Finally! The Skinny on Financing ObamaCare:

Here’s How: OBAMA IS GOING TO SQUEEZE EVERY ONE, RICH AND POOR, FOR NEW “FEES” (a.k.a. TAXES) or PENALTIES.

Who Will Collect Those “Fees”? GUIDO THE LOAN SHARK? NOPE, THE I.R.S.

Do You Believe Obama’s Promise That You Can Keep Your Current Plan? IF YOU BELIEVE IN SANTA AND THE EASTER BUNNY, YES. OTHERWISE YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY WILL GET SLAMMED WITH A 35% SURTAX — AND WILL HAVE TO SLASH YOUR BENEFITS BY 35%.

NOW: The transcript of a panel discussion on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday, September 14, 2009:

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL (Bronwyn’s Caveat: Yes, yes, I know. But read his revelations anyway because he’s a true expert, as I explain at the end): What the month of August did was once again avoid any specifics in the legislation. “Death panels” was a gift because the White House and Democrats got to say, “That’s not true, there’s no death panels in there.”  Even Newt Gingrich reached the point where he acknowledges that.  

No one talked about the particulars of the employer mandate.  No one talked about the 8% payroll tax. No one talked about the individual mandate.

No one talked about poor people who won’t be able to afford insurance even when they are ordered to buy it and will end up paying the government a penalty instead since they can’t afford to buy the plan.

No one has talked about the 35% — I’m going to say that number again, Joe, because you’ve never heard it before — A THIRTY-FIVE PERCENT SURTAX ON HEALTH CARE PLANS that are worth more than eight thousand dollars a year.

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL (continued): The Joe Scarborough health care plan is worth a lot more than $8,000 a year.  

Now remember, THIS 35% TAX IS ON THE COMPANIES THAT PROVIDE THAT PLAN.  Those companies are already subject to corporate income taxation.  This is a separate … Now, I could go on and on.

You’ve never had a Republican come on your show and talk about that.  They come on and they talk about the theatrics.  They come on and talk about whether Joe Wilson should apologize or not. Joe Wilson was part of helping the Democrats and the President continue to avoid shining ANY lights on ANY of the particulars of this plan which are going to be very difficult to get past and very difficult to swallow IF THE PUBLIC EVER LEARNS ABOUT THEM.  IF REPUBLICANS EVER LEARN ABOUT THEM.

I was in Washington last week, and I talked to a Senator who DID NOT KNOW what the taxes were that the House Ways and Means Committee have already voted on.  

PEGGY NOONAN (Reagan speechwriter):  Let me ask Lawrence something.  I think what he said is so fascinating. But let me see if I understand it.  (Sigh.)  The plan, to the extent it exists among the Democrats at this point would contain a 35% sur-charge on, what is it, Lawrence?  The worth of an insurance policy?

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL:  This is already written.  It’s been released IN PRINT BY MAX BAUCUS.  The President went out in his speech to Congress and simply said, “I am endorsing 100% the Baucus plan.”  

It’s NOT an Obama plan.  It’s the Baucus plan. THE BAUCUS PLAN IS ALREADY IN PRINT.  

Yes, Peggy, I am going to say it again:  NO REPUBLICAN HAS TOLD YOU THIS.   And Republican senators have participated in the negotiation of this.  This was John Kerry’s idea in the Finance Committee.  This is now winning the day in the Finance Committee.  A 35% tax on health care plans that are worth more than $8,000 for an individual.  Yours, Peggy, is worth more than $8,000.  Or $21,000 for a family.  The Scarborough family plan is worth more than that.  Anybody whose plan [is worth more than $8,000 per year, which most health insurance plans are] ….

[Cross-talk]

JOE SCARBOROUGH:  Hollywood boy, you’re going after me … and …

O’DONNELL:  Let me just tell you about my plan.  I’ll tell you about my plan.  My plan is the WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA [BRONWYN's NOTE: Remember that the WGA is a UNION (!)].  This particular 35% tax WILL DEVASTATE MY OWN HEALTH CARE PLAN.  

Now, I’m doing well.  I can afford what it’s going to do to my plan.  IT’S GOING TO REDUCE THE BENEFITS OF MY PLAN BY 35%.

But there are members of the Writers Guild who make $50,000 a year.  Some of them $35,000 a year, some $40,000 a year.  THEIR health care plan is as valuable as mine.  It is a very rich plan.   It’s richer than the Scarborough family plan.  Okay?  But it’s for people in that UNION.  It’s a UNION plan. AND EVERYONE IN THAT UNION GETS IT.  

THIS WILL CUT THE BENEFITS of their health care plan BY 35%.  

Now, they’re all Hollywood liberals. We all are. We all might be in favor of the 35% legislation, if if does that because it helps out other people.

My point is simply this: Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has never come on this show and told you about it. There’s not a single Republican who’s told you about it. They spend all their time deciding whether there are or not “death panels” and whether Joe Wilson was right or wrong. That’s what they’re wasting their time on.

PATRICK BUCHANAN: Lawrence, that raises the question. The plan you described, which you say is Max Baucus’s plan in its gestation and its coming out, that plan cannot pass the Congress of the United States, can it? [Cross-talk.]

O’DONNELL: That plan has been PUBLIC FOR A WEEK and you’ve not heard a single Republican say anything about these elements. The President endorsed specifically that in one sentence in his speech the other night.

They call these things “fees” instead of “taxes.” They’ll all be collected by the I.R.S. I think we know what those are.

But, look, my point is this: That the more they don’t talk about the particulars of the bill, the more the Democrats are winning. That’s the way this legislation works. And the Republicans have never … they’ve never bothered to do the homework of what’s publicly released and available about what’s in these bills. And I’m not sure if these guys are too lazy that they’re never going to do their homework.

[THERE WAS SOME CHATTER THAT I DIDN'T TRANSCRIBE.]

SCARBOROUGH: We thank Lawrence for reading the bill so we don’t have to but now it’s very easy for me to campaign against my Blue Dog Democratic opponents, saying, “My opponent wants to cut Medicare. He wants your family to pay 35% more for health care.”

I mean, my god, that is … forget “Death Panel” … that [the 35% SURTAX] is the DEATH KNELL FOR ANY SOUTHERN POLITICIAN WHO’S A DEMOCRAT.

[There was more chatter that I didn't transcribe.]

MY NOTES TO YOU, Dear Readers:

I transcribed the above by playing and pausing my DVR player. WHY did I do that? Because MSNBC did not post the video of this critically important discussion on its site.

Last week, Lawrence O’Donnell also appeared on Morning Joe to dissect Obamacare, and the same thing happened. He hammered Obama’s health care plan — HE HAMMERED BOTH THE PLAN AND OBAMA — and MSNBC did not post the video.

YES. We all know that Lawrence O’Donnell is a Democrat. A liberal Democrat. Yes, we also all know that O’Donnell was a producer of West Wing, wrote many of the story lines and had a hand in many scripts. We also know that O’Donnell is an actor on an HBO dramatic series.

But what many of us do not know is that O’Donnell was, for many years, a SENIOR staffer in the U.S. Senate. From Wikipedia:

[O'Donnell] was the Democratic Chief of Staff of the United States Senate Committee on Finance from 1993 through 1995. In 1992, he was Chief of Staff of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Unfortunately, the Wikipedia biography is very incomplete. O’Donnell has far more experience than that one entry describes. For example, he led the effort in the 1990s to trim the fat from the Medicare budget, and became intimately familiar with every section of that huge budget.
 
I have screamed at my TV set many, many times when O’Donnell made some infuriating remark when he was a guest or host on some TV show. However, I always listen to him — particularly when he’s discussing “HOW DO WE PAY FOR THIS BILL?” — because he has expertise that most TV commentators do not have.

I’ve heard him describe how he went through the entire Medicare budget — line by line — during the Clinton years, and how he looked everywhere for any way he could find to trim Medicare’s costs.

Oh, how I wished I’d been able to transcribe for you his appearance on ast week’s Morning Joe when he DESTROYED OBAMA’S INSISTENCE that the plan can be paid for by cutting waste and getting rid of fraud. He pointed out that politicians pull that rabbit out of their hats all the time and that anyone who’s “in the know” will laugh raucously because it’s a joke amongst insiders and it only works on the most naive or ignorant citizens.

One more thing: O’Donnell has not been afraid to take Obama to task when he’s deserved it. I’m sure that O’Donnell voted for Obama, but he has not lost his senses completely.

I pray that there were some Republicans listening today and that they’ll heed O’Donnell’s criticisms.

And I hope that all of you will share this hot info with everyone you know.