Category Archives: A Working Economy

Subtitle: The Business Case for Progressives

I posed the question on a political blog recently: What would the Tea Party do to create a functioning economy? 

The answer that came back was: “Cut taxes, for starters.”

I found out I had a Health Savings Account today. Apparently, during my last months at a former employer – over fours years ago – I had signed up for a Health Savings Account through a company called OptumHealthBank. I’ve gotten a few notices from this company before but they […]

Steve Driehaus spoke to hundreds of supporters and critics of health-care reform last night at the First Unitarian Church. Tea Party folks were given instructions before the meeting on how to disrupt the event. Apparently, opponents feel they cannot win without resorting to disruptive tactics. Here’s some samples:  Artificially Inflate […]

Last week, I received a mailing from United Health Care about my Health Savings Account. The front page contained a very friendly letter with a nice green graphic urging me to check out my plan online. By logging into my account, it told me I could help estimate “out-of-pocket costs, […]

I read an interesting article in the AP this morning: Are lobbyists silver lining in health care system? The crux of the argument was that lobbyists were actually keeping the debate around health care alive. The article argues that the health care industry “sees a strategic opportunity.” The questions I […]

Insurers,  large hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies.

Surprise!

Witness how much these interests have amped up lobbying to prevent any kind of real health care reform.

I heard a very interesting discussion of our health care system this evening on NPR. On the show, health care reform was framed like so: the government plays either the role of financier or the role of insurer. In the role of financier, the government helps subsidize health care in […]

When times are good, Wall Street wants the government to get out of the way so that the market can “work.” Translation: Privatize the profit. When times are bad, Wall Street wants the government to step in and play a role in the economy. Translation: Socialize the risk. If you […]

With so much garbage commentary being thrown around about the bailouts, it’s interesting to see a writer in a very popular forum talking about some of the real good and bad of the bailout. First, the good: Regulation is necessary to reduce systemic risk – What happens without regulation? Too much […]

“You had no oversight, chaos and breathtaking sums of money. And over all of that was the notion that failure was O.K. It doesn’t get any better for criminals than that set of circumstances.” – Senator Claire McCaskill describing the operation to rebuild Iraq. I was glad to see the […]