Comment Archives: stories: Opinion: Downing
Re: “Downing”
Watch a couple of minutes of Occupy Atlanta, when they refuse to let Congressman John Lewis speak. Very creepy. These call-and-response people make the NY occupier who did you-know-what on a police car, and the other NY occupiers who have lived outside for days and days look almost normal.
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For the record, the origin of the 99% (and the 1%) is from an article published last spring in Vanity Fair by Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stitlitz entitiled "Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%". His explanation of the totally distorted distribution of wealth is readily understood and devastatingly pointed. When 1% of the citizens own 40% ot the total wealth and 25% of the total income, the mechanisms that support that are completely gamed against the middle and lower class. Read the article, then act out of knowledge rather than emotion.
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Such insensitive and truly ignorant comments saying that "they should occupy jobs and a business." ...and "class envy"?! Do you know the unemployment rate in Tucson? Do you know how many people apply for each available "minimum wage" job? Do you know that many must have more than one job today just to pay their bills and feed their families? How many unemployed people do you personally know? This "class warfare" was started by the wealthiest decades ago; and now the "other 99%" of us are speaking up and speaking out. We are all ages...and will be meeting Sat. in Tucson. occupytogether.org
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"They have a strategy that's working. And like me, they now know a lot more about economics and government than they ever wanted to." What they don't know how to do is build wealth. They should occupy jobs until they can occupy better ones. Or they could occupy a business they start until it occupies more sales. Your class envy is irritating to even read. I think I'll stick to reading Danehy because I can guess we couldn't even have a polite conversation if we chatted at a bar.
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I QUIT GOING TO MOVIES IN THE START OF THE '70'S WHEN ALL MORALITY WAS DROPPED. POOPY MOUTHS, TOILET HUMOR, AND ALL THINGS IN THE 'BODILY FUNCTION' CATEGORY BECAME STAPLES. THEN TELEVISION TURNED TO TOILET VISION. YOU CAN HAVE IT BUT WHY WOULD YOU WANT IT. I STICK WITH THE 60'S DOWN. RERUNS YES BUT AT LEAST I'M NOT ASSAULTED WITH THE TOXIC MATERIAL THEY CALL ENTERTAINMENT. I KNOW, I KNOW, I'M OUTTA STEP. FOR A FREE COPY OF OUR FAMILY MOVIE WE FILMED GO TO Leesleyfilms.net. YOU SEE IT'S GOTTEN SO BAD WE HAVE TO MAKE OUR OWN CLEAN MOVIES TO WATCH. DEVON LEESLEY, PRODUCER OF YET PRODUCTIONS
Re: “Downing”
BTW- have you ever seen the movie "Matinee"? It takes place during the Cuban missile crisis, and the main character, not the John Goodman character, is a kid exactly my age who was interested in monster movies and magazines, just like I was. I may still be a nerd.
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I 999.9% agree with you, Ms. Downing. Except for the one episode that featured George Reeves as Superman.
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You mean you didnt care for the episode with lucy working in the chocolate factory? :O
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I hope everyone will email this to the radio stations that they know that still use FOX news. There are some country stations that come in where KXCI doesn't that still think that FOX is as good as any American news corp. It is not.
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Your faith in insurance gurus is sickeningly misguided, Ms. Downing. If you believe the companies in question wouldn't hesitate to use the information gathered to raise rates or kick someone out of their programs entirely, then you have entirely too much faith in corporatism.
I hope your weight stays within acceptable parameters for the bean-counters. Otherwise, you may well find yourself in the "uninsured" auto with other former acolytes of allowing the corporate camel's nose under the tent for the alleged purpose of good intentions, barreling towards Hades with frightful speed.
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The monetary system is a phase. After it's inevitable collapse and countless billions dead, then and only then may we be able to enter the next phase ov our evolution. When respect for all life is understood to be a real part ov who we are and what we are capable ov...wish us luck,
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You are so right on! As an old, alone, disabled and low income woman,
I am scared for my medical future. In addition to that, generics do not
work for me. I don't feel that politicians, who could make laws governing
this mess are interested. I have a thought - let's outlaw lobbies.
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Renee, Sorry to hear about your aunt but maybe if aunt joyce and uncle jay had signed a living will or advance directive making them DNR/DNI they would not be in the predicament they are in.
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How about opening up the competition for insurance? How about Tort reform? How about setting up programs that plan ahead?
Or maybe just watch MSNBC if Fox is the problem.
Ryan's plan is a GO.
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Yes Renee its the big bad medical-industrial complex. Never mind that those "overpaid doctors" have not had a real raise in medicare rates since....Bill Clinton was president. What was your salary in 1999 and how about now? Doctors are now seeing more and more patients, that makes sense...not. Never mind that you said it yourself, "Since I'm insured and don't have to pay these ridiculous bills, why should I care about the costs?" You have no skin in the game Renee, if you and all patients did those "outrageous" costs would be less likely. Very likely the free market (I know that is a dirty word here) would come to play and decrease costs. Speaking of the "outrageous" costs, was this the amount billed or the amount the insurance company actually paid. In my experience the amount paid by the insurance company is actually 10-50% of the amount billed.
People this is the crux of the issue. American health care cannot do everything for all the people all the time....period. You want a European-type system that covers all for a reasonable price (defined by the government) then very simply we as Americans will have to accept rationing....period. There is nothing wrong with that. The European system does ration but by and large in a "rationale" way. We certainly don't. The Europeans do not pay for outrageously expensive drugs in cancer treatments. The Europoeans by and large do not allow people over 65-70 not getting dialysis or CABG's (this is country specific). In my opinion Americans have never been accepting of this trade-off. I certainly have not seen a politician bring up this important conversation. it needs to happen but it won't because Americans by and large a too selfish to look at what is best fro society as opposed as for themselves. Case in point Europeans are MUCH MUCH better at recruiting for cancer research studies than Americans are. Americans are infamous for not accepting anything but the most aggressive care...no matter what. Honestly Renee speaking of research do you know that recent research shows that outside of acute MI's that medical management for coronary syndromes has the same results as stents/angioplasty. The problem is most docs know this research but also know if they counsel for less aggressive care (ie medical management) and things go south, a lawyer will be serving them. Renee, America is the land of unrealistic medical expectations. Are you really surprised at the cost? But do shoot the messenger.
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Ronni, I offer my concern for your precarious situation you share with more and more underinsured or uninsured Americans. I saw a television program on world-wide national health care or socialized medicine as some call it. Seems all modern developed countries have successful national health care. I was particularly impressed with how low costs are. For example, in Japan an MRI costs the equivalent of $60US.
USA is the only Western country without national health care I read. We only have it for seniors and disabled through Medicare and now we are told Republicans want to destroy Medicare.
No country in the world pays anywhere near the outrageous, greed driven medical costs we do. And in no other countries do medical corporations make such obscene profits and their CEOs make multimillion dollar salaries, doctors live in multimillion dollar houses and hospital administrators make million dollar salaries/perks such as free stock from chemo and drug companies, radiation machine manufacturers and medical device makers to assure their products are used.There is no regulation of medical costs in USA. That is a big problem.
Organized medicine will not allow regulation of medical costs.
Their lobbists show up with loads of money for politicians to see that there is no restriction of medical costs. And insurance companies show up with loads of money in hopes of forcing us into private insurance policies with no cap on premiums but limits on coverage. We are owned by the corporatocracy. And some say, ripe for revolution, to taking to the streets to demand we have our government back from the corrupt corporations.That is the only way I can think of that it could happen. There will be no honest politician to step up and save us, we will have to save ourselves.
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"I'm afraid at least SOME of the outrageous bills is going to cover people who they have to treat, and who have no insurance or savings/income"...
It's easy for some of us to claim this as the big problem, but as an under-paid, under-insured, working-class mother who was forced to combine my daughter's and my own insurance, for the ridiculous deductible of $5000, I can tell you that something more insidious is afoot here.
Who regulates these costs, does anyone really know? I don't mean just the insurance premiums, but hospital costs, procedural costs, basic medicines? Is it really necessary to charge $200 for a "saline solution infus?" I believe it is the fault of a system out of balance: there are seemingly no checks and balances for our healthcare system, as it stands now.
It is a system in transition, and along with transition and change comes a whole lotta scrambling for another way to make a buck. What about physician/hospital malpractice insurance? That has to be pretty costly. You don't suppose this has ANY effect on soaring medical care costs? And yes, there are those pesky illegals, darned poor people, and other ne'er-do-wells...surely they are to blame for jacking up these costs. Ummm....wait a minute, isn't it the sworn duty of the physician to "do no harm" and actually save lives? Why should race, creed, or social standing make one damn difference?
If the hospitals, the insurance companies, urgent care clinics, pharmacies, etc., etc. continue to allow these costs to soar out of control, during times like these, they are simply going to see more "no insurance/income" types pouring out of the wood-work, because the system has thus far been unable to control itself. And if you think it's bad now, just wait.
I have had to change jobs this year, take a cut in pay, and now I will probably (likely) have to drop my own medical insurance, in favor of being able to continue to pay my daughter's premiums. Meanwhile, with Health Care Reform, the insurance companies are mobilizing to find ways to make coverage even more difficult to navigate and utilize, just to save their own skins. Why the hell are we all putting up with this? Socialize medicine, for cryin' out loud! It may be the only way out from under this mess.
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Re: “Downing”
Grandma8 I have 3 jobs because my wife and I choose to have her stay home with my new son. I'm not incensitive I just don't have the patience to complain about the idea that I have to work harder to make the same income I once did. I haven't worked for minimum wage since 1998 because i instead developed employable skill sets and a work ethic that was given to me by my parents. I know very few people who are unemployed because people I associate with do what is necessary to survive even now in this "recovery."