The Sam Spade Memorial Good Post Gallery

[NeverAgain]

According to the BLS, employment in insurance industry as of April 2017 was 2629.3 thousand, or about 2.6 million. Let's say that health insurance administrators account for roughly 25% of that. That's ~650,000 people who would stand to become unemployed if we adopted single-payer. Why is this treated as such a non-issue? Oftentimes it's not even a part of the conversation, which is bewildering.
 
You can quite easily make the argument that from a utilitarian perspective, 650,000 jobs lost is a small price to pay in order to ensure that everybody has coverage, but that only speaks to the moral component of this question, and does nothing to resolve the political consequences or address the very real instability and uncertainty these people would face.
 
It is true that, from a policy perspective, dealing with the resulting unemployment would likely be fairly straightforward. Many of those displaced could find employment in the expanded Medicare system which would arise, and practically speaking many could be retrained to eventually occupy positions in separate, unrelated fields. I also don't doubt that the type of reform we're discussing is needed and likely the morally correct thing to do. So that's all well and good. Mitigating the political consequences, however, would be anything but straightforward. Progressives would rejoice in their victory, but Democrats would get absolutely clobbered because they would in the eyes of many have basically confirmed the common Republican critique, namely that they don't care all that much about Americans having jobs/don't regard it as a priority. Add in the fact that healthcare is a true political third rail and the electoral consequences look horrifying. The Republican ads, speeches, and campaign slogans would craft themselves. And while it's noble to say that morality should trump politics, many will not share that view.
 
With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, there has been a corresponding increase in the amount of jobs in the health insurance industry. The reason is obvious--more claims, applications, and purchases, so more employees. And yet instead of this being a reversal of past trends, it's probably more accurate to describe it as an acceleration: This is a sector that has seen consistent growth for decades. So another element of this healthcare debate is that if the Senate GOP does decide to go through with repeal and replace, it will be interesting to see the impact that legislative activity has on employment trends in the health insurance industry both in the immediate short-term and over the coming years.
 
I don't know. Just some thoughts.

A new guy, but I really liked his #analysis.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Can we please use the new thread?

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=261105.0

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Can we please use the new thread?

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=261105.0

No.  (Sorry, Virginia)

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Why are people uncomfortable with the idea of a good posts thread being names after a female?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Why are people uncomfortable with the idea of a good posts thread being names after a female?

I said that?

[This account no longer in use.]

It's less about who the new thread is named after than it is the fact that Sam Spade was a douchebag who doesn't deserve anything to be named after him.

[Santander]

Can we please use the new thread?

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=261105.0

No. There's nothing wrong with this one.

[Badger]

This "good post gallery" is literally named after a rape apologist / PUA MRA.

Who now exclusively posts on AAD.

Fair, though he has been largely MIA since October.

His vague predictions passing off as brilliance schtick fell apart, it seems.

Forgive the minor necroposting comma but just to reiterate my post from the other day that Spade is one of them overrated posters forum has had, and there are over a dozen better contenders to name this thread after.

So moved. Any seconds?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

This "good post gallery" is literally named after a rape apologist / PUA MRA.

Who now exclusively posts on AAD.

Fair, though he has been largely MIA since October.

His vague predictions passing off as brilliance schtick fell apart, it seems.

Forgive the minor necroposting comma but just to reiterate my post from the other day that Spade is one of them overrated posters forum has had, and there are over a dozen better contenders to name this thread after.

So moved. Any seconds?

We can't use both threads why?

[Badger]

This "good post gallery" is literally named after a rape apologist / PUA MRA.

Who now exclusively posts on AAD.

Fair, though he has been largely MIA since October.

His vague predictions passing off as brilliance schtick fell apart, it seems.

Forgive the minor necroposting comma but just to reiterate my post from the other day that Spade is one of them overrated posters forum has had, and there are over a dozen better contenders to name this thread after.

So moved. Any seconds?

We can't use both threads why?

Wait a minute. That's right. There's a new good post Gallery renamed for Virginia. I just found it on the second page. When a mine thread is replaced, isn't the old one usually locked? Why wasn't this one? Why do we have two good post threads now?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

This "good post gallery" is literally named after a rape apologist / PUA MRA.

Who now exclusively posts on AAD.

Fair, though he has been largely MIA since October.

His vague predictions passing off as brilliance schtick fell apart, it seems.

Forgive the minor necroposting comma but just to reiterate my post from the other day that Spade is one of them overrated posters forum has had, and there are over a dozen better contenders to name this thread after.

So moved. Any seconds?

We can't use both threads why?

Wait a minute. That's right. There's a new good post Gallery renamed for Virginia. I just found it on the second page. When a mine thread is replaced, isn't the old one usually locked? Why wasn't this one? Why do we have two good post threads now?

Some other genius didn't like Sam.  Perhaps the subsequent thread should be locked.  But in reality it violates no rule to have both and it's a pissing contest at this point.......and a silly one.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Badger is right about Sam's sage vagueness. He also made a lot of hilariously wrong predictions, like that the 2008 recession would turn into a democracy threatening depression.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sam Spade is terrible, Virginia is the best, and mods please lock this thread thx.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

After the way she's been treated, Hillary doesn't owe anyone anything. Glad to see her finally speaking her mind.

Yes, the saintly queen is the one who has been mistreated by others. It couldn't possibly be entirely the other way around. Hillary would never spend her entire life using and abusing every human being she encounters to achieve self-glory with no intention of ever paying them back for it or doing anything useful.

[Technocracy Timmy]

I feel like using this poster is almost cheating but,

As I said, this is not unexpected. We saw this coming months ago. Trump's political base is reliant on coal and old economy jobs. Not the new economy, which overwhelmingly voted against him. Why did we expect him to try to cater to voters who would vote against him no matter what and donors who are going to donate to his opposition, no matter what?

Is it right? No. But we should understand, again, why Trump did this. The vast majority of GOP Congressmen and political leadership are situated in areas that are, again, Old Economy type areas and overwhelmingly white, not exactly educated types. (Of course, I'm generalizing but). The GOP ideology is situated in winning blue collar white areas as the bulk of their political support.

GOP money comes from Texas and the oil industry and the South, not California, not Silicon Valley, or renewable energy, either, which is important. There was no money in support of staying in the deal.

This is what it boiled down to, no matter what. Trump sees no political upside to staying in Paris, and he's a politician. The system doesn't reward long term strategy that has you damaging the people that you voted for. That's not our Constitutional system.

One key mistake that Democrats have made here is that they never bothered to help these areas make the transition to clean energy and high tech areas and relied on people from San Francisco and New York to make the climate deal. That really shrunk the base of support of people who would aggressively push for us staying in the deal on the GOP side. It was a very partisan deal, in that analytical sense.

Why do you ask blue collar white voters to put their (shrinking but still there) jobs at risk with no support to transition to new jobs and towns to try to make a bold leap without economic support? They voted in fear against the deal in a couple of areas.  

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Sam Spade is terrible, Virginia is the best, and mods please lock this thread thx.

Yes, I can't think of any present poster offering more high-quality contrubutions.

There's an unwritten law that when an old mine gets too big, you lock it and proceed to new one.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Sam Spade is terrible, Virginia is the best, and mods please lock this thread thx.

Yes, I can't think of any present poster offering more high-quality contrubutions.

There's an unwritten law that when an old mine gets too big, you lock it and proceed to new one.

738 posts is too big?  I remember the rule as 2000 posts, fascist.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Sam Spade is terrible, Virginia is the best, and mods please lock this thread thx.

Yes, I can't think of any present poster offering more high-quality contrubutions.

There's an unwritten law that when an old mine gets too big, you lock it and proceed to new one.

738 posts is too big?  I remember the rule as 2000 posts, fascist.

Really? That's not fascist enough for me.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Sam Spade is terrible, Virginia is the best, and mods please lock this thread thx.

Yes, I can't think of any present poster offering more high-quality contrubutions.

There's an unwritten law that when an old mine gets too big, you lock it and proceed to new one.

738 posts is too big?  I remember the rule as 2000 posts, fascist.

Really? That's not fascist enough for me.

If that's the case Kal, the Landfill and the Lief threads must be closed at once.....please.  

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Sam Spade is terrible, Virginia is the best, and mods please lock this thread thx.

Yes, I can't think of any present poster offering more high-quality contrubutions.

There's an unwritten law that when an old mine gets too big, you lock it and proceed to new one.

738 posts is too big?  I remember the rule as 2000 posts, fascist.

Really? That's not fascist enough for me.

If that's the case Kal, the Landfill and the Lief threads must be closed at once.....please.  

OK, I just didn't remember what was the limit.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

That's ok, Kal, Tony remembers:

Seeing how the last thread hit the fateful 2000-post milestone, I'd say a change is in order. Crabcake is still awesome, of course, but other posters have earned their time in limelight, and Kal is foremost among them.

[Badger]

This "good post gallery" is literally named after a rape apologist / PUA MRA.

Who now exclusively posts on AAD.

Fair, though he has been largely MIA since October.

His vague predictions passing off as brilliance schtick fell apart, it seems.

Forgive the minor necroposting comma but just to reiterate my post from the other day that Spade is one of them overrated posters forum has had, and there are over a dozen better contenders to name this thread after.

So moved. Any seconds?

We can't use both threads why?

Wait a minute. That's right. There's a new good post Gallery renamed for Virginia. I just found it on the second page. When a mine thread is replaced, isn't the old one usually locked? Why wasn't this one? Why do we have two good post threads now?

Some other genius didn't like Sam.  Perhaps the subsequent thread should be locked.  But in reality it violates no rule to have both and it's a pissing contest at this point.......and a silly one.

I don't think it's so much a pissing contest, Grumps, as simple longtime Forum tradition that threads periodically get renamed/restarted, and when a new one starts the old one is locked for posterity. It's simply redundant to have two good post threads.

Oh, and:

Sam Spade is terrible, Virginia is the best, and mods please lock this thread thx.

[NOVA Green]

The best thing about Sam Spade was his name, based upon not only one of my favorite American Detectives of all time, but additionally the portrayal of Sam Spade in the classic Humphrey Bogart movie: "The Maltease Falcon"...

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Ironically Tony would probably flip out and be disgusted and offended if he saw the thread Virginia posts in the most on AAD.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Ironically Tony would probably flip out and be disgusted and offended if he saw the thread Virginia posts in the most on AAD.

By all means enlighten me.