Corruption is Rife in the House

If anyone has any doubts about the corruption of Congress by the wealthy they only have to look at the House’s recent repeal of the estate tax.  This tax is only applied to singles with a net worth over 5 million and couples over 10 million and is only due at the second death.  I would suggest that taxes are a necessary evil of civilization and that the best of all taxpayers are those that are both wealthy and dead.  This is a tax that dates back to at least the middle ages, and has proven to be very efficient down through the ages.

  The excuse that these people have worked hard for their money is in many cases true.  That their children shouldn’t have to work for their money somehow lacks in logic. This tax captures the capital gains that haven’t been paid and are next to impossible to calculate over a person’s lifetime.  The argument that the tax closes down many small business’s due to their inability to pay does not hold up to scrutiny.  “The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that only 120 farms and small business, where at least half the assets are in farm or business assets, had to pay the estate tax in 2013.”[1]  I would suggest that any Congressperson who voted for the repeal is either not paying attention to their job or has been bought by those with big money.  Check out how your representative voted and consider this vote the next time you are able to vote for them.

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[1] Glenn Kessler, Washington Post Fact Checker April 14, 2015

Hate is Too Common

After calling out several people for spreading hate around through their postings, I have received just as many replies that the sender didn’t have a “hateful bone in his/her body” and that they were just exercising their right to free speech.  I am unable to reconcile these actions. Because much of our Country is partaking of this kind of hate we should understand what’s happening.

 The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology defines hate as a "deep, enduring, intense emotion expressing animosity, anger, and hostility towards a person, group, or object”.  This is certainly the kind of thing I was calling out and that we see every day in the media.  Many will blame the internet for this dumbing down of America and it certainly is doing its share.  We citizens are the real ones to blame as we would rather read about some famous person’s personal problems than what that person is doing to help the world.  Politicians have learned that they can win an argument when logic won’t prevail by name calling.  The media have learned that they can sell more if they lead off with one famous person insulting another famous person.  This is a lot more entertaining than learning about centrifuges in Iran. 

Most in this country agree that it is heading in the wrong direction.  What we must understand is that once someone is endowed with power, it is more important to them to keep their power than to use it as previously promised.  It’s also much easier to be against something than to  be for something.  It’s easy to point out all the problems with an idea and to even make up some.  Proving an idea is right can only be done by implementing it and with many wanting to prove it wrong, nothing happens.  It’s now so bad that even good ideas that have been implemented with positive results are the subject of many lies about how bad they are.

The Center for Responsive Politics put the total cost of the 2012 campaign at over 6 billion dollars.  While we pay much attention to who gives this money, (even if we can’t find out), we tend to ignore who receives it.  Every penny of these funds end up with the media.  With no assurance that this annuity will be received every two and four years the media has a lot of interest in not reducing or changing the way that campaigns are financed.  By focusing on hate, anger, and blame, the media can keep our eyes turned away from the fat cats that are busy collecting the wealth of this nation.  The status quo is what those in power want and by using a divide and conquer tactic they are assured of keeping things just as they are.

Just because we have a “right” is no reason to use that right.  Each right carries with it the responsibility to use it properly.  Hurling insults and calling names may be a right (freedom of speech). What purpose does it serve?  One person gets something temporarily off their chest, but others are incited to hate.  We still have many in this world that believe in an eye for an eye.  We must make everyone understand that this just leads to everyone being blind.  The issues are different from the people behind them.  We must learn to criticize the issue not the person.  We must learn not to vote for the bullies that are good at throwing insults but refuse to provide their own answers.

Hiring Politicians

It’s a shame that both political parties have adopted a “Divide and Conquer” attitude towards attaining power.  History has proven that a “unite and prosper” philosophy is much better for the nation.  The media seems to revel in this fray as they have the liberals convinced that conservatives believe in “I’ve got mine, screw you”,  and the conservatives convinced that liberals only want to expand government giveaways.    Those who have not partaken of either the red or the blue cool-aid tune out politics in order to lead a life not driven by negatives.

We should remember that election campaigns are a republic’s method of employment interviews.  We generally don’t hire people who badmouth the employer.  We also avoid hiring employees that spend their interview blaming others and calling them names.  We do hire those that talk about what they are going to do to bring value and also have a track record of doing what they say.  The job description of representative includes taxing, spending, and compromising.  Those that claim they will not partake in one or more of these activities should not be considered as a serious candidate.    We can only get rid of all this negativity if we as voters don’t fall for it.  America has always been about working with those that are different from us.  We can better solve problems if we look at them from several viewpoints and this won’t happen until we listen to each other again.  This will happen only if we replace that single issue that’s important to us with a look at the real integrity of the candidate.  Please vote with wisdom and not anger.

Nattering Nabobs of Negativism

When I try to reason how our great country’s political state has come to represent nothing more than Spiro Agnew’s “Nattering Nabobs of Negativism” I can only conclude that it is the quest for personal power that is driving it.  One path to power is “divide and conquer” .   When I listen to politicians, I don’t hear of solutions, I hear blame and anger.  A well known debating devise when reason won’t do, is to hurl insults, create fear and call names.  Is this what is really happening?  Or has the media found that the only way to get customers is to hone in on the divisive?

  I hear a lot about how the baby boomers are responsible for the mess we’re in, but hear nothing at all about our accomplishments:  You can see blue sky in Pittsburg.   The Cuyahoga River and River Rouge are no longer fire threats and actually produce fish that people are eating.  Bald eagles and Canadian Geese are abundant.  Most poor people in this country would be considered rich in much of the world.  I see no black smoke coming out of stacks,  and we are closer to energy independence than we have been in a long time. 

The key to these gains come from a “Unite and Prosper” philosophy that seems to have left the country.  The 13 colonies united to win the Revolution despite drastic differences in belief and situation.  The greatest growth this country has ever seen was after WWII when we united with our enemies and helped Japan and Germany turn into great allies.  The family value that allowed this to happen is called “Tolerance”.    Tolerance allows us to learn other viewpoints and get different perspectives on situations that we wouldn’t get otherwise and that is how problems are solved. 

We’ve delegated our power to special interest groups that are bureaucracies and unfortunately bureaucracies don’t die.  When they have achieved their means they must find or create another cause to keep their jobs. Many of these don’t hold water when held up to the light and unfortunately, because they were our cause we fail to recognize the change.  The gay marriage group in Minnesota is still going strong despite their win.  The pro lifers keep going after Planned Parenthood even though Planned Parenthood has prevented many more abortions than they have carried out and abortion numbers are even with estimates of when it was illegal.[1]  I still want to know which suicidal Federal employee is coming to your door to take your gun away?   

 The divide and conquer group think that in order for one group to gain, another has to lose.  This is not the American way.  As President Kennedy stated “a rising tide raises all boats”.  When we look at who we are going to vote for, I feel we should be looking to those who will unite us in what we all wish for; security, prosperity, love and happiness.  We should reject those nattering nabobs of negativity that don’t have any solutions other than vote for me.  The “loyal opposition” should be working to make a better country and world and not be solely focused on gaining power by any means.  Most of the vitriol can be reduced to bureaucracies whose leaders have decided their personal survival is more important than their mission.  We need to find a way to correct this.

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[1] Guttmacher Policy Review, Spring 2014, Volume 17, Number 2

 

Supreme Court Likes Big Money

It is clear that the Constitution needs amending to return our Republic to the voters after the Supreme Court enshrined big money with free speech rights given by our Constitution.  The framers of the constitution never anticipated the way our political parties have become the key money part of deciding who gets elected.  When a foreign millionaire can buy an American Corporation and then have it donate unlimited amounts to help the election of anyone that pleases them and then have no disclosure of where the money came from, it shows our system has become corrupt.  When men from Kansas fund long broadcast messages, that contain any number of lies, to slander ideas and politicians in Minnesota,  something is awry.  Hot button agendas are pushed to the public, while hidden ones are kept secret.  Divide and conquer is the mantra of both parties.  Hate mongering is the result.  There is one way to get back to the ‘unite and prosper’ attitudes of the 50’s and 60’s.  Electioneering is a special form of speech.   The 28^th amendment should read: “Notwithstanding the First Amendment, efforts to influence elections to public office in the United States and its’ subdivisions shall be limited to those who are able to vote in said election.  Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. “  This would provide a massive reallocation of power in this country and would get special interests back to advising and out of contributing money.

All These Health Insurance Experts

After 40 years insuring human beings, I am amazed at the sudden appearance of hoards of health insurance experts as it relates to Obamacare.  The word ‘Insurance’ usually puts people to sleep, but all of a sudden everyone seems to like their insurance company?  The Health insurance industry’s lobbying is the most effective in the United States.  No politician can fight an industry that  can put a dozen agents in every congressman’s office with just a few hours notice.  I still don’t know how America’s Health Insurance Plans, (AHIP) was able to participate in the writing of ObamaCare while at the same time donating $83 million to The US. Chamber of Commerce to run ads attacking the plan using the Chambers name rather than their own.  They can use one side of a story to make people angry, and it’s obvious that angry people don’t think with clear minds. Consider:

1.     Announcing that ObamaCare will increase insurance premiums.  What else is new.  Insurance premiums have gone up virtually every year in memory.  Now the insurance companies can blame someone other than themselves for this.

2.     Scaring people that a government bureaucrat will be deciding the type of medical care you receive.   Right now you have a private insurance company bureaucrat deciding what medical care you will receive.  Not only that, but he may get pay increases by keeping claims down.

3.     Health insurance company profits have been huge in the two years since the  passage, and analysts generally are bullish on future profits.

4.     With the exception of large self insured plans, all insurance is regulated by the states.  Each state has different rules and procedures for insurance companies.  That Obama didn’t know this is deplorable.

5.     Social insurance is provided by the government and allows us to manage risks that pertain to all of the population.  The Armed Forces insures the country’s security, covers all risks and is paid for by all of us.  Social Security, The FDA, OSHA, and Medicare are other examples.

6.     Private insurance companies are formed to manage risks of groups of people, over and above what the government covers, and does this by underwriting , (selecting the best risks and not covering the worst).

7.     The Canadian system is in fact at least 10 separate systems.  One for each province.  Some do a great job, others not so good.

8.     The insurance companies are allowed to keep 20% of premiums for “expenses”.  Medicare is able to do it’s administration for 4% of premiums.

9.     ObamaCare has Republican roots that can be traced from Romney to Nixon.  It is nothing like what the Democrat’s had ever proposed before.

10.  Because all 50 states have laws that require hospitals to serve the uninsured in their emergency rooms, we’ve had the most expensive kind of universal health insurance coverage for a decade or so.

11.  The way most hospitals pay for these uninsured ER visits has been by corrupting their billing system by charging different prices for the same procedures, because of deals they make with separate insurers, causing the highest billings to go to the uninsured.

12.  Because the government under ObamaCare will take care of the catastrophic claims, the private insurance companies have no risk to manage.  Without underwriting, the insurance companies are not taking part in the practice of insurance, they are simply transferring money.  Is it any surprise that United Health Care is putting so much effort into their Optum Bank?

Until the American Voters realize that the special interests are interested in maintaining their power through divide and conquer tactics I see little chance for positive change.  The biggest problem with health insurance today is the insurance companies.  As long as they are at the table in the discussion of Americas Health we will be spending 15-20% more than we need too.  The real problem should be finding jobs for those who are currently employed in this frequently highly paid and unnecessary industry.

Many of us would agree that the current US political system is rife with corruption.  Unfortunately we seem to spend our time blaming someone else for this situation.  When it is impossible to win a debate with logic, the only way left is with insults and name calling.  What we need to realize is that we are all at fault for our current state because we have delegated our personal power to our special interest groups.  Interest groups, like all organisms have a first priority for survival.  This survival instinct leads to the propagation of lies, that when told often enough get to be believed.  As long as these lies are propagated, we have no opportunity to use reason to solve problems for the nation as a whole because the “experts” in the field are telling us crap that will keep them comfortable and in power.  Consider:

1.     Who is going to take your gun away?  We are told it is the President!  I want to know who will come to your door and ask to have your gun?  The only people willing to take this job will be suicidal psychopaths.

2.     Because emergency rooms are forced to treat anyone that walks in, we already have universal health insurance coverage.  It is the most expensive form of health coverage that guarantees that this well paid part of our economy will continue to grow.

3.     The business of “business” is not to make money.  The business of “business” is to provide goods and services to the population. 

4.     When taxes go up on the rich, they tend to look for additional tax deductions.  Because all job creation expenses, that I am aware of, are tax deductible it isn’t logical that raising taxes on the rich stymies job growth.

5.     Jews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the same God, they just do it differently.  So many “believers” have obviously never read the scriptures, but rely on their “teachers” that are more concerned with this world than the next.  The Quran forbids suicide, killing of innocents, and other believers.  It also affirms Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which neither Muslims or Christians seem to follow in great numbers.

6.     The media is kept profitable by making us believe that one side would be buying Cadillac cars for our welfare recipients and the other believes that “I’ve got mine, screw you”.

7.     Getting angry about an issue isn’t a good thing.  Good decisions are seldom made in anger.

Our founding fathers created our Constitution based on a geographic democracy.  Until relatively recently our elected representatives were beholden to those who voted them in.  They are now beholden to those who fund them.  We have a system that allows a foreigner to give any size gift to any American without the recipient having to report the gift, if it stays overseas, and only report the earnings on the gift (no earnings, no report).  It is also now possible for a foreigner to buy or form a US corporation that can then donate to any campaign it wants.  I’ve heard surprise, not that it was possible to buy a representative, but that it could be done cheaply.  This state of affairs has turned many issues that should be local into national issues that are nothing but divisive.  For example, gun control in Idaho makes no sense but in the large inner cities it is a different matter.

It used to be that lobbyists were available to advise on issues and Parties were a means for the parliamentary process to  be efficient.  They are now concerned with election funding.  Because of the power this builds, the people involved are much more concerned about keeping that power than exercising it for the benefit of the country.  

I believe we need an “American Spring” that guts the electoral power of the interest groups, including the political parties by passing a constitutional amendment limiting the support or opposition to election campaigns to those able to vote in the election.  This can only be accomplished from a grass roots level as there will be a large fight against this by all those who stand to lose power.  Many good people are staying out of politics because of the funding available to opponents if they take a stand that doesn’t sit well with one group or another.  Some bad people are getting into politics because of the funding available to them when they assert certain positions.  This is not the way the country is supposed to work.  I hope that we can change it.