National Healthcare

          I have discussed this subject before; but, especially in light of current events, I would like to discuss it again today–perhaps, even more candidly. I’ll be honest with you. If I were a member of Congress when the Patient Protection and  Affordable Care Act (PPACA), aka Obama Care, was passed, I was so angry with rejectionists like the illustrious Kentucky Colonel, Mitch McConnell, I would have voted for that bill without hesitation, even though, however, I was, in all honesty, really not in favor of it. I say to you as I have said to others, the law is an exercise in masturbation. I told that to my friends then; and, also, I wrote President Obama, telling him that, too (He, eventually, thanked me for my letter but didn’t mention the subject of healthcare). Today, four years later, I feel even more negative toward it. This law has good intentions, but it fails the people of this country. I see a train wreck coming. It is coming, and it’s going to hit hard. When it does, the American people are going to be mad as a swarm of bees. Mark my word. Don’t forget I said it, Mister Politician.

It is anything but affordable for the masses of the people; it is confusing, bordering on being unintelligible to most; and it is so complicated and expensive, it could drive all of us, people and government into bankruptcy.   In tackling our problem of healthcare, President Obama made the same mistake as President Clinton; by, in his effort to be conciliatory and bipartisan with the Republican Party, invited the major stakeholders in the medical industrial complex to the negotiating table, assuming that consensus there would bring reform. Who are those stakeholders? They are the pharmaceutical, hospital, physician, and insurance industries–the primary focus of all of them being profits, with the interests of the people being last on their list. They not only fought the administration on this, they fought within against themselves. I ask you. Who ever heard of the customer or client coming in first on the list of any insurance company? Really!

          I submit to you that healthcare is not a commodity like oil, sugar, pork bellies, credit default swaps, housing, automobiles, and so on. Healthcare is not adaptable to or compatible with the free market (a myth at best) in any way, shape, or form. Who beside the most skilled can intelligently evaluate an insurance policy; who but the most skilled physicians can evaluate the abilities of a doctor; when you need to go to the hospital, how often is it you who has the decisive choice as to where to go; and, lastly, who of you is able and has the expertise to knowledgeably determine the proper drugs you should take when you are ill? I am certainly not qualified and neither are almost all of us.

Healthcare is a need of all of us–a need we share in common. Accordingly, it should be governed in common. Healthcare is our RIGHT. How do I justify that? It is stated as such in our Declaration of Independence. We all have the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. We should be allowed to have and enjoy that right. We need a system that will work, one we can afford, and one for which we have the ability to pay (Surely no one thinks it can be free). We need a single payer, national healthcare system modeled after Medicare with, like the VA, the ability to negotiate prices.  

Immediately! I hear someone cry socialism. In this individual instance, why should you care if it works? As one person once said, “It doesn’t matter if the cat is white or the cat is black. The cat we want is the one that catches Mice” (or something like that). A single payer healthcare system will catch mice. If we were talking about the whole country going socialists, we would need, I would think, to sit down and have a long talk about the matter–a very long talk. In this instance, however, no one is even thinking about that. We already know socialism has failed as a whole, so this isn’t even the subject of the matter. We need a system that works for us.

Let me tell you about that word, socialism. The word socialism is inflammatory; used, primarily, to arouse and anger people in order to influence their minds in one direction or another. To most people, it is something bad, from which one will turn away with rejection. We hear it every day from those who don’t believe in government, usually some form of anarchists. It usually comes from those who want to control your mind and lead you in the direction they want you to go. Do you really need that kind of people?

I want to call your attention to a fact of the matter. When Medicare was made into law in the 1960’s, it was up and running in a year. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was passed four years ago and still is not working, some provisions of which are being moved back even now, as we speak. Medicare, on the other hand has been in effect for over forty years and working just fine even now. How about that? Our illustrious politicians haven’t been willing to even so much as give single payer national healthcare a national hearing for consideration. Is that Democracy?

How should we pay for such a plan? I have given a lot of thought to the matter and changed my mind from when I first wrote about “single payer”. Please allow me to bring another issue into the picture, Social Security. This safety net, also, is moving forward to the day when our government allows it to become a national crisis. Social Security, to the best of my knowledge, is one of the most efficient, well run programs, with the lowest costs of administration of any other program in government. A big reason for this success is that the fund is “stand-alone”, “self-funding”, and not included in our general budget. In this way it is highly controlled and does not affect our national deficit. Our biggest problem with financing this program is, in my mind, five-fold, the recession in our economy, the retirement of our “baby boom” generation, our massive unemployment (Whereas, in the past we had more people paying in than those receiving benefits, we now have less paying in–I am told only three paying in now for twelve receiving.), the aging of our people, and increasing disabled coming onto the rolls. Obviously, payments into this fund have to be increased, and cutting benefits and cost of living adjustments is absolutely unacceptable. Having said that, raising payroll taxes on employers and employees (the money is going to have to come from somewhere) will create additional hardship and political tensions no one needs or can stand just now.

Let’s now get back to the question (or issue) of single payer healthcare. It, too, must be financed. Again, it’s not free. It will be expensive, but it will be a lot less expensive than Obamacare–a lot less. I might, also, call your attention to the fact we are not feeling the full pain of even our current healthcare expenses, as exaggerated as they are. We are paying for a lot of them “on the cuff”–it’s in our deficit. But I digress. We should administer single payer healthcare in the same manner as we do Social Security, with a stand-alone fund into which go all receipts and out of which go all disbursements. In no way should the accounting for healthcare be mingled with the accounting for government. In no way should healthcare funding be allowed to affect our deficit. Tax rates for payments into both the healthcare and the Social Security funds should be automatically adjusted annually for any expense overruns or surpluses. So I don’t cause confusion, in no way should our stand-alone healthcare fund be co-mingled with our Social Security fund. The accounting for both must be kept completely separate and open to the public.

Now, let’s get to the question for which you have been so patiently waiting (if we have come this far and you are still with me, you must be patient). How should we pay for this? I believe we should create two separate and apart national Federal Sales Taxes, a separate sales tax for each fund. For states which presently have sales taxes, we should take advantage of their systems in order to prevent duplication in costs, using them for collection. For states without sales taxes, currently, they should set up a system and be reimbursed by the government for collection. These taxes should be itemized separately on every sales receipt, separate from those of the state.

In conclusion, what will we accomplish by all this?

We will have a national single payer cradle to the grave healthcare system, the cost of which will be much more acceptable to the taxpayer.

We should save trillions of dollars by eliminating insurance profits and reducing healthcare costs through allowing government to negotiate prices (this suggestion presumes that healthcare remains private and government is the single payer). Additional savings should, also, be realized by increased efficiencies.

Employer and employee payroll taxes will be eliminated, a boon to both and a stimulus to the economy.

Healthcare will no longer be a “monkey” on the back of business.

The pressure for reduced work weeks will be eliminated.

Uncertainty of the future will be reduced and business will be better able to plan.

The adjustments and uncertainty surrounding both healthcare and Social Security will be resolved, the tax rates being adjusted annually.

The immense and horrendous worry by our people will be significantly reduced.

And last, but not least, hopefully our people will be more at ease and stable.

Let’s quit fighting. Let’s quit arguing and bickering. Let’s quit the politicking and put our country first. Let’s pull together and  get the job done. Let us implement single payer healthcare and protect our Social Security. This is just one more step in taking back our country from the “power elite”, our Shadow Government. Get with your representatives today. Unlike those of whom we spoke, above, we can’t pay them off, but we can let them know where we stand and how we vote.

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

Our News Media

Have you noticed how bad our news reporting has become in these current times? I am one of those who try to keep abreast of what is happening around me; and I have to tell you our news media, from my perspective, does not do a very good job. I find it to be very disappointing. I have sent emails to some, but to no avail. I don’t even get the courtesy of an answer. Depending on your particular interests, you may or may not agree with me, but here are my views for you to consider.

I have written before about the purpose of a business being to fulfill a need, the need of its customer(s) or client(s)–to provide a product or service. That’s the purpose of a business–the only purpose. To do that profitably, service should be the primary focus and priority of the business. What has happened is that business has changed its priority and focus from service to the maximization of profit. Everything else comes last–customers, employees, our nation, and on.

I don’t sit and time these things using a stopwatch, and I’m not going to now; but it appears to me that we are experiencing more and more commercials and less news. The majority of the time when I tune in my favorite news station, a commercial will come up. It seems there are more commercials than programming. It has gotten so bad I watch that particular channel half as much as I used to watch it. There is increasing entertainment, gossip, political propaganda, and what people like to hear, but less news.

Let me give you some examples. What triggered our financial crisis in 2008 was the market crash in credit default swaps (derivatives). At the time, I heard there were $400 Trillion of them in the world market. On the same news program a couple weeks or so later a different executive reported there were $900 Trillion in existence. Our whole world GDP only amounts to around $70 Trillion Dollars. Think about that. Don’t you think the accuracy of those numbers has worldwide importance? I have hardly heard any reporting on credit default swaps since. Why?

Another example–The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report on the causes of the 2008 financial and economic crisis reported in January, 2011 that twenty one million people were unemployed. I think that is important, if not critical, news. When was the last time you were updated on unemployment today? I’m not talking about this fiction you hear, like 7.6%, etc. How many people are out of a job today–including those who are part time only or given up looking? I submit to you that many, if not most of them, will never find meaningful employment again in their lifetime. Don’t you think that is important? Are they to meld into the woodwork to be forever forgotten?

For the sake of brevity, I’ll give you one last example. You remember, don’t you, the killing of a suspect in the Boston bombing in Orlando? Allegedly, he was a friend or had some kind of relationship with the bomber in Boston. He was reported as having been led into a room in Orlando for questioning by the FBI when he lunged at the questioning agent, who shot and killed him. It’s my understanding that suspects are searched for weapons, when they are detained, before they are questioned. Was this the shooting of an unarmed man? In light of our belief in justice, i.e. a suspect is considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, don’t you think the media should follow that story right down to reporting the findings of its investigation? Don’t you think knowledge of that event is in the public interest? The story of the young woman who murdered her boyfriend was on the news for weeks just a while back, including her sex acts. In my opinion, that had nothing to do with the public interest, but it was reported in infinite detail. Rather than being reported as news, it was, I think, entertainment.

Another disturbing aspect of today’s news has to do with editorializing by journalists. An anchor will be interviewing an “expert” on a particular subject. He or she will persistently interrupt and argue with the expert. What’s wrong with this picture? I want to hear the expert, the one with the expertise. I don’t want to hear the opinion of one who is the less knowledgeable on the subject.

When I turn to the news, I want to be informed; I want to be educated; I want to hear the pros and cons of the issue being reported; what I don’t want to hear is the opinion of the reporter. I’ll make up my own mind. What do you want to hear? What’s your view?

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

Justice–Real Justice

I read an article in my local paper, The Jacksonville Times Union, recently, regarding the owner of a tree service company who, charged with aggravated manslaughter, is facing thirty years in prison because a fourteen year old employee of his was killed, falling out of a seventy foot tall tree. As I understand, the owner of the business was in violation of OSHA regulations, allowing this young man to perform hazardous work. I write this with not a little trepidation because of my feelings for the parties involved and the tragedy they have suffered. I have never met either of them, but I can feel their pain. I mean that; but, feelings notwithstanding, there is a problem here far bigger for our nation than the problem at hand.

Perhaps this business owner should be charged with something. He violated an OSHA safety regulation–but, aggravated manslaughter? Presumably, this is the owner of a very small business. Has he even ever heard of OSHA? I want to tell you something, people. There is another business, J.P. Morgan, which has just been convicted of committing a serious crime that caused many  people and/or business to lose millions, if not billions, of dollars. I don’t know how many bankruptcies, broken homes and, possibly, even suicides may have been caused by this event, and the perpetrator(s) did not serve one day in jail. Their company was fined, I have read, one of the greatest fines in history for such an offense, which their stakeholders had to absorb–but not the offenders. Where is the justice in that?

Another example–in 2008, our nation suffered the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression because of downright greed, fraud, and negligence in our nation’s financial sector, from which we still have not recovered. Millions remain unemployed. I don’t know how many bankruptcies, broken homes and, possibly, even suicides may have been caused by this event, also; and, again, the perpetrator(s) did not serve one day in jail. Where is the justice in that?

Let me give you one more example, the detail of which I have copied from Wikipedia: “In settlements reached in 2000 and 2002, Columbia/HCA plead guilty to 14 felonies and agreed to a $600+ million fine in the largest fraud settlement in US history. Columbia/HCA admitted systematically overcharging the government by claiming marketing costs as reimbursable, by striking illegal deals with home care agencies, and by filing false data about use of hospital space. They also admitted fraudulently billing Medicare and other health programs by inflating the seriousness of diagnoses and to giving doctors partnerships in company hospitals as a kickback for the doctors referring patients to HCA. They filed false cost reports, fraudulently billing Medicare for home health care workers, and paid kickbacks in the sale of home health agencies and to doctors to refer patients. In addition, they gave doctors "loans" never intending to be repaid, free rent, free office furniture, and free drugs from hospital pharmacies.

In late 2002, HCA agreed to pay the U.S. government $631 million, plus interest, and pay $17.5 million to state Medicaid agencies, in addition to $250 million paid up to that point to resolve outstanding Medicare expense claims. In all, civil law suits cost HCA more than $2 billion to settle, by far the largest fraud settlement in US history.” And who was HCA’s chief executive, responsible for the management of the company? His name is Rick Scott. And what was his penalty? He was forced to resign, paid $9.88 million in a settlement, and left owning 10 million shares of stock worth over $350 million, and in 2011, the people of the State of Florida elected him governor (something else to think about).

          Somebody tell me why this young man, owner of a small tree service business, should spend thirty years, the prime of his life, in prison. This is what we call justice? Or, is justice just for the poor?

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

Left, Right, What?

‘You know? When one thinks about the words, left, right, conservative, and liberal, it is very interesting. Studying the matter just a little further, I turned to my dictionary to search, first, for the definition of the word(s), right wing (as you might expect, my thinking was politically oriented), when the words, noble and commoner, were added to the process.

The New Oxford American Dictionary (right out of my amazonkindle) defines “the right wing” as: “the conservative or reactionary section of a political party or system, <ORIGIN> with reference to the National Assembly in France (1789-91), where the nobles sat to the president’s right and the commons to the left”. My take on this (I confess. This is where personal pride and prejudice shows its ugly face), is that nobles are better than commoners. Now, I must tell you, I don’t like that. Reality and common happenstance notwithstanding, it just doesn't go down right with me. I consider myself a commoner (and I am); and, there is no way (expletive delete) I accept another, as better than me. Commoners on the left, nobles on the right–that’s something to think about, now isn't it.  

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

Our Fiscal Cliff

Our illustrious Congress is looking high and low for cost reductions in government in order to make it smaller, reduce the deficit and, consequently, begin a pay down of our national debt–a noble cause if there ever was one. Whoop de doo! I know no other way to say this than to just come out and say it with all candor. The root cause of the current financial condition of our country lies squarely in the lap of our illustrious Congress in the first place. They are the ones who brought this whole mess down upon us–and, they did it with full knowledge of what they were doing–I call it, “with malice and forethought”. They are those who, under our Constitution, are charged with the responsibility of managing our nation’s affairs. And what happened? We elected them; we trusted them; and they betrayed us. Perhaps not all of them, but the net results are in and the facts are on the table. Our nation is in deep doo, and they put us where we are–the very people we trusted and elected. Now, they spend their time (and our money) arguing, bickering, playing political chess, and pointing fingers at one another.

If you don’t believe I’m telling you the truth, check out our constitution which outlines the responsibilities of our elected representatives. See for yourselves who is responsible for spending our nation’s money. “Go back to 1981” (figuratively, of course) and read a little history, coming forward to the present. Be sure to read about the theory of “Starving the Beast” from which our spending habits were derived–habits which brought us to our current position.

At the end of our fiscal year ending September 30, 1980, immediately before President Ronald Reagan entered office, our national debt was approximately $ 990 BILLION. Now, that is about as close to zero as you are going to see in your lifetime or probably the lifetime of your children if not your grandchildren. Eight years later, just before President Reagan left office, our national debt had increased 187%, almost triple. When President George H. W. Bush left office, our debt increased another 56%, not quite doubled. When President William Clinton left office, our debt had increased only 40% with the budget substantively balanced and with a surplus (NO DEFICIT) projected for years ahead. We were, finally, in a position to begin paying down our national debt. When President George W. Bush left office eight years later, just after the end of our fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, our national debt was $10 TRILLION, with an increase for his term of 77%, almost double that at the end of the Clinton administration–this on top of the surplus Clinton left him. In addition, George W. left a national deficit of more than a $Trillion, a nation in financial chaos, and a deep recession with twenty-one million people unemployed (And, for the most part, they still are. The only thing that prevented our going further on into a great depression was our safety nets of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Unemployment Insurance, programs we didn’t have in 1932, programs of the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Society of Lyndon Johnson, and the bailout and economic stimulus packages initiated at the time).

In these 28 years since the Carter administration (20 years of which were under a Republican president), our total debt increased $9 Trillion–1,004%.  Under five years of President Obama, our debt has increased another $7 Trillion on top of that, reflecting carry-over of the bailouts incurred by the financial crisis, deficit carry-over from the prior administration and stimulus expenditures incurred in the administration’s attempt to stimulate the economy from the recession caused by the financial crash of 2008. Nobody talks about this–not the Democrats, not the news media, and certainly not the Republican, the biggest complainers about spending of all (and the biggest spenders, also, obviously).

The Middle East wars we fought notwithstanding, what is really behind all of this? What is the hidden agenda? I’ll tell you what I think it is. Certain people among us have decided we should not have such programs as Social Security and National Health Care. They think these kinds of programs are Socialism. If they can spend us to the verge of bankruptcy, our fiscal cliff if you will, they will then be able to force us to bargain away these programs in order to come back to a balanced budget. If you don’t believe what I am saying, step back, and look again. Look at Grover Norquist. Who elected him to solicit binding agreements from our representatives whom we elected? Whose payroll is he on? We’re back to the power elite, the one percent again, aren’t we? Look and listen to those who constantly shout for lower taxes when Federal Income Tax rates are the lowest in years. The top one percent certainly isn’t paying taxes according to their ability to pay as the law was intended. You can surely see that. How many corporations are not paying taxes, sheltering their money in foreign territories? Relative to those who are advocating health savings accounts, privatizing social security, or investing social security monies in annuities, what is their point? Their point is they want that money in their banks rather than our public funds. That’s what their point is.

I have tried to think out of the box on this one and have a suggestion for a cost reduction, which over the years will save us many billions of dollars. Since they haven’t been accomplishing anything anyway, wasting their time arguing, bickering, stalling, going on junkets, etc., etc., let’s reduce the size of Congress. We don’t need that many people anyway. For that matter, most of them aren’t even there most of the time. It takes at least two for a debate; and, haven’t you noticed, most of the time they spend their time reading to an empty audience anyway. Let’s reduce The House of Representatives from 435 members to 218 and the Senate from 100 to 50. Of course we would need to do this carefully so as not to change existing political party balances. That kind of change is best effected at the voting booths. Now that I think about it, why don't we go all the way and eliminate the Senate altogether and have our fifty Governors perform that function in addition to what they are now doing. Our big corporations would term that as increasing productivity. Wow! That’s an idea. That would reduce the size of government–wouldn't it. 

What our politicians tell us notwithstanding, I believe our country remains under the threat of continued financial crisis, mass unemployment, and long term economic decline. We desperately need to get our house in order and do it now. Our national sovereignty and our people’s safety and well being are far more important than the pocketbook of the elite or anything else, this side of heaven.

This is where I stand. Where are you?

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

Gun Control

Almost always when politicians discuss an issue–any issue, there is, usually, the ostensible issue at hand, and there is the hidden issue–the seen and the unseen, as Frederic Bastiat would say. So it is with the issue of gun control and our second amendment.

I will first address what I believe is the hidden issue–the unseen; and that is the removal of guns from everybody–every home within our nation. A people without guns are a controlled people. Hitler proved that. As Hitler also learned, however, for the most part, only the “good” people gave up their guns. As to the criminals, were they not part of the resistance?

Let us now discuss the seen agenda–gun control. Ostensibly, if we can control the buying and selling of guns within our country, we can reduce to a minimum, if not eliminate, the mass shootings and killings, tragedies, which we are now experiencing almost daily (Well, it may not be quite as frequent as that, but it sure seems that way). Frankly, I don’t believe that. I submit to you that if we outlawed guns completely and repealed the second amendment tomorrow, such tragedies would continue to occur–the only difference would be the use of different weapons. These tragedies are not caused by guns. They may be facilitated by them, but guns are not the cause. Essentially, these tragedies emanate from one or a combination of two causes, mental illness and anger, both of which appear to be on the increase every day, and our government seems set on exacerbating them–another subject for another time.

There is another aspect to this subject. We already have laws to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. It is against the law to commit a crime with a gun. It is against the law to commit murder. It is against the law for a felon to own a gun. One cannot legally buy a gun without identifying himself. We have computers which can track felons, gun sales, and just about everything else; and yet, we don’t seem to effectively do that. We need to enforce the laws we already have on the books. It seems to me.

In conjunction with this, we have problems with gangs in our country. We talk about them; we occasionally arrest some of them; we know who they are and what they do; we have been following their activities for years on end, forever investigating them; and, yet, we seem to never do anything to eliminate the problem. I don’t know. Perhaps this is what we want.  

 Also, we have abominable drop-out rates in our schools about which we, for the most part, do nothing. Maybe I misspoke. We do “dumb down” curriculums, cut school budgets, increase class sizes, and do away with discipline, for whatever all that is worth to our nation and society as a whole. To this, I want to make a side comment. We all aren't blessed with the same level of intelligence, but a little hard work will go a long way toward equalizing our knowledge. There are a lot of very smart people out there who don’t know a “hill of beans”.

 But I digress. Here I am talking about subjects which I said above are for another day. Besides, these are problems for someone else to worry about. These aren't our problems. What we need is gun control. What do you think?

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

What Are We Going to Do?

          When you read our Declaration of Independence; when you read the Preamble to our Constitution; when you read our Constitution; and then, when you read the amendments, including our bill of rights, to our Constitution; how can you doubt, as President Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg in November of 1863, “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom–and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”. From all that has gone before, how can we doubt that? And yet, despite all we have sacrificed and endured throughout the history of our great nation and all the blood which has been shed by our valiant soldiers on the battlefields here and abroad, we the people have effectively lost control of our government. Our government is no longer “of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Rather, our government is of the power elite (essentially, the top one percent of us), by the power elite, and for the power elite. Extending their tentacles, acting through the media and those whom we term lobbyists, they have brainwashed us with misinformation and propaganda and bought out our elected representatives to such an extent that we the people no longer have control of our government. Our great nation has become their playground and we are slowly but surely becoming their serfs.

Probably the final nail in our coffin was in the form of Citizens United v. FEC, when the U.S. Supreme Court by a 5-4 margin ruled that corporations have the right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence the outcome of elections. Effectively, the Court ruled that corporations have the right of free speech, the same as people. Corporations are people. How many people outside of those belonging to the one percent do you know who can stand up to that kind of political power? The net result is that our elected representatives pay little or no attention to us. We the people are no longer in charge. As I said before, our government is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

What are we going to do? How can our people take back our government? Just for starters, we need new amendments to the Constitution:

We need corporations to remain legal entities. However, we must amend the Constitution to the effect that corporations are not people; and, therefore, do not enjoy the benefit of our bill of rights. They do not have the right of free speech.

We must amend the Constitution to the effect that all elections will be publicly funded from the public treasury, Federal, State, and Local, with caps per campaign to be set for all expenditures; no candidate will be allowed to use his or her personal assets nor those of family to finance campaigns; no candidate will be allowed to solicit or accept outside contributions other than those provided from the public treasury; and all campaigns will be limited to six (6) months duration. Separate “standalone” funds will be established for each elections entity to account for all campaign transactions and financed by single fully identifiable tax assessments “earmarked” for each entry, i.e. strict accounting control.

In the conduct of all elections within our nation (Federal, State, and Local), through another amendment to the Constitution, we need to establish fair and consistent voting laws throughout, wherein all candidates and parties are treated equal and have equal opportunity under the law. Multiple political parties should be allowed with equal opportunity upon which to be voted.

We should reorganize our government into four branches, adding a “Branch of the Controller”, with the complete responsibility for accounting, control, reporting, budgeting and planning, internal auditing, and investigative reporting over all operations, including subcontractors and the capital police, throughout government. To those opposed to bigger government, I must emphasize that this change should not and must not increase the size of government one twit. Every function indicated in this recommendation is being performed currently throughout our government. This recommendation will put all these functions under one head, thereby eliminating duplication of functions and costs as well as (currently a problem), the fox guarding the henhouse. I further recommend that the head of this new branch of government be appointed by the President, approved by the Senate, and serve an indefinite term, renewable every eight years. If he would be willing to accept the offer, I recommend we begin with General David Walker who is intimately familiar with the inter-working of our government and of excellent character. He should be given all authority and power necessary to successfully implement and execute the responsibility of this position.

Let us take back our government folks. Let’s get business and government back to serving the people rather than the people serving them. It’s up to you. Only if we work together can we achieve this end. What do you think?

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

Is What’s Good for Business Good for the Country?

Charles Wilson, Secretary of Defense under President Dwight Eisenhower (1953–1957), was quoted has having said during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee, “because for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice versa”. Although he was talking about General Motors then, translated, his saying might be interpreted to mean “what is good for our country is good for business and vice versa”. That was too many years ago to argue about it now; but, whether or not the statement was true then, it certainly is not true now. What is good for business today is not always proving to be good for our country. In the beginning, when men began to trade with one another, business evolved from the simplest of their transactions, created by man to facilitate his pursuit of a better life–to provide man with product or service, to fulfill his needs. That was the primary focus and priority of a business–its purpose was to serve man.

 Today, everything has changed. Business has changed its purpose. Its purpose now has become the maximization of profit. Oh! I know. I’ll get all kinds of argument on what I have said. But if you will think deeply, with an open mind, about the distinction between profit and service, I think you will agree with me. There is no doubt whatsoever that profit is an absolute necessity for a business to survive, but it still is not the purpose of a business. Business exists to fill a need for man. Without a need, there will be no business. There will be no profit. The demand to fulfill ones needs is the real driver of a business, justifying its existence. This is true of any business.

Profit is an expense. It is an expense just like the rent, taxes, the utility bill, and so on. Profit, if any remains after all other expenses of the business are paid, is the expense of capital–in a manner of speaking, it is the rent paid to the investor for the use of his money and the risk he is taking in investing in the business.

This may seem to be just a play on words, but the distinction between a business’s purpose (priority and/or focus) being directed toward maximizing profit rather than fulfilling a need is major and critical. Think about it. If your main focus and priority is only money, your customers, vendors, and employees will come in last. So, also, will your country. Your only loyalty will be the attainment of profit. Do you want examples? Let me show you.

It’s my understanding that the average person lives to an age of seventy-eight years. I submit to you that in the last seventy-eight years, we who have lived those years have experienced the highest standard of living, on average, of any generation in the history of civilization (I, also, submit to you that, arguably, for the foreseeable future in this country, no generation will enjoy such a high standard of living again. Just look at where we are now. We’ll see.). In conjunction with this, the rich and powerful among us have prospered even more.

As I speak next, my mind is focused primarily on the large and powerful corporations in our nation–those which use to serve us and have now come to dominate us. In my lifetime, there has always been conflict of priorities within business between the pursuit of profits on the one hand and fulfilling customer needs on the other. Naturally, it is in the interest of a business to earn as much reasonable profit as it is able. Investors want that. In the last thirty plus years, however, it seems that fulfilling customer needs, loyalty and concern for employees, loyalty to our country–caring about anything other than the maximization of profits has taken a back seat. Under the guise of globalization, business has outsourced labor overseas to other countries (effectively resorting to slave labor–Uncle Tom’s Cabin has nothing on those poor people) in order to achieve increased profits. It is obvious that the massive layoffs in the past years, beginning before the financial collapse of 2008, have been much greater than major layoffs effected in prior years as average workloads have been increased and workweeks have been shortened. The utilization of robots in manufacturing has literally exploded with little or no regard for the displaced or unemployed.

There is another even worse aspect to this–the apparent complete disregard of business for our home country. From my viewpoint, American business, in their grasping for ever increasing profits, have completely abandoned any loyalty to our homeland. They evade (illegal) and/or avoid (legal) taxes every way they can, depriving our country of much needed revenues–especially in these trying times. Their money is “parked” in banks and locations outside the country, unavailable for investment within or, in some instances, the application of taxes. Also, I said above that they have come to dominate us. It is these powerful companies that are part and parcel of our Shadow Government, the power elite, about which I have written in other postings to this blog. Exercising their power through their lobbyists (there are thousands of them–more than our total Congress combined) they control our political campaigns, our Congress, our President, our laws, our news media, our country, bleeding our people dry. You don’t believe me? Study the new health care law, aka Obama Care. Read the book, Hijacked, by Dr. John Geyman, M.D. Also, I suggest you read Who Rules America?- Power and Politics, by G. William Domhoff. In addition, consider the severe redistribution of income in our nation from the poor and middle class to the rich during the past approximately forty years. Of course there are exceptions to what I have said, perhaps many, in this country of millions of people and businesses; but, as a whole, that’s where we are folks–at least, that’s the way I see it.

What do you think?

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net  

Help Wanted

Job Openings Coming Soon

Next year, 2014, The United States of America will be seeking to fill various position openings in our Congress, i.e. The House of  Representatives and the United States Senate. Two years later, in 2016, additional openings in this legislative body will become available for hire along with the position of The President of the United States of America.

Successful candidates for these positions must have the following qualifications:

Complete and abiding loyalty to the sovereignty of the United States of America, its citizens therein, and their interests and well-being thereof, the candidate’s political party notwithstanding–a citizen being defined as a person, a human being, not a business or corporation.

Unblemished character and reputation, completely devoid of avarice or deceit in any form. Candidate’s values must be beyond reproach.

An above average intelligence, intellectual curiosity, and ability to reason within complex situations. Must be an avid reader.

Excellent people skills, having empathy and compassion for others–race, creed, or sex notwithstanding.

Highly educated with an in-depth knowledge of history (world history as well as American history), sociology, economics (including money and banking), and finance (insurance and financial markets). Knowledge of the law and government will be helpful.

Be honest with yourself. Does your candidate really represent your interests or does he or she represent the interests of our Shadow Government, i.e. the power elite and corporate giants represented by K Street Lobbyists. Do you vote for him or her because they are “good looking”, part their hair just right, and/or are of the same party your ma and pa always voted for, and you have always voted that way; or, on the other hand, are you voting with knowledge of the real issues at hand? For that matter, are you really “up” on the issues? Keep in mind. Everything you see or are told isn't necessarily what is really happening behind the scenes in this giant chess game.

Think! Who really cares about and represents you and your family? 

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

Apology

Due to personal issues, I haven’t made an entry into this blog for several days. To all of you and, especially to those of you who have been following me daily, I sincerely apologize.

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

Our Debt Limit

Very soon, our Congress will be back in session and will be discussing the possible extension of our national debt limit. I say to you, we should have no debt limit. None! We should eliminate it and eliminate it now. Lest this cause you to jump up and down and shout, “Goodness, gracious–these people have already spent us to the verge of national bankruptcy. We should keep these people under control–shouldn't we?” Maybe we should, but let’s just slow down and think for a moment. Who is it who is responsible to manage the finances of our nation? Isn't the answer to that question our Congress? Mmmmmmmmm! And we want Congress to control Congress? I know. Congress has already passed a law to control themselves. Now, they are merely discussing the pros and cons of increasing the amount they allow themselves to spend. Oh! I’m glad I said that. I almost forgot. I almost let it slip by. This is money they have already spent. Wow! I need to give myself permission to spend that which I have already spent? Ridiculous! Absolutely ludicrous! And it’s only a game–political chessmanship. I ask you. Do you know how many millions upon millions of dollars and lost man-hours have been spent, wasted, arguing this issue every time it comes up for renewal? In total, since the debt ceiling law was first passed, I would guess that our nation has spent billions of dollars on this ridiculous charade. Think about it. That amount of money would go a long way to decreasing the deficit; now wouldn't it? Did we hire school children to represent us in Congress whom we have to send to the corner for chewing gum in class? Is this the caliper of people running our government? I’ll tell you this. Sometimes, you can’t tell by looking (as someone said).

Our elected government should always have the ability to competently manage the affairs of the people without their hands being unnecessarily “tied behind their backs”. There are times, such as war, catastrophes, etc., when we really need to incur a deficit and, thereby, incur debt. When this happens, it should act accordingly with due prudence; and, with that same prudence, the debt should be repaid as soon as is practicable, thereafter, on a timely basis, effectively maintaining (on an average) a balanced budget. That’s how mature, competent, responsible people (not school children) manage money. Those who do not are irresponsible and unworthy of our trust. Our budget should never be used as a bargaining chip for political ideologies and self-enhancement. Never!

That’s my point of view. What’s yours?

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

Government and Taxes

Not a little problem confronting our great nation is the widespread ignorance and myopia of our people resulting from any one or a combination of sub-standard education, profit motivated media, and/or a less than transparent government, each of which is a subject in and of itself.

In my posting today, I want to talk about government and taxes. Volumes upon volumes of books can be written on these two subjects, but I want, only, to make three simple statements of fact about them.

First, if we were subject to a dictatorial fascist form of government, it would be all over–end of discussion. We’re done–end of blog.

Second, we are not, presently, subject to a dictatorial fascist form of government. Rather, and thankfully so, our government is a democratic republic, (as Abraham Lincoln said in his magnificent and historic speech at Gettysburg), “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people”, a representative government through which the people govern themselves. Can anything be simpler? We, through our elected representatives are responsible. The key word here is “responsible”, and that doesn't mean let somebody else do it. We and our elected representatives are in this together. Now I say to you again as I have said times before in this blog in one way or another, if enough of you shrug off your responsibility, leaving it to someone else, you will surely lose your democracy–back to First. We’re done–end of blog. We should begin to teach this concept of government and responsibility of the people in the third grade. If a student can learn arithmetic in that grade, they can learn government.

How much government should we have? And, the answer is: We should have every bit as much government as the people need, want, and are willing to pay for, which brings me to my third thought for today, taxes. Nothing is free. “Nothing is for nothing”. In the scheme of things, everything is paid for by somebody, somewhere, sooner or later, one way or another, in the chain of events. If you get something “free”, either you paid for it unknowingly or someone else paid for it for you.

What does this have to do with taxes? In plain words, taxes are the total costs of providing the services the people need or decide they want from government; and which, they (the people) levy upon themselves to pay for such services. How they evade, avoid, lie, cheat, steal, deceive, and “screw up” the process notwithstanding, all taxes are taxes on the people, by the people, and for the people. Bottom line, final analysis, one way or another–only the people pay. For everyone who doesn't  someone else, directly or indirectly has to cover their share. Don’t tell me businesses pay. They don’t. Business must make a profit, the expense of which must be paid to their investors in order for them to remain in business (see my blog on the purpose of a business). Sooner or later in the chain of transaction events, if a business remains in business, taxes paid by it are passed on to their customer, we the people. Here, too, we should begin to teach this concept of taxation in the third grade.

Government! Never forget, “It is us”. We pay for it–we the people.

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net

Slavery

It has been said, “A Rose is a Rose by any name”. I have observed that one can select any subject or issue, good or bad (but usually bad), change its name, paint it a different color, and show it in a different light, so as to make the bad appear good. That’s what propaganda is all about. A thistle is made to appear as a rose. Politicians do it every day. So does business.

This posting is titled “Slavery”. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, tells us that “slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work or to demand compensation”. It goes on to say that, “in more recent times slavery has been outlawed in most societies but continues through the practice of debt bondage, indentured servitude, serfdom, domestic servants kept in captivity, certain adoptions in which children are forced to work as slaves, child soldiers, and forced marriage”. Also, “slavery is illegal in every country in the world, but there are still an estimated 27 million slaves worldwide”. But, I digress. Having defined slavery, let us define wealth.

Wealth is defined as “the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions”. Adam Smith, in his book “The Wealth of Nations”, described wealth as “the annual produce of the land and labour of the society”. To once again quote Wikipedia, “this ‘produce’ is, at its simplest, that which satisfies human needs and wants of utility. In popular usage, wealth can be described as an abundance of items of economic value, or the state of controlling or possessing such items, usually in the form of money, real estate, and personal property”.

My interpretation of this is that wealth is created by the production of a human being from his labor and the resources of this earth. If he produces it for himself, it is his to keep, barter, or sell less his cost of production. If he produces it for another, he is an employee with the right to receive a fair, livable wage commensurate with the requirements of the work being performed. If his productivity is taken from him, leaving him with a mere pittance on which to sustain himself, he is enslaved.

Now, in light of the foregoing, I ask you a simple question. In the final analysis, Is it any different for you if I steal your wages for my personal benefit than if I take your work from you and give it to another (a slave), somewhere else (say, in another land), to do it? Of course, you wouldn't have to do the work, but wouldn't you be just as hungry? Think about it.

I submit to you that the nice, pleasant to the ear, words like “globalization”, “out-sourcing”, whatever, are nothing more (nothing less) than “roses”, synonyms for slavery. Think of the building collapses in Bangladesh. Think of the sweatshops in China, Thailand, and so on, wherein the employees are locked in and not allowed to leave until shift ends when they are bused to their barracks homes only to be bused back to the sweat shops just a few hours later–day after day. One doesn't have to own another in order to enslave them. There are different means of enforced labor and stolen productivity. Slave owners throughout history have learned and practiced stealing and accumulating the productivity of others through the use of slavery. Rather than that productivity going to the coffers of the person who produced it, i.e. the slave, it went into the coffers of his owner, the slave master.

Now, I ask you another question–maybe two. If I purchase slave labor products for their cheaper prices rather than non-slave labor products at their higher prices, is that really right? If I do that, am I any better than the slave owner of old? Am I a partner in crime here? Oops! That was three questions. You will agree, I sure. If I help someone in the act of a mugging, I’ll be arrested and hauled off to jail right along with the mugger.

At the top of my blog, in the heading, I have said, “I am very concerned about what is happening to our country and the direction in which it is going”. I am seeing the difference in income and wealth between the top one percent of us and the bottom one percent of us growing greater and greater. I am seeing almost twenty million of our people out of work with little hope of ever becoming employed again before they die. I am seeing our Shadow Government, the “power elite” (Ref: G. William Domhoff’s book, Who Rules America-Power & Politics) who really rule our nation, leading us toward a world government wherein our people are little more than serfs. This is why, in these postings to my blog, I am trying to get people to think deeper. This is why I am trying to motivate others to be more politically cognitive. The future of our nation is at stake. In closing, I’ll say one more thing for today. Yes, we all have a vote at the polls, but let’s not forget; we, also, have a vote with every dollar we spend. We don’t have to spend our money foreign. We’re mature adults. We can do without if we must. We can pay off our credit cards, get out financial affairs in order, and force a turnaround–if we want.

You don’t have to agree with me, but try to look at the real face of this picture.

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net