RECONCILIATION, the Senate's Possible Dream!

After spending most of today watching and listening to the Health Care summit
meeting of President Obama with Congressional leaders of both parties, certain facts
have become obvious.
The dictionary defines Reconciliation as "To settle or resolve a dispute. To make compatible or consistent." In the Senate, Reconciliation is a legislative process resulting in the Assasination of the filbuster rule--that a 60 vote majority is required to cut off debate in order to allow a vote on a controversial measure.
In the face of unanimous Republican opposition to any form of Health Care reform
measures the Democrats would accept, even a compromise bill which would go a long
way toward Republican desires, the Senate majority seems to be preparing to
exercise the nuclear option RECONCILIATION. That is frightening to the Republican minority who are calling such action dictatorial and undemocratic. This despite the fact the Republicans have used the tactic many times in the past to defeat Democratic minorities.
Health care has been in crisis in this nation for at least 40 years. Unless the current system of private, for-profit insurance providers is substantially modified,
the nation will be in bankruptcy within one or two decades. And because the insurance companies stack the deck by cherry picking who they will insure, what they will cover, and lifetime limits on claims, their profits are assured. As
a virtual monopoly they can also set premiums at their unregulated discretion.

If the Senators were required to seek health care insurance on the same terms as
middle class citizens, they would quickly disenthrall themselves from the insurance
industry lobbies, and pass meaningful reform that would cover all citizens, at reasonable cost and provide meaningful benefits. To guarantee cost reduction and
control, the compensation method for health care providers needs to be changed
to one based on good outcomes, not on volume of procedures. Good practice will also
require Tort reform to get rid of frivolous lawsuits and exorbitant awards.
All that would be possible if the goal was the benefit of the general public, not the defeat and destruction of the president, and the protection of the deep pockets
insurance industry

To the Moon, Alice!

That was Ralph Kramden's cry in the Honeymooners, when Alice made him come down
to earth from his imaginary get-rich deals, and he threatened to punch her "To the Moon". Jackie Gleason played the role superbly, and Alice, his wife, knew it
was an empty threat and shrugged it off, going about her business keeping the
marriage afloat.

The United States is about to stop going to the moon, or even to the space station which we pioneered, but without an Alice to keep for us an even minimal role in space travel and exploration. We will shortly close out the NASA shuttle flights.
The rationale given is that we will now concentrate our resources on an exploratory flight to Mars. As did Alice, we know an empty threat when we see one. Mars will
remain unexplored by us for decades to come. As a profligate nation, we no longer
have the resources to dream great dreams and do great things.

We will henceforth be hiring Russians to taxi our astronauts and supplies to
and from the space station. They will charge whatever the traffic will bear, and
then some, because they will have the monopoly on lift capability. Meanwhile we
will continue to dissipate our resources on pointless wars, going further into
hock to China and the Oil dictators. The benefits that flow from space travel science
will accrue to Russia and China. We will learn the expensive lessons that come from
trying to change behaviors in people who abhor change.

While all of this is taking place, our Senators are playing Gotcha games with our
future. Would we could hire the Russians to send them all to Mars, tomorrow!

Once upon a time in America.......

.....there were many thousands of factories, manufacturing an almost infinite variety of Widgets. Labor, the largest element in the cost of production, averaged
$10 per widget, which sold at $20 each, a 100% mark-up on labor, and the enterprises
prospered, and grew. One day, one of the managers decided to explore lowering the labor cost while keeping the sales price the same---a sensible idea. So he went to China, which had an enormous agrarian population, and asked if they would be willing
to move some of those people to a factory town where they could make his widgets,
thus earning a living. Of course wages would be very low, by our standards, and
labor laws, and benefits, non-existent. China said whoopee, and the stampede to
outsource our manufacturing base began. Now widgets would have a labor cost of $5, making the labor mark-up 300%. The manufacturers asked the administration in Washington if the move would be OK. Of course they were told, that is the American Capitalist way. And we will even give you tax subsidies to move.

There was only one flaw in the process. The people who purchased Widgets used the
money they earned making them to buy them. No wages, no buying! Worse, the unemployed
refused to die when they were fired. They continued living to become recipients
of Social Security and unemployment benefits, but no further taxes were being
payed on their disappeared wages. They could no longer meet mortgage payments.
Banks, whose role had been to lend money to make widgets, turned to creating
imaginary assets which they sold at great profit, and which later decimated
whatever assets the unemployed had accumulated.

Meanwhile, the forces which had set the disaster in motion, mixed a potion
of deceit and hate, and convinced the victims to drink it, turning them into accomplices in their own destruction.

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful.......

.......and its in the wrong place. The drought ridden Western and Pacific Coastal states are where the record snows should be falling. We Easterners enjoy a little of the white stuff. Enough for our kids to play in, enough to make postcard pretty scenes, and to give us rosy cheeks, but not too much inconvenience, please. We like
it also because winter clothing is chic while at the same time making us appear rugged and outdoorsy. Too much snow causes us to spend more clearing roads, streets, and power lines, than budgeted. It makes us stay home more, and depend on our own resources for entertainment, while temporarily depriving us of the fast foods experience. All those consequences are at the least inconvenient, even painful to some.

And yet, it reminds us that mother nature is boss on our planet, and cautions us to avoid interfering too much in her affairs. She can administer brutal punishment for
that. We ignore that caution at our peril.

Aesop's Fable exploded

For ever it seems, we and the world believed we were the richest, most powerful
nation on the planet. In truth, If we were to apply generally accepted accounting principles
to prepare a balance sheet of the U.S. financial condition, we would appear to be
essentially bankrupt. We continue to function by the forbearance of our creditors, primarily China, Japan and the middle Eastern oil producers.

The world no longer looks to us to lead, or as a model of democratic governance and
capitalist success. At the just concluded Davos World Economic Forum, many nations
openly expressed doubt about our ability to govern ourselves. They see us as a hapless Gulliver chained into impotency by lilliputian politicians. More and more they are turning away from America as a model and turning to China for lessons in how to cope with the world-wide recession and manage their own developement.
With our decline, we have lost the ability to influence world affairs, or to convince
allies to join us in international adventures. We are still one of the world's largest markets but our deficit spending on imports, not matched by exports, raises
prices we pay for them by depreciating the dollar.

There is an exit from this deadly gridlock if we have the will and courage to take it. Will our congress compromise in the public good and put aside
selfish lust for power? Will those able to pay accept the need to pay for the things
we want, now, even if that requires some to contribute more to the nations till?
Will we insist on truth, not propaganda from our lawmakers; that they work on
solutions for all the people; and that until we are on firm ground again, they suspend hate talk and blame games?

The world wants and needs America to be great again, but they grow weary of waiting.
Let us rise to the demand of the times, and regain the glory that was deservedly ours!