Robert Reich: Why Medicare Is the Solution — Not the Problem

Published on Saturday, July 23, 2011 by RobertReich.org

http://robertreich.org/post/7941066493

by Robert Reich

Not only is Social Security on the chopping block in order to respond to Republican extortion. So is Medicare.

But Medicare isn’t the nation’s budgetary problems. It’s the solution. The real problem is the soaring costs of health care that lie beneath Medicare. They’re costs all of us are bearing in the form of soaring premiums, co-payments, and deductibles.

Medicare offers a means of reducing these costs — if Washington would let it.

Let me explain.

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Gregory Elich: Class War Without Mercy

Vast wealth for those at the top, unemployment and poverty for the rest of society

By Gregory Elich

Global Research, July 23, 2011

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25754

One can never have too much money. In the U.S., the top one percent of the population rakes in almost a quarter of the national income and enjoys 40 percent of the wealth. That class sees this as a problem. It is not enough.

For ordinary workers, the recession brought only economic hardship. But for corporate America, it meant one thing: opportunity. This is the chance to permanently mold the economy into something approximating the Third World model: vast wealth and privilege for those at the top, and unemployment, falling wages, and inadequate or nonexistent social services for the rest of society.

The recession ended two years ago, yet more than nine percent of the population remains without work. If one takes into account discouraged workers and part-time workers wanting a full-time position, nearly one sixth of the workforce is underutilized. For people of African descent, the situation is even more dire, with unemployment approaching a rate twice as high. Yet, a jobs program has never been on lawmakers' agenda.

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"Progressive Radio Network Host Dr. Eisenstein, Thursday @ 10am(est)" - Autism & Vaccines

Autism and Vaccines by Dr. Helen Ratajczak, Please click on link to read:

http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1101240076659-857/ratajczakstudy.pdf

"Darren Naish"-As a mysterious skeleton is washed up on a British beach... Do sea monsters REALLY exist?

For centuries they’ve been a part of maritime legend, inspiring curiosity and terror in equal measure. Lurking in the depths of the oceans, shocking in size and appearance, gigantic serpents and prehistoric monsters are as much a source of fascination as ever, especially in Hollywood.

In the past two or three years alone, attacks by huge undersea beasts have provided the centrepiece battles at the ends of blockbusters such as Pirates Of The Caribbean, Clash Of The Titans and The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader.

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"Sarah Anderson"-New Report Exposes Wall Street Lobby Against CEO Pay Reform

Remember the big Wall Street showdown? Thought that ended a year ago, when President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation? Think again.  Wall Street lobbyists don’t give up so easily.

What Congress voted on was a broad outline for reform. Now that the law is moving through the rulemaking process, armies of financial industry lobbyists are working to water down every line.

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"Michelle Chen"- How Murdoch’s Empire Suffocates the Craft of Journalism

With guilty pleasure, the mainstream media have been serving us a virtual buffet of reasons to despise Rupert Murdoch's evil media empire. Amid this fetid mess, however, it shouldn't be forgotten that beneath every media mogul, however rotten, is an enterprise of real people—a culture of workers who represent the embattled and tragic state of journalism today.

The ethical breaches at issue clearly reflect top-to-bottom corruption. Yet more importantly, the underlying criminality lies in a vulgar laissez faire corporate culture in which honesty and critical thought are dismissed as an impediment to commercial success.

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"Kevin G. Hall"-Europe's debt still a risk to U.S.; question is how much?

WASHINGTON — The Dow Jones industrial average enjoyed triple-digit gains in two of the last three days thanks to investor optimism that Europe is getting its debt crisis under control. However, experts warn that this may prove overly optimistic and problems abroad still could spread to our shores.

The Dow gained 152.50 points Thursday, a strong showing after Tuesday's 202-point gain, the largest one-day gain this year. A draft document from a European summit on Greece's debt woes prompted Thursday's rally.

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"Uri Avnery"- The Charge of the New York Times or - Baksheesh for the Doorkeeper

A Riddle: Which fleet did not reach its destination but fulfilled its mission?

Well, it’s this year’s Gaza solidarity flotilla.

It could be said, of course, that last year’s “little fleet” – that’s what the word means in Spanish, much as “guerrilla” means “little war” – is also a reasonable candidate . It never reached Gaza, but the commander of the Israeli navy could well repeat the words of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, whose victory over the Romans was so costly that he is said to have exclaimed: “Another such victory, and I am lost!”

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"Greg Palast"- It's Not Default of Obama -- Jail GOP Deadbeats for Debt Crisis

Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist gave debtors' prison a bad rap. Too bad. I'd say that locking away GOP Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a penitentiary for deadbeats seems like a darn good idea.

Let's talk about how we ended up in this pickle, bucking up against the "debt ceiling." From 2001 to 2008, a Republican President took an annual surplus of $86 billion left for him by Bill Clinton and ran up the budget deficit to over half a trillion in a year ($642 billion in 2008). Altogether, George W. Bush blew up the national debt by over $3 TRILLION--then left the bills to Barack Obama.

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"Glenn Greenwald"- Barack Obama is Gutting the Core Principles of the Democratic Party

In 2005, American liberals achieved one of their most significant political victories of the last decade. It occurred with the resounding rejection of George W Bush's campaign to privatise social security.

Bush's scheme would have gutted the crux of that entitlement programme by converting it from what it has been since the 1940s – a universal guarantor of minimally decent living conditions for America's elderly – into a Wall Street casino and bonanza.

Progressive activists and bloggers relentlessly attacked both the plan and underlying premises (the myth that social security faces a "crisis"), spawning nationwide opposition. Only a few months after he unveiled his scheme to great fanfare, Bush was forced to sheepishly withdraw it, a defeat he described as his biggest failure.

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