Health care information

Health care info... Comparing costs and results around the world. Spoiler: the USA has the highest, by far, costs and is well down the list of good results in every category.

https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2019/07/how-does-the-us-healthcare-system-compare-to-other-countries

People who argue against Single Payer/Medicare for All are those folks who are going to lose some of their profit margins and salaries... They'll still make lots of money, just not as much as they do now.

Carbon Taxes Explained

Carbon Taxes made simple, if not easy.


Atmospheric carbon comes largely from using carbon based chemistry extracted from where it had been sequestered in the Earth; oil and gas extraction mostly.  Sufficient fuel taxes, paid when fuel, or other hydrocarbon based product (e.g., plastic), is purchased (wholesale and/or retail), is the carbon tax; discourages excessive consumption.  


In addition, agriculture can deplete or restore carbon to the soil.  Industrial agriculture largely depletes carbon in the soil, whereas regenerative agriculture (sustainable methodologies) restores carbon to the soil.  Core samples of soil, in areas where agriculture is practiced, can determine which is happening in any given location.  Depletion results in a carbon consumption tax, restoration a credit/payment.


Some things are not as complex as we've been led to believe...

Homelessness in the USA

Many people are complaining about folks who are homeless; living directly on the street or in tents pitched in public spaces. The reasons for the homelessness and the solutions are also complained about, if discussed at all.

The cost of living indoors started to skyrocket in the 1980s, and that problem will only be addressed by providing sufficient quantities of seriously affordable housing. The cost and vulnerability of home loans can only be mitigated by re-instituting, and enforcing, fair and equitable regulations for mortgages.

There have always been homeless folks, a few who refuse housing assistance because they believe they are living the life they prefer, The current increase in homelessness started in the 1980s when most of the regulatory environment for home mortgages, that was the Glass-Steagall Act, was repealed. Another reason for an increase in homeless folks was the abandonment of the government housing for folks with debilitating disabilities; many of the institutions involved were found to be seriously deficient and were closed rather than improved.

The business of home loans was taken from the reliable, boring domain of the Savings and Loan financial institutions and given to the financial services industries that are, "Wall Street." That was the key to a meteoric rise in the cost of living indoors; maximized profits replaced affordable home ownership as the primary goal of home loans (mortgages).

The situation was made ready for worse gaming/gambling with home loans when the last of Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999; made the, "Great Recession," almost inevitable. The, "banksters," originating and trading in mortgages began to include those whose financial institutions specialized in investments that promised greater returns; involved greater, much greater, risk. These riskier, gaming/gambling, investment instruments had not previously been allowed to be mingled with consumer loans; primarily mortgages.

Elizabeth Warren, one of the architects of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, has (once again) proposed solutions. You can try to place the blame on a state's governor, but that's not where the problem originates, nor is it where the problem will be resolved.

See also: United Way ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed).

US Election Security

The security of all of our US elections is available right now.

The answer is being stopped by the Republican Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (Mr. Turtle). Mr. Turtle had used the Senate majority leader's position to stop election security bills from getting a vote during the Obama administration as well.

Open source code is available now to:

Draw the smallest possible districts (for all elected offices) with the correct population; no partisan considerations involved.

Create voting machines that use an electronic ballot and a printed ballot (both can be reviewed by the voter before submitting a vote). A printed ballot is scanned into a collection, lock box while being double checked against the electronically submitted votes; instant auditing. An audit trail of voting is possible with printed ballots to be count later, as needed.

All this open sourced software can be checked for function and security, by multiple technical experts, before being installed on, “air gapped,” (not connected to any network, therefore not connected to an insecure network: Internet) device: voting machines.

The whole process could be completed before the 2020 elections if Mr. Turtle can be publicly, legally, held responsible for any voting problems encountered in any and all future elections.

Democrats in the US Congress; Possibly Due for Reconsideration

The Democrats in the US House of Representatives are cowards!

In 2016 Democrats failed to win a majority sufficient to overcome the Electoral College kludge that Republicans were allowed, by Democrats' solo adherence to, “playing by the rules,” to create... We now have the 45 administration. Said administration has made a mockery of the rule of law and the Constitution, supported by an equally lawless (aiding and abetting or being an accomplice to criminal activity is a crime) Republican majority in the US Senate.

In 2018 the voters returned a Democratic majority to the US House. Our chosen legislators have absolutely refused to fulfill their primary, intended duty of impeaching the lawless buffoon that is the 45^th President of these United States.

It would behoove the Democrats in the US House to remember that by not following through with the primary task assigned, protecting the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic, they too become accomplices to criminal activity.

No, your job is not just to pass legislation, in the House, that the majority leader, Mr. Turtle, will block in the Senate.

The Democratic majority in the US House of Representatives must demonstrate that the rule of law and the balance of power, as prescribed in the Constitution, still have meaning in these United States of America.

Impeach 45!

Trump is a Symptom

Trump is a symptom, not the problem.

This problem started at the end of the Civil War. A, too large, minority of white America lost the artificial air of superiority that was racial prejudice and the extreme characteristic thereof: slavery.

The problem of the white, insecure, racist minority was, more recently, exacerbated by integration, voting rights, minority-majority... Exploded with the election of an African-American to two terms as the President of these United States.

When the majority that elected President Obama failed to turn up consistently at the polls the far, far right minority that had taken over the Republican party was able to elect an incompetent President, capable of being manipulated even more than George W. Bush, to pursue the finishing steps of creating a white nationalist, oligarchy here in the USA: seeding the Judicial branch of government with far, far right wing Jurists/Judges.

The solution, the restoration of majority rule and Democracy in the United States, lies in the diverse hands of the Democratic party.

One of the things that set Democrats apart from Republicans is the ability to allow disagreement amongst ourselves...

It ain't a bad thing to disagree as long as you can come together when the need arises!

We need to come together to take back majorities in state and federal legislatures; come together to elect Governors and win back the US Presidency!

VOTE!

Vote Blue no matter who!

If it bothers anybody terribly to hear that not everybody agrees with you about everything, your biggest problem can be found using a mirror.

The Time for Impeachment is Yesterday

Begin the impeachment process; yesterday!!!

The US House was given a Democratic majority by the voters in the 2018 mid-terms, because it was a mid-term election and the US House was the best alternative we could provide to rid the United States of the clearly criminal 45 administration. The Democrats should avail themselves of the opportunity that they have been given and begin the process of impeaching President Donald J. Trump.

If 45's referred to the Senate for impeachment, especially if it is sent to the Senate on a straight party line vote... If the Republicans in the Senate won't convict...

When presented with the evidence Republicans, in the federal legislature, have the opportunity to choose between party allegiance or oath of office and duty to the Constitution. If allegiance to party is demonstrated in spite of clear and plentiful evidence of, “high crimes and misdemeanors,” then said evidence should be delivered to the appropriate federal prosecutors, in each state, to weigh the possibility of indictments for aiding and abetting or as an accomplice to said, “high crimes and misdemeanors."

If circumstances unfold as mentioned above, it becomes the responsibility of the Democrats to do what is possible to publicize and prosecute, make all information available to appropriate prosecutors and the public, such that said disloyalty to country, oath of office and supporting of related criminality are made ready for continued and necessary prosecutorial action and activity.

Listen to what Robert Mueller wants to say, behind closed doors, behind closed doors!