Senator Kent Conrad appeared on Fox News and CSPAN this morning. He echoed Corporacrat Ben Nelson in calling for a very limited conference on health reform. Conrad called for the Senate bill to emerge largely intact from the House-Senate conference. This bill highly favors existing, private health insurance companies.
No longer can government leaders conduct a "make or buy" decision. Everything must be contracted to the private sector, with it's unceasing profit growth requirements. That leads us to Kent's second topic, budget reform. Conrad used the same logic for budget reform that he spouted on health reform.
One pillar is making America more competitive in a "global economy." This is a euphemism for the race to the lowest global common denominator on worker pay/benefits, regulation and taxes. The private sector hates paying taxes. Investment capital could flee to lower tax portions of the world economy. Goldman Sachs threatened to do just that in the United Kingdom.
Health reform is part of the race to the lowest global bar on worker benefits. Both CBO and CMS predict 17 million will lose employer sponsored health insurance under reform. That's after 26 million lose workplace coverage prior to 2011.
Kent Conrad serviced his for-profit healthcare corporate donors with no, as in zero, facilities in his state. I'm sure he can serve Wall Street and the moneyed class just as ably. Watch tax reform under a Conrad commission. Also keep an eye on health reform promises. A tapped out Uncle Sam might not live up to commitments made to the people. As employers and the government do less, who picks up the slack? That would be you, the individual.
No comments:
Post a Comment