Author's posts
Sep 17 2009
A Way to Pay for Healthcare You Will Never Hear Debated
Recently we have all heard during the health care debate about the cost of health care reform and its impact on the deficit. Suddenly the right cares about the spending and its impact on the deficit (holy crap where were these deficit hawks during the tax cuts WHILE starting a multi trillion dollar war?).
Well I have looked at the numbers and I want to bring up a way to pay for health care which is as simple as could be, yet you will NEVER hear anyone on either the left or the right bring up…
Ok, so the estimate for the cost of HCR are roughly 900 billion over 10 years. That is roughly 90 Billion a year, so where can we find 90 Billion a year?
I say we take it directly from the US Military’s budget.
Look at the chart below:
We spent over 700 BILLION dollars last year on our military industrial complex. As you can see the closest any country in the world who comes close toour level of spending is China at a bit less than 200 Billion a year. Hell all of Europe combined only spends 289 Billion a year.
So don’t you think we could find in the 700 billion a year (or over 8 trillion over 10 years as the media would explain it if they explained military spending in the same way they are explaining the cost of Health Care reform)a small pittance of only 90 Billion for our Health Care stability and security?
Of course this seems to be a source of funding no one would ever bring up or debate.
And of course we can’t say we weren’t warned:
Crossposted at Daily Kos
Jun 17 2009
My Reply To An Email From President Obama
This morning I recieved an email from the President. I have gotten these from time to time ever since I made 4 donations during his campaign.
Here is the text of the most recent:
ProgressiveTokyo —
Last year, millions of Americans came together for a great purpose.
Folks like you assembled a grassroots movement that shocked the political establishment and changed the course of our nation. When Washington insiders counted us out, we put it all on the line and changed our democracy from the bottom up. But that’s not why we did it.
The pundits told us it was impossible — that the donations working people could afford and the hours volunteers could give would never loosen the vise grip of big money and powerful special interests. We proved them wrong. But as important as that was, that’s not why we did it.
Today, spiraling health care costs are pushing our families and businesses to the brink of ruin, while millions of Americans go without the care they desperately need. Fixing this broken system will be enormously difficult. But we can succeed. The chance to make fundamental change like this in people’s daily lives — that is why we did it.
The campaign to pass real health care reform in 2009 is the biggest test of our movement since the election. Once again, victory is far from certain. Our opposition will be fierce, and they have been down this road before. To prevail, we must once more build a coast-to-coast operation ready to knock on doors, deploy volunteers, get out the facts, and show the world how real change happens in America.
And just like before, I cannot do it without your support.
So I’m asking you to remember all that you gave over the last two years to get us here — all the time, resources, and faith you invested as a down payment to earn us our place at this crossroads in history. All that you’ve done has led up to this — and whether or not our country takes the next crucial step depends on what you do right now.
Will you donate whatever you can afford to support the campaign for real health care reform in 2009?
It doesn’t matter how much you can give, as long as you give what you can. Millions of families on the brink are counting on us to do just that. I know we can deliver.
Thank you, so much, for getting us this far. And thank you for standing up once again to take us the rest of the way.
Sincerely,
President Barack Obama
May 23 2009
Single Payer Health Insurance: My Japanese Experience
As the debate about Health Care continues to heat up with the usual suspects from the Health Insurance industry begining their campaign to convince Americans that Universal Health insurance is against their best interests, would decrease quality of care, limit options, increase wait time (as if those under the current system don`t have similar issues)and all the other usual lies they spout hoping to scare a large enough portion of the electorate to dash the hopes of us who want Health Care reform.
I would like to share with you MY experience under a single payer system which we have here in Japan. It is called National Health Care Service or for those of you who can read Japanese: (grrrr..why cant I post Japanese characters? Every time I try here I get this error message:java.sql.SQLException: Incorrect string value: ‘xE5x9BxBDxE6xB0x91…’ for column ‘mainText’ at row 1)
Of course first I should tell you how it`s paid for before I go into the details of how it works.
Every month a certain percentage is deducted from my pay check which includes both my National Health Care and my National Pension. This amount is matched by my employer. While I don`t wish to discuss my finances in detail, I can tell you every month they deduct roughly 40,000 yen (around $385 dollars) by comparison my wife who is a stay at home mom pays roughly 7000 yen (around $65) for her coverage. All children under 15 are covered for free.
May 20 2009
Edward Kennedy Should Be Our Senate Majority Leader
With the wonderful news that Senator Kennedy’s cancer is in full remission and with the disgraceful spewing of Republican talking points I think it is time Harry Reid stepped down from Majority Leader (or forced down) and allow our Liberal Lion, my Senator one last roar.
As Majority Leader of the United States Senate.
This is the man who needs to be in the Senate directing the Health Care reform we all need.
This a man not afraid to stand up to Republicans UNLIKE our cowardly lion Senator Reid.
This is a man who was unafraid to stand up to the Clinton “inevitable” machine and endorse what seemed to be a long shot in Barack Obama.
Lets reward that courage and demand Harry Reid step down for his spineless spewing of Republican talking points (over and over again) and it give the man who is a true Champion of the Progressive movement one last moment of glory as we remake America.
Edward M. Kennedy