Will America Hand the Election Back to Barack?

With about 60 hours to go before the votes are in for the President of the United States, a dread is coming over the Democrats as if some underlying deviousness will come from somewhere to steal the election away from where the polls are pointing. If Barack has such a lead in Ohio going into the election, will he not win? I have watched our nation flip-flop every two years lately like a stock market bubbling in a narrow range just waiting to break out one direction or another. Without a clear direction from either candidate, I see no reason why this simmering won’t continue.

Barack had his chance with the entire Congress to focus on JOBS and he wasted his bullets as far as the unemployed were concerned. Never mind that he actually got the ball rolling on the critical factor that is bankrupting our country, healthcare. Whether or not it was the right answer, it was an answer, and no Congress after Obamacare can return America to the stench that was our healthcare system before it. Hooray for the President for moving that mountain.

The Tea Party seemed a vibrant choice to focus on JOBS if Barack would not, even if their election mantra was on lowering the deficit. Given the chance to break out, they instead held the nation hostage over the debt ceiling and, more importantly, applied nefarious tactics to break the unions, including the teacher’s union.

America’s middle knows unions somehow are missing how their membership has not steered itself toward helping America right itself. We understood why attacks occurred on Unions in Wisconsin and Ohio. We just didn’t think the rationale and tactics smelled right. But kudos to the Tea Party for at least focusing the nation on such out of whack salaries and pensions. And no one can claim that America can ever return to a time when we simply accept such ridiculous Congressional spending without question after the last debt ceiling episode. So our hats are off in gratitude to the Tea Party. BUT where was their focus on JOBS?

So is it any wonder that Ohio apparently leans toward turning back toward the President, and that we may once again flip-flop back in this election. If this occurs with such an awful economy staring us in the face, with such abysmal ongoing Keynesian economics attempts by the Fed, and with the current administration’s lack of any real jobs ideas of substance, this is a “Big F…. deal” as my friend Joe Biden would say.

Mr. President, if Ohio hands you one more chance, BREAK OUT. Don’t allow America to simmer in disbelief that no Party cares for our economic blight. BE BOLD. Focus, for a little while at least, on the unemployed, who desperately need our country to recover. Fixing America for the unemployed will fix it for the employed and employers alike. Fixing America for the middle class, will fix America’s future for all classes.

Do not believe this current Western paradigm that structural unemployment is a necessity of Western economies. Focus on busting the international arbitrage that is spiraling us into structural unemployment. America can become competitive if our brand of capitalism realigns business with the American people. Look at my jobs program. You can find it on thrivingpath.com.

A hegemonic empire is a terrible thing to waste. If you get a second chance, don’t…

For the Sake of America’s Health and Jobs, Congress Must Debate Healthcare Again

As the courts decide the fate of Obamacare, the hard work of congress regarding a comprehensive healthcare policy must begin again.  America cannot afford for Congress to wait when America’s health is at stake.  And waiting also has the foreboding consequence of continuiing our downward economic spiral and loss of jobs.

As a result, Congress must first decide how much of our budget can support healthcare. No more than 10% of GDP is needed for government to support America’s economic growth. Today, we tax America 28% of GDP and borrow an additional 13% of GDP. The additional 31% goes to military, interest, and the redistribution of America’s wealth to improve the lives of Americans.

A consequence of spending more than 10% of GDP is that supplying today’s needs reduces the economic output and social spending of future generations. Our budget now demonstrates both the overwhelming desire of Americans to care for our own, and our inability to pay for our altruism. For every dollar our government spends, we borrow 40 cents from future Americans that will also want to meet the social needs of their citizens. Before we resolve healthcare, we must agree on a sustainable social care budget, the priority of our causes, and the amount available for healthcare. This amount combined with private contributions must meet our healthcare needs.

Then we must set about reducing costs to meet revenues. For instance, government has placed restrictions on revenue aggregation that are unnecessary burdens. Both political parties have advanced methods to reduce these costs. Compromise should float best ideas to the top.

Prevention must be on the legislative table. America’s habits promote peculiarly western major disease processes. Sugar, corn syrup, and processed fats industries promote an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart and vascular disease and strokes. Cigarettes help a quarter of our country to die extended, painful COPD deaths. Our dependence on pharmaceuticals precipitates growth of resistant bacteria.

Cultural decisions should not necessarily be a burden to all Americans and need prioritizing in the healthcare budget. Our disconnection with our elderly has escalated institutional costs. Our striving to extend lifespan has led us to spend a majority of healthcare costs on the last few years of life.

Competition must be allowed to drive costs down. Americans are rightly skeptical that capitalism will lead to corporate profits at the expense of our health. We have too many examples such as insurers culling unhealthy persons from the pool of insured, leaving the very people who need insurance without the ability to pay for their care. Much more competition balanced with thoughtful regulations is required. The alternative is a healthcare system marred by cost controls, leading to shortages of quality care.

American healthcare is dominated by a medical cartel that limits supply of doctors, limits procedures that can be performed by lesser educated personnel, and limits information needed for the average American to make good financial decisions regarding their health. To truly have competition, doctors must loosen their grip on access to medical schools, and permit more procedures to be performed by others. In the process, our medical professionals must be protected from our litigious society’s need to blame inaccurate medical science for the natural course of life.

Information must become transparent. We need knowledge of physicians’ capability to manage the health of their constituents just as we need knowledge of school teachers’ ability to teach. Our fractured healthcare industry also needs to aggregate information to increase up front spending that will decrease long term costs and to reward industry participants for achieving this outcome. 

These problems are certainly looming but not insurmountable. However, both parties must subordinate the interrelated goals of their special interests to America’s goal of providing all Americans access to a healthy life, and must work together to put the best ideas of both sides of the aisle to work on behalf of all of us.