Domestic

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Is it time to panic yet? Probably. Krugman says we need to spend more; everyone on the right says we need to cut all spending. Who knows? But there is something that we can all agree on. If we don’t raise the debt ceiling, it’s going to collapse right onto our heads. And with this in mind, why aren’t we? This answer is simple. Politics. Read the Rest of the Article

Mr. Moore says it better than I can. Read the Rest of the Article

The unemployment rate, thankfully, has finally begun to drop in the United States, however evidence (linked below) suggests that the jobs being created are not high income Middle Class jobs but instead low wage, or part time, service jobs. This is important both for individuals struggling to pay their bills and for the economy as a whole. For decades the world economy has been drivien by the “consumer class” in the United States but now that class of people seems to be in decline. What ramifications could this have? Read the Rest of the Article

I am coming to the general conclusion that the continued failures of our country lie in the fundamental flaws of our culture, specifically greed. Companies and corporates concern themselves only with short term profits, taxpayers concern themselves only with their immediate paycheck, politicians concern themselves only with their constituents and campaign supporters. General Motors, for example, kept building huge trucks and SUV’s because they had the highest profit margins, even though oil prices would inevitably rise with globalization, and past experiences with the Oil Crisis of the 70′s proved that high gas prices meant people would not buy gas guzzling trucks. GM failed, the government had to bail them out. But this leads to our next interesting example, many Taxpayers were up in arms about the bailout despite the fact that GM is one of the last few companies in the US providing hundreds of thousands of decent paying jobs to middle class people. Taxpayers were only concerned that their money, at the moment, was going to GM, even though the cost of unemployment for the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people who would have lost their jobs, would have likely outweighed the cost of the bailout. All the while politicians are only reacting according to party lines, and the wants of their biggest supporters. But will this really lead to a good society, or self destruction? What are your views on the matter? Read the Rest of the Article

Currently, the state legislators in Wisconsin is moving to essentially outlaw unionizing about government workers, which raises the question; Is such a move a violation of the fundamental freedoms of an individual? Personally, I am rather suspicious of unions in the United States, as they often emphasize a “me-me-me” attitude, and in my limited experience I have seen evidence of the assertion that unions promote lazy, over-protected, and consequentially overpaid workers. On the other hand, when unions were born during the battles for workers’ rights in the early 20th century they were essential. Further, a bill that out right unionizing seems, to me, to violate the individual freedoms that are granted to American citizens, and premise the entire existence of our nation. What do you think? Read the Rest of the Article

With health care reform coming back into the limelight soon because of the vote to repeal and the state lawsuits on the horizon, now seemed like a good time to break down the true nature of said reform and to ask a few questions about healthcare in general.
First lets look to our neighbors in the north and perhaps make some comparisons to ourselvs. Many people on both sides of the aisle have either demonized or given creedence to the Canadian system. While both have valid points and problems, it is a fact that their system is working now, but there is a substancial push for there to be more private industry involved. And there is a reason for it. In Ontario, average wait times for general surgery is 99 days, for breast cancer surgery 33 days, for angioplasty 18 days and for a knee replacement 181 days. In America, the wait is nill. But that being said, Canadians do not pay for seein their FP doctors nor their hospital stays. And their ER waits are compararable to ours. The rub is that you cannot change doctors once you have one.
So in America, we have a quite different situation. Canada has almost no immigration that they do not control, ie have tax procedures for. The US does. And they contribute in a large portion to those who are uninsured or on medicaid.
Perhaps the solution is lowering the amount of care given to patients on the government plan. Not the standard of practice, simply the scope. Life saving treatments and (within reason and proven method) prevenitive services. Leave the rest to industry. Read the Rest of the Article

In recent weeks the GOP has been calling for extensive tax cuts, and rightly so. With the U.S. deficit exceeding 14 trillion dollars, the United States needs to take actions to reduce the deficit and ween itself off of loans. Yet last week several members of Congress, including prominent GOP Rep and budget hawk, John Kline, has vowed to the “For-Profit” education from cuts in federally backed students loans. These “For-Profit” institutions are notorious for producing low quality degrees and charging absurd prices. Graduates of these programs often have difficulty finding employment and default rates are nearly twice as high at “For-Profit” Schools. Interestingly the For-Profit college sector has spent millions on lobbying, including a 100,000 dollar campaign contribution to Senator Kine. This is a clear example of the American government being bought and paid for by a small group of wealthy, and powerful, lobbyists. Student loans should only be federally backed when a student attends a high quality and reputable school and tax-payer backed loans should be capped to the cost of in-state public tuition. Read the Rest of the Article