not terribly hard.
Nothing fake about them. Using the exact same measure as ever. What they call the "official" unemployment rate is "U-3" and it has dropped 41 percent since Obama took office (from 8.3 in Feb '09 to 4.9 in Sept. '16). The unemployment rate that includes "discouraged workers", "marginally attached workers", and people employed part time for purely economic reasons is "U-6" is much higher (currently 9.7) but it has dropped almost as much as U-3 since Obama took office (36 percent). Things are getting better. jobs are being created. A higher percentage of people are working.
(10-13-2016, 10:18 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: 4. Not a Republican personally, but most Republicans I know don't care about either of those terribly much. That's more of a hardliner vocal minority. Do have a couple very religious friends who are staunchly against abortion, but fine with gay marriage.
Apparently you don't know a lot of Republicans because these are huge issues with Republican presidential candidates. Heads are exploding all over the country over who gets to use the bathroom. North Carolina is losing millions in business in order to fight this battle. That is more than just a "vocal minonrity".
