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Anna,
You have got to see this editorial re: Big Ed's scoop on why single payer is not even on the table despite the fact that over 60% of Americans polled want it! Senator Bachus of Montana is the target of Ed's investigation. there is video there that shows the protest and arrest of one of the over 20 million members of the health action group for which Dr Margaret Flowers is a member of.
Go to this link http://www.wegoted.com/ and use the video in the upper right hand corner of the site for film. Select the May 7, 2009 clip. You do this by floating your mouse over the top part of the video. The numbers on the bottom of the clips are in order of one being the most recent clip.
The people with the most dollars get the most votes-
Yes, and do not the masses have the most money taken collectively- which is why boycotts DO WORK.
JP Getty said, it is far more profitable to take a little money from a lot of people, rather than a lot of money from a few people.
If the masses were simply empowered for example, they would boycott AT&T for allowing the spying on of Americans and switch to Quest in order to reward them for choosing not to have participated in the surveylliance.
This principle is how Barack Obama raised more money than anyone else.
this youtube video by max keiser....exposes there's an unregulated shadow "market" (like the CDS market) for the uber rich....you'll hear the phrase "non displayed liquidity venues" more and more in the future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRE6G-ZNS60
Dear Thom,
I realize you haven't started your show yet. I was listening to you on Carl's show just now and I heard you talking about Max Bauchas (don't know how that's spelt) having doctors and nurses arrested. I knew we were fighting fascism in our democracy, but I didn't realize that it was a rear-guard action. Scary! I can't find this article on Reuters.com. Where did you read about this egregious mockery of representative democracy?
Love your show, Anna in Portland
P.S. Good luck to Montana in ousting Max the DINO.
Oy vey, you cannot choose your doctor. I live in Israel where National Health came some time in the late '90s. As you may not realize the Health Care system was based on HMOs that were established by the Jewish public of Mandate. The biggest of the bunch was run by Histadrut aka the Labor Union which was, in fact, a surrogate for the Labor Party. After the State was established the Labor Party used "their HMO" as way to keep their control of the electorate. Subscriber contributions were directed to the needs of the union and the government would subsidize all the other HMOs, who weren't any better with the way they funnelled their subscribers' contributions. The bottom line of this system was that to be a member of an HMO defined your political affiliation.
In practice each HMO had its advnantages, and those that offered more, often cost more so that some people ditched the politics for what they considered a better plan.
Things started changing when the head of the Histadrut HMO's efforts to promote the Labor Party with subscriber contributions "hit the fan". It took some time, but the government that had been subsidizing the plans for years decided to cut the crap, and take over the system. Now all the HMOs get a subsidy for providing basic health care. Okay, in some cases you didn't have the choiice of your GP--the idea was they "knew their neighborhood". More recentlly the HMOs, under new rules you can switch your GP.
Admittedly, once the money was spread around to all the HMOs, some of what was "free" became a matter of surcharges and co-pays. It's still within bounds. As you mentioned, the HMOs set up plans to cover a full range of other medical services that were covered by the single payment. Even that is within reason. I opted for what my HMO called Complimentary Medical Services for a series of Naturopathy, Accupuncture, and Shiattu for the equivalent of $US 250 over three months. In addition it cost me $US 15 for two cataract operations done my the best opthamologist in the area through the government subsidized HMO.
In closing, Mr. Brook grew up in Israel, if I guess his name correctly may be re reacting to the way the "Sick Fund" as it was called then provided a reasonable medical service often at a price of undermining the democracy in the State of Israel. I don't blame him, but it seems that he would rather see a society run amuck while a few people get richer than an infrastructure that promotes a stable society.
The major story today should be concerning the lead story in my local paper, which was that the medical industry was offering a "sweetner" to Obama and the Senate to ward off major health care reform. The "sweetner"--or rather, bribe--is the "voluntary" cutting of costs by a (very) small percentage. What this means is anybody's guess; it could mean merely a slow-down in rising costs. What can be cut? People are already being denied services. The obvious targets ought to be executive compensation and staff whose "job" it is to deny services. But that is pie-in-the-sky fantasy; I wonder if the Obama administration pressed the industry to make this "concession" so that the Democrats can avoid doing anything meaningful. The fact is we've already seen how "voluntary" promises work in real life, that is to say that it is a fraud. There is no way to enforce a "voluntary" restructuring of the health care system, and if the economy improves, the industry will claim that they don't need to do anything, after all. The only way to force the health care industry to change is to allow a public option for medicare, and without the "voluntary" hubris. Only competition from a not-for-profit provider will force the industry to improve access while lowering cost. The way it is, our system is so idiotic that instead of providing lower cost preventative medicine because many doctors refuse to take new primary care patients, one is forced to go to the emergency room, which a thousand dollars or more right off the top for what may be only $5 worth of treatment.
Thom,
You mentioned your concern over Obama's Afghanistan policy early in today's show.
I'm pretty sure that you know both Lila Garrett (KPFK radio) and Jodie Evans (Code Pink). Lila Garrett had an interview with Jodie Evans on her show this morning and Evans said that Senator Amy Klobuchar told her that (behind closed doors) Barack Obama tells our elected representatives who oppose his Afghanistan policy that his "numbers" are better than theirs and if they oppose his policy they will suffer the consequences.
The program is already posted in the station's program archive at http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/ if you want to confirm this. I think Foster was the second guest on the show.
THX for having Stephen Zarlenga on again, I could listen to him for hours and hours- his book is PHENOMENAL The Lost Science of Money is INCREDIBLE!
also more Ravi Batra please, I really want to hear the discussion on the Kibbutz! If I knew there was always at least the Kibbutz to go live on, my stress would go down CONSIDERABLY!
Just to remark on how Thom got right back into business at the start of the show, by leaving out pertinent information that unfortunately brings politics into the equation. Living in the Seattle area, the co-pilot in that Buffalo crash, Rebecca Lynne Shaw, received a certain amount of empathetic attention. It may have been that the captain was improperly trained, but one should have thought that his lack of expertise would have been compensated for by Shaw--who, at the age of 24, was a flight instructor on that very model of aircraft. Her voice communications with the tower, just moments before the crash, betrayed no indication that anything was amiss. People can make their own judgments from there.
Michael Stubbs wrote "It boggles my mind at how often capitalists seem to espouse those people with successful businesses no matter what offensive tactics these “american business icons” pummel the american people with…"
It's not so amazing, Michael when you consider that their ONLY measure of success is the content of their wallet not their character. They only measure things in terms of individual wealth instead of community prosperity.
That is why their views are so UnAmerican and anticonstitutional and it is time to throw them out of power whether it is at the Federal, State or Local level and get back to governing for The People instead of for The Profits...
Something has been bothering me ever since the fellow from Ayne Rand was on,,, he stated that JJ Hill was an icon because he built the railroad without any government help or land, which I'm pretty sure is false. If I remember my studies years ago correctly he acquired some 2 million acres of land in Minnesota or Michigan I believe, and then turned around and sold a good bit of that acreage to immigrants for between $2 and $5 per acre... JJ Hill also made it through the depression with his business intact by severely cutting his employees wages, later causing a massive strike with the rail union...
It boggles my mind at how often capitalists seem to espouse those people with successful businesses no matter what offensive tactics these "american business icons" pummel the american people with...
Another important reason to enact single-payer health care in the U.S.:
How can this country ever hope to rebuild a manufacturing base --- and along with it, the middle class --- without making its products competitive by taking the cost of health insurance out of their prices?
The rail system is the US is the ENVY of Europe, that is the freight rail system.
Thom, no one would ride and pay for (even 25% of the true cost) a train from Michigan to Florida.
Look at the population density and area of Europe compared to the US.
Libertarians do not have a problem with public beaches, if that is what each state want. States Rights, keep that in mind before you go off making crazy statements.
Thom, did I hear you recently clain that the Oregon state governmnet was in Republican control up until 4 months ago?!
See ya.
Check out this pdf. It will open your eyes. It's a very thorough meta-analysis
www.webdc.com/pdfs/deathbymedicine.pdf
Amen Loretta. You have hit the nail on the head. It is extremely immoral for docs to be peddling drugs for profit. As physicians we cannot just give lip service to the fundamental principle," First do NO HARM" which is done routinely. It is reflected in the insurance premiums that MDs pay.
We need to demand equal rights to the large corporations. Single payer is the public sector version of self insurance. Let's start phrasing it that way so that when the other side throws out "Socialist" we can respond "As socialist as GM and the other self-insured corporations!"
One way that insurance companies are ripping off consumers is by staffing phone lines with employees who really can't help you get your claim paid for. When insurance companies deny claims consumers must figure out which parent company they must file a grievance with, which form to use, whether to complain against the insurance company or the medical provider and on and on. The system is intentionally so complicated that people give up before they get their medical care paid for.
Some health care providers are turning into crooks because of the insurance companies. The absurdity of our health care crisis is completely unbelievable. I have lived without health insurance for twenty years relying instead on my library of books on herbal remedies. I have avoided many drugs I would have been prescribed if I could have afforded doctors.
The answer to our health care crisis is relatively simple. The government needs to pay for the education of doctors and enroll real healers not capitalists. We need to go back to a system of neighborhood doctors paid for by single payer insurance and eliminate the ridiculous unneeded paperwork that has immobilized and depersonalized care. Presently, doctors talk to their computers now instead of their patients. They barely even touch their patients.
We need to get pharmaceutical companies out of the business of educating doctors and get back to basic medicine and nurturing care. The simple art of healing has turned into pharmaceutical pimping. It's sick as hell.
Loretta
www.portlandia.etsy.com
Once there was a babbling Brook
Its water quite polluted
And Thom would take us time and again
To play while Yaron do'd it.
So dip your toes in yellowed waters
Splash and all shout "Woo hoo!"
Be thankful that our leader Thom
Didn't take us to Lake Poo Poo
Important to note we don't have "health care" in this country. We have "disease management". Medical docs are taught about diseases in school, just as I was. Knowing about health/wellness by studying disease is like attempting to know peace through war or knowing Light by studying darkness, or knowing sanity by studying insanity. This is one reason we are the sickest industrial nations in the world. Another interesting note: Two times in Israel and once in Mexico when the Medical doctors went on strike for an extended period of time the mortality rates went down in those areas. When they resumed their practice the mortality rates went back up.
Thom, my deepest sympathies to you and you loved ones.
Be well
The problem is that we have to many words we bandy about these days without being clear about the definitions. Guess I will have to take inspiration from Thom and write my own book -- Definitions To Move America Forward.
Too much of our culture has been forced down the road of devisiveness because it serves the corporations and the wealthy so well. Divide and conquor is exactly what they need at election time. Let's start coming together on where we agree and THEN discuss the differences.
and thanks for all your condolences and kind comments.
www.salemchildrensvillage.org
Libertarian paradise youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0
OBSERVATION: With all the Trutanich and Prop 1 A-F ads on KTLK 1150AM, one would think that I was listening to a less progressive station . . . While I am happy that advertising dollars are getting to a station that NEEDs them . . . Sigh.
I'm wondering about those workers who choose not to "check the box", or to keep with the analogy, registered as independent. Since they didn't choose to join any "party" (or union to keep with the analogy), I'm guessing that they'd simply continue their jobs as before and would not become part of the "constitution". That would be quite a change from the current "secret ballot" law, where, once a union forms, ALL employees become part of that "bargaining unit", whether they voted yes or no.
I suppose I could get behind that the whole "check to box to sign up" thing, as it seems reasonable. So, the employees that "check the box" all become members of that union, and in the future operate under its "constitution." Those that didn't "check the box" continue to negotiate their contracts on their own, either individually or possibly as a member of some other union for which they decide to "check the box."
Would there be a facility for a member of a union to unregister, and return to being an independent employee, or possibly to "switch parties" (to keep with the registration theme) and join a different union that could negotiate a better deal for that worker?
Sounds like a big change, but I guess if it gives us workers more freedom of choice and makes the unions compete to negotiate the best deal for the employees, I'd be all for it.
Thom,
If inequality is a negative social dynamic, how can you take the position that it's acceptable for a minority of people (entrepreneurs and CEOs) in our society to make 30-40 times more than lower level workers? You've said that this 30-40 times difference in income is acceptable to you.
That inequality of income becomes a profound inequality in wealth and social privilege.