Health Insurance Reform Who Does Not Want It?

Tags: Why Rich Don't Want Health Insurance Reform, Great Depression, Why Financial Crisis, 1980-2008 Sacrificing Americans for Profit, Henry Paulson: On the Brink on how close we came to the Great Depression

Investors need to know the truth. If you want to get the really important news affecting your life, go to the business section of the New York Times or go to www.bloomberg.com or watch it on cable television or read Bloomberg Business Week. On Bloomberg TV this week they discussed what would happen if the Republicans take over the House to Healthcare?

On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson Best book for truth on what happened Malcolm Gladwell of Outliers.

The House Appropriation Committee can stop funding Healthcare to sabotage it! They can stop primary care doctors from getting a raise to make it profitable to have Medicare Patients. Many doctors no longer take Medicare patients anymore.

What do the Republicans mean when they say Freedom? Of course it is not our freedom, but allowing Big Business including Wall Street and Corporations to continue their rape and pillage of the American people. They are taking advantage of the emotional and real hurt of the Financial Crisis which led to our feelings of helplessness and fear. Even with Franklin D. Roosevelt going all out to save the country's economy to help Americans, it took over ten years and World War II to fix the economy.

The same financial crisis starting with the 1929 Stock Market Crash which kept on going just like the EverReady Battery Bunny and President Hoover (Republican) allowing the banks to fail and cutting back help for the economy as the current Republicans propose was not over until World War II which provided lots of jobs and huge spending by our government. Not stimulating the economy more is the wrong thing to do because a depressed economy does not provide tax revenues so we go into further debt by borrowing more money from China!

I am now re-reading The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941, 1993, 2nd edition, by Robert S. McElvaine, which explains the Great Depression from the view of the elites and from the people. Most history books are written by the elites so often does not explain what happens to the people and just the mechanics of why it occurred. McElvaine does! All financial crashes occur when we spend more than we have. We borrow and borrow and hope someone buys our bonds.

He explains that we put too much of a burden of smaller business and lower paid workers with the Social Security payroll tax. This heavy burden on small business limits them from hiring more workers. When Greenspan in the mid-1980s doubled the deduction, it really hit workers badly. He cleverly did not consider not income limit for paying social security or even consider the effects of inflation.

McElvaine predicted a financial crisis will occur in the future, but he did not foresee that Bush would borrow money by not paying for both the Iraq War and Afghan War, went to war without adequate armor for the soldiers, had two tax cuts and Medicare Part D which he said was for everyone, but only the rich really benefited because he removed federal help to the states so state and local taxes increased. Over ten years the top 2 percent got $790 Billions in tax cuts. In 1980 the top one percent made 8 percent of all the nation’s income. In 2007, they confiscated 23 percent of all income.

A UK study showed that when the authors studied what makes countries stronger of the people in various countries, the one factor that proved determinative is difference between the top paid verses the pay of workers. The USA was the least satisfied of all countries.

The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, 2009, Foreword by Robert B. Reich.

The first paragraph of chapter one, The End of an Era:

“It is a remarkable paradox that, at the pinnacle of human material and technical achievement, we find ourselves anxiety-ridden, prone to depression, worried about how others see us, unsure of our friendships, driven to consume and with little or no community life.

Lacking the relaxed social contact and emotional satisfaction we all need, we seek comfort in over-eating, obsessive shopping and spending or become prey to excessive alcohol, psychoactive medicines and illegal drugs” … Cartoon: Words from the back seat of a limousine, the winner speaks out: “I just got a $200,000 tax cut. … I love this country! … But why is it such a Dump?!”

Both Reagan and the 2000-2008 Bush loved huge tax cuts for the rich and deficit spending because it would leave less and less for spending on making lives more comfortable from many Americans, or bottom 90 percent. Why do you think our roads, bridges, schools, sewers, electrical transmission and plants, etc. Are falling apart?

Jim Kawakami, Oct 21, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Health Insurance Who Does Not Want It? Jonathan Cohn New Republic, Oct 20, 2010, http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/78522/individual-mandate-penalty-why-oppose (Comment from Sane conservative publication. Jim)

The individual mandate continues to be health care reform's most controversial element, both in the courts and on the campaign trail. And many of the mandate's critics see this as a matter of principle. Requiring people to carry health insurance, they say, compromises individual freedom. I don't agree with that argument, but I understand it.

What I don't understand is why the requirement scares people without such strong libertarian instincts.

The vast majority of Americans have health insurance right now. What they want is a promise that the insurance will always be there, even if they lose their jobs, see their incomes fall, or develop serious medical conditions. And the same goes for many, quite probably most, people who don't have insurance. They, too, would like to have the financial protection against illness. They would like to know they can get medical care and not just the urgent kind. But they can't get health benefits right now because they don't have enough money or because they have pre-existing conditions.

There are obviously some people who don't have health insurance and, furthermore, don't want to have health insurance. They'd rather take their chances and pay out of pocket. But I think that's an awfully small group of people and, quite honestly, I don't think they have the right to make that choice--unless they feel like relinquishing their right, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), to stabilizing or life-saving care in case of an emergency. This is the essence of the constitutional case for the mandate.

It's true that the Affordable Care Act does more than require people to get insurance. It sets minimum standards for what that insurance covers and requires community rating, under which insurers can't vary premiums based on an individual's propensity to get sick. This means that some people--mostly young, healthy men with cheap, bare-bones policies--may have to pay more to keep their benefits than they would otherwise pay. But plenty of these people are older and/or sicker, which means they should benefit from the new regulations. And that's not to mention the fact that, between subsidies and reforms designed to reduce the cost of care, many of these people will end up paying less for their insurance anyway.

Financials Koch Brothers Billionaires Hidden Wars Against Obama and Democrats. What Will Happen to Our Investments?

Tags: Stock Market? Cramer CNBC, Koch Funding Tea Party, Roosevelt, Great Depression, Papa Koch Funded Stalin, So Did Bush Family, Boycott Brawny Paper Towels,

The Koch Brothers has funded many conservative Think Tanks and established the Libertarian Think Tank, The Cato Institute. They also fund Americans for Prosperity run by former Republican Senator Dick Army who was responsible for writing the laws passed during the Clinton administration where the Republicans controlled both the Senate and House since 1993 that made it possible for the bank frauds committed to bring our country to the brink of a Great Depression. Hidden Corporate money including Kochs are going to the propaganda arm of the Republican Big Business, The Chamber of Commerce.

On the advice of Hillary Clinton, Bill vetoed the Credit Card bill that made it very difficult for credit card holders to declare bankruptcy to wipe out their credit card debts which was a device used by Republicans in the 1980s to provide easy credit to all Americans so they could still spend money at considerably smaller wages due to the shipment of jobs overseas financed by our tax dollars. They paid companies to leave America!

It also became the major profit center for all banks by charging high interest rates as high as 30% on some pretext so Americans had to carry over debt every month. The new Credit Card bill passed by Obama will help the average Americans greatly. Competition will lower interest rates which now must be held for one year and old loan money cannot be charged increased interest rates. Don't invest in credit card companies and banks.

After the huge attack of Bill Clinton by Wealth & Power including the media and New York Times, Clinton had no choice to follow the advice of Rubin and Greenspan, his weekly advisors.

It is time for Obama and the Democrats to Man-Up and be as ruthless as the Republicans in the ads and comments.

Many of you are familiar with Jim Cramer’s Mad Money on CNBC. It is interesting what he says on http://www.bloomberg.com/ , a website for professionals verses CNBC, a website for the average investor. On Bloomberg today Cramer said that Geithner and the Obama financial team did a marvelous job in preventing the next Great Depression.

He also said we really need of a stimulus for the economy and cutting back will have the same result the Roosevelt was forced to do in 1937. The economy dropped like a stone in 1937 and 1938. Of course largest deficits in history developed during World War II which unlike the Republican predictions today led to prosperity. Jim Cramer said don’t worry about the deficit now because of low tax revenues. Grow the economy by stimulating the economy.

As I said before, it is not the unemployment that is hurting the economy directly, but what we all are afraid of happening in the future. So people who can spend are not spending. Well, not completely. For example the upscale shopping center in Eugene, Oregon is so filled with cars that it is difficult to find parking spaces. As a famous Magellan marvelous fund investor for Fidelity said, look at what is happening locally and don’t get information from the media!

http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Covert Operations: Third Richest Billionaires Koch Brothers Waging Hidden Wars Against Obama and Democrats New Yorker Jane Mayer August 30, 2010 (Jane Mayer is a great reporter. She and Abramson who is now on the editorial board of the New York Times, wrote the only honest book on how Justice Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court. Senator Spector's behavior towards Anita Hill who told the truth was so unfair that I never liked him. I am glad that a true Democrat is now running a tough race for Senator.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer

Products to Boycott: Koch Industries owns Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet, and Lycra, among other products. Forbes ranks it as the second-largest private company in the country, after Cargill, and its consistent profitability has made David and Charles Koch—who, years ago, bought out two other brothers—among the richest men in America. Their combined fortune of thirty-five billion dollars is exceeded only by those of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. …

In April, 2009, Melissa Cohlmia, a company spokesperson, denied that the Kochs had direct links to the Tea Party, saying that Americans for Prosperity is “an independent organization and Koch companies do not in any way direct their activities.” Later, she issued a statement: “No funding has been provided by Koch companies, the Koch foundations, or Charles Koch or David Koch specifically to support the tea parties.” David Koch told New York, “I’ve never been to a tea-party event. No one representing the tea party has ever even approached me.”

At the lectern in Austin, however, Venable—a longtime political operative who draws a salary from Americans for Prosperity, and who has worked for Koch-funded political groups since 1994—spoke less warily. “We love what the Tea Parties are doing, because that’s how we’re going to take back America!” she declared, as the crowd cheered. In a subsequent interview, she described herself as an early member of the movement, joking, “I was part of the Tea Party before it was cool!”

She explained that the role of Americans for Prosperity was to help “educate” Tea Party activists on policy details, and to give them “next-step training” after their rallies, so that their political energy could be channelled “more effectively.” And she noted that Americans for Prosperity had provided Tea Party activists with lists of elected officials to target. She said of the Kochs, “They’re certainly our people. David’s the chairman of our board. I’ve certainly met with them, and I’m very appreciative of what they do.” …

Americans for Prosperity has worked closely with the Tea Party since the movement’s inception. In the weeks before the first Tax Day protests, in April, 2009, Americans for Prosperity hosted a Web site offering supporters “Tea Party Talking Points.” The Arizona branch urged people to send tea bags to Obama; the Missouri branch urged members to sign up for “Taxpayer Tea Party Registration” and provided directions to nine protests. The group continues to stoke the rebellion. The North Carolina branch recently launched a “Tea Party Finder” Web site, advertised as “a hub for all the Tea Parties in North Carolina.”

The antigovernment fervor infusing the 2010 elections represents a political triumph for the Kochs. By giving money to “educate,” fund, and organize Tea Party protesters, they have helped turn their private agenda into a mass movement. Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist and a historian, who once worked at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a Dallas-based think tank that the Kochs fund, said, “The problem with the whole libertarian movement is that it’s been all chiefs and no Indians. There haven’t been any actual people, like voters, who give a crap about it. So the problem for the Kochs has been trying to create a movement.” With the emergence of the Tea Party, he said, “everyone suddenly sees that for the first time there are Indians out there—people who can provide real ideological power.” The Kochs, he said, are “trying to shape and control and channel the populist uprising into their own policies.”

A Republican campaign consultant who has done research on behalf of Charles and David Koch said of the Tea Party, “The Koch brothers gave the money that founded it. It’s like they put the seeds in the ground. Then the rainstorm comes, and the frogs come out of the mud—and they’re our candidates!” …

The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests.

In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.

In a statement, Koch Industries said that the Greenpeace report “distorts the environmental record of our companies.” And David Koch, in a recent, admiring article about him in New York, protested that the “radical press” had turned his family into “whipping boys,” and had exaggerated its influence on American politics.

But Charles Lewis, the founder of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said, “The Kochs are on a whole different level. There’s no one else who has spent this much money. The sheer dimension of it is what sets them apart. They have a pattern of lawbreaking, political manipulation, and obfuscation. I’ve been in Washington since Watergate, and I’ve never seen anything like it. They are the Standard Oil of our times.” …

Oddly enough, the fiercely capitalist Koch family owes part of its fortune to Joseph Stalin. Fred Koch was the son of a Dutch printer who settled in Texas and ran a weekly newspaper. Fred attended M.I.T., where he earned a degree in chemical engineering. In 1927, he invented a more efficient process for converting oil into gasoline, but, according to family lore, America’s major oil companies regarded him as a threat and shut him out of the industry. Unable to succeed at home, Koch found work in the Soviet Union.

In the nineteen-thirties, his company trained Bolshevik engineers and helped Stalin’s regime set up fifteen modern oil refineries. Over time, however, Stalin brutally purged several of Koch’s Soviet colleagues. Koch was deeply affected by the experience, and regretted his collaboration. He returned to the U.S. In the headquarters of his company, Rock Island Oil & Refining, in Wichita, he kept photographs aimed at proving that some of those Soviet refineries had been destroyed in the Second World War.

Gus diZerega, a former friend of Charles Koch, recalled, “As the Soviets became a stronger military power, Fred felt a certain amount of guilt at having helped build them up. I think it bothered him a lot.”

In 1958, Fred Koch became one of the original members of the John Birch Society, the arch-conservative group known, in part, for a highly skeptical view of governance and for spreading fears of a Communist takeover. Members considered President Dwight D. Eisenhower to be a Communist agent.

In a self-published broadside, Koch claimed that “the Communists have infiltrated both the Democrat and Republican Parties.” He wrote admiringly of Benito Mussolini’s suppression of Communists in Italy, and disparagingly of the American civil-rights movement.

“The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America,” he warned. Welfare was a secret plot to attract rural blacks to cities, where they would foment “a vicious race war.” In a 1963 speech that prefigures the Tea Party’s talk of a secret socialist plot, Koch predicted that Communists would “infiltrate the highest offices of government in the U.S. until the President is a Communist, unknown to the rest of us.” … Read More http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all