Canada's government freed up their businesses from providing healthcare, 50 years ago;
Result, they live longer, pay half as much per capita, have lower unemployment and
banks stronger than Switzerland's.
Labels: Canada compared to U.S
T.R Reid, author of "The Healing of America", said on C-Span: If you've had a hip or knee replacement, you can thank the French; for Viagra, the British; for better MRI's at lower cost, the Japanese. The developed countries that have made a moral commitment to give healthcare to all their citizens, have to find ways to save money, and that increases, not decreases, innovation and research. They have to find ways to do it better. In America, the average length of time a customer is with one particular insurance company, is 4.8 years. So there is no incentive to provide preventative care. But in all the other developed countries, there is that incentive to spend on prevention, to prevent higher costs later. recommends
Labels: by T.R. Reid, The healing of America
reality writes on the TCPalm blog site:
Republicans Tom Rooney and Bill Posey voted against permanently extending security requirements on some 6000 chemical plants (Stuart news 11-8-09, p.B3) The rules requiring makers and storers of chemicals to make plans to prevent & respond to terrorist attacks, do background check on employees, and allow Dept.of Homeland security inspections, were due to expire next year. The same bill Posey and Rooney voted NO to, also requires public & private sewage treatment facilities to do similar things, and the EPA to have a security program for drinking water facilities too. Why would Rooney and Posey say NO to such Common Sense rules? Previously Rooney voted NO to increased government scrutiny of companies that process and distribute large amounts of food products. If I understood Rooney's response then, he worried about frivolous lawsuits by consumers against food processors, and food plants shutting down for what might turn out to be no good reason. Today, the Stuart News Opinion has Rooney joking about the Steelers and Vikings game, and the usual ad for Rooney's blog. I wish instead he would explain his NO vote for our security here, even as he urges sending more Americans into the meat grinder of Afghanistan. At what cost? What is the CBO estimate of that? On the House floor, Rooney denounced the Trillion $ cost of health reform here at home, but leaves out that that cost should be divided by 10 years. Has the Stuart news asked Rooney and Posey what has been the cost of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? And does Rooney know the numbers of dead and wounded in each war, so far, as the Stuart news omits such info? The claim of local focus falls false, though, as Pittsburgh and Minnesota are far from here, as are most of the Celebrities on p.2, section 1.
Labels: Repubs Rooney and Posey vote NO to chemical, water plant rules
MN Rep. Michelle Bachmann is outraged at our “Gangster government” that took over GM, for $5 Billion. Yet President Bush, without Congress, rescued AIG with $180 Billion in taxpayer $$. Republican Bachmann
calls it “cronyism” that 2 GM dealerships were saved because their Democratic Senator and/or Democratic representatives intervened, while one in her district was shut down. If Republicans were the Majority
party, would it have been the opposite? And if Obama and the Dems had not bailed out GM, would all GM dealerships have been closed?
GM and most other “private enterprises” in America, have huge expenses from buying healthcare insurance for their employees. Private enterprises in Canada, Great Britain, and Europe, don’t have that “Denver boot”
holding them back. Why aren’t Republicans helping Dems take that burden off of our private enterprises?
“Pro-lifers” argue, “what if the aborted fetus would have turned into a great scientist, engineer, etc.? But Repubs don’t apply that to healthcare? If all Americans had good healthcare provided all their lives, who knows how many more citizens would be truly contributing.
“... to promote the general welfare” is in the Preamble to our Constitution. So please explain all the accusations by Repubs/Conservatives, that it is Dems not obeying the Constitution?
George Will has long been against the legalization and regulation of marijuana, yet he too claims to be against “Gangster govt” and “cronyism”. So why is a plant the “Intelligent Designer” put all over this earth, prohibited from our “Free Market”? To eliminate competition for “Big Pharma and the cigarette companies? Is that an example of what Dylan Ratigan calls, “Corporate
Communism”? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-r...
The Stuart news recently reported a jail sentence of 25 years for a man who had skillfully remodeled a house to grow marijuana. "ganster govt." using its power to prevent competition in the marketplace?
Labels: "Gangster Governmentt", George Will, Rep. Michelle Bachmann
Kevin McDonough, of United Features Syndicate, writes in the Stuart News 11-3:
"MSNBC analyst and 'West Wing' producer/writer Lawrence O'Donnell observes that only PBS's Jim Lehrer has maintained the notion of news as a civil forum and a public service, and that everybody else (including himself) is chasing ratings.
Why are so many Americans so badly informed about the rest of the world? Apparently, they don't care. Tucker Carlson, now of Fox News, observes that the minute-by-minute ratings analysis shows that the second a newscast turns to a story about any foreign country or subject ('and that includes Tijuana or Ottawa') the audience goes 'right to "Wheel of Forturne"" "
Kevin McDonough of United Features Syndicate
Labels: Kevin McDonough, Larry O'Donnell, Tucker Carlson
Posted on the TCPalm website, November 3, 2009 10:13 a.m. reality writes:
(Republican Rep.) "Bogdanoff noted a 'lot of America likes to gamble' and the state could attract major conventions to casino-hotel sites." A lot of Americans like to smoke or eat Marijuana too. http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/may/2... What would be FL taxpayers' share of the $77 Billion the US could perhaps be raking in if Marijuana was regulated as tobacco and alcohol are?
And it is also a Republican who wants to create a new government bureaucracy to compete with private enterprise? "Rep. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, proposed that the state create a gambling commission and contract with private operators to run casinos, similar to how the state runs the $4 billion-a-year Lottery. That would allow the state to keep a larger share of casino profits, he said.
"We can compete head on with the tribe," he said. "We need to say absolutely no to this compact ; period."
Isn't totally hypocritical that Republicans are scaring Americans with dire warnings of "government control" of Health care, but are eager to takeover the "gaming industry"? Will that benefit the Rooney family? Sure sounds like Republicans are lobbying for what Dylan Ratigan calls "Corporate Communism" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-r...
Labels: Repubs want new bureaucracy to compete with private gaming
