What Some Of Us Will BeTalking About Tomorrow -- October 21, 2014

As most folks know, most of ObamaCare has been delayed until after the 2016 mid-term elections. The employer mandate kicks in next year. The WSJ is reporting:

With the health law’s insurance mandate for employers set to kick in next year, companies trying to avoid the law’s penalties while holding down costs, using strategies like enrolling employees in Medicaid. 

For those ineligible for Medicaid, health care coverage will be "skinny." Their word, not mine.

I've been saying that "forever."

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The Wall Street Journal

Other stories up for discussion tomorrow (personal commentary mixed with headline news from WSJ and Los Angeles Times):

Late in the game, top US officials concluded the Syrian city of Kobani had become too symbolically important to lose; they raced to save it.  During the waning days of Vietnam, it was said LBJ personally picked the targets. That could explain how the most recent airdrop of military aid was accidentally dropped directly to ISIS. Just saying.

This is very, very interesting, taking a page from Apple: fear of hackers, terrorists, and natural disasters has the Pentagon pushing construction of independent power grids at military bases across the US.

The chess game continues: Russia will ban all fruit and vegetable imports from the Ukraine starting Wednesday.

McDonald's outlined plans for what it calls fundamental changes after reporting one of its worst quarterly profit declines in years. I probably have as much experience as McDonald's as anyone: among a gazillion other things, my hunch is that many customers have found the $1-menu adequate and caloric-friendly. Soft drinks for $1 and unlimited refills whle inside the restaurant. Sa "no" to the fries and one has an adequate lunch for $2 and change.

Target offers free holiday shipping. I haven't charged anything at Target, on-line or in the store, since ever since their major security breach. Oh, one exception: a camera, but didn't use the Target Red Card.

Daimler sold its remaining 4% stake in Tesla; made a gain of almost a billion dollars. Daimler will work on its own in-house battery.

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The Los Angeles Times

No sympathy from me. They kicked us out. Told us to stay out. Now, Iraqis complain that US isn't doing enough against Islamic State. No sympathy from me.

"The Big Dig" in Los Angeles? I say go for it.