If I had hundreds of millions of dollars, I know exactly what I would buy. I’d buy a mansion, a Rolls-Royce and a U.S. Senator. Whoever said our democracy was ruled a majority of the population was wrong. Our current political system is indeed run by a majority, but a majority of wealth. And the majority of wealth is held by a very small minority, a minority who always seems to be fiercely protected by our democratic government. How else do you explain the massive jump in income for the wealthy during the past decades? Between 1979 and 2005, the top 1% richest Americans have seen their incomes increase by 228%, while the bottom 20% poorest Americans have only seen a 6% increase in their incomes. How have we as a society let this happen?
The answer: privately funded political campaigning. Political campaigning has become an expensive endeavor over the past few years. In 2004, a candidate for U.S. Senate spent on average almost $6 million to get elected. In all, candidates spent a total of $407 million dollars to campaign for senate seats. Where did they get all of this money? Most of this money comes from big companies who spend millions of dollars to ensure their candidate wins the election. This method of financing campaigns leads to government officials who represent companies and the wealthy rather than the American people.
But campaign contributions only account for a fraction of the money given to legislators by special interests. Plenty of money changes hands through the magic of lobbying. In 2008, a total of $3.3 BILLION was spent on lobbying. This money was spent specifically in an effort to influence decisions in the government. Wonder why pharmaceuticals cost so much and no one wants to socialize health insurance? The health sector (aka drug companies and HMOs) spent almost $500 million lobbying last year. This illustrates how small of a factor the public good has become in influencing national policy. The only way to be represented in congress is to buy your very own congressman, or, better yet, the entire Congress. The American government needs to go back to representing the people rather than the money.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Socialize It!!!
When I got an assignment from my gov teacher to start a blog about current political events, I was really excited. I had never been very well-informed about my country or its political system, so I was intrigued and eager to learn new things about this great government of ours. Yet, the more research I do for this blog, the more depressed and disillusioned I become as I begin to understand the dishonest, self-serving, blatantly corrupt political system in which I have no voice and over which I have no control.
Take for instance the debate over health care. I am a huge proponent of socialized, single-payer health care. I believe this type of system would benefit every single American, except of course those few, super rich Americans who make millions of dollars exploiting the well-being of those 250 million Americans who have over-priced, insufficient health insurance. For example, George Halvorson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, made 2.2 million dollars in the year 2000, while Kaiser itself is worth over 13 billion dollars. Because health insurance companies are private, for-profit enterprises, making money is there first priority while patient care is their last.
While the insurance companies are making gross profits, the average American still struggles with medical bills. In 2007, medical bills contributed to 62 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States. Of those that filed for bankruptcy, nearly 80 percent had health insurance. Seriously. Also, Insurance companies create needless bureaucracy and paperwork that are drains on the system. Nearly one third of all health care costs are wasted on needless administration. 350 billion dollars a year could be saved on paperwork alone if the U.S. switched to a single-payer system. That’s enough to pay for the entire system! Why don’t we switch to socialized medicine? Every other Western country except Holland and Switzerland has socialized medicine, and their life expectancies are vastly beyond our own. We need to switch to a government controlled, single-payer system that cares about patients rather than profits. Socialized medicine is a necessity.
Take for instance the debate over health care. I am a huge proponent of socialized, single-payer health care. I believe this type of system would benefit every single American, except of course those few, super rich Americans who make millions of dollars exploiting the well-being of those 250 million Americans who have over-priced, insufficient health insurance. For example, George Halvorson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, made 2.2 million dollars in the year 2000, while Kaiser itself is worth over 13 billion dollars. Because health insurance companies are private, for-profit enterprises, making money is there first priority while patient care is their last.
While the insurance companies are making gross profits, the average American still struggles with medical bills. In 2007, medical bills contributed to 62 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States. Of those that filed for bankruptcy, nearly 80 percent had health insurance. Seriously. Also, Insurance companies create needless bureaucracy and paperwork that are drains on the system. Nearly one third of all health care costs are wasted on needless administration. 350 billion dollars a year could be saved on paperwork alone if the U.S. switched to a single-payer system. That’s enough to pay for the entire system! Why don’t we switch to socialized medicine? Every other Western country except Holland and Switzerland has socialized medicine, and their life expectancies are vastly beyond our own. We need to switch to a government controlled, single-payer system that cares about patients rather than profits. Socialized medicine is a necessity.
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