HHS Secretary Dr. Tom Price appears on CNN State of The Union to discuss the legislative repair efforts for an ObamaCare overhaul, and overall healthcare reform efforts.

Notice how the various “concerns”, amid all of the politically charged discussion, are always centered around medicaid – or the state run, taxpayer-funded, low income, healthcare coverage. Not a single oppositional argument is ever made about negative impacts for those who actually pay for their own healthcare coverage. The opposition arguments are entirely framed around benefits toward those who pay little to nothing.

.

There is a parallel, comparative and representative example of what President Trump’s smart policy team is trying to do with healthcare.  the comparison actually lies within another set of economic policy objectives. However, it takes elevation in thinking to understand the approach and see the similarity.

The comparative reform example is within the banking and finance industry.

For those who have read all the statements, watched the hearings, listened intently to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, you might have already noted their approach to working around the ridiculously burdensome Dodd Frank regulations within the banking and finance sector. – OUTLINED HERE –

Essentially, instead of trying to untangle all the complexities of decades long DC constructs enmeshing and enlarging the bureaucracy around banking, Trump’s team is constructing a parallel system. Cliff Noted for Brevity: (more…)

The drop in ratings for corporate Fox News is unfamiliar territory for them.  It takes a while for corporate suites to react to losses in position.  In the era of Roger Ailes, losing was unfamiliar.  Broadcast perspectives modify based on finances. President Trump is bigger than the media who report on him.

(more…)

President Trump’s son, Eric Trump, appears on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the economic policy of his father.  Both Eric and his wife Lara Trump have been strong and visible supporters for the first family, making numerous media appearances over the past week.

(more…)

In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

There was a widely read Chicago Tribune op-ed written a few days ago outlining an approach to dissolve the entire state and apportion the geography to Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa. –SEE HERE–  It was written tongue-in-cheek, but with an uncomfortable level of reality behind it.

Illinois has been struggling with its finances for a long, long time.

The Illinois long-term labor pension liabilities are ridiculous in the extreme.  However, things just went from bad to jaw-droppingly, gobsmackingly, unbelievably worse.

According to the latest financial media reports, Standard and Poors Global Ratings agency has positioned Illinois bonds to drop below “investment” grade; that would make Illinois the first state in the nation to achieve “junk bond” status.

(Via ABC) Illinois is on track to become the first U.S. state to have its credit rating downgraded to “junk” status, which would deepen its multibillion-dollar deficit and cost taxpayers more for years to come.

(more…)

According to multiple media reports Ms. Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr. will cash-in on the death of their son, Michael Brown, with a total settlement against all parties of $1.5 million.  [Ferguson, essentially, paid off a nuisance lawsuit.]

(VIA ABC NEWS) The family of Michael Brown, an African American teen whose fatal shooting by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked large-scale protests, has settled its lawsuit against the city for $1.5 million, said Apollo Carey, the city attorney for Ferguson.

The settlement amount was paid by the city’s insurance company “on behalf of multiple defendants,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

(more…)

President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and lots of family and friends will be attending Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s wedding tonight to his long-time fiancee Louise Linton.

Secretary Wilbur Ross let the secret out last week when he was introducing Secretary Mnuchin at a conference in Washington. Wilburine said he and his wife “extend our congratulations and look forward to seeing you wed your dear fiancee, Louise Linton, on Saturday.”

Secretary Mnuchin, 54, has been engaged to Ms. Linton, a 36-year-old Scottish model/actress, since 2015.  Ms. Linton and Secretary Mnuchin were both involved in movie production companies.

(more…)

The Washington Examiner points out data released Friday showing a significant drop in refugee admissions in the first calendar quarter of the Trump administration.

*Worth noting that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, UAE, Jordan and Oman have also initiated an “immigration ban” as part of the political sanctions against Qatar.

WASHINGTON – Data released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security shows that the number of refugees allowed into the United States fell by half shortly after President Trump took office. The decline was in large part due to a sharp upsurge in admissions under former President Barack Obama in the final three months of his administration.

(more…)

Modernizing government might not sound sexy as a political agenda item, and definitely doesn’t carry the interest of MSM headlines, however it’s actually a key tenet to reducing the size, scope and expense of government.  The utilization of modern technology to downsize government is a policy initiative.

The Trump administration is quietly putting private sector operational efficiencies into place within the federal government, as Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross outlines:

(more…)