“Krugman’s View of President Obama’s First Year Sounds Reasonable.”

Professor Krugman stated that “The Obama administration’s troubles are the result not of excessive ambition, but of policy and political misjudgments. The stimulus was too small; policy toward the banks wasn’t tough enough; and Mr. Obama didn’t do what Ronald Reagan, who also faced a poor economy early in his administration, did — namely, shelter himself from criticism with a narrative that placed the blame on previous administrations.” -”What Didn’t Happen”, NY Op-Ed Column.

Prof. Krugman’s above statement sounds reasonable. Maybe it’s wise for the White House to incorporate his suggestions in modifying its policies & strategies. Pushing hard for health care reform and straigtening out the mistakes done in financial reform. Especially, although I don’t quite like blaming games, it seems to be “VERY” important to stress out “Who’s the Actual Cause of Current Economic and Job Crisis” and take that blame away from President. Regarding job situation, Prof. Krugman doesn’t seem to see any magic bullet at this point, as I haven’t seen any either (“US Job Situation: No Magic Bullet to Solve It; http://mikyunglim.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/us-job-situation-no-magic-bullet-to-solve-it/)

“What Didn’t Happen,” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/opinion/18krugman.html

“Will Revoking Insurance Industry’s Exemption from Antitrust Laws Be a Good Alternative to “ Public Plan” to Increase Competition?”

How savvy senior House Democrats are? Today’s news is, senior House Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are asking to revoke the health insurance industry’s exemption from the federal antitrust laws in the House-senate compromise bill. House Democrats also demand to include a “Nationwide Insurance Exchange” in the final bill, which is regulated by the federal government and enables consumers to shop for private coverage. The combination of these measures in the final bill will definitely introduce competition in health insurance market and alleviate this country and consumers’ pain from the industry’s oligopoly (competition among a few big companies) or monopoly (market domination by one big company without competition) market structure that has killed competition and driven this country’s health care costs and insurance premiums to unprecedented, unaffordable levels. However, the effectiveness of having these measures in reducing health care costs and insurance premium will be probably less than the one that can be achieved by “Public Plan.” Because, under public plan, the government can set the market standards that can drive health care costs and premiums to the lowest levels and make insurance companies offer similar insurance options to the public in order to survive competition from public plan and maintain consumer base for their business.

The best option we could dream of would be either “Public Option” or “Medicare for All.” However, if the current endlessly-arm-twisting political games had indicated that “Public Plan” or the other are not viable options under the current chronic spell of special interest politics, at least including these measures of stripping the insurance industry of exemption from antitrust laws and “federally-regulated nationwide insurance exchange” will eliminate oligopoly or monopoly structure of the industry, break down insurance giants into smaller-scale-companies and reinstate certain level of market competition among smaller insurance companies. If the challenges that “Public Plan” had faced were insurmountable, this alternative bill may be at least a viable second-best option to introduce competition in insurance market.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100109/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul

Another Example of Special Interest Politics: Dr. Peter Dreier’s “Waffling Democrats’ Health Care Hypocrisy”.

As we are waiting for the final bloody battle of health care reform, the final stage of compromising between the “House” and senate bills, I wish you (if you hadn’t read it yet) to read Professor Dreier’s blog “Waffling Democrats’ Health Care Hypocrisy.” Dr. Dreier educates us on how “Bribed” Senators Joe Lieberman, Max Baucus, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln and Kent Conrad discriminate the US public against military service men and veterans. These senators supported to provide “Public Plan” to military service men and veterans in the name of Veterans Administration (VA), but fight hard against providing the same “Public Plan” to us “the Public”? Why, on earth, do they have this right of discriminating the US population based on whether they are in military uniform or not?

Apparently, the existing “Public Plan”, the VA, has proved to become the most efficient, best functioning “Public Plan” over any other options in US history. If this had been the case, why these Senators keep denying, attacking the “Public Plan”? Taking “Ethics/Moral” Classes and Tests should be the prerequisites to become US senator. I wish, President Obama recovers well from his extreme tiredness of first year of presidency in Hawaii and gets into his best shape to get ready for the final battle ground of health care reform. He has listened to and respected everybody else’s opinions well up to now. This is the best and last chance for him to push himself, his own determination onto everybody else on the health care reform. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/waffling-democrats-health_b_376578.html

This is also a good example of my previous blog, “A Nation of “Two Heads”: The Government vs. The Multi-Headed Medusa of Powerful Industries.”

http://mikyunglim.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/a-nation-of-%e2%80%9ctwo-heads%e2%80%9d-the-government-vs-the-multi-headed-medusa-of-powerful-industries/

“The Republican Way: Keeping Everything The Way It Is”

In his blog post, “The Republican Way: Keeping Everything The Way It Is,” actor Alec Baldwin educates the public on the real issues behind closed-door US politics, policy shaping, and wars. He exposes “what actually determined US engagement in war in Iraq” – “OIL” interest; “why US insurance companies don’t want reform” – “to maintain monopoly power.”

Mr. Baldwin’s blog reminds me of a story I heard from an old gentleman who used to work as a war film maker long time ago. He said the same thing as Mr. Baldwin. It was “OIL” interest that caused US to engage in wars including Vietnamese War. He said he was in Iraq and Vietnam during wars to make films. It was Vietnam War during which he visited the US military headquater located in Vietnam. He told me how he was puzzled and upset to see the inside of the headquater. The inside was covered with the map of oil pipes that were located throughout and around the Vietnam. The US military was using the map of Vietnamese oil pipes as the base of shaping its military strategies during the war. This may be one of hidden stories that individuals witnessed but seldom had chances to talk to public. As a relatively ignorant person regarding wars, I wish my memory doesn’t betray me in remembering this story.

Mr. Baldwin’s blog, I believe, is an exposure of true political issues and a good example of my previous blog post, A Nation of “Two Heads”: The Government vs. The Multi-Headed Medusa of Powerful Industries.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alec-baldwin/the-republican-way-keepin_b_369123.html

My Cure to “The Senate Health Care Bill: Leave No Special Interest Behind”

I read repeatedly strong interference of special interest politics in shaping the recent Senate health care reform bill as well as financial sector reform. Ms. Arianna Huffington at Huffinton Post reported that 13 former congressmen and 166 congressional staffers were actively engaged in lobbying their former colleagues on the health care reform bill.

To prevent corruption and the manipulation of industrial special interest politics in shaping US government policies, I wonder whether it is necessary to introduce a law that bans congressmen and congressional staffers from working as lobbiests for industries of special interests or industries that represent “Conflicts of Interests,” after these people finish their congressional terms or quitting their positions in Congress. Also when people are hired for these positions, they should be required to sign a contract that prevents them from working for special interests after they finish their congressional terms or quit their jobs in Capital Hill.

Update: According to a commenter (nickname Bernique) who replied to my comment at the Huffington Post, there was actually a law that, as I proposed above, banned congressmen or congressional staffers from working for special interests after leaving their public posts. According to him, Congress changed this law after the right-wing election of 1996.

Now, what we need is to “REINSTATE” this law again if we want to establish “Sanity” in Capital Hill, chnage the course of this country into self-destruction and bring it back to “One-Headed Nation by the President/Government.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Jim Campbell, Maine Republican, Leaves Party Over ‘Failure To Address’ Health Care

There is a decent person among politicians, who is fed up with the obstruction done on the process of health care refom.

This person is Jim Campbell, Maine Republican. He left GOP, saying that “I hope to send a message to the Republican Party – and the Democratic Party – that enough is enough; it is time to stop blocking progress in the hope of partisan gain.”

It’s great to see that there is someone out there with this kind of courage and principle.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/18/jim-campbell-maine-republ_n_397403.html

National Need to Shift Media Focus from Mr. Obama to Special Interest Politics.

We have witnessed the amazing turnarounds of health care and financial reforms and the hurricane of public criticism and defending of what Mr. Obama has done right or wrong. What I sense is, the public and media are focusing on a wrong subject. Mr. Obama is not the cause of the current crisis but one of witnesses who happens to be in charge of dealing with it. He’s reactions are simply “Reactions” to the Actions of the Causes, not the cause himself.

What I believe is, there “Must” be the shift of “Public, Media Focus”

From “What Mr. Obama is “Doing Wrong”

To “How Powerful, Insurmountable Industries’ Special Interest Politics have been and ruined this country, and the National Need for increased “Media Investigation, Analyses, and Exposure of Their Dirty Tactics to Politically Win, Their Misconducts Against the Welfare of People, and Their Linkage / Contracts to those a few Democratic Dissidents or GOP Politicians against major reform bills.

I believe, it is essential to “focus on and dismantle the “Real Causes” of current Crisis, rather than being obsessed with criticizing what Mr. Obama is doing in response to the current political situations dictated by the “Hypnotizing Spell” of Special Interests.

Leaving the causes of disease (Industrial Special Interests Politics) free while only barking at the side-symptom (Mr. Obama’s Reaction-Politics) alone works for nothing. There should be a “Serious Shift of  Media, Public Attention.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-heilbrunn/please-cut-obama-some-sla_b_395819.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/derek-shearer/obamas-first-year-a-nobel_b_387964.html

US Job Situation: No Magic Bullet to Solve It.

Regarding current “ job situation” or high unemployment rate, I don’t believe that there is any magic bullet to quickly solve it. In many senses, job recovery can be pretty much independent from how much the public outcries for the administration’s mistakes or incompetence in solving this problem.

Current bad job situation is the outcome of this country’s industrial and political structural misfits and the crash of bubble economy after being buoyed by the financial sector’s reckless gamblings. In this country, everybody cares only for themselves and demand that the rest of country, people should sacrifice for their benefits. There seems to be no common goals, collective wisdom, or cooperation among individuals or different entities. The finacial industry, health care industry, labor union, and many social sectors have been out of sync, manipulating government policies and social structure in their favor, demanding to protect and maximize only their rights, benefits, and profits withouth considering, accepting the reality, often at the huge sacrifices of the rest of the economy and industrial competitiveness. The current recession and job losses are just the simple outcome, side effect of this social,  structural failure of this country and an event that happened to accelerate the gradual process of winding down this economy within a short time.

Most manufacturing industries with high labor components have been destined to either disappear from this country or hugely downsize, which have been predicted from long time ago. This process will continue regardless of whether the public likes it or not. Computerization, modernization and automation of human labor parts in industries / manufacturing processes have been expected to eliminate physical jobs and replace human labor with computers, robotics, or machines. In grocery stores, we have seen human cashiers at checkout desks to be increasingly replaced by self-checkout desks and scanners. We are talking about mess in health care industry’s administration and the need to computerize the administrative work to reduce the industry’s operating costs.

This country was expected to rely on high tech industries, financial industry, and retailing and service industries to provide enough jobs that people need to survive. But nobody knows how many new jobs these so-called newage industries will be able to create in contrast to disappearing manufacturing jobs in this country. The whole social system has been structured to hugely disadvantage US manufacturing: high labor costs (symptom of rich country), high health insurance/medical costs (both of which put the operating costs of US manufacturing at huge disadvantage) and often incompetitive marketing capability of US industries despite the existence of worldwide renown business schools in this country.

From NPR, I heard that many disappeared jobs from the financial sector would not come back even after recovery. Nobody is able to fundamentally solve this problem and just kind of waiting for time to solve this problem.

Once Prof. Krugman suggested to reduce US working hours from current 40 hours to less, to make more people share existing jobs and reduce unemployment rate. This suggestion is actually what Germany (which has similar problem as US in creating enough jobs) has relied on to make more people work as job supply in that country has not been enough to meet job demand over time.

A Nation of “Two Heads”: The Government vs. The Multi-Headed Medusa of Powerful Industries

As we have witnessed the endless twists of health care and financial reforms this year, my impression on this country’s politics is, this country is not “One-Headed.”

The United States of America is more like a nation of “Two Heads”: the “Government” and the “Industrial Medusa” that consists of many small heads of powerful industries and their bands of lobbyists, including financial, pharmaceutical, health care, oil industries. The Government has the role of policing the nation; the Industrial Medusa manipulates the Government, media, and the public to set the social structure in their favor, in ways to minimize the nation’s regulations on them and maximize their money earning, profits at any costs, even at the destruction of their country and economy which nurture, feed them with money.

Over the last decades, it has been this “Industrial Medusa” that has won the game with the Government by manipulating, bribing, dominating it to structure this country’s social, economic structure best for their benefits. Taking undeserved money from the public through malicious business practices means that the public is losing money and becoming poorer. Loose or few government regulations on this Industrial Medusa has caused the misallocation of money resources in this society that has been drained from middle and poor classes’ pocket money for living necessities and poured into industrial riches’ pockets to support their unprecedented luxurious lifestyle. The outcomes of Industrial Medusa’s social misconducts have been not only the current short/mid-term recession but also disappearing middle class, deepening poverty of low-income class, and the weakening US industrial structure and competitiveness in world markets. This is exactly what has happened in this country and will continue so if the Obama administration’s reform efforts fail in vain.

Now, there is this fierce battle (and sometimes compromising) game of obtaining the dominance between President Obama/Government (which have been scarred by the endless dissonance and betrayal among their own folks, Democrats) and the Industrial Medusa. It has never been this close for the Government to take this dominance from the Medusa. Despite many current problems and flaws, the nation should remember that it has been only the current President who came this close to the reversal of chronically ill-designed US power game. Productive, healthy criticism will help the Government win the battle. But, just criticizing for the sake of criticizing will unnerve, deprive the energy and passion out of the President /Government and empower, help the Industrial Medusa win the game and maintain their dominance in US politics again. We should understand that the current troubles with financial and health care reforms are rather the indication of how tough, powerful the industries’ influence on US politics than the weakness, flaws of the President’s political skills and unfolding policy agendas. Politics, as usual, is a complicate game.

Below are the blogs of how these industrial interests are twisting the current reforms.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/waffling-democrats-health_b_376578.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/how-a-few-private-health_b_388788.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/11/house-passes-financial-re_n_389267.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/11/pharma-deal-shuts-down-se_n_388895.html

The Ersatz Public Option

It appears that there should be systematic ways of (a) disconnecting the linkage b/ corporates and politicians and (b) blocking corporates’ clouding of media, public information. In the same was as politics and religion should be seperated.
A few portion of citizen (I would say, more like uncivilized, piggified residents) yielding money power to dominate a country’s politics in their favor and exploiting the rest of citizens’ quality of living doesn’t seem to be the kind of politics that anybody in thrid world countries would expect to see in this presumably world’s number one super power country of economy and civilization. The elected congressmen who were voted by people going against their constituents’ welfare because of their personal benefits. And the public who’s opinions constantly blind-sightedly being swayed in multiple directions whenever the wind change it’s direction. It almost looks like a “Banana Republic.”
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost