Sound Bytes: The Environment

Seems to me we’re supposed to be the caretakers of the earth. We haven’t been doing a very good job. Let’s make certain that there’s still a planet here tomorrow.

We need to ensure that we are using the technology and tools available in intelligent ways. We need to stop depending on finite resources and invest in our future: solar, wind, tide, geo-thermal, etc.

We need to help ensure that we are not destroying the world through pollution and arrogance.

Comments (View)

Sound Bytes: Taxes

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” - The United States Declaration of Independence.

With that in mind…let’s just have one tax that is fair for everyone. Check it out at FairTax.org.

Comments (View)

Sound Bytes: Health Care

You can try to denigrate unions all you want, but they do show that there is strength in numbers. Imagine a health care plan that costs you one hour of work at minimum wage per week (per person in your family you wish to cover). You’d end up paying a whole $340.60 cents per year (at the current US minimum wage of $6.55 per hour). For a family of four: $1362.40 per year.

This works by strength in numbers. According to the US Population Clock (as of when I started investigating this), there are 305.4 million people in the US. If you pool everyone together - that would be over $2 billion a week contributed (over $104 billion in a year).

I find it hard to believe that if our money were pooled together like this, that insurance companies wouldn’t be clamoring for a piece of it. Also, if everyone were insured, the costs of healthcare should drop anyway.

Of course, the question remains: what about those not working? The current unemployment rate is 6.1%. So, there are over 18.5 million people unemployed. Lets put in a fudge factor for those with families who are now not going to be covered of 15%, for a total not covered due to unemployment of 21.4 million people.

Let’s also assume that this idea will replace medicare. The current US population over 62 is just under 46 million people. I am assuming that they all receive medicare or would require a health plan.

So, in total, there would be 67.4 million people who would need help paying for healthcare. This would work out to needing an additional $441 million per week (or $23 billion per year).

A large portion of this would be eaten by the regular fund that is set up. Just because $2 billion is contributed in a week, doesn’t mean that $2 billion would be spent every week. The government would need to fund the remainder (if any), from regular tax funds.

This works especially well if the plan is set up as a Self-Insured plan for the entire US.

The trouble with such a plan would be keeping politician’s fingers out of the healthcare money. The benefits would include affordable healthcare for everyone; lowered healthcare costs (as most of the cost of healthcare come about from covering the uninsured); and a system that does not take away choice from individuals to pick from specific plans (reviewed on a periodic basis).

Note: if I were crafting this into a law, I wouldn’t specify a specific amount to be paid each week, but tie it instead to the Federal minimum wage. There is also nothing to stop an employer from paying for this for you (as many do now). It’s a way to attract employees.

Comments (View)

Sound Bytes

Well, until the US election takes place, I think I will be posting short little “solutions” to some of the nations issues/problems. Instead of usual political speech, I will try to keep things short, sweet, and simple.

Tags:
sound bytes

Comments (View)

Word of the Day

I’ve subscribed to the Dictionary.com word of the day email list for quite some time. I find today’s word appropriate after last night’s debates:

circumlocution \sir-kuhm-loh-KYOO-shuhn, noun:

“The use of many words to express an idea that might be expressed by few; indirect or roundabout language.”

I guess politicians are masters of circumlocution.

Comments (View)

Bail out!

Here are my conditions (that should be part of the bail out but probably aren’t):

The CEO for any company taking money from the bailout must be fired (without any severance or golden parachute).
All companies taking money must be publicly disclosed (for ridicule and future avoidance by those who choose to do so).
Any company taking money must pay this back with interest (it should be strictly a loan, not a get out of jail free card).

Of course, none of these conditions will happen…