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From The Reporter’s Notebook
TPM’s Tierney Sneed points to two key challenges Kentucky’s incoming Gov. Mark Bevin faces in dismantling Obamacare in the state: the popularity and cost effectiveness of the programs he is targeting. Medicaid expansion—which Bevin first promised to reverse, then to alter—will continue saving the state money even after Kentucky has to take over some of the costs from the federal government, a Deloitte report found.
BUZZING: Today in the Hive
From a TPM Prime member: “As most of us know, one result of successful class warfare during the past 30 years is that ordinary workers have captured essentially none of the value added by increading productivity since 1980 or so. Estimates vary, but the last ones I’ve seen argue that the median household would be earning $20-30K more a year if compensation had simply kept up with productivity. For the back of the envelope version, that would be $2400 – 3600 a year in additional social security trust fund revenues (not counting the resulting additional interest income). Which, times roughly 50 million employed households (64M, but I’m being conservative here) 120-180 billion added to the trust fund every year. Which is rather comfortably more than the $75 billion or more than the fund’s current reported negative cash flow. Yes, some of the increased income wouldn’t be captured by tax, and people would be getting higher benefits because of higher earnings history, but basically things would be much closer to balance. So essentially the ongoing push to cut Social Security benefits is another way for the 1% to say “We managed to snarf up all the money in the working economy, so now we declare there’s not enough left to pay for your retirement.” Hmm.”
Related: Could Democrats troll Republicans right back on Social Security?
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What We’re Reading
NYPD undercover “converted” to Islam to spy on Brooklyn College students. (Gothamist)
This voter measure wasn’t just about school funding – it was about racism in a white Dallas enclave. (Slate)
China burns much more coal than reported, complicating climate talks. (New York Times)
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