Single payer now!

My one personal example illustrates why the U.S. needs single payer health care... I pay over six thousand dollars in health insurance premiums per year for the 'privilege' of shelling out an infinite amount of deductible cost for medical care (which is promised to increase next year). Until my medical needs exceed my 'out-of-pocket' expenses, my insurer (Blue Cross Blue Shield) makes a profit of >6K per year just to keep my name on their 'covered' list. I have a medical issue that I really should investigate, but the prospect of paying out of pocket for doctors visits and diagnostic scans has me putting off care. I will say it again, if I could enroll in a single payer health plan for the current cost of my premium (or even with a significant increase), I would sign up in a new-york-minute. American health insurance is a scam where the insurance providers charge a high 'premium' that is immediately entered into the profit line of their accounting books at the expense of the health and well-being of their victims. This can be fixed.

Legal equivalents

campaign spending : free speech : corporate personhood (Burwell v. Hobby Lobby) :: 
free speech advocacy of gun ownership : NRA : terrorist organization

A form of Reparations?

There's been more talk of Reparations since Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Case for Reparations was published. In it, he talks about how redlining was used as a tool to essentially steal wealth from black communities. I wondered if there is a way to help reverse the effects of redlining in these communities... currently home mortgages are tied to the original lender; the mortgage taker cannot transfer a mortgage to another home buyer nor can someone who inherits a house continue to honor the terms of the mortgage to pay off the remaining debt. Lending institutions, on the other hand, can trade mortgages left, right, inside-out and upside down. *So* creating a mortgage that can be transferred to the heirs of a home owner would be a way to increase the intergenerational transfer of wealth and make it easier to build wealth over generations. Not reparations but a way to build value over generations.

What if...

Claus von Stauffenberg and his conspirators had succeeded? Will future historians look back at our time and wish for an equivalent plot? Will there even be future historians or will the policies of today obliterate any viable path to continue the human species and/or culture?

It's hard to be optimistic in the face of so many authoritarian-minded national leaders. A short list that immediately comes to mind includes Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Duterte in the Philippines, India's Modi, Netanyahu in Israel and DJT in the U.S. They all actively repress free speech and expression to advance their own standing and power to benefit those of their class. Scary times ahead...

Retail decline?

I had to take an elderly friend shoe shopping and the reception we received at a local shoe store was unfriendly to say the least. It was a big store, two shoe aisles deep and absolutely no visible benches until the very back corridor (children's shoes) parallel to the entrance... so I picked up a bench and moved it over to the adult area where my elderly friend wanted to try on shoes.

(1) Don't make customers need to ask and search for benches in a shoe store!

Then a clerk came along and started harping about fire regulations, etc.

(2) The polite customer friendly response would be to apologize and move the bench to the end of the *nearest* aisle in keeping with fire regulations to best accommodate the limitations of their elderly, frail customer.

When I pointed out their customer had physical limitations that the store was not accommodating, the response was to submit a complaint online.

(3) Do not disrespect the comments of a live customer to their face! It should be the responsibility of every employee to improve the quality of the product and service of any company they work for. This especially includes passing the face-to-face critiques of customers up the chain of the company.

I was so livid, I've decided to never buy from that brand store again. I seldom buy that brand shoe and now I am much less likely to buy them also... no Skechers for me (my friend too).

BTW, I am not saying I was 'right' in my actions but the clerk was absolutely 'wrong' in the way they interacted with us.

Unpaid caregiving is another sign of the need for a different economic model

TRRN has a story about the cost of unpaid caregiving to both caregivers (who are primarily women) and the economy overall. The guest said:

They often don’t tell their employer because they’re afraid of being essentially fired if they disclose that they’re caring for—You can’t really hide that you’re caring for children, but you can hide that you’re caring for a disabled spouse...

This goes to two points I always return to...

(1) The current definition of economy and economic activity is focused solely on generating profit. This leads economic (essentially all) public and private policy to measure success (and existence) on ability to produce a profit. But the majority of the economy (the workers) don't prioritize profit; their primary reason to work is self-maintenance and well-being. So a far better definition of economies is: self-organizing and self-sustaining systems of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services that promote the well-being of all participants. Such a definition would rule aspects of offensive war-making to be anti-economic (major reduction in status) and personal caregiving services would increase in status; after all, caregiving adds almost immeasurably to human well-being.

(2) The power elite establish and maintain their status by controlling information by a number of means. I've written about state secrecy (so called 'national security interests') and intellectual property. The above quote is another way to control information - self-censorship for the sake of job security. This has also crept a little into cultural embarrassment... needy family members are a sign of weakness so caregiving is not often mentioned. 

The solution to information control is transparency. But the level of transparency necessary to fully open up an economy cannot be driven only by policy. They must also be a massive cultural shift to social and cultural transparency. It's not easy but these are ideas and concepts that must be mulled and allowed to percolate through individual and societal expectations.

Bernie speaks...

Bernie Sanders gave a speech "On How Democratic Socialism Is the Only Way to Defeat Oligarchy." It covers much of what I've written about here and elsewhere. It's worthy of a listen.