I never cease to be amazed at the arguments on this issue and sometimes for the unreasonable judgments coming from both sides of the coin.
What many fail to see here is that the only difference between an Obama -Biden ticket and a McCain-Palin ticket will be what is tabled or swept under the table.
The healthcare in this country for all but a few has been on a fast ride down the mountain for decades. My Stepfather was an MD. When he died in 1984 I had the joy of going in and against my greater desires doing all of the accounting to close out that office practice.
I looked at what money came in the door and I looked at what or how much went out the door. Standard Accounting practices easily proved that my Stepfather and Mother were not millionaires, nor with the trends at the time, would that be something likely to happen at all.
What was initially proposed was a place where free market competition would force inprovements or force private insurance carriers out of business. Nobody was planning on forcing private carriers out of business, the plan was to create a government based plan to compete against them.
What then came out in the barrage of baloney was that we were going to have government run health care for everybody. That statement was absolutely false and was designed to try and get the American People which are proving their loss of intelligence and increasing stupidity every day.
Private Corporate interests and those they control have learned that a successful campaign of complete disinformation will convince people of nearly anything.
The next thing that has taken place is that PAC's and Lobbiests for private insurance carriers have courted every vote they can get in order to defeat anything that would remove the monopoly and poor service we now have.
Most forget the one basic tenant in health care. Insurance Companies are publically held corporations with stock and stockholders. They have very highly paid CEO's and Corporate Officers. If the stock does not pay dividends to the stockholders the confidence in the CEO's declines and they can find themselves being replaced. The dividends are determined by the profit margins that that the Corporation has at the end of their financial year. In the past fourty years the emphasis in heatlth care is no longer the care of the insurance subscribers, the emphasis in that industry is now completely directed towards the corporate profits with little return on investment.
What these CEO's and Companies are seeking now is "ultimate power" where they dictate what improved health care will be. Anyone thinking that leaving the foxes in charge of the hen house is a good thing is either delusional or just plain stupid. Yet, many of our more conservative elected officials want to do just this.
When both parties made their choices for candidates for President, I groaned. On the conservative side we had a man who even by his own admission had voted with individuals who had made the greatest contribution to economic ruin in world history. To back him up and in fear of Hillary Clinton, the running mate that was chosen by the party was a dynamic effervescent airhead who had ties through marriage to "big oil", who had a questionable performance as Alaska Governor and who in her way of thinking also resembled the outgoing President.
John McCain was a liability because of his age and the pressure of the job. The running mate did not impress Americans. The vote was for the "other guy".
Of all of the more moderate or "progressive" candidates I saw available the last I would have picked personally was Barak Obama. He was an unknown on many levels, his name and background would make him a "target" his bi-racial heritage would be a rally to good for some and a rally to bad for others. Yet, he was in fact a brilliant man in his life in public service. His forte was for negotiation and listening to all sides before making judgment calls. What he failed to understand is that in his case the opposition only cared about what was good for Corporate America and the American citizens do not count in any manner. In the eyes of Corporate America the American Citizens can be influenced by disinformation so all we have to do is open the "disinformation" box, and kill anything good that the "progresive" individuals try and do.
The beginning of the decline in Health Care actually started during the Presidential Administration of Richard M. Nixon and has continued with promises from both sides in all of the administrations to follow.
The disasters of Wall Street and the high risk behavior also started many years ago. In order to be able to thwart common sense, Wall Street had to have people in regulatory positions that would turn their back on the whole thing and do nothing. If we look at that, the greatest percentage of people doing that were appointed by conservative adminstrations.
President Barak Obama is with little doubt one of the most embattled U.S. Presidents since that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. What is sad here is that if you look at all of the things that happened which caused the crash and burn of 1929, you will see the same kind of behaviors and policies that caused our present situation.
Today information and disinformation technology is such that "special interst groups" (boy I hate those words) have greater power than ever before.
Most of the citizens of America want change. Most of Corporate America wants no change at all and they in addition want no watchdogs or regulations as to what they are doing.
The blame for the State of America goes not to Barak Obama, the blame for the State of America goes to all of us, It goes to the United States citizens who do not take the time to read the proposals and to those citizens who believe anything out of the mouths of any media outlet be it print, broadcast or via the Internet.
Early on in this thread a "Generation XYZ" blamed the "baby-boomers" for the plight we are in. Junior, I am sorry to inform you that if your generation had something constructive to offer and would bother to get out and vote, you would have then earned the right to criticize another generation. Also get your facts right. Most of the people who have created this by age are not "baby boomers". Most of those are people who placed money above all else and those came with the generations to follow.
This mess has been "under construction" with numerous political adminstrations over the last 40 years. Discussion of Universal Health Care started at the same time Medicare was formed and that was under the Administration of Lyndon B. Johnson. It was ignored by Nixon, it was ignored by Carter, it was ignored by Reagan, it was ignored by George H.W. Bush, it was ignored completely by everyone and shoved under the table until William Jefferson Clinton came in to office. Clinton was stonewalled and learned very quickly the power of those fighting for the status quo and Corporate Profits. He became imbattled and stupid when he let "weenie one" find it's way into a dumb girl who was used by his enemies to embroil his entire administration in controversy.
The basic logistics of the United States Congress and the United States Senate are such that even if the most brilliant solutions to healt care problems were proposed, it will take a minimum of two-years to take them anywhere.
Barak Obama has been in office a total of 10 months as of this point.
I feel that this man is trying, I however disagree completely with his approach as he refuses to get out the bat and play "hard-ball".
Barak Obama is not responsible for the National Debt and government spending. Again we need to look at the previous eight years to see who the culprits were there.
We need to take some time, do research and support change in all parts of the health care industry. Most importantly, we cannot allow the abusers and con artists to continue to run things as they have in the past.
The most important part however is that change does not start with a President or a Senator or Congressperson. Change starts with you and with me. As long as we "buy" political rhetoric presented as fact, and as long as we care more about special interests than we do about the American People the road we are on will never change. Corporate America will guarantee that fact.
