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America won. Now is our chance to get health care right
Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
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It takes only two things to keep people in chains: The ignorance of the oppressed and the treachery of their leaders..
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After more than 7 years of ridiculous political posturing, and more than 50 votes, the Republicans presented a meaningless and a truly horrible plan that America hated. So Trump et al predictably threw in the towel as bullies always do when faced with defeat.
The plan the Republicans presented would have screwed virtually everyone except the rich, who would have been rewarded — a perfect score for the extreme right, who consider the poor to be lazy “takers.”
Too “lazy” for health care?
But, before rational minds rejoice too much, let’s address the fact that the ACA is itself a lousy plan. It is an expensive, Rube Goldbergian, basket-case of little competing fixes, that punish some poor to reward other poor — all unnecessarily.
The federal government, being Monetarily Sovereign, never can run short of dollars, and in fact, creates new dollars every time it pays a bill. So why are we asking people to pay for something the government should fund?
Eventually, when every terrible scheme to “save-the-government-money-by-costing-the-public-money” has failed, and health care still is lacking in America, perhaps we finally will come to the only plan guaranteed to work: Federally funded Medicare and long-term care for every man, woman, and child in America (Step #2 of the Ten Steps to Prosperity — below).
We already know how to do Medicare. We have been doing it for many years, and the vast majority of people who have Medicare like it. So functionally, we would have no difficulty expanding this program, with which we have great experience, to our younger people.
And I’m not talking about the Bernie Sanders program, that is based on not costing the federal government “too much.”
Posted March 24, 2017 11:47 am Amarillo Globe-News
Letter: Single-payer health insurance is the right medicineInsurance works because everyone pays a premium so everyone can be given care as needed.
Imagine a health care system where every dime went to health care and none to lawyers and insurance companies for their expenses and profit. They tell us that this competition is necessary for us to receive the best product at the best price.
How about a fantasy world where health care providers are competing for your health care dollar? I am talking about single-payer health insurance. Premiums and charges go to one place, and that place pays the providers.
Then we could say, “spend your money here because we offer the best thing you can do with your money and we will take care of you.”
No, not the kind of single-payer system where doctors and hospitals compete for dollars — that sort of competition simply would lead to worse care. The hospital with the fewest nurses, and the doctor who packed in the most patients would win.
We should have a system in which the federal government is generous enough in its payments, to allow for better doctoring, and to encourage more students to enter medicine.
It would be a health care system generous enough to reduce the trend for “boutique” doctors, who charge flat fees in advance.
It would be a health care system in which 100% is funded by the federal government, so that no one would even have to think twice about the cost of consulting a doctor or going to a hospital or taking medicine.
Remember, every dollar paid by the government increases Gross Domestic Product, and costs you nothing. (That’s right. Taxpayers don’t pay for federal spending.)
Until we rid ourselves of the twin myths that reduced federal spending benefits the economy, and increased federal spending is “unsustainable,” we forever will create plan after plan that costs too much and leaves too many people out.
Obamacare is garbage. Trumpcare was even worse garbage. So we now have settled for the lesser of two garbages, all because of ignorance.
As a last resort, after all the wrong steps have been taken, and we are exhausted with failure, let’s be smart: Enact federally funded Medicare and long-term care for every man, woman, and child in America.
That would help “make America great again.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty
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The single most important problems in economics involve the excessive income/wealth/power Gaps between the have-mores and the have-less.
Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics.
Implementation of The Ten Steps To Prosperity can narrow the Gaps:
Ten Steps To Prosperity:
1. ELIMINATE FICA (Ten Reasons to Eliminate FICA )
Although the article lists 10 reasons to eliminate FICA, there are two fundamental reasons:
*FICA is the most regressive tax in American history, widening the Gap by punishing the low and middle-income groups, while leaving the rich untouched, and
*The federal government, being Monetarily Sovereign, neither needs nor uses FICA to support Social Security and Medicare.
2. FEDERALLY FUNDED MEDICARE — PARTS A, B & D, PLUS LONG TERM CARE — FOR EVERYONE (H.R. 676, Medicare for All )
This article addresses the questions:
*Does the economy benefit when the rich can afford better health care than can the rest of Americans?
*Aside from improved health care, what are the other economic effects of “Medicare for everyone?”
*How much would it cost taxpayers?
*Who opposes it?”
3. PROVIDE A MONTHLY ECONOMIC BONUS TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA (similar to Social Security for All) (The JG (Jobs Guarantee) vs the GI (Guaranteed Income) vs the EB (Guaranteed Income)) Or institute a reverse income tax.
This article is the fifth in a series about direct financial assistance to Americans:
Why Modern Monetary Theory’s Employer of Last Resort is a bad idea. Sunday, Jan 1 2012
MMT’s Job Guarantee (JG) — “Another crazy, rightwing, Austrian nutjob?” Thursday, Jan 12 2012
Why Modern Monetary Theory’s Jobs Guarantee is like the EU’s euro: A beloved solution to the wrong problem. Tuesday, May 29 2012
“You can’t fire me. I’m on JG” Saturday, Jun 2 2012
Economic growth should include the “bottom” 99.9%, not just the .1%, the only question being, how best to accomplish that. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) favors giving everyone a job. Monetary Sovereignty (MS) favors giving everyone money. The five articles describe the pros and cons of each approach.
4. FREE EDUCATION (INCLUDING POST-GRAD) FOR EVERYONE Five reasons why we should eliminate school loans
Monetarily non-sovereign State and local governments, despite their limited finances, support grades K-12. That level of education may have been sufficient for a largely agrarian economy, but not for our currently more technical economy that demands greater numbers of highly educated workers.
Because state and local funding is so limited, grades K-12 receive short shrift, especially those schools whose populations come from the lowest economic groups. And college is too costly for most families.
An educated populace benefits a nation, and benefitting the nation is the purpose of the federal government, which has the unlimited ability to pay for K-16 and beyond.
5. SALARY FOR ATTENDING SCHOOL
Even were schooling to be completely free, many young people cannot attend, because they and their families cannot afford to support non-workers. In a foundering boat, everyone needs to bail, and no one can take time off for study.
If a young person’s “job” is to learn and be productive, he/she should be paid to do that job, especially since that job is one of America’s most important.
6. ELIMINATE FEDERAL TAXES ON BUSINESS
Businesses are dollar-transferring machines. They transfer dollars from customers to employees, suppliers, shareholders and the federal government (the later having no use for those dollars). Any tax on businesses reduces the amount going to employees, suppliers and shareholders, which diminishes the economy. Ultimately, all business taxes reduce your personal income.
7. INCREASE THE STANDARD INCOME TAX DEDUCTION, ANNUALLY. (Refer to this.) Federal taxes punish taxpayers and harm the economy. The federal government has no need for those punishing and harmful tax dollars. There are several ways to reduce taxes, and we should evaluate and choose the most progressive approaches.
Cutting FICA and business taxes would be a good early step, as both dramatically affect the 99%. Annual increases in the standard income tax deduction, and a reverse income tax also would provide benefits from the bottom up. Both would narrow the Gap.
8. TAX THE VERY RICH (THE “.1%) MORE, WITH HIGHER PROGRESSIVE TAX RATES ON ALL FORMS OF INCOME. (TROPHIC CASCADE)
There was a time when I argued against increasing anyone’s federal taxes. After all, the federal government has no need for tax dollars, and all taxes reduce Gross Domestic Product, thereby negatively affecting the entire economy, including the 99.9%.
But I have come to realize that narrowing the Gap requires trimming the top. It simply would not be possible to provide the 99.9% with enough benefits to narrow the Gap in any meaningful way. Bill Gates reportedly owns $70 billion. To get to that level, he must have been earning $10 billion a year. Pick any acceptable Gap (1000 to 1?), and the lowest paid American would have to receive $10 million a year. Unreasonable.
9. FEDERAL OWNERSHIP OF ALL BANKS (Click The end of private banking and How should America decide “who-gets-money”?)
Banks have created all the dollars that exist. Even dollars created at the direction of the federal government, actually come into being when banks increase the numbers in checking accounts. This gives the banks enormous financial power, and as we all know, power corrupts — especially when multiplied by a profit motive.
Although the federal government also is powerful and corrupted, it does not suffer from a profit motive, the world’s most corrupting influence.
10. INCREASE FEDERAL SPENDING ON THE MYRIAD INITIATIVES THAT BENEFIT AMERICA’S 99.9% (Federal agencies)Browse the agencies. See how many agencies benefit the lower- and middle-income/wealth/ power groups, by adding dollars to the economy and/or by actions more beneficial to the 99.9% than to the .1%.
Save this reference as your primer to current economics. Sadly, much of the material is not being taught in American schools, which is all the more reason for you to use it.
The Ten Steps will grow the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and you.
MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY
Source: http://mythfighter.com/2017/03/24/america-won-now-is-our-chance-to-get-health-care-right/
