Corporate America - Meet the New Boss

I don't consider myself a raving conspiracy theorist.  But recent events make me wonder if I should reconsider and become one.

The Occupy Movement's central theme is disgust with what corporations are doing.  They control health care. They control media.  They control finances and they control what we eat.  They control energy and they want to control the earth's water supply.

And the bottom line, for all of it, is profit.

I recently interviewed one of the authors of "Good Company", a book that studied the behaviors of the Fortune 100.   They established a list of criteria that studied them as employers, as producers and as stewards of the environment and communities.  And most of them scored no better than a D.

The good news is that the study also showed that those companies who scored better also were more profitable.  Consumers respond positively to good companies.  But most companies studied aim for a quick profit and chew up employees, communities, the environment and produce poor quality products while skirting regulations or break laws while building the cost of fines into the price of doing business.

While researching a story on the shortage of psychiatrists in my region, I found that insurance companies manipulate the market.  They collect profits while offering seemingly-sufficient panels of specialists.  But those panels are composed of doctors who don't accept new patients, who no longer accept their insurance, or who've been dead for years.  Other psychiatrists take only cash because they cannot spend the time filling out the reams of paperwork required by insurance companies.  Treatment centers have to fight with insurance companies to get continuing coverage for patients who still need care.

 Doctors are pressured to prescribe the newest medicines because they have a better profit margin.  Companies spend millions on ad campaigns to get you to ask your doctor for them.

And it's so "normal" we haven't even stopped to ask what the hell is going on. It's capitalism run amok - create the demand to satisfy the needs of an ever hungrier group of investors.  Maximize profit, minimize expense.  Taken to extremes, it means shortcuts.  Cheap labor.  Defective, insufficiently tested products raced to market.  Minimal care with maximum profit.

Thank you, Occupy Wall Street.  You're forcing a second look.  And the view is disturbing.

This Is Going To Hurt A Little...

Okay, time to take a serious look at our finances now that the health care reform law now exists. There's a Washington Post article that takes a realistic look at what must now follow - major fiscal reform.

Tea Party People have been shrieking about the fiscal mess that this health care reform will add to and it appears they're right. I gather the president agrees with some of what they have to say, too - it's just simple, irrefutable math.

Conservatives have been howling that government spending cuts must come first. But Obama was convinced that without health care reform cutting down that fast-increasing budget item, all the other cuts would be negated. It had to come first.

Now he's got his reform. It unfortunately cannot stop there - the next battle will have to be government spending cuts. And government needs to raise more money.

The long-term picture for this country's economy is terrifying and it cannot be blamed on the president alone. Republicans and Democrats alike have thrown money around, hiding spending, cooking books to keep the public from knowing just how far in the hole we're going.

Remember, please, that the last president waged a war without including the billions spent in the budget. And he did it while cutting revenue with tax breaks for business and the wealthy. It just doesn't add up and we're starting to stagger as we try to keep it all balanced.

The answer isn't tax cuts, unfortunately. Not just the wealthy will have to cough up more. We all will. Can we afford it? Hell, no. But we'll have to do it just the same unless we're going to continue to pile up an unsustainable debt that we'll just stick to our kids and their kids, if the country can continue to operate that long.

You don't have kids? You're not worried about the next generation? Get on board anyway. The country's accounts might just not last until you're dead, and unless you've enjoyed the past couple of years' recession you'll be wanting to get that debt down.

The president, according to this article, plans to propose some of what promise to be highly unpopular changes after the November election. And he's playing poker again, gambling that as investors begin to shy away from US Treasury bills (and he seems to feel it won't be long), he'll be able to begin the slicing and stitching that will cut our spending down while increasing government's revenues by arguing he simply has no choice.

He already has no choice. But because this is a country of people who love to hate (evidenced by some of the most hateful and childish photos of the president I would never want to imagine when I searched for "obama health care reform"), we will only pull together if we're convinced we have a common enemy.

We do. It's the deficit. Whether you agree health care reform was necessary before fixing it or not, I think we can agree the deficit is a damned scary thing.

I freak out if I can't pay my bills at the end of the month. I cut spending, I find extra work. I don't charge it, with interest, to pay somewhere down the road.

There is no credit card, no country, big enough to cover this government's debts and operating expenses within the next ten years. We need to go on a spending diet and we need to do it willingly.

This is a country that collected scrap metal and grew Victory Gardens when it was convinced it faced a common enemy. We're facing another one - and we need our most creative thinkers, efficiency experts and diplomats working hand in hand with realistic fiscal experts to win this one.

America, Meet The New Kid

Here's this morning's Daily Beast:


POLLS
1.Americans' Change of Heart on Health Care

It didn't take long for Americans to come around on health-care reform: A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows 49 percent of Americans saying health-care reform is a "good thing," with only 40 percent saying it is bad. This is a marked reversal from polling from before the legislation was passed and signed, which typically showed the public opposed. Forty-eight percent of respondents also say it's just a "good first step" that needs to be followed up with more action. Additionally, congressional Republicans rate the lowest out of all the major players: 26 percent said their work was excellent or good, while 34 percent say it was poor; for congressional Democrats, those numbers are 32 and 33 percent; for Barack Obama, they're 46 and 31 percent.

I'm finding this not only encouraging, but kind of funny. So like me, many Americans in general were just not sure what this new law involved. And like me, the more they hear, the more they're inclined to think it's an adequate first step, though it needs a lot more work. And like me, they're not impressed with the terror tactics of the opposition.

This morning's professional email inbox held a letter from a Republican legislator warning that this bill will "kill more Americans than the 9-11 attacks."

If you want to guarantee turning off everyone but the most extreme, conspiracy-theory, paranoid among us, this is a surefire winner.

I am so sick of the flapping gums in DC. I don't think I'm alone in that either. I am not brain dead and I do not need you to tell me what to think.

Again, I repeat and in a very non-partisan, "this applies to you all" way: Thanks for getting something done, Congress. Now shut up and make it better.

Just What Got Passed, Anyway?

My inboxes are flooded this morning. My personal email address has thank you's from the president, an exhortation from the BoldProgressives to "hit the Blue Dogs" for their blocking of a public option, a celebration of the Working Families Party's success in helping get a local Blue Dog to vote "aye", and an email from my guy's mom checking on his recovery.

My work inbox, a nonpartisan address, has a letter from NY's governor applauding the passage of health care, a blistering attack from NOW NY on the president's executive order which they say could be used by a hospital to deny a rape victim contraception as part of her post-attack treatment.

There are letters from all the local congressional reps announcing their vote, with the funny part being that reluctant, late-to-the-game Blue Dog announcing his "yes" vote in an ALL CAPS SUBJECT LINE. He wants you to know he got your emails and phone calls.

There a note from an insurance conference pointing out the incredible importance of the health insurance industry to New York's economy. There's a vitriolic letter from the National Republican Committee Conference lambasting one of those local congressmen, referring to him as a " loyal lapdog" who put politics first and his constituents second.

It has become such a mess, such a muddle, that I doubt any of us outside of Washington fully understand what was being debated this weekend. I'm going to try to figure out the big picture.

Here's what I just found on The Daily Beast: "Health-care reform may have been historic, but many of its biggest reforms won't take place for at least a couple of years. So what does the health-care bill change right now? Crooks and Liars has assembled a handy list of immediate changes. After President Obama signs the bill, children will be able to stay on their parents' health insurance until their 27th birthdays. No child under 19 will be excluded from plans because of preexisting conditions. It will eliminate caps on how much care you can get in one year. Adults with preexisting conditions will be able to start shopping online for a plan in a national high-risk pool while waiting for insurance exchanges to get started. Small business can deduct as much as 50 percent of employees' health benefits for tax purposes in 2009 and 2010. It will fill in the "donut hole" of Medicare prescription drug coverage with a rebate. Insurers will have to post their balance sheets online, listing administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments. And you can no longer be dropped from your insurance plan just because you get sick."

And there's a letter from Michael Moore to both addresses, explaining what he believes the new bill means. He sees it as a victory for US citizens over corporate interests and a good start on a decent health care system, but far from perfect. In fact, before endorsing it, he admitted this was one pretty weak piece of legislation. But it's a foot in the door.

Here's what the NRCC says...and I quote (eliminating the attacks on the guy who voted for it): This is..."a bill that fails to lower the cost of healthcare," ...creates " hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes, Medicare cuts, runaway spending and unprecedented government control,"..."this toxic bill will negatively impact small businesses that are struggling to hire in the midst of a tough economic climate."

Here's Michael Moore's letter (with some of the GOP bashing cut where it adds no information - you can read the whole thing at the link): "Thanks to last night's vote, that child of yours who has had asthma since birth will now be covered after suffering for her first nine years as an American child with a pre-existing condition.

Thanks to last night's vote, that 23-year-old of yours who will be hit one day by a drunk driver and spend six months recovering in the hospital will now not go bankrupt because you will be able to keep him on your insurance policy.

Thanks to last night's vote, after your cancer returns for the third time -- racking up another $200,000 in costs to keep you alive -- your insurance company will have to commit a criminal act if they even think of dropping you from their rolls.

If it's any consolation, the thieves who run the health insurance companies will still get to deny coverage to adults with pre-existing conditions for the next four years. They'll also get to cap an individual's annual health care reimbursements for the next four years. And if they break the pre-existing ban that was passed last night, they'll only be fined $100 a day! And, the best part? The law will require all citizens who aren't poor or old to write a check to a private insurance company. It's truly a banner day for these corporations.

So don't feel too bad. We're a long way from universal health care. Over 15 million Americans will still be uncovered -- and that means about 15,000 will still lose their lives each year because they won't be able to afford to see a doctor or get an operation. But another 30,000 will live. I hope that's ok with you.

If you don't mind, we're now going to get busy trying to improve upon this bill so that all Americans are covered and so the grubby health insurance companies will be put out of business -- because when it comes to helping the sick, no one should ever be allowed to ask the question, "How much money can we save by making this poor bastard suffer?"

A Daily News poll online this morning asks if you believe America is better off today than yesterday. The No votes are edging the Yeses by six percent. But Mike Lupica wrote a stirring column lauding the fact that when push finally came to shove, the president stood on his principles, telling House Democrats that this was a moment when they could do what they came to Washington to do, vote for a change that makes things better. I believe that is the aim of this bill.

It's not a great bill, not by any measure. But it moves toward reforming a system that is going to bankrupt us. It moves toward assuring health care for every citizen which is, in the long run, not only the human thing to do, but the fiscally responsible thing to do. We cannot afford to care for the growing number of uninsured by forcing hospitals to treat them in emergency rooms. We need to create a system that reflects reality. I believe this bill is a step toward that.

According to a San Diego political commentator, the only impact this will have on us, the regular people, is creating a state-based exchange with subsidies for insurance..in four years. A separate exchange will be created for small businesses.

People and families with income over 250 thousand dollars a year will pay an extra 3.8 percent tax on investment income. And in 18 years, insurance companies will pay a hefty 40% excise tax on insurance plans over 27 thousand dollars. I'm not seeing a problem here yet.

What I see as the result of this bill is a step through a door that has, until now, been closed. With the passage of this bill, there is opportunity to fine tune it, to tailor it, to create a plan that not only stops the devastating escalation of insurance costs and health care costs, but extends basic health coverage to every American.

I won't argue compassion to Conservatives. That's not what moves them. I will argue fiscal responsibility.

I listened to David Walker, the author of Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility during one of my drives back and forth the hospital last week. He's a sane man. He's knowledgeable and he knows government from the inside. He was Comptroller General of the United States and CEO of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) from 1998 to 2008. And he is convinced that, without significant reform, health care will bankrupt us. Of course, we're doing plenty of other things that will bankrupt us, too, but health care as we've been doing it is number one.

So the door is open. We've got something to work with now. And the motiviation to work on it.

Screaming about a government takeover of health care, spreading fear, will not contribute to improving this bill. Of course that's what will happen...screams, lies, fear...no doubt that horrific "death panel" garbage will rear its disgusting head, too.

I give up on hoping for civil dialogue. That's not how Washington works. But I demand progress from my elected officials, I demand the very best health care reform they can design that benefits the public, does not unrealistically enrich the corporations and reverses the growing debt load we're handing off to our children and grandchildren.

That's your assignment, Washington. Congrats on doing something. Now shut up and get to work.

Recession? What Recession?

This has been puzzling me for awhile. Did you know that Bloomberg's Business Week had a recession blog? Did you know it ended back in September of 2009?

I was shocked when I read the headline: Thanks For Your Readership. What - you're done? The copy goes on to say that the effects of the recession are still reverberating through the country, but the economy is "on the upswing" and other blogs would pick up the recession stories.

The recession in America, according to Bloomberg, was over.

Recession in America by Business Week

What America are they in?

It's almost February 2010 and there are certainly signs that the economy is trying to breathe without life support. But it's gravely ill and I don't think it's getting out of the hospital anytime soon. Particularly when we haven't yet addressed many of the issues that got us here in the first place.

Wall Street's feeling much better, thank you. They're celebrating with big bonuses.
That cracking sound you hear? The spines of the rest of us, upon whom they're reclining as they feast. The collapse hasn't slowed for us nor has any of the weight been removed. Hell, we can't even get a break on health care costs.

The state of the union should be interesting. It seems our new president is realizing that his centrist, keep the peace approach isn't going to fly. He can't make friends with the GOP, the legislature is in partisan lockdown, and he's not going to get any meaningful reform passed by trying to play nice.

I sympathize. I want everyone to like me, too. But they won't. And at some point you have to grow up, admit to yourself that you can't win everyone over and sometimes you just have to take a stand you believe in, even if it's unpopular.

So I'm not joining the ranks of the people who are throwing in the towel on this administration. I'm ready to get behind him if he's traveling in a direction I think turns us toward not only recovery but sustainability.

But it's comforting to know the recession's over. Bloomberg would know, wouldn't they?

Dear President Obama: My New Year's Wish

This is not a fan letter. Neither is it hate mail. It's a wish, a hope, a dream for the next three years of the Obama Administration.

It's no easy job you took on. It's complicated by an uneasy legacy from the past administration, one which has weakened our international reputation, increased the mistrust Americans have of our politicians.

You campaigned on change. It was the centerpiece of your platform. Simply by being who you are, being a very different style of president, you've delivered.
But not the way many of us who supported you hoped for.

You promised to bring our soldiers home. Instead, you're moving them to Afghanistan. Is it a strategically logical move? Perhaps, in traditional thinking. But it's no change. Change would have been to put a small, well funded group of covert ops experts to work on the terrorist problem, and divert the rest of the massive funds we spend on computerized warfare to humanitarian aid.

Shore up the education system. Rebuild the countries. Establish reliable food and water systems. Be the good guys. Make it impossible to argue we're not. Win hearts and minds in a real way, not with a few half-hearted efforts to understand the culture. Despite the enormity of the job, I'm betting it would still cost a fraction of what we're spending on our wars and it would be a godsend for our own country; allowing the thousands of our own soldiers whose lives we're maiming to instead believe in the possibility of their own futures again.

Your first months in office have been a big disappointment to me and many others who hoped for real health care reform.

You're accomplishing something - yes. Is it better than nothing? I have my doubts.
It discriminates against women, against gays. It doesn't offer health care to all. It gives the bloated health insurance industry what IT wants. It doesn't give us what WE wanted.

Sadly, it appears this half-assed health care is what you envisioned all along. That isn't what you told us. We didn't make up the promise of the National Health Insurance Exchange. You told us you intended to create it.

You promised you'd open the doors to prescription drugs from other countries, lowering the cost of medication for millions. That door is shut tight.

The winners here are the establishment - the insurance industry, the pharmceutical companies. The American people lose again. Because we allow ourselves to be ignored.

You took office in a financial crisis. You bailed out your administration's cronies on Wall Street, bailed out the firms that created the crisis, bailed out the auto industry. A bailout for Americans losing their homes? Lip service.
Loan servicers make more money if they pursue foreclosure. So they say they're participating in HAMP, but in truth they far prefer to foreclose.

I've been in the midst of that process, taking that proactive position we were all told to pursue. Staying current on my payments, watching my savings disappear, filing form after form, mailing file after file to IndyMac bank in hopes of getting a loan modification. It's been well over a year. They're still asking for more paperwork, pretending they don't have forms they've had on file for months.

Meanwhile, they got bailed out by the feds and bought out by OneWest. Fannie Mae, which owns my mortgage, is a bottomless pit of fiscal mismanagement which has a limitless budget of bailouts from the taxpayers. That would be me.

I've given up. There will be no cushion for me and for millions of others who are selling their homes, short selling, losing them.

Where is comprehensive financial reform? Where is the oversight?

I live in New York. My state is slashing funding, delaying payments to localities, and they're forced to try to make up the difference. Who will pay for this? I will. My neighbors will. We are the source of all the funding that government demands. Don't you see it? And yet jobs are disappearing, salaries have been flat for years while costs have risen so quickly that our dreams of a home of our own, a car that has fewer than 150 thousand miles on it, our hope of retirement are gone.

My children must borrow money to go to college. I cannot afford to pay their tuition. They will graduate with massive debts, which I will only be able to pay for them by winning the lottery.

We spend billions on a war that we cannot win. We will spend billions to bail out businesses that have cheated their way into near-bankruptcy. We will spend billions on a health care plan that won't cover everyone. And the next generation is lining up at community colleges, hoping to get a seat at the only affordable higher education opportunity there is, knowing that a four year degree means borrowing tens of thousands of dollars.


Don't you see how backwards this is?

Is America truly leading the way in developing sustainable energy? Is it developing a sustainable, growing economy? Are we moving forward or backwards?

There is a deep well of righteous indignation all over this country but you don't see it. You may find it swallows you whole in the next election.


Mr. Obama, I haven't given up on you. I think you're a decent man. I think you really want to create a legacy of positive change. You need to reconsider your course.

Your advisors are Washington insiders; the very people who've created the corrupt, old-boy network that's given us every abuse of power for the past twenty years or more. Their loyalty is to America's corporations. They're the wrong people at the helm.

You don't need them. You need to surround yourselves with great minds, open minds, people with ideals who refuse to accept the cynical "business as usual" and "it can't be done" mentality that sucks Washington DC down like quicksand.

You had us. You had our support. You are squandering that incredible privilege and for what - influence? Influence comes from grassroots support. Mobilize the American people and no amount of lobbying can compete. A second term? Look at your poll numbers. No amount of campaign funding is going to get you into office a second time if we don't believe in you.

The Republicans are unifying. They all see a clear threat to their philosophy of government and they will whip their voters into a solid voting bloc. Your base is disintegrating with each disappointment, each wrong turn.

Yours is a young presidency. There is time to change, time to set a new course.

We want to support you. We want to help. And we desperately need your help. We need an advocate in the Oval Office, not an adversary.

You work for us, Mr. President. And I know you know that. That should be the bottom line of every decision you make. Every single one. "Does this make a real, positive difference for the American people?" And coupled with this question should be a second one: "Is there a better way?"

I wish you the very best for the coming year. And I'm hoping you do the same for us.

Very sincerely,

Susan Barnett

Women's Rights in America

Two items of interest to me today as host and producer of a women's issues program.

One, the Senate health care reform proposal. Its language calls for women to make a separate payment, write a separate check for full reproductive services health coverage to the private insurer which would be offering insurance under the program.
The idea is to make certain that no public funds are used to finance abortions.

This ignores the Hyde Amendment,passed in 1976, which guarantees that very thing. It's not beloved of pro-choice lobbyists, but it exists. So this extra contortion reaffirms a prohibition that is already law. And what it effectively accomplishes is discrimination. A man will pay for his insurance, period. A woman will pay on a two-tiered scale, depending on her age and what services she might need.

I am not arguing for abortion. I've struggled with this one for years and I believe that except under very exceptional circumstances, that choice should not be abortion. I hate that there are people who treat abortion like a form of contraception. But I'm a woman; I know the difficult situations we all can face. Any choice made must be one that forces a real searching of the soul. But bottom line, I believe in allowing that choice. I do not believe the law should require you to have a child.

So we're creating a mandatory system that will force women to pay extra if they want to preserve that right to choose.

Not to mention the fact that insurance companies will also be permitted to charge far more for covering older people (like me)...one figure I've seen predicts it will be 300% more.

I'm disappointed in our president. I think he has been disingenuous. He's promoted a single payer public option while promising the insurance industry that he doesn't really mean it.

If I were a legislator, I think I'd have to vote down this cutout version of reform. But if I were a legislator, I'd be hounding Joe Lieberman out of any position of clout he even dreams of holding. I'd be holding 24 hour full volume heavy metal vigils on his doorstep.

So just as well I'm not.

Then there's CEDAW. Do you know what it is?

It's the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women.
It was part of Eleanor Roosevelt's vision when she helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It is an international treaty which has been ratified by 185 countries, countries willing to affirm that they stand against "any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."

Sudan hasn't signed it. Neither has Somalia. Nor has the United States.

Presidents Clinton and Carter signed it, but never managed to get it out of committee and into a vote by the Senate.

So I live in a country where my government cannot agree that all women deserve the same human rights and fundamental freedoms as men.

CEDAW turned thirty years old this month. And we are still waiting for it to come up for a vote in Washington.

It's a significant treaty, if only on moral grounds.

Isn't that high ground the one we like to claim as ours?

You can find out more here.

Where is Our Woody Guthrie?

I went to see Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" last night. Excellent film. Go. If you disagree with him, it's most important that you go. Go to scoff, but go. Listen.

I took it hard; the facts are so cold when presented on a large screen, when you see the faces of the people who are being crushed by the Capitalism machine:

"Dead peasant" insurance policies that enrich an employer for a worker's untimely death. Citibank crowing to its top investors that America is now a plutonomy, with the only possible threat to a perfect corporate/government synergy being the one man one vote policy. A laundry list of Goldman executives who have been or are now the top financial people in the government.

Moore did a terrific job of contrasting life before Ronald Reagan and life after him. He describes him as the perfect pitch man, and what he sold us was trickle down economics; the idea that if you let the rich get richer, the money will come down to the rest of us. And the incredible part is that many bought that argument so solidly that despite the fact that they're sinking, that they can't pay their bills, that their salaries have been flat and families must work at least two jobs to survive, despite the fact that car loans are now routinely for five years because we can't possibly pay off a car in three, despite the fact that it is nearly impossible to get a young person through college without massive loan debt, despite the fact that we work longer and harder, make comparatively less yet have little or no job security, despite the fact that we lose our homes, go bankrupt because of health costs, and get poorer quality care from lawsuit-fearful doctors, despite all of this, they still BELIEVE the Reagan line. They believe it with all their hearts.

They're convinced that government is an evil which much be contained, rather than believing that government can be a tool for ensuring the public good. Is government evil right now? Yes, for the most part. It's corrupt, it's become what the Reaganites wanted - an arm of corporate America. It is populated by people who are indebted to the very interests they should be regulating, rather than the voters who put them in office. That's the system we've allowed to exist. And that's what has to change.

There are a few lights shining in the dark. Marcy Kaptur, for example, has my vote if I could vote for her. I like Dennis Kucinich. Don't dismiss him as a strange little man - that's what the System does to threats - it either attacks them or mocks them. He envisions a government that I could support. Bernie Sanders is a democratic Socialist? He's immediately got my vote if only for raw, buck the system honesty. He believes that government should be used to ensure the public good. Maurice Hinchey shares my philosophy, and would be an ally if Congress took a step toward reform.

The list of legislators who should be tossed out on their ears is too long to list and it is totally bipartisan. If you participate in the game as it's currently played, you should be fired. Period.

And you, you reading this, if you're in the US, you should be getting involved. You should consider running for office. Yes, it's a total drag and not what you want to do with your life, but that's exactly the kind of people who should be in office; citizen legislators who view the job as jury duty; I'll do it for a term because I should, but then I want out so I can have my life back. It isn't supposed to be a career.

But how do we get people riled up enough to act? Michael Moore's doing his part. He's pretty much doing it in a vaccuum. The Depression had Woody Guthrie to spread the message of discontent. The sixties had Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, even Woody's son. Who is the Troubador for the New People's Movement? Who can speak to both Red and Blue and make them see that their interests are the same: they want an America where they can live, work, raise their families and pursue opportunities to better themselves.

Our businesses make record profits while the workers go bankrupt. Giant corporations push through a bailout that they use to give bonuses to the people who created the banking crisis, for conferences in exotic locations, to increase their profits while attempting to crush the local competition. Small businesses are driven out by giant box stores and farmers are squashed by giant agribusiness.

It's simple logic: it's gotten too big to be sustainable. We're less healthy, less happy, less hopeful and more angry. To paraphrase the Great Communicator: Are You Better Off Than You Were Before We Made Capitalism America's God?

Do Something

Do you feel overwhelmed by the events of the past few years? Has the recession left you sprawled on the floor, gasping for air? (do you prefer Economic Slump? Depression? Financial S***storm?

Have you lost your home, your job, your health insurance, your retirement savings?
If you haven't, I'm betting you know someone who has.

So what are you doing about it?

I think many of us are just beaten down. We're giving up. We roused ourselves to oust an administration that we knew didn't give a damn about us, hoping that the new president would bring a sea change to Washington. We were hoping for a tsunami. It hasn't happened. In fact, despite the increasing problems and the rising deficit incurred as we throw money at problems, the tide actually went out. We went back into our homes, shut the doors and turned off the news. It was all just too depressing.

But look: the Obama machine roused hundreds of thousands of people to call their Washington representatives to push for health care reform. That reform, declared a dead issue just a couple of months ago, is refusing to give up. And if we can keep it alive, we can push to keep real health care reform alive. We can demand a public option, a national Medicare for all.

We can change this country if we are willing to open our doors, step outside and start making noise. We Are The Tidal Wave.

I'm coming to like Michael Moore a lot. He doesn't just turn a video camera and kleig lights on our nastiest secrets, he really believes that an outspoken electorate could turn this ship around.

Yes, we're a divided country. Yes, it's an uphill battle against legislators who are
more interested in their own careers and importance than serving the people who pay them.

But we are their bosses. We hired them and we pay them. And if you don't like how things are going, you have a seat on the board of this country. You have a vote. And if you seek out people who are willing to make noise with you, you can roar.

Conservatives know this. My issue with them is when they lie to win more people to their point of view.

Don't lie. Speak the truth. The pro-business policies that have ruled this country for decades are destroying us. Business is essential, but not at the price of the people who support it. Policies must be based on what is good for the PEOPLE...WE The PEOPLE.

Moore has a fifteen point action plan. It makes sense. What will you do?

MICHAEL MOORE'S 15 POINT ACTION PLAN

Schumer and the Public Option - Did I Say It Was Dead?

We don't pay much attention to what politicians say anymore, which leaves them free to flip and flop at will. Senator Charles Schumer, the senior Democrat from New York, has assumed the mantle of the Champion of the Public Option. I get action alerts from progressive groups asking me to write to him, encouraging him to continue his "strong" support for the public option in health care reform.

I'd like to point out one fact - he bailed on the public option back in early September. I am glad he's apparently trying again, but it galls me that no one's pointed out that he'd already left the building.

Here's what the Daily Kos got..

Chuck Schumer explains exactly how Harry Reid can get the public option passed through the Senate:

"SCHUMER: I am very optimistic that we're going to get a strong public option. The House is standing firm on public option. And I think all of those, when they saw the vote in the finance committee who thought, "Oh, it's over," hadn't really read the situation correctly.

STEWART: Well, how do you get it done? How does it end up in the final bill?

SCHUMER: Well, first, Leader Reid has the option of putting it in the final bill. If he puts it in the final bill, in the combined bill, then you would need 60 votes to remove it. And there clearly are not 60 votes against the public option. If -- and so, we're urging him to do that and he's seriously considering it.

Once it passes the Senate, if that were to happen, it's in the House bill, it's in the Senate bill, and it would have to be in the final product. So, it's very important to see if the public option is in the bill that Leader Reid puts together. He hasn't yet made up his mind, but many of us who believe in the public option are urging him to do so. And so far, we're getting -- we're getting heard.

Note that Schumer says Reid still hasn't decided what path he will take on the public option. That's not a very big deal if Reid has already made up his mind and just hasn't told anyone so that he can play his cards close to his chest. But if he really still hasn't decided whether or not to include the public option in the Senate bill, what in the world is holding him back? The public option is one of the single most popular elements of health care reform. It's a good idea, it's good politics, and it's time to get the job done."

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:09fQP37O1k6qaM:http://dealbreaker.com/2009/07/31/Schumer.jpg

And here's Jon Stewart, the only sane man on television, wondering what the hell the Democrats are doing.


http://www.indecisionforever.com/2009/10/01/jon-stewart-to-congressional-dems-youre-a-fing-idiot/

Let me add a note here because this is really nagging at me. Schumer declared the public option dead weeks ago. With great authority. I saw it. It was a little press conference at a housing complex near the Hudson River and no one but the local yokels were there (which explains my presence).

I asked about health care reform. He very clearly, distinctly and absolutely declared the public option dead. Feel free to listen. Wait for it - it's toward the end.

Schumer declares Public Option DOA.

I feel better now. It's good to know who is who.

Bill Moyers Is My Hero

Moyers is out there digging up the dirt to see what's underneath, accompanied on television, mostly, by Jon Stewart. If you haven't seen Stewart's feature on Timothy Geithner's real estate issues, it's worth a watch. But this post is about corruption at the top. And the press, with just a few exceptions, is ignoring it.

What a pitiful state of affairs. Go sit in the corner, Anderson. Sit on the dunce seat, Wolf. Fox, never mind. Rachel, you go, girl. But don't just focus on marketing firms - start making noise at the top.

America, World, watch and weep. This is what we are right now. It's all about money.

Health Care Reform - The Core Issue

You may like or dislike Keith Olbermann. I go back and forth myself. But his thoughtful, passionate and reasoned discussion of why health care reform is so important, yet why we're so deeply divided about it, was brilliant and you should watch. I have my own story to add.

Keith talks about his recent experiences with his dad in the hospital. I've been there with both my parents.

My mother lingered six weeks in the hospital, dying of cancer that had spread to her stomach, in horrific pain that even liberal and constant morphine drips couldn't mask, starving to death. She developed bed sores. She was, most of the time, unconscious or barely conscious. On the two occasions during that entire six weeks that she was aware, she was afraid. Not of dying, though perhaps she was afraid of that as well. But what she was afraid of was the bills.

"Can we afford this?" she whispered through lips we kept moistened with salve. She couldn't drink. Everything made her throw up.

"Of course we can," my father assured her. They could. They had Medicare. They had supplemental insurance. They were lucky. The bills were high, but they weren't impossible thanks to years of paying for that extra protection.

But she wasn't sure. And he couldn't convince her.

So my mother died worried that she was creating a financial burden for my father and for me.

And her fear lingered with me, along with the memories of the bedsores she developed despite the nurses' best efforts, along with the memory of her grimaces when the pain stabbed her, along with the anger that a kind, generous woman should not only suffer, but worry that her suffering was just too damned expensive.

Watch Keith. Then can't we all talk about this and come up with a solution that fixes a broken system?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Going Solo - A Side Benefit of Health Care Reform

From Scripps Howard:

You've wanted to write a book or start a company or open a restaurant, but you've always been afraid of quitting your job and losing your health coverage. So would you be more likely to take an entrepreneurial leap if you knew you and your family's health expenses were covered, no matter what?

It's not a new question, but it's one that's being asked with more frequency now that health-care reform is again on the agenda in Washington. And while research on the topic has been limited, some studies suggest the patchwork system of employee-paid health care is discouraging entrepreneurship.

That's because of what's known as "job lock," a bit of economics jargon that's been in vogue since the 1990s, the last time Congress and the president staged a real health-reform debate. Basically, "job lock" means that you're more likely to stay in your current job, which offers health insurance, than take a chance on a startup business, where health expenses would come out of your pocket. So people are "locked" into jobs that they no longer enjoy, where they are economically unproductive, or so the theory goes.

This article goes on to say that some people dispute the reality of job lock, that insurance benefits through COBRA plans make it possible for workers to shake the dust of jobs they hate from their feet and get into work they love.

We live in the real world, you and I. We know that COBRA is ungodly expensive and no one but the exceptionally brave or exceedingly desperate would opt to bail out of a decent paying job into an uncertain future with only COBRA as an insurance plan.
Truth be told, if you're that brave or desperate, you'll probably decide to jump without the parachute because the cost of COBRA would eat up what little nest egg you've saved.

But how exciting if we didn't have to work just to be covered by insurance! What if we could write that book, compose that symphony, start that diner or join the Peace Corps for a year? Many, many people would stay in their jobs. They're not there for the benefits, they're there for the pay, the security and the relationship they've built with their employer and coworkers. But some of us, oh, some of us have dreams that we quietly pursue in the few free hours we have each night. And some of us have risked it all and tried to make ends meet with art - insurance is a wild, impossible dream for many artists. And some of us want to start our own companies.

Let me give it back to the newspaper article:


"The type of universal health insurance coverage policy proposed by President Obama will clearly promote the freedom of workers to leave their jobs to start new companies," writes Jonathan Gruber, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "By solving a major impediment to mobility in the U.S. labor market, a larger government goes hand in hand with more business development."


In other words, universal health coverage also ensures creativity.

And now I will turn it over to Robert Reich, who makes the whole issue pretty darned simple.

I Get It Now.

Thank you to a local independent political hopeful who strongly believes in the capitalist system in theory and the Constitution in practice...I finally understand the basis of the health care reform debate and many other philosophical struggles that have seemed to be based in nothing but fear.

There is fear, of course. Only fear could make someone believe that yelling over others at town hall meetings or packing a gun is appropriate behavior for a discussion of the issues.

But for rational, thinking people who are opposed to what they call "big government", people like the gentleman I spoke with last night about this subject, the bottom line is clear: the government's role is constitutionally very limited and that's the way it ought to be.

"But shouldn't the government, in exchange for the taxes we pay, offer a basic level of service that not only protects us from attack but maintains our health so that we can pursue life, liberty etc?" I asked.

"No." He was emphatic. "I'm not trying to not be compassionate. I truly believe this. If you can't afford health insurance, that's too bad. I've paid into Social Security for twenty years. I get back what I put into it."

I didn't ask him how he feels about Medicare, which he is undoubtedly using. I didn't have to. He told me the worst thing that ever happened to this country was FDR.

"He began the role of government as caretaker. That's not in the Constitution."

"But isn't it what it ought to be?"

"If that's what you want, then change the Constitution. I'm all for that if that's what the people want. But until they do, no. Government is supposed to exist to defend us in time of war. That's about it."

He and I agree that the current political system doesn't work. And perhaps that common ground is what makes it possible for us to discuss this dispassionately. I don't think he's evil incarnate and he doesn't think I'm a tax and spend liberal. But we have a basic, fundamental difference of opinion.

"So what you're telling me," I concluded, "is that my vision of a government that provides basic services for its citizens in exchange for tax dollars..."

"...isn't the way it works here," he continued.

"But what if I think it should?"

"Then you should move to another country. That's socialism."

And I think he's got something there. Maybe the ideal America I envision isn't what it was intended to be. Period. Just because I was born here doesn't mean that the system of government I studied in school is one I agree with.

What an amazing thought. Somehow I assumed I belonged here.

If We're So Great, How Come Our Mothers Die?

I'm doing research for a book and I found something that left me gaping. Literally.

And then I got mad.

I knew that America's education numbers weren't stellar anymore. I knew our maternal mortality rate wasn't as good as we might expect.

But come on - guess how bad it is? What country do you think has a maternal mortality rate equal to the United States?

We must be better than Canada, right? All we've heard lately is how awful their medical program is.

No.

Oh. Maybe the UK, then? The health care debate in the US appears to have put our cousins on defensive, rushing to defend their own system. They must know there's something wrong, right?

No.

Well it's got to be some big industrialized power. What's left? One of the other G8 countries for sure.

Nope. Not by a long shot.

Go search for maternal mortality rates on the Internet. I'm not making this up. These are numbers compiled by UNICEF and distributed by the World Health Organization.

One in 4800 mothers in America dies in childbirth. That doesn't sound so awful, does it?

Compare it to the UK. A mother's odds improve to 1 in 8200 there. Canada? 1 in 11,000. Well at least we've got to be doing better than the Middle East. Kuwait? 1 in 8600. Republic of Korea? 1 in 6100. And in Italy, the maternal death rate is 1 in 26,600.

So what's the country that has a rate equal to ours?

Belarus.

See for yourself. UNICEF State of the World's Children

Go ahead. Tell me again what's wrong with socialized medicine.

Enough With the Conspiracy Theories!

It has a name now. The people who are absolutely certain that our president is some kind of a foreign-born 'plant' from left wing revolutionaries or an international 'one government' cartel are now known as "Birthers." Please give me a break.


The questions about Obama's birth certificate have been answered. Several times. But if you want to buy into hysteria, you don't care. You continue to demand to hear the answers again. And again.

Knock it off. There are more important problems to deal with.

We have a health care system that leaves out millions of Americans. We have children, adults and seniors who are forced to wait until a symptom is an emergency because they have no insurance. Then they flood emergency rooms; the only place where the government insists citizens get health care regardless of insurance coverage.

We take jobs based on benefits, not on whether the job is a good one. We narrow our choices to work that provides coverage for us and our families. If we're not married but are in a committed relationship, we turn down work that doesn't cover our domestic partners. Our college graduates choose a career path based on security and benefits, not the work they dream of doing.

Let's talk about our college graduates. They start college needing remedial writing classes. They spent twelve years in schools that are underfunded, poorly managed, teach to tests and reward mediocrity with teachers who are underpaid or unmotivated. Their parents mortgage everything they have to help with college tuition or the students assume backbreaking loans which they will spend at least a decade paying off.

We work in jobs that pay far less than the cost of living. We buy homes with loans loaded with fees. We pay taxes that, in many states, are as high as the principal and interest on the home loan. Then we pay income tax, too.

If you are creative, prepare to starve. The one percent of the artistic population that manages to live well on earnings from what they do are just that - one percent. The rest either work multiple jobs and create in their limited free time or they give up. Our culture pretends to value talent. We don't.

We watch people on TV scream about what's wrong with this country. We hear people on the radio act as though they've got a divine line to the truth. And we sit on our increasingly wide butts and echo the hysterical drivel we hear.

We elect people we believe may be the least bad option to our legislatures. Everyday people are less and less able to participate as government has become a career. Try to run for office without the support of either major political party. Good luck.

Our career politicians are courted by the organizations interested in whatever they're voting on. They cannot afford to run for office without their financial support. Once elected, they can't help but consider that when votes are cast.
They run again and again - it's a great job. It pays well, it's got prestige, it's got power. The benefits are great. And the list of people they owe grows longer and longer.

Don't tell me this president is the problem. Don't tell me his election is the result of some conspiracy. He is the latest in a long line of politicians who have successfully navigated an increasingly corrupt system. No matter his intentions, he comes carrying the baggage every modern politician carries. Don't tell me the president is responsible for problems that have taken decades of bad policy to create.

I had an interesting conversation with a filmmaker from Germany recently. She told me that health care isn't even a concern for people in her country. Everyone's got health care and they're okay with it. I heard the same thing from a family from Belgium.

"Americans," they observed, "have a reluctance to take care of each other. You have this 'every man for himself' philosophy that makes you resent giving up anything to help other people unless you choose to do it. In Belgium, we know we're all in it together. If we all give up a little to help everyone, we all benefit."

Lou Dobbs would disagree. So would Rush Limbaugh. So would Sarah Palin. And if you look at them, I rest my case. My idea of a strong, growing, healthy and admirable America doesn't include the narrow minded hate they spew. Neither does the Christianity I was taught by my very religious parents.

So I am officially putting in my two cents. I am tired of conspiracy theories. I guarantee you there are conspiracies out there and they come from all sides of the philosophical spectrum. It doesn't matter. What matters is what we do now.

I do not believe anyone, including our new president, has the corner on good ideas or answers but I'm willing to listen. And I am convinced that the hysterical hate that comes from any ideology is a dangerous distraction to the real issue, which is that this country is in need of a major reform. And only smart, thoughtful, clear-thinking people who LISTEN and then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT are going to make a difference.

Give Joe Lieberman A Call

Joe Lieberman. The man makes my blood boil. I am a big fan of independent thinking. Joe likes to tell us that's what he's all about.

But actions, Mr. Senator, speak a lot louder. His actions label him an opportunist. He likes being important. He blows with the prevailing winds and he's doing it again on the health care issue. It's not about what's best for the people who elected him. It's about what's best for Joe.


Thanks to Andrew T. and his fine blog for this:

Why Joe doesn't support the public option.

and here's more from the Daily Kos.

Give Joe a call. Tell him how much you appreciate what he's doing for his country.

Stand Up and Speak Out

Doesn't Iran make you a little ashamed? We who live in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave act like a bunch of depressed teenagers. Are we mad at Congress? Sure we are. Are we disappointed in politics as usual? You bet. Would we like to have a system of health care that we can afford? Oh yes. Are we doing anything about it?

Nope.


We watch CNN and Fox, we yell at the TV, we shake our heads and argue on Facebook and Twitter. But when does outrage and indignation become action?

Try this. Add your name to a list that's going to be televised, a list of people who are demanding Congress act on health care reform.

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5649/t/4612/content.jsp?content_KEY=2621

It's easy. It's painless. You don't even have to get out of your chair.

When you're done, you can go back to watching the latest political follies, from the governor/Argentinian jetsetter to the playground brats who call themselves the NY Senate.

You are in awe of the bravery of the protesters in Iran. Okay, then why don't you do something, too?