Misunderstandings About Class Warfare

Like Warren Buffet said, "There's a class warfare all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."

The letter that Dave Zweifel wrote about in The Capital Times underscores the fact that the rich are winning, and they are winning because they are pitting working people against each other. Apparently, some of the working people fail to grasp simple realities, as "Brenda"'s letter illustrates. The article is a must read.

Insignificant Markers

So the Dow Jones reached 13,000 for the first time since 2008. Hooray, yes? Could there be a better example that the index that measures the (supposed) health of public companies in this country is completely meaningless in terms of how the American middle class fares?

This is an important point, because all the measures and indexes that you hear quoted on a given day in all of the mainstream media are meaningless? Productivity? Gone up. Unemployment? Down. Wall Street? Up. They are all numbers that are designed to make us feel good and mean absolutely nothing to most of us. How is your purchasing power now, compared to 10 years ago? How did your salary fare in the last ten years? How much of your income goes toward non-discretionary expenses every month? If you look at those numbers, they all probably look worse now than they did last year, five years ago, ten years ago. That's why you never really hear them mentioned in polite Washington conversation. On the upside? Access to contraception would be much, much more difficult if Republicans have there way. That'll fix your life, won't it?

You Don't Own Me

Mark Sumner wrote an interesting post at the Daily Kos, titled You Don't Own Me. The framing is a little weird, as it seems to start out as a North-South diatribe, but the contents are nonetheless worth a read. So, read it. Comments are welcome.

The Dishonesty and Hypocrisy of Republican "Stars"

I am often appalled by the idiocy and the hypocrisy of mediocre Republican figures. but when the idiocy and the hypocrisy come from one of the supposed "rising stars" of the Republican party, I find it even more appalling. Take the example of Gov Chris Christie.

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In vetoing a bill that legalized same-sex marriage in New Jersey, Gov. Christie made the following statement: "I am adhering to what I've said since this bill was first introduced – an issue of this magnitude and importance, which requires a constitutional amendment, should be left to the people of New Jersey to decide." If that statement does not bother you, think again: it should.

We live in a nation that established representative democracy as a form of government: We elect representatives to legislate and execute laws on our behalf. If we do not like what our representatives do, we can vote them out, and someone else in, at the next election. By this measure we judge everything our representatives do: Increasing or lowering taxes, enhancing or reducing social services, strengthening or . weakening law enforcement powers vs. the protection of individual rights, and so forth.

It really bothers me when some politicians think that some things are too sacred to be decided by legislators and sent the back to voters for further approval: The majority of the people already voted you in, so do you fucking job, which is to make a stand on principle from time to time, call an issue as you see it, and make decisions on our behalf, without making pitiful excuses.

Often, appeals to voters are made by reactionary politicians who want to maintain the status quo, and know that it is easier for 30-40 somewhat enlightened representatives (or 3, 4, or 5 judges) to repair a wrong, than it is for millions of voters that often include a majority of backward-thinking, religiously-motivated dullards who think that (their) God's view of morality be driving their vote, instead of rational, humane considerations. Do you think we should have patiently waited for the majority of Americans to eliminate racial segregation, antimiscegenation laws, or to decide whether Genesis or the theory of evolution by natural selection should be taught in science classes? If so, you need to live in a gated community of like-minded freaks. It's better for all of us if you do.

Referenda are the means that voters can use to right what they perceive to be a wrong perpetrated by a minority (their elected representatives or a handful of judges) after a decision has been made that is contrary to their general sensibilities. And courts have the final say because they are supposed to be composed of individuals of above average intelligence and education (and hopefully, some sense of impartial justice), who can recognize when a law goes against constitutional principles.

What bothers me even more is that referenda are often called into play with the excuse that the issues they are meant to decide are of foremost importance and consequence, but which in reality are fairly trivial, like gay marriage, the legalization of pot, the legalization of gambling, and so on, when compared to things that are hugely consequential in people lives. I would like to be called to vote on whether corporations are "people", in the sense that they should enjoy the same privileges that individuals do, without suffering any of the ill effects (like being sentenced to death when they wreck the world economy.) I would like to be called upon to decide whether we should have a national health care system, with a good deal of government intervention, versus a fragmented one in which the influence that power players exert (health care corporations, insurance companies, and Wall Street) greatly exceeds the ability of individuals to oppose them. I would also be liked to call to decide whether the water that I drink, or the food that I eat, or the drugs that I take, should be safe, whether the fuck the politicians want them to be or not. But that's not what happens as a matter of routine.

As a matter of routine, we let politicians represent us in the hope that they will weigh the public interest versus the private, and that they will legislate in good faith. And if, and only if, we disagree with the decisions they make, do we then have recourse to the courts or to undo what they did via referenda. For a number of reasons that make eminent sense,  that's the way things should work and that's the way, for the most part, they have worked. I am sure that Gov. Christie knows that; which is why he is both a hypocrite and dishonest when he says that "an issue of this magnitude and importance... should be left to the people of New Jersey to decide." But if there is no dishonesty or hypocrisy in his statement, that might be an even worse fault, because it would be a sign that the governor does not understand how representative democracy works. If so, he is not fit to be a leader in one, and the people of New Jersey would do well to replace him as soon as they get a chance. And the rest of us should so hope that he never ascends to higher power than that of Governor, if that's his idea of how politics should work.

Health Care Failures in the USA (UPDATED)

UPDATE: So, the bill for part of the surgery finally came in: $171,900. No, it wasn't a transplant, it wasn't open heart surgery. It was pretty routine surgery, the kind many women undergo every year. Yes, $171,900 seems a bit overpriced. As would have $71,900, as would have $50,000. In fact, I'd be really interested in finding out how much hospitals and surgeons in other countries charge for the same type of surgery. I'll do my best to find out.

I wonder: Does God only unleash hurricanes and other national calamities on "gay-infested cities" like New Orleans, or does he get pissed when doctors, hospitals and insurance companies combine to swindle the American public? Because, if He doesn't, His priorities are out of whack. Honestly, if I hear one more American sing the praises of the American health care system and rail against socialized health care I am personally going to beat the crap out of him.

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So I finally have my own U.S. health care/health insurance horror story to tell.

I am among the lucky ones, I guess. Through my employer, I have a health care plan that covers most of my expenses. The only thing I have to worry about (until I find out otherwise) are my co-pays, which are fortunately manageable. Around 2 a.m. last Saturday, my wife (L.) started screaming for the pain in her lower abdomen. She was nauseous and could barely move. It was immediately clear that there was something seriously wrong with her, so I quickly got dressed and drove her to an E.R., which I will refer to as ER-1 from here on out.

We were at ER-1 from approximately 2:30 to 6 a.m. After ordering a complete blood count and a urinalysis, and after administering fluids, painkillers and anti-nausea meds to L., the doctor concluded that the best thing to do was to send her home and keep her on painkillers and anti-nausea for 12 hours, at which point if things hadn't improved we should return to the ER for a CT scan. (This visit was billed by ER-1 to our insurance company at $5,700 and change, and I had to write a check for $50 for the co-pay)

Come 6 p.m. things weren't better, they were the same. So, as instructed, we returned to ER-1, where L. was given CT contrast liquid in preparation for a CT scan, which she promptly threw up. Still in pain and as nauseous as she was in the morning, we asked for her to be admitted to the hospital. Armed with new negative blood and urine tests, as well as a CT scan), the doctor left us with a (botched) diagnosis of possible food poisoning, or viral gastroenteritis, or ielitis (an inflammation of the colon). The appendix was cleared as a culprit and we were advised to make an appointment with a GI for a colonoscopy on Monday. No antibiotics were administered, just the same painkillers and anti-nausea meds. We were sent home in spite of the fact that L. was evidently no better than when we first visited ER-1, some 15 hours earlier. (This second visit was billed at over $10,900 and I had to write another $50 check for a second co-pay).

Things did not get better on Sunday, and before we had a chance to make an appointment for a colonoscopy, L. woke up shivering and gnashing her teeth. She was running a fever of 103° F, and on the way back to ER-1 she threw up for the fifth time in 60 hours.

Back at ER-1, the admitting nurse told us to go and sit in the waiting room, which--contrary to the two Saturday visits--was quite crowded. I was quite shocked that they would tell us to wait, since they must have seen from their computerized records that L. had already been there twice on Saturday already even if they did not hear us say it when they taking information from L. 30-40 minutes after our arrival, we were still waiting to be called, so I decided I'd had enough of waiting, particularly since L.'s pain and nausea seemed to have abated, so I told the admitting nurse that we wished to sign a release and walk away, which we did to the nurse's seeming relief.

Since the situation was far from resolved, I immediately took L. to see her primary care doctor. While I parked the car they had already given her a urine test and measured her temperature and blood pressure. With that data in hand, they told me that in fact we needed to return to an E.R. and seemed to be wondering why we decided to leave ER-1. (I stand by my decision to leave because, while the emergency seemed obvious to me--a layman--it seemed equally obvious that the E.R. staff did not share my view.) We were advised to go to a different E.R. in the suburbs, which  I will call ER-2, which we did.

At ER-2, doctors were visibly concerned with her low blood pressure and oxygen levels and treated her with a sense of urgency I had not yet seen. After a 9-hour visit in ER-2, which included another CT scan, ultrasound, blood and urine analysis, the administering of fluids, antibiotics, painkillers and anti-nausea meds, L. was admitted to the hospital at around midnight. Just over 24 hours later, she was scheduled for emergency surgery since she had failed to respond to treatment with antibiotics and she had been diagnosed with acute infection of several organs, as well as sepsis.

I am glad to report that the surgery went well and that, barring any unforeseen complications, L. is on the mend, pending a 6-8 week convalescence and absence from work. But the experience has left her scarred, figuratively and literally, and has left me drained. Since sepsis and low vitals were involved, it was a closer call than I probably realize. We were lucky that I did the "wrong" thing, by refusing to let my wife wait for treatment in a busy ER. We were also lucky that at ER/Hospital 2 L. received very good treatment, the kind most Americans imagine when they speak of the U.S. health care system, which they dogmatically believe to be the #1 in the world. And we are also lucky that our financial exposure should be limited to a series of manageable co-pays, thanks to my employment. (I have yet to see all the bills, but my insurance plan should cover all the costs after the co-pays; we'll see.)

However, no matter how good the care L. received at ER/Hospital 2, the fact remains that the staff at ER-1 did not seem to perceive the gravity of the situation, that we live with a system that discourages hospitalization as a diagnostic step, and that their inaction could have cost L. her health, even her life. That our insurance company was billed approximately $18,000 for two visits which amounted to barely 7 hours of work only adds insult to the injury that L. sustained, and further shows that even outrageous amounts of money (unless you think that $18,000 is a fair price for 7 hours in an ER and a handful of routine exams) cannot buy us good health care.

I shudder to think what would have happened to a couple who makes barely enough to fall outside the net of Medicaid, but not enough to buy insurance that covers all medical costs.

I wrote this very personal post because a reader of this blog who describes himself as a centrist blamed my disappointment with President Obama on the fact that he (the president) is not the flaming liberal I would like him to be (John, that's you). I blame President Obama not for being too much of a centrist, but for failing to fix (or even show that he was committed to fix) a system that fails the people it is supposed to serve. When President Obama ran away from true health care reform and into the arms of the insurance companies, doctors, and hospitals he had claimed he'd reform, that's when he lost me. It was a betrayal of trust that explains why I, and many people like me, are disgusted with politics as usual. It should not take a flaming liberal to take on and fix powerful interests that disrupt people's lives; only a person with a basic sense of justice fairness.

State Of The Union Analysis

No SOTU analysis this year. If you want, you can google it up and you will come up with hundreds of analyses by hundreds of pundits who will spew inanities on President Obama's vision for the future of America. I am not playing that game. Fool me once, shame on you...

The reality is this: The address was a campaign speech, designed to mobilize the base of the Democratic Party, and to lure independents to the polls come November. Mission accomplished? Time will tell.

Don't get me wrong, the President knows how to give a good speech, and last night's address was no exception. The problem has never been the President's ability to deliver a rousing speech; it's been his inability, or unwillingness, to follow through. We have had plenty of examples in the President's first three years in office. Do we need yet another State of The Union address to prove that there is a chasm between the President's talking the talk and his walking the walk?

Actions speak louder than words, as they saying goes, and this is an example of President's Obama's actions, as illustrated on (Bill) Moyers and Company last Friday night.

I have no faith in President Obama to do the right thing, not 3 years into his presidency. Like any politician, he will say anything he thinks he needs to say to get elected and do anything he thinks will keep him in power after he is elected. Still, the alternative being President Romney or President Gingrich, with the possible impact their election might have on the composition of the Supreme Court, we are stuck with the lesser of two evils.

Life sucks, at least in political terms.

And a Happy New Year!

Wherein Wendell Potter Takes Politifact to Task

Wendell Potter, former insurance company executive turned whistleblower, has written a post in which he takes Politifact to task for choosing a "Lie of the Year" that is actually true.

Merry Christmas!

Sad, True, and Maddening

Hunter produced another quasi-perfect post at the Daily Kos. (The "quasi-" refers to a couple of typos.)

The post, titled The failure of Austerity, is a must-read for everyone, but in particular for those who subscribe to economic theories that far-right conservatives promote (far-right conservatives being 95% of conservatives around) and dim-witted supporters espouse and repeat mindlessly, regardless of any contrary evidence.

It is sad that about half of the U.S. population, give and take a few percentage points, has been manipulated into believing that the government can do no good when it comes to changing the course of the economy, and it is maddening that too many in government act as if that were a true statement.

In an excellent book titled Perfectly Legal, tax policy expert David Cay Johnston writes, and I paraphrase only slightly, that the organic pursuit of self-interest is what makes democracy work, and that for too long a vast number of Americans have subscribed to and supported economic policies that go in the opposite direction of their self-interest, which is a failure of democracy of the highest level.

That the ideologues and hacks should continue to promote economic theories that have as much connection to reality as alchemy does is understandable; after that's how they make a living and prosper. But the fact that a sufficient number of people believe their fantastic claims is sad and maddening, because they make life much worse than it needs to be for those who know that the idiots are buying from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of snake oil. And that is what Hunter articulates so well in his post.

The only thing that I have yet to resolve in my mind if most of the blame lies with the ideologues and the hacks, or if it should fall squarely on the shoulders of their dim-witted supporters. And the more I think about it, the more I believe the latter is the case.

Too Little, Too Late, If You Ask Me

Tom Foreman reports on cnn.com:

Among the chief complaints of many voters: Obama has been too quick to compromise, too weak in taking on opponents and too much like just another politician intent on triangulating re-election, rather than being the transformative, bold leader they thought they were electing. 
[...] The White House is now clearly launching an offensive aimed at shifting voter disappointment from their man to the opposition.

If you ask me, too little, too late. If he gets re-elected it will be because the G.O.P. candidates are weak and ridiculous beyond belief. And yes, Obama would be a slightly better president than any Republican who might get elected. For the millions of Americans who are hurting and were looking for a "transformative, bold leader", it will be small comfort. 

A president who could not achieve anything he could have achieved, had he wanted to, in the two years when he could count on a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a clear majority in the House will achieve nothing noteworthy after both houses of Congress will have switched to the opposition, something very likely to happen in 2012. 

Sigh.

If It's Good For Bill Kristol, Well, It's Not Very Good

Hunter did it again at the Daily Kos.

In 6 brilliant, cutting paragraphs (plus two perfectly appropriate quotes) he destroys the mythical wisdom of serious Republicans such as that of the unfortunately very real Bill Kristol.

My favorite passage is this:

In any event, the sort of people that intellectual giant William Kristol praises as fellow intellectual giants should, at the least, give a person pause. The fellow who is currently pining for Paul Ryan to come save conservatism from the wreck of the current campaign season was previously pining for Sarah Palin to fill the same role. 

The rest of Hunter's post is here.

Stop The Presses

Here's an interesting statement for my (10) Republican/Libertarian friends to ponder:

I can say with confidence that rich people don’t create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is the feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion a virtuous cycle that allows companies to survive and thrive and business owners to hire. An ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than I ever have been or ever will be.

The statement was made in Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators, a Bloomberg op-ed by entrepreneur Nick Hanauer, who "founded the Internet media company aQuantive Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in 2007 for $6.4 billion [and] was also the first non-family investor in Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)."

Go read, and ponder.

The Virus of Republican Ignorance

Eric Alterman has a pointed post on Alternet about the virus of GOP ignorance and the role that the mainstream media plays in spreading it.

Happy Thanksgiving, Unless You're a Far-Right Islamophobe

Happy Thanksgiving to all men and women of good disposition.

And to all far-Right Islamophobes, may you choke on halal turkey. :-) Pamela Geller, Frank Gaffney: That includes especially you.

News Flash from the Republican Debate on National Security

What national security issue do you worry about that nobody is asking about, either here or in any of the debates so far?

Rick Santorum: The spread of Socialism.
Ron Paul: Overreacting to non-existent threats and starting new wars.
Hermann Cain: Cyber-attacks
Mitt Romney: Latin America (and Socialism)
Rick Perry: Communist China
Newt Gingrich: Electromagnetic pulse attacks, WMDs in American cities, cyber-attacks.
Michele Bachmann: Who the fuck knows? Al Shabaab?
John Huntsmann: Joblessness and lack of opportunity, debt, lack of faith in our institutions

News flash for Republican presidential aspirants: Neglect the growing fury of jobless Americans at your peril. You are going to have to deal with them on a national security level long before a terrorist with a briefcase nuke plants it up your ass. It seems Huntsman and Perry are the only ones who are even remotely attuned to the gravity of the situation.

News Flash for Republican Candidates

Michele Bachmann: It's the UniTED States, not the UniNED States. Hermann Cain: It's killed not keeled. Rick Perry: It's nuke-lear not new-cool-ar. I'm sure I missed a few, but if I have to live through another ten debates, I'm not saying you need to master your language, just pronounce it properly. Thank you. Oh, yes! It's pundit, not pundint, pundant, or pendant. Again, thank you.

Paul Krugman's Perfect Take Down of Newt Gingrich

Krugman, on ABC's This Week With Christiane Amanpour: "Newt [...] is the stupid man's idea of what a smart person sounds like." Classic.

No Persons In Their Right Mind

While my "love" for Democrats (with a few notable exceptions) is close to hitting the nadir, no middle-class Americans in their right mind can vote for a Republican. Period. I repeat. No middle-class Americans can vote for a Republican. I say this after watching all but one of the presidential Republican debates.

But I don't just mean the Republicans running for president, the sanest and most principled of whom is Ron Paul (and that's all anyone needs to know). I mean any Republican, for any office. Including Blue Dog Democrats. Period.

Why? Because Republicans stand in antithesis to everything that is in the interest of the 99% of Americans (even if, apparently, about 50% of voting Americans don't know it). Read the previous post, David Michael Green Is At His Very Angriest Best

David Michael Green Is At His Very Angriest Best

Read We Are Not Your Human Resources, David Michael Green's latest rant on The Regressive Antidote blog.

Here's a taste of it:

Our solutions no longer reside, if they ever did, in the ballot box. The Republicans are a sheer criminal enterprise, whose entire function is to redistribute wealth from the rest of us to already wealthy elites. But the Democrats are actually worse, because they do exactly the same thing, while trading on the party’s past reputation for representing the public interest. For my money (which, along with yours, is precisely what is at stake), Obama and Clinton and their ilk in Congress have betrayed me and the country more than, say, any of the Dicks – Cheney, Armey or Nixon. You expect the asshole kid on the playground to live up to his reputation. It hurts a lot more when your best friend is the one sticking in the knife.