The Republican Medicare Myth

For Pretty Much the Whole Year since the world economy fell apart under the stewardship of former President George W. Bush, the Hot Air Force of Conservative American media combined with congressional and gubernatorial Republicans have taken what pleasure they can find in shooting slings and arrows at current President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress.

It's Like Shooting Donkeys in a Barrel, on the one hand.

But on the Other Hand, any self-respecting American elephant with a sincere interest in advancing the American Way of Life would find embarrassment in the economic and political state that those years of Republican Rule skidded America into. Such persons would have worked a bit harder to help put things back in order, and would have shown less relish in trying to foist their own failures onto their political opposition.

Listening to the Likes of the Republican Leadership such as House Minority Leader John Boehner and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor stand up and take partisan potshots at Democrats has been a transparent effort to make fun of Democrats for the mess that the Republicans made and left for the rest of the free world.

The Republicans Have Forgotten that the purpose of politics is not to score points, but to run the country. And sometimes that means putting ideology aside.

Since the Early Days of Medicare back in 1965, the Republicans have led the charges against this program essential for helping to keep senior citizens out of financial ruin in their twilight years.

“Socialized Medicine!” has been the Republican verdict all these years. “It's too expensive!” they have yelled. Even as this “socialist” program has grown to become one of the Nation's most-popular government programs ever.

In a Recent Posting on Our Companion Blog, Ideology Aside, Gozo Usa analyzes how the apparent failures of Medicare on a fiscally responsible basis result from Republican obstructionism, and not from any flaw inherent in the system. Writes Usa,

[S]ince 1965, for almost 45 years, the Republicans have worked to keep it so that the most-expensive health care that can be paid for, is paid for out of your pocket and mine.....The Republicans have made sure that Medicare is almost-impossible for America to afford.....[They] have worked for almost 45 years to kill Medicare. It’s time to put this destructive Republican ideology aside.

The Problem with Being Reactionary is that you can only do your best work when the other side sticks its neck out and tries new things. Such as Social Security and civil rights and voting rights and Medicare.....AKA “socialized medicine.”

It's Time to Put “Ideology Aside” and include America's low-risk, low-cost population in the high-risk, high-cost health-insurance pool.

In the Long Run, America Eventually Will Join the rest of the developed world, along with the not-so-developed world, and provide universal health care that the whole of the Nation can afford.

In the Mean Time, America Needs a “Public Option.” We don't need to reinvent the wheel of universal healthcare coverage, when so many different plans around the world show us what works and what doesn't. We can pick and choose, learning from the rest of the world's mistakes. We will come up with the world's best universal coverage, combining capitalism's best practices to make healthcare affordable, once and for all. But in the mean time, America needs that “public option.”

Please Read the Entire Post at Ideology Aside:

Democrats Want Health Care That’s Affordable; Republicans Want Medicare to Die

And Then Let Your Elected Officials Know, one way or the other, what you think.

NEWS FLASH! American President Says Nation Needs to Focus

DATELINE: Washington, DC–If he had been speaking earlier today at a previously disclosed location known as “the White House,” the nation’s newest president might have issued a statement similar to this:


What America Needs Right Now Is Jobs, and the security that a regular paycheck provides. Give Americans jobs, with some sense of job security, and we can all get back to work. We can put this recession thing behind us. As we focus on this together, we move forward together—now.

But Today, I Want to Address Three Issues related to partisan concerns, as the branches of American government work together to stimulate the economy, to create jobs, and to get the American economy back to work.

In This Process of Economic Stimulation:

□ First, We Want to Avoid Creating Inflation via excessive spending.

□ Second, We Want to Give the American People Tax Cuts whenever it is prudent to do so, while avoiding tax cuts that continue to redistribute wealth—whether from the poor to the wealthy or the other way around.

□ Third, We Want to Give States and Local Communities the Revenue Benefits that their Senators and Representatives know best for them, while avoiding the reckless growth of the earmarks and pork-barrel spending that make government look like a reckless waster of our hard-earned pay.

Here Is the Way My Administration Sees these various issues:

The Time of Inflation Is Not Now

Inflation Cannot Be Our Dominant Concern Right Now. Historically, shortages of goods in relation to an overabundant money supply leads directly to inflation. Fortunately, our problems right now are not supply and production, but demand and the flow of capital. Thus we can afford to spend money to create more jobs. More jobs in turn will put more money into the economy, creating a trickle-down effect to keep other businesses going.

What Concerns Us the Most Is the Lack of Job Security, the threat to American paychecks, and the ability to keep our homes. The time to fear inflation is not now.

The Time for Tax Cuts Is Not Now

At a Time When the Price of Everything from Houses and Automobiles to groceries and gasoline is going lower, Americans do not especially need more tax cuts. When millions of Americans are not getting a paycheck, tax cuts won’t help them, anyway.

At a Time When the Nation’s Leading Corporations are laying off employees by the thousands and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, the nation’s businesses have no need for tax cuts, either. Right now, tax cuts are not the most-relevant cure for the economy. It’s the people without jobs who need help the most. Not those with jobs who continue to struggle along as they have over the recent past.

Tax Cuts for Near-Bankrupt Corporations and the Unemployed are not what we need right now. For the time being, we should forget about it.

The Time for Earmarks Is Not Now

At the Same Time, Now Is Not the Time for Earmarks, even though they represent only about 1% of the current spending, and the spending both by Democrats and Republicans is pretty much even. It is Congress’s job to know what their folks back home need. And for the current stimulus bill and budget, it seems safe to say that what Congress has done has been its job, on both sides of the aisle.* But the American people are clear in their concern over the concept of earmarks. And regardless, now is generally not a good time for such projects.

Now Is the Time to Squeeze Out the Earmarks, no matter how much individual Republicans and Democrats need to carry something to their folks back home. Later, Congress may get back to business as usual. But for the time being, we should forget about it.

America Needs to Focus

Over the Past 49 Days, My Administration has been getting to know the other branches of the government. We walked into the middle of the economic crisis and we also walked into the end of the Federal budget process. The stimulus plan and the Federal budget needed to move forward, with the assistance of our leaders in Congress, whose job it is to approve these measures. And this is what your government has been doing.

But Now Is the Time to focus our very best efforts.

Going Forward Over the Near-Term, we need to be as single-minded as we possibly can be—to stem the loss of jobs, to turn the job situation around—so that Americans get back to taking advantage of the abundance of supplies in America—including those new homes and those new automobiles.

Now Is the Time for America to Focus:

Now America Gets Get Down to Work

_______
*Of course, all Americans are welcome to contact their individual Senators and Representatives with comments on earmarks in general, as well as on any particular item that they find objectionable.

A Modest Mortgage-Solution Proposal

Forget Bailouts, Bad Banks, and Toxic Mortgages Assets. Here’s a new idea for solving the housing-mortgage crisis:

The Department of Mortgage-Crisis Resolution*

Let’s Insert the Federal Government Between the Homeowner and the Mortgage Company. With its long-term investment horizon, this is truly something that really only the Federal government can afford to do.

Homeowners in Sub-Prime, Adjustable-Rate Mortgages in this new program can continue to pay the same monthly payment that they were paying before the crisis-inducing rates increased.

And Mortgage Companies Can Receive the Higher, Adjusted, Contractual Payments.

In Between Homeowner and Mortgage Company sits the Federal Government, with its new “Department of Mortgage Crisis Resolution.”*

Here’s How It Works:

1. The DMCR issues the homeowner a second mortgage and puts a lien on the underlying property. This additional mortgage extends the length of the original mortgage beyond the length of the original mortgage, with an additional “due on sale” clause.

2. The homeowner makes his regular monthly payment directly to the DMCR.

3. The DMCR calculates the difference between the payment received and the outgoing payment to the mortgage company, and adds that difference to the homeowner’s second mortgage.

4. The DMCR then forwards the higher, adjusted payment to the mortgage company, keeping this sub-prime mortgage current.

5. When the first mortgage is paid in full, the second mortgage kicks in, at the same monthly payment rate as the first mortgage, until the second mortgage is paid in full.

6. If the house is sold prior to the term of one or both mortgages, the sale is contingent on satisfaction of both mortgages.

If You Think About it, This Is a Pretty Good Plan.

No “purchase” of “bad assets” or “toxic debt.”
No unraveling of “tranches.”
No “moral hazard.”
No “good banks” and “bad banks.”
No “free ride for deadbeats.”
No “windfall profits” for “cold-hearted” banks.

Only the Federal Government can afford to wait out such a long time-frame for the return of its mortgage investment. But no bad assets are purchased. And the taxpayers eventually will get every invested penny back, with interest.

Since Most Houses Are Sold Long Before Thirty-year Mortgages Are Paid Off, we will probably get most of our money back sooner than the thirty or forty years of the mortgage. And the homes are almost certain to increase in value far beyond initial mortgage amounts, over a long-enough time. So long as we act now to prop up this long-term value.

The Federal Government—We, the Taxpayers—Are Assured of Getting Our Money Back. And since the DMCR mortgage rate can match current retail mortgage rates, the net effect is of the government buying long-term Taxpayer Bonds, which purchases counterbalance the sales of T-Bills and Treasury bonds.

This Is a Win/Win/Win Opportunity to prop up home values, minimize mortgage defaults, protect the homeowner, protect the mortgage companies and investors, and kick-start the American economy once again. And quickly.

What Will the Partisans Say About This?

The Democrats Might Oppose This Plan because the struggling homeowner doesn’t get a handout from the Federal government. And the Federal government doesn’t get to spend just wads and wads of taxpayer money that we don’t have. Curse those tax-and-spend Democrats!

The Republicans Might Oppose This Plan on the ideological principle that the Federal Government just shouldn’t get involved at all in commercial enterprises. Curse those tight-fisted spend-and-spend Republicans!

But the American People, Desperate for Change, might just look at this thing, see the potential profit for our grandchildren, instead of endless debt. Can the American people of both sides of the ideological, partisan divide go along with a plan that works for everybody?

Like the American Voters Said in November,

“Yes, We Can!”

[*DMCR: better designation to be named later.]

Not All Jobs Are Created Equal

At a Time When Americans Call for Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, it's tempting for the Democrats to give us what we want. The form of those jobs seems hardly to matter, and considerations of the expense—when it all comes out of money that we no longer have—seem irrelevant.

That's the Sticking Point for Republicans, who believe that the only legitimate means to create jobs is to cut taxes. Lower and lower and lower. Regardless of whether any corporations are earning enough money to pay taxes in the first place. Regardless of whether jobless American citizens have payroll taxes to pay, either.

It's Time for American Capital Investment.

"Capital Investment" Means Building for the Future, using whatever resources you have available today. We have a tremendous jobs shortfall right now, with an abundance of labor, and we need to get that labor employed—so that people can earn income—and pay taxes—and businesses can sell them things. Let the cars fly off the lots! Let the homes get mortgaged! Let the flat-panel TVs get sold!

But First: There's an economically sound way to do this.

Let's Build the Roads.

Let's Build the Bridges.

So That Once America Is Back to Work, we will have invested our money—and our debt—in something tangible that we can ride on.

The Audacity of Speaker Pelosi

As a Representative in Congress, Nancy Pelosi has a California congressional district as her constituency. But as Speaker of the House, she represents the entire United States. In that regard, she owes it to the overall population to show some consideration for what we, the people, want.

The Stimulus America Wants

The American People Want a Stimulus Bill that looks like a stimulus bill:

Build up the Nation’s Roads and Bridges.

Fund Prizes for Green Energy Initiatives, such as solar power and high-mileage vehicles.

Commuter-Rail Projects, prohibitively expensive in the near-term, look like the only control on the cancer-like spread of the automobile. What better opportunity to get these projects underway than at a time when our need for jobs temporarily overshadows our desire to balance the national budget?

These Are Stimulus Programs That Put People to Work, and which will pay off unarguably over the decades ahead.

Why Then Did the Democratic-led Congress put forth a package filled with the kind of things that brought on the Republican revolution in the first place, back in the day?

Speaker Pelosi, Then

In Seeking an Answer to the Partisan Nature of the House’s Stimulus Package, we need look no further than to Nancy Pelosi's behavior during last summer’s wrangling over the TARP bailout plan. Anyone who remembers Speaker Pelosi’s impassioned, anti-Bush Administration speech just before the vote will remember the sense of anger and dismay that her speech created.

There, at a Time When Congress Struggled to set politics aside and unite in a rescue plan for the Nation’s economy, Speaker Pelosi rubbed Republican faces in it. By her speech, she enmeshed a vote for the rescue bill with a vote against the sitting Republican President.

Nancy Pelosi’s Speech Said, in effect, that a vote for the bill was a vote against the President. Small wonder then that the Republicans turned about-face and voted against the bill.

One Would Hope That Speaker Pelosi Would Have Learned Something from That. That maybe her political “tin ear” would have gotten the message.

Speaker Pelosi, Now

But Apparently It Did Not. Speaker Pelosi’s ear remains as tin-filled now as it was back then. For here we are, at the dawn of a new era in American politics, one in which the needs of the American nation are to be served, rather than the needs of the politicians in Washington.

The Bill That the House Just Passed Without a Single Republican Vote has only a small percentage of its costs going to the kind of programs that Americans of both Left and Right can agree on as appropriate to the role government plays in securing our national infrastructure.

Too Many Liberal Programs

But Too Many of the Programs, which stand out in media reports, concern dubious and even controversial programs:

A Program to Assist in Family Planning, including contraception.

A Program to Re-Sod the Capitol Mall, following 1.8 million pairs of feet trod over it for the recent inauguration.

A Program to Fund the National Endowment for the Arts.

What America Needs from Its Government—

People Across America Are Frightened for Their Jobs. Americans are frightened that they may well lose their homes. We are united in a desire to put the resources of government to work at getting us working again.

The American People Are United in a desire to see the new, bi-partisan, post-ideological era of strong government lead us forward into the twenty-first century—

—versus What the House of Representatives Wants

But the United States House of Representatives, under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wants to rekindle the fires of bipartisan government and Liberal ideology, and lead us back into the swamp again. Both sides of the aisle seem determined to continue the "business as usual" that continually disappoints the potential of the American system of government.

Last Week We Took Aim at the House Republicans, whose blind-siding of the American people displayed a disheartening “Audacity of Disdain” for the wishes of the American people.

Today We Take Aim at the House Democrats, whose attempted hijacking of the anti-Conservative mandate delivered in the last election have now displayed, for all to see, the audacity of the Democrats.

The Audacity of Nancy Pelosi.

Republican Pot Calls Democratic Kettle "Black"

Speaking on his MSNBC Talk Show, Morning Joe, former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough today used the Bush White House as an example of how Republicans use government mechanisms—such as “pork barrel spending” and “you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours”—to over-extend the national pocketbook. These are the same mechanisms that Democrats historically use to get the work of government done, and judging from Mr. Scarborough's explanation, there is not much difference.

Telling How it Happened that the Bush White House and a Republican Congress lost sight of fiscal Conservative ideals, Mr. Scarborough explained that President George W. Bush needed a hands-off policy for his War in Iraq, and effected a reciprocal hands-off policy in relation to whatever else the Republican Congress chose to do on behalf of the American people.

President Bush Got Away with the War in Iraq. And Congress got away with economic murder.

This De Facto Treaty Between the Executive and the Legislative Branches of the Federal government meant that President Bush did not veto Congress’s legislation. In return, Congress gave the President free rein with the Iraq War.

In Other Words, per Mr. Scarborough, the government mechanisms of “pork-barrel spending” and “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” played the same role for “post-9/11” Republicans that these mechanisms played in the Democratic era of the “Great Society,” under Lyndon Baines Johnson.

The Ideologies of “Tax and Spend” and “Defer and Spend” may sound different to the ear, but the effect on the national economy is virtually the same.

History Now Judges LBJ's “Great Society”

The Grand Result of the “Great Society” culminated in this week’s election of Barack Obama as president-elect of the United States.

The Cost of LBJ’s Many Programs, simultaneous with the costs of the war in Vietnam, was high. It included a political switch toward the Republican Party, with the South abandoning the Democratic party completely until this year, and it gave ascendancy to the Conservative theories of Ronald Reagan through George W. Bush.

The Future Will Judge the “War on Terror”

The Result of “This Republican Era” will be judged by history, too. As LBJ’s Great Society has now finally been judged. Let us hope that the final verdict of the Bush extravagances will be as high.

How Both Sides Want It Both Ways

But the Important Thing to See, as far as American politics are concerned, is that we really are one nation, with comparable policies and ways of doing things:

We All Hate it When the Other Guy uses the Federal government to supplant States’ Rights, and we all hate it when States’ Rights trump progress best-available to the Federal government.

We Love Term Limits When the Other Party Is in Power, but when our party is in power, we see how essential are the advantages gained from continuity.

We Hate It When One Party Governs by “tax-and-spend,” and we hate it just as much when the other party governs by “defer-and-spend.”

“Pork-Barrel Spending” is only “pork” when it benefits genetic studies of fruit-flies to help cure autism, but not when it benefits the families of children with special needs. It’s “pork” when it goes to what you want, but it’s essential government spending when it’s for me and mine.

In Sum, the Democrats under Lyndon B. Johnson and the Republicans under George W. Bush are pretty much even, as far as overextending the Federal government for benefit of a perceived greater good is concerned, during the time of an unpopular war.

How Government Gets Done

“You Scratch My Back, and I’ll Scratch Yours.” According even to conscientious Conservative Joe Scarborough, it’s the way that government works.

And Not Even a Staunch Conservative
Like Joe Scarborough
Describes for Us a Better Way.

Republicans for Obama Are Still Republicans

Back in the 1860s, a New Kind of “Know-Nothing” American turned against Lincoln’s Anti-slavery Republican Party because of the Civil War. Instead of thinking seriously about political issues, these people categorically voted against Republicans. And thus, they voted for Democrats.

About Republicans, the Know-Nothing Americans Said:
“We ain’t gonna vote for that party never again!”

And These Know-Nothing Americans did not vote for Republicans for the next one-hundred years....

Then Came 1964, and the Civil Rights Act. Putting aside what the Republicans had done in the War of Northern Aggression, the Know-Nothing Americans now turned against the Democrats. And by 1972, the Know-Nothing Americans had all moved back over to the Republican Party. They did not vote for Democrats for at least the next thirty-six years.

About the Democratic Party, the Know-Nothing Americans Said:
“We ain’t gonna vote for that party never again!”

And Since That Time, the Republican Party has had to cater to the Know-Nothing Americans in order to win elections. It has been a high price to pay.....

In the Current Election, We See the Extent of That Cost: A good man, John McCain, has been sucked too far into the maelstrom of Know-Nothingness, in an effort which we hope will ultimately prove to be in vain.

Meanwhile, Some of the Nation’s Leading Conservatives and Leading Republicans have come over to the Barack Obama side to vote.

Rest Assured, These Good Republicans Remain Republicans. Or at least, they remain Conservatives.

Once this Current Anti-American Situation Passes, these good people will get back to fighting “the good fight” for their Conservative ideals.

The Great National Debate between Conservative ideals of responsible opportunity and Liberal ideals of responsible compassion will get back underway.

As for the Know-Nothing Americans? If they lose enough elections, maybe they’ll decide to stop shooting first and asking questions later. Maybe they'll learn to put down their slogans and start to think.

Even Republicans Are Innocent Until Proven Guilty

One of the Republican Candidates Is Under Investigation, as you probably know. The accusation concerns an alleged misuse of executive power in relation to the former commissioner of the Department of Public Safety in Alaska.

The Investigation Was Initiated by a Republican-led Committee, but the opponents say that it is “tainted,” and they are suing to stop the investigation until after the November elections.

Democratic Candidates Barack Obama and Joe Biden Know: The challenges of campaigning for the most-important elected positions in the United States are extremely demanding. Any candidate embroiled in an ethics or criminal investigation would much rather wait until after the elections are over.

Delay the Investigation until after November 4th and let the voters make up their minds first. Here in the United States of America, each person is innocent until proven guilty. Thus, the very law presumes the innocence of the Republican opponents concerning any or all crimes.

No Law Dictates the Transparency of Our Elected Officials. Historically, Republicans have always proven themselves especially good at keeping back things that they don’t want the voters to know. The Bush administration is currently engaged in such a situation concerning congressional subpoenas over possible political abuses related to hiring in the Justice Department under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Transparency Plays a Role in the American Historical Legacy. Two excellent examples compare the missing minutes of Republican President Richard Nixon’s White House tapes with the opposite insistence by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson that all of LBJ's administration’s records would be available to history. Warts and all.

Will the American Voters Condemn the Opponent for her lack of transparency? One would hope that they would give her the benefit of the doubt. Innocent until proven guilty: it’s still the law here in the United States of America. Even under the Republicans.


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