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Last Updated: Dec 1st, 2009 - 10:31:38 |
“Cashing in the War Dividend”: As Healthcare Reform Limited by Deficit Concerns, Military Spending Continues to Grow
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are hashing out the final details of legislation to reform the nation’s healthcare system. And one of the key questions is: How much will it all cost, and how will it affect the federal deficit?
In the Senate, legislation giving doctors $247 billion in increased Medicare fees over the next decade nearly collapsed on Tuesday amid bipartisan concern over growing federal deficits. Meanwhile, in the House Democratic leaders have cut the cost of their healthcare bill from more than $1 trillion to $871 billion over the next decade. That’s according to the Washington Post. The new estimate falls well under the ten-year $900 billion limit set by President Obama for the total cost of reform.
While $900 billion over ten years may sound like a hefty price tag, it’s a mere fraction of this country’s spending on the military. Consider that the Pentagon’s budget for 2010 alone is $704 billion.
A new article published at TomDispatch.com helps to put the numbers in perspective. It says, “According to [Department of Defense] projections, the baseline military budget—just the bare bones, not those billions in war-fighting extras—is projected to increase by 2.5% each year for the next 10 years. In other words, in the next decade the basic Pentagon budget will grow by at least $133.1 billion.”
The article is called "Cashing in the War Dividend: The Joys of Perpetual War.” It’s written by Jo Comerford, who is the executive director of the National Priorities Project.
Dems Advance Repeal of Insurance Industry Antitrust Exemption
On Capitol Hill, Democrats are moving forward with an effort to strip the insurance industry’s exemption from federal antitrust laws. Democrats say the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 has granted the insurance industry a captive market with no curbs on price fixing and other anti-competitive practices. On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee voted to repeal the exemption. House leaders say the measure could be included as part of overall legislation on healthcare reform. Meanwhile, in the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy unveiled his version of the repeal.
Sen. Patrick Leahy: “We’ll prohibit the most egregious anti-competitive conduct—price fixing, bid rigging, market allocation—in the health and medical malpractice insurance industry. There’s no place for those practices. They would be illegal if done by any other industry. And it’s incredible that criminal conduct which would land people in jail, if engaged in in other industries, is legal when health insurers do it.”
Leahy says he also plans to include the repeal measure as part of a final package on healthcare reform.
Poll: 57% of Americans Support Public Option
In healthcare news, the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll has found 57 percent of all Americans now favor a public insurance option. This marks an increase since mid-August, when 52 percent of the nation favored it.
Rep. Grayson Unveils Website for Deaths of Uninsured
Democratic Congress member Alan Grayson of Florida has established a new website honoring those who’ve lost their lives because they were uninsured. Grayson says he founded NamesOfTheDead.com after a recent Harvard University study found 44,000 people die every year because they lack health insurance. Grayson announced the website Wednesday on the House floor.
Rep. Alan Grayson: “They themselves can no longer speak. But their families, the ones who love them, they can speak. And so, I’ve established a website called namesofthedead.com. And I invite all those people who’ve suffered the terrible tragedy of losing a loved one, whether a son or a spouse or an uncle or a mother or father. All of us who’ve lost somebody close to us because they had no health coverage, because they had no health insurance, and because they died, I propose that we all go to this website, namesofthedead.com, and we name them.”
US to Order Pay Cuts at Bailed-Out Firms
The Obama administration is preparing to order substantial pay cuts for executives at some of the nation’s top bailed-out firms. White House “pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg has reportedly identified twenty-five executives at five major financial companies and two automakers that will be affected by the cuts. Overall compensation will be reduced by about half, on average, while salaries will see an average 90 percent cut. The companies are Citigroup, Bank of America, General Motors, Chrysler, GMAC, Chrysler Financial and American International Group, which have collectively received around $250 billion in taxpayer assistance.
Oil Tycoon: US “Entitled” to Iraqi Oill
The oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens told lawmakers Wednesday the US is “entitled” to Iraqi oil because of the human and financial toll of occupying Iraq. Addressing the Congressional Natural Gas Caucus, Pickens criticized Iraqi plans to open up oil fields to international bidding. Pickens said, “They’re opening them up to other companies all over the world…We’re entitled to it…We even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars.”
Louisiana Justice of Peace Refuses to Marry Interracial Couple
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| Terence McKay (pictured) and Beth Humprhey were denied a marriage license because they are an interracial couple. |
A Louisiana couple is considering filing a federal discrimination complaint after a justice of the peace in Louisiana refused to marry them because they are an interracial couple. Keith Bardwell, the justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, said, "I’m not a racist. I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way.” Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed-race couple. If they are, he refuses to marry them. The American Civil Liberties Union has called on the Louisiana Judiciary Committee to severely sanction Bardwell.
Protesters Urge CNN to Oust Dobbs
And here in New York, dozens of people gathered outside the offices of the news network CNN Wednesday to call for the ouster of anchor Lou Dobbs. Dobbs has been accused of anti-Latino bias in his coverage of immigration issues. The journalist Roberto Lovato addressed the crowd.
Roberto Lovato: “What comes out of Lou Dobbs’ mouth is hatred for Latinos and undocumented immigrants in the United States, his support for the extremists that are actually killing immigrants, like the Federation of Immigration Reform and the Minutemen, whose members in Arizona are responsible for the murder of nine-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father. So, Lou Dobbs is not telling his audience to go out and kill and hurt and attack immigrants, but he provides a platform for those that do.”
The protest was organized by the website
BastaDobbs.com.
CNN Commentator Revealed to be Working for America’s Health Insurance Plans
In other healthcare news, the watchdog group Media Matters has revealed one of CNN’s regular on-air commentators is on the payroll of America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry lobbying group opposed to the current healthcare reform efforts. Until yesterday, CNN had never acknowledged Alex Castellanos’s affiliation. Media Matters revealed that Castellanos’s consulting firm, National Media, recently placed over $1 million of TV advertising for America’s Health Insurance Plans. Castellanos’s company has also done work for the Federation of American Hospitals, the pharmaceutical industry group PhRMA, and the HCA Sunrise Hospital.
Shell Given OK to Drill Oil Exploration Wells Near Arctic
The Interior Department has given Shell the OK to drill oil exploration wells in two areas of the Beaufort Sea near the Arctic. This could lead to the first drilling in more than a decade in this area off the north coast of Alaska. Chuck Clusen of the Natural Resources Defense Council criticized the decision. Clusen said a drilling blowout could leave oil in the waters off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for decades, killing whales, seals, fish and birds and turning irreplaceable spawning and feeding grounds into an ecological wasteland.
New York Times to Eliminate 100 Newsroom Positions
And in media news, the New York Times has announced it will eliminate 100 newsroom positions, about eight percent of the paper’s news staff.
More International News
Report: Nigeria Considers Deal to Share Oil Revenue with Niger Delta
The Financial Times reports the Nigerian government is proposing to share ten percent of its oil and gas revenue with the residents of the oil-producing Niger Delta in an attempt to end a revolt by local militants. The Niger Delta generates 80 percent of the Nigerian government’s revenue, but the region remains one of the country’s poorest areas. The plan is aimed at reducing the level of violence and oil theft in the Niger Delta. Attacks on oil facilities have cut oil production in Nigeria by as much as 40 percent in recent years. The report of the oil revenue sharing deal comes as the Nigerian government is planning to establish a permanent military presence in the Niger Delta.
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