Rick Scott Making Government Incompetent on Purpose

I wrote about how Gov. Rick Scott signed SB 408. The bill would allow insurance rates to go up by 70 percent. Another wonder thing Scott and the Republican legislature did was to allow insurance companies to raise rates without state approval.

With a number of recent changes in state insurance laws leading to an unusually high number of filings, regulators don't have the ability to go through all the filings quickly enough. In such a circumstance, the law allows regulators to approve rate requests in certain circumstances, and follow-up with a full review later.

Contrary to what Scott wants to believe making government less efficient makes government more costly, not less. Scott campaigned on the claim that regulations were killing job creation. When pressed on what regulations were killing jobs Scott could not give an answer. Scott did manage to freeze food stamps with his anti-regulation frenzy. The result was a lawsuit that the Governor lost.

The rate hikes do not protect consumers. It does provide a financial windfall for insurance companies. Like eliminating early voting hours; Republicans make government incompetent to further crony capitalism.

The order drew criticism from Sean Shaw, a former Florida insurance consumer advocate who now works with a Tampa law firm that handles policyholder claims. He criticized the "use and file" that over the years has gained support in the Republican-led Legislature.

"It's a dangerous day in Florida when the Office of Insurance Regulation turns into the office of blind trust because they lack the resources to independently verify form filings from insurance companies," Shaw said in a statement.

Scott and the Republicans in the legislature want to keep the campaign donations from insurance companies coming in.

Why the Boehner Debt Ceiling Plan Died

The Congressional Budget Office found that the John Boehner debt ceiling cut plan would only cut $890 billion from the budget from the budget from 2012 to 2021. The cuts aren't radical enough for Boehner to get his caucus behind it.

Relative to the adjusted March baseline, proposed budget authority would be $840 billionlower and outlays $710 billion lower over the 2012-2021 period. Relative to the January baseline, excluding funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for similar activities, the proposed caps would lower budget authority by nearly $1.1 trillion and outlays by about $890 billion over the 2012-2021 period (see Table 1).

The one Republican that was behind it was Rep. Allen West. It had nothing to do with Milton Friedman economic theories.. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy showed the Republican caucus the Ben Affleck movie The Town. The scene that West made his decision on the future of America's private and public financial system was a scene of Affleck's and Jeremy Renner's characters talking about fucking up some local hoodlums.

Ben Affleck: I need your help. I can’t tell you what it is. You can never ask me about it later. And we’re going to hurt some people.

Jeremy Renner: Which car are we going to take?

Republicans aides told the Washington Post West's reaction to this inspiring message on economic policy.

After showing the clip, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), one of the most outspoken critics of leadership among the 87 freshmen, stood up to speak, according to GOP aides.

“I’m ready to drive the car,” West replied, surprising many Republicans by giving his full -throated support for the plan.

Words fail me.

Below is the CBO score of Boehner's plan.

House Budget Control Act

Hysterical 'Young Guns' Ad

The latest Republican Party marketing idea is labeling the middle-aged Eric Cantor (47 years-old), Paul Ryan (40 years-old) and Kevin McCarthy (45 years-old) as "Young Guns." If one is going to label himself a young gun, it would help if his hair wasn't completely gray. My God, do these guys actually think they are going to be viewed as hip by college-aged voters because they named themselves after an Emilio Estevez western. The only people Cantor and company with that movie reference are people who went to college in the 80's. All that was missing from the ad was the song Blaze of Glory for maximum cheese factor.

GOP Unleashes America Speaking Out

The Republican Party has released the web site America Speaking Out. The goal of the web site is to get the GOP's 2010 election year message out. As usual, Republicans fail epically with new media.

Chief Deputy Minority Whip Kevin McCarthy described ASO.

“This is an open community and a debate of ideas; you submit the idea, you debate the idea, you put it into your network and you’ll continue to have that dialogue,” said project chairman and Chief Deputy Minority Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.).

The web site allows open posting. The Huffington Post reports one post said the Civils Right Act was "UNCONSTITUTIONAL, PROGRESSIVE and HITLER." Apparently, wingnuts aren't aware that Hitler would not congratulate Jesse Owens or other African-American winners at the 1936 Olympics. Another poster suggested Orwellian level surveillance on Muslim Americans. So much for the Republican Party for building a big tent.

ASO is not run by the RNC or a political action committee. This is paid for by tax dollars. Republicans use the legal pretense that ASO is to shape policy. Thomas Mann and Meredith McGehee explain how this couldn't be further from the truth.

Congressional scholar Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said it is not credible to say the agenda is not intended for the 2010 campaign cycle.

“Its only purpose is as a campaign document,” Mann said in an e-mail. “They are in no position to shape policy before the election. It is a defensive move, to deal with the criticism that they are the party of ‘no.’”

But Meredith McGehee, policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, said Republicans have to maintain that the document is not meant for the campaign trail, even if it is only a charade. “If they don’t, they are in danger of using taxpayer funds for campaign purposes,” she said.

Blogger Steve Benen reports that Congressman Mike Pence would not elaborate on how the ASO web site will be paid for. This is why I never take Republicans seriously when they talk about fiscal conservatism.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele had similarly disastrous relaunching GOP.com. GOP.com had a future leadership page that was empty. The web site also mislabeled Jackie Robinson a GOP hero. The site was so amatuerish that it was hacked into. The GOP is a top to down party.

The reason grassroots activism and the internet work better for the net is because Democrats needs the votes and contributions of people not in the upper tax bracket. Democrats will not vote in force if they do not believe the candidate talks to grassroots issues. If Obama made offshore drilling and sending more troops to Afghanistan his two central campaign issues then John McCain would be President. Republicans rely on redistricting, fearmongering and winning presidential elections by razor thin margins. A conservative can post a comment about clawing back money from Goldman Sachs on ASO. The current Republicans are more concerned with getting Wall Street campaign dollars then creating regulations to prevent another economic meltdown. The open dialogue with voters is an election year sham.

Like A Bad Neighbor State Farm Is Not There

Earlier this month, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty rejected State Farm Florida's request to raise homeowners insurance 47.1 percent. State Farm Fl decided to drop all Florida property insurance policies. It will take State Farm two years to end all policies. The Office of Insurance Regulation has 90 days to approve the plan.

Florida leaders have reacted angrily to State Farm's announcement. McCarthy subpoenaed State Farm. The subpoena is a fishing expedition into any manner of State Fam documents. State Farm is certain to fight the subpoena.

Gov. Charlie Crist maintains his my-way-or-the-highway stance.

"They probably charge the highest rates in the state anyway," Crist said. "Floridians will be much better off without them." The problem with Crist's statement is he doesn't have a back up plan. Citizens Property Insurance has $3.6 billion on-hand. The Cat fund: $2.8 billion. Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, wants to stop State Farm from leaving. Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom is convening a meeting State Farm representatives. My fear is Crist does nothing.

State Farm Fl is the largest property insurance insurer in the state. Citizens Property Insurance can not absorb those policies. Either Crist courts private insurers into Florida or he gives in.

Update: Fasano is sponsoring legislation prohibiting State Farm from selling auto insurance, if State Farm no longer seels property insurance. Crist has voiced his approval of the pending bill. I am no fan of State Farm, but what happened to Republicans' Laissez-faire economic principles?