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Poverty 
Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 14:39:58 PST
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(10PM EST - promoted by Nightprowlkitty)
This is a followup piece to my diary about the MSM noticing that on March 4, 2010 college kids all over the country were protesting the drastic tuition and fee hikes they are facing in order to try to continue their educations.
"It did get a bit disruptive"
http://www.docudharma.com/diar...
Here in CA the state is raising tuition 32%, while cutting funding to state colleges and universities by a total of 1.4 billion dollars. Community colleges are also facing drastic cuts in funding for classes, meaning that there ARE no classes for 200,000 students.
In that diary I had a bit of a time getting a short little video to embed of protesting students in Oakland, who had marched several miles then got up onto the 880 freeway, which showed a view of the freeway, shot from above and at a distance out of somebody's apartment window, with the cars stopped in the distance and the protesters were huddled up on the exit ramp below by the police. (thanks to Edger for fixing it)
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Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 07:19:39 PST
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(8PM EST - promoted by Nightprowlkitty)
Over the past several months I've continued to document my problems with our broken health care system, particularly focusing on the options provided by those who are either unemployed, disabled, or who work low-wage jobs in which their employer does not provide the option of coverage. My hope upon doing so is that more people will recognize the depths of the problem beyond just the soundbytes, the smears, and the distortions. I aim to record the truth, not the fear-based rhetoric that many accept as God's honest truth. What I have discovered is that the problem goes much deeper than a position statement and only modestly resembles the demonizing propaganda disseminated by those who would kill reform altogether. The real issues are just as troublesome, though they are far more ordinary and less inclined to high drama.
Today's latest hassle involves a matter of incorrect bill coding. An insurance claim for lab work was not processed properly, so I opened the mailbox Saturday to find an eye-opening bill for a mere $1,323. To say that I couldn't exactly pay it in full would be an understatement. Along with the bill was an itemized statement listing the cost of the twelve separate tests that were run. Those who have a chronic illness of their own recognize that upon seeing a new specialist or doctor, he or she will often order several lab profiles at first as a means of eliminating other extenuating circumstances that might complicate the treatment of a primary diagnosis. Sensible enough, except that many these tests are very expensive. A test for Hepatitis, for example, cost $366, and a full drug screen cost $217. Those with excellent insurance never blink an eye about the prohibitive cost, of course, because for them it is almost always covered in full.
For those with sub-standard or nonexistent coverage, however, the situation is quite different. As I have mentioned before, I have bipolar disorder, and as such take Lithium to stabilize my moods. Lithium is a notoriously difficult drug to regulate because the most minor changes in environment or other seemingly innocuous changes will cause the levels in the bloodstream to vary considerably over time. There is no other way to accurately measure its concentration in the bloodstream except through drawing blood and over the years I have gotten used to it, as best as one can under the circumstances. Still, I report with much frustration that even a simple Lithium serum level costs $64 without insurance. Someone who also has bipolar and is living in poverty could not easily afford to spend this kind of money and would likely choose to either go off his/her medication altogether, or stay on the meds and go months without having a lab profile, both of which are extremely dangerous options.
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Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 16:37:23 PST
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( - promoted by buhdydharma )
I've been poor, and I've been not so poor -- and not being Poor is better.
Finally after 50 years of treating those in Poverty, as a bothersome statistic, the Federal Govt has begun to acknowledge, that there ARE individual stories, in that invisible demographic group:
Federal Gov't Expands How It Measures Poverty
The Census Bureau will expand how it measures poverty beyond just cash income to get a more accurate picture of what people actually have to spend.
Frank James, NPR -- March 2, 2010
NPR's Pam Fessler summed up the changes for network's newscast:
Things such as taxes, child care, housing and out-of-pocket medical expenses, along with the value of government benefits such as food stamps, will be included in the calculation. The official poverty measure, which is based on an individual's cash income, will still be used to determine eligibility for government programs. The supplemental measure will be used to study poverty trends and the impact of anti-poverty programs. The change is something that's been long sought by poverty experts. The new measure will be available next year.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetw...
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Mon Mar 01, 2010 at 06:55:32 PST
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I again write today about what has become a completely inadvertent, but nonetheless growing series of personal anecdotes which reveal both the depths of our broken medical system and the shocking limitations and abuses of a system of social services designed to care for the poor and disabled. In so doing, I have uncovered a tremendous number of objectionable practices that would never be considered acceptable among the more fortunate. Established policies designed to assist and give comfort instead punish the genuinely needy. For example, in the process of applying for a variety of safety net programs, I have been threatened with complete termination of coverage if I didn't follow every step exactly as requested and in a supremely timely, if not obsessively punctual fashion. In some states and municipalities this sort of conduct would be not just be bad form, it would also be against regulations. Not here.
In the District of Columbia, no one apparently sees the problem in treating low-income and disabled residents like criminals. To make my case once more, let me provide a bit of backdrop. The District is a very unusual place in lots of ways. Though technically it is merely the physical location for the seat of national government, it is governed as a kind of odd mix between a state and a city. Like most American cities, its population consists of an often uncomfortable combination of the affluent and educated, most of whom are relatively financially secure whites, and a core of heavily impoverished and undereducated residents who are usually black. If DC were a state, and much larger based on surface area alone, there would be more of a middle ground between the have-everythings and the have-nothings, but this is simply not the case here.
The District contains its own particular system of distributing food stamps, low-income medical insurance, prescription drug coverage, and providing disability benefits to those unable to work. In roughly six months of trying to work a system that is both ridiculously ineffective and unnecessarily complex, what I have come to realize is that it is also a system based on punitive retribution, which is neither fair to applicants nor particularly effective to everyone. With every step of the process, regardless of what it might be this time, the necessary paperwork I was provided screamed out in bold, block letters, often capitalized lest I overlook it, that I better fill this latest form out perfectly and as soon as possible, else I'd find myself without anything at all.
The existing system itself is so unwieldy that I have often been provided incorrect, or at best inexact information. I don't fault those who gave me wrong information because learning all the particulars takes months, if not years, and turnover in social service agencies is often quite constant based on the fact that the job promises low pay and high stress. I was, for instance, told that I would only need to re-apply for food stamps once every six months. However, within two months I received a letter in the mail, one printed so cheaply and faintly that often reading the words was a challenge, specifying that I needed to re-certify how much income I was currently making, else I be denied next month's allotment. The return envelope was just as difficult to read and after affixing a stamp to cover the cost of postage, I took the time to write out by hand the return address, else some postal carrier not be able to discern its destination.
The implication of this was quite clear. The instant I could be have my monthly allocation reduced, or even trimmed from the rolls altogether, the better. I do certainly recognize that we've all been hurting and will continue to suffer so long as this recession, or at least the lingering effects of it doggedly persist, but I hardly think the solution is in weeding out those who depend on these services, particularly since so many of them are the very definition of working poor with their own children and families to support. When I had the benefit of an increased income and decent benefits, no one ever made me certify that I still needed them. I was trusted, for the most part, to not abuse the system. Now, I am automatically suspect.
The low-income health care coverage I use via the District's own program is sufficient, but hardly convenient. After filing for disability, I assumed once granted it that I would also receive Medicaid. Medicaid, while it certainly contains its own limitations, still provides a greater sphere of coverage than the DC program. Medicaid would allow me to have my prescriptions filled at a conventional pharmacy like a CVS, Rite Aid, or Walgreens, whereas the only way to get my medications via the other coverage plan is to visit the sole pharmacy in the District that stocks the drugs I require on a daily basis to maintain my health. It is located in a tremendously inconvenient part of town to get to, based on where I live, and it takes thirty to forty-five minutes via public transportation to arrive. Often I end up expending the better part of a morning from start to finish once one factors in sitting in a waiting room, trying to be patient while the drugs are filled. As it turns out, no one told me that according to District-only procedure I needed to apply for Medicaid separately and go through another time-consuming process. Of course, this is a means of saving money and reducing cost on their part, but in my opinion, it is silly to assume that someone who is DISABLED and has to subsist on a minimal monthly allowance wouldn't need basic health insurance as well.
To chalk this up to something as relatively straightforward as racism, classism, abelism, or the like would only be confronting a small sliver of a larger problem. I fault those who set policy in the first place, whomever that might be. To return to my own struggles once more, I believed originally (and even wrote in an earlier entry) that one of my medications was available to be filled at the low-income on-site pharmacy, though there was often a substantial delay in getting it in stock. As it turns out, I was once again told wrongly. The drug is not stocked at all because with it comes the threat of a hypertensive crisis if very specific dietary restrictions are not adhered to exactingly. Obviously, no one wants the bad press or potential lawsuits that might transpire if a patient had one of these (or if, God forbid, he or she died as a result), and this goes for doctor and District government alike. But to be deathly afraid of litigation, regardless of how baseless it might be doesn't so much reflect upon a problematic legal system as a complete lack of basic trust and compassion for our fellow beings. We could make sure that frivolous malpractice lawsuits were minimal, but unless we get to the reason why people file them in the first place, any legislation passed into law will not achieve its purpose.
Returning again to my medical situation, the particular medication I take is absolutely essential to assure my continued basic functionality and it works so well that the difference between not being on it and being on it is like night and day. That I am able to manage the restrictions competently speaks partially to my willful desire to stay healthy, but also that I am educated enough to recognize what foods I need to avoid and to do my research accordingly. The assumption in not stocking the med, regardless of whether or not it could really help someone in need, is that a person with barely a high school diploma, having grown up in utter squalor and with all the problems that result from it might not have the same capacity and level of personal responsibility as me. Yet again, here we have a punitive, blanket response when basic compassion and an examination of people on a case-by-case basis would be much more effective. Once more, we opt for the quick fix instead of really examining the full picture.
As for whether Congress will pass health care legislation, I'll leave that never-ending speculation to someone else for today, at least. What I do know is that whatever reform measures we pass will need to take into account whether we treat fellow human beings as numbers, money drains, or as only waiting for the next opportunity to take a mile once we grant them an inch. We certainly don't seem to wish to grant anyone who we perceive as other than us the most basic of trust, nor do we take into account that all humans make mistakes, are fallible, and aren't perfect. We read about drive-by-shootings, petty crime, and drug deals and think that anyone born into such circumstances must be guilty by association. Fifty-two years after the film Twelve Angry Men was released, we're still stuck in that same way of thinking.
Juror #8: Look, this kid's been kicked around all of his life. You know, born in a slum. Mother dead since he was nine. He lived for a year and a half in an orphanage when his father was serving a jail term for forgery. That's not a very happy beginning. He's a wild, angry kid, and that's all he's ever been. And you know why, because he's been hit on the head by somebody once a day, every day. He's had a pretty miserable eighteen years. I just think we owe him a few words, that's all.
Juror #10: I don't mind telling you this, mister. We don't owe him a thing. He got a fair trial, didn't he? What do you think that trial cost? He's lucky he got it. You know what I mean? Now look, we're all grown-ups in here. We heard the facts, didn't we? You're not gonna tell me that we're supposed to believe this kid, knowing what he is. Listen, I've lived among them all my life. You can't believe a word they say. You know that. I mean, they're born liars.
Juror #9: Only an ignorant man can believe that... Do you think you were born with a monopoly on the truth?
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Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 08:37:50 PST
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(10 am. - promoted by ek hornbeck)
The Food Stamp program has always been a contentious, heavily partisan issue. A recent New York Times article highlights the back-and-forth that has characterized the highs and lows of the program, and where it seems to be headed. Today I've chosen to write about this controversial subject to, in part, document of my own direct personal experience. Though food stamp usage might have been more stigmatized in an earlier year, there is unfortunately still much bias and prejudice directed towards those who take advantage of its existence. Until this is eliminated, others will refuse to apply and find their poverty and need considerably worsened. If this be Welfare, it is one of the most essential safety nets ever devised and my fear is that a resurgent GOP presence will eliminate it altogether, or prune it back considerably.
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Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 12:07:26 PST
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If we were to be fair with ourselves, we would admit that, compared to most of the rest of the world, we really do have it good. As I say this, I recognize that statements such as these have been set forth multiple times to scold those who feel no desire to contribute to some worthy cause or endeavor. I'm not really out to highlight an issue or to request a donation, nor do I seek to appeal to your latent sense of guilt. Rather, I do ask for your sober contemplation. What I say now is designed to encourage discussion and discourage argument. We have enough back-and-forth as it is and we waste so much of our energies and ourselves in the process, passion better spent focused on different avenues.
All of us live in one bubble or another. The wealthier and more privileged we are, the greater and more exclusive the bubble. Growing up in the South, as I did, my parents and the parents of my peers most often had been born into solidly working class families. It had only been through their hard work and a resulting favorable economic climate that they'd had the ability to achieve social mobility, and in so doing scale one class up the proverbial ladder. Now that I live in a city where I encounter on a regular basis people my own age who have come from a long line of relative wealth, their views and mine are often as different as our priorities. I find it quite difficult to not be jealous and envious of, for example, their multiple trips abroad to Germany or their ability to attend an elite institution (or two) of higher learning. Still, I recognize that compared to many who live in the state of my birth, I had it very easy.
When we talk about Haiti, Darfur, or the Middle East, all the usual conduits to direct money and financial assistance fall easily in place. Yet, it is rather telling that it takes a catastrophe before we give even half a second to contemplate what life must be like for those in the Third World. Whether we admit it or not, a hierarchy of need exists, and the simultaneous blessing and curse of having our own basic needs met on an almost constant basis is that we can afford to have trivial, tedious arguments of insidious intent. And what to what overwhelming question does this lead us? It's tough to say, really, but whatever it may be is frequently useless and thoroughly counter-productive.
As for our friends in dire need, their daily thoughts tend to be whether they have enough food to eat, or whether their lives will be in danger tomorrow, or how they'll manage to raise their children in a harsh, unforgiving environment. To them, our arguments would seem not just ludicrous but also completely incomprehensible. Many have talked about this concept before, too, I recognize. If I believed we had gotten the message before now I wouldn't bother reintroducing it. To be sure, I am aware that some do take this matter to heart. These are the ones who jump at the chance to volunteer to serve the less fortunate in other countries. I admire and appreciate their devotion. I do also take to heart the often-conservative criticism that we spend so much time and energy temporarily boosting the stature of devastated foreign countries while simultaneously neglecting our own poor and downtrodden. We would certainly go far to document the lives of our own needy beyond the occasional human interest story or anecdote. It's not so much where we devote our energy as it is a question of our general mindset, which must not just be a single-minded and highly time-limited desire to cross off the phrase "humanitarian effort" from our Socially Conscious™ checklist.
The problem with bubbles, of course, is that bubbles isolate. They are impermeable. They keep information from getting out and in so doing keep necessary strategies and potential means of assistance in the hands of and for the use of a small, fortunate few. In discussion with those of other nationalities, I note that they have at times expressed no small frustration with us that we in this country seem to believe that nothing happens of much importance unless it happens here, or has some direct relevance to America and Americans. If our ultimate goal was complete equality, as we say it is, then we'd make a general effort to take into account the unique stories, news, and issues of other regions and countries of the world. Put this way, these very pertinent topics wouldn't have to be consolidated into a tab labeled "World News" on one's browser, or reduced to a niche interest targeted to a niche interest group.
What we deal with primarily is a discrepancy involving money and means. Here in Northwest DC, for example, some have spent years bickering about the location of a new library and whether it should be granted zoning rights and the ability to finally break ground. Common sense alone would have dictated that the existing temporary library space is much too small to accommodate the number of patrons who use its services, meaning that the construction of the building can't get underway soon enough. Whereas, if I turn my attention towards the Southeast in the direction of Anacostia, I am faced with the blight and decay of dire poverty---with it a lack of basic services. Here, where I live, there are many restaurants and grocery stories I encounter on even the most modest of walks up and down the main thoroughfare. There, one is hard pressed to find more than one restaurant, and grocery stores are either severely limited, or nowhere to be found. This underscores how finding common means of comparison is difficult enough between people of similar interest, but in this way, both residents speak completely different languages.
I fail to take into account that many of us genuinely try to do the right thing. I've seen it for myself, many times. I'm not stating that one ought to drop everything, give all one has to the poor, and move to an impoverished country. But what I am saying is that once we leave the bubble, we don't need the novelty of a country or region in crisis to recognize that until our efforts here on these shores are a success, we simply won't have the infrastructure and the methodology in place to give better aid and assistance to foreign countries in need. If that on-going War on Poverty is ever won and won forever, it will start here, then spread to other places, not the other way around. Speaking American English in all its varieties and variations is tough enough, with so many regional, ethnic, and economic distinctions. Speaking the native tongue of another place is a daunting, if not completely impossible task until we've found our own means of translation.
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Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 12:32:19 PST
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Thu Jan 28, 2010 at 13:55:40 PST
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( - promoted by buhdydharma )
Obama: Small Business Key for Recovery
Kent Bernhard, Jr. -- Jan 27, 2010
The president proposed eliminating all capital-gains taxes on small-business investment, creating tax incentives for small businesses to hire new workers and raise the wages of those they already employ, and steering $30 billion in money from the Wall Street bailout to community banks to lend to small businesses.
"Now, the true engine of job creation in this country will always be America's businesses. But government can create the conditions necessary for businesses to expand and hire more workers," Obama said. "We should start where most new jobs do--in small businesses, companies that begin when an entrepreneur takes a chance on a dream, or a worker decides its time she became her own boss."
http://www.portfolio.com/busin...
OK, how will Small Business, get the help they need, to put Americans back on the Road to Recovery?
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Wed Jan 27, 2010 at 15:14:24 PST
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Regardless of what President Barack Obama says tonight during his "speech", this below is the real State Of The Union:
The State Of The Union
__
Until this high corruption is exposed and honestly dealt with, at a Presidential level, American citizens will just continue to be systematically robbed blind, see their own standard-of-living and economic security continue to diminish, and the purchasing power of the "U.S. Dollar" shrink before their eyes.
No amount of "happy talk", phony Federal Reserve Chairman worship, or "small-ball" policy tinkering around the edges (tax cuts, "stimulus", etc.) can ever supplant what is fundamentally a wholly corrupt Financial and Monetary model.
The true State Of The Union must be finally recognized for what it really is. The United States is owned and operated by an elite Worldwide criminal Banking cartel (modeled after the Rothschilds dynasty banking empire), and our Country's so-called "Independence", that we celebrate every 4th of July, is now only just a myth today .
We never permanantly escaped the Empire and Central Bank Monopoly that we once had separated from. Conversely, we were inflitrated by it, and today we remain trapped within the "Empire".
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Tue Jan 26, 2010 at 23:28:58 PST
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(11 am. - promoted by ek hornbeck)
Not really, but in another cheap political stunt, he is freezing white house salaries. Way to pay attention to the big picture, clown shoes.
Federal Poverty Guidelines as defined by total annual income across different family sizes.
The blue symbols show the federal poverty guidelines as defined in 2008. The red symbols show twice the poverty levels, poverty guidelines X 2.
With each additional person in the household, the poverty level is adjusted upward just $3600.00 per person at the federally defined guideline, and by $7200.00 per person at twice the federally define guideline.
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Wed Jan 20, 2010 at 06:12:02 PST
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The circular firing squad over the defeat of Martha Coakley and what this means for the Democratic Party and Health Care Reform got underway a couple days ago. I've said my bit, and have nothing further to add, but I'd rather address the potential challenges facing reform aside from the loss of a seemingly filibuster-proof majority. It is now absolutely imperative we push forward and bring a bill to President Obama's desk. Our backs may be against the wall, but perhaps it will take abject panic and fear to rouse our complacent, weak-kneed Democratic legislators towards the goal. If it takes the shock and dismay of a humiliating defeat to break the logjam, then so be it. I'm not concerned with speculating as to how we got here; I am instead consumed with what we learned from it and how we will use this tough lesson to think of others and their needs rather than ourselves.
What I have noticed in my own struggles to obtain low-income health insurance is how class and race ensure that government subsidized plans are underfunded and often dysfunctional, but money (or the lack of it) seems to be the most powerful determinant of all. What many have noted is that basic selfishness is what threatens to derail any efforts towards changing the existing system---namely that people who have always had sufficient coverage do not understand the limitations faced by those who do not. We can call that privilege if we wish, but that term has always seemed accusatory to no good end to me, and my intent is not to chastise anyone but to make many aware of the challenges in front of us that never get much in the way of attention. In my own life, I can say that I have now seen how the other half lives for the first time ever, and I noted that they live lives severely impeded by the tremendous limitations and senseless complications of the existing system.
I have been unemployed or at least severely underemployed for several months. As a result, I had no choice but to file for government assistance. When I was finally granted food stamps I signed up as well for a local DC funded health insurance plan. What I have discovered in the process is that since the Recession hit, social service agencies in DC have been swamped by new applications for every existing option currently offered. According to one worker with whom I spoke, claims have tripled since the bottom began to fall out of the economy. The system was barely able to manage the number of filings in more stable times, and now it has in large part ground to a halt if not slowed to a trickle. New claims are supposed to be processed in no more then 30 days from approval, and I was forced to make several time-consuming, additional calls to the proper department to even get the coverage activated. Those without the time or without the persistence likely will be granted nothing at all and this simply should not happen.
My great point is that without the infrastructure in place, it doesn't matter how many people to whom we grant coverage. Ensuring that everyone can get their teeth cleaned, fillings filled, broken bones set, flu-like symptoms properly treated, diabetes regulated, or depression adequately under control is the ultimate goal, but we must also be sure to build a sufficient number of clinics, medical centers, doctor's offices, dental hygiene practices, well-stocked pharmacies and all the rest. They must be built in proper proportion to need and since humankind has never been able to curtail its zeal for making money at the expense of the health of the financial system, we need to devise strategies to build these things for both good times and bad.
In DC, the low-income, government-funded system forces the poor and/or disabled to a handful of centers scattered across the District itself. Visiting a private doctor or specialist is not an option, since coverage is only granted to those who use these designated centers. Likewise, pharmacies and medication dispensation function under the same parameters. Using Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, or other commercial medication fillers is not allowed under the plan. Though there are a score of specific pharmacies which take the DC plan, in my case, there is only one pharmacy in the entire District that fills psychiatric medication, and for me it is a 35 minute trip, one-way via public transportation and then by foot. The pharmacy itself is attached to a Mental Health services clinic which is the sole site whereby psychiatric care is provided for a city of roughly 600,000 people.
Without enough workers to process claims, grant coverage, manage medical records, or attend to even the most basic of needs the system is essentially worthless or at least incredibly inefficient. Without enough revenue allocated by governments from taxation or other means, it doesn't matter how snazzy or up-to-date is any system designed to speed up or modernize the system. Window dressing is window dressing. Without the money to properly stock a pharmacy, medications will be obtained on a priority system and as such, meds that are rarely prescribed or are very expensive will rarely be on hand when needed. For example, one of my medications, Parnate, is an MAOI inhibitor. Parnate is a very powerful anti-depressant that is infrequently prescribed because with it comes potentially dangerous, even deadly side effects if I do not take care to abstain from eating certain foods. As you might expect, it is not one of the more common prescriptions, but it is essential to my lasting health and quality of life. A commercial pharmacy usually has it in stock, or if it does not, it can be quickly ordered or is certainly in stock at some other store in the immediate area. With the government-subsidized pharmacy I must use, if that particular drug is available at all it is due purely to chance and luck, and if it needs to be ordered, it may be a week or more before they have it in stock.
Regarding visits with a GP, specialist, or other specific health practitioner, some clinics and centers accept walk-ins or schedule appointments within a reasonable time frame. Some do not. For those who need surgical procedures or more invasive treatment, one might be expected to wait months. When I still lived in Alabama, there was approximately one Medicaid-accepting clinic for the entire state that performed the procedure, and as such when it came time for me to have a very routine, non-invasive treatment, I was booked four whole months in advance. In more affluent, usually blue cities and states, the wait time is often less, but it can still be a bit on the lengthy side. As for me, I found to my utter dismay that my coverage was terminated before the procedure could be even performed after the clinic filed and billed Medicaid for the cost of the preliminary screening. Someone must have realized that to save cost I was not what they deemed a "high-priority" need and thus I could be safely removed from the rolls to save money in what was a system already in danger of being completely depleted of funds.
An important distinction needs to be drawn here. The DC-based coverage I have been talking about is different from Medicaid or, for that matter, Medicare. This coverage augments or seeks to provide coverage to those who either have Medicaid/Medicare or cannot get approved for it. This is why the rules, parameters, and hoops to jump through are more severe. Medicaid usually allows a person to pursue more orthodox means of seeking treatment. Though some medical practitioners do not accept it because it usually pays out less than a gold standard coverage plan through a private insurer, many do. Again, money is a big factor at play. If Medicaid were capable of paying out at a sufficient rate, everyone would take it. If it wasn't at times forced to pay out much later than a private carrier or even being forced to issue IOU's when monetary shortfalls and partisan bickering delayed enactment of a satisfactory state budget, then it certainly would be on par with usually employer-based coverage.
Yet, it is very disingenuous at best for those who oppose health care reform to stubbornly dig in their heels and express haughty indignation that they are NOT going to have "the government" take away their right to choose their doctor. The only way this would ever happen for most is if they lost their insurance altogether, lost all their personal savings, and lost the ability to come up with the money to see a well-compensated physician and/or specialist. Their worst-case-scenarios and numerous reservations are true only for those living in abject poverty, or at or below the poverty line. The wealthier among us have any number of lifelines, be they family, co-workers, friends, fellow members of a particular group or club, or other sufficient means. Those at the bottom have none of this upon which to rely. Friends, family, and others are just as impoverished and less fortunate as they are, and they have no choice but to take and use what they can get. And taking what they can get means dealing with a system that is convoluted, needlessly complex, inconvenient at best, and regimented to such an authoritarian degree that even obtaining the minimum often is an exercise in debasement.
If ever we had a need for revolutionary reform and change, now would be it. Decades after a declared War on Poverty, we still have many battles ahead of us. We haven't really given this matter anything more than perfunctory attention, and we haven't really allocated resources of any significant means to this very pertinent cause. Doing so would require us to understand exactly how fortunate we are to have been granted, by complete luck and chance, the socio-economic status of which we were born. For some quirk of God, fate, or nature we do not get the right to choose our parents or to choose our upbringing. But we do have the obligation to see to it that those for whom daily adversity is not an abstraction have the same rights that we frequently take for granted. I am not seeking to lecture, nor to hector anyone, but rather to strongly emphasize that our continued success as a people, a party, and a movement demands that we seek to assist the poor and the less fortunate. Our wallets, billfolds, and bank accounts couldn't open fast enough to provide aid to suffering Haitians. If only this were possible for our own poverty-stricken citizens, many of whom struggle through conditions not that dissimilar to those we now view through heart-wrenching news reports and graphic photographs. After all, it might be you someday who faces the disquieting realization that our health care system is designed for the wealthy, by the wealthy, and in so doing realizes just how much you took it for granted.
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Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 12:47:53 PST
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(10:00PM EST - promoted by Nightprowlkitty)
Please donate to Haiti Relief through Doctors Without Borders
This essay was first printed in The Dream Antilles on March 23, 2008. I'm republishing it here, because it might help in putting the horrific events in Haiti in perspective.
This morning's NY Times has an extremely strange story about Haiti. The premise is that things are now so bad in Haiti, that some Haitians wish they still had Papa Doc or Baby Doc Duvalier back as their military despot:
But Victor Planess, who works at the National Cemetery here, has a soft spot for Mr. Duvalier, the man known as Papa Doc. Standing graveside the other day, Mr. Planess reminisced about what he considered the good old days of Mr. Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude, who together ruled Haiti from 1957 to 1986.
"I'd rather have Papa Doc here than all those guys," Mr. Planess said, gesturing toward the presidential palace down the street. "I would have had a better life if they were still around."
Mr. Planess, 53, who complains that hunger has become so much a part of his life that his stomach does not even growl anymore, is not alone in his nostalgia for Haiti's dictatorial past. Other Haitians speak longingly of the security that existed then as well as the lack of garbage in the streets, the lower food prices and the scholarships for overseas study.
Haiti may have made significant strides since President René Préval, elected in 2006, became the latest leader to pass through the revolving door of Haitian politics. But the changes he has pushed have been incremental, not fast enough for many down-and-out Haitians.
The article is worth reading in its entirety, primarily because of its conceit that Haiti, seething on one end of the island of Hispaniola in the midst of the US sphere of influence in the Caribbean, has developed its present dystopia all by its lonesome self, without any assistance worth mentioning from its gigantic hemispheric neighbor, the United States.
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Mon Jan 04, 2010 at 11:24:23 PST
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(4 pm. - promoted by ek hornbeck)
Seven CIA employees were killed and six others injured in a terrorist attack on a base in eastern Afghanistan as the agency steps up its presence in the country alongside thousands more U.S. military forces.
President Barack Obama told Central Intelligence Agency employees yesterday that their colleagues who died Dec. 30 were "patriots who have made great sacrifices for their fellow citizens and for our way of life."
"In recent years, the CIA has been tested as never before," Obama, who is on vacation in Hawaii, said in the letter to agency employees.
**Snip**
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Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 19:06:00 PST
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(10 am. - promoted by ek hornbeck)
Apparently many workers in China would -- for how much longer though is not entirely clear. You see the Chinese, want to make more, improve the Standard of Living for their families -- just like Americans and Europeans do.
http://iws.punahou.edu/user/JS...
8-12% Raises in Minimum Wages across China, in 2005!?
Apparently, Workers around the World, AREN'T Working just for the Fun of it!
This new trend toward leveling the the Global playing field, doesn't bode well for the Wal-Marts of the world, who rely on such "captured cheap labor markets" --
to remain quiet, dutiful, and
happy with a pittance.
Afterall Billions of Dollars (and Euros) are at stake -- those Foreign Workers must not upset that Apple cart.
They should just be happy they have a Job!
Shouldn't they?
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Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 17:04:16 PST
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I thought I'd do something different today for comparison's sake. With everyone sufficiently indignant at our banking system, our government's response, and at the abuses within the Bailout, I thought I might provide some needed contrast. The details which follow first are the literal steps one has no choice but to follow to attain food stamps in Washington, DC. I pulled certain phrases off of an advocacy website PDF here but the construction is largely mine.
How to Obtain Food Stamps in the District of Columbia
1. Sit in line at the Food Stamp office nearest you and, while waiting, fill out a 12 page form.
OR
Print the form and fill out all 12 pages.
2. To make sure you do not try to cheat the system, you will first be required to reveal your
a) Household income
b) Cash present on hand
c) Rent and utility costs
3. You will then be asked to provide
a) where you work (if you are, in fact, employed)
b) your employer's name and telephone number
c) when you started working for them
d) how much your paycheck is before taxes
e) and how often you get paid
4. If you or anyone else in your household makes some degree of income, repeat step 3
5. If you have a bank account, you are required to prove it by providing a bank statement
6. If you own anything else besides your home, you are required to state that you do.
7. If you have stocks and/or bonds, please respond in in the affirmative.
8. Did you sell, trade, or give away anything more than $1,000 in the past three (3) years? If so, please mark "yes" and attach a description to this form.
9. Provide the exact dollar amount of that which you pay in rent. Don't forget to leave out utilities if not included in rent and whether or not you pay for air-conditioning and heating costs separate from your rent.
10. Mail form. Wait approximately three and a half weeks for a reply, only to be told after four separate phone calls spent futilely trying to speak to an actual person that, due to a severe backlog in unprocessed claims, it may be up to a month and a half before your paperwork is processed.
OR
Drop off form at Food Stamps office. Speak to case worker after waiting for several hours. Turn in form. Wait approximately three and a half weeks for a reply, only to be after four separate phone calls futilely trying to speak to an actual person that, due to a severe backlog in unprocessed claims, it may be up to a month and a half before your paperwork is processed.
11. Wait
12. Keep waiting.
13. Finally receive form in mail informing of date to meet with caseworker to determine whether Food Stamps will be granted. Date is eight business days from when one received notice.
14. Collect necessary documentation to prove identity. This includes:
a) Photo ID/Drivers' license
b) Recent rent receipt, copy of lease, mortgage payment, or landlord's name and phone number.
c) Proof of income, last three pay stubs, VA benefits, educational scholarships, grants or loans, unemployment payments, or your employer's name and phone number.
d) Proof of Housing Expense: Recent rent or mortgage payment receipts. This includes receipts of all recent utility bill(s): phone, gas, electric, and water. All of these documents must have your address printed on them.
e) Bank statements: If one has an account at a bank or credit union, bring a recent bank statement or bankbook. Also if you have any other type of financial account (for example, a CD) be sure to bring that, too.
f) Social Security Card
g) Proof of any Assets: Bring proof of ownership for buildings, land, policies, burial arrangements or plots, and/or other property (not your home that you stay in) you reported in your application.
15. After all hoops have been jumped through and forms brought to the attention and signed off by the appropriate party, wait for judgment about food stamps.
16. Ten days later, judgment is granted. Realize that $100.12 per month means approximately one week's worth of groceries for one person. Shrug and say to self that every little bit matters.
17. Attend mandatory EBT Card (Food Stamp) card training before receiving. Training lasts approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
18. Proceed directly to grocery store.
How to Obtain Bailout Money in the District of Columbia
1. Be a CEO of a large financial institute.
2. State that you are nearly bankrupt, but too big to fail.
3. Collect emergency funds.
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Wed Nov 11, 2009 at 06:18:04 PST
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DECRYING Barack Obama as "white power in black face", hundreds of African Americans marched on the White House today to protest policies of the first black US president, and demand that he bring US troops home.
Do you have to be black to say this without getting everyone's panties twisted into a Gordian knot or can we call a spade a, uh, er, or can we tell it like it is?
Blue suit, black suit, brown suit - a suit is a suit, born of a white man's colonial military uniform.
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Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 17:46:18 PDT
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(noon. - promoted by ek hornbeck)
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities economists just confirmed the trends of the last 8 years -- Most of the the Economic Gains went to the very Wealthy, while the rest of us struggled to just get by
TOP 1 PERCENT OF AMERICANS REAPED 2/3 OF INCOME GAINS In last Economic Expansion,
Income Concentration in 2007 Was at Highest Level Since 1928, New Analysis Shows
By Avi Feller and Chad Stone - September 9, 2009
Two-thirds of the nation's total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households, and that top 1 percent held a larger share of income in 2007 than at any time since 1928, according to an analysis of newly released IRS data by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.
During those years, the Piketty-Saez data also show, the inflation adjusted income of the top 1 percent of households grew more than ten times faster than the income of the bottom 90 percent of households.
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Sat Oct 10, 2009 at 17:26:18 PDT
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( - promoted by buhdydharma )
There is a clash of titan forces taking place in the American Economy right now. It's a tale as old as Greed itself.
It is the tale of the "Powers that Be" running into the watchful eyes of the "World that Should Be".
The story involves how corporate Robber Barons avoid the watchful glare of the citizen Muckrakers.
It is the tale of Deception and Greed vs Honesty and Fairness ...
 
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March on Washington
Saturday, March 20
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