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Health care plan

But members of Congress are JUST NOW turning to the most explosive issues, which could delay or derail the process.

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Robert Pear, NY Times: “Efforts to overhaul the health care system have moved ahead rapidly, with the insurance industry making several major concessions and the chairmen of five Congressional committees reaching a consensus on the main ingredients of legislation.  The chairmen, all Democrats, agree that everyone must carry insurance and that employers should be required to help pay for it. They also agree that the government should offer a publichealth insurance plan as an alternative to private insurance.

But members of Congress are JUST NOW turning to the most explosive issues, which could delay or derail the process.

They have yet to tackle the question of how to pay for coverage of the UNINSURED.

They have not wrestled with vehement Republican objections to the idea of a new government-run insurance plan, competing directly with private insurers.

And they have not figured out the role of state insurance regulators, who enforce hundreds of state laws mandating coverage of a myriad of items, including infertility treatments, prostate cancer screening and acupuncture….The White House, displaying a surprisingly light touch, has encouraged Democrats in Congress to make the hard decisions while the administration holds forums around the country to hear suggestions from ordinary citizens.

Congressional leaders have set an ambitious timetable, under which the House and the Senate would vote on separate bills by the end of July. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, has kept the heat on negotiators. ..In November, two weeks after the presidential election, the health insurance industry said it would ACCEPTall applicants, regardless of illness or disability, IFCongress required everyone to have coverage. The industry went a step further last week, offering to END THE PRACTICE of charging higher premiums to sick people in the individual insurance market.

But each point of agreement raises a host of questions. The government CANNOT require people to have insurance if they cannot afford it, so lawmakers must decide: Who would get subsidies? How much? And if the government subsidizes insurance, should it also prescribe the items and services that must be covered — the specific benefits or their overall value?  … ” 

(EMPHASIS MINE) 

see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/us/politics/01health.html?_r=2&scp=5&sq=health%20care%20democrats&st=cse

Excess pay for a few is Good for America,

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Provided most of it goes into our treasury as income tax.

In 1960, the high marginal rate was 91%, at incomes > $100,000, and, contrary to Laffer, things were fine.

In 1970, it was 70%.

Today, its about 35%

Consider these progressive rates:

> 250,000       40%

>500,000        45%

> 1,000,000   50%

> 2,000,000   60%

> 5,000,000   65%

> 6,000,000   70%

> 7,000,000   75%

> 8,000,000   80%

> 9,000,000   85%

> 10,000,000 90%

The NY American League team alone might finance SCHIP!

POLARIZATION…

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Polarization, from Pew Research: “”For all of his hopes about bipartisanship, Barack Obama has the MOST POLARIZED early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades,” says the Pew Research Center.

The poll finds that Obama has VERY HIGH approval from Democrats, 88 percent, and very LOW approval from Republicans, 27 percent.

The 61-point partisan gap ECLIPSES George W. Bush’s 51-point gap in his first year, and that was after the long recount and simmering charges from Democrats that Bush stole the 2000 election.  

see:http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1178/polarized-partisan-gap-in-obama-approval-historic

 

How can the President Fire the GM CEO?

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Good question!  How does  ‘the government’ have the authority to do this? 

Answer: From Tom Krishner, AP: ” The lender will always come in and push levers of corporate control,” said Douglas Baird, a professor who SPECIALIZES  in BANKRUPTCY at the University of Chicago Law School.

“It will basically say: ‘You want me to lend money. But there are these kind of targets you have to hit.’ PRIVATE lenders do it all the time,” Baird added.

President Barack Obama, in detailing his plans for the industry Monday, said the government has no interest in running GM. But at the same time, the White House has specifically rejected a restructuring plan turned in by GM and ordered it to make deeper cuts.

“What we are interested in is giving GM an opportunity to finally make those much-needed changes that will let them emerge from this crisis a stronger and more competitive company,” Obama said.

GM and Chrysler are alive today only because of $17.4 billion in government loans.”

Or, in other words: he who loans the money calls the plays…

see:http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/business-12/1238488404322180.xml&coll=2

Feeling Depressed?

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Robert Reich, in Truthout: ”   The March employment numbers, out this morning, are bleak: 8.5 percent of Americans officially unemployed, 663,000 more jobs lost. But if you include people who are out of work and have given up trying to find a job, the REAL UNEMPLOYMENT rate is 9 percent. And if you include people working part time who’d rather be working full time, it’s now up to 15.6 percent. One in every six workers in America is now either unemployed or underemployed. ”

One of the interesting aspects of this economy is that we are hearing – for the first time in the general public, that the stated unemployment rate is low.  More: ”   All this means that the real economy will need a LARGER STIMULUS than the $787 billion already enacted. To be sure, only a small fraction of the $787 billion has been turned into new jobs so far. The money is still moving out the door. But today’s bleak jobs report shows that the economy is so far below its productive capacity that much more money will be needed.

This is still not the Great Depression of the 1930s, but it is a Depression. And the only way out is government spending on aVERY LARGE SCALE. We should stop worrying about Wall Street. Worry about American workers. Use money to build up Main Street, and the future capacities of our workforce.

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE and a non-carbon economy should be the equivalent of a war mobilization. Hire Americans to weatherize and insulate homes across the land. Don’t encourage General Motors or any other auto company to shrink. USE THE AUTO MAKERS’ SPARE capacity to make buses, new wind turbines, and electric cars (why let the Chinese best us on this?). Enlarge public transit systems.

Meanwhile, extend our educational infrastructure. So many young people are out of work that they should be using this time to improve their skills and capacities. Expand community colleges. Enlarge Pell Grants. Extend job-training opportunities to the unemployed, so they can learn new skills while they’re collecting unemployment benefits.

Finally, ACCELERATE universal health care.” (Emphasis mine).

see:http://www.truthout.org/040409C

Anyone can tell small lies: it takes conservatives to tell really big ones!

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In “Up from Conservatism: Why the Right is Wrong for America”, by Michael Lind, the author lays out the Big Lies which have been the basis of right wing ideology:

Supply Side Economics – reducing taxes on the highest income levels – will benefit everyone.  Real purpose: help the wealthiest Americans.

America’s schools are failing.  Real purpose: to defund public education.

Unmarried pregnancies are highest among blacks.  Real purpose: to defund welfare.

The author covers other issues, such as racism.

Fortunately for our country, these lies have failed, sanity has been restored, and the GOP is becoming a party of Southern white males.

Ed Schultz to have MSNBC show!

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Veteran talk radio host Ed Schultz joins MSNBC as host of “The Ed Show,” premiering on Monday, April 6.

“The Ed Show” will air weekdays, 6-7 p.m. ET. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC.

President of MSNBC Comments
Griffin said, “I am thrilled to have Ed kicking-off our primetime lineup.”

Griffin said, “Ed’s proven that he can connect with Americans and will be a perfect complement to Chris, Keith, and Rachel. He’s already made his mark on radio and I’m excited to see what he’ll do with the 6 p.m. hour.”

Ed Schultz Comments
Ed Schultz said, “I’m excited to have this opportunity with MSNBC.”

Schultz said, “I look forward to having a day to day discussion with fellow Americans on issues that really matter to all of us.”

see: http://www.bigeddieradio.com/

Love, war, and economic disaster

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may indeed  make surprising bedfellows, an example of which was the Sierra Club sponsored event at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland  March 31st on the Blue Green Alliance: a coming together of Blue (Labor Unions), and Green (‘tree hugging’ Sierra Club types ) – a concurrence neither the  environmentalists nor the ‘hard hats’ of the late sixties could ever have imagined.

The panelists were:

o Jesus Leon Santos – a Mexican progressive agriculturist, and winner of the 2008 Goldman Environmental prize.

o Jim Clark – VP of IUE-CWA.

o Margrete Strand – Sierra Club National office.

The theme was the impact of “Free” Trade on Labor and the ecology, and the promise of a new, Green, sustainable, economy.

Senior Santos presentation was an inspiring story of a grass roots organization which is working on recovering savaged land through reforestation, and encouraging others to buy local food products.

Mr. Clark gave a specific example of how the CFL bulb had been developed in Ohio, and then made oversees to avoid both living wages and environmental concerns.

Ms. Strand summarized the Blue Green concept, and pointed the way to action.

Mr. John Ryan of Sherrod’s office(former CWA) also spoke.

Questions and answers followed.

Those present were rewarded.

N.B.: Senior Santos provided an answer to the ‘ WWJD’ question: He’d plant trees!

Who is crying now?

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That may sound like a 1950’s pop song (slow dancing…), but in this case it describes the GOP talking about spending deficits.

Bernie Horn, of The Campaign for America’s future, writes in Truthout:”Here it comes – an avalanche of misleading and mistaken “facts” about President Obama’s budget.

Last week, the House and Senate Budget Committees approved versions of the fiscal 2010 budget resolution, working from an extraordinary proposal by Barack Obama. The House version is fairly close to what the President proposed, while the Senate bill is a bit different – but still 98 percent of what the President requested. This week, the budget will come to the floor of the House and Senate, including votes on a series of amendments to slash or weaken progressive programs… The mud of fabrication and misinformation is so deep, we’ll have to peel it off in layers.

Huge Hypocrisy

First and foremost, conservatives are being supremely hypocritical about deficits and debt because their deficits caused the current national debt. Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts for the rich and profligate military spending tripled the national debt. George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the rich and war spending doubled the national debt. In fact, nearly 80 percent of the current debt – about which conservatives now bitterly complain – was caused by the three most recent conservative presidents: Reagan, Bush Senior, and Bush Junior.

Adding insult to injury, Republican budgets have been notorious for containing gimmicks designed to hide the full extent of their irresponsibility – the most egregious was funding the Iraq war with special appropriations outside of the budget.

This year, President Obama changed all that. His budget described a comprehensive plan covering 10 years. It included contingency funds that may or may not have to be spent. It was, quite simply, the most honest budget ever…three big lies about revenues. Obama is not “proposing the largest tax increase in history.” He is proposing to restore a measure of tax fairness by letting George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the rich expire next year. He is proposing to return to the tax policies that were in place during America’s great economic expansion of the late 1990s. Under the Obama program, only the rich will see their taxes increase – those with incomes over $250,000 per year. For all the rest of us, our tax rates will decline. In fact, Obama’s plan will deliver the largest middle-class tax cut in history.     Similarly, Obama’s plan is not “aimed at taxing small-business people.” This talking point is based on a fictional definition of a small businessperson invented by the Bush Administration… And I’ll bet you’re wondering, what is this “massive new national sales tax on your electric bill”? There is none. This is right-wing framing for the “cap-and-trade” system that experts insist is the only practical way to get a handle on global warming. This system forces companies to pay for their pollution, thereby encouraging clean, green technologies.

So to review the conservative tax trickery, the truth is that Obama’s budget delivers a substantial tax cut to 95 percent of Americans. The only ones who will see their taxes increase are the wealthy – and the corporate polluters!… If we spend to build the American economy, long-term deficits will go down. If we don’t spend, the recession will linger and deficits will skyrocket. It’s as simple as that.

And that brings us to the false argument that cutting the current budget is good for “our children.” If we don’t invest in our nation’s infrastructure, if we don’t restructure the pathetic economy handed down to us by George W. Bush and his conservative allies, if we don’t create a sustainable health care system, if we don’t take necessary steps to achieve energy independence and fight global warming – then we will be placing a terrible burden on our children. For them, and for us, we’ve got to change course, now….No doubt the GOP will offer one or more alternative budgets on the House and Senate floors later this week. No doubt they will be just like the alternative Republican stimulus packages in February – full of tax cuts for the rich and spending cuts for the rest of us.

The bottom line is: Conservatives caused this mess and now are running away from any responsibility for cleaning it up.”

——-

The writer is a Senior Fellow at Campaign for America’s Future and author of the recent book, “Framing the Future: How Progressive Values Can Win Elections and Influence People.”

see: http://www.truthout.org/033109R