Today we have seen two potentially aspiring presidential candidates, Howard Schultz and Michael Bloomberg, say that a Medicare-for-all system would bankrupt the country.

I suggest there is a path to a Medicare-for-all system that will not bankrupt the country and, in fact, could reduce the total amount of expenditures in health care in the U.S.

In 2017, national health care (NHC) expenditures in the U.S. totaled $3.5 trillion, or $10,739 per person. NHC includes expenditures on hospitalization, physician and clinical services, prescription drugs and health insurance.

Medicare and Medicaid covered approximately $1.3 trillion, leaving $2.2 trillion that is paid for by other sources.

Americans… businesses and individuals… paid out a total of approximately $1.2 billion for health insurance. Assuming all of that was paid into a national health care fund instead, that would a leave $1.1 shortfall that would have to be paid for by some other means to “break even”, most likely by increasing taxes on corporations and individuals.

So here’s the paradox. U.S. NHC expenditures of $10,739 per person is more than twice as much as the average per capita expenditures of $5,280 for the eleven most highly developed and richest countries in the world. It is 2.2 times more than Canada spends on health care per capita at $4,826 per person.

If though economies of scale, fee negotiations and changes in malpractice and pharmaceutical legislation the U.S. could cut NHC expenditures by 31.5% to $7,364 per capita, then there would be no shortfall.

$7,364 per capita is still 40% higher than the eleven most highly advanced and richest countries in the world, and 53% more than Canada spends on health care per capita. The only highly developed country that outlays more than $7,364 per capita for healthcare is Switzerland.

And that does not consider that a NHC system should not pay for elective surgeries such as cosmetic surgery, performance enhancing drugs and the like. For those needs Americans can still maintain personal supplemental health insurance. Private health care insurance does not have to disappear completely.

If one considers the situation logically, doesn’t a national health care, or “medicare-for-all” system seem within reach if we have the will as a nation to make it happen?

Donald Trump repeatedly took credit for for the bull market as one of the prime indicators of the impact of his presidency on the U.S. Economy.

In the past year of Trump’s presidency the DJIA is down 9.2%. Since Trump’s inauguration the DJIA is up 16.1%, roughly an average of 8% per year.

In the last year of Barak Obama’s presidency the DJIA was up 24.8%.

During the second term of Obama’s presidency nearly 10.3 million jobs were created. 4.2 million new jobs have been created so far during Trump’s presidency, far behind the pace set during Obama’s presidency.

Mr. Trump, according to your metrics who do you think had the more positive impact on the economy now?

This article appeared in Fox News on-line on November 13.

King Mohammed VI of Morocco is actually standing to Melania Trump’s right!

Cutting through the rhetoric of both the conservative and more liberal press is what the American voters really think. And the view of some Republican candidates for Congress that Trump’s bet that rallying his base around the caravan of “invading foreigners” that is still at least one month from our southern border is probably based in some knowledge of what the people really think about the subject of immigration just 10 days from the mid-term elections.

A NPR/PBS/Marist poll conducted last week indicates that immigration is, in fact, tied for second place with health care as an issue that may factor into deciding our vote for Congress next week. From that perspective Trump seems to be seizing upon an issue that is resonating with Americans.

However, when asked in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted in September, an overwhelming majority of voters believe that immigration helps the U.S. more than it hurts it. That trend has only accelerated over the past eight years, as the poll results show in the table reprinted below.

Trump”s strategy of making the invading caravan his major campaign issue in the days before the elections could well backfire if those who believe immigration helps the U.S. more than hurts it come out and vote.

 

This spin by Fox News today on President Trump’s use of profanity in recent incidents is worth contemplating;

“The president’s profane candor could signal what some observers say is Trump’s increasing confidence on the job and growing trust in his instincts after 14 months in the Oval Office.”

Now every government and civic authority, and CEO of every company should feel perfectly at ease to use all the profanity they want when speaking to employees, their boards, and in public because it is a sign that they are confident in their roles as leaders.

We should expect nothing less from role models for our children.

In the absence of government leadership, it is refreshing to see the private sector taking the lead on the the cause to get assault style weapons off our streets, or otherwise restrict gun sales, in the wake of Florida school massacre.

To date, Enterprise Holdings, which owns the Enterprise, Alamo, and National rental car brands, as well as First National Bank of Omaha, Hertz, MetLife, Symantec, Chubb, SimpliSafe, Delta Airlines and United Airlines have ended discount programs with the NRA. And Dick’s Sporting Goods announced they will no longer sell assault-style weapons, and any gun to anyone under 21 years of age.

In this era of dysfunctional government, it is refreshing to see the private sector taking the lead on the issue of gun violence, as companies have on environmental causes, when our federal and state governments refuse or are unable to do so. More and more companies’ social responsibility initiatives are picking up the slack where our legislators refuse to act.

This behavior should be encouraged and rewarded by corporate shareholders and stakeholders of all corporations that can have influence on the discourse over gun violence and getting assault-style weapons off the streets, and all guns out of the hands of those who are incapable of using them responsibly.

 

 

One again, Fox tries to change the discussion. This morning, while the New York Times and every other news outlet were reporting the Trump campaign aid, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and lying to the FBI, Fox was busy trying to, again, discredit the Mueller investigation by claiming the investigation team is “heavy with Democrats”.

It is true that several of the 16 attorneys on Mueller’s team gave to Democratic down-ticket candidates in 2016. Six made no political contributions in 2016. In terms of Hilary Clinton specifically, election filings indicate that three lawyers gave her 2016 presidential campaign a total of $700. That is hardly evidence of bias.

Mueller himself is a longtime Republican, and served under two Republican presidents. And he is prohibited from choosing lawyers based on political affiliations.

Fox News… the REAL fake news.

Thursday morning, 5:00am Pacific time. As reported by all major news outlets, except Fox News – see below – the Senate is expected to vote on a bipartisan two year budget bill today to avert another government shutdown and end the stalemate on a fiscal budget.

Granted, a Tesla Roadster heading for Mars is interesting. But Fox might have least considered a brief headline on the bipartisan budget agreement further down the page. I guess the geniuses at Fox consider the claim that Richard Pryor slept with Marlon Brando more interesting… or more important… to their audience than real bipartisan progress by our legislators.

It is 5:30 Pacific time, Wednesday, February 7th. The most amazing news of the day is the BIPARTISAN two-year budget deal in the Senate. Truly a remarkable accomplishment and positive news story amidst all of the disfunction and discord of the past several weeks… months… years. It is something to celebrate. And the major news outlets – The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN – did exactly that.

But over at Fox, not a word about the bipartisan two year budget deal, not anywhere on Fox’s home page. Instead, more rehashing of the 2016 election in Fox’s undying effort to discredit the Mueller investigation.

 

Why? Because celebrating a bipartisan success in the Senate does not align with “Fox evangelism” in its undying support of Mr. Trump?

This is the problem in America right now; a bogus and biased opinion network whose audience is comprised primarily of Trump’s base.  Why would Fox want to tell its faithful followers that something positive happened when both sides of the isle came together and actually struck a budget deal that’s good for America?

On that now infamous day nearly two weeks ago, a bipartisan group of senators presented to President Trump a DACA bill that would have protected the Dreamers and had broad bipartisan support in the Senate, and apparently the House as well. As we have now heard countless numbers of times, Trump rejected the bill with very harsh language [having to do with a hole or a house, we’re really not sure] because it did not do enough for border security (translate: it did not move us closer to the 2,200 mile wall Trump promised his base during the presidential campaign).

Since the Senate is confident that it has a large majority of bi-partisan support to pass the bill, as apparently does the House, and can potentially override a presidential veto should that happen, then why hasn’t the Republican leadership brought it to the floor for a vote? Had they done that, the Government would likely not have shut down because enough Senate Democrats would have supported a continuing resolution, to the extent that 60 votes would likely have been assured.

I suspect the Senate Democrats have done themselves no favor in the minds of American voters by keeping a continuing resolution from passing over the DACA issue and, thus, shutting down the government. While the majority of Americans support a permanent solution to DACA, the subject of immigration itself ranks very low in all polls on issues Americans consider to be national priorities. Only 5 to 10% of Americans consider immigration issues a priority, with the economy and jobs always at the top of every poll.

That said, by November countless new outrages by our president will have occupied our national discourse, and a government shutdown in early January will have long been forgotten.