Part of the problem in getting meaningful(read as effective) health care reform seems to be the simple fact that our "representatives" are receiving large amounts of unreported, untaxed, unearned income from the industries and businesses that will be the most affected by real reform or the unicorn of single payer health care.
That's right folks, a freebie round of golf is unearned income. A "fact finding mission" to Tahiti is unearned income, just like when you or I hit a lottery ticket or a big payout on a slot machine. The money is half gone before you get it to pay off a hefty unearned income tax.
Take the freebies away and see if the lobbies have the influence. While we are on this subject, I have an idea, Require all corporations and their hired lobbyists to fully disclose every financial gift, lunch, limo, golf game, dinner party, airfare,etc. in advance, publicly. Then if a senator or representative accepts any of it, take their vote away on legislation that is pending or proposed that would affect the group that has provided this little treat for them. Not just on the floor, but in committee as well.
Make these new rules apply to their families as well. No more cushy "jobs" for the wife and kids. Ban anyone who has served in congress from becoming a lobbyist.
Now for what I see as the really fun part for those of us who have no influence, kill both the congressional health plan and retirement plan. That's right, let them find their own group health plan with the same rules, costs, and exclusions that you and I face. Take that fully funded pension plan and turn it into a 401k. With all of the same rules and fees and blind charges that everyone else gets. Think of the savings to the nation.
Here's another thing that we need to do and I mean yesterday. No more free parking, haircuts, meals, gold embossed 100% rag note pads for them too. Let them fly MATS if they have to go on government business, otherwise they can pay their own airfare. If it is covered by some other organization then the previous rules will apply.
We are the ultimate bosses of our government. Not business. The government exists to make sure we are protected, not robbed for corporate profits. Our lives, liberty, and our pursuit of happiness is the primary goal. Our government is not supposed to be a clearing house for making businesses succeed or fail without risk. When we take our money and use it to support private industry we are not doing what a free market economy should. How many times have we been saddled with the contract obligations of big businesses that want to reneg on their pension plans? Employees are not allowed to renegotiate their contracts with employers in mid-execution. If they did, they'd lose their jobs.
When a busines fails, the owners should be required to live up to all obligations. Guess what kids, that includes those who own stock too. There should be no more taking what little is left and running. If I owe some company money I don't get to say, well too bad, I only have a few million left so I'm not paying. No I can be taken to court and my money and property seized to pay my debt. Not to mention that I will be charged for the legal expenses from forcing them to sue me for it.
We need to change the way our government does business. Why is there no mechanism to do that? Once elected they can stop being our representatives and start being lackeys for money interests. The nations infrastructure crumbles, it's people die and suffer needlessly, it's children go without decent food, education and health care. We are told it is because there is no money. That friends, is a lie. When a single man can amass a fortune of billions of dollars without obligation to our nation then something is horribly wrong. When the billionaires tax burden is less pernicious than the burden to those at the bottom something is wrong. When our seniors, and veterans have to choose between food, shelter and medical care something is wrong. When our government chooses to ignore this to protect a few peoples wealth something is wrong.
Take the profit out of government service.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
freethinker44
FusunA
Bill Beck
Placebostudman
DrAmyFarteur, MD
fireeyes24
Salon.com
Comments
People like Lieberman are examples of how smug a politician can get when he KNOWS he's got enough cash to win the election. And that's really sad. That all it takes is enough money. It's no different than buying beer for an election give-away.
Great post.
Rated.
Obama ran on a get rid of the lobbyists platform and that was the last I heard of it. Reel in the military spending and get Wall Street under control and start redistributing the wealth. Obama's lack of a stand on health care reform should be a big red flag for most of us.
It's time to shut this country down with a nation wide strike. I'm sick of it. I've got nothing but time since I can't find a job anywhere.
Oh, and a five year moratorium on working for or investing in companies that benifit from congressional goodies.
Term limits are baaaaad. We found that out in California, where we either have legislators who don't know what the heck they're doing, or they are too busy looking for their next gig. Then we want to cry because we miss the old timers who knew the ropes and who worked full time.
you can amend the constitution to eliminate government, by making the people, 'assembled', the government. it's called democracy.
the bureaucrats would work for the people, in public view. they would not be a government any more, but just an administration, carrying out the laws and policies of the people, set by referendum.
Rated
Usually, people who start up companies have their whole livelihoods on the line. The venture capitalists make sure that the owners are really going to hurt if the company fails. Early on, the investors in start-ups take a lot of risk. After the companies are sold to the general public, the risk declines and it is the job of the board to make sure the managers do a good job.
Currently, obligations of failing companies are tiered. Suppliers and employees come first, then senior bond holders, then subordinated bond holders, then stockholders. In bankruptcy, the shareholders lose everything. The subordinated bond holders lose a lot, the senior bondholders sometimes end up owning the company.
To me, the solution is to get very long term obligations off the company's books. Rather than the company having a lifetime obligation for the pension of someone who worked for them 50 years ago, the company should contribute to a pension fund managed by someone else. Once the payment is made for this year, it's no longer the company's responsibility.
Defined benefit pension plans are an actuarial nightmare.
The government won't use tax money to bail you out if you lose at roulette.
that is the only hope here
I didn't mean that companies should ditch obligations they've made, just that they shouldn't make such long-term, open-ended commitments in the first place.
401(K)s are better because the employee is diversified. If you work for a company all your life, you live in a town dominated by the company and your pension run by the company, then, when the company goes bankrupt, you lose your job and the value of your house drops. You don't need to lose your pension, too.
Most people earn pension rights after a few years and keep those rights. I have a pension (rolled over to an IRA, but that's unimportant) from a job I had when I was in my 20s. When I am retirement age, it will have been 40 years since I worked there. My family is long-lived. If it had been a defined benefit plan, I could easily be making a claim on a pension 65 years after I left the company.
A 401(K) is a fully funded pension. Rather than the company projecting how much cash they'll need when you retire, they've paid it to you (or to a investment fund).
My husband worked for 10 years for a company that was rapidly expanding. Then the whole industry went bust, the company with it. Some of the bigger companies in the industry just fell like a house of cards. My husband has a 401(K) from those years. He didn't need to worry about it when he was worried about how long he'd have a job and how to find a new one when jobs in his industry were rare and job seekers with his experience plentiful.
Oh, and we had stock from an employee-stock purchase plan. We lost 20K$ of our savings, when the company's stock plunged from 50$ to 50 cents.
401(K)s are better for the company and better for the employee.