Mexico Bound

As the health care reform debate rages on, a common refrain from conservatives is “We have the best health care in the world” and that people come around the globe seeking medical care in the United States.

This is most likely for certain procedures, due to our high quality of medical technology and doctors. However our health delivery system as crafted by the insurance companies remains low quality. And for those who come from Foreign countries to seek an operation in the United States, TPM reports that the staggering cost of medical care in the United States is forcing some to seek medical care in other countries such as Mexico.

With Washington bickering over how to reform the system and contain its spiraling costs, many Americans like Ritz simply head to Mexico to get care they can afford.

The total number making the trip is unclear. But a recent study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research estimated that nearly 1 million people from California alone seek medical, dental or prescription services in Mexico each year.

Some making the trek have little or no medical coverage. Others like Ritz are on fixed incomes and want to avoid so-called co-pays and deductibles charged by U.S. insurers on top of policies that routinely cost from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand each month.

“The very wealthy can afford whatever they want, the very poor get it through aid, but the working and the middle-class have to struggle to pay insurance,” said Ritz, who worked as a police officer in Chicago for 28 years.

Sarah Palin Wants Civil Discourse, about "down right evil" healthcare

Ex- Alaska Governor and former Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin just days ago on her face book page embraced the right wing tall tales about Health care reform stating that a provision that will allow medicare to cover living wills giving those who choose access to “an end of life councilor” means Euthanasia will be in Obama health care legislation. As not uncommon for Palin at times she used her children even her young infant as a political prop to appeal to the most ardent elements of the conservative movement, the insurance lobby, and likely hopes to hook in a few misinformed or politically uninformed voters; by inferring that children with disabilities, the infirm, and elderly would have to go before a “death panel” and that health care reform is “down right evil”.

ANCHORAGE (AP) — In her first communication since leaving office, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin said in an Internet posting Friday that President Obama’s plan to overhaul the health care system was “evil.”

“Who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course,” the former vice presidential candidate wrote on her Facebook page.

“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil,” Palin wrote.

An e-mail sent to Palin’s spokeswoman to confirm authorship was not immediately returned Friday.

First off there is no death panel and honestly if Obama was pushing such a policy you would think he or anyone else wouldn’t be stupid enough to call it a “death panel”.

Anyway from her rhetoric ascribing evil policies to Obama and the obsession that the right currently has with comparing Obama and everything to the left of Ann Coulter with Nazis and Hitler, and sending signals of latent and sometimes overt racism that has begun to bubble up, especially among the least evolved minds of southern and bible belt whites above the age of 50. That is not to say there aren’t legitimate issues and concerns about any health care legislation and that representatives should not be held accountable for what they vote and advocate, but that when someone hurls references to Hitler and the threat of Nazism around; it implies that action no matter by what means must be taken to defeat that figure and perhaps even eliminate them. Even when the left compared Bush to Hitler that was equally erroneous and moronic. But for some reason some conservatives are so ill-educated and consumed by hatred rather towards the policy, or Obama and Obama’s background himself, they have dispensed with logic altogether.

But I digress, Ben Smith reports that on Sunday in a move that would make fellow conservatives Richard Nixon grin, the queen of conservatism with the June Cleaver vernacular has stated that she is disturbed by the ugly discourse without acknowledging her contribution to it.

“There are many disturbing details in the current bill that Washington is trying to rush through Congress, but we must stick to a discussion of the issues and not get sidetracked by tactics that can be accused of leading to intimidation or harassment,” Palin wrote. “Such tactics diminish our nation’s civil discourse which we need now more than ever because the fine print in this outrageous health care proposal must be understood clearly and not get lost in conscientious voters’ passion to want to make elected officials hear what we are saying. Let’s not give the proponents of nationalized health care any reason to criticize us.”

Seriously the conservative base that Palin represents is getting so predictable. Criticize a policy using histrionics and inflated rhetoric that demonize the opponents which riles the Janissary s, then after a brief time come out and disavow the fervor you helped brew. Her lack of policy and her polemics prove that Plain may be great at exploiting the resentment of white middle-aged undereducated straight church going Americans in the conservative populist mold of a modern day George Wallace, but that on policy and any grasp of it, her portfolio is thin to say the least and her interest seems to be even less. One can’t help but start to see a little George W Bush or Richard Nixon behind that lipstick and thick framed glasses. We had George W Bush, a conservative in a similar mode for eight years, what makes anyone think she can implement Bush’s policies with different results just because she wears high heels?

Peter Griffin and Personal Finances

The world of personal finances according to the Family Guy’s Peter Griffin. For example here is Peter Griffin on home loans:

Brian: Peter, did you read the fine print on this loan contract?
Peter: Um, if by “read” you mean imagined a naked lady, then, yes.

Image from Mint.com

Common Sense Prevails

Oregon becomes the latest state of six this year to dismiss the ridiculous hysteria surrounding industrialized hemp and pass legislation allowing people to grow it.

Raw Story:

Oregon’s House of Representatives voted Monday night to legalize the cultivation of hemp, becoming the sixth state to do so just this year.

Oregon’s Senate voted 27 to 2 in favor of the new law last week. Monday’s 46 to 11 House vote means that the measure will become law, barring an unlikely veto by Governor Ted Kulongoski.

The move is part of a rapidly growing nationwide trend to liberalize laws relating to marijuana. Hemp is a botanical cousin of marijuana, traditionally used to make clothing, rope and other durable fiber goods.

Meanwhile on the federal level, HR 1866 sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA,4) as well as Republican maverick and former 2008 Republican Primary Contender Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX, 14) would seek to do the same at the Federal level.

New Report Finds Waste in Afganistan Iraq U.S Contracting System

Eisenhower warned of a “Millitary Industrial Complex” he probably never guessed it would be this calamitous.

The over 4,000 military casualties of the war in Iraq have no doubt been the most sobering, heart wrenching, and tragic aspect of the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. However the system of contracting functions of the occupation out to private contractors on a massive scale has also been known to be rife with instances of corruption, ineptitude, poor planning, ill-conceived, inefficiency, and unaccountability.

Now a new report by a Congressional committee confirms this. Projects have been done unnecessarily, multiple times, or in some instances shoddy in quality. Records and paperwork were poorly kept and a dinning hall was remodeled after just having been remodeled. The Pentagon in many instances was so lackadaisical in its approach and enforcement that the allocation of money was not kept track of or even the contracting companies themselves were not listed in a database of some sorts. All this while having access to an almost endless cascade of billions and billions of U.S taxpayer dollars.

Conservatives often say government is not the answer to everything and is susceptible to bureaucratic red tape, graft, and corruption. One need only to look at the conduct and planning of the Iraq War over the past six years as testimony to the faliability of government. However, the Bush/Cheney administrations prototype of applying the lazie faire economics, small government, loose (if any) regulation, unaccountability of business to Iraq and foreign ventures as opposed to using government employees or the military have been even more disastrous; as these private companies are unrestrained by any clear standards of law, and are not accountable for deficient craftsmanship or poor services, while having access to an almost endless cascade of U.S taxpayers’ money.

Associated Press:

U.S. reliance on private sector employees has grown to “unprecedented proportions,” yet the government has no central database of who all these contractors are, what they do or how much they’re paid, the bipartisan commission found.

In its first report to Congress, the Wartime Contracting Commission presents a bleak assessment of how taxpayer dollars have been spent since 2001. The 111-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, documents poor management, weak oversight, and a failure to learn from past mistakes as recurring themes in wartime contracting.

The commission’s report is scheduled to be made public Wednesday at a hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform’s national security subcommittee.

One example of wasted money cited by the commission involves construction of a $30 million dining facility at a U.S. base in Iraq scheduled to be completed Dec. 25. The decision to build it was based on bad planning and botched paperwork. Yet the project is too far along to stop, making the mess hall a future monument to the waste and inefficiency plaguing the war effort.

Enforcing Anti-Trust Laws, What a Novel Idea

The new head of the U.S Justice Department announced that it will break with efforts to end the devitalizing of U.S anti-trust laws, where large defendants who are accused of unfair and unethical business practices and pose a hazard to the legitimate free market; are insulated from the complaints registered by plaintiffs who are often smaller in size and strength.

NY TIMES:

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s top antitrust official announced on Monday that the administration would restore an aggressive enforcement policy against corporations that use their market dominance to elbow out competitors or to keep them from gaining market share.

The new enforcement policy reverses the Bush administration’s approach, which strongly favored defendants against antitrust claims. It returns to a policy that led to the landmark antitrust lawsuits against Microsoft and Intel in the 1990s.

The head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, Christine A. Varney, announced the policy reversal in a speech on Monday before the Center for American Progress, a liberal policy research organization. She will deliver the same speech on Tuesday to the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Ms. Varney said that the Bush administration policy “lost sight of an ultimate goal of antitrust laws — the protection of consumer welfare.”

“The failing of this approach is that it effectively straitjackets antitrust enforcers and courts from redressing monopolistic abuses, thereby allowing all but the most bold and predatory conduct to go unpunished and undeterred,” she said. “We must change course and take a new tack,”

Though it is great news for those who believe in small businesses, legitimate competition that is not used to enrich economically or industrially a given company within a sector of the economy who uses intimidation and wield their power to clear the field; this problem is likely much broader then the last administration.

Now I confess (and I am fairly certain that the handful of regular readers are aware ) that I am not fluent in economics, business, or anti-trust law; however it is evident even to an eye as untrained as mine that large business has gained a stranglehold in various arenas of the economy. And its not a partisan issue. A few given companies are acquiring entities in more and more areas. It was in the 1990s with the approval of then President Clinton, that the trend of media deregulation began with the Telecommunications Act of 1996, where radio and television stations can own multiple stations in the same community. News papers have also followed suite . And then there is the credit card companies, banks, oil companies, energy companies, and agribusiness just to name a few who have used their mammoth stature to ensure that small operations don’t get a chance to become viable competitors.

But its not just monopolies that are the problem. Oligopolies, which are when not merely one entity has dominion over a market but say two, three., or four do and use their muscle to keep out smaller and often more local competition. There needs to be laws, if there aren’t already that curb that. Something of a modern day “trust busting” of these oligopolies may not be a bad idea.

To me it sounds like at least the potential of a good start.

Could the House Phone be in Danger?

More households are cutting the line and just using cellphones as thier central phone. And its just not for teens and twenty-somethings anymore.

Burr’s Bank Run!

The Washington Monthly reports that Senator Richard Burr(R-NC)effectively called for his wife to make a run on the bank in the Fall of 2008 and withdraw all there money. ‘Banks Runs’ were common during the Great Depression, when customers feared that a bank would become insolvent they would rush to withdraw all their money.

Now I just feel like showing George Bailey in Its a Wonderful Life trying to calm nerves during a Great Depression era bank run.

One word Senator: FDIC

Internet + Recession= Return to the barter system?

Reportedly the volume of barter ads has doubled on Craig’s List.

On a national level, the increase in barter ads equals the international statistics, rising 100 percent in the last 12 months. Cook blamed the economy for some of the rise in Craigslist traffic.

“Obviously, in the face of financial hardship,” she explained, “people are finding creative ways to get what they want.”

Cook said statistics for the Akron/Canton Craigslist site, which she called “relatively new,” have increased even more dramatically.

“There has been a 450 percent increase in For Sale postings and an 800 percent increase in Barter postings over the last 12 months,” she said. “Obviously, the site’s popularity is growing rapidly, much of it tied to the economy, I’m sure.”

Economic Distress Brings with it Violence

Common knowledge is that in times of Economic turmoil, fear, and frustration; violence increases. The sale of guns and ammunition has risen sharply and although I am against most new gun restrictions and believe truly that citizens have the right to bare arms, this is a sign of great fear in the American climate.

But as advocates of gun rights, studies, and events will demonstrate; not all violence is carried out by way of a pistol. Resentment and outrage consuming ones judgement and not seeing an end to such turmoil can often be all it takes to push someone to cross the Rubicon into afflicting others by way of violent force, especially in the household.

MSNBC:

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – Some hospitals report seeing more than twice as many shaken babies as a year ago. Deaths from domestic violence have increased sharply in some areas.

Calls to domestic-violence hotlines have risen too, and more than half the callers said their families’ financial situation has changed recently.

Across the country, these and other signs point to another troubling effect of the recession: The American home is becoming more violent, and the ailing economy could be at least partially to blame.

“Our children and families are suffering,” said Alane Fagin, who runs a Long Island nonprofit group called Child Abuse Prevention Services. “With more layoffs expected, the threat of foreclosure looming over so many and our savings disappearing, even the best parents can feel stressed out and overwhelmed.”

Nationwide government data will not be compiled for months, so the evidence suggesting an uptick in child abuse and domestic violence has been largely anecdotal.

But the Child Welfare League of America, a coalition of public and private agencies, has been surveying state child welfare agencies to determine whether the numbers reflect a spike in violence.

“I think a lot of people are very concerned that we are in the early phases of this,” said Linda Spears, vice president for policy and public affairs.

Eighty-eight percent of law enforcement officials surveyed nationwide believe the economic crisis has led, or will lead, to more child abuse and neglect, according to top police officials from Los Angeles, Boston, Milwaukee and Philadelphia who recently held a news conference in Washington.

“Those of us on the front lines of law enforcement know that there is a correlation between economic distress and increased child abuse and neglect,” said Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton. “We have to get in front of this problem now.”