Report: it will take $45M and almost two years to ‘fix’ Cover Oregon.

That’s under current conditions (keep the database, keep current vendor Oracle), at least according to the Deloitte Development report that the state of Oregon commissioned on how to get from under the horrible state exchange disaster inflicted on Oregon by Governor John Kitzhaber and his fellow Democrats. Reading the report, it looks like Deloitte’s recommendation would be that Oregon simply cut Cover Oregon loose and join the federal exchange. As the Oregonian noted:

Oregon could hook up to the federal exchange far sooner and for a fraction of the cost, according to the report obtained by The Oregonian. A hybrid solution mixing the federal exchange and an unfinished Oracle-based small-business section of the exchange would also be faster than sticking with the current plan, as well as cheaper.

Continue reading Report: it will take $45M and almost two years to ‘fix’ Cover Oregon.

Anticipating the upcoming Great California High-Speed Rail Disaster of 2013+.

“+” because this is going to crash and burn for years.

Let me summarize this LA Times article discussing the looming …singularity… of fiscal destruction.

  • California wants a high-speed rail system which will apparently solve all of their problems (“Then why don’t they have one, already?”  “Because shut up, that’s why”).
  • This is scheduled to cost 68 Billion dollars.  $68,000,000,000.
  • It will cost more.
  • Meanwhile, the state is deep in debt – and it’s an open question whether Jerry Brown and his Merry Band of Democrats have actually managed to stabilize revenues.
  • For example, I am waiting (with more than a little morbid curiosity) to see what California’s actual 1Q 2012 tax revenues are like.  I suspect that they’re going to be… memorable.
  • But let’s get back to the high-speed rail.  It’s not built yet.
  • That’s fine; construction isn’t supposed to start for another six months…
  • Oh, wait, not all of the land for the railway has been purchased, yet.
  • Oh, wait, none of the land for the railway has been purchased, yet.
  • Which is why the start of construction has already been delayed.

Continue reading Anticipating the upcoming Great California High-Speed Rail Disaster of 2013+.