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Economist Gerald Friedman responded to a very skewed Wall Street Journal piece that completely tried to discredit the single-payer healthcare plan of Bernie Sanders. The Wall Street Journal article, Price Tag of Bernie Sanders's Proposals: $18 Trillion, published just a few days ago, is a typical neocon propaganda piece designed to discredit such a single-payer healthcare program with scare tactics and convenient, if made up, "facts." This is to be expected from the formerly reputable publication, The Wall Street Journal, since it has been taken over by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and thus has become almost a mild version of FOX News in print.
However, one thing that is never mentioned in this article is that Sanders wants taxes on the very rich to go up, allowing the healthcare program to essentially be paid for. In fact, it would cost less for the rest of us Americans, because the tax rates for the wealthiest Americans would return back to the level that existed during the days when Eisenhower and Kennedy occupied the White House. You know, the days that many conservatives claim they were the good old days, and which they would like the country to return to?
So, yes, let's go for it. By all means. But the inconvenient truth for neocons in this case is that, indeed, the tax rates for the rich was far higher than it is now. Not surprisingly, for anyone with a shred of objectivity and a sense of balance, all of the problems that existed within the budget, as well as the national debt, were directly correlated to the tax rates of the rich. As the tax rates decreased and incentive for the wealthy and corporations increased, setting up a de facto corporate welfare program, the budgetary problems escalated, and the quality of the nation's infrastructure and schools and government programs fell into a precipitous decline. That is how you go from a country that was the envy of the world at one point, and in an astonishingly short period of time, become symbol of a basket case when it comes to a clearly declining standard of living and quality of life, political corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency, and crumbling infrastructure and schools.
The thing is, we can reverse this. What it takes is courage to stare down those who seek to intimidate, and counter their misinformation with real information, with fact checks. The reality is that the United States enjoyed the highest standard of living in the fifties and sixties precisely because the rich were taxed and essentially leashed. They were not allowed to simply control government policy by buying the loyalty of politicians forever after beholden to them, licking their boots to stay in office and maintain their own privileged statuses.
We could use the spirit of the Roosevelts, and particularly could use another FDR. The Roosevelts saw reality, and spoke the truth as they saw it. While I am not a fan of the empirical tendencies of Theodore Roosevelt, he saw the dangers of corporate control clearly, and warned Americans of these dangers. Franklin D. Roosevelt took it a step further, using his power as president to lift a nation off of it's knees and put it back to work. But he understood that it took organized labor to keep the interests of the rich and powerful in check for things to improve.
His New Deal policies helped lift the country out of the Great Depression - a depression caused by many of the same, irresponsible trickle-down economic theories that led to the more recent Great Recession, and almost led to another Great Depression more recently. Shortly after Roosevelt died in office, the United States enjoyed the highest standard of living in the world, as well as the unique status as the world's leading superpower. For decades after, we had politicians who felt a sense of responsibility to maintain the nation's privileged status.
That seems to have seriously eroded. Everyone saw the money and power, and the spirit of selfishness began to prevail. Reagan swept into power essentially urging Americans to be more selfish, to grab what wealth they could, even if it was wealth built on a bubble. The long process of becoming the most indebted nation in the world was well under way. After several decades, we have arrived at a crossroads, and should have a clear understanding of where everything went wrong, and what needs to be done about it.
Of course, there are going to be those who resist, and they are going to craft arguments to try and defend their positions, and to maintain the status quo that keeps them privileged. It is not in their interest to see a stronger country, because that would weaken their personal financial empires. So they have to argue against men like Sanders, who see through their veil of lies, and can see that this veil covers the prospects of a better nation, with greater and fairer wealth distribution for all, where ordinary citizens can enjoy a much higher standard of living. After all, many Americans cannot accept that their nation once was the envy of the world, easily enjoying the highest standard of living in the world, only to have been passed by numerous other nations - particularly those in western Europe (especially Scandinavian countries) - who all have single-payer healthcare systems that are much fairer than the privatized healthcare system that allows the elites to get rich off of the pain that they make far worse, and in some cases, may even outright create.
The privileged classes cannot counter the arguments for greater equity with logic and reason, so they turn to lies and fear-mongering. It is an old and predictable tactic, yet it has worked remarkably well here in the United States. For a very long time, Americans have remained hesitant to test new waters politically, for fear of what neocons suggest will usher in "socialism." Of course, a few decades ago, they warned against communism, and seemed to have no problem with western nations. But suddenly, once communism fell, these western democracies became socialist nightmare states, at least according to right wing propaganda. The United States would do well to avoid becoming one of them.
Yet, the thing is, many of these countries are among those that now have surpassed the United States in terms of living standards. Canada, Australia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Scandinavian nations all have eclipsed the quality of life standards that Americans have, and that trend seems to be growing to allow other countries to soon eclipse the American standard of life, as well. In these countries, they do not have the same heated debates about healthcare that exists here in the United States, because their system works better, is more fair and equitable. Let us be clear here: every single other industrialized nation enjoys the privileges of a better and more fair healthcare system than what Americans have here in the United States. And that will only change if Americans begin to understand that it would be in their interests to incorporate such a healthcare system, precisely because they have a proven track record in numerous countries over the course of years and decades, while the American healthcare system has failed tens of millions of Americans for many decades now.
Information is crucial to counter the fear-mongering tactics. So, economist Gerald Friedman responded to The Wall Street Journal piece blasting Sanders's healthcare proposals, and took exception to the incorrect price tag of $18 trillion. This is what neocons want you to believe.
In fact, if Sanders were to have his way, this healthcare system would cost Americans less than the present system does, by forcing the rich and wealthy corporations simply to pay their fair share. Here, in part, is what Friedman had to say:
Because of the nearly $10 trillion in savings, it is possible to fund over $4.5 trillion in additional services while still reducing national health care spending by over $5 trillion. With these net savings, the additional $14.7 trillion in federal spending brings savings to the private sector (and state and local governments) of over $19.7 trillion.
Yes, we can save money, and provide Americans with a healthcare system that works for them, rather than against them. We can write a success story, instead of accepting a system that has failed us time and time again.
The choice is ours. Yours. But it is crucial to stay informed.
To that end, here are the links to both articles. There is the link to The Wall Street Journal piece, and there is the link to Friendman's response:
An Open Letter to the Wall Street Journal on Its Bernie Sanders Hit Piece by Gerald Friedman of The Huffington Post, Sept. 15, 2015:
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2015/september/an-open-letter-to-the-wall-street-journal-on-its-bernie-sanders-hit-piece
Price Tag of Bernie Sanders's Proposals: $18 Trillion by Laura Meckler, September 14, 2015:
Price Tag of Bernie Sanders's Proposals: $18 Trillion by Laura Meckler, September 14, 2015:
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