Lots of Pain

Thursday, in Chicago, 9 year old Antonio Smith was killed in the backyard of an apartment building. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but then again, that statement applies to every black child in Chicago and any other city. There are many reasons for this, but a tweet this morning, from CBS-Chicago, gave a greater insight to why there’s a perpetuation of the slaughter of young black kids.

“A 9 year old boy – the latest victim of gun violence in Chicago. His family’s message to his killer on @cbs-chicago” Twitter

The nation has been griped for more than a week by events in Ferguson, Missouri which ignited after 18 year old Michael Brown was killed. In the case of Michael Brown, he wasn’t killed by gun violence, but rather a police officer, and his family and protesters demanded that the officer’s name be released. Sadly, Antonio is one of the hundreds of victims of senseless murders in Chicago that have taken place over the years – 30 of which occurred just this month (a half dozen of those victims were 18 or younger). If this were white on black murders, it would be called hate crimes, or even an attempt at genocide. Instead these murderers are given a pass, or they become martyrs, while poverty and guns take the blame.Antonio Smith just started playing pee wee football a few weeks ago. Other than that, for much of the summer, he stayed in the house listening to music, especially music by his favorite artist, Chris Brown. But on Wednesday, he wanted a cupcake, called his mom who was on her way home from work for permission, and she said, “No.” Like any other nine year old, he thought he could sneak out really quick, and nobody would be the wiser.

Thirty minutes after his attempt to find a cupcake, emergency doctors gave up on trying to revive him back to life. His mom, Brandi Murry, spoke out to the people of Chicago:

"I'm praying for the whole city right now. I don't want no other parent to ever go through this. I feel your pain. It's bad and it hurts so much."

Well, this pain will never go away until we are shocked and outraged and determined to stop black on black murders. And because there were no protests, riots, or visible anguish in the air, I am demanding the name of the killer of Antonio Smith be released. I am demanding the media and the Black leaders in America to stop ignoring, sugar-coating, and making excuses for cold blooded murderers. When the media and Black leaders do this, they become more of an accomplice than a handgun.

Here’s my plea from my show, Making Money with Charles Payne, last night:

Don’t look now, but Obamacare is gaining traction and the worst fears are becoming a reality. There’s a report from IBD that suggest that there could be a 30% decline in the Obamacare exchange enrollment by the end of the year. It boils down to lots of people who signed up, not actually paying or many that started, but stopped paying. The article is based mostly on information from Aetna.

May 720,000 sign-ups
June 600,000 paying customers
December 500,000 paying (estimate)

Yesterday morning, the Philly Fed survey of area manufacturers delivered shocking numbers of modifications that have occurred because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

18.2% employ fewer workers
15.1% say wages are lower
28.8% have raised prices charged to customers (none lowered them)

Approximately 51.5% of manufactures have made changes and modifications to their health plans; it all points to much higher cost for employees.

Impact of Affordable Care Act	Lower	Higher
Portions of employees covered	14.7%	17.6%
Employee Contributions to Premiums	2.9	88.2
Deductibles	0	91.2
Out of pocket maximums	2.9	76.5
Copays	2.9	64.7
Range of coverage	41.2	2.9
Breadth of network	26.5	0

Lots of Pain

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