No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.The Edwards camp argues that this wording refers to pay raises, not pay decreases. But "varying" and "raising" are two different terms. Besides, the Constitution is very clear on one point: The President does not make law. Edwards (if elected) could ask Congress to enact such legislation, which would apply to the next Congress. And I can ask the neighbor's dog to sing a medley from Sweeney Todd.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
I call BS
I wish to hell Edwards would just apologize and move on. He has proposed removing Congressmembers' health care benefits unless they act on providing health care for all. His heart is in the right place, but the idea is silly. The 27th amendment (which has a fascinating history; see here and here) states that
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
A better amendment would prohibit disingenuous proposals. The Senators and Representatives can afford their own health insurance. Their other bennies are much more expensive.
The really disingenuous part is that universal health care is on everyone's table already, and the private sector can't wait for it much longer.
After the economic shocks of the 1970s, we relied on essentially three tricks to grow ourselves out of the doldrums: de-regulation, factory closings, and Third-World debt to the World Bank.
We've about had it with de-regulation. I heard a meat inspector say that when there were plenty of USDA regulators, the meat butchers led clean steers to the slaughter houses. As the regulators dwindled, the workers hosed down the steers in the slaughter houses, removing most of the fecal material. Now, according to the regulator, they let the consumer lick off the shit.
Factory closings happened during the 1980s to break union labor. The work went to Central America, Asia, and Central Europe (Miss Teen South Carolina notwithstanding to the contrary, no one used the geographical term 'Central Europe' after WW2, it like disappeared and was lumped with the political term 'Eastern Europe').
The World Bank and the IMF made sub-prime loans to sub-equatorial countries in South America and Africa, mostly during the 1990s, which were destined for default. When the countries defaulted, the moneylenders imposed very strict social and political controls in exchange for not repossessing the countries' resources.
So we got about 25 good Xmas seasons out of it and only 3 recessions plus some eye-popping inflation and interest rates for a few years. Those double-digit interest rates just by some coincidental mojo benefitted the first full generation of Social Security retirees who had invaded South Florida in the early 1970s and helped double Florida's population in half a generation's time. Banks sprung up offering high-rate CDs and toaster ovens. Fresh orange juice and no state income tax brought 2 million Boomers and GenXers, and a disproportionate number of cardiologists and proctologists.
Now the huge Boomer population is retiring, and if the private and public sectors can pass on the employer cost of health insurance to taxpayers and governments, we can grow ourselves out of the economic disaster swamp we're already up to our elbows in. Retailers will be able to afford to buy, manufacturers will be able to afford to manufacture, and consumers won't have to suffer unaffordable prices or over-pay for health insurance and health care. I mean, everyone knows that health insurance costs everyone -- employer and consumer -- more than they can afford. Therefore everyone in every sector wants universal, single-payer (eventually) health coverage. And everyone's going to get it, sooner rather than later.
Do you know how many full-time teachers there are in the US in K-12 and higher ed? They all get their health insurance paid for by their employers, either 100% or 80%. Think about the choice: either on the one hand eliminate that economic burden and the rising costs of education going through the unrepaired roofs, or on the other hand after you be eating dog food you be eating your dog, Jack.
It would help everyone right now if a Democrat and a Republican in the Senate sponsored a 'generic' resolution that mandates a deadline for passing a universal health coverage package, and likewise in the House. We'd be much better off without them all yapping until next November that we need universal health care.
I wonder how John Edwards would answer the question, "What do you think, Sir, about NASCAR race tracks and a NASCAR Museum being built where textile mills used to thrive?" He might advise investing in the audiology and hearing-aid growth industry.
Post a Comment