National Issues Outlook
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-01-03/national-issues-outlook
A new Congress, deficit reduction, job creation, and the continuing fight over healthcare legislation: Political analysts weigh in on issues likely to drive the national debate in 2011.
Guests
E.J. Dionne Jr.
senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, Washington Post columnist, and author of "Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right" and of "Stand Up Fight Back."
David Brooks
columnist, The New York Times.
James Thurber
professor and director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University
Comments
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I recently heard an analysis that since the Congress is now Republican, the Obama administration will use rulemaking and regulations to guide the agencies and the statutes along the lines of the administrations desires. Neil Kerwin, president of American University teaches about this in his book, Rulemaking. Talk about this strategy of rulemaking and agency regulations versus Congressional legislation. A little arcane and inside baseball, but critical nonetheless.
Kate Reed, The Anthropologist
I'm a tea party sympathizer, but I would be for higher taxes IF and ONLY IF government waste and abuse were eliminated FIRST.
I believe it was D. Brooks who just said that the active members of the tea party were relatively small. However, I think there are many like myself who believe in the tea party ideals, yet we do not actively go to the protests, and maybe do not even donate money to their candidates, -- BUT, WE VOTED FOR THE LIKES OF MARKO RUBIO, etc.
One thing I haven't heard brought up by anyone in the media or our legislators is the cap on medicare or social security.
I think that the majority of the public is not aware that there is a cap. Those individuals that make more than about $109,000 pay LESS % of their income for medicare and social security, because there is a cap on the AMOUNT that is paid. Some one making $109,000 pays about 7.25% and someone that makes $1,900,000 pays 0.725% of their income.
This seems like a HUGE tax break for the wealthy.
Why is it never mentioned when the cost of social security is?
thanks
Diane
These analysts always refuse to talk about new ideas that might end these problems.
Here's two: National Hiring Day for job creation. This is a day that corporations are encouraged to hire new employees. The day suggested is Wednesday JANUARY 19, 2011. Corporations are called on to put patriotism ahead of excess profits and help their country in hard times. Those corporations that cannot hire, are asked to stop firing for that month.
One Tenth of one percent - raise all taxes, AND reduce all budgets. That supports both parties a little without doing great harm.
"The docs wanted it"? there are only 20% of them in the AMA. Most docs do not want the health care bill that was passed!
I am never surprised at what comes from the mouths of politicians; we have no intellectual parameters for being a candidate for public office. However the field of journalism does require a passing knowledge of basic communication skills, of which i am an avid supporter. However "the media" seems largely to have lost the ability to listen to what politicians are saying. A court reporter is not a journalist.
Health Care Financing - Indemnity Insurance:
The American health care system crisis is a two headed dragon. We have a financing crisis and a health care quality crisis. "Obamacare" (the ACA) addresses only insurance reform. It is not "Health Care Reform." The financing crisis (a small portion of the financial crisis) is the direct result of access to health care financing (access to for-profit risk managing indemnity insurance) through employment. Disconnect this link by universal financing (tax payer supported purchasing) of claims administration by not-for-profit third party administrators (essentially Standard Medicare) and the administrative cost (between 20%& 30% of the health care dollar) is cut in half. This amounts to about $350 billion per year. All Americans become part of the largest "self-funded/self-insured" group in the world. Financial support for health care would be portable, breaking the "golden handcuffs" of access through employment. The savings essentially reduce the cost of American labor, driven by the cost of health care benefits. The reduction in the cost of labor by lowering health care financing costs would directly benefit the American economy. America needs Creative Design for Health Care Reform.
Any chance of realizing a return on our investment of blood and treasure or are we just conceding these investments to China and others benefits
Health Care Quality Crisis – Just What the Doctor Ordered
The American health care quality crisis is real. It is the direct result of the dysfunctional medical decision making process. Reimbursement for health care requires a doctor’s order and/or signature. Where health care dollars are spent, a provider is always directly responsible. This flawed decision-making process directly effects both the cost of health care and the quality of care delivered to patients. Our dysfunctional financing system (access to dollars through employment and transfer of this wealth by the Shylocks in for-profit risk managing indemnity insurance companies) is only a minor ($350 billion per year) problem. They simply transfer wealth from the purchaser (the worker-cost of labor) to the provider, taking a large cut to perform this business transaction, within government regulations. The insurance industry may be a little greedy but the crises are not their fault. Our health care cost and quality crises are “Just what the doctor ordered.”
Reliance on global subjective memory based decision-making results in an error rate approaching 50%. This error rate in judgment and decisions (failure to do the “right thing”) usually results in provision of unnecessary medical care (“abuse”). Provider failures that injure patients (failure to do the “thing right”) results in malpractice. Interestingly, patient injury is independent of the medical necessity of the procedure. A small percentage of both necessary and unnecessary medical procedures result in malpractice. Attempting to “fix” the so called malpractice crisis will have no impact on either the cost or quality crises. The magnitude of unnecessary medical goods and services provided by our American medical-industrial complex approaches $800 billion per annum. Properly addressing our quality crisis could save a major portion of this loss. America needs Creative Design for Health Care Reform.
i agree with removing the cap on payroll tax for social security, etc. I never hear this mentioned on the media. We underfund the program, then suggest higher retirement age and lower benefits. The wealthy must pay their fair share. Then let's challenge these scare stories. Diane, let's have a show on this topic alone, and start publicizing this gross inequity to our country.
During the show, it was mentioned that many providers would not accept medical assistance patients. One of the reasons for this is that they often do not show for appointments. If they bother to cancel, they call at the time of the appointment. By then, it's too late to schedule someone else. Medical Assistance does not pay for missed appointments. Another reason is that they may bring other people with them to the appointment, and they take up seats in the waiting room. Sometimes their companions accompany them into the office and take the provider's time for things like directions to the rest room - something they could have been taken care of in the waiting room. Meanwhile the provider is responsible for accomplishing a certain amount of work in a certain time frame.
I'm irritated that social security continues to be called an entitlement when, in fact, there is money taken out of my paycheck in order to "pay" for my so-called entitlement.
Karen
I love references to "the wealthy must pay their fair share" without any concept of what fair is though, reading through the lines, what is meant is wealthy paying more so I can pay less. Let's call Social Security what it really is, another income redistribution plan. The concept was originally you get out what you put in, but politicians have morphed that into another means to buy votes.
The caller who wants us to go back to the economy of the 50s would only be successful if we could get Europe to decimate its infrastructure leaving us to rebuild it.
Diane, I really wish you could hold your guests and their opinions accountable.
They say whatever they want and you make no attempt to correct the record.
In any case, the ruling class of this country, and that includes all the Ivy Leaguers who have decimated our economic system---the average Joe certainly hasn't made policy for the last 30 years---has systematically destroyed the middle and lower middle class in this country. I am not willing to pay one more red cent to bail out the fat cats at the top of the food chain. Let the Wall Street pigs and their ilk pay for the huge debt THEY created. The American people need to take a stand and revolt against the fascist coalition between our government, Wall Street and the Ivy League that exists in the USA.
If you haven't seen INSIDE JOB, the documentary about the economic depression, see it now.
The Government spending at the MILITARY INDUSTRIAL Feed-Bag needs to be cut!
Mike
"The Anthropologist wrote:
I recently heard an analysis that since the Congress is now Republican, the Obama administration will use rulemaking and regulations to guide the agencies and the statutes along the lines of the administrations desires. Neil Kerwin, president of American University teaches about this in his book, Rulemaking. Talk about this strategy of rulemaking and agency regulations versus Congressional legislation. A little arcane and inside baseball, but critical nonetheless.
Kate Reed, The Anthropologist
January 3, 2011 - 10:20 am"
More arcane perhaps, but not more inside than the Bush Gang's crippling of every Government Agency that was good for the People by defunding, depopulating and decapitating them.
Which has continued into the Obama Administration by holding up Confirmations.
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
Diane, it is important to point out that Social Security is “not” an entitlement, that the program has a “separate” stream of financing, and that it “has not added a dime” to the deficit. Americans have “paid” for these benefits. Absolutely “nothing” has to be done in the near term. The Trust Fund has a $2.6 trillion surplus (U.S. Treasury bonds) and is projected to grow to more than $4 trillion in 2023. According to the CBO, the program can pay all scheduled benefits through *2039* and will be able to pay 78 percent of benefits after 2039. The CBO reports that if the payroll tax was applied to all income (at a minimum, the $106,800 cap should be raised), it would be solvent for the next 75 years.
Medicare and Medicaid are not out of control; it’s our healthcare costs that are unsustainable and account for almost one-fifth of GDP. We pay twice as much per person as other industrialized countries and have worse health outcomes. Much of the problem lies with the insurance industry (over 31 percent of every dollar goes to paperwork, overhead, CEO salaries, and profit) and the pharmaceutical companies (we pay 2-3 times the price for the same exact drug sold in Canada or in Europe). Medicare for all is the answer to bringing our costs in line with other countries.
A bloated military budget doesn't increase our security, it only destroys our economy. The U.S. spends almost as much as the rest of the world combined on the military and endless wars—over $700 billion. We have “tripled” the military budget since 1997. According to the Pentagon's own list the U.S. has about 865 bases in other countries (it’s over 1,000 when the new bases in Iraq and Afghanistan are included). We have 150,000 troops in Europe and Asia despite the fact that the Cold War ended 20 years ago. Even if we cut spending in half that would still be more than current and potential adversaries.
What kind of a Party fights for tax breaks for the rich while trying to cut social security and education?
David Brooks is a corporate republican ad-man. Slogan after slogan, talking points, rhetoric. This is not any kind of journalist.
Read "Deadly Spin" written by the Cigna Insurance Company PR man who explains that the The Tea Party is nothing but an insurance company front-group (a false grass roots organization) developed by a very deft Public Relations Company.
You want to cut something in government, cut the military, and cut out the tax loopholes enjoyed by billionaires.
Anywhere relatively well maintained pavement can be found near snow,Monster HDMI Cables, you’ll see a massive crosspollination between the skate and snowboarding scenes. Sure, there’s a hint of friendly rivalry, but these two boardsports both owe their existence to surfing and the most commercially successful guy in action sports happens to be a world champion in both disciplines. Shaun White’s not attached to this project but pro skater Keith Hufnagel is, his namesake brand collaborating with a snowboarding giant and one of the most easily identifiable running brands. The HUF x 686 x New Balance pack includes a pair of 790 snowboarding boots and the 205 runner, both done in navy suede with pink heels. This makes for a great way to extend the recent trends toward simple blocking onto the slopes and both shades stand out nicely against the snow. Look for these at HUF and at the 686 e-store starting this Saturday, January 8th.
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The US is a democracy in name only. The US is an Oligarchy. A small very wealthy part of the population pay little taxes, have various legal orotections from law suits that the general population does not have. This small part of the population has direc, paid, access to goerment and can thus have favorable laws passe. The elimination of a priilaged class of nobles was the purpose of the American Revolution. Like all other revolutions in human history the American Revolution went astray.
Philipp Kornreich
pkornrei@syr.edu
The US is a democracy in name only. The US is an Oligarchy. A small very wealthy part of the population pay little taxes, have various legal orotections from law suits that the general population does not have. This small part of the population has direc, paid, access to goerment and can thus have favorable laws passe. The elimination of a priilaged class of nobles was the purpose of the American Revolution. Like all other revolutions in human history the American Revolution went astray.
Philipp Kornreich
pkornrei@syr.edu
When president Roosevelt removed many of the government subsidies in the late 1930’s the US economy was heading for another downturn. What finally broke the depression was a super massive government intervention. The US put seven million man in uniform and stopped all civilian production, In stead of cars the US produced a large number of government vehicles such as tanks, trucks and general purpose vehicles – jeeps. It produced some 70 000 combat aircraft, a large number of ships. The work force was increased by employing women in ship yards and factories where they never worked before. This eliminated the depression. Why can not the government have a temporary massive infrastructure rebuilding program where the things produced will be useful for many years to come instead of being destroyed in combat.
Philipp Kornreich
Syracuse, N. Y.
pkornrei@syr.edy