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POPSAn Election Without Meaning Props, gossip, accusations, and public relations. It is impression management from a candidates’ perspective. How can we fool the most people into believing that we stand for something? It is billions of dollars of gravy for the media folks and continued profit maximization for the war machine, Wall Street, and insurance companies, no matter who is determined the winner in November.
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POPSAnyone Remember the Cost of The Wars? Estimates of the true long-term costs of the President's war of choice, including payments of health care and veterans benefits into the distant future, soar into the budgetary stratosphere. They range from the Congressional Budget Office's $1-2 trillion to an estimate by economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes of up to $4-5 trillion. So we're talking somewhere between one-and-a-half and seven bailouts-worth of taxpayer dollars flowing into the morass of disaster, corruption, and carnage in Iraq. As Chalmers Johnson, author most recently of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, the final volume of his Blowback Trilogy, has pointed out for years, the Pentagon, the military-industrial complex, and America's wars are in the process of bankrupting us.
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POPSMcCain's Earmark Distraction McCain's earmark obsession doesn't really amount to squat in the grand scheme of things. It's just that "$3 million to study the DNA of bears in Montana" isn't much of a moving target -- it's easy to point out stuff like that and say that's the be-all and end-all of wasteful spending. Meanwhile, we're pouring money down a rathole in some godforsaken desert and are on the verge of handing over a $700 billion reward for failure and stupidity. Attacking one degree out of a 360 degree pie chart isn't going to do a damned thing, John. Nice try, though.
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POPSSocial welfare programs do not keep a country from prosperity
The Nordic states have also worked to keep social expenditures compatible with an open, competitive, market-based economic system. Tax rates on capital are relatively low. Labor market policies pay low-skilled and otherwise difficult-to-employ individuals to work in the service sector, in key quality-of-life areas such as child care, health, and support for the elderly and disabled. The results for the households at the bottom of the income distribution are astoundingly good, especially in contrast to...American social policy. The U.S. spends less than almost all rich countries on social services for the poor and disabled, and it gets what it pays for: the highest poverty rate among the rich countries and an exploding prison population. Actually, by shunning public spending on health, the U.S. gets much less than it pays for, because its dependence on private health care has led to a ramshackle system that yields mediocre results at very high costs.
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POPSThe Genetic Early Adopters Knome is at the forefront of the push toward so-called personalized medicine. Scientists and physicians hope that when sequencing costs come down enough, genetic analysis will become a ubiquitous part of health care, helping doctors choose the best treatments for a specific patient, or helping individuals take steps to prevent diseases for which they are at risk.
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POPSNo news isn't good news For small businesses = getting candidates attention or getting them to speak up about how they'll help the small business community hasn't been easy. One reason - despite the large number of small businesses, oftentimes, they don't have a clear stance on the issues. The NFIB, typically more conservative though definitely not in all respect, represents one of the US's largest lobbying groups and it reaches a wide group at very much a grassroots level. Still there even on issues like health care, it's difficult to suss out exactly what all small businesses want. Same goes for taxes... The NFIB has a position and a huge membership base but it's unclear how much its membership votes the "NFIB" line.
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POPSPalin For Vice President: Palin on the Issues
SMALL BUSINESS – “As Mayor and CEO of the booming city of Wasilla, my team invited investment and encouraged business growth by eliminating small business inventory taxes, eliminated personal property taxes, reduced real property tax mill levies every year I was in office, reduced fees, and built the infrastructure our businesses needed to grow and prosper.” MILITARY - “I respect our military personnel and understand the importance of Alaska's National Guard. As I watched our military men and women being deployed I recognized how important it is for their families to know how much Alaska and America support them.” HEALTH CARE – “I support flexibility in government regulations that allow competition in health care that is needed, and is proven to be good for the consumer, which will drive down health care costs and reduce the need for government subsidies. I also support patients in their rightful demands to have access to full medical billing information.”
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POPSGov. Sarah Palin: On The Issues New Alaska Governor Is Strong Conservative Economy: She supports reducing property taxes and taxes for small businesses to grow the economy. Climate: However, she has been a vocal critic of scientists who suggest that climate change is leading to the decrease in polar bears in Alaska. She has also threatened to sue to have polar bears not listed as a threatened species. Immigration: Being that her state only borders Canada and is thousands of miles from the Mexican border, Palin has not often expressed her views publicly on illegal immigration. Health Care: According to her campaign Web site, Palin supports flexibility in government regulations that allow competition in health care. She believes it will drive down health care costs and reduce the need for government subsidies. Palin also feels patients should have access to full medical billing information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXzY1FvYpnE YouTube: 10:19
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POPSJust Say No To Socialized Medicine True, other developed nations may spend less on health care as a percentage of gross domestic product than the United States does — but so does Sudan. Without considering value, such statistical evaluations are worthless. And one of the primary reasons health care costs more in America is that we are a wealthy country that demands the best. And, we’re investing a lot more in medical research. The United States produces over half of the $175 billion in health care technology products purchased globally. In 2004, the federal government funded medical research to the tune of $18.4 billion. By contrast, the European Union — which has a significantly larger population than the United States — allocated funds equal to just $3.7 billion for medical research.
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POPSCorporate Medicine Is Bad Medicine
71% of physicians believe managed care compromises patient care. 80% of Americans believe profit considerations compromise quality of care. The Health Care Finance Administration calculates that the United States would save enough money administering our health care system through a single payer to provide health care for the 44 million uninsured, while avoiding managed care and allowing free choice of providers. The result of this government-business agreement is that corporations make large profits, recipients get poorer care, for-profits appear to be able to offer services for less than the private sector, and politicians can claim they are saving money by "privatizing" (read "corporatizing"). This serves politicians and corporations, but people pay the price. The root ethical problem with corporate medicine is its abandonment of the ethos of traditional medicine, in which the needs of the patient are placed above the needs of the caregiver, in favor of an ethos of profit.
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POPSFear Of Change "First, the Democrats have to win the election — and win it by enough to face down Republicans, who are still, 42 years after Medicare went into operation, denouncing “socialized medicine.” Second, they have to overcome the public’s fear of change. " "One more thing: if we do get real health care reform, a lot of people will owe a debt of gratitude to none other than John Edwards. When Mr. Edwards dropped out of the presidential race, I credited him with making universal health care a “possible dream for the next administration.” Mr. Edwards’s political career is over — but perhaps he and his family can take some solace from the fact that his party is still trying to make that dream come true."
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POPSSan Francisco Fights Border Crime? San Francisco received more SWBPI grant money in 2006 than Los Angeles County or San Diego County which do have bona fide border problems. As a result, we found that all of the SWBPI reimbursements submitted by San Francisco were not supported. In other words, San Franciso officials apparently submitted made-up data to document the expenditure of funds since it had apparently no records for "real" cases. Perhaps there are no "real" cases because the official policy of the City is not ask anyone if they are in the country illegally. According to the San Francisco Chronicle Federal officials say they will ask San Francisco to repay the $5.4 million the city has received as part of the program, but they have not determined how to go about it. This audit comes on the heels of a TV, radio and billboard public relations effort by the City to encourage illegal aliens to relocate to San Francisco where they can receive schooling, health care and other benefits.
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POPSThe 'Healthy' Office Of The Future In recent years companies have been putting a lot of time, effort and money into encouraging their employees to get fit and, more important, cut health care costs. But does the next step include a re-engineering of the typical office? It could happen sooner than you think. Dr. James Levine, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist, is reporting that after six months, 18 employees in an office with walking tracks, desks attached to treadmills and games lost 156 pounds - an average of eight pounds each. Perhaps even more interesting - despite the lack of traditional desks and seating - no productivity was lost and revenue, in fact, rose.
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POPS86 Percent Of Americans Could Be Overweight Or Obese By 2030 “The health care costs attributable to obesity and overweight are expected to more than double every decade. This would account for 15 to 17 percent of total health care costs spent,” Wang says. “Due to the assumptions we made and the limitations of the available data, these figures are likely an underestimation of the true financial impact.”
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POPSUSA's Unhealthy Health Care Rating **Up to 100,000 fewer people would die from causes that could have been prevented by good health care if the US achieved the lower mortality rates of leading countries **Thirty-seven million more adults would have an accessible primary care provider, and 70 million more adults would receive all recommended preventive care **The Medicare program could potentially save at least $12 billion a year by reducing hospital readmissions or by reducing hospitalizations for preventable conditions. **Reducing health insurance administrative costs to the average level of countries with mixed private/public insurance systems (Germany, Netherlands, and Switzerland) would free up $51 billion annually, or more than half the cost of providing comprehensive coverage to all the uninsured in the US. Reaching the lowest rate benchmarks (2 to 3 % of national health expenditures spent on adm. costs) set by the lowest countries Finland, Japan, and Australia—could save an estimated $102 billion per yea
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