It's hard to believe that after the recent financial collapse, which the American public seemed to pin on big business and wall street, and if anything an under active government, that on health care we still seem to love our employment based for profit for big company health insurance system.....and we hate our government getting involved.
This cultural and political consciousness runs deep. What would it take to duplicate the anti monopoly and anti big business populist movements of the past? I wish I knew.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Health Care - The Cost of Doing Nothing
Excellent Article in today's New York Times Week in Review by Reed Abelson.
Points out how predicted increases in health care costs (assuming no reforms passed) will screw the nation:
1.Total agreement among economists and health care experts that medical costs will continue to rise and outpace inflation and the average person's income over the next decade.
"It is a course that is literally bankrupting the fedral government and businesses and indivduals across the country" Peter V. Lee of Pacific Business Group on Health
2.. "It's also cramping our economic growth." Frank McArdie Hewitt Associates
3. More businesses will not offer health insurance.
4. People without health insurance will rise by one million per year.
5. Estimates 275,000 people will die in next decade because of not having insurance.
6. States will be forced to cut medicaid benefits sharply, cut community health centers and state hospitals.
The article concludes that small steps won't help much. It also sttes that if Nixon's proposed health care reform had passed, the nation would be spending hundreds of billions of dollars less per year on health care. If Clinto's plan had passed, Americans would be spending $500 billion less per year.
Should there be any urgency Here? You bet!
Points out how predicted increases in health care costs (assuming no reforms passed) will screw the nation:
1.Total agreement among economists and health care experts that medical costs will continue to rise and outpace inflation and the average person's income over the next decade.
"It is a course that is literally bankrupting the fedral government and businesses and indivduals across the country" Peter V. Lee of Pacific Business Group on Health
2.. "It's also cramping our economic growth." Frank McArdie Hewitt Associates
3. More businesses will not offer health insurance.
4. People without health insurance will rise by one million per year.
5. Estimates 275,000 people will die in next decade because of not having insurance.
6. States will be forced to cut medicaid benefits sharply, cut community health centers and state hospitals.
The article concludes that small steps won't help much. It also sttes that if Nixon's proposed health care reform had passed, the nation would be spending hundreds of billions of dollars less per year on health care. If Clinto's plan had passed, Americans would be spending $500 billion less per year.
Should there be any urgency Here? You bet!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Anti-war = anti-soldier for Vietnam?
Just saw a Rambo move end with Stallone wishing for America to love its soldiers as much as they loved their country. The common wisdom is that returning soldiers were shunned by an anti-war public leading to bitterness and scars. Who wouldn't feel horrible and betrayed if that was what you experienced as a returning Vietnam soldier.
I can say with all honesty that in nearly ten years in the Anti Vietnam war movement, I never experienced, heard, or sensed one bit of hostility to the men who fought the war. Our wish was to save not spurn them. They were brave victims of that war.
If that is what returning soldiers experienced, I can't say when or where it happened because I never saw it happen.
How to make sense of that???
Does it seem that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are already more doubtful about the war they fought, and so are less damaged by the public's ambivalence?
I can say with all honesty that in nearly ten years in the Anti Vietnam war movement, I never experienced, heard, or sensed one bit of hostility to the men who fought the war. Our wish was to save not spurn them. They were brave victims of that war.
If that is what returning soldiers experienced, I can't say when or where it happened because I never saw it happen.
How to make sense of that???
Does it seem that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are already more doubtful about the war they fought, and so are less damaged by the public's ambivalence?
Benny from post earthquake Chile
It took 13 hours after the earthquake to hear from the family. Luckily I was asleep for the first five....Paul
Hey just letting you know were fine. Still in Chiloe far from the
quake. Neither of us even felt it, although many people around here
did. The highways closed in a lot of places and the airport is closed.
Mom is scheduled to get home Friday morning now (leave thurrsday) but
thats assuming that they dont delay the reopenings even more (which is
a big assumption). Ive only talked to a few people, so I dont know how
my friends are. A lot of buildings in Curico were destroyed and some
people died but I know very few specifics. My host family was in
Concepcion (really close to thee quake) so Im worried about them. We
are fine though, just figuring out what to do till thursday and seeing
how things come together.
Love,
Benny
Hey just letting you know were fine. Still in Chiloe far from the
quake. Neither of us even felt it, although many people around here
did. The highways closed in a lot of places and the airport is closed.
Mom is scheduled to get home Friday morning now (leave thurrsday) but
thats assuming that they dont delay the reopenings even more (which is
a big assumption). Ive only talked to a few people, so I dont know how
my friends are. A lot of buildings in Curico were destroyed and some
people died but I know very few specifics. My host family was in
Concepcion (really close to thee quake) so Im worried about them. We
are fine though, just figuring out what to do till thursday and seeing
how things come together.
Love,
Benny
roz from chile post earthquake
dear familly and friends
writing to you from Chiloe, an island quite far froom the epicenter. we are lucky to be here as we are very safe there is no evidence of the earthquake other than power wass out for awhile and we have not yet found a functioning ATM. Just now got into a hotel with a tv so we are seeing what is happening which is quite catastroprhic. We were at an eco tourist area, very remote last nite, when it struck. We did not feel anything but another guest said she did feel her cabin moving. Benny got a call from a friend in curico who told himabout the earthquake . The place where we were lost interntet and elec so we couldnt contact people. So we went kayaking and the ironic thing is this place Chepu, is known for the rivers of sunken forests which were a result of the ocean pouring into the river because of the last earthquaske of 1960 which was the worst ever recorded . When you travel here, so often there is information about the reconstruction since that earthquake.
Benny tried contacting his new host family. it is worrisome because they are in concepcion tvacationing and gettting their daughter set up for college there . It is really close to the epicenter. He only reached a worker at the family house so far whof gave vague infromation, sounding like they are "more or less ok". His town has had quite a bit of damage, As far as I understand , I think about 200 people have died in chile. It is really a modern country and they seem equipped to deal with the problems, in contrast to Haiti.
But the main corridor road North/south is closed in a lot of areas because of fallen roads and bridges. We had bus tickets to go to Santiago tonite but there will not be busses going there for the next couple days, at least. There were some bldgs. collapsed at the airport which is closed at least for 2 days. I was supposed to leave tomorrow but was given a flight for Thursday, as the first possibility. We returned to the main town , Ancud, at the north end of the island to be closer to civilization and to find out more about what is happening and try to figure out a new plan. Benny is relieved to just now hear that the new famiily is fine.
I'm wondering if we will be able to help out anywhere in the next few days. So I have at least 5 more days here in Chile...life is sure unpredictable. We are lucky that we didn't leave last nite or we could have been on a bus right by the epicenter when it happened.
Tonite we plan to go to a bar iin honor of Purim, where we will have pisco sours!
Thanks for yo0ur caring and we send love from here in Chille. rozy
writing to you from Chiloe, an island quite far froom the epicenter. we are lucky to be here as we are very safe there is no evidence of the earthquake other than power wass out for awhile and we have not yet found a functioning ATM. Just now got into a hotel with a tv so we are seeing what is happening which is quite catastroprhic. We were at an eco tourist area, very remote last nite, when it struck. We did not feel anything but another guest said she did feel her cabin moving. Benny got a call from a friend in curico who told himabout the earthquake . The place where we were lost interntet and elec so we couldnt contact people. So we went kayaking and the ironic thing is this place Chepu, is known for the rivers of sunken forests which were a result of the ocean pouring into the river because of the last earthquaske of 1960 which was the worst ever recorded . When you travel here, so often there is information about the reconstruction since that earthquake.
Benny tried contacting his new host family. it is worrisome because they are in concepcion tvacationing and gettting their daughter set up for college there . It is really close to the epicenter. He only reached a worker at the family house so far whof gave vague infromation, sounding like they are "more or less ok". His town has had quite a bit of damage, As far as I understand , I think about 200 people have died in chile. It is really a modern country and they seem equipped to deal with the problems, in contrast to Haiti.
But the main corridor road North/south is closed in a lot of areas because of fallen roads and bridges. We had bus tickets to go to Santiago tonite but there will not be busses going there for the next couple days, at least. There were some bldgs. collapsed at the airport which is closed at least for 2 days. I was supposed to leave tomorrow but was given a flight for Thursday, as the first possibility. We returned to the main town , Ancud, at the north end of the island to be closer to civilization and to find out more about what is happening and try to figure out a new plan. Benny is relieved to just now hear that the new famiily is fine.
I'm wondering if we will be able to help out anywhere in the next few days. So I have at least 5 more days here in Chile...life is sure unpredictable. We are lucky that we didn't leave last nite or we could have been on a bus right by the epicenter when it happened.
Tonite we plan to go to a bar iin honor of Purim, where we will have pisco sours!
Thanks for yo0ur caring and we send love from here in Chille. rozy
Monday, February 22, 2010
Can the music world be mean, demean?
My last chicago blues group was in NYC. I was working at the NY Dept of City Planning and living on East 7th St between Avenues C and D. I lived on the sixth floor (walkup.) The apartment was two bedrooms, was rent controlled and rent was $188. The way you got a bargain like that in NYC was to pay "key money" for a rent controlled apartment like this. Key money in this case was $500. The neat thing in this apartment was the kitchen wall had been stripped to the brick, so it looked can of old fashioned.
At a political benefit I met two young black panther party members....probably around 18, certainly under 21. They were both guitar players, one lead and other loved to play rhythm. This was unusual, since most rhythm guitar players hungered to play lead. The rhythm player was Nyle Rogers. You'll see him appear on lots of "best 100 soul sound" series on TV. He was famous for being Madonna's first producer. We played Chicago blues. I think we sounded pretty good. Well gigs were hard to come by. I remember once at an after hours club on Canal Street. This club opened at something like 2:00 a.m. after regular bars closed. I believe the place was also equipped with a gallows for some S&M nights.
So now to my last gig. We got a gig on 125th Street....most famous street in Harlem. It turned out, however, that this was way east and in Spanish (not black) Harlem. So we are excited because we had 5 nights steady work. So we set up and nobodoy's there. They say play anyway. The only people who came into the club that night walked past us with heads down, walked to the rear of the club, disappeared into a room, and came out and exited 20 minutes later. Nobody, I mean no one, even looked at us. Chicago Blues in a Latin club. No attention to music. It didn't take too long for us to figure out we werent' hired for our music, but to be window dressing covering whatever drugs were being sold in the back room. That was a really horrible feeling. I think we bailed out of the job, I bailed out of the band, and that was it for me and rock and roll. Could a musician get much lower????
At a political benefit I met two young black panther party members....probably around 18, certainly under 21. They were both guitar players, one lead and other loved to play rhythm. This was unusual, since most rhythm guitar players hungered to play lead. The rhythm player was Nyle Rogers. You'll see him appear on lots of "best 100 soul sound" series on TV. He was famous for being Madonna's first producer. We played Chicago blues. I think we sounded pretty good. Well gigs were hard to come by. I remember once at an after hours club on Canal Street. This club opened at something like 2:00 a.m. after regular bars closed. I believe the place was also equipped with a gallows for some S&M nights.
So now to my last gig. We got a gig on 125th Street....most famous street in Harlem. It turned out, however, that this was way east and in Spanish (not black) Harlem. So we are excited because we had 5 nights steady work. So we set up and nobodoy's there. They say play anyway. The only people who came into the club that night walked past us with heads down, walked to the rear of the club, disappeared into a room, and came out and exited 20 minutes later. Nobody, I mean no one, even looked at us. Chicago Blues in a Latin club. No attention to music. It didn't take too long for us to figure out we werent' hired for our music, but to be window dressing covering whatever drugs were being sold in the back room. That was a really horrible feeling. I think we bailed out of the job, I bailed out of the band, and that was it for me and rock and roll. Could a musician get much lower????
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