The 2020 Crash and Failed Response to Corona virus

So the Virus we knew was coming a decade ago finally hit us and the USA is woefully unprepared. Pay attention and please share these talking points as we still have a chance to reduce the damage the next time this happens, and it WILL happen again.

Why its so bad

• Trump disbanded the emergency response unit that was put in place to protect us. Standard Conservative policy, cut govt programs because individuals and corporations should be able to fend for themselves.
• Trump has made things much worse by not taking it seriously from the start and worrying more about the stock market than human lives. So he kept telling people it was contained and over rated, nothing to worry about. So it spread further.
• He waited to long to restrict travel and then exempted countries where has hotels.
• Testing kits were offered by WHO early on but Trump admin refused, so an American company could get exclusivity. Except of course the kits were made in China because of our disastrous trade agreement and turned out to be contaminated. This put us way behind the rest of the world.

Trump and Republican "Solutions"?

• Bailouts to major corporations.
• Payroll tax cuts which of course wont help the people sent home without pay or laid off.
• Finally after more than a month persuading insurance companies to not charge copays for testing and our taxes covering their costs. Meanwhile treatment wont be covered, and of course millions of workers will lose their insurance because there no longer working.

The Corporate Response

• Lay off workers because consumer demand in many industries is down.  Honestly you cant blame the companies, but rather than put people on leaves of absence so they keep their health insurance (If they can afford the premiums without a paycheck) their now out of work for an unknown length of time.

The Biden Plan

• This is what the status quo with our health care system looks like.Once you lose your job you lose medical coverage. Even before that happens your discouraged from getting testing (when available) or treatment because for many people the copays and deductibles are too high.
• Taxpayers by the way foot the bill when these people use the ER after it gets serious because they could not afford to go.
• Think about that come election time, The AHCA was better than what we had, and certainly better than the nothing Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnel came up with but it was not enough.

The Sanders Plan

Had Sanders won in 2016 and managed to get his Medicare for all plan through Congress (yes it was and is a long shot and hard. But anything worth doing is hard, and the alternative to not even trying is failure) we would simply not be in this mess.

• You have no Health Insurance now or its too expensive? Under Sanders plan you and all those healthy young people would have been paying into the same healthcare pool everyone uses.  Yale did a study and showed it would save $45 Billion a YEAR. Yes it costs 30 trillion over 10 years as the health insurance companies and the talking heads on TV tell you.  But were already spending 54 trillion in that same time period according to a REPUBLICAN study by The Heritage Foundation. In other words even they know it saves money, they just don't want YOU to know so Health Insurance companies will keep paying them off. Every researcher knows it saves money, they just tell you the costs in taxes but not the savings in your wallet with no more premiums, deductibles, and copays.
• Imagine if everyone who gets sick could get tested (Neither Sanders or Biden would have botched the testing kit thing) and would get tested because they could afford it. Maybe they lose their job for being sick, thats sad but they would still get medical care and maybe quickly find another job.Especially since companies would still be doing a good business.

Summary

Its really too late for this outbreak, we should have elected Sanders in 2016.

However there will be another one, maybe in a few years, maybe a dozen, we do not know when but we know it will happen. In the meantime 45,000 Americans die each year and thousands of newborn babies because people cant afford the current system. It works great for the upper class, lousy for everyone else. And do you really like your insurance company? Not talking about your doctor, but the company you pay every month to help with your medical bills when you need it - are they there for you when you need them? Or do they delay payments and string you along with paperwork?

Getting rid of a business that only makes a profit by not paying out what you pay them for just makes no sense. Of course we have the worst health care in the entire modern world!

Biden is winning the Dem election, not because people like his policies, exit polling in every single state so far proves that. He is winning because the millionaires on TV and the Radio, as well as those in D.C. are telling you everything is fine, lets not rock the boat. Ask yourself, is it fine for you? Would you like it to be better? Sanders can still win if people come out and vote not on nostalgia over President Obama, not over fear of stupid buzz words like socialism but because they want a better future. If Sanders loses America loses, simple as that.

Its true he may not get his plans through Congress and we may lose anyway. But the other side is telling us we certainly will lose of they win and Sanders is defeated because they will change nothing.

I fought for America in the USAF, I'm not surrendering now. My country and generations after me deserve better!

The decline in US Manufacturing

@gop @TheDemocrats @BrandNew535 @justicedems @JoeBiden @BernieSanders @USAutoCouncil

In the 80's 25% of US jobs involved manufacturing, now its 10%. Republicans blame immigrants and regulation saying worker safety, pollution control, and wages are to blame so subsidize companies through tax cuts and they can then afford to higher American workers, even as they give those manufacturers 50% tax breaks to open plants overseas.

@realDonaldTrump @BernieSanders and others, including most labor unions blame trade agreements like NAFTA, TPP, and others where corporations were in charge of setting the trade policy through lobbyists and buying politicians. Trump hit @HillaryClinton hard on this in 2016

@JoeBiden not only voted like Clinton, he whip counted for it and in recent debates still says they were good deals. He will be hit hard on this if he wins the nomination. But the other candidates and #MSM ignore this because they supported it too. Except for @BernieSanders who was one of the very few who predicted the effect to employees and not only them but all Americans and was willing to take the unpopular stand.

That is Senator Sanders in a nutshell! Always looking forward and wiling to take a stand for America rather than bend with the political winds or be bought by corporations. Only one candidate in the 2020 Presidential election has a proven track record of putting Americans first, ahead of his wallet and political self interest. I do not agree with all his decisions, nor perfectly align with his ideology but hes the only one I trust to govern with integrity. That matters!

Who I want to be President and Why

There are a lot of candidates running for President, several hundred in fact! Yes thats right, according to the FEC as of Aug 12 2019 we have 816 candidates who have filed to run.! Naturally we have never heard of nor are likely to most of them and of course most do not expect to win.
Lets take a quick look at some of the major candidates and my personal opinions.
Senators Sanders and Warren are my top picks so I'll start off with the others in the order I think of them.

• Marianne Williamson: Initially I thought she was kind of a nutjob but I have since listened to some of her interviews and changed my mind. She appears smart and well educated and has a good depth of knowledge on several issues, shes done her homework. Net Worth $1.5 Million, Progressive, Signature Issue is healing and uniting America. She has a lot of good plans to do that too, but I suspect some like reparations are too controversial to pass.
• Kamella Harris: I liked her more early on but do not feel she is handling the debates and interviews very well. In my opinion shes too evasive and has flipped flopped on several issues. I feel shes too worried about what polls well and not authentic. Net Worth $6 million
• Pete Buttigieg: Hes smart, maybe the smartest and best educated of the candidates. However he has not handled local division and races issues well as Mayor. I'd like to see him get more seasoning and prove his ideas. Also he is catered to by the big donor class far too much for my liking and I fear would work more for them than the average American.  Net Worth $100K, Socially left, otherwise more centrist and pro-establishment.
• Joe Biden: Far too establishment for my taste, also thinks he can work with #MoscowMitch even though President Obama was usually blocked by him. The establishment and big donor class love him and I think we have had them in control for far too long. Net Worth $9 million. Establishment and a bland moderate to Conservative. Signature Issue is "I can work with Republicans" and wont rock the boat.
• Andrew Yang: I initially dismissed him,that Universal Basic Income thing is a bit too socialist fir me. However listening to some interviews and its not as out there as I thought. Alaska does this already where every adult gets money from oil pumped out of the state. His proposal is to do the same thing for the tech industry. Considering how much they make off our personal data and the jobs they want to automate I'm ok with a tech dividend for Americans. I love that hes talking about the dangers of automation too.  No one else really hits on that but the fact is most Americans will lose their jobs to automation and sooner than most people think. Net Worth $1 million, Progressive, Signature Issues UBI and how to counter the massive unemployment thats coming.
• Inslese: An afterthought, i dint think he expected to win. I think he jumped in to get climate change talked about and I respect that dedication to a vital issue

Senator Sanders and Senator Warren

Both are strong progressives with a long track record of working for American people over corporations. 

          Senator Warren fought for us while she was a law professor and was responsible for creating the Consumer Protection Bureau. She was nominated to head it but Republicans feared her so much they killed that, she then ran for Senate and won and been a thorn in their side ever since. "Never the less she persisted" is a fitting theme.

          Senator Sanders has been a champion of human and civil rights his entire career, probably more consistently than any other serving politician. One of his early famous moments was when he was arrested at a 1963 Chicago protest for defending black civil rights. As Mayor and later in Congress he has continued to fight for human rights for everyone.

Both have the broadest appeal across the country of voters, where the others may be more popular in certain regions. This is best seen by looking at the small dollar donations and where they come from.

Both of these people are powerful progressives with plans to move the country forward and work for the people instead of the corporations. They have similar ideas, I would say that Warren is more focused on economic protections and preventing exploitation by corporations, while Sanders is more focused on health care and other basics. Either one would be great for the country.

My Preference is Bernie For President

This is purely my opinion and some of it based on feelings more than a comparative analysis.

• Sanders is the underdog and I like underdogs. Hes hated by corporate media, Republicans and Democrats both fear him and each are working hard to push the narrative that hes too left and extreme to win. With that many powerful organizations after you, your an underdog- and hes winning!
• He pushed the Democratic party to the left and we know he means what he says because hes been pushing it for 40+ years. Others have come to his ideas much later as polling shifted so we have less reason to trust them.
• Hes willing and able to fight for us, anywhere and anytime.He went on Fox TV and defended his left wing policies to a right wing audience against right wing moderators who were trying for a got'ya moment and he got a standing ovation.
• Health care is a major economic issue for Americans and he will fight hard to give it to all of us. Media trying to kill the idea of Medicare for All happily point out that his plan will raise taxes to pay for it. Where most politicians dodge that he comes out and says the truth. I love that honesty and integrity, we need more of it! I have blogged about Health care several times so wont repeat it here, check out the blog using Healthcare as the keyword.
• Climate Change is the other key issue for the country, even if climate deniers try to push it away. He has plans for that too and if we dont act soon and vigorously nothing else matters.
• Campaign Finance Reform is another important issue.  We need to change things so politicians work for the citizens, not the corporations and special interests. He is another pioneer here and while many talk about he has been fighting it for years. He is an independent to avoid the "Dialing for Dollars" routine and stand aside from the corruption rather than help it. His 2016 grassroots campaign proved individual donations from voters could fund campaigns without being bought by corporate PACs. Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats were inspired and successful because of him in 2018 and likely will be more so in 2020.

I'll be perfect;y happy with Warren for President but Bernie is my first choice. Both are fighters with proven records of working for Americans rather than against them, but for me the edge goes to the stubborn goat who has been fighting the establishment the longest. I want the underdog to win and the more the mainstream media and establishment Democrats say he can't the more I want it.

All that fear and dismissive asides tells us all what we really need to know about this race.

Right Wing Challenge!

So if you read this blog you know I am a humanitarian and thus Left Wing in my politics.
But one of the biggest personal goals is to get money out of politics. Efforts to do this seem to mainly be from the Left, with Take Back Our Republic the only group I know of on the Right.
On the Left we have Wolf Pac, Brand New Congress, and Justice Democrats.

Why so little effort from the Right?  If its really a populism movement and not just corporate manipulation of some of our population how come there is so little effort to get money out of politics?

If you really believe in privatization because you think its good for America how come people have to pay politicians to do it? If Americans really believe deregulation why do corporations have to buy Congress? If you prefer private insurance and those who are in between jobs, laid off, work for small business, or simply cant afford it why is so much of the money coming from insurance companies?
Shouldn't the individual voter and American citizen be able to matter and influence their politician if the numbers are really on their side?

So my challenge to the Right Wing is start an organization like Brand New Congress or Justice Democrats and help Take Back Our Republic.
If your goal is to get rid of elitist control of our government put thepower back into the hands of the individual American!

Brand New Congress 2020 run

So Brand New Congress is one of the groups I support and they announce their first candidate for 2020 Cori Bush!
She ran for the first time last cycle and is taking those hard won lessons back on the campaign trail.
Most first time candidates lose, but only a few try again so shes to be commended,
Also she had a harder road than most since she was a grassroots no Corporate PAC money candidate. Unfortunately money wins elections :( but 2016 proved the power of grassroots crowd funding and 2018 Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats supported 11 winning candidates.  FYI that was the first election for both those groups so its an impressive win. But it would not have happened without great candidates and voters tired of the same old same old establishment politicians.
We need change so please take a look and support candidates who work for Americans instead of multinational corporations.

Why Republicans Win

The Republican agenda is counter to what most Americans want, yet they win more often than Democrats. Why?

Divide and Conquer! 

The Republican party is very aggressive in its messaging and has their own dedicated cable channel to push the messages aimed at stirring up anger, fear and hatred. The strategy is divide and conquer.

Rather than come up with popular solutions they take the easy path of blaming everyone else for the problems the country faces. This was the strategy of Stalin and Hitler (not saying all Republicans are the same, just that they use the same strategy) and it is an effective one. Much easier to blame someone else than it is to come up with practical solutions for improving things.
Think about it, who is more responsible for wages that dont keep up with inflation or rising medical prices? Immigrants working minimum wage (or lower) jobs or the people in charge of the banks and big corporations? More people each year from prescription drugs than illegal drugs but the Pharmaceutical companies donate money to GOP coffers so the focus is put on illegal drugs.  Sure, stop those from coming in or being made but lets not ignore the major killer just because they pay you off.

Who caused the last recession? Illegal Immigrants, poor people tricked into taking out loans they could not afford? Or the banks that knew they could not pay off the loan but aggressively conned them into signing up? The banks knew that they could confiscate the homes and other collateral and even if they lost money the taxpayer would cover their losses.

Summary

Divide and conquer and lying to their base is an effective strategy, at least until they get caught too often at those lies. It is not very American and has numerous long term problems (you eventually run ot of people to blame and of course waste a lot of time and energy looking for victims rather than working on solutions) but its suitable for those who focus on the short rather than long term.

For example the GOP ran for 7 years on repealing and replacing ObamaCare or the AHCA but once they had power it turned out they never worked out an actual plan they could agree on. They of course tried to blame not having a super majority for the failure but the reality is if they could not get all Republicans on board (Mostly the House Freedom Caucus kept sabotaging their efforts) how can anyone take them seriously?  I mean with 7 years surely YOU would have put in work on something you ran on as a key issue right?

It seems Trump, who is not as smart or sophisticated in his lies is slowly hurting the party but he is good at playing up peoples fears. Those who favor smaller government and fewer regulations need to break off and join the Libertarian party. With that influx it has a better chance of winning, I think Trump has irrevocably damaged the Republican party.

Why Democrats Lose

The Democratic party demonstrably doesn't represent their constituents. They push for establishment contenders and oppose primaries which present constituents getting a chance to vote for their preference. The party also pushes for centrist and establishment views, even though polls and voting history show most Americans are sick and tired of the establishment and Congress.

When Americans say they want change why does the DNC think more of the same or incremental change is a winning strategy?

In 2018 a record number of House seats were flipped from red to blue, yet the democratic leadership and pundits till the record number of freshman to sit down and wait their turn. In other words, keep doing things the same way we have been. They ignore the fact that their voters put them into office to make change, telling the people they elected to just be quiet or follow their lead is a direct slap on those voters.

So why should Democrats expect people to vote for them if they A) Ignore the demand for change and representation B) Declare the people they voted for as radicals and unimportant youngsters who need to toe the line C) Refuse to fight for core demands of their base and say everyone should accept slow and incremental change. D) Take their base for granted by assuming they will vote for them without clear evidence the party is actually going to do what the voters want.

Summary

Democrats won big in 2016 and in 2020 they have a favorable electoral map (This time more Republicans are up for reelection, last time it was more Democrats up for election) and Trump and the Republican party are mired in scandals, criminal activity and in general ticking off the American people.  Their strategy of sowing fear and hatred to divide the country is backfiring on them as more people are wanting to fight back.

But the Democrats can still lose, and lose big if they dont start messaging better and convincing their base and Independents that the party will follow through and do what their voters demand.

They need a big win or at least the ability to put out a few big proposals that are killed by Republicans so they can tell their voters give us control and we can make this happen. Then they need to stick to it and make it happen.

Green energy means LOCAL jobs!

Listening to an interview of Christine Hallquist, candidate for Governor in Vermont and she mentioned something I hadn't really considered from quite the same way before.
Most states pay other states, and even other countries for their energy needs.
Think about that a minute.
What if the money paid for out of state energy (coal, gas, oil, even hydro or nuclear) stayed in state and created local jobs?
Every state can provide energy see the Solutions Project for some options. Conservatives tend to prefer the old ways of doing things and many still do not think climate change is a serious issue. Those wanting to address the climate change system need to tailor the messaging to better reach the current audience.
If warmer weather causing rising sea levels, more severe storms, and billions in bailouts and recovery efforts for increasing natural disasters is not enough you can add jobs to the mix.
Fossil fuels will of course fight you, even if in another state but if you can create new permanent jobs, while lowering consumer energy costs (That means your utility bills) that should win some people over.

Summary

Clean energy is a practical and desired goal because...

• Reduces the damage were doing to the environment. This saves lives and money.
• Cuts down on health costs because the air and water will be cleaner.
• Increases USA national security due to less reliance on foreign oil.
• Increases our exports if we go green before most of the rest of the world.
• Provides local jobs which helps economic growth.
• Reduces the negative effect of seasonal layoffs in oil jobs as the price of oil fluctuates.
• Eventually oil and gas will run out, or simply become too expensive to use or sell. We already see this as a temporary problem whenever prices drop people get laid off till they rise again.
• Likely results in spin off technologies if we get serious and develop the tech before everyone else does. If were too late to the game we may have to pay other countries instead. China is making significant efforts to place themselves as the go to tech source in this industry.

Trump helps Russia, Again

Trump said he is considering pulling out of the nuclear arms deal President Ronald Reagan made.
Some of the media will over the coursew of the next few days talk about it, some will in trying to "analyze" it will say its a distraction to change the topic from the Khashoggi murder by the Saudis.
I'm sure that is partly true.
Fox will undoubtedly play it as a bold move to strike a better deal and say it proves Trump is not under Putins thumb. Putin will of course bluster about how dishonorable America is and that we cant be trusted to keep our agreements and honor treaties.
Under Trump that seems obvious.

Congress could block it, but as we have seen the GOP controlled Congress is unlikely too.
However regardless of what happens countries will lose trust in America, knowing any President can come in and throw out or otherwise sabatoge previous agreements or treaties. That hurts our national security going forward.
Maybe the deal wont be canceled, in which case we gain nothing but lose credibility and power. Maybe the deal will break down and Russia will improve their nuclear capability. Maybe they wont bother since they are still hurting financially. They never really recovered from the Cold War and all that military spending. Maybe they will even use that to get new concessions from the USA to avoid nuclear escalation they cant afford anyhow.
Maybe even Trump will manage to get a better deal than President Reagan was able to, though seriously who really believes that last option?

In the meantime we continue to see a passive GOP weakening our country, increasing the national debt, killing business and weakening alliances while China and Russia gt more powerful and take advantage of the weakness were showing under failed leadership.
Meantime they distract the American people with scandals and divide our country up. While they weaken it so they can retain and grab more power and further line their pockets, they weaken us against our enemies without.

We must stop this nonsense and replace Congress with people who put the country first!

Single Payer Week: But Socialism!

Labels are handy tools for keeping a conversation short or weapons that work well as propaganda. The trouble is people forget labels are just shortcuts and often misleading.
Lets briefly hit some terminology first.Four types of economies Traditional, Command, Market, Hybrid.
Republicans want a Market system, Democrats want a more mixed system.
America is currently a mixed system and always has been, though ratios vary from year to year.
Communism, Socialism, Capitalism a fairly short explanation

Capitalism is great for a growing economy and encourages research, competitiveness but those left behind tend to get further and further behind and eventually you get a sort of generic lottery where your success is based on to whom you were born to more than how hard are effectively you work.

Socialism gives everyone an equal chance and opportunity but removes a lot of the incentives to work hard since your not bettering your personal situation as much.

Socialism is definitely a more humanitarian and Christian system but there is no doubt human nature makes capitalism more efficient at long term survivability and growth.
But like most things in life the answer to what is best lies not at the extremes but somewhere in the middle.
America was founded by reformers and liberals, though over time the definition has changed with the country moving further to the left.
Public Education started in Boston in 1821 and spread throughout the country. One side says the wealthy should pay for their own education and the poor can remain uneducated. Another side says the rich should share so that others have a chance to better themselves.
If your being honest you can see both sides but probably either argument is unconvincing in getting you to switch.
How about looking at it from a larger picture, one of patriotism?
 A better educated population is better prepared for the modern world and able to do jobs that require more education. Companies improve their products without having to import foreign talent. Those companies will make better products that more effectively compete in the world marketplace, bringing more wealth to the country.
Higher wages mean more money in the hands of consumers which means more demand for product which means companies make more money. Even better they have to higher more people to make and sell things so its a replenishing cycle.

I thought this was Health Care week?

Sorry, I just wanted to lay the foundation.

As above, one side says if you want health care you need to pay the costs yourself and one way to do that is through health insurance. Either you pay it all or your employer pays part as a benefit to attract workers. The other side says get the insurance companies out of it as they just increase costs and cut care to make higher profits.

But wait! If my taxes go to health care I am paying for other people to get medicare, is that fair?

How do you think insurance works? Get a lot of healthy people paying in and as few sick or likely to get sick people as possible so you have fewer payouts.

If your working for an insurance company you want to continue that system, anyone else though should take a serious look at Single Payer. It cuts costs dramatically by removing profits, marketing, lobbyists and bureaucratic systems put in place to make it harder for people to get coverage.

Government medical coverage is a social system, just like public education, military, law enforcement, and the fire department. However some things just make more sense as government programs than as private ones.

We do need to monitor it and talk out the details, those are important debates. But the current insurance based system is hurting the country so we need to change it.

Single Payer Week: Paying for it

So how much will a single payer system cost us?
Different sources give different numbers, please research several sources before making a decision on it. Also some studies take into account current costs and others don't, which makes a difference in the results.
In 2016 the government spent 1.38 trillion on healthcare, including CHIP, Medicare, Medicaid and VA care, as well as tax deductions and subsidies.
Adding those who are uninsured or have private insurance will obviously increase that cost.
Where does the government get that money?
If my taxes have to go up to cover that dont I lose? Not likely.
Look at how much you spend on medical costs each year, include your insurance cost, deductibles and co-pays. Before I retired I paid as a single person about $80 a check and rarely went to the doctor until the last few years. This was about 6% of my paycheck towards private insurance.
What percentage do you pay? And if you or your family see a doctor that year add those costs to your total.
In my case if I paid 6% in taxes instead of to the insurance company, I broke even. If I actually used a doctor I came out ahead. The Sanders plan would cost 6.2% so I would pay more, most of my coworkers would pay less under his system.
Is that a good deal for me?

• I pay a little more in years I dont use it but likely save money if I do use it, and save a lot if I used it several times.
• I save a lot of hassle dealing with choosing a plan each year and if I do get sick a lot of hassle with paperwork and aggravation dealing with the insurance company.
• Even if I don't use it I get the piece of mind my money is helping other people, including friends, family and coworkers rather than to the profit of an insurance company.

What about my employer? Will they save money or spend more?

According to most estimates employers would pay less than half what they pay now. One example we can see is that our major auto companies pay a lot less in Canada and eagerly embraced their single payer system over the cost of private insurance. 

Wait, if employees pay less and companies pay less, how can this work?

That question is what tripped me up for years and made me leery of this idea. However after some research I changed my mind and now embrace it.

Americans pay more than other countries for the same care. On average we pay twice as much for health care and a LOT higher prices on prescription drug costs.

Medicare pays about 3% on overhead, where insurance companies pay 15% to 25%. Why do they have so much overhead? Aren't private industries supposed to be more efficient? That money is spent on advertising, lobbying, marketing (to companies and doctors) and a complex system designed to make it harder for doctors to get paid. Government health care is aimed at treating patients as efficiently as possible and leave much of that to the doctor. Insurance companies do not want to pay for care so they can keep more of that money. think about your auto or homeowner insurance, they raise your rates if you use it to discourage you from using it.

So single payer will cut the actual money spent on health care in half! Imagine what we could do with all that extra money...

This is America, one of the greatest if not THE greatest countries in the world. Why d we pay more for less than everyone else? Are those who tell you single payer wont work saying our country is not up to the task of doing what almost every other country has been doing successfully for years? Sounds unpatriotic to me.

Some Sources

The Sanders Plan
Politifact review
Physicains for Single Payer Myths and Facts
Health Care Spending per Capita by Country or what your insurance company does not want you to know!

Single Payer Week: Follow the Money

The Republican party was paid over $5 million by insurance companies and over $4 million by pharmaceutical companies in the 2018 cycle. And remember this is a midterm, lobbyists usually pay more during presidential elections as more people vote.
How much did your rep take in?
My congressman Frank Lucas was given $44,000 by insurance companies, his largest contributor was of course security and investment companies at $97,500 and he has a safe seat so no real competition.
My Senators of course get most of thier money from energy and utility companies, though Senator Lankford received $301,000 from healthcare and $240,000 from commercial banks.
I just looked at the top 5 contributor industries for this election cycle. OpenSecrets.org is easy to use for you to see who lines your representatives pockets.
Its possible to dig deeper using the FEC or other sites but all we need to know here is how much money they get from companies who want to fight single payer.
Insurance and drug companies like the current system, not many other industries do.  How about you?
The thing is we must consider when our representatives take in that kind of money will they ignore it when working on legislation or will they work with your interests in mind instead?
Those companies are not spending that money for nothing, they expect a return on that investment. Maybe its just tax breaks and lower regulations so that the lobbying costs pay for themselves. But there are going to want as much as they can buy for their money.

Follow the Money, always.

Single Payer Week: Advantage to employees and business

So we defined our terms and went over common scare tactics, now lets get into the detailsof will it work for America and how?
Today lets look at the possible advantages.

Businesses

A big cost of business is employee wages and benefits. If a company can save money on health care it will be able to put that money elsewhere. Either in the pockets of shareholders or reinvest it in company growth.  Even if companies pay the exact same amount towards a healthcare tax they will save considerable money in HR costs and not dealing with insurance companies.  Also employees with access to affordable health care are healthier which saves lost work time and worse new hire expenses in replacing those that leave the work force.

If the company can actually pay lower costs in taxes than they do towards their current costs such as insurance and emergency sick programs they come out even farther ahead.

Employees

How much do you pay for your insurance out of each check? What are your copay's and deductibles? Do you know what your caps are? What if your a new hire and not eligible for insurance yet? What happens if you get laid off work? Do you have preexisting conditions? What if you see the doctor and then it turns out your not covered for that visit? Maybe they were out of network, a form was not filled out properly, or the procedure is just not covered even though they told you it would be?

Ever had any of that happen to you? Most Americans have, and it can be a crushing blow.

Now imagine if you just go in when you need to, no deductibles or copay's and your doctors office knew exactly what was covered because everyone has the same rules.

Ever been hurt on the job and have your work and insurance company fighting over who will cover the bill? Meantime, the doctor and bill collectors come after you.

What if your a contract, temp or part time employee? A lot of companies hire that way to avoid dealing with insurance costs. Can you make ends meet?

Medical Facilities and Doctors Offices

Ask your doctor the next time your in for a visit how much time and money they waste dealing with insurance companies. With the new junk insurance the GOP is pushing it will get even worse. Ask them if they would prefer a single set of understandable rules and coding. Ask them if they would prefer to prescribe the medication you need rather than what the insurance and drug companies push for?

To be fair they may not like what medicare pays but at least its predictable. And if everyone is on it, they can probably lobby for better pricing.

Single Payer Week: Scare Tactics

Single Payer opponents rarely use facts to counter it as those are easily refuted. Instead they try to overwhelm with scare tactics and shout their opponents down. Watch them and you'll see.

Common Scare Tactics

• Its Socialism: While socialism can go to far the concept is not inherently bad. Other things that can be attributed to socialism, police, fire departments, Non profits that get tax breaks, including churches, FEMA and the National Guard going in for disaster relief, charitable contributions being tax deductible, Social Security, National Parks, and other ideas where the government helps the American people rather that let everything go wild.
• Long wait times for care: Ask your friends from Canada or European countries about it, I have. ERs are based on Triage so see the ones at greatest risk first then everyone else. Other visits you call your doctor and make an appointment. In the USA you may have to wait to have the doctors office check with your insurance company but otherwise your delay is comparable to most other countries.
• Its expensive!: The most conservative estimate (Koch brothers) says it will save $500 billion over the next ten years! Some say as much as $17 trillion, though most estimates come in around saving $2 trillion. Our current system means average medical costs are at least twice that of most countries, and drug prices even more than that.
• Healthy people will have to pay the costs of sick people! Really Mr. Ryan? This should not even need to be addressed but that is exactly how it works now. Insurance companies charge people and hope they are low risk so they make a bigger profit.
• Privatized Healthcare is anti capitalism! Doctors and hospitals will still be privately owned and run, all that changes is you pay the government instead of an insurance company. How well do you like your insurance company anyhow?
• Government run programs are as efficient because they are not trying to make a profit. This IS true for some things. And is a strength of capitalism vs. say communism. However you need to look at the details. If a company produces a product and you dont have to buy it they need to sell it at a desirable price or you wont buy it. Health care does not work this way for most things. If your sick you need care and will pay anything you can to get better. Companies know this which is why prices are so high and the number one people go bankrupt in the USA is medical bankruptcy. Medicare is the most effecnt system in the USA because it has a low overhead and does not spend money lobbying or trying to create complicated policies to avoid covering you when you get sick.
• But Venezuela! A popular Fox talking point. Venezuela like almost every other country in the world has socialist health care and the country is in sad shape. But so does Canada, England, Finland, Sweden, and again just about every other country in the world. They have it so bad because the government is corrupt. Are you really saying that America is so pathetic that instead of doing it better than everyone else we would do it worse?

I am Pro-American

Listening to some of the news pundits and I found some agreeing with the goals but hating the term of Democratic socialism. They are right, there is a lot of baggage associated with the term as we have seen. I mean most people d not even understand what the term means so its easy for those opposed to it to misconstrue it. Some are even confusing it with communism, either deliberately or through ignorance.

So how about a new term?

Its hard but so far Pro-American is the best I have. When someone attacks the platform by name calling turn it around (Pull a GOP tactic).

• I'm Pro-American, Americans should have good health care at affordable prices not ones inflated by insurance or drug companies. #Singlepayer
• I'm Pro-American, I dont want my taxes wasted on corporate welfare and donor subsidies, single payer will save at least 2 TRILLION dollars in overall health care costs compared to the current system over the next ten years.
• I'm Pro-American, I believe our kids should have access to quality education so that ALL Americans have the best chance at a better life and good paying careers.
• I'm Pro-American, I believe Americans should decide who our representatives are and have them be accountable to US, not corporations, special interests, or foreign governments. #NoPACMoney
• I'm Pro-American, I believe we should all have the right and opportunity to financial dignity and good paying jobs. Not struggling at 2 or even 3 part time jobs, or afraid of the next lay off.
• I'm Pro-American, Veterans deserve to be taken care of and helped back into the work force. Active duty service members should protect our country, not be used as fodder for corporate interests.
• I'm Pro-American, I want us to keep our national parks, have clean air and water, and curb the ever worsening weather due to out dated technologies.
• I'm Pro-American, I want Anerica to be the world leader in renewable energy sources and the job growth and other benefits that will give the country.

The GOP needs to start working for America again

The shameful surrender of America to Russia's wishes and demands must stop and Republicans must step up to the task they swore oaths to.
I have called my local Reps and Senators and ask that you do as well. Congress has been protecting Trump and demanding the DOJ hand over documents so they can pass them along to Trumps attorneys. They have been doing everything they can to sabotage the Mueller investigation, including slandering the FBI and leaking information.
Why does the GOP put so much effort into this obstruction of justice? If Trump is not guilty what are they afraid of? They spent years attacking democrats and often came up empty, yet this probe has indicted over 30 people with several convictions and the unmasking of extensive corruption and Russian interference. From Social media to using the NRA to funnel money into GOP pockets to actually hacking not just private servers but state election computers.
Why would anyone who is a patriot try to block this investigation?  Again what are they afraid of? Why the sudden effort by the Treasurer to exempt the NRA from reporting where they get their money?
Is it just to push their agenda? They could impeach Trump for violating the constitution with the info already in public domain and put Pence in charge, Pence is ultra conservative and would do everything they want and more effectively than Trump. Yet hey are willing to destroy the image of the GOP for generations to protect Trump. Are they really protecting Trump or protecting themselves?  Perhaps they just like the media distraction that is the puppet president so they can pass unpopular legislation and deregulation with less notice.
Whatever the reasons the GOP needs to think it through.

• If your ideas are so unpopular your afraid of what happens if Americans see what your doing as your ding it, maybe you should remember you work for those Americans.
• If you believe Trump is innocent, despite the mounting evidence you should be quiet and let the investigation finish unmolested. The faster the better and your efforts at obstruction are slowing it down.
• If your goal is to slow and eventually kill the investigation then you need to remember that eventually it will all come out. If Trump is guilty the longer and more devoutly you protect him the harder you will fall, deservedly so. The smart move if Trump is innocent is to let it play out and hopefully quietly so you should stop attacking it, the FBI and our intelligence agencies. If Trump or his campaign are guilty the smart move is to be quiet and adopt a wait and see approach so you come off as fair and patriotic.
• One wonders then why so many in the GOP, especially the House are staking the reputation of the GOP and willing to do anything possible to loudly kill the investigation.  What is so valuable to protect that your willing to sacrifice the country and the long term prospects of your party for?

I think were going to see more than one congressman indicted for asking the Russians for help and a lot deeper ties to corruption. That is the only thing that really fits the facts presented. The GOP is terrified of Americans finding out something.

If I am wrong then prove it by stopping your efforts at obstruction and get back to legislation.

Right now many people have lost faith in the GOP and Republicans are leaving the party. If you want to get back our trust lets see some action.

Items GOP needs to do in order to recover Americans trust and protect the country

• Impeach Trump, failing that Censure him.
• Subpoena his tax returns to see if they reveal money ties to Russia.
• Protect the Mueller investigation.  It has already done more to protect the USA and identify Russian attackers than the House Intel Committee did. Even if Trump is not shown to have been involved in election meddling and has no back channel ties to Russia or other foreign powers it has done more to protect US interests than all of Congress. So Americans ask yourselves, why do they want to shut it down?
• Find out who the Congressional candidate was that ASKED the Russians for dirt on his opponent. Was it one of the ones trying to shut down the Mueller probe?
• Figure out a way to convince our allies not to abandon us even though were attacking them.
• Impose more serious sanctions against Russia.
• Not approve a SCOTUS appointee until after the investigation is over. GOP said Congress should not let a lame duck president pick a nominee, how about one under criminal investigation? One who appears to put the interests of Russia ahead of the USA?
• Immediately pass and approve the budget for beefing up our cyber security. Not only our are elections at risk but reports indicate our power grid is as well This is a national security issue, plain and simple. It should be treated as such by Congress and the White House.
• Pass an Ethics bill requiring tax returns of all federal elected officials be published, get rid of hidden slush funds such as Congress uses to pay for sexual harassment claims against them at taxpayer expense, beef up election fraud penalties, and make it a crime for an elected official to lie to the American people. They can always opt for "No Comment" but should not be allowed to keep lying to us.
• Congress needs to not be exempt from insider trading laws where they can personally benefit by choosing which companies benefit and which lose from the laws and regulations they set.

Why do Americans pay Trumps hotel fees to stay at his own hotels? Remember Trump gets this money from us every weekend for him, his staff and the Secret Service.

He does not even offer us a discount rate.

He is using the Office of the President to milk the taxpayer for billions to line his pockets and the GOP is ok with it. He also is getting money from foreign governments which is a violation of the Emoluments clause. How can you trust that his actions are for the USA when he and his family are pocketing money from governments prior to policy changes?
The GOP is supposedly fiscally conservative, yet they do not object to these things and they voted to increase the national debt and spending as they always do.
Its time people looked at the facts, not their spoon feeding media outlets and realize the con-job the GOP has been running on them.

Air Force One turned into a touristattraction

From Buzzfeed, Trump has found another way to use the Presidency to line his pockets at taxpayer expense. Of course the GOP does nothing about it.
We have to vote in independents or democrats to replace the GOP in November!
Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats are our best hope to save the country from the current and worsening corruption that plagues it.

Early Primaries.
Texas voter turnout is up almost across the board.
Especially democratic turnouts so far which is awesome.
https://ballotpedia.org/Democratic_Party_primaries_in_Texas,_2018#Early_voting_in_Texas_primaries.2C_2018

It is looking like a lot of people are riled up. Your not likely to see this for incumbents, people voting more than normal is a strong indicator they want a change.

Trickle Down vs. Rising Tide Economics

Also called Supply vs. Demand side economics, here is a really brief outline.

Trickle Down Economics

• Basic idea is give more money to the rich and they will hire more workers, raise wages, etc.
• Corporations have some control here because they can simply raise prices. This is however limited by competition and consumer demand. The exceptions are industries with monopolies or services such as utilities.
• The GOP method is to apply corporate tax cuts, deregulation and tax loopholes such as putting money overseas.

Rising Tide Economics

• Basic idea is give more money to the working class and they will buy more stuff which enables companies to hire more people to sell more stuff.
• Workers have limited options in getting a raise, as long as someone else will take the job at a lower wage.
• Increasing effective Take Home pay is the key and this can be done through Unions, income tax cuts, raising the minimum wage, lowering medical expenses and insurance premiums and child care assistance or tax deductions. Also lowering the cost of education plays a role.

Which is better?

Both work under the right circumstances and to a limited degree.

The weakness of Trickle Down is most of the money is not spent towards growing the economy and hiring more workers is only useful if you have enough consumers wanting your goods to justify the extra expense.

The weakness of Rising Tide is business expenses go up, so prices may rise as well. Enough volume can keep that from being needed.
Rising Tide is more effiecent as the same amount of money spread between more people means more people are buying things.  As demand goes up companies need to hire more people to meet it which means more people have more money to spend, etc. The cycle does a better job of feeding itself.

Also some Progressive strategies actually help both economic models.
Medicare for All lowers employees and employers medical costs at the same time.  So business expenses go down and their profits go up and employees have more money in their pocket.  The ones who suffer here are Insurance companies and  possibly drug companies, if the government allows itself to negotiate prices the way private industry does now. Most of America wins here and it works well for all the other industrial powers.
Another factor is too many people have to work two or even three part time jobs because employers prefer part time to avoid having to pay for medical benefits. This eliminates that problem.

Tuition Free College or tax credits for education. Educated people are less likely to be involved in crime and more likely to get better paying jobs and imp[rove the country with new ideas and inventions. The cost in taxes needs to be seriously considered, but hey if we can afford to repeal the Estate Tax for the rich or Pass Through loopholes or Hedge fund tax discounts we can certainly afford it and the effect will be better for the economy.

Lowering Childcare costs is another tough nut to crack. However it would lower crime rates and promote better developed kids if they are not left unsupervised.  I have known many single parents who have to turn down some good jobs because it wont work with child care. Typically they have to pick the kids up early and often the higher pay is not enough to offset the higher costs.

What the GOP really wants when they say smaller government is better

Big Government vs. Small Government?

Conservatives and Republicans exclaim that big government is bad and smaller government is good.  Look at some of the examples below and see if you agree...

• Equifax has had 3 major breaches in the last 2 years.  They engaged in Insider Trading before telling the public and are trying to force people to waive the right to sue them before they will tell you if your info was hacked.  Oh and if this damages your credit rating they will help to fix it for n additional fee.  Remember as a credit bureau they have your information even if you never agreed to it or signed up with them.
• Houston chemical plants are now being sued by first res-ponders because they stored toxic chemicals and lied bout it when asked, endangering their lives.
• Exxon has been revealed to hold onto climate change data from forty years ago that warned of problems.
• Financial Advisers are allowed to lie to their customers when recommending choices.  This is so they can recommend options with higher commissions or fees even if those are bad for their customer.
• Companies are allowed to dump things into our water and air without regard for the public safety.
• Banks can use account money in high risk investments so that they can get a higher rate of return at the risk of defrauding those with savings and checking accounts or taxpayers bailing them out again.
• Big corporations are allowed to buy or undercut smaller companies to drive them out of business.  Even though some of these companies use tax incentives to offset their costs.  We lose many small business each year this way and that overall depresses wages and consumer choice.
• Wages and Employee insurance. GOP stance is there should be no minimum wage or employee based insurance.

All those are results of trying to weaken or remove regulations and oversight.

Big government vs. small government is a red herring or false flag.  Inefficient government is bad because it wastes resources. However efficient government that is accountable to the citizens of the United Sates is good.  Further we need to be able to vote and choose our issues so that government gets back to being OF AND FOR THE PEOPLE.