We're all holding our breath. The White House spokespeople and President Obama tell us that they will complete health care "reform" before August. Okay, but what "reform" are they talking about? Are they going to give us meaningless reform that they can use to fool the public into thinking that they are doing something for working people, when the truth is they are doing nothing?
We just went through all the hoopla about credit card reform. It appears to me it was a straight-up shake-down by the Democrats. First they went out in public and created a frenzy of anger among the jobless and homeless by screaming that the credit card companies have been unfair, and they, the democrats, the new sheriff in town, are going to get tough. Boy, things will change.
Next, the Democrats set up a series of secret meetings with the credit card companies and their lobbyists to negotiate enormous bribes to be paid to the Democrats in exchange for the Democrats doing nothing to "reform" the credit card industry.
Next, we have President Obama and all the democrats opposing the idea of capping interest rates charges by credit card companies on working men and women, even refusing to "cap" them at 36%. For God's sake, in most civilized countries anybody who charged 36% interest per year on a loan would be thrown into prison. But in our country, the "liberal" party won't do a thing to stop them. Or to help the people who are victimized by this loansharking industry.
Finally, the Democrats come out popping the champagne corks celebrating themselves because they passed credit card "reform." But read the fine print. The only thing they reformed will have no effect whatsoever on the essence of the transaction: how much money, in interest and fees, is charged to average Americans for unsecured loans.
Oh sure, the loansharks have to give two weeks notice before they send the goon squad out to bust your kneecaps. No more dragnet clauses saying a default on the car loan will increase the credit card interest. No more increases in interest UNLESS IT'S A VARIABLE RATE CARD. Guess what? From now on, they will all be variable rate cards.
In fact, not only did the "reform" not change a thing to help the citizens, it actually snuck in a provision that the credit card industry wanted, to force parents to take on legal responsibility for any credit card charges of their adult children under the age of 21. This is the sneakiest, most reprehensible and despicable provisions. They won't give a credit card to someone 18 unless the parents co-sign. When Junior defaults, the loansharks will grab Mom's paycheck.
And the Democrats touted this as a good thing. Not for us. How much money will the Democrats get in kick-backs and bribes for passing these meaningless minor alterations, then telling the public that credit cards have been "reformed," so we need speak of that no more
And now those same lying despicable vote-selling Democrats tell us that they are really going to get serious, this time they mean it, and the health care industry will be reformed.
What's the first thing they do? Arrange secret meetings between President Obama and the CEOs of the major Medical Industry: Doctors lobby, hospital lobby, drug dealers. What exactly was negotiated in that meeting? The amount of the kick-back?
Then we have secret meetings between the Democrats in Congress and the Medical Industry. Did they set up payment terms, when the bribes will be paid and how much? Because we know the Medical Industry has already bought an agreement that Congress will not pass single-payer.
What if the entire health care "reform" consisted of a taxpayer giveaway to the Medical Industry? It's beginning to sound like that's the essence of the proposal. It's just another corporate bailout. There will be no restrictions on costs or charges, even though these criminals in the Medical Industry raise their prices by double-digits every year to increase their wealth.
The Medical Industry has made a non-enforceable, vague agreement that they will do something to try to control costs ten years from now. They say they will "really try" to cut costs in ten years -- Two Trillion Dollars in Costs Savings. But it's nonenforceable, and no penalty if they just blow it off. Since they're not going to do it anyway, they should have said they will "really try" to saving Two Bazillion Dollars. Or even Two Gazillion Dollars. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200...
The Government is going to give the Medical Industry money to buy computers, and software, and to pay to have every American's entire medical history put onto computers and made available to the entire Medical Industry. And to the government. Forever. Now all they need is to add our DNA, and Big Brother will have a party. The Medical Industry will use this information to deny coverage and refuse claims. That will be hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars given to these criminals to use against us.
Finally, the Government is going to give the Health Insurance industry hundreds of millions, possibly billions of dollars, to buy private, exorbitantly-priced, no-cost-restrictions insurance for every person in the country below a certain income level. These people, previously uninsured, will be given insurance with high deductibles to provide healthcare at 3 or 4 times what it should cost because of the failure to include cost restrictions, and failure to provide single-payer.
I see just another big corporate give-away coming. A bailout for the medical industry. More money to the corporations, more money taken away from the working people of this country.
Don't cheer because some Democrat says "public option." Wait for the details. Remember, what Obama promised was that he would allow Americans to buy the same insurance that people in Congress get. That's a meaningless offer, because most Americans couldn't afford it. I suspect the "public option" will consist of private insurance people can buy, but it will be called "public option" because it will include the same basic package available to Congress. Which nobody will be able to afford anyway.
And now we hear that taxing workers for their employer-provided insurance is being pushed as part of the "solution." That's more money out of the pockets of working people. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200...
I want to be wrong on this. But so far, since the Democrats got the majority in both houses in Congress and the White House, they have done nothing to help the working people of this country. They have accelerated the plundering of our nation by Wall Street and the corporations, giving away hundreds of billions of dollars to corporate insiders without any conditions or restrictions. Instead of ending the war in Iraq, they have now committed to continuing it for ten years, and are starting a new war in Pakistan. They have done nothing to create jobs while (real) unemployement is close to 20%. And now they want to add more taxes onto modest-income working Americans by taxing the healthcare benefits, and to slash Social Security and Medicare. I want to be hopeful, but other than imagining that I see a secret promise in Obama's eyes, there is nothing factual to encourage hope.
I'm beginning to feel sick. My health insurance premiums were just increased by 13%. This is what they call the squeeze -- theft, taking everything from working Americans and giving it to the corporations. The Democrats are not going to do a thing to help us. And we have no option except to pay the ransom every month or forgo insurance and medical care and die young.
We'll know soon enough.
http://NABNYC.blogspot.com
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