Archive → June, 2009
Obama Caved on Health Care Reform
President Obama is so keen on playing nice that he is screwing up health care reform. Today, Obama announced that he wants health care to pass with 60 votes in the Senate. This decision will guarantee that health care reform will not be good. It will be compromised to such an extent that it will look like Medicare Part D which is nothing more than a windfall for drug and private insurance companies. Undoubtedly, health care reform will end up looking awful as well. Why did any of us thing otherwise? Republicans or Democrats — it just doesn’t matter — they all get their money from the same special interests. Unfortunately, the voters are always the losers.
Obama has decided to cave to big business: health insurance companies, big pharmaceuticals, and greedy providers. He is sacrificing ordinary Americans on the alter of greed-based capitalism. It is clear Obama does not care that for profit health care will bankrupt America and not provide decent, or even adequate, health care for all the people. Why does he care? — Obama and his family get the best health care and always will — just like Cheney the Dick does.
As America Doomed has pointed out, watch the stock of health insurance companies if you want to get a real time assessment of how health care reform is going. These stocks are going up and show no sign of being worried about health care reform. Even before there was any legislation, the health insurance companies bought Senators and Representatives with their contributions. Thus, America losses, again.
America is doomed.
Oklahoma and Arizona Heading to Crazy Town
It is interesting to watch bright red states move into crazy town.
First, Oklahoma has decided that the economic problems in America are because of turning our back on god. Hmm. Those idiots want to pass a proclamation that it is American’s moral crisis that is the reason. Freedom of religion is just fine but crazy people like this should just stay home and pray and keep the fuck out of the public discourse. Consider their stupid proclamation:
WHEREAS, we believe our economic woes are consequences of our greater national moral crisis; and
WHEREAS, this nation has become a world leader in promoting abortion, pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse, and many other forms of debauchery; and
WHEREAS, alarmed that the Government of the United States of America is forsaking the rich Christian heritage upon which this nation was built; and
WHEREAS, grieved that the Office of the president of these United States has refused to uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in giving recognition to our National Day of Prayer; and
WHEREAS, deeply disturbed that the Office of the president of these United States disregards the biblical admonitions to live clean and pure lives by proclaiming an entire month to an immoral behavior;
Long held tradition — National Day of Prayer. It is no tradition of mine. Just a made up day and people don’t even get the day off of work. There is no proof of a god. It is a man-made idea for irrational people to cling to and clergy to exploit — “send your $5 in right away and god will” blah, blah, blah. Yet, from the bible that these idiot christians believe, you have other beliefs, e.g. life begins at conception — false reading of the bible. These idiots claim to believe this bible bullshit but don’t even read what the bible really says. You would think with all the “answer to prayer” that crazy christians claim, there would be just one amputee whose limb was restored — hasn’t happened. You can believe in all the prayer you want and spend all your time praying, but if anything happens there will be reasons for it — and it will never be some madeup god.
So, Oklahoma, go right ahead and pass your nonsense.
Meanwhile, you have Arizona putting a ballot initiative to ban national health care there. Of course, Arizona has no idea of how to insure everybody in their state. They only know they want to maintain for profit health insurance companies so that they can keep exploiting the people in Arizona. Eventually, the population will rise up and throw the idiot Republicans out of office.
So, Arizona, go right ahead and pass your nonsense.
Crazy town, USA.
America is doomed.
Where Are The Jobs?
It is indeed ironic to hear Republicans cry out — Where are the jobs? Didn’t the stimulus bill create jobs? — they will ask. They overlook there was no job creation in the 10 years prior to Obama taking office. Where were the jobs then? — particularly, in an era when Republican policies were in full control.
Jobs are being destroyed much faster than they can be created. The only people creating jobs right now is the government and they are having problems as well. There are five states which have massive budget shortfalls and will likely go to extraordinary measures starting today: Indiana, Arizona, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and California. It is interesting to see those bright red states of Arizona and Mississippi in the list. Don’t those states have the secret recipe of free enterprise, American capitalism? I guess not.
It is funny to hear people quote the Dow Jones average as some sign of the economy. If the Dow goes up for a few days or even a quarter, people declare the end of the recession. They fail to recognize that the stock market has no problem discounting and eliminating companies from their analysis. For example, General Motors went bankrupt — no problem, just dump it from the Dow. Then the Dow no longer has to ever worry about General Motors recovering. It is off the radar. Likewise, hundreds of companies have been decimated in the financial collapse. Many of these companies are literally gone, along with all the jobs. The stock market resets to a smaller list of companies and keeps plotting those silly graphs. Eventually, things will improve, although briefly, as failing companies are weeded out. The spiraling down will pick up as more job losses lead to less spending in the economy — another round of previous solid companies will have to be eliminated.
Likewise, look at those pesky unemployment statistics. The government likes to track how many people are out of work and produces the monthly unemployment figure. This is such a silly statistic. Once a person stops receiving employment benefits after 26 or 39 weeks, the government gives up on them getting a job again — thus they are no longer unemployed — they are not employed either. The government delete people unable to find new employment from the unemployment numbers. Eventually, enough people will disappear that the unemployment figures will stabilize and even improve. But has employment really improved? Not Necessarily.
Tracking the economy based on the stock market or government statistics which are designed to artificially improve is just plain silly. There are other much better ways of tracking how the economy is really doing. Track total employment — the number of people actually employed — full time and part time — people the IRS are getting payroll information about — even the total number of hours worked. Also, track the amount of income tax revenue received. These types of metrics are cumulative and can only rise when things improve. Both of these metrics have not bottomed. Both federal and state tax receipts are dismal which is the reason so many states are having big problems balancing their budgets. No doubt some of these states will adopt irrational faux solutions to their budget woes, much like the federal government spends the social security trust fund to lower yearly deficits.
America is in very big trouble and as each day passes it is easier for the observant to see. However, Republicans will blame it on Obama and the Democrats, while telling America that if they only cut taxes things would improve. The only thing that improves when you cut taxes is to give more income to the rich. The Republicans rely on people forgetting about the last decade. They rely on people becoming so desperate that they will give the Republicans another chance.
The Democrats are not without quilt of their own. Obama clearly believes in capitalism — just look at the financial people around him. People like Geithner is so up the ass of the Wall Street that he hasn’t had an independent thought in decades. Just like Greenspan and Bernanke believe, nobody can fight Wall Street and keep those jobs — at least not yet.
There will be no major recovery. America will not get back to the employment numbers of just 6 months ago for a long time. This says nothing about the growth needed in jobs to accommodate increased population. Jobs will continue to be destroyed and there is no free enterprise solution. In fact, this is a snowball that continues to roll downhill and get bigger and bigger. Eventually, people will understand that Americans, all Americans, have to cooperate in order to survive long term. They have to enact universal health care for all. They have to redistribute the wealth and provide food and housing to all. There is no other solution. Jobs will continue to be destroyed and the free enterprise system does an excellent job at destroying them as they seek the lowest labor costs in the world. Keep sending those jobs overseas and keep wondering why there is no income in America to buy your products.
America is doomed.
Republicans Never Compromise — It is Only About Money
Republicans after losing super majorities in Congress, love to talk about bipartisanship. It reminds me of political interviews on television where 75% of America believes in a public option for health care and there are two people interviewed. Both get equal time and one represents 25% of the country. Not believing in health care for everybody is not a protected discriminated class.
When Republicans are invited to the table they do not want to solve problems for ordinary Americans. Republicans just want to keep and protect their money. They want to deny others essential services. Whether it be health care, environmental protection, or tax policy, Republicans only want to protect their power and wealth. Even the social agenda in the Republican party is an effort to maintain the idiots in the religious right into support Republican money policies. Since Reagan, Republicans have lead the country and the world down a path of certain destruction. Even now, in the midst of a world changing financial crisis, Republicans say lowering taxes is the solution. Yet, this “solution” has been exactly what America has tried for 40 years. It has been a disaster. But, this does not sway Republicans who blame the financial crisis on Obama and the democrats. Laughable.
Rep John Boehner only loves money — what a sad life. He literally called the House’s climate bill shit. He even tried to block passage of it. However, unlike me who doesn’t like the climate bill because it just doesn’t go far enough, Boehner doesn’t believe in the science of climate change and the ultimate destruction to the planet. It is only shit because it will cost money. Boehner also decries that the stimulus bill produced no jobs but it isn’t because Boehner actually wants jobs — he just objects to spending money to help the greater good.
America needs to redistribute income so that everybody can support themselves. Basic necessities should be non-profit companies. Once everybody has enough for living then let the greedy of America fight about the rest. If America is going to survive, it will have to do it with socialism. Capitalism has failed but the Republicans still keep trying to protect their precious money.
America is doomed.
Michael Jackson Pedophile
Enough with laud and awe for Michael Jackson. To me, Michael was a pedophile — based on his admission that he slept with children — a pedophile is an adult who is attracted to children. Jackson likes to point out that it was not sexual but it just doesn’t matter. He was found not guilty in court but this was hardly exoneration — consider what he said. I know Jackson had a very tough upbringing and this is no doubt related to his weird fascination with children.
If Jackson had not been rich, he would have been in prison. America worships and privileges the rich. The rich have completely different laws, perhaps, no laws at all. If you are Steve Jobs you can hop the transplant line. OJ was acquitted the first time but the second time he wasn’t rich. Gov Sanford can fraudulently use taxpayers money for affairs. The rich get off every day in America.
Meanwhile, the poor usually go straight to jail with plea bargain deals that are too risky not to take. For example, once a poor person is just charged with something, he is faced with taking the prosecution’s deal or RISK much harsher penalties from a jury trail — guilt is irrelevant. Really, how could anybody turn down 2 years in prison for the possibility of 25 in prison, based on an overworked public defender who barely knows your name. Contrary to public mythology, it doesn’t matter if you are guilty or not. It is all about risk-reward, and the risk is just too high. In America, the truth doesn’t set you free, it takes lots of money.
America imprisons one out of 166 and we can’t build new prisons fast enough. If you are a person of color, it is even worse. If you are black you have a better chance at ending up in prison than graduating from high school. Once you get into the system, it is very difficult to get out. As a result, a drug possession charge in your 20s can easily result in you being in prison most of your life.
As more and more people lose jobs and cannot find new ones, prison is in their future. It is very difficult to exist in America without a job or income to support yourself. Prison is horrible but it does provide a bed to sleep on, food, and even health care. Prison is where a person sacrifices his freedom involuntarily in exchange for support by the state. In California, it cost over $50,000 per year for a person to be in prison and this is the best job some will ever get.
America is doomed.
House Passes Inadequate Climate Change Bill
The U.S. House narrowly passed a climate change bill today which imposes cap and trade. Briefly, release of greenhouse gases is capped and companies that use less can trade their excess to others who want to pollute more. The bill is very complicated with 1500 pages. It isn’t a very good bill, does too little, and may not even be passed in the Senate. However, many groups have backed it based on it is better than nothing.
This House climate bill is a great example of the influence of special interest groups. Sure, the bill did pass but it was watered down to such an extent that it is no solution — at best, it is a starting point of a solution. It puts in place infrastructure that could conceivably be updated over the years. Likewise, it could go the way of fuel efficiency standards for automobiles. When those standards were first passed it was clear that the U.S. needed to produce cars with better gas mileage. We still do. One update after another and those standards were circumvented to the ultimate demise of the U.S. auto industry. GM bankrupt. With climate change there will be no bankruptcy — it will be destruction.
There was a time in America when real solutions were valued — when people worked together with integrity for the greater good. Those times have long passed. There is no integrity. There is no greater good when Republicans only love money. There is greed and corruption. There are special interests that will destroy the earth burning fossil fuels. They will lie about climate change science to get their way. Money is their only goal.
Obama wanted a climate change bill and he got one today in the House; however, even if it passes the Senate, it is nothing to be proud of. In fact, America is in a lose-lose situation with this bill. Pass it or not, it just isn’t enough.
America is doomed.
Republican Latina Love: Hate Sotomayor, Love Argentina Hottie
It is always nice to see a Republican, like the bozo Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, love the Latina. Of course, they hate the academic and professional accomplishments of the latest Supreme Court Nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. But, give them an Argentina hottie and they feel the Latina love.
Sanford is quite a guy. He decides to reject $700 MILLION in federal stimulus money that his state desperately needs — leaving South Carolina’s unemployed without benefits. He is a big christian believer. He defends traditional marriage. He is a father. He cheats on his wife repeatedly. He takes money from his state to pay for his cheating. Now, he wants to pay it back — now that he is caught. He disappears from his state, lying to his staff about going hiking. He continues to lie when he returns. He gets caught and then cries crocodile tears — “wow is me”. Just another fucking Republican tool.
Not only was Sanford a Republican Governor. He was the head of the Republican Governor Association. He had plans to run for President. Mostly Sanford is a fine asshole who has not yet resigned.
America is doomed.
Former CIGNA Health Insurance Executive Blows Whistle — “Dump The Sick”
Today, a former CIGNA Health Insurance Executive blows the whistle:
“My name is Wendell Potter and for 20 years, I worked as a senior executive at health insurance companies, and I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick – all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.”
Just as America Doomed has been saying, the policy of health insurance companies is to collect premiums from healthy people, deny services to the sick, cancel policies retroactively, have customers pay providers for payments the insurance company should make, and generally DUMP THE SICK.
It will be interesting with nearly 3 in 4 Americans in favor of a public option for health care to see how many members of Congress vote against this as they takes bribes from the Health Insurance companies.
America is doomed.
What Liberals Don’t Understand About the Political Right
Alec Baldwin admonishes liberals to just ignore Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s revelations (along with considerable crying) of his affair with some Argentina hottie. Sanford apparently has traveled to Argentina to visit his girl friend for years, using public money.
Liberals really don’t care if Sanford is cheating, and it certainly is a private matter with his wife. However, ignoring this hypocrisy would never mean that the political right would do likewise, even in the future. In fact, the Political Right loves the fact that liberals are forgiving and don’t bludgeon them. The right views this as a weakness.
Likewise, this is the same problem that Obama has with his spirit of compromise. Obama can be willing to compromise for his entire term but this does not mean that the political right will ever do likewise. In the process, Obama is forfeiting an opportunity to change the country. Obama better wake up to the fact that the country voted for him to change it. If Obama is not the agent of change then he is the wrong person for President and somebody else needs to be elected.
Baldwin says to let it pass. I say no. Sanford should be run out of government forever, but not because he cheated on his wife. He should be run out of government because he used public funds for his own purposes. He left his state and nobody knew where he was for 2 to 4 days. His staff lied about where he was. Sanford is unfit for office and his hypocrisy runs deep.
America is doomed.
Proof Capitalism Has Failed
Business Week ran an article with a graph that shows how capitalism has failed, particularly in the last decade — during a pro-capitalist Republican administration. For example, in the last 10 years private sector employment rose by 1.1% even with monster growth in overall population and massive illegal immigration. The public sector (government) created over twice as many jobs as the private sector, and as the article points out that is way too generous to the private sector.
This article is from Business Week — a right wing oracle of capitalism. It is not from Workers Unite or some Socialist paper. Make no mistake capitalism has failed. America better wake up and realize it.
America is definitely in a DEPRESSION and just today Warren Buffet said that the country economy is still in very bad shape. He even said another stimulus package would be necessary. That’s the least of the problems.
America Doomed has explained many times it is about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. There are no jobs and technology is destroying jobs. The only solution is to collect up all the resources and divide it up among the population — SOCIALISM. I don’t care if you like the word or not. The only hope for America is to redistribute the wealth. Transform all essential services into non-profits. Eliminate most of the for profit companies in America. There is no other choice and the longer it takes the worse it is going to get.
America is doomed