Posting Started October 28, 2021: Subsequent additions to it, most recent first, can be found by SCROLLING DOWNWARD!
Here are a couple of letters I have written to
the Palm Beach Post, which were not printed:
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1. Is
there any reason why the election of State Senator Ileana Garcia in Florida’s
37th Senate District should not be voided
and a new election be held? She won her seat by 32 votes while the
phony independent ‘ghost’ candidate with the same last name as her opponent,
and written about in the Post on Friday, received 6,382
votes, all probably intended for her opponent. Also, while the
winners' margins of victory in Senate Districts 9 and 39 were enough to
secure victory, even discounting the votes of similar ghost candidates in
those districts, those two elections should also be voided since they were
contaminated by similar massive attempts at election fraud by the
winning Republican Party's supporters. |
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2. Friday's Post's page one headline "PBC
backs apartments in Ag Reserve" reminds me that little more than a few
hundred years ago, most of Manhattan island above what is now Canal Street was
undeveloped bucolic farmland. Just look at it now.
And here’s a letter I sent into
cyberspace, hoping it would reach someone at Google.
Mr. or Ms. Al Gorithm:
Dear Al:
From my Google searches and from what I post on
my blog and in emails, I know you’ve figured out what my political leanings
are. What you don’t know, however, is that the emails you direct to me asking
for donations to causes with which you think I sympathize all show up in a ‘promotions’
category that I quickly delete without opening after a maximum 30 second quick
scan to see if something got there by mistake.
If by chance, an email asking for a donation does
get into my real ‘inbox,’ I delete it or more likely unsubscribe the sender.
I do, however, make political and charitable
donations directly but don’t like to be bothered with solicitations.
Have a nice day. day. day. day. day.
A Book Review
Just finished reading former arch-conservative Max Boot’s 2018 book,
“The Corrosion of Conservatism … Why I Left the Right.” If you ever voted Republican, or thought
about doing so, it should be enlightening reading. I came away from the book
with one question:
Is the zealotry of those on the left who feel
they have historically been denied the equality which is part of the American
dream the cause of the rise of white nationalism on the right? Or is it the
other way around, that it’s the history of white nationalism in this country
that has caused the rise of protests on the left from those who feel they have
been denied equality? I think I know the answer. Do you?
In Congress, is the “squad” and their
supporters a reaction to the “Freedom Caucus” or is the “Freedom Caucus” a
reaction to the “squad” and their supporters? Which came first, the chicken or
the egg?
A Question about College Football
And Some Commentary on Covid19
Sunshine State Governor DeSantis claims his policy of
discouraging masking and vaccinations has brought Florida through the pandemic
successfully despite his disparaging most CDC guidelines. Not quite! Florida ranks third among the fifty States in both
population and in the number of deaths resulting from Covid19 (63,000), which
suggests the ranking of States by the number of Covid19 deaths is proportional
to the ranking of States by population. (California and Texas lead Florida,
having more people and consequently more Covid19 deaths.) I can’t see what
DeSantis is bragging about. Not having more deaths than the two States with
greater populations? Huh?
But more importantly, these numbers can lead
one to believe that it really doesn’t matter whether or not the CDC guidelines
are followed. Again, not quite! They are arrived at scientifically and the
whatever guidelines DeSantis follows are emotionally or more likely politically
based. The reasoning behind DeSantis’ views does not deserve equivalency with
science. Floridians ignored him and have been vaccinated in great numbers.
Texans, a collection of dummies, didn’t and almost caught up with the number of
deaths in more populous California which did. Big lies and little lies are
closely related.
A column by David Leonhardt in the New York Times (Nov.
8), looking at counties that massively went for either President Biden or
ex-president Trump in 2020, reported that In
October, 25 out of every 100,000 residents in heavily Trump counties died from
Covid19, more than three times higher than the rate in heavily Biden counties
(7.8 per 100,000). October was the fifth consecutive month that the percentage
gap between the death rates in Trump counties and Biden counties widened. Could
this be the direct effect of the politicization of vaccinations and masking by
Republicans, something which should never have happened. Click Here for the Column or try to find it at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/08/briefing/covid-death-toll-red-america.html
JL
How Quickly We Forget
It has been about three and a half years since
a teenage gunman, who has recently pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing,
killed seventeen students and faculty at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School
in Parkland, Florida. I remember participating in gun control demonstrations in
those days and even have a faded “Grandparents Against Assault Weapons” tee
shirt hanging in my closet. How Quickly We Forget.
I still have my homemade “Want an
Assault Rifle? Join the Army” sign in my car’s rear window and I believe
it is the only such manifestation whatsoever of support for gun control on any
vehicle in all of Broward (where Douglas H.S. is) or in adjacent Palm Beach
Counties. My son lives in Parkland and I occasionally drive past Douglas High
School there, and believe me, I’ve seen no indications anywhere, on cars or
otherwise, that anyone is concerned with publicizing the need for controlling
gun violence any longer, at least publicly. How
Quickly We Forget.
What the Democrats MUST Do in Order to Win
The Democratic Party has to “wise up” and not
take the loss of the governorship in Virginia and close races elsewhere
lightly. They should be taken as wake-up signals, warnings of the dangers of
movement conservatism to democracy, the same kind of signals which they have
ignored, or taken too lightly, for the past half century.
Reinforced by Republican obstructionism in
Congress, Democratic reforms, even when put into effect, usually go unnoticed
by the voting public. The cancellation of a pipeline which might present an
environmental hazard, for example, doesn’t arouse voters sufficiently to get
them to the polls. They don’t take note of it the way Republican voters respond
to unfounded charges of election fraud and imagined “socialist,” or even
“Marxist” innovations by Democrats. They don't produce votes.
Issues benefitting the people are important and
Democrats are usually on the right side of them and Republicans are not,
despite their galaxy of lies misrepresenting that for which they really stand.
(Briefly, in my opinion, they stand for destroying democracy, replacing it with
an autocratic government beholden to wealthy donors interested in tax relief,
profits, lack of government regulation and not giving a damn for the welfare of
the people whom to them are no better than serfs.)
Here’s the good news. Democrats can win massive
victories in 2022 and 2024 but they have to stop playing around with issues,
however real, that really don’t motivate enough voters and take off the kid
gloves and go for the votes. The polarization in the ranks of Democrats must end.
Those with progressive agendas must be willing to postpone them. Those closer
to the middle of the road must stop dreaming of capturing Republican voters.
Democrats must disband their circular firing squad. There is a better course of
action to turn Democrats into winners.
There are two constituencies which the
Democrats must lock in: Women’s votes and the Black vote. With them, they can
win in 2022, 2024 and perhaps long thereafter. It is a vast resource of voting
strength.
There is no reason on earth for any woman to
vote Republican nor is there any reason on earth for any person of color to
vote Republican. Those that do have succumbed to Republican lies. It’s a waste
of time to argue with the liars, but the votes of these groups must be secured.
That is what 2022 and 2024 will be all about.
Economics, jobs, climate change, the
environment, health care, childcare, parental leave, gun violence, the
infrastructure, abortion rights and even the struggle for voting rights must take
a back seat to what must be the single driving force for Democrats, and that
must be locking in the votes of these two groups at any cost.
This applies to every election in the country.
No matter how nice or reasonable a G.O.P. candidate might be, no woman nor
person of color should vote for any Republican for any office whatsoever, even
for a part-time dog catcher in a local village. Doing so strengthens that party
locally and that strength creeps up from those seemingly insignificant grass
roots to town councils, Boards of Education, County and State legislatures,
governorships and ultimately to Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court,
giving power to a party dedicated to the destruction of democracy in the United
States. That is what has been happening before our very eyes. Open yours,
Democrats!
That’s what they are all about, destroying
democracy. Read the words of William F. Buckley from the 1950’s which have
inspired the movement conservative philosophy which captured the Republican
Party with the smiling face and voice of an actor, Ronald Reagan, a few years
later. But we don’t have time for that now. The job before us now is locking in
the votes of all women and all people of color for the Democratic Party. The
stakes are the highest and the votes to do it are there among those two groups,
if it is done right. But it must be done right!
Let’s start with the women’s vote. First, we
need strong leadership to carry the message to America’s women. This must
include Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, women whose words will be listened to. Others from the political, business and entertainment worlds
should join with them. Day in and day out, on TV, on radio and on the internet,
in magazines, in newspapers and in public speaking engagements, they must point
out that Republicans constantly oppose things that specifically apply to women
such as legislation providing for childcare, parental leave, reproductive
rights, equal pay and opportunities in employment and in fighting abuse
domestically and in the workplace.
Other areas of great concern to women, as well
as to other genders as well, where Republicans form a hostile opposition, are
affordable health care, LGBTQ rights, treatment of immigrants, unemployment
benefits, a $15 minimum wage, better public schools and student debt relief.
The fact that many women not only work, raise children and struggle to manage
single parent households make these things particularly important to them. And
in Congress and State legislatures, Republican oppose all these things.
That is why any woman who votes for any
Republican in any election has to be out of her mind. Even for a part-time dog
catcher. That is the message the leadership I describe above must carry and drive
home with the power of a sledgehammer.
Over the past few decades, even a group of
nuns, known as “Nuns on a Bus” has been carrying this message throughout the
country. Such efforts must be multiplied by the leadership mentioned above, and
by all who hear their message, a hundredfold each day. The result should be
that a woman who votes Republican will be as rare as a New York Yankee fan in
Boston.
And next, or rather simultaneously, how can the
Democratic Party gain the votes of all people of color, to the extent that a
Black Republican becomes as rare as a colored person at a KKK gathering.
Because many Black households are run by women,
the efforts to gain the votes of women, described above, also automatically
apply to people of color. But still more is necessary.
Again, as with the women’s vote, let’s start
with the spokespersons. There is no modern equivalent of Rev. Martin Luther
King, but there are others today to whom people of color listen. Former
president Obama is one. Without South Carolina Representative Jim Clyburn, Joe
Biden would not only not have been elected president, but wouldn’t have even
gotten the Democratic nomination in 2020. There are others like him. There are
Black clergy throughout the country to whom millions listen. There are thousands
of athletes, entertainers, educators and business leaders of color who must
speak out. Not just once, but day after day, availing themselves of all aspects
of media. And there are Black mayors and members of Congress. Some are doing
that already. More must. They all must speak out, day after day, repeatedly.
They, along with the Black clergy, must hammer
home the message that affordable health care, LGBTQ rights, fair treatment of
immigrants, voters rights, equal job opportunity, enlightened law enforcement,
unemployment benefits, a $15 minimum wage, better public schools, student debt
relief, affordable housing and all aspects of the “safety net” without which
many people of color would not survive, are all things that are opposed by
Republicans, and always will be.
Therefore, there is no reason for any person of
color, or any woman for that matter, to vote Republican at any level. Ever!
In placing the importance of the
Democrats’ locking in the votes of women and people of color ahead of promoting
the individual items on the Democratic agenda, I am not saying to ignore them. Within
the context of harnessing the votes of women and Blacks, these items must still
be highlighted as things Republican oppose and therefore as reasons for not
ever, at any level, voting for Republicans. The emphasis must be on
Republican opposition to such measures rather than promoting the measures
themselves. The Democratic Party must swallow that pill.
In many States, Republican foes of democracy
have already changed the laws, making registration and voting more difficult
for many. Despite this, all women and all persons of color must find a way to
vote, even if it means registering in person at an Election Board office and
standing in line, the old way, at an inconveniently located polling place for
hours. The Republicans think voter suppression will work for them. It’s up to Democrats
to prove them wrong by turning out millions of voters motivated by the very
acts of suppression designed to silence them.
This is how the Democrats can win
all up and down the ballot in 2022 and 2024 by locking in the votes of women
and persons of color. There are enough votes in those constituencies to bring
about election victories. Then, and only then, will the Democrats be able to
fulfill their agenda’s promises.
If Democrats do not follow my advice and still insist
on concentrating on individual issues rather than concentrating on Republican
opposition to them, they will lose to the undemocratic forces whose campaign
will be based on lies, bigotry, racism and unfounded charges which will be made
to cloud the atmosphere and confuse the voters.
If Democrats listen to me, they will be winners
in 2022 and thereafter. I doubt if many in Washington read this blog. If you
know some there, pass this on to them.
The Scum of the Earth
Recently, at a race at the Talledega Speedway,
somewhere in Alabama, a rookie driver named Brandon Brown got his first major
victory. Now I am not a fan of auto
racing since the cars determine the winners just as much as the drivers’ skills
do, but be that as it may, some do consider it a sport. I suspect many of them come to the track, or
watch on TV, hoping to see a multi-vehicle crash, hopefully without any
fatalities. They get a vicarious thrill from that and it is safer than their
seeking such thrills on an Interstate, where innocent people can be killed. In
any event, they enjoy drinking beer, hollering and chain-smoking as much as the
racing. If these tracks had rules
against smoking and alcohol, they would be deserted. Finally, it seems to me that these fans are the
kind of people who are Trump enthusiasts as well. And Brandon Brown’s victory sort of justifies
that suspicion.
While a TV commentator was interviewing Brandon
Brown after his win, this wonderfully American crowd, unknowingly duplicating a stadium crowd in
Nuremberg in 1940, started chanting “Fuck You, Biden, Fuck You Biden.” The announcer couldn’t avoid commenting so
she told a befuddled Brown that they were screaming for him, “Let’s Go, Brandon,
Let’s Go Brandon.” Quick thinking!
But that gave the “scum of the earth” an easy
way of cursing the President without actually doing so, as they have been doing
at various sporting events in some redneck parts of the country.
Just as “Let’s Go Brandon” became a euphemism
for “Fuck You, Biden,” so “Scum of the Earth” as I have just used it, is an apt
euphemism for the Republican Party and many of their ignorant and gullible
supporters. They are really deserving of that name. It is much more accurate than Hillary
Clinton’s more polite “deplorables” of four years ago.
They have even invoked “Brandon” in the halls
of Congress. I think they should hold
their next G.O.P. caucus, or perhaps even their next convention at a place like
the Talledega Speedway where there will be no one to shout much more pertinent
and deserving chants such as “Fuck You Mitch, or Fuck You Kevin or even, Fuck
You Donald!” That’s because when Republicans get together, only “the scum of
the earth” are in attendance.
JL
One of the explanations for Democratic losses in Tuesday’s election, which can be sensed in the writings of several pundits, is that they lost, particularly in the Virginia governorship race, because of “culture wars.” Specifically, Republicans attacked the myth of “Critical Race Theory” influencing our schools. Really, this was an appeal to racism.
Critical
Race Theory is a many decades-old academic theory in which college professors wrote about how
racism has affected our society, laws and behavior. It is not a curriculum taught in public
schools. Teachers, however, who studied a bit of American history in their
undergraduate years and who had never even heard of “Critical Race Theory” might
have come to the same conclusions.
Those I repeatedly refer to as “the ignorant and gullible,” however, see it as an insidious leftist conspiracy which has infiltrated our schools, resulting in their attacking school boards and demanding the removal of books which deal with racism from school libraries and curriculums.
Important Paragraph! Some pundits even go so far as contending that those taking a judgmental position in regard to 'the ignorant and gullible as I frequently do (or as I've done when I referred to Republican 'scum of the earth' above or Hillary's 2016 'deplorables') including with them the deluded parents demanding a book by Toni Morrison be removed from a school reading list, only serves to solidify them into a united class which together recognizes that those they consider the 'elite' are putting them down. And they don't like that. And it is reflected in the way they vote.
Another Important Paragraph! These are the battles in the “culture wars” and this is why
the Democrats lost the governorship in Virginia. And I wonder, do those who
think as I do, and write about things as they honestly see them, share some of the responsibility for that. Have we united them? Would it be better to avoid criticizing 'ignorance and gullibility' and let them ultimately be 'hoist by their own petard' as Shakespeare put it? Does calling them out for what they are, actually strengthen them? We could stop doing that, but going that route risks our already threatened democracy.
Coming up in a future blog posting: My formula for Democratic victory in 2022 and 2024.
BEFORE THE ATTACK
Law enforcement officials did not respond with urgency to a
cascade of warnings about violence on Jan. 6
·
Alerts were raised by local officials, FBI informants, social
media companies, former national security officials, researchers, lawmakers and
tipsters.
·
The FBI received numerous warnings about Jan. 6 but felt many of
the threatening statements were “aspirational” and could not be pursued. In one
tip on Dec. 20, a caller told the bureau that Trump supporters were making
plans online for violence against lawmakers in Washington, including a threat
against Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah). The agency concluded the information did not
merit further investigation and closed the case within 48 hours.
·
One of the biggest efforts to come out of Sept. 11, 2001 — a
national network of multi-agency intelligence centers — spotted a flood of Jan.
6 warnings, but federal agencies did not show much interest in its information.
·
The FBI limited its own understanding of how extremists were
mobilizing when it switched its social media monitoring service on the last
weekend of 2020.
Pentagon leaders had acute fears about widespread violence, and
some feared Trump could misuse the National Guard to remain in power
·
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy was left rattled by Trump’s firing of
senior Pentagon officials just after the election and sought to put guardrails
on deployment of the National Guard.
·
Then-acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller did not
believe Trump would misuse the military but worried that far-right extremists
could bait soldiers into “a Boston Massacre-type situation.” Their fears
contributed to a fateful decision to keep soldiers away from the Capitol on
Jan. 6.
The Capitol Police was disorganized and unprepared
·
The U.S. Capitol Police had been tracking threatening social media
posts for weeks but was hampered by poor communication and planning.
·
The department’s new head of intelligence concluded on Jan. 3 that
Trump supporters had grown desperate to overturn the election and “Congress
itself” would be the target. But then-Chief Steven Sund did not have that
information when he initiated a last-minute request to bring in National Guard
soldiers, one that was swiftly rejected.
Trump’s election lies radicalized his supporters in real time
·
As the president exerted pressure on state officials, the Justice
Department and his vice president to overturn the results, his public attacks
on the vote mobilized his supporters to immediately plot violent acts —
discussions that researchers watched unfold online.
DURING THE ATTACK
Escalating danger signs were in full view hours before the Capitol
attack but did not trigger a stepped-up security response
·
Hundreds of Trump supporters clashed with police at the Washington
Monument and the Lincoln Memorial on the morning of Jan. 6, some with shields
and gas masks, presaging the violence to come.
·
D.C. homeland security employees spotted piles of backpacks left
by rallygoers outside the area where the president would speak — a phenomenon
the agency had warned a week earlier could be a sign of concealed weapons.
Trump had direct warnings of the risks but stood by for 187
minutes before telling his supporters to go home
·
For more than three hours, the president resisted entreaties from House
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, other Republican lawmakers and numerous White
House advisers to urge the mob to disperse, a delay that contributed to
harrowing acts of violence.
His allies pressured Pence to reject the election results even
after the Capitol siege
·
John C. Eastman, an attorney advising Trump, emailed Pence’s
lawyer as a shaken Congress was reconvening to argue that the vice president
should still reject electors from Arizona and other states.
·
Earlier in the day, while the vice president, his family and aides
were hiding from the rioters, Eastman emailed Pence’s lawyer to blame the
violence on Pence’s refusal to block certification of Biden’s victory.
The FBI was forced to improvise a plan to help take back control
of the Capitol
·
After the breach, the bureau deployed three tactical teams that
were positioned nearby, but they were small, specialized teams and did not
bring overwhelming manpower.
·
As the riot escalated, acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen
scrambled to keep up with the deluge of calls from senior government officials
and desperate lawmakers.
·
Senior Justice Department officials were so uncertain of what was
occurring based on chaotic television images that Rosen’s top deputy, Richard
Donoghue, went to the Capitol in person to coordinate with lawmakers and law
enforcement agencies.
AFTER THE ATTACK
Republican efforts to undermine the 2020 election restarted
immediately after the Capitol attack
·
Eight days after the violence, state Republicans privately
discussed their intention to force a review of ballots cast in Maricopa County,
Ariz., setting
in motion a chaotic process that further sowed doubt in the results and a wave
of similar partisan investigations in other states.
False election claims by Trump that spurred the Capitol attack
have become a driving force in the Republican Party
·
Nearly a third of the 390 GOP candidates around the country who
have expressed interest in running for statewide office this cycle have
publicly supported a partisan audit of the 2020 vote, downplayed the Jan. 6
attack or directly questioned Biden’s victory.
·
They include 10 candidates running for secretary of state, a
position with sway over elections in many states.
Trump’s attacks have led to escalating threats of violence
·
Election officials in at least 17 states have collectively
received hundreds of threats to their personal safety or their lives since Jan.
6, with a concentration in the six states where Trump has focused his attacks
on the election results.
·
Ominous emails and calls have spiked immediately after the former
president and his allies raised new claims.
First responders are struggling with deep trauma
·
Those who tried to protect the Capitol are contending with serious
physical injuries, nightmares and intense anxiety. “Normal is gone,” said one
Capitol Police commander.
What do I have to say about it?
Despite the truths in the Washington Post investigation, the chances of the several major instigators of the January 6 insurrection being indicted and tried during their lifetimes are minimal.
As for the former president who seems to have been, according to the Post, at the heart of the matter, his chance of indictment is somewhat less than the chance of the Detroit Lions and the Miami Dolphins meeting in the next Super Bowl.
If by some fluke, however, that does happen, martial law will have to be declared in the United States to restrain his supporters, in which case democracy will be dead here. That's why it won't happen and he will get away with his acts of treason, walking away clean.
He won't even go on trial for treason as acquitted, but disgraced, Aaron Burr did in 1807. The same goes for his major supporters, even those in Congress, other than the innocent boobs who were conned into carrying out the attack on the Capitol.
Some Interesting Stuff
If you want to read some really interesting stuff, check out www.bariweiss@substack.com. Ms. Weiss, formerly with the New York Times, resigned after she felt the paper’s left-leaning policies went too far, tolerating material which until recently, would have been considered anti-Semitic.
While she didn't come out with that accusation, she certainly implied that it at least described some of her co-workers there, who were never called to task for it. I wouldn’t call her a
flaming liberal, but Ms. Weiss is not a conservative either, unless one defines
conservatism as preserving something good in our society.
JL
* * * *
n
In reviewing my recent comments on Medicare
choices, I’ve had the opportunity to visit numerous websites, including the
government’s as well as those of the private companies providing Part C
services and several articles commenting on them. I see a lot of “ifs” and “ands” and “buts” and
“maybes” requiring a Washington D.C. lawyer to interpret for those trying to
make a choice. The advice of a source
which serves to profit from your decision is not necessarily reliable.
Medical costs at older ages, say over 75, can
be tremendously expensive and assembling the monetary resources to pay for them
can be very burdensome for individuals and insurance programs, both private and
governmental. Eliminating these costs
from Medicare would make Medicare more manageable and less expensive in all of
its “Parts” because, as I see it, such claims (the ones submitted by those over age 75) would be gone. But the cost of the claims is
only half of the problem.
The other half of the problem is that we are
living longer. In 1960, life expectancy
in the United States was to about age 70.
Sixty years later, it was to about age 79, although there has been a
recent slight decline in life expectancy.
Such increased longevity results in many more people living to ages
where expensive healthcare is required, and medical advances enable them to
survive episodes which formerly would have ended their lives, to recover, and
be around to continue to routinely need expensive healthcare of one kind or
another.
(painting hanging in my home by my 89 year old elementary and high school buddy, Dr. Howard Silver)
So I am beginning to think that those over age 75 should be removed from Medicare and be treated separately.
Let me throw out an idea. If we did that, Medicare Parts A and the
portion of Part B insureds don’t pay for would cost the government less. Medicare Part C plans and Medicare Supplement
policies would also cost less once they did not have to include those over age
75 who are increasing in number and who incur large medical expenses in the last years of their lives.
But then, how do we provide health insurance
for those over age 75, if they are removed from Medicare? Private companies would not be able to price
the cost of health insurance exclusively for them within reason. It would be far, far, far, too
expensive. The answer is that the
government must do it. Rather than continuing
to share those high expenses incurred by those over age 75 with everyone else over
age 65 who is on Medicare, making Medicare more costly for all, the government
should step in and set up a special program for those over age 75.
Let’s call it “Post-Medicare Care” and it would have to
be a “single-payer” plan totally managed by the government, as is Social
Security. To start with, they’ll have the
money freed up for the government to use because their actuaries could forget about
the morbidity (a term loosely defined as the percentage of those “getting
sick”) of those over age 75 who would no longer be on Medicare at all.
But much more money than that would be needed. "Post-Medicare Care" would require increased taxes on the income and on the wealth of those at the top of our economic pyramid to successfully operate. Business and corporate taxes would pay increased taxes too. Such “Post-Medicare Care” would have minimal deductibles and co-insurance features and come close to being at no cost to those over age 75.
Its final cost to our economy, in new taxes
as mentioned above, will be the price the country will have to pay for the increase in longevity of Americans
and the life extending medical advances which makes that possible. And
it would leave those not over age 75 with better and less costly health
insurance alternatives.
Remember, right now Americans already pay more, in premiums and taxation, for health care on a per capita basis than it costs in other Western industrialized countries, and do not get the comprehensive coverage that is present in the UK, France and Germany for example. No one sits up nights worrying about paying doctor bills there. That happens "Only in America." We pay more and get less for our money. A redistribution of the money we are already allocating for health care in our economy might reduce the need for the additional taxes "Post-Medicare Care" will necessitate.
This is just an idea, but something in this direction is needed or Medicare will collapse.
As some of you may know, I follow and sometimes
comment on “Letters From an American,” the daily report posted by Boston College
history professor Heather Cox Richardson.
Today, she pointed out, is the anniversary of the market crash of 1929
which initiated the Great Depression which was ultimately eased by FDR’s New
Deal, and ended by World War Two.
Another
commenter remarked that what HCR wrote was “a
lesson to those who have no clue how the Republicans are jeopardizing economic
recovery and stimulus.”
To that, I responded “They will never learn. You can't teach an
old dog new tricks. Their anti-labor positions, their ties to Evangelical
groups but mostly, their racism, blinds them and may give them enough votes,
legally or otherwise, to put them back in control in 2022 and 2024, after which
we will have to repeat this entire cycle.”
That could lead to another 1929 market crash, Great Depression,
and leave us waiting for another FDR.
My last comment was, in part, based on the thoughts of Nobel prize-winning
economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
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