The US Is The Best Healthcare System…For The Drug Industry

The Article: The U.S. Has the Best Health Care System in the World—for Drug Companies by Scott Martelle in TruthDig.

The Text: Just in case you weren’t sure, yes, the United States’ market approach to health care is a cash spigot—and a bit of a fraud, given how much pharmaceutical firms have gamed the system. And your wallets are the wellspring for all that cash.

Back-to-back stories in The New York Times dive into just two areas of excess: sweetheart deals between doctors and finance firms that set interest rates at what used to be usury levels, and the exorbitant amount of money drug companies charge U.S. patients compared with prices overseas. From the Times’ Sunday story:

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These Are The 144 Republicans Who Voted For Default

The Article: Here Are The 144 Republicans Who Voted To Send The US Into Default by Henry Blodget in Business Insider.

The Text: After a disgraceful 16-day government shutdown in which many members of Congress threatened to force the United States of America to default on its obligations, a short-term deal has finally been cut.

It’s not a long-term deal, of course.

In fact, it’s not even a medium-term deal.

It’s a two or three-month deal.

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Obama, The Smallest Government Spender Since Ike

The Article: Who Is The Smallest Government Spender Since Eisenhower? Would You Believe It’s Barack Obama? by Rick Ungar in Forbes.

The Text: It’s enough to make even the most ardent Obama cynic scratch his head in confusion.

Amidst all the cries of Barack Obama being the most prolific big government spender the nation has ever suffered, Marketwatch is reporting that our president has actually been tighter with a buck than any United States president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Who knew?

Check out the chart –

So, how have the Republicans managed to persuade Americans to buy into the whole “Obama as big spender” narrative?

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Yes, Even The Taliban Is Mocking The Shutdown

The Article: Taliban mocks U.S. government shutdown in USA Today.

The Text: Even the Taliban is mocking the federal government shutdown.

The terrorist group that is fighting U.S. troops to return to power in Afghanistan accused politicians of “sucking the blood of their own people,” reported Agence France-Presse and Al-Arabiya news service.

“The American people should realize that their politicians play with their destinies as well as the destinies of other oppressed nations for the sake of their personal vested interests,” said the statement issued by the Taliban.

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Moderate Republicans Are Extinct

The Article: What Moderate Republicans? by Andrew Sullivan in The Dish.

The Text: Barro believes they’re all talk:

If you look at members’ actions and votes instead of their statements, the number of Republicans in the House who favor a clean CR and oppose the Cruz-driven strategy of shutdown and hostage-taking is not 21. It’s 0. The entire House Republican caucus is responsible for its shutdown-based legislative strategy. The only difference among the members is that Tea Party conservatives have the decency to admit what they’re up to.

Elias Isquith piles on:

If [Peter] King were half the maverick the media’s made him out to be, he’d have more to show for himself than a handful of headlines from liberal outlets cheering at the sight of internal GOP dysfunction. He’d have some votes to back it up. But as Brian Beutler has demonstrated, tangible evidence of real opposition to the Tea Party order is exactly what Peter King lacks. At nearly every critical juncture, at almost every moment when he could’ve taken a stand against his party’s recklessness, Peter King did exactly nothing. Take away the media spotlight, the salacious pull-quote, and the hard-eyed glare. Leave the legislative record — both before and during the shutdown crisis. Stop and take a gander at what’s left to see. You’ll find one procedural vote of dissent: little to look at, much less to praise.

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