ProgressiveChange's Comments (16)

“Healthcare defrauders have been paying up to several billions in fines and penalties without admissions of wrongdoing for at least 2 decades.

It is a cost/risk caluculation ... the cost of doing business for many corporations. As long as the executives need not go to jail, writing checks in settlement of federal civil suits and paying lawyers to handle the unpleasantries are considered acceptable business practices. The fact that the fortunes being expended to resolve unpleasantries are ultimately paid indirectly by consumers and/or taxpayers is another undisclosed offense of the perpetrators.”

“... too many times, after the election was over, and the confetti was swept away, all those promises fade from memory, and the lobbyists and the special interests move in, and people turn away, disappointed as before, left to struggle on their own. --- Senator Barack Obama, 2/10/07

President Obama has not produced Change We Can Believe In. He has demonstrated Yes We Can ... But No We Won't.

'Changing the way business is done in Washington' was among his team's battle cries. Cutting a deal with the RX drug industry ... failing to openly, aggressively insist upon a robust public option or single-payer universal health care system ... failing to use the power of The White House to demand quick legislation to end the prospect of more abuses by the banking and financial services fraud perpetrators ... are just a few of the glaring discrepancies between what was promised and what has been done or not done to date.

"He closed the revolving door, forbidding anyone who works in his administration from lobbying when they leave their jobs" ... Many appointees served on Boards and had lucrative roles with the industries, which have been outrageously exploitive of Americans. It is unacceptable to appoint political hacks ever-cautious about making the wrong moves on the chess board without balancing their routines with more grounded and reality-based personnel.

The valley between what David Plouffe believes what is yet to be done and what we expect from President Obama is much wider than”

“Telling it like it is. Thank you Arianna.

There may yet come a time when politicians in Washington cease to reveal their contempt for the intellect of some of their consituents ... and actually effect Change We Can Believe In ... .

The current crew shouted Yes We Can ... and whispered, But No We Won't.”

“Unfortunately, he didn't tell us ...."But We Won't"”

“Obama promised to change the way business is done in Washington. If he sticks with his passivity in the face of efforts to dilute or eliminate a muscular public option, he will have done the opposite --- enhanced the ways business is done in Washington. They can call it reform if reform is defined as any form of change, even change for the worse.”

“The people making policy are generously insured at mostly taxpayers' expense.

Every American, insured or otherwise, should be encouraged to invest 10 minutes and go to ehealthinsurance.com. There they will be asked to plug in very limited information ... and then study for themselves what it would cost them (premiums, co-pays, deductibles, RX medications out-of-pocket expenses) if they had to purchase insurance in their locations from the 'competitive free market'. Once enrolled (if 'eligible'), the next step will be to receive benefits documents so ambiguous that no one really comprehends them. This sets up the policy-holder for future recissions, cancellations, and the withholding of benefits. Surprise!

The insurance industry leaves a trail of enough documentation of egregious business practices to give the incorruptible Members of Congress plenty of reason to eliminate it as a factor in universal healthcare coverage. It is apparent that 15,000 or more Capitol Hill staff are too busy doing other things to capture and expose it. And that's the travesty!

They knew, but ignored credit card and sub-prime loan rip-offs for years before the financial services industry imploded the economy.

There is no way in hell that a few of them (at least those I have contacted personally) don't know what's buried, but accessible, through limited research on scores of major players within the healthcare industry. Purposeful ignorance may be politically correct; it remains immoral and a disgrace to our national character.”

“Democrats are repeating their arrogance, which lost them the House & Senate in 1994. They have done a terrible job of vetting appointees. They have failed to screen the most egregious, hypocritical, immoral, and unacceptable players in our economic debacle and healthcare crises. While they have proven their political cowardice by taking impeachment of Bush & Co. off the table … deep-sixing efforts to hold it accountable for the Iraq debacle … enabled crooked banks and bankers to survive through massive bail-outs … allowed the screw-up and corruption of healthcare reform by pay-to-play politics … this is not Change We Can Believe In.

Vomiting on our heads and telling us that it is a ‘come together’, uniting-the-country strategy ... is offensive and outrageous.

Bayh, Baucus, Reid, most of the GOP in Congress, et. al. are chomping at the bit to pass what they will call 'healthcare reform' ... celebrate it and hype it as landmark ‘reform’. They will let the next generation deal with massive systemic failures inclusive of excessive and unnecessary costs, fraud-waste-abuse, and quality and patient safety deficiencies. Their legacy will be the expansion of a fragmented, unaccountable, and for-profit multi-payer, multi-amoral system rife with the greedy on steroids.

The public senses B.S. even if it can't quite put its fingers on the depth and scope of it. Democrats will pay a price for their gamesmanship down the road.”

“Jesus Christ! All they're doing is fooling people who beg to be fooled. No one can save fools from themselves. Chalk it up ... this is the America in which we live. People are in the midst of economic mass destruction and they are invested in lipstick, pigs, and gender-mania.

Meanwhile, The Obama Campaign and allies are doing the same old, same old with the same old results.Hu­ge sums of money are being spent on staff, canvassing, half-baked ads, and voter registration. Virtually no money is being spent to INFORM, EDUCATE, and ENLIGHTEN. The Democrats have this insatiable need to fight an unconventional war with conventional weapons. They want to talk issues while the right-wing has controlled the conversation and put Obama on the defensive.

It is what it is and there is no way that the deja vu from Kerry and Gore is reversed until somebody out here with common sense can penetrate the Obama inner circle.

France has a terrific healthcare system. The weather is better in Italy. We may be left with those or similar options soon.”

“An Open Letter to Barack & Joe, September 8, 2008

Dear Barack & Joe,

McCain has told voters that he will fix Washington. He has told them that the barracuda is coming to reform it. He told them that some in his party were corrupted and instead of changing Washington, Washington changed them.

You would like the election to be about what they didn't hear. You would like the voters to take more interest in the issues. So would I. Get over it.

McCain's Gramm, Renzi, and literally dozens of others are corrupt. They cost Americans their livelihoods, homes, healthcare, and well-being. Voters have yet to hear who defrauded them and how they were defrauded.

You cannot expose them by making vague references to 'lobbyists'.

Credibility is accrued when you manifest the courage to spotlight the wrong-doers, explain what they did, detail their connection to the 'reformer', and what you will do to prevent these and others from taking advantage of Americans.

Are you going to put healthcare fraud perpetrators in jail or will they continue to write checks to pay civil penalties and fines? How will you deal with the prevalence of greed and the 'revolving door' between government and private industry? Will you explain what Phil Gramm and USB did to home mortgagees? Who will you appoint ... what hiring criteria will you utilize ... to replace the hundreds of incompetents and puppets hired to protect corporate interests?

Change Voters Can Believe In requires more vivid and forthright”

“The real test of the surge's permanent success comes after the Iraqis allocate the total resources for their own security. 140,000 troops behind the a local Army, puppet government, and security forces should be able to maintain security anywhere.

Whatever elements are resistant to the Iraqi government are biding their time. We won't know if the downturn in bleeding is temporary or permanent until we stop spending $10 Billion/month on splints and bandages.”

“The federal government pursues Medicare and Medicaid fraud. It has no jurisdiction over the private sector. Employers rely on insurance companies to police the system. Insurance companies have 2 constituencies --- those who pay the premiums (employers) and their provider networks (those who deliver healthcare services). Rarely do they prosecute 'billing errors' from providers. Its a classic conflict-o­f-interest­. Under single-payer system, hundreds of billiion$ would be saved by establishing centralized control, establishing accountability, negotiated universal fees, elimination of thousands of profit and operating cost centers, and through rigorous enforcement of fraud statutes.”

“As a healthcare consultant for almost 30 years, I concur that Obama's plan is better than McCain's, which is no plan at all. I believe that a single-payer plan has the potential to cover all Americans without any additional tax revenues. Obama's plan initially includes many of the elements, which have enabled special interests to trump the public interest. The public simply has no clue of the breadth, depth and scope of abuse, fraud, waste, and egregious business practices, which siphon off billions in unnecessary opeating costs, executives' compensation, and shareholders' dividends, within the current non-system. It is unfortunate that those with platforms and media attention do not tell the story to the American public. Unless and until the story is told, incremental 'reform' will continue to be an illusion of change. The real deal requires biting the bullet.”

“Harry & Louise are back. They haven't died for lack of health insurance. Others have.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/18/ap/politics/main4360898.shtml

The insurance industry is doing a 'listening tour'.

None of the sponsors of these campaigns represent the public interest.”

“Phil Gramm is a classic personification of a legislator, who prostituted himself for special interests under the guise of conservatism. His work for the financial services industry has been handsomely rewarded. Political influence peddling has cost Americans their homes, access to healthcare, and it has imploded their budgets .... beyond their curiosity, capacity to process, and apparently, ability to give a damn.

Nevertheless, information is available for those who seek it. http://www.motherjones.com:80/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html

Acountability is the product of information. Unfortunatley, most Americans manifest insufficient interest in finding it.”

“There appears to be a significant number of Iowa caucus-goers and New Hampshire voters committed to voting for candidates Clinton and Obama, who are willing to 'negotiate' with drug and insurance companies.

Most of these companies incessantly breach the vast majority of Americans' trust and exploit them economically. Unknown to most Amerricans, they are paying the legal fees, fines, penalties and related costs for massive egregious conduct. Corporate crimes cannot be challenged by those who accept huge campaign donations from corporate executives. Edwards opponents have accepted millions from some of the most egregious offenders.

In effect, absent fundamental change in The White House, payers-to-play will continue to be enabled by politicians, who rely on their money to be elected.

Edwards is the most likely to fight special interersts.

Follow the money: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.asp?Ind=F03”

“An Edwards-Biden Ticket would be incredible. Edwards could clean up Washington and address domestic issues while Biden cleaned up Bush's devastation internationally.”