THE NOBULL NEWSLETTER
NOW “JUST DO IT !”
10/4/2010
Most of the readers of this newsletter have been biding their time to November 2, just waiting to vote and hoping upon hope that that there were millions of others out there doing the same thing. Apparently there were and the Democrats no longer control both houses of congress. In my opinion, I think it would not have been so great for the Republicans to control both houses. It would have been too easy for Democrats to blame the negative effects of Obama’s first two , which we are yet to experience in full, on the Republicans. Controlling the House is better because things get initiated in the House and there is much to initiate. The question is whether the Republican leadership is going to be true to its word and pursue overturning Health Care Reform, creating certaintly regarding taxes, creating a better jobs environment, and doing all the other things that Tea Partiers and Republicans ran on. It all remains to be seen whether this will simply be a grid locked administration for the next two years or whether the necessary work of putting America back on the right path can actually be done .
Yesterday, Barack Obama had a news conference and was asked whether he believed this election was a repudiation of his policies, particularly his health care policy and the stimulus. Obama, far from being chastened by the recent election, defended his policy decisions but critiqued himself for being so reactive to the emergency nature of the problems he was faced with that he had no time to go about it in the bipartisan way he would have liked. His most blantantly self-serving statement was that in his haste to respond to emergencies, people concluded that his policies, rather than being necessitated by the emergencies he faced, were instead an expression of his political orientation. If we are to believe that, then we are left to wonder what the emergency was with respect to health care that led him to spend a year and a half pushing that monstrosity through instead of dealing with the emergencies of joblessness and a withering economy. Obama is supposed to be a smart man but it is clear that the only transparency of his administration has been the transparency of the lies he tells.
But, now it is not just about Obama and the Democrats as it has been for the past two years. Now, the Republicans can show their hand. How will they approach it? With honesty or with the same flim flam of the past? Let’s consider the following as an indicator.
The Republicans have said that they are not opposed to covering pre-existing conditions for people and that they actually do want those without insurance to have some form of coverage. There is much they can do to achieve these ends. They can follow through on their attempts at tort reform and allowing all insurance companies to compete in all states. They can remove some of the most offensive aspects of Obamacare and the stimulus. They can start by defunding the 1.1 billion dollars allocated to the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness which was established in the stimulus bill and NOT in the health care bill. Obama appointed the 15 members of this committee within 3 days of passage of the stimulus bill. What was the hurry, you ask? This council will use the concept of comparative effectiveness to develop ratios that will be used to determine whether people get a certain treatment or not. Comparative effectiveness is defined as the cost of treatment divided by the number of years the patient is expected to benefit from the treatment. And, this measure will be applied to Medicare and Medicaid enrollees almost immediately upon their development. But eventually they will be foisted off on all insurers. Insurers love the idea because they will be able to blame the government for denying care . But more to the point, the baby boomers now entering the age where they will require more health care services will be able to be denied those services on the basis of not being likely to benefit as long as a younger person would benefit from the treatment. This is a direct attack on the baby boom generation, who, in not qualifying for treatments, will likely die sooner and save the government billions if not trillions of health care dollars.
So, Republicans can directly attack these philosophical underpinnings of Progressive health care reform OR they can waste their time attempting to do something that is impossible to do: repeal the entire plan. They do not have the votes to do that. The President will veto any legislation to repeal and the only reason to attempt to repeal is a political one but not actually an effective one for eliminating the toxic aspects of these bills and their effect on the nations health care system.
Here is another way you can tell if Republicans are going to play politics or actually try to work for the nation. In the next few weeks, the lame duck congress will have to make a decision about what the Democrats like to call the Bush tax cuts. In fact, tax rates will go back to levels that existed before that legislation passed. Democrats want to maintain current tax rates for people making under 250 thousand dollars but raise taxes on those making more. Republicans claim that will hurt small businesses and will not budge unless all the tax rates remain the same. But there is nothing wrong with raising the rates on those, for example, making more than a million dollars a year, thereby protecting most small business owners in the 250 thousand to 1 million dollar range. Did you know that the guy making a million or more a year has a tax rate that is only 3% higher than the next bracket down. Neither Democrats and Republicans are proposing another higher tax level above a million. So those making 10 million a year pay at the same tax rate as someone making 250 thousand a year. But the guy who makes 250 thousand a year pays taxes at a far higher tax rate than the guy making 50 thousand. The 10 million dollar guy makes 40 times more than the 250K guy but pays the same tax rate while the guy making 50 K pays a much lower tax rate than the 250K guy who is making only 5 times more than him. This is the dirty little secret that both Republicans and Democrats want to obscure so that they can protect those big donors who contribute to their campaigns.
So, if you witness the same silly games being played by the Republicans, then you know that we, the American people, are continuing to be screwed by our politicians. But if you see the kind of compromise I am suggesting with raising rates for the ½ percent of people who make over a million a year while protecting the two and a half percent (2.5%) of small business people making under a million, then all sides get what they want without the silliness.
While Democrats have to be watched because of their attempts to turn our country in the direction of socialism, Republicans must be watched for their attempts to turn this nation into a plutocracy where only the wealthy set the rules. True statesmen can maintain those regulations that protect the vast majority of Americans while eliminating those regulations that tie the hands of business and prevent America’s economic engine from functioning properly. Let’s do away with the greedy businessmen without throwing the honest ones out with the bathwater. All it requires is less politics and more thoughtfulness.
We are in an unnamed war here in America between the small government, controlled spending conservatives who believe in individual effort and responsibility and the welfare state liberals who see big government run by a few all-knowing political elites as the role of a caring government. One group believes that people should learn to take care of themselves and voluntarily help their neighbors. The other believes that those unable to take care of themselves must be protected and cared for by the government. I would have a difficult time arguing with either position. However, both sides, for political reasons, have over-reached. One side refuses to extend interpretations of the Constitution where the other side believes the Constitution is a living document and must be altered to be applicable to today’s world. Neither side, however, is willing to look at existing entitlement legislation and acknowledge its usefulness for the truly needy on the one hand while updating the definition of the truly needy on the other hand. They would rather argue over the Constitution rather than argue over the existing legislation.
And, in my opinion, both sides use what magicians call misdirection, making the American people watch the false arguments going on over here while ignoring the real issues going on over there.
But, I think the electorate is waking up. At least, I hope so. Because while it appears that the economy is improving, there is a whole lot that still must work its way out. We are facing inflation or deflation on a large scale. The Federal Reserve is almost out of weapons to address the issue. Other nations are surpassing our technological achievements, buying our debt, and threatening our economy through currency manipulation. Very wealthy men like George Soros are attempting to buy the election of individuals in our legal system who will support their personal agenda for this nation and the world. We are in a war with religious zealots who will stop at nothing to endanger our nation and its people.
Within a few short years, I will be gone from this planet as will most of my contemporaries. It is no longer about me or about us. It is about our children, their children, and the kind of nation we will leave to them. We must hold the feet of our elected officials to the fire. We must push them to restore the kind of America where people are free, where government is not an intrusive nanny, where equality of opportunity prevails over equality of outcome. Where people have an incentive to improve their own condition without having it guaranteed by the labor of others.
It occurs to me that I grew up at a time when we started each school day with the Pledge of Allegiance and where we sang My Country ‘Tis of Thee I Sing. That does not happen in schools today. The idea of America and what she is and could be is being lost with my generation. The following generations have not been taught about America, what it means to be an American, about the melting pot of America being her strength. Instead, they are taught about America’s frailties, errors and mistakes and not about her strengths and the honor it is to be an American. They are taught to apologize for America. They are taught that America is not a melting pot where people assimilate to the culture of America but it is instead a crazy quilt where America must accommodate the various cultures of both its citizens and non-citizens. There is, they have been taught, nothing special about America or being an American.
When my generation is gone, unless we can reinstill the idea of America before we leave this earth, unless we can urge our politicians to become Americans before they are Republicans or Democrats, the idea of America will be gone. And with it, the shining light on the hill will blink and be gone forever.
So hold these new Republican feet to the fire. Hold the Congress and the President accountable to the idea of America. Hold their feet to the fire of the America we of this and earlier generations have known and loved. Do not allow them to distract us from the real issues by playing a game of Red vs. Blue. It is not a game ! It is an important idea, a great idea, the idea of America, which is at stake and not some dust covered trophy to be stored in the cabinet of the Reds or the Blues. It is the Red, White and Blue which is at stake and right now must be the turning point because we are gradually losing and will lose in the next 30 years most of the people in whom the idea of America as a great nation inheres. God Bless and Save this great nation.
chas. a. bassos
