Looking Forward In The New Year

This is the time of year when you’ll see a lot of year in review articles but I prefer to look forward so let’s look at some important issues our nation will be addressing very soon and what we can do about them. Next week our members of congress will be back in their Washington, D.C. offices and Donald Trump’s potential trial in the Senate looms large now that the House has voted to impeach him. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has so far withheld the articles of impeachment from the Senate because the Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, who controls the agenda there has suggested that he might not allow witness testimony or demand documents from the Trump administration. The American people deserve a thorough trial based on the facts and that can only happen if witnesses to the actions of the president and his appointees are required to testify publicly. Of course, no trial would be complete without documentary evidence from the White House.

Since one of our senators, John Cornyn, is the second most powerful Republican we, the citizens of Texas, have an opportunity and a duty to try to persuade him to demand that witnesses like former member of the National Security Council John Bolton and Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney be called and documents provided so that the American people are assured of a fair trial. It doesn’t hurt that Cornyn is up for re-election and that Texas has become more competitive since Trump became president so our senator is likely to consider how his behavior is viewed by voters more than he might in other years. You can make your views known to Senator Cornyn by calling his San Antonio office at (210) 224-7485. While you’re at it take another moment to call our other senator, Ted Cruz, with a similar message, his office number is (210) 340-2885.

The next big event this year is the March 3^rd primary election where Democrats and Republicans will have the opportunity to choose their candidates for offices from president down to county commissioner. In Guadalupe County the only state offices with a Democratic primary are for seats on the Fourth Court of Appeal and there are no county offices being contested at all. There are 17 names on the Democratic presidential primary ballot though only 15 are running nationwide campaigns and of those only 8 seem to have any real chance of earning the right to run in the November general election. Those that appear to be competitive are Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Andrew Yang, Amy Klobuchar, Mike Bloomberg, Cory Booker, and Pete Buttigieg. Early voting in Texas starts February 18 so it’s not too early to start investigating who you’ll want to vote for if you haven’t already started or made up your mind.

The Democratic primary for U.S. Senate is also a hotly contested race with 12 candidates and deserves your close attention as well since Beto O’Rourke’s close loss in 2018 shows that Texas is truly a competitive state. There is a very real chance our primary winner could end up as our next U.S. Senator. Of the 12 only 5 appear to have garnered enough financial support to run professional campaigns statewide. M. J. Hegar, Chris Bell, Amanda Edwards, Royce West, and Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez have all visited in Guadalupe County or nearby. It’s time to do your research on them as well.

Tomorrow morning take 5 minutes and call our senators and let them know you expect them to serve our nation over their party, it’s important.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - January 1, 2020

Medicare For All Good For All

Last week’s column discussed the advantages of Medicare for All from the point of view of any individual, everyone would be covered with the same benefits regardless of what size business they work for and even if that employer shuts down or lays off workers. This week let’s review the advantages of Medicare for All to businesses and the entire economy.

Did you know that General Motors spends more per car on health insurance than it does on the steel in the car? Not so for Japanese and Korean car makers since the employer doesn’t provide health insurance, it comes from their respective federal governments via Medicare for All type programs. That saves them a couple of thousand dollars right off the top.

When unions, even those few in Texas, negotiate with employers the issue they all have in common is health insurance and it is often the issue that is hardest to resolve. Just a few years ago the City of San Antonio was in a protracted and fraught contract fight with the Firefighters Union and the biggest issue was health insurance.

When a young couple with a child or two is considering whether or not to strike out on their own and start a business one of the biggest stumbling blocks is health insurance and maintaining it in the face of both a slow start for the business and the potential failure of it. What modestly successful person is willing to risk the health and lives of their family when also taking the big financial risk of starting their own business? No other developed country so dampens the entrepreneurial spirit as does the United States.

As the prices of drugs and medical care in general continue to soar upward every employer that offers health insurance does their best to minimize the cost while providing the level of coverage necessary to retain their employees. One of the ways to do that for employers large enough to handle it is to become the insurer themselves. Schertz/Cibolo/Universal City ISD did this a few years ago and it has proven successful at restraining cost growth such that while the district isn’t paying any less than before the teachers and staff aren’t paying any more in premiums, deductibles, and co-pays than they were a couple of years ago. Compared to what all parties would be paying if SCUC ISD still used a third party insurance company they’ve generated real savings by cutting out the middleman.

SCUC ISD contracts out for administration of their health plan, that’s the part that involves paying claims by health care providers. It also pays a premium to a re-insurance company in case of a bad health year or several employees contracting catastrophic illnesses like cancer, yet it is still a government agency providing health insurance on its own. That’s a small step, taken by many others, toward government health insurance that shows it is viable here in the United States.

There is plenty of evidence that shows that children, aka future employees, who receive adequate health care from conception to adulthood grow up to be both healthier and more productive workers. The Medicare for All plans proposed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren address of the issues I’ve written about this week and last. There are no disadvantages to Medicare for All unless you think that wealthy people automatically deserve good health care and poor kids don’t.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 11, 2019

Medicare For All Tough To Beat

Every now and again I run into a Democrat who says they support healthcare reform but not the Medicare for All plans promoted by Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. When asked why, they say they have a good plan through their employer and don’t want to give it up, that they support a “public option” where everyone has the choice to buy into Medicare. What those folks fail to realize is that while the plan they have now may be very good, Medicare for All is also much more that traditional Medicare and is actually better than most commercial plans.

How many commercial plans out there have a total annual out of pocket of $200 and that is limited to prescription drugs? No co-pay or deductible to go to the doctor with a sore throat and fever. No co-pay or deductible to take your child to the doctor for a broken arm. No co-pay or deductible for an emergency room visit for a heart attack or the intensive care unit, or surgery, or later rehabilitation. How many commercial plans cover the entire bill for all that? I know mine sure doesn’t. My colonoscopy last month was $1400 out of pocket. I haven’t gotten the bill from the anesthesiologist or the pathology lab where the biopsies were done yet. Hopefully I won’t meet my $6000 deductible for the year.

Just like current Medicare any doctor or service provider, like physical therapists, licensed or certified in Texas can apply and be accepted. Unlike traditional Medicare, the Medicare for All plan proposed by Bernie Sanders also includes dental care, hearing aids and exams, as well as vision benefits. Bernie’s plan also pays for home and community based long-term care and services, think home health aide visits to the elderly at home, or nursing homes for those in need of constant monitoring.

Just as important, while the plan people have through their employer might be just as good as Medicare for All, what happens when that employer moves to another city or state like AT&T did when it moved its headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas some years ago forcing people to find another job if they didn’t want to move? What happens if the industry they’re in or the overall economy turns down and the employer lays them off? What happens if they become too sick to work, perhaps due to cancer or other debilitating illness? The answer is that formerly great insurance is no longer available, they might have access via COBRA for a while but the premium will be sky high and if they’re not working how will they pay that outrageous premium?

45 percent of Americans are worried a major illness could leave them bankrupt, 1 out of 4 Americans skipped needed medical care because they could not afford it, and 77 percent are concerned rising health costs will cause significant and lasting damage to our economy. With these awful statistics it’s laughable that Medicare for All skeptics most common complaint is “how will we pay for it?” First let’s recognize that we’re paying more now for less. Elizabeth Warren pays for her plan by raising taxes on billionaires by adding a tax of 6 percent on net wealth above $1 billion, repealing Trump's tax give away to the rich, and treating long-term capital gains like regular income. In addition her plan calls for restoring funding for the Internal Revenue Service so it can go back to auditing the rich they way it did 20 years ago which is expected to recover $230 billion a year.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 4, 2019

New Gilded Age or New Era

The period from the end of the Civil War in 1865 until just after the turn of the century is known as the Gilded Age, it is the time of big railroads, big banks, and big steel. Men like J.P. Morgan and Andrew Mellon made themselves wealthy by monopolizing trade and corrupting government then built grandiose homes and earned the appellation robber baron. Economic inequality reached historic levels and children starved while Morgan and Mellon decided where to build their next 75 room mansions. Teddy Roosevelt earned a reputation as a trust buster through his efforts to curb the most egregious excesses of such men. Roosevelt didn’t attack all trusts or monopolies, only those he felt took excess profits and failed to provide good, efficient services or high quality products. While his public face was that of a protector of the common man he was very much a supporter of capitalism who believed that strong government provided necessary balance. Economic inequality continued to increase through the Roaring 20’s proving that Teddy Roosevelt didn’t go far enough.

Just two decades after Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency the national economy took a nose dive into what became known as the Great Depression. It took reformers like Teddy’s nephew Franklin Delano-Roosevelt and his vice-president, Texan John Nance Garner, to push back against the avarice of the robber barons’ successors and set the stage for the rapid growth in the middle class after the end of World War II. Roosevelt and Garner were forced to compromise with southern Democrats and withhold some of the protections and benefits from domestic help and farm workers, who were often minorities, in order to pass their legislation. Those left out were unable to fully enjoy the benefits of the vibrant economy.

Two decades later another reformer was needed and Texan Lyndon Johnson took up the banner to expand those benefits to the grandsons and grand-daughters of slaves and other minorities. Like all reformers before him he also had to be pushed by those who suffered under the existing system and he had to accept compromises in order to move forward.

While each of these great reformers efforts were necessary they have never been enough and soon after LBJ left office the legislation and regulations that protected the middle class were weakened or reversed. It has been 50 years since LBJ and once again economic inequality has reached record levels with just three men holding as much wealth as the bottom 50% of Americans combined.

In 2020 we have an opportunity to elect a reformer who will turn back the tide of avarice that threatens the fabric of our society and prevent another Gilded Age or Great Depression. I hope you watched the two nights of Democratic presidential candidate debates and recognized that some of them will move us forward while others just offer the status quo. Sanders, Warren, Harris and a few others offer a chance to restore balance to our economy. Biden, Hickenlooper and the rest would happily settle for scraps off the table of the new robber barons of Facebook, Amazon, and Apple.

Democrats Must Do Better Than Biden

I’m convinced that Donald Trump can be beaten in the 2020 election by several of the potential nominees. Recent polling even shows that Joe Biden can beat him here in Texas. Biden currently has the highest national ranking among Democrats who are running for the nomination. I’m just not sure he can actually win because this will be an election much like 2016 where turning out voters is more important that persuading so called swing voters and Biden isn’t that inspiring to the folks who too often don’t vote.

I don’t see him getting support from the people who we need to get to the polls in Texas in order to win a majority for president or possibly more importantly providing the coat tails to win the federal and state legislature. His support is primarily older voters who already turn out to vote in most elections. The people Democrats need in order to win the majority in the state and federal legislature are the young and minority voters. Many of those voters find Biden too middle of the road and his recent statements claiming that Republicans will work with him as well as telling business executives that not much will change just prove he’s not the change so many were looking for when they voted for Obama then Trump. That’s not to say Biden won’t get the nomination or even win in 2020 but if he does I worry he’ll end up with a Republican controlled Senate which will prevent him from achieving even slight reforms and that will lead to another Trump like president in 2024 as voters continue to look for change.

Even if Biden wins and gets to work with a majority in both houses of Congress his own statement that not much will change suggest his administration won’t provide the push to move forward on climate change, social justice, or any of the other reforms our nation so sorely needs. Yes, it would be more minority friendly, more LGBTQ friendly, less reactionary, and a better international partner but that won’t be enough for people who don’t see our government as responsive to their needs. It won’t be enough to inspire them to vote again in 2022 and 2024 and if they do vote it won’t keep them from turning to another charlatan selling snake oil in the hope that they’ll shake things up.

I’ll vote for whoever is the Democratic nominee in 2020 because none of the candidates can be worse than Trump or for that matter anyone who could possibly win the Republican nomination. I simply fear that having a “moderate” win our nomination and then the presidency invites disaster for the future of our nation. Next Wednesday and Thursday on NBC the public will have a chance to hear from twenty of the candidates and I hope that readers will take that opportunity to begin getting to know the candidates.

Wednesday, June 26, will start at 8pm and the candidates on stage will be: Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Rep. John Delaney, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Rep. Tim Ryan, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

The following night, Thursday June 27, also starting at 8pm, the lineup will be: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Kamala Harris, former Vice President Joe Biden, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Michael Bennet, author Marianne Williamson, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 21, 2019