Sick people expected to pay for Bailout

After years of greed, corruption, deregulation, & crime, Wall Street has managed to destroy the world's economy. So what is Bush/Obama's plan to fix it?

• More money to Wall Street.
• Hazy promises of future regulation.
• Remove executive compensation limits from legislation.
• More money to Wall Street.
• Remove whistle blower protections for federal employees from legislation.
• Make one CEO resign, as long as it isn't a Wall Street CEO.
• More money to Wall Street.
• Ask union workers to take a pay cut.
• Keep paying Wall Street because we will be lost without their blessed presence.
• More money to Wall Street.
• Expect auto retirees to take worthless stock to pay for their health care.

But Single Payer Universal Health Care is off the table. We aren't going to do anything about spiraling health care costs until we eliminate the 30% overhead that health insurance companies cost us. Obama refuses to even allow an objective study of the costs/benefits of single payer. Let single payer stand or fall on its own merit.

Even with "good" health insurance, it is possible to go bankrupt due to the deductibles & copays.

Obama talks about shared sacrifice. But then he expects retirees struggling to pay for health expenses to finance Wall Street's bailout.

Is the Bush-Paulson Bailout Our Only Alternative?

Are our only choices a massive bailout of Wall Street with no strings attached, or an economic collapse?

Lindsay Beyerstein Majikthise & David Cay Johnston Poynter Online have some excellent questions that I would like answered.

I have a few of my own:

The toxic debts are presented as the basic problem in the system. Paulson says that the US government must get into the loan business by buying these bad loans. Wouldn't it make more sense for the government to refinance these home loans directly? People who were cheated by greedy banks will have the opportunity to convert to an affordable loan, and the banks will have to live with the downside of risk.

They say that the credit markets are about to seize up. They've been wrong before. Let's wait and see for a while. If the credit markets really do dry up, we can use some of that $700 billion to make loans directly to people and small businesses.

They say that we will have massive unemployment if the Wall Street millionaires don't get their big bonuses. I see no reason to wait for another imaginary trickle down to come our way. Spend the money on infrastructure, alternative energy, and basic science research projects.

They told us not to depend on social security or pension plans. They forced us to set up our own retirement accounts. Now they say that we have to save Wall Street, or else we will lose our retirement money. I say that the above suggestions are likely to take care of our retirement accounts. If the IRA and 401K plans still tank, can't we come up with some sort of rebate plan to compensate people for the money that was stolen from their accounts?

The White House has my email, but I don't

I've had a Bellsouth dialup account for years. A few months ago, I decided to upgrade to DSL. Due to the recent merger with AT&T, and their new system, I was not allowed to keep my old email address. I had to create a new email address for the DSL account. Eventually I got them to keep my old email address active as another (paid) account, so that I would have time to migrate to the new address.

A few days ago, I lost Internet access. After some time with tech support, I found out that they had moved my old email address to the DSL account. The new email address, that I was migrating to, was suspended. Mistakes happen, so I asked them to fix it. That turned out to be impossible. After six hours on the phone getting passed back and forth between billing & tech support people, I couldn't get past, "We are unable to reactive an account for 90 days." What kind of a goofy system allows employees to turn accounts off, but not restore them?

Over the past few days, I must have talked to every billing and tech support person they have. Not one of them knows how to reactivate my account, or if my lost emails will ever be restored. Today I was told that I was on the data cleanup group's todo list, but that there is an enormous backlog of work ahead of me.

What really makes this fun, is that AT&T doesn't have any direct numbers. You get someone new every time you call them. I have to re-explain the problem every time I get passed to a new person. They can't read the trouble report before I go through the spiel. Some of them never do understand what the problem is.

I have learned a little about dealing with AT&T:

1. Never let them call you back. They won't. Insist on staying on hold. You can at least tie up their system if they can't help you.
2. If they pass you to someone else, insist that they stay on the line. The other department will soon decide to pass you back. If you don't keep the first person on the line, you will get someone new & have to start all over.
3. If they want a way to contact you, give them a Yahoo or Hot Mail address. The free accounts work, might as well remind them.

Maybe I should file a Freedom of Information request. The White House can forward my email to me. With any luck, the spam will be redacted.

Health Insurance Companies - The Anti-Life Choice

Did you know that having a Caesarean is considered a "pre-existing" condition? For anyone without the protection of a group health insurance plan, it can be used to deny coverage, or to increase rates.

Not to worry though, there is a way to get affordable health insurance after being such a burden on the health industry. You just have to get sterilized after the Caesarean.

That's right. It's perfectly legal for an insurance company to require a woman to be sterilized in order to be covered. They are both anti-life & anti-choice.

I wonder what Umbert the Unborn has to say about this.

NY Times article
h/t to nyceve at Daily Kos

HR 5140 - Corporate Welfare is NOT an Economic Stimulus

The economic meltdown has started. So what do our fearless leaders plan to do about it?

The Fed dropped interest rates. About all this means is that the banks who made fraudulent or stupid investments will get propped up for a little longer, because the people who are paying these loans will be able to pay them for a little while longer. Before going bankrupt and disappearing off the face of the Earth.

Tax breaks for business. After all corporation are people too. The vampirarchy must be protected. All the short-sighted, self-centered decisions made by corporations will be repaid with a tax decrease. Heaven knows we can't let them get desperate enough to sell off a couple of corporate jets.

Tax rebates for people who still have jobs. _yippee They think that $300$600 is a big enough bribe to get me to go along with the corporate handout? I'm not that cheap.

What could I do this $300$600?
-I could pay down a loan, which would give money to the vampires that are already overcharging me.
-I could use it to pay for the increased price of food & gas for a month or two. Big economic stimulus there.
-I could use it to buy more stuff. After all, consumers keep the economy afloat. With any luck, it will bounce around our economy for a little while before zooming off shore. The bump in spending will spur an increase in the price of oil, and I get to pay even more for food & gas.

What about the people who have been laid off by the vampirarchy? We can't extend unemployment benefits because people would be counted for a longer length of time. That would make our unemployment rate closer to the real number. No, they have the honor of subsidizing the companies that laid them off. Since Pelosi is so ready to abandon them, maybe it's time for a permanent tent city on her front lawn. Should we call it Pelosiville or Pelosiburg?

By the way, Pelosi is so busy fixing the economy, we are going to have to put off those subpoenas for Josh Bolton & Harriet Miers a little while longer. But she promises to get to it, just as soon as this emergency is over.

And what has our Senate been doing about this mess? Reid decided that they are too busy to deal with economic problems. They need to make sure that the telecom companies have immunity for those wiretaps that weren't illegal.

John Edwards has a really stupid idea. Many the economy would be stimulated if people had good jobs. And we could use these jobs to make the country more energy efficient. Wow! hope for a better future, that couldn't possibly spur the economy.

Impeach. Now.

Note: vampirarchy - A set of ruling persons, comparable to vampires.

Update: The official reason the Republicans give for not extending unemployment benefits is very amusing.

We need to give tax cuts to businesses so that they will create more jobs.
BUT, with a 5% unemployment rate, there is no need to expand unemployment benefits because we now have full employment

Senator Jeff Sessions is Responding

It must be one of the wonders of the election season. Jeff Sessions has been responding to my letters. They are even on topic, although full of Bush talking points. Could he actually be worried about his upcoming election?

Now if I could just get him to answer a few of my questions.

- How is it pro-life to vote against SCHIP?

- How can he accept government-run health care, but deny it to the rest of us?

- Why is amnesty great for big telecom companies, but bad for illegal immigrants?

- How can he say he supports the troops if he votes down funding just because it asks the president to try to bring the troops home? How can he vote against giving soldiers time off between deployments?

First they came for

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
-Martin Niemoeller

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
-Bishop Desmond Tutu

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
-Dr. Samuel Johnson

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
-Martin Luther King

---

If anyone is subject to being unjustly arrested or imprisoned, we are all in danger.

If anyone is denied access to health care due to poverty or class, we are all in danger.

If anyone is poisoned with unsafe food, polluted water, or toxic waste, we are all in danger.

If anyone can lose their job to an underpaid replacement, just so that the ultra rich can get richer, we are all in danger.

We all need to be reminded from time to time that none of us is so rich, powerful, gifted, experienced, educated, connected, privileged, or healthy, that we are immune to injustice.

Hillary - Solutions From Health Care to Homelessness

Last week, Hillary Clinton presented her health care plan; Everyone is required to buy health insurance. If you can't afford it, you get a tax cut.

This is brilliant, but it could do so much more. I expect her next plan will address the homeless problem. Under her plan, everyone will be required to buy or rent a home. When everyone acquires a place to live, the problem is solved. Naturally, if you fall below a certain standard of income, (which will steadily increase) you will get a tax cut. And no worries about the rising cost of housing either, with all the efficiencies that will automatically appear, costs will rise more slowly.

Oh boy! Just think of all the necessities of life I can now buy with all my tax cuts. I can buy health insurance, housing, food, and maybe even afford the copays so that I can use my great health insurance plan. With all those cuts, I'll bet that my tax cuts will be higher than my income.

And choices, we get choices. You can choose a cheap worthless plan (substandard housing), an expensive decent plan (average home), or try to figure out which mid-priced plan will exactly cover the tests you will need next year (roof don't leak if the rain isn't too hard).

No more need for any of those inefficient government programs. Just add another tax cut, and problem solved. It puts "the consumer in the driver's seat", as long as they use the government-approved list of private contractors. The government-approved list will guarantee a level of quality (or maybe a level of campaign contributions, I keep getting those confused). Note, that the system will require a new improved bureaucracy to certify private contractors, but it will be "fiscally responsible", no civil service, or labor unions, or anything like that. And she's still working out the details of how tax cuts can be used to finance the Iraq occupation. But the basic premise is that "it's going to take shared responsibility. Everyone with a stake in our health care system will have to step forward and do their part."

This is the part where her honesty slips through. Corporations don't have a stake in our health care system, or our country. They don't eat, breath, or get sick. But if they did, they would deduct it from their taxes as an expense. In other words, don't treat corporations like people, treat people like corporations.

One more thing, Hillary. The only people that like the health plan they now have, HAVEN'T USED IT YET.

No space left unsold

“In back,” turned out to be—a library.
I was conscious of Herrera’s eyes on me, and I don’t think I showed any of what I felt. I even stayed with him for an hour or so, while he devoured a wormy copy of something called Moby Dick and I glanced through half a dozen ancient magazines. Some of those remembered classics went a long way toward easing my conscience—there was actually an early “Do You Make These Common Mistakes in English?” and a very fine “Not a Cough in a Carload” that would have looked well on the wall of my office, back in Schocken Tower. But I could not relax in the presence of so many books without a word of advertising in any of them. I am not a prude about solitary pleasures when they serve a useful purpose. But my tolerance has limits.

from “The Space Merchants” by Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, 1952

The Space Merchants was written as a satire, but more and more of it has become depressingly true. There are few spaces left without advertising. We now have:

• commercials on public broadcasting
• commercials masquerading as news shows in classrooms
• cartoons that are little more than half hour commercials
• athletes have become billboards
• the State of the Union address is used to promote a brand of children’s videos.

The EPA has brought us another step closer to the world of Mitch Courtney. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved display of promotions for causes or charities on the labels of pesticides, disinfectants and other commercial poisons. Link The area devoted to the ingredient list and safe handling instructions can now be cluttered with the logos of charitable organizations.

In other words, a pesticide manufacture can put the American Cancer Society logo on known carcinogens with a small donation. A Feed the Children logo can be used to crowd the safety warnings of a rat poison. A chemical fungicide can compete with Neem oil by donating to the Sierra Club.

I’ll close with the words of Mitch Courtney.
"It was an appeal to reason, and they’re always dangerous. You can’t trust reason. We threw it out of the ad profession long ago and have never missed it."

Why is the US against the UN Arms Trade Treaty?

The United Nations voted to create an international treaty to control the arms trade. The United States was one of the few countries that voted against the measure. Why would we be against stopping the illegal sale of guns and other light weapons?

A news story came out a couple of days later that could explain the United States’ position. Thousands of weapons that we presumably provided to the Iraqi security forces are missing. The Defense Department didn’t even bother to record the serial number of most of them.

In other words, we have no way of determining if we sold the weapons used to kill our people in Iraq. Or if someone in Iraq is reselling the arms to Sudan or Pakistan. Or if Al-Qaida is buying them to use in their next attack. And we have no interest in finding out.

The military contractors make their money. The arms dealers make their money. They give lots of money to the politicians. Why mess with a great scam?

Entitlements

Most people think of welfare or Medicaid when they hear the word entitlements. But there are entitlements that cost a lot more than the expense of giving basic survival needs to people who need a little help.

Congress.

Congress is entitled to a raise each year, while the working poor haven't needed one in years. Congress is entitled to the best health care available, while much of our country doesn't have any. Congress is entitled to a generous pension, while the pension system is on the verge of collapse.

Incumbents.

Once someone is elected to Congress, they are entitled to keep their job as long as they want it. The rest of us have to deal with off shoring, downsizing, slowdowns, and poor management decisions. Lieberman is a prime example. He doesn't understand how he can be voted out, just because his constituents don't like the job he's doing.

Big money.

Those that have are entitled to get more, at the expense of everyone else. The election process is rigged so that ridiculous amounts of money are required. This means that most elected officials have to become indentured servants to big money interests. The servants repay their benefactors with more ways to get even richer. Round and round it goes while the country falls apart.

Bird Flu & Agribusiness

Watch the skies. Bird flu is coming.

There has been considerable concern about wild birds spreading bird flu to our domestic flocks. Agribusiness is always quick to assure us that the industrial flocks are safe because they are kept indoors under strict biosecurity controls. The danger is with free ranging organic flocks because they are allowed to mingle with wild birds.

This is a nice theory, but the facts don't support it. The spread of H5N1 doesn't follow the migratory routes and seasons. It does follow major roads and railways. Bird flu is hitching a ride on shipments to and from factory farms.

Factory farms are perfect disease incubators. Large numbers of homogeneous animals are crowded together in a stressful environment. A virus can evolve rapidly into a more virulent form.

Wild birds and small backyard flocks are the victims. The disease spreads from the factory farms to them. Many small-scale poultry farmers get their feed and chicks from industrial sources. The chicks become infected at the factory and spread the disease to new flocks. Then there is the "poultry litter". Poultry litter is whatever falls onto the floor. This can include bedding, spilled feed, feathers, and fecal matter. It's one of the standard ingredients in chicken feed, as well as other industrial animal feed.

Small backyard flocks provide genetic diversity and maintain a number of older, endangered breeds. The meat and eggs produced is much healthier for us. They give many hobbyists a great deal of pleasure. It would be a trajedy to lose them in the mistaken belief that it will prevent a pandemic bird flu.



Grain has an excellent briefing on bird flu.
http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=194

Energy Policy Act of 2005 Celebrates First Birthday

The EPAct was on passed on July 29, 2005 and signed into law on August 8, 2005. It provided huge subsidies for the oil and gas industry. One year later oil companies are posting record profits and gasoline prices are at record highs.

It's been so successful that Energy Secretary Bodman hosted a celebration. Other celebrants included U.S. Senator Pete Domenici (NM), U.S. Congressman Joe Barton (TX-6th), and representatives of industries who are benefiting from tax incentives. Progress towards increasing U.S. energy security and reducing dependence on sources of energy from unstable regions of the world was highlighted.

There was no mention of inviting tax payers who benefited from the act.

http://www.energy.gov/news/3858.htm