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Eamonn Fingleton gives a stunning account of how the elite press – the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, the New York Times and Washington Post - pilloried US autworkers while systematically concealing the hidden subsidies which have allowed Japan and Korea to destroy Detroit. All this with the connivance of the US government. Also in our latest newsletter: Michelle Obama comes to Merced. Bill Hatch, the Balzac of the Central Valley, gives an uproarious account of Michelle’s state visit to UC’s new campus. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
How the U.S. Press Helped Destroy the Auto IndustryOrder CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
Meet & Debate (Perhaps Even Date) CPers Online at CounterPunch's New Facebook Page!
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Today's Stories June 10, 2009 Kathy Kelly June 9, 2009 Winslow T. Wheeler Mike Whitney Stan Cox Sibel Edmonds Jonathan Cook David Macaray Robert Jensen Nadia Hijab Mark Weisbrot Website of the Day June 8, 2009 John Ross Paul Craig Roberts Franklin C. Spinney Franklin Lamb Uri Avnery Jonathan Cook Eric Toussaint Jim Goodman Norman Solomon Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day June 5 -7, 200 Alexander Cockburn George Galloway Paul Craig Roberts Jennifer Loewenstein Franklin Lamb Mike Whitney Andy Worthington Missy Comley Beattie Farzana Versey Stanley Heller John V. Whitbeck Robert Weissman Lee Sustar Dave Lindorff William Blum Ernest Callenbach / Greg Moses Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Tim Stelloh Belén Fernández David Ker Thomson Karyn Strickler Christopher Brauchli Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 4, 2009 Arno J. Mayer Mike Whitney Gareth Porter Ayesha Ijaz Khan Mouin Rabbani Jordan Flaherty Adam Turl Nikolas Kozloff Yifat Susskind Website of the Day June 3, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Kathy Kelly Alan Farago Franklin Lamb Bill Hatch Nadia Hijab Dean Baker Binoy Kampmark Manuel Garcia, Jr. Remi Kanazi Behzad Yaghmaian Website of the Day June 2, 2009 Uri Avnery Robert Weissman Conn Hallinan Gideon Spiro Roger Burbach Dylan Quigley Dave Lindorff Ray McGovern Belén Fernández Martha Rosenberg Willie L. Pelote, Sr. Website of the Day June 1, 2009 Pam Martens Yitzhak Laor Mark Weisbrot Ramzy Baroud Saul Landau Eugenia Tsao Afshin Rattansi Debra Sweet Abdul Malik Mujahid Bill Quigley John Wright Website of the Day May 29-31, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Vijay Prashad Gary Leupp Ray McGovern Rannie Amiri Bill Hatch Chellis Glendinning, Stephanie Mills and Kirkpatrick Sale Phyllis Pollack David Yearsley Jean-Christophe Servant Dave Lindorff James McEnteer Missy Beattie James C. Faris David Macaray Harvey Wasserman Adam Federman David Ker Thomson Mark Seth Lender Stephen Martin Joseph Nevins Sophia Mihic Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 28, 2009 Joan Roelofs Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Mouin Rabbani Joe Bageant James McEnteer Dedrick Muhammad Richard Morse David Macaray Harvey Wasserman Website of the Day May 27, 2009 Joanne Mariner Paul Craig Roberts Walden Bello Dave Lindorff Brian M. Downing Carlos Villarreal Nadia Hijab Adam Federman Laray Polk Isabella Kenfield David Michael Green Website of the Day May 26, 2009 Manuel Garcia, Jr. Mike Whitney Sharon Smith Marjorie Cohn Dean Baker Deepankar Basu Fred Gardner Jordan Flaherty Josh Ruebner Brian Cloughley Website of the Day May 25, 2009 Diane Christian John Ross Kenneth Hartman Uri Avnery Fred Gardner Cindy Sheehan Sen. Russell Feingold Sibel Edmonds Franklin Lamb Dave Lindorff Daniel Wolff Website of the Day May 22-24, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Michael Teitelman Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Sonia Cardenas / Clive Hamilton Conn Hallinan Fred Gardner Carlo Cristofori Dean Baker Rannie Amiri Andy Worthington David Macaray Nadia Hijab Franklin Lamb Ted Newcomen David Ker Thomson David Rosen Mark Weisbrot Robert Fantina Heather Gray Farzana Versey Chris Genovali Ron Jacobs Jay Diamond Dr. Susan Block Ben Sonnenberg David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 21, 2009 Jeffrey St. Clair / Paul Craig Roberts Chris Floyd Gerald Paoli Zach Mason Uri Avnery Andy Worthington Niranjan Ramakrishnan Norman Solomon Dave Lindorff Website of the Day May 20, 2009 Michael Hudson Gary Leupp Michael D. Yates Jonathan Cook Peter Lee Binoy Kampmark Peter Zinn William Loren Katz Gary Lapon Trudy Bond Website of the Day May 19, 2009 Kristoffer Rehder Mike Whitney Ray McGovern Vijay Prashad Mirjam Hadar Meerschwam Mustafa Barghouthi Andy Worthington Binoy Kampmark John Walsh David Macaray Website of the Day May 18, 2009 Dave Lindorff Abdul Malik Mujahid Jonathan Cook Ben Rosenfeld Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader Stephen Soldz Eugenia Tsao Walter Brasch Roberto Rodriguez Charlotte Laws Website of the Day May 15-17, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair David Rosen Mike Whitney Bruce Page Jeremy Scahill Fred Gardner Tom Barry Mats Svensson Ramzy Baroud Mark Engler Mark Weisbrot Farzana Versey Ron Jacobs Hannah Wolfe Cal Winslow David Macaray Christopher Brauchli Mark Seth Lender Robert Fantina David Ker Thomson Stephen Martin Charles R. Larson Chase Madar Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 14, 2009 Michael Hudson Andy Worthington Paul Craig Roberts Jonathan Cook Ray McGovern Lance Selfa David Green Dave Lindorff Frida Berrigan Sue Udry Website of the Day May 13, 2009 Brian M. Downing Gareth Porter Robert Sandels Ricardo Alarcón Eric Walberg Dave Lindorff Deepak Tripathi William S. Lind Kevin Zeese Franklin Lamb Website of the Day May 12, 2009 Gary Leupp Richard Neville Wajahat Ali Dean Baker Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Paul Craig Roberts Lisa M. Hamilton Bob Fitrakis / David Macaray Website of the Day May 11, 2009 Andrea Peacock Michael Hudson Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader John Kelly Saul Landau Dave Lindorff David Michael Green Anthony Papa Paul Krassner Website of the Day
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June 10, 2009 Why are Powerful People Afraid to Give Us the Right to Choose a Public Plan?We Need a Holistic, Cradle-to-the-Grave National Health Care SystemBy CAROL MILLER In the 15 years since Congress gave up on universal health care, about 300,000 Americans have died from the lack of health coverage alone, using the government’s own data. Added to the tragic death toll is the economic toll. More than a half-million individuals and families declare medical bankruptcy every year; most of them have health insurance. Actually, they thought they had health insurance because they pay for insurance. People learn the hard way that when help is really needed for a catastrophic health crisis, private insurance does not protect them from financial ruin. We stand again as a nation at the same fork in the road on the path to improve access to health care for all of our neighbors and family members. One choice is the fork that brings us together to weave a safety net. This fork is the Medicare-for-all approach; everybody in, nobody out. Imagine a cradle-to-grave, holistic system based on public health, prevention, wellness, a medical home for everyone and — according to the Congressional Budget Office — doing all of this while saving money. This is the single-payer choice. Then there is the other fork: forcing everyone to have insurance by building on the current broken system. This is the déjà vu path. Choosing this path continues corporate rationing, procedure-based sickness care, out-of-control costs and obscene CEO and executive compensation. During the last debate on universal health care, Congress fell for industry promises of savings through an expansion of managed care. After a year or so, all voluntary “savings” were gone and the bad old days of skyrocketing costs were back. Secret Bailout It’s bailout fever now; every corporation and industry wants theirs. Some are out in the open like Wall Street, American International Group and the automakers. One big corporate bailout is secret, disguised as a uniquely American way of doing business. I’m talking about the for-profit corporate sickness insurance industry. An industry that takes in money, lots of money, much of it from us, the taxpayers, and in return pays for as little health care as possible to maximize profits for their investors. It is strange to listen to the Members of Congress criticize the Big Three automakers, when at the same time they not only continue to support, but even propose expanding the for-profit, corporate health insurance industry. At least automakers make something. They have the capability to retool and build better and more efficient cars, light rail, solar panels or even better mousetraps. Strategy for Passage There are two issues on the table. First is the fate of the various “reform” bills as they continue to be introduced and move through Congress, and second is the strategy for actually passing reform this year. Watching the same mistakes that killed the Clinton-era reforms being made again — by Democrats and Republicans — is painful. There are three health reform choices being proposed this year. One choice is the completely public option, universal, single-payer social insurance, which the president and Congress are trying very hard to keep “off the table.” The middle ground has an insurance mandate with an individual choice of either private, likely for-profit, insurance or a public insurance plan, for example, buying in to Medicare. The third option provides the least choice, a mandate to buy private insurance. This is where strategy matters. By leaving the universal, social insurance option out of the debate, it is easier for the industry, media and some Members of Congress to paint the mixed public-private plan as an extreme rather than what it is — the middle ground. And while not ideal, the mixed plan is a place for Congressional compromise. Why are powerful people afraid to give us the right to choose a public plan? Are they afraid we will learn that more than $1 billion every day is wasted on insurance overhead? Or that more than a trillion dollars bleeds from the health care system every two and a half years — money not spent on health care but on insurance administration, advertising, marketing and corporate profits? In surveys of the American people, Medicare is always ranked as the best and most popular government program. If Congress fails to enact a universal social insurance plan, enrolling in Medicare or a new public program must be a choice for the uninsured and underinsured. If we are lucky, we will see real courage from Congress this year. Every Member knows that sooner or later, because of the economics, the United States will join the rest of the developed world and create a national health plan. This is privately conceded even by the biggest insurance industry boosters on Capitol Hill. Without real reform, there will be more tinkering at the edges until the tsunami of medical costs finally forces the government to do the right thing. During these challenging economic times, we have the chance to complete the promise of full social insurance. Universal access to health care has been deferred for 74 years since it was stripped from the Social Security Act of 1935 — and that is long enough. Carol Miller is a rural and public health activist who lives in a small village in Ojo Sarco, N.M. Miller has public service in Washington, D.C., in both Republican and Democratic administrations, including the Clinton Health Care Task Force. In 1994 she was the health reform policy adviser for the National Rural Health Association and the New Mexico secretary of health. This article originally appeared in Roll Call. |
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