Tag Archives: donald trump

All Posts, budget, Christianity, Congress, ethics, taxes

A SINFUL TAX LAW

2 Comments

Today I began to understand why the proposed new tax law disturbs me so much.  Simply stated, it is sin enshrined in law and all of us are accountable for it.  I’ll use the bill recommended by the Senate Finance Committee to show you what I mean.  All of the other versions have similar effects.

Senate Bill effect on tax by income percentile c

The politicians and wealthy donors who support the bill will walk away with the money and leave the rest of America holding the new debt that pays for it – about $18,400 for a family of four – in just the first decade of the law.  The tax CUT for the wealthiest Americans will be bigger than the TOTAL INCOME of 80 percent of families.

Passing this bill while corporate profits, stock values and cash balances are at record highs and while middle class Americans are struggling to get by and while the poor can’t properly feed and educate their children…that seems sinful to me.

Sin has lots of definitions and I’ll take the liberty of using my own.  Sin is any conscious action which separates you from that which is good – your own understanding of  “God”, “Creation” or the rest of humanity.  Although we may have differing religious or spiritual beliefs, that understanding of sin seems consistent with all of them.

An important observation about sin – we’re aware that we’re doing something wrong, but we do it anyway.  That’s exactly where we’re headed with this tax law.  It will place an unjust burden of debt on poor and middle-class Americans to benefit the wealthiest among us.  How many of the bill’s supporters know in their consciences that it’s wrong, but will quietly allow it because their donors and political tribe expect that?  This bill is a conscious action that separates us from what is good – the very definition of sin.

As I pondered these troubling thoughts, I looked to values that I’ve known since childhood.  So have most readers.  And if we’ve thought at all deeply about those values we can see them reflected in all Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.  If we expand our awareness to include Buddhist, Native American, other religions – even Atheist teachings, we find similar values and a similar concept of “sin”.  We know that it separates us from what is good and we do it anyway.  I’m going to quote some scripture, because this seems to be a time when we are in particular need that sort of wisdom.

Leviticus 23:22  “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very border, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger:  I am the Lord your God.”

In Matthew, Chapter 25:34-46 Jesus describes the Creator-King welcoming followers with these words, “…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”  …  “Truly, I say to you, that as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”  Then he proceeded to condemn those who did not help the least of their brethren.

There it is for all to see – what better example of sin than burdening our poorest citizens with debt in order to enrich the wealthiest?  Those who quietly consent to the passage of this law are complicit in the sin.

Mark 12:38-39 “Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes, and to have salutations in the market places and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers.  They will receive the greater condemnations.”

It is necessary to instruct our representatives.  “Don’t do this sinful thing in our names!”

 

All Posts, American Foreign Policy, budget, Congress, deficit, donald trump, medicaid, taxes

THE PRESIDENT OF CHAOS

The picture on my computer screen should be better so I tried adjusting it.  That made it worse so I’ll hit it with a sledgehammer and see if that helps.  Unfortunately, that foolish approach is being applied by President Trump to vital national interests like health care,  defense,  immigration, and budgets.

One of Trump’s competitors, Jeb Bush predicted the problem back in 2015 saying,  “Donald, you know, is great at the one-liners.  But he’s a chaos candidate.  And he’d be a chaos president.  He would not be the commander-in-chief we need to keep our country safe.”

Never a dull moment...
Never a dull moment…

President Trump promised to repeal and replace Obamacare with something better: “We’re going to have insurance for everybody…There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”…“I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid”.

As President, Trump never proposed a way to provide health care regardless of Americans’ ability to pay for it and he did support cutting Medicaid.  Obamacare has insured about 20 million Americans who had no benefits before the law passed; and at the same time it has slowed the growth of the nation’s healthcare spending.  It’s a success but it needs improvement.  When nothing that he or other Republicans proposed passed, Trump swung his sledgehammer at Obamacare’s most vulnerable spot, the individual markets.  He announced termination of the federal  subsidy to insurance companies for low-income subscribers.  That will damage the already fragile individual insurance markets in some communities – breaking our healthcare system without a plan to replace it.

Trump threatens to withdraw from our agreement with Iran, under which they shut down their nuclear weapons program and gave up 98 percent of their nuclear materials.  The agreement was designed with one goal in mind – don’t let Iran develop  nuclear weapons.  We managed to get Russia, all of Europe and China on the same page because they all agreed with that goal; and it was our combined power that made the deal possible.  Trump can’t persuade Iran to do other things that he wants so out comes the sledgehammer to break the Iran agreement.  If the deal falls apart and if China, Russia and Europe go their own ways, there will be nothing to restrain Iran’s nuclear ambitions.  By destroying the Iran deal without a plan to replace it Trump also tells other nations  that any President can ignore commitments made by his predecessors.  The USA will be seen as untrustworthy.

The DACA program for children brought to the US illegally is an imperfect solution to a problem that congress has been unwilling to address.  Trump promises to hit it with his sledgehammer – forcing law enforcement to round-up and deport children and young adults who have lived most of their lives as Americans.  Again, he has no plan for replacing what he will destroy.  Many young adults will be driven to hide in an underground economy where they have little opportunity for success.  That’s a breeding ground for dissension, hopelessness and crime.

Trump plans to hit your wallet with a sledgehammer too – by cutting taxes, mostly for the wealthy, while increasing military spending and  our national debt at even faster rates than his predecessors.  Americans will have to repay that debt at some future date.  Our ability to borrow money for a true catastrophe or war is already impaired because so much of our debt capacity has been used.  We currently owe $20 trillion.  That is about $62,000 for every American or $161,600 for every American who works at a full or part-time job.

Donald Trump again proposes the sledgehammer approach saying,  “I am the king of debt,”…”I love debt. I love playing with it.”  and “I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal”…”And if the economy was good, it was good. So therefore, you can’t lose.”  When he says “make a deal”, that means refusing to pay our debt, most of which is owed to Americans.  It’s not the same as letting one of his casinos go bankrupt.

If the Republican congress allows President Trump to deliver more sledgehammer blows to our nation, the resulting chaos will belong personally to Donald Trump and each legislator who supported him.  The GOP will own the chaos but the American people (including DACA kids) will pay a heavy price for it.

All Posts, civil rights, donald trump, justice, race

BEWARE OF NOISY BULLIES

Most of the time we Americans are not even aware of our freedom.  It surrounds us in seemingly endless supply, like the air that we breathe.   But if there’s no air to breathe we quickly become uncomfortable and do something about it.  If we see another person choking, we try to help him breathe.  Just as we defend our right to breathe, we should defend each other’s freedom.

Non-conformity is sometimes admirable, but it has consequences.  Others are free to disapprove, dislike, and not associate with you.  That’s their right.  Unless you are protected by a union or employment contract, most states allow private employers to fire you or refuse to hire you for expressing views that they don’t like.  There are circumstances where that makes sense.  An employer might have a policy that prohibits wearing lapel pins supporting political parties, candidates, or causes at work. Its purpose might be to keep everyone’s attention focused on producing good work rather than the distraction or offense to customers that might accompany the pins.

With those thoughts in mind, let’s look at the case of Colin Kaepernick, the NFL, and President Donald Trump.  The controversy began more than a year ago when Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, didn’t stand for the national anthem.  He had done the same thing before two previous games, but the press didn’t take notice.  On the third occasion, he was asked about it and he gave an extensive post-game interview.

Kaepernick made it clear that he believes America is not living up to our ideals.  He contended that racial inequality is still institutionalized and that abuse of African-Americans by police is often tolerated by our government.  He said he would resume standing for the anthem when those concerns were addressed.  He emphasized that he meant no insult to our flag, anthem or service members; pointing out instead that he wants our government practices to live up to the values that our military defends.

Colin Kaepernick acknowledged that he could be fired for his actions:  Q: “Do you think you might get cut for this?”  Kaepernick: “I don’t know. But if I do, I know I did what’s right and I can live with that at the end of the day.”  He was cut from the team, accepted that fact, and continued working on issues that he thought were important.  To at least some small degree, he was achieving his goal of encouraging conversations across racial lines about inequality.

The conversation exploded when President Trump, behaving as if he was elected Bully-in-Chief rather than President, insulted Kaepernick and other NFL players who had adopted his form of quiet protest, calling them “sons of bitches” and telling NFL owners to fire them or watch their businesses “go to hell”.   Trump lied when he claimed that the protests were against our military and our flag.  Kaepernick and other protesters had made it clear from the beginning that the protests were about perceived racial injustice. Trump ignored concerns about racial equality and changed the subject to patriotism.  When a President of the United States lies some of his loyal base will believe whatever he says.  Others in Trump’s party may simply stay quiet – exactly the kind of inaction that Kaepernick is protesting.

Our President has behaved as a shameless bully and liar, dividing us into factions and urging his supporters to impose their will on others through the power of government and employers.  It’s dangerous to our constitutional democracy when our President uses his power to try to silence others.  At the core of American freedoms is the right to be a nonconformist – to believe, speak, and live according to your own conscience.  Whether I agree with Colin Kaepernick or not, it is my duty as an American to defend his right to speak and to demand an apology from President Trump for his lies and his language.

The President’s actions bring this adage to mind. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.”  We Americans need to move ahead with serious conversations about race relations.  It appears that we’ll have to do that in the face of presidential opposition rather than with constructive presidential leadership.  That, perhaps, is why so many NFL players and owners have linked arms – showing the way to honest conversation and teamwork – and standing up to the biggest bully on the block.

 

Read or view Colin Kaepernick interview HERE

All Posts, immigration

Adiós mis amigos

3 Comments

The title of this column is borrowed from Woody Guthrie’s song “Deportee” about undocumented Mexican laborers. Thirty-two people died in 1948 when a U.S. Immigration Service plane carrying them from California to Mexico crashed.  News accounts listed the names of the four person flight crew but just described the other 28 as “deportees”.  That disrespect inspired Guthrie’s song.

President Trump has decided to end President Obama’s DACA policy that allowed children brought to the US illegally to remain here as non-citizens.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions made it clear that unless congress passes a law protecting them, the USA will arrest and deport these young people who have been here for most of their lives.

Some of your neighbors and classmates have no idea what comes next for them.  Without a revised immigration law they will be deported, but to where?  The nations from which their parents emigrated may have no records of their existence. They may not have citizenship rights anywhere.  They will be sent to places where they have no job and no means of support.  Their education has been in English and they are culturally American.  Amidst such uncertainty, one thing they will know is that the role of law enforcement is to deport them.  There will be no trust.

Sessions explained that he and President Trump are just doing their jobs.  He is correct that President Trump has the authority to rescind the executive order that created DACA and that we are a nation of laws; where the role of the executive branch is to enforce the law, not to make it or judge it.

Mark Twain said that “A half-truth is the most cowardly of lies.”   The justification offered by Sessions and Trump is a half-truth that ignores the role of American government and business in allowing and encouraging illegal immigration.  That half of the truth has continued unabated since long before Guthrie wrote his song.

I’ve seen truckloads of migrant workers traveling to and from fields where they harvested our fruits and vegetables; and I knew that many of them were here illegally.  I’ve known some of the farmers who built simple housing where migrants lived until the harvest was complete.  That’s still going on from California to North Carolina.  I’ve seen thousands of immigrants working in textile, furniture, and other manufacturing plants.  I’ve toured construction sites where you needed to know Spanish in order to understand the conversation among people doing demolition, hanging drywall and painting.  I’ve also seen that among those who earn a living in landscaping, golf course maintenance, roofing, cooking, hotel housekeeping…the list goes on. You’ve seen it too.  But have you ever heard of law enforcement raiding a giant chicken processing plant, farm or business and arresting the executives who employed undocumented workers?  Neither have I.

I knew that many of those workers were here illegally and I knew that they brought their children along.  I saw them in my local schools, where some of them graduated with high honors.  Some have given their lives in our armed forces.  You’ve seen the same things and you know what I know – that American employers sought out immigrants as a source of inexpensive labor.  We also know that law enforcement looked the other way while business profits soared, due in large part to immigrant labor.

We all know that some laws have been unjust and immoral; and that some businesses won’t let legalities or morality stand between them and profits.  That’s the same now as it was in the 1940s. Today, the children of immigrants are settling in and succeeding as Americans.  The second half of the truth is that laws which force them to leave their homes, communities and families are immoral and unjust laws.

The laws and enforcement policies of the 1940s were about using cheap, mobile labor until it was no longer useful and then deporting the workers.  That was wrong then and it’s wrong now, even if deportation is legal.  It’s time to respect the people who have done some of our least rewarding work and their children by providing a pathway to full citizenship.  They have earned the rights that the rest of us received at birth.

Listen to Woody’s song at the link above. Think about it. Speak up.  And sing along.

All Posts, American Foreign Policy, donald trump, islam, Terrorism, war

Do something – even if it’s wrong?

President Trump’s top advisers are considering hiring mercenaries to replace US Troops in Afghanistan.  Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater Security (who is also the brother of  Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos), Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner are promoting the idea that mercenaries can succeed where our armed forces have not, by imposing a stable government in that nation.   Blackwater is the same contractor that caused so many problems in Iraq.

How did we get to this point?

After 9-11, President Bush and many Americans seemed intent on “Doing something, even if it’s wrong.”  Secretary of State Colin Powell warned “If you break it, you own it.” meaning that  if we deposed Saddam Hussein, we Americans would be responsible for assuring the security of the Iraqi people until a stable, democratic government could be established.

Based on the mistaken notion that Iraq threatened us and our allies with weapons of mass destruction, we became the occupying power that deposed Saddam Hussein and destroyed the authority of Iraqi institutions; but we did not successfully replace them.  The US proved that we could remove a Middle East dictator quickly and efficiently.  That seemed to inspire rebellion and revolution against repressive governments across the region.  But rather than freedom and democratic government, the result was a power vacuum where competing ideologies and religious sects fought to impose their will on the rest of the population.

Arguably, the principal glue that held Iraq together was the rigid and sometimes cruel control imposed by the dictator that we had deposed. The nation fell into anarchy and chaos, an ideal environment for extremists to spawn ISIS and other terrorist groups.  A multitude of Iraqi religious and political groups fought for power.  No one succeeded in uniting the people.

Inspired at least in part by events in Iraq, a spirit of revolution spread.  The governments of Libya and Egypt fell.  Syria is in a protracted civil war with Russia propping up the dictator while the US insists that he give up power.  It seems unlikely that either of those outcomes would result in a free and stable nation.

Revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa have produced a horrendous refugee crisis.  Individuals and families have fled nations where they fear becoming victims of violence, starvation, abuse and disease.  Anarchy – the collapse of government – has allowed the most despicable aspects of human nature and behavior to thrive.  Children have been taught to decapitate others for practicing a different version of religion while other innocents are sold as sex slaves.

The refugee crisis spread to Turkey, then across the sea to Cyprus, Greece and into Europe.  That has created instability in the European Union.  Some nations, led by Germany, have welcomed refugees and tried to create opportunities for them.  Hungary, Poland and others strongly disagree and want to reject refugees.  The UK’s decision to secede from the EU was motivated in part by a desire for a strong national border and control over who crossed it. Back in the US, Americans elected a President who campaigned on the promise to ban Muslim immigration.  Just as in Europe, Americans are bitterly divided about whether to admit refugees from the greatest human tragedy of our lifetimes.  Without our invasion of Iraq, would any of it have happened?

As citizens of a free and democratic nation, we Americans are individually and collectively responsible for the actions of our government.  “If you break it, you own it” should have clear and personal meaning for each of us.  The cascade of events across the Middle East and North Africa and the direct line to today’s conditions should have taught us how actions intended as controlled and limited wars can spiral out of control.  We can’t change the past, and it’s hard to see how more “help” from us will be well received.

We now have a President who seems fond of saber-rattling and doesn’t like constraints (including the prohibition of torture) so he is considering turning the American military role in Afghanistan over to private contractors (mercenary corporations).  Americans would pay the bills while corporations and foreign governments set the rules of engagement as they see fit – unleashed from the Geneva Convention and other moral standards that govern American armed forces.

If President Trump hires mercenaries, we Americans will be individually and collectively responsible for the actions of our hired guns.  There are two adages to remember.  “If we break it we will own it.” and “Forewarned is forearmed.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND READING:

NY Times report of trump Administration considering mercenaries for Afghanistan

Colin Powell on US Policy in the Middle East

Colin Powell on the Pottery Barn Rule in Syria

All Posts, American Foreign Policy, donald trump, ethics, Russia and Trump

HUG A JOURNALIST TODAY

4 Comments

Donald Trump, Jr has admitted arranging a meeting with someone introduced to him as a representative of the Russian government.  The stated purpose of the meeting was to receive Russian information that might damage Hillary Clinton’s candidacy (and thereby help his dad’s).  Junior had already been notified that the help would be provided as “…part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump…” He angrily denied all of this until he learned that persistent journalists had proof.  Then he began trying to explain it away.

Junior Trump arranged for candidate Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner to join him in a meeting with the Russian.  It was held at the Trump Tower in June 2016 while candidate Trump was present in the building; but the President’s press secretary now says that Trump knew nothing about it until the New York Times broke the story.

This stunning news contradicts a full year of denials by Donald Trump and his entire team of any Russian involvement or support for their campaign; and it’s clear that they would not have admitted it if the press had not uncovered evidence.  Do you believe that Junior Trump brought people that he had been told represented Russian government into Trump tower for a meeting with Senior Trump’s top advisers and none of them mentioned it to Senior Trump?  You can bet that journalists will be digging for evidence, one way or the other.

However they voted, most Americans wanted to believe the Trump team was honest.  Many still do, but evidence of lies and deception began mounting even before the inauguration.  They have blamed it on “leakers”, on the FBI Director’s incompetence, on fake news, and on the mainstream (lamestream they like to call it) press. Without professional journalists digging for facts we would have little basis for judging the integrity of our officeholders, regardless of political affiliation.

This phenomenon is not limited to the Trump administration.  It was the press who broke the story of the Pentagon Papers with evidence that multiple administrations intentionally misled the public and the Congress about our involvement in Vietnam and the ensuing war.  They documented President’s Nixon’s crimes including the Watergate burglary and his “plumbers” unit which burglarized a psychiatrist’s office to obtain medical records that would discredit an opponent of the war.  Those stories resulted in Nixon’s resignation and Johnson’s decision to not seek reelection.  It was the press who uncovered and reported on J. Edgar Hoover’s abuse of his power as FBI Director, including spying on Dr Martin Luther King, Jr in order to obtain any information that could be used to blackmail him.

Government officials who had violated public trust tried to cover up and deny their misdeeds.  They blamed leakers, liars and biased reporters.  They even arrested and jailed journalists for reporting true stories.  But journalists and news organizations persist.  They not only cover world-changing news, journalists are the ones who keep us informed about state legislatures, school boards, health departments, city councils, sports and weather.  Because of them we know that Flint is only one of the cities with lead in its water.  They inform our discussions about the local effects of charter schools, climate change, and myriads of issues affecting our lives.

Journalism can be messy.  Some  organizations sensationalize news in hopes of improved TV ratings or ad sales to the point where an arrest for jay-walking sounds like “breaking news”.  Some have liberal or conservative or religious or ethnic biases.    Just choosing which stories to cover and which to pass up is based on the judgments of journalists and editors.  And sometimes even the best of journalists make mistakes.

We Americans have plenty of sources with lots of different perspectives and fortunately for us they tend to fact-check each other. If we’re paying attention we can check their accuracy by comparing several sources.  And if any news organization is consistently wrong with the facts, they eventually pay a price in public trust.

At this critical time in our history journalists are ferreting out facts despite concerted efforts to stop them; and truth is gradually emerging.   Without them,  our freedom would be imperiled.  It is indeed the truth that makes us free.  This is a good time to hug and thank a journalist.

All Posts, budget, deficit, donald trump, economy

Paying Donald Trump’s Taxes

1 Comment

“If this is what happens when you vote Republican, then why vote Republican?” – Rush Limbaugh, May 1, 2017.  It’s a good question.

The most thorough analysis to date of President Trump’s tax plan is winners in trump tax planthe Tax Policy Center’s report  on a very similar plan that he proposed last year.  It projects that the 20 percent of Americans with the lowest incomes would gain $110 annually.  The 20 percent with middle incomes would gain $1010.  The 20 percent with the highest incomes would gain $16,660.  And, most stunning of all, the one tenth of one percent of Americans with the highest incomes would save $1,066,460 every year.

That will be paid for by increasing our federal deficits and debt at the rate of more than $700 billion per year.  Every year, every American (even children who can’t vote) will become responsible for repaying $2153 in new debt. Counting principal and interest, Trump’s tax plan would burden every child born in 2017 with about $64,000 in new debt by their twenty-first birthdays.

That’s a great deal for children born into extremely wealthy families because they will get over a million dollars a year in tax savings.  But for a child born to a poor or middle class family, the debt will be a barrier to success in a nation that can’t continue living on borrowed money.  Here are a few examples of what President Trump is trying to sell us and some alternative reforms that would serve the nation better.

Trump’s plan would eliminate the estate tax.  He calls it a “death tax” and says it impedes the inheritance of small businesses and family farms.  But the estate tax only applies to assets in excess of $10.9 million passed on by a married couple (half of that for an individual).  Repealing the estate tax will allow heirs of the super-rich to receive millions of dollars as tax-free inheritances while those who work for their money pay income taxes.  This idea is the ultimate example of an entitlement mentality among American aristocracy.  If President Trump has been truthful about his net worth, the estate tax repeal will allow his heirs to receive $10 billion tax free.

How is an inheritance not income?  Some of the wealthy will argue that they already paid income taxes on the money to be passed on.  I hope that is true.  When a middle class family pays to have their home repainted, they have already paid taxes on that money.  The painter will be taxed on his income too.  Taxing earned money while not taxing inherited money – what a way for the President to treat the blue-collar workers who elected him!

President Trump wants to eliminate most itemized deductions but keep the one for mortgage interest. It serves the purpose of making home ownership easier but wealthy Americans frequently mortgage homes and use the proceeds to pay for second homes or income producing investments.  With that in mind, we should cap the size of deductible mortgages at an amount that subsidizes ownership of a nice home.  There is no justification for subsidizing million dollar mortgages.

The President wants to cap corporate taxes at 15%, which he says will encourage business expansion here by making our taxes competitive and slightly lower than other nations.  He’s right about that.  Corporations should be viewed as tax collectors not as tax payers.  They collect from customers and then pass some of their income along as taxes.

A better idea is to pass the tax liability for corporate profits (and deductions for losses) along to shareholders at whatever rate they pay on earned income.  This will allow lower-income families to invest and begin accumulating wealth while paying low or no tax.  Those with higher incomes would pay more.  Under that policy, each taxpayer would pay the same rate on wages as on investment income.

Our tax code offers more advantages for the extremely wealthy than can be covered in a column of this kind.  The Trump plan will move us further down the road toward establishment of an entitled American aristocracy – exactly the wrong direction to go if we want upward mobility into the middle class and beyond.

President Trump’s proposal is the proverbial pig wearing lipstick.  This pig would require every American to borrow money that will pay for tax cuts for the extremely wealthy.  Its lipstick, some nearly inconsequential tax cuts for the poor and middle class, is a thin disguise.

Links for additional reading:

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/a-comprehensive-guide-to-donald-trumps-tax-proposal/524451/

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-12-09/estate-tax-repeal-under-trump-would-benefit-president-cabinet

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/upshot/winners-and-losers-in-the-trump-tax-plan.html

http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/04/25/stockman-trumps-tax-plan-dead-before-arrival.html

How high are American taxes compared to other nations?  CLICK THIS LINK: https://data.oecd.org/gga/general-government-revenue.htm#indicator-chart

All Posts, donald trump, health, medicaid

DO YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE?

5 Comments

The legendary American philosopher Yogi Berra supposedly said, “If you don’t know where you want to go, you’ll end up someplace else.”  That is the story of American health care.  We have not decided whether health care is a “right” for all Americans or a “privilege” for those who can pay.  It seems that health care is a right for some of the people all of the time and for all of the people some of the time but not for all of the people all of the time.  If you find that confusing, then you’re on the right track.  We haven’t chosen our destination and we have arrived at a place that confuses and frustrates us.

Health care with little or no out-of-pocket expense is a lifetime right for veterans and for prisoners serving life sentences.  I can’t think of any other large groups who have that benefit.  Medicare eligibility bestows a permanent right to most health care for those who pay their out-of-pocket share.  The rest of us have temporary and partial rights that depend on our employment, wealth, personal choices and luck.

Our national debate should be about who has a right to health care, which elements of health care are included, who will pay for it, and how the cost will be paid.  Arguments about whether or how to replace or repeal ObamaCare (the Affordable Care Act) are pointless and counterproductive until we make a firm national decision about whether health care is a right.  Where do we want to go?

Critics of ObamaCare point to extremely high insurance premiums in some of the exchanges where insurance is sold to individuals and small groups.  Some areas of the country have only one insurance company participating in exchanges.  Those problems are real but correctable.  They occur in local segments of the healthcare marketplace and are worst in states that resisted ObamaCare by refusing the Medicaid expansion.

Here’s a snapshot of what ObamaCare has accomplished.  The annual rate of increase in health care spending (both government and private) was 3.3 percent before ObamaCare.  It dropped to 2.7 percent after ObamaCare was implemented.  Simultaneously, the number of uninsured Americans decreased by 20 million.  That is a picture of success.

President Trump’s promises sound amazingly like President Obama’s.  For example, on January 15, 2017 Mr. Trump said, “There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.” …People covered under the law “can expect to have great health care. It will be in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better.”  In the same interview, he claimed that the people covered by Medicaid expansion would continue to have coverage.

A credible replacement for ObamaCare should improve on its performance.  But according to the Congressional Budget Office (non-partisan and under Republican supervision) the bill that Republicans tried to rush through congress would have led to 52 million uninsured (4 million more than before ObamaCare).   Less thorough analysis from the highly respected Commonwealth Fund agrees.   The President and Congressional Republicans dispute the CBO estimates but they have produced no research to support their conclusions.  It’s all based on their opinions.

Two principles of ObamaCare are that basic health care is a right for all Americans and that everyone should be required to participate in the cost.  Those principles are implemented through the individual mandate to purchase approved coverage along with Medicaid expansion for the very poor.  Approved coverage includes  services for prevention and early diagnosis of health problems that often lead to premature death, disability and extreme expenses.  The Republican plan lacked similar features and would produce more late stage diagnoses of illnesses that were preventable but not curable once they occur.

Because there was no individual mandate in the Republican bill, there would be two options for care of those who don’t pay.  Either provide the care and build the cost into the bills of those who do pay or let those who can’t pay suffer or die without care.   The individual mandate is better than either of those alternatives.

What should we do?  I have asked for a meeting with my (Republican) Congressman.  I want to show him the evidence that I’ve found and I want him to show me any evidence that the Republican replacement would produce better results. What will you do?  Your answer will come to you after you decisively answer this question, “If the person that I love most in this world is sick and broke, does she /he have a right to health care?” ___________________________________________________________________________

Evaluate performance data from the US and other developed nations HERE using tools developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

This prior column  contains links to references and more evidence.

 

 

All Posts, American Foreign Policy, Congress, Constitution, donald trump

NOBODY BELIEVES A LIAR

2 Comments

“Nobody believes a liar, even when he’s telling the truth.”  That is the moral of Aesop’s fable about the boy who cried wolf and it has become the story of Donald Trump’s Presidency.  In the fable, the villagers did believe the shepherd boy the first two times that he cried “WOLF!”  They came to rescue him and to save the sheep.  The third time, there really was a wolf but no one came to help.  The villagers had learned that the shepherd boy was a liar so they ignored his cries.

On March 4, 2017, President Trump said this, “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!…Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!…I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!..How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” President Trump has also said that millions of people voted illegally in our last election, citing that as the only reason that he did not win the popular vote.  And he claimed on numerous occasions that our elections are rigged.

Some of candidate Trump’s outrageous statements got people excited, and he won enough electoral votes to make him President of the United States.  Now it seems that a growing majority of Americans – even a large number of his supporters – don’t take his wild accusations seriously.  I recently heard one Trump supporter respond by saying, “That’s not serious.  It’s just Trump being Trump.”

The President’s statements are accusations of criminal activity that would undermine our nation and our freedom – IF they were true.  But he has not produced evidence to support any of them.  Current and former government officials have denied the wire-tapping claims.  Numerous studies of our elections have disproven the claims of massive voter fraud and election rigging.  If a President makes such damning statements about our nation, he should demonstrate to us that they are true.  Otherwise, it is the President himself who is undermining our nation, our faith in our democratic electoral process and our freedom.

What public reaction can we expect when the President needs to speak to us about a real crisis?  Suppose, for example, that President Kennedy had told such lies before he needed to address the nation and lead our military forces during the Cuban missile crisis.  We could easily have bungled our way into a nuclear war.  What if we could not have trusted President Eisenhower’s honesty about Soviet Troops entering Hungary?  After the intelligence assessments about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction turned out to be wrong, most Americans saw it as a mistake, not a lie.

In 1962, President Kennedy needed international support for the naval blockade that prevented the Soviet Union bringing more nuclear weapons to Cuba.  He called the French President, Charles de Gaulle, and explained the situation.  He told de Gaulle that Secretary of State Dean Acheson would fly to Paris with photographs proving the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. The French President responded that he did not need to see the pictures saying, “The word of the President of the United States is good enough for me.”  It’s hard to imagine that any of our allies would give such a response today.  They would want proof.  Why would they trust our President?

In a world where a new crisis can arrive at internet speed, citizens need to be able to trust the word of our President.  So do our military and intelligence leaders.  But he’s lied about them too.  How can they trust him?

What would we do if President Trump were to tell us of an urgent problem that requires an immediate and risky response?  I certainly don’t know, but my best guess is that the nation would be divided. Some would believe.  Many would not because trust has been broken.

Our congress and courts have never faced a situation like this.  There are procedures, if needed, for removing a President, either via impeachment or for mental health reasons.  The time for that could soon be on the horizon if our President continues to lie.

All Posts, deficit, health, medicaid

Replacing Obamacare

3 Comments

President Trump and our Republican controlled congress have promised to quickly repeal and replace ObamaCare.  President Trump says that coverage will be better, cost will be lower, and everyone will be covered.

We should consider where we were before ObamaCare and where we are today as a basis for judging proposed replacements.  Using the years 2004 – 2009 as a baseline for how we were doing before ObamaCare and 2010 – 2015 as a measure of its effectiveness, here are some facts.

Each of the following statistics is for five years of change before and after ObamaCare.   All spending is inflation adjusted to 2010 dollars.

Below is similar cost data from a different source and a link that will allow you to browse a wealth of relevant information.

The cost of employer sponsored health plans has been growing slower since ObamaCare.
The cost of employer sponsored health plans has been growing slower since ObamaCare.

Evaluate performance data from the US and other developed nations HERE using tools developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

 

 

Some other changes brought about by ObamaCare are:

  • Before ObamaCare, important screenings like colonoscopies and mammograms were unaffordable for many people.  Now they are covered without deductibles.
  • Insurance companies and employers can no longer deny coverage or charge more for pre-existing conditions.  Previously, cancer survivors, diabetics and others likely to need expensive care were uninsurable on most family budgets.
  • Lifetime limits on coverage were banned.
  • Mental health services are covered on the same basis as other medical and surgical services
  • Dependents can stay on parents’ coverage up to age 26.

ObamaCare is a success compared to what we had before it passed.  But health care costs are still rising faster than our economy is growing and we still have over 28 million uninsured Americans so more improvement is needed.

The ObamaCare insurance exchanges where individuals and small employers should be able to purchase affordable coverage are not consistently working well .  Millions of young, healthy Americans are not buying coverage as required by the law.  That leaves a disproportionate number of unhealthy and older people in these insurance pools.  In markets where that has happened, premiums have risen at double-digit rates and several insurance companies dropped out, leaving meager choices for consumers.

That problem leads directly to critical questions about replacing ObamaCare.  Will congress decide that it’s acceptable for some Americans to have no health benefits?  If everyone is going to have benefits, is there a less expensive alternative than Medicaid expansion?  If so, will it be included in the Republican replacement for ObamaCare?  If not, will it then be acceptable for doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to deny services to those who can’t pay?  To be very clear to free market friends, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”  If the ObamaCare replacement does not include a way to pay for care of the uninsured then either they will die without care or the cost will be built into your bills and insurance premiums.

There are proven ways to provide more care for less money while covering the entire population.  Every other developed nation has adopted one of them and they are all more cost-effective than ObamaCare.  They range from price controls to “medicare for all” or government operated health care similar to the British model.  All of them require a larger role for government and that seems to be the antithesis of Republican thinking.  President Trump said that no one should be required to buy health insurance.  At present it appears that he intends to provide something (health care) for everyone without requiring anyone to pay for it – a miracle of biblical proportion.

We can hope that the post-election hostility will wane in favor of intelligent consideration of how to replace or improve ObamaCare. It can be done if legislators and the President are willing to forego political rhetoric for what is practical.  If they are not, then both human and economic catastrophes are likely.