Sunday, February 1, 2009
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Obama vs. McCain
Listed below are the issues that are highlighted on each of the candidate's websites
Obama:
Civil Rights
Defense
Disabilites
Economy
Education
Energy and Environment
Ethics
Faith
Family
Fiscal
Foreign Policy
Healthcare --
On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes - government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe both of these extremes are wrong, and that’s why they’ve proposed a plan that strengthens employer coverage, makes insurance companies accountable and ensures patient choice of doctor and care without government interference. The Obama-Biden plan provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, builds on the existing health care system, and uses existing providers, doctors and plans to implement the plan. Under the Obama-Biden plan, patients will be able to make health care decisions with their doctors, instead of being blocked by insurance company bureaucrats. Under the plan, if you like your current health insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down by as much as $2,500 per year. If you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options. Make Health Insurance Work for People and Businesses - Not Just Insurance and Drug Companies. Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums Create a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees Lower costs for businesses by covering a portion of the catastrophic health costs they pay in return for lower premiums for employees.
Prevent insurers from overcharging doctors for their malpractice insurance and invest in proven strategies to reduce preventable medical errors.
Make employer contributions more fair by requiring large employers that do not offer coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of their employees health care.
Establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health coverage.
Ensure everyone who needs it will receive a tax credit for their premiums.
Reduce Costs and Save a Typical American Family up to $2,500 as reforms phase in:
Lower drug costs by allowing the importation of safe medicines from other developed countries, increasing the use of generic drugs in public programs and taking on drug companies that block cheaper generic medicines from the market
Require hospitals to collect and report health care cost and quality data
Reduce the costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees.
Reform the insurance market to increase competition by taking on anticompetitive activity that drives up prices without improving quality of care.
The Obama-Biden plan will promote public health. It will require coverage of preventive services, including cancer screenings, and increase state and local preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
A Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility: Barack Obama will pay for his $50 - $65 billion health care reform effort by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 per year and retaining the estate tax at its 2009 level.
Homeland Security
Immigration
Iraq
Poverty
Rural
Service
Seniors and Social Security
Taxes
Technology
Urban Policy
Veterans
Women
Additional Issues
McCain:
American Energy
Economic Plan
Iraq
Health Care
John McCain Will Reform Health Care Making It Easier For Individuals And Families To Obtain Insurance. An important part of his plan is to use competition to improve the quality of health insurance with greater variety to match people's needs, lower prices, and portability. Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines.
John McCain Will Reform The Tax Code To Offer More Choices Beyond Employer-Based Health Insurance Coverage. While still having the option of employer-based coverage, every family will receive a direct refundable tax credit - effectively cash - of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance. Families will be able to choose the insurance provider that suits them best and the money would be sent directly to the insurance provider. (This sentence was referred to in a recent untruthful attack ad by Barack Obama. Click here to read the facts.) Those obtaining innovative insurance that costs less than the credit can deposit the remainder in expanded Health Savings Accounts.
John McCain Proposes Making Insurance More Portable. Americans need insurance that follows them from job to job. They want insurance that is still there if they retire early and does not change if they take a few years off to raise the kids.
John McCain Will Encourage And Expand The Benefits Of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) For Families. When families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decisions and often decide against unnecessary options. Health Savings Accounts take an important step in the direction of putting families in charge of what they pay for.
My Two Cents: Competitive markets do not typically improve quality, but rather focus on maximizing profits for the company and shareholders. Increased competition may improve quality on products that are elective purchases, because higher quality can convince consumers to buy when they might not have, and this means higher profits. All companies ultimately must focus on minimizing cost in order to maximize profits, and for insurance companies that means avoiding spending money however possible....which means providing the cheapest healthcare possible, not the highest quality.
Education
Climate Change
National Service
Homeland Security
Border Security
Human Dignity and Life
Fighting Crime
Second Amendment
Veterans
Judicial Policy
Technology
Government Reform
Obama:
Civil Rights
Defense
Disabilites
Economy
Education
Energy and Environment
Ethics
Faith
Family
Fiscal
Foreign Policy
Healthcare --
On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes - government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe both of these extremes are wrong, and that’s why they’ve proposed a plan that strengthens employer coverage, makes insurance companies accountable and ensures patient choice of doctor and care without government interference. The Obama-Biden plan provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, builds on the existing health care system, and uses existing providers, doctors and plans to implement the plan. Under the Obama-Biden plan, patients will be able to make health care decisions with their doctors, instead of being blocked by insurance company bureaucrats. Under the plan, if you like your current health insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down by as much as $2,500 per year. If you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options. Make Health Insurance Work for People and Businesses - Not Just Insurance and Drug Companies. Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums Create a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees Lower costs for businesses by covering a portion of the catastrophic health costs they pay in return for lower premiums for employees.
Prevent insurers from overcharging doctors for their malpractice insurance and invest in proven strategies to reduce preventable medical errors.
Make employer contributions more fair by requiring large employers that do not offer coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of their employees health care.
Establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health coverage.
Ensure everyone who needs it will receive a tax credit for their premiums.
Reduce Costs and Save a Typical American Family up to $2,500 as reforms phase in:
Lower drug costs by allowing the importation of safe medicines from other developed countries, increasing the use of generic drugs in public programs and taking on drug companies that block cheaper generic medicines from the market
Require hospitals to collect and report health care cost and quality data
Reduce the costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees.
Reform the insurance market to increase competition by taking on anticompetitive activity that drives up prices without improving quality of care.
The Obama-Biden plan will promote public health. It will require coverage of preventive services, including cancer screenings, and increase state and local preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
A Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility: Barack Obama will pay for his $50 - $65 billion health care reform effort by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 per year and retaining the estate tax at its 2009 level.
Homeland Security
Immigration
Iraq
Poverty
Rural
Service
Seniors and Social Security
Taxes
Technology
Urban Policy
Veterans
Women
Additional Issues
McCain:
American Energy
Economic Plan
Iraq
Health Care
John McCain Will Reform Health Care Making It Easier For Individuals And Families To Obtain Insurance. An important part of his plan is to use competition to improve the quality of health insurance with greater variety to match people's needs, lower prices, and portability. Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines.
John McCain Will Reform The Tax Code To Offer More Choices Beyond Employer-Based Health Insurance Coverage. While still having the option of employer-based coverage, every family will receive a direct refundable tax credit - effectively cash - of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance. Families will be able to choose the insurance provider that suits them best and the money would be sent directly to the insurance provider. (This sentence was referred to in a recent untruthful attack ad by Barack Obama. Click here to read the facts.) Those obtaining innovative insurance that costs less than the credit can deposit the remainder in expanded Health Savings Accounts.
John McCain Proposes Making Insurance More Portable. Americans need insurance that follows them from job to job. They want insurance that is still there if they retire early and does not change if they take a few years off to raise the kids.
John McCain Will Encourage And Expand The Benefits Of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) For Families. When families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decisions and often decide against unnecessary options. Health Savings Accounts take an important step in the direction of putting families in charge of what they pay for.
My Two Cents: Competitive markets do not typically improve quality, but rather focus on maximizing profits for the company and shareholders. Increased competition may improve quality on products that are elective purchases, because higher quality can convince consumers to buy when they might not have, and this means higher profits. All companies ultimately must focus on minimizing cost in order to maximize profits, and for insurance companies that means avoiding spending money however possible....which means providing the cheapest healthcare possible, not the highest quality.
Education
Climate Change
National Service
Homeland Security
Border Security
Human Dignity and Life
Fighting Crime
Second Amendment
Veterans
Judicial Policy
Technology
Government Reform
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
What next?
Q1: Who would you like to see as our next president? Who do you think can lead us in the right direction towards solving some of our huge problems?
There are so many problems. No one person can solve them all or even be a part of them all, but everyone can pitch in and chip away. Q2: Where would you like to be in 5 years --what would you like to have done or be doing to pitch in towards solving the issue(s) closest to your heart?
There are so many problems. No one person can solve them all or even be a part of them all, but everyone can pitch in and chip away. Q2: Where would you like to be in 5 years --what would you like to have done or be doing to pitch in towards solving the issue(s) closest to your heart?
Monday, January 14, 2008
What kind of Education?
My loose interpretation of Maslow's hierarchy of needs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs is that only people who have reached the top of the pyramid can really be concerned about and work towards making real positive change in the lives of others. However those lower needs are met; whether by tangible means, or by faith in God to meet those needs, or by a zen-like denial that they are needs; I think that (most) people who are able to focus on making positive change are ones who are not focused on meeting the needs farther down in the pyramid. Affluency allows people's lower level needs to be met; so, how do we Educate and Movtivate affluent people so they can begin to make postitive change?
Not to long ago in the history of America, many of our ancestors did not have their lower-level needs met. They suffered through the Great Depression, or they suffered through the upheaval of the South and discrimination, or just suffered to do a little better than their poor parents did. Many of today's affluent people don't have to look too far back into their histories to find relatives who were barely feeding themselves and their families. So, why do their affluent children and grandchildren not realize the good they can do?
Is one reason that the values they have been taught by their parents, the culture, and the church, do not glorify sufffering and self-sacrifice but rather safety, comfort and self-sufficiency? The 'Greatest Generation' suffered greatly and sacrificed much; but rather than teaching their children the value in suffering and self-sacrifice, they protected them and tried to 'provide' them with a 'better life'.
How do we protect our children today from suffering and self-sacrifice and instead try to provide them with a better life? How are our misguided principles of 'giving' (too many presents that are too expensive) and providing (cell phones, cars, even college tuition) teaching kids the wrong values, or robbing them of values all together?
A book I read not to long ago was written by a psychologist who treated the kids of affluent parents, and she talks about how these kids never learn to know themselves or fully develop values: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=the+price+of+privilege&z=y
However, very wealty families who have had wealth for generations often are very committed to doing good with their wealth: Barron Hilton, Paris's grandad, just dedicated 97% of his vast wealth to charity: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20168283,00.html
Ditto Warren Buffet: read his comments here: http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/25/magazines/fortune/charity2.fortune/index.htm
Some good stuff seems to be going on here too: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/AboutUs/WorkingWithUs/GettingInvolved/default.htm
There are people at all levels doing good. How can we get more people doing good? By teaching them about what's wrong, sure, but also by teaching them to value doing good. And, I'd say, by teaching them that doing good fits in with the values they already have and are not in opposition to those values. And, by giving them easy small steps to get started with, so they don't feel like giving up before they even get started. By showing them how they can do good as they struggle to meet their various personal needs on Maslow's pyramid. By chipping away in whatever ways we can and by never alienating any group; not big companies (who are really just big groups of people, some of them vary powerful and some of them making minimum wage) not government (another group of people, some of them very powerful and some just getting by).
I'm reading another great book right now: Collapse by Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed
I got interested in it after reading about the Demographic Transition Model: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_transition and thinking about why some societies succeed while others fail.
Thoughts, anyone?
Not to long ago in the history of America, many of our ancestors did not have their lower-level needs met. They suffered through the Great Depression, or they suffered through the upheaval of the South and discrimination, or just suffered to do a little better than their poor parents did. Many of today's affluent people don't have to look too far back into their histories to find relatives who were barely feeding themselves and their families. So, why do their affluent children and grandchildren not realize the good they can do?
Is one reason that the values they have been taught by their parents, the culture, and the church, do not glorify sufffering and self-sacrifice but rather safety, comfort and self-sufficiency? The 'Greatest Generation' suffered greatly and sacrificed much; but rather than teaching their children the value in suffering and self-sacrifice, they protected them and tried to 'provide' them with a 'better life'.
How do we protect our children today from suffering and self-sacrifice and instead try to provide them with a better life? How are our misguided principles of 'giving' (too many presents that are too expensive) and providing (cell phones, cars, even college tuition) teaching kids the wrong values, or robbing them of values all together?
A book I read not to long ago was written by a psychologist who treated the kids of affluent parents, and she talks about how these kids never learn to know themselves or fully develop values: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=the+price+of+privilege&z=y
However, very wealty families who have had wealth for generations often are very committed to doing good with their wealth: Barron Hilton, Paris's grandad, just dedicated 97% of his vast wealth to charity: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20168283,00.html
Ditto Warren Buffet: read his comments here: http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/25/magazines/fortune/charity2.fortune/index.htm
Some good stuff seems to be going on here too: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/AboutUs/WorkingWithUs/GettingInvolved/default.htm
There are people at all levels doing good. How can we get more people doing good? By teaching them about what's wrong, sure, but also by teaching them to value doing good. And, I'd say, by teaching them that doing good fits in with the values they already have and are not in opposition to those values. And, by giving them easy small steps to get started with, so they don't feel like giving up before they even get started. By showing them how they can do good as they struggle to meet their various personal needs on Maslow's pyramid. By chipping away in whatever ways we can and by never alienating any group; not big companies (who are really just big groups of people, some of them vary powerful and some of them making minimum wage) not government (another group of people, some of them very powerful and some just getting by).
I'm reading another great book right now: Collapse by Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed
I got interested in it after reading about the Demographic Transition Model: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_transition and thinking about why some societies succeed while others fail.
Thoughts, anyone?
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
A Claiborne Quote
"...we got further and further from Jesus' vision, which extends beyond our rational love and the boundaries we have established. There is no doubt that we must mourn thouse lives lost on September 11th. We must mourn the lives of the soldiers. But with the same passion and outrage, we must mourn the lives of every Iraqi who is lost. They are just as precious, no more, no less. In our rebirth, every life lost in Iraq is just as tragic as a life lost in New York or D.C. And the lives of the thrity thousand children who die of starvation each day is like six Sptember 11ths every single day, a silent tsunami that happens every week."
---Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution
---Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution
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