I know, I’m just asking for a flaming. I fully expect several of my conservative friends to read the title of this post and immediately post some hyperbolic comment. However, for those of you with 5 minutes and some free will, this might be the start of an actual discussion.

Facts

I’d like to start out with some facts to set the stage. I’ve included reputable, indepent data to support these points where possible.

• The United States spends more in total dollars and per capita (per person) on healthcare than any other developed nation. [cite]
• The United States spends more government money per person on healthcare than any country with public healthcare with the exception of Norway and Luxembourg. [cite]
• The United States has fewer physicians per person and less space in hospitals than other OECD countries. [cite]
• The primary cause of personal bankruptcy in the US is medical expenditures. [cite]
• CEO bonuses in the healthcare industry have grown by 116% since 2006 [cite], while 1.4 million Americans lost healthcare in the same period of time. [cite]
• 80% of uninsured families are working class. [cite]

Falsehoods

Next let’s take a look a the complete lies that have spread over the current healthcare debate.

• The proposed plan doesn’t call for death panels. This is completely false and was a claim based on the mis-interpretation of Section 1233 of the House Bill [cite go to pg. 424]. The section encourages patients to create a living will which isn’t the same as a DNR. The AARP agrees [aarp.org]
• Canada’s healthcare isn’t socialized. Canada’s healthcare system is made up of independent hospitals and private practices. [cite]
• The proposed plan will not force the middle class to pay for poor families insurance. Most families below the poverty line already recieve at least partial care from the governement. We already pay for healthcare for the poor.
• Hospitals are not required by law to treat any patient. Hospitals are only required to stabilize patients with injuries or acute medical conditions, but are not in any way required to treat any illness or disease.

Get to the Damned Point Ian

Based on the facts and data, it’s clear that we have a healthcare problem in the US. While there is plenty of debate to be had about how to fix it, anybody who says that healthcare is fine likely needs to see a doctor. The United States spends more money on healthcare, both as a nation and per person, than any country with public healthcare and we only cover the poor and the old. Contrary to what many have said, the middle class already pays for public healthcare, we just don’t get any (look at the line on your paycheck that says medicare). Here are some solutions that I propose:

1. Reduce malpractice suits. Many hospitals and private practices spend up to 60% of their gross revenue on malpractice insurance. Doctors are people and they make mistakes, we need a system that only allows malpractice suits in the case of actual negligance as deemed by a jury of peers, which in this case is other medical professionals.
2. Support the free market. Allow people, not employers, to select healthcare plans. Many employers choose a generic plan that works for some, but not others. The plan at my current employer is great for single people, but all of the employees with family coverage hate it.
3. Shift federal grant money towards prevention and early detection. The most expensive medical procedures are usually the result of preventable conditions. For example, almost every form of cancer has a 90% or better cure rate in Stage 1, but most grant money goes towards curing late stage cancer rather than detecting early signs. People recieving extreme procedures for curable diseases wastes immense amounts of money.
4. Eliminate state specific healthcare plans. State laws prevent competition in the marketplace and allow insurers to fix prices.
5. Provide a non-profit or public option. This doesn’t mean that the government pays for healthcare, this means that the government acts as a healthcare insurer that citizens can purchase plans from. This insurance could be cheap enough for working class families to afford and would force private insurance companies to create more competitive plans. Health insurance companies make huge profits, even in the current economy, have a cheaper non-profit competitor would force change.
6. Provide more educational grants and scholarships to doctors and nurses. Less student loans would help reduce doctor’s salary requirements. Also, more doctors both reduces demand (and there for cost) and makes it more difficult for poor quality doctors to stay in practice. Finally, millions of dollars are wasted every year as a result of mistakes made by overworked medical professionals.
7. Last but not least, please stop spreading bullshit. There are plenty of valid reasons to dislike the current bill being considered, there is no reason to make things up. If political leader says something that sounds insane [cough Death Panels],  take a few minutes to do some research before you repeat it.

OK, that’s it. Let the flame war begin.

Derogatory or blatantly false comments will be deleted.

Congratualtions Obama. Congratulations America.

It’s clear that this country is making a turn. Whether it’s for better or worse is uknown, but at least we have a captain who we trust.

The current economic situation is pretty scary. At the current rate, it looks like the Dow may lose 50% of its value over the course of 2008 and our legislative branch is making some incredibly risky moves in an attempt to turn things around. Most of the people I know are starting to feel the pressure, but it seems that there are very few articles that explain how the situation came about.

I’ve done some research and put together a timeline. I’ve tried to remain as unbiased as possible in this timeline, but I will warn you that I have some pretty strong opinions on the matter. Let me start off by saying that this crisis was not the fault of either political party. Both parties supported bills that led to this.

1. The first event in the current depression is the great depression. At the time, banks used money from savings accounts and other customer investments as a cash source for investments. This worked well when the market was moving up, but caused a domino effect when the market took a downturn.
2. As a result of this domino effect, laws separating banks and investment houses were established.
3. Over time, US banks were more frequently competing with foreign banks that weren’t impeded by this separation and during the 80’s and 90’s billions were invested in lobbying the government to repeal the laws. The Federal Reserve Chairman, Paul Vockler, warned against the repeal.
4. During the housing boom of the 90’s, Alan Greenspan felt it was safe to reduce these restrictions and helped the Clinton administration pass the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which allowed commercial and financial banks to work together.
5.  Around the same time, lower interest rates caused banks to reduce requirements for home loans. Additionally, there’s evidence that mortgage fraud by borrowers and brokers was skyrocketing .
6. These loans were bundled together into Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS). This is where the problem really starts. The process of securitization causes several problems. The securities are often underwritten, insured and rated by agencies that stand to make money from the transaction, which resulted in MBS being rated very highly and were very difficult to investigate.

   CRITICAL FLAW: This sets up the whole crises. There are trillions of dollars invested in overrated and excessively risky securities.

7. Along each step of the securitization process, each party makes a substantial amount of money and each party believes that they are passing the risk onto the next party. Most of the MBS’s are very profitable because the housing boom is offsetting early foreclosures.
8. Over time, the housing market levels off and foreclosures start to rise. Banks become less willing to refinance high interest mortgages. This process becomes cyclical and foreclosure rates increase.
9. The Dow peaks at 14,164 in October 2007. Over the past year, the subprime mortgage problems result in MBS values to drop by nearly 2 trillion dollars. This causes 2 problems. Bank values drop reducing their ability to loan money and investor confidence drops making it more difficult for banks to get more money to cover the difference.
10. Shit hits the fan.
11. Banks relying on the mortgages fail.
12. Securities relying on the banks’ mortgages plummet.
13. Credit starts to freeze reducing the ability for banks and businesses to acquire the cash they need to function.
14. The commercial paper* system (short term loans between corporations) starts to collapse as business become less likely to loan money and expect higher interest rates and shorter terms. Companies that rely on corporate paper, which is almost everybody*, have a difficult time making ends meet.

That gets us to today. There’s a lot of finger-pointing going on, and unfortunately tons of people have been screwed. Millions of people have lost and will lose their homes and jobs.

END ATTEMPT AT BEING UNBIASED

The greedy pricks that caused this problem by lobbying for less regulation and abusing the new freedom they were given are making out like bandits. For example, Dick Fuld, the CEO of failed Lehman Brothers, has received over half a billion dollars in bonuses. To put that into perspective, his bonuses could probably prevent 5,000 families from losing their homes. In my opinion, these CEOs have destroyed 10 times as many lives as Al Qaeda and should all be treated to a lengthy vacation in Cuba.

* Commercial paper provides a means for companies with variable in revenue streams to stay in business. For example, retailers often use it to increase inventory before the holidays. The commercial paper market is cheaper and more efficient than traditional lines of credit.