Another fine mess!

"I have said this many times sine the 2012 election. That was the last chance to extract ourselves from ObamaCare without it being too much of a tangled mess. But we lost that election (Thanks Mitt!)."

As a former aficionado of Laurel and Hardy, every once in a while when Stan Laurel would get Oliver Hardy is a jam, Oliver would turn to him and say, "Well, this is another fine mess you have gotten me into Stanley!" Right now, I am thinking that is what Donald Trump would like to say to Paul Ryan. After being talked into doing healthcare first before tax reform, regulatory reform, or any other slam dunk issues, this healthcare thing has become a millstone around the President's neck.

This morning on the news, one of the financial pundits was trying to act like the CBO in figuring out the impact of the new healthcare bill containing all the recent changes. It is still a lemon. In fact, according to a recent quinnipiac poll, only 17% of those polled liked this new healthcare plan. That is a lower rating than those who like ObamaCare. Translation = this is not a better mousetrap at all. It is just a trap.

So now what? Cut your losses. Fold your hand. Pull the bill. It is a bad bill, and even if it passes the House, the reconciliation process between the Republican House and the Republican Senate will end up looking like a civil war. Pull the bill, tell the public that it will addressed once again when it is "right". Then, immediately move on to tax reform. Remember - so long as ObamaCare exists, it is not the fault of anyone except the Democrats. Right now the Republicans are still clean on healthcare.

I have said this many times sine the 2012 election. That was the last chance to extract ourselves from ObamaCare without it being too much of a tangled mess. But we lost that election (Thanks Mitt!). In the four years since then, the roots of ObamaCare have grown very, very deep into our economy. And the folks receiving subsidized care through the ACA, absolutely love it. The ones who are paying the freight (much higher premiums) absolutely hate it.

One more thing this new bill has in it which is unfortunate. The numbers show it favors the rich and punishes the poor. In fact, one analysis showed the poorer you are, the higher percentage of premiums you would pay. If this passed into law, the Democrats would use this to pound the Republicans into the ground until the cows came home. Like I said earlier, this is still a very sour lemon.

There is one thing which has not been tried by any state as of yet - nullification. This would enable a state saying "no thanks" to ObamaCare. The state would handle healthcare all by itself. It can't be worse than what he have now with ObamaCare, and sure would be better than this witch's brew called the American Healthcare Act. Just saying...

Bottom line - walk away President Trump - as fast as you can. Start on tax reform Monday morning. Speaker Ryan - pull the bill and send it back to the people who are supposed to be the "wizards of smart". And if they can't come up with something better, the ACA (ObamaCare) is here to stay. Sad to say, but true.