Democrats blew it on Obamacare. That’s according to retiring Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who told The Hill today that he regrets that his party didn’t go far enough back in 2009 and 2010 when it was trying to push the Affordable Care Act through Congress

Pointing out the massive filibuster-proof majorities that Democrats had in the House and the Senate during that time, Harkin said about Obamacare that, “All the prevention stuff is good but it’s just really complicated. It doesn’t have to be that complicated…. [We should have enacted] single-payer right from the get go or at least put a public option would have simplified a lot. We had the votes to do that and we blew it.”

Harkin is right, and not just about how Democrats probably had the votes to pass truly progressive healthcare reform.

That’s because for all the very good things Obamacare does - things like expanding Medicaid access to the working poor and requiring insurance companies to accept people with pre-existing conditions - Obamacare still doesn’t go far enough. The biggest flaw in Obamacare, of course, is that it is centered around for-profit insurance companies.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with a doctor or a drug company making a profit off a job well-done or a life-saving medicine, but there’s absolutely no reason why anyone in the private sector should get rich off paying - or refusing to pay - medical bills, which, ultimately, is all insurance companies really do. They're just fancy banks. The fact that insurance companies do get rich off allowing or denying health care payments, though, is at the core of what’s wrong with our healthcare system. It’s the reason why we spend so much more on healthcare than any other developed country in the world, and it’s the reason why people continue to get screwed over by their insurance companies despite the new protections in Obamacare.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... The Grand Climate Conspiracy (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Be sure to check out our new videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio

Lone Liberal Rumble:
- Kris Ullman, Conservative Commentator/Activist
- Horace Cooper, National Center for Public Policy Research

The Secret ALEC Conference You Need to Know About
- Jane Carter, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)

Green report: How An Oil Boom Hurt an Indian Reservation
- Cole Stangler, Vice Magazine / In These Times

Community Square

"Paul Craig Roberts: UN Damns Washington As World’s Worst Violator Of Human Rights"
Posted by Karolina.

"A Knife of warm air slices the Polar Vortex in two"
Posted by .ren.

"Michael Brown's stepfather possibly being charged with inciting a riot"
Posted by Dexterous.

The Daily Stack

Article: "General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade" (GATT) by Wikipedia.

Article: "North American Free Trade Agreement" (NAFTA) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement" (CAFTA-DR) by Wikipedia. (CAFTA pre January 2004)

Article: "Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement" (TPP) by EFF.

Article: "OPEC Holds Production Unchanged; Prices Fall" by Stanley Reed.

Article: "Guess What Happened The Last Time The Price Of Oil Crashed Like This?…" by Michael Snyder.

Article: "Oil price slide a mixed blessing for China" by Lucy Hornby.

Article: "Russian Money Suspected Behind Fracking Protests" by Andrew Higgins.

Article: "Fracking Bans Pass in Denton, Texas, Two California Counties and One Ohio Town" by Anastasia Pantsios .

Chart: "SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK)".

Chart: "iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bd (HYG)".

The secret ALEC conference you need to know about
- Jane Carter, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)

Article: "Conservative lobby group Alec plans anti-environmental onslaught" by Suzanne Goldenberg.

Article: "Wisconsin: Legislator promises to introduce right-to-work bill" by Todd Richmond.

Article: "After Republican wins, right to work bills on the agenda" by Reid Wilson.

Lawsuit: "Dodge v. Ford Motor Company", Mich. 1919.

Site: Stand Up To ALEC.

Article: "5th Amendment" (double jeopardy, witness against self, due process, taking clause, due compensation).

Article: "US War with Russia Authorized by House Resolution 758" by David Pear.

Article: "The Wall Street Journal Still Refuses to Grasp Accounting Control Fraud via Appraisal Fraud" by William K. Black.

Article: "Wall Street flirts with fresh record high" by Dave Shellock.

Article: "Autumn Statement 2014: UK plans to raise £1bn with ‘Google tax’" by Vanessa Houlder and Murad Ahmed.

Article: "Iran jets bomb Islamic State targets in Iraq - Pentagon" by BBC.

Article: "Lebanon Arrests ISIS Leader Baghdadi’s Wife and Child" by Peter Van Buren.

Article: "This year on course to be warmest on record" by Pilita Clark.

Article: "A Huge Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Melting Three Times Faster Than Previously Thought" by Emily Atkin.

Article: "Bank of Russia resumes rouble intervention" by Kathrin Hille.

Article: "US refineries run flat out to process cheap crude" by Gregory Meyer.

Article: "Elizabeth Warren: 'The system is rigged'" by Joan McCarter.

Site: Move to Amend

Site: Progressive Democrats of America

Site: MoveOn.org

The good: Earthjustice: "U.S. Sued Over Refusal to Ban Older Rail Cars for Crude" by Andrew Zajac.

The bad: "Ben Carson Manages To Blame Ferguson On The 'Women's Lib Movement'" by Ahiza Garcia.

The very, very ugly: "Scott Lively: Homosexuality Is Worse Than Murder" by Brian Tashman.

Article: "Oil fund manager Andurand sees big price swings after OPEC decision" by Reuters.

Article: "How Two Billionaires Are Destroying High Speed Rail In America" by Julie Doubleday.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Ellen Ratner, Bureau Chief

Article: "President Obama Remarks to Business Roundtable", December 3, 2014.

Article: "Obama unveils plan to help young American Indians" by Blake Nicholson.

Article: "White House College Opportunity Summit welcomes Albany leaders" by .

Article: "Pentagon says Iran bombs ISIS in Iraq, Tehran 'cannot confirm'" by .

Article: "McConnell to meet privately today with Obama" by James R. Carroll.

Article: "American contractor marks 5th year in Cuban prison" by Alan Gomez.

Article: "Reps. Use Reagan Cardboard Cutout To Push Bipartisan Gas Tax" by Loretta Lewis.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 12/3" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 12/2" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: Thom Hartmann University book club - chapter 5
- Dan Sisson, The Revolution of 1800

Article: "List of Presidents of the United States" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Writ of assistance" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Petition of Right" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Magna Carta" by British Library.

Article: "Shays' Rebellion" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Rotten and pocket boroughs" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Fries's Rebellion" by Wikipedia.

Letter: "John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 30 June 1813" "I have no doubt You was fast asleep in philosophical Tranquility".

Law: "Comprehensive Employment and Training Act" (CETA), 1973.

Article: "Chuck Schumer's Cure for Democrats" by Russell Berman.

Article: "Minimum wage increase stalls in Illinois Legislature" by Kerry Lester.

Law: "Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act", 2010.

Article: "JPMorgan Commodities Unit to Be Sold for $3.5 Billion" by Michael J. de la Merced.

Article: "Rule That Curbs Bank Risk-Taking Nears Approval" (Volcker Rule) by Ben Protess and Peter Eavis.

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Ukraine signs $10 billion shale gas deal with Chevron" by Pavel Polityuk and Richard Balmforth.

Article: "'All In' With Chris Hayes November 14, 2014".

Book:"Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else" by Chrystia Freeland.

Book: "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate" by Naomi Klein.

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET

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Will the Supreme Court strike down Obamacare subsidies?

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Why the Housing Bubble is About to Burst Again

The Media is Lying to You About Black Friday

Is Extinction on the Table at the Lima Climate Talks?

Politics Panel - GITMO is a National Embarrassment

Politics Panel - The Problem w/Body Cameras

The Good - the Bad - and the Very Very Intersilliently Ugly

Full Show 12/2/14: What Black Friday Madness Really Means

Thom discusses the UN Peru Climate Change talks with Greenpeace International’s Kaisa Kosonen and if we’re about to see the next great crash with the Campaign for America’s Future Richard Eskow. Tonight’s “Politics Panel” discusses whether police should be required to wear body cameras, whether Obama will close Guantanamo Bay and how Republicans don’t love all tax cuts. In tonight's “Daily Take” Thom discusses how Black Friday chaos is a sign of troubling economic times.

THU Book Club: The American Revolution of 1800 Chapter 5

Caller: Thom, You're Overthinking the Oil Price Plunge...

Who's Really Manipulating the New World Order? p1

Who's Really Manipulating the New World Order? p2

The Secret ALEC Conference you Need to Know About...

How you can Help Stop Arctic Drilling...

Caller: Police State? Welcome to Black America...

Secrets of the Right Wing Brain...