The Wonkline: May 28, 2009
The Wonkline: May 28, 2009
Welcome to The WonkLine, a daily 10 a.m. roundup of the latest news about health care, the economy, national security and climate policy. This is what we’re reading. Tell us what you found in the comments section below, and subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, you can now follow The Wonk Room on Twitter.
Health Care
Responding to the economic recession, “some employees choose not to receive health treatment to save money on out-of-pocket costs, [but] large percentages of workers are trying to lose weight and live healthier lifestyles to improve their health bottom lines.”
A new study has finds that while “Massachusetts continued to measure gains in the share of residents who reported having a steady source of health care in 2008,” residents are having a hard time using that care, “with growing numbers saying they could not afford needed treatments and many reporting shortages of primary care physicians.”
Yesterday, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said that “an overhaul of the health care system won’t pass the U.S. House of Representatives unless it includes a government-financed insurance plan for consumers.”
Climate
The US Energy Information Administration said “global energy demand would leap 44 percent between 2006 and 2030, fueled by a 73-percent rise in demand from non-developed countries,” with carbon dioxide emissions reaching “40.4 billion metric tons by 2030, up from 29 billion in 2006.”
“Sea levels off the northeast coast of North America could rise by 12 to 20 inches more than other coastal areas if the Greenland glacier-melt continues to accelerate at its present pace,” researchers reported.
Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) and Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) repeat the $3,100 MIT tax lie as they scaremonger against the Waxman-Markey green economy legislation in their home districts, saying, “First, American families can’t afford this and second, American businesses can’t afford it.”
National Security
The New York Times reports that “one day after North Korea warned of a possible attack against the South, the United States and South Korea ordered their forces here to their highest alert for three years, increasing surveillance flights and satellite reconnaissance to counter what officials termed a ‘grave threat.’”
A day after a major attack in Lahore, “twin motorbike bombs ripped through crowded markets in northwest Pakistan’s Peshawar, killing five people and wounding 100 others on Thursday in the latest deadly attack in the city.”
Amnesty International says that the global economic crisis is negatively impacting human rights. “In its annual report, the group said the downturn had distracted attention from abuses and created new problems.”
Economy
USA Today reports that “states hit hardest by the recession received only a few of the government’s first stimulus contracts, even though the glut of new federal spending was meant to target places where the economic pain has been particularly severe.”
The Obama administration is considering creating “a single agency to regulate the banking industry, replacing a patchwork of agencies that failed to prevent banks from falling.”
“With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax.”
5 Responses to “The Wonkline: May 28, 2009”
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That financial regulation has a few holes. Private shadow bankers would be “supervised” by the Federal Reserve Bank, a private corporation. Privates supervising privates.
Hedge funds, private equity underwriters (PEU’s) and sovereign wealth funds (SWF’s) are notorious in keeping information private. The Fed frequently keeps information from Congress and the public.
I knew Obama favored the PEU boys. It could be seen in acts by Treasury and the FDIC. Pete Peterson’s Blackstone and David Rubenstein’s Carlyle Group got $4.9 billion in subsidy to buy BankUnited. BU will shift emphasis to commercial loans. Taxpayers helped the big money boys buy a captive bank.
As usual Obama says one thing, then does another.
May 28th, 2009 at 10:04 amEmployer sponsored health insurance is a regressive tax benefit. Thus, it needs to be removed.
VAT or National Sales Tax is highly regressive, thus it needs to finance health reform.
In other words, it has nothing to do with regressiveness. Employers no longer want to pay for the benefit and want to dump it on workers. Companies and the wealthy must come out better under a VAT.
Congress works for their corporate sponsors.
May 28th, 2009 at 10:07 amRangel’s “government financed insurance plan” sounds like a public-private partnership.
That would benefit Gail Wilensky (UnitedHealth(, Uncle Bucky Bush (WellPoint), Uwe Reinhardt (AmeriGroup), Susan Bayh (WellPoint), Carlyle Group’s MultiPlan and countless other members of the Government-Industrial Monstrosity.
Private for-profit health care crafts the plan. They win again!
May 28th, 2009 at 10:12 amProgressives might be interested in how President Obama is selling out banks to private equity underwriters (PEU’s). Those same PEU’s will participate in Geithner’s PPIP program.
http://peureport.blogspot.com/2009/05/purchase-accounting-impact-points-to.html
http://peureport.blogspot.com/2009/05/geithner-should-just-back-up-cash-truck.html
PEU’s will be on both sides of the PPIP trade. They will be subsidized by the FDIC on the sell side and by Geithner’s Treasury on the buy side. Despite all this access to government subsidy, they will not be subjected to TARP rules.
May 28th, 2009 at 12:53 pmIn this clip, via Newsy, Abraham Denmark, an East Asia expert, states: “Militarily the North Koreans – qualitatively – are very poor. Most of their equipment is very outdated… their soldiers are malnourished and not very well trained. But what they lack qualitatively, they make up for quantitatively. North Korea has over a million soldiers.”
North Korea is an impoverished, seemingly military-obsessed nation.
May 28th, 2009 at 2:54 pm