HARRY AND LOUISE

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT (2008) 5/12

HEALY/ 60

If you can remember like I do, Harry and Louise were two mythical people married to each other and pleasantly white and middle class. They were concerned about Bill Clinton’s health plan.

Alas, the ad was pure genius and it killed the health plan and many of the legislators who supported it were voted out of office. The Republican Party took over Congress under Newt Gingrich. The medical community was also given the go ahead to create the most expensive health care system in the world and get lousy results. The USA ranks 37th in

medical outcomes that are measured by the United Nations.

Drugs cost dramatically increase\ed and health co-payments and deductibles increased.

Medical costs are 3 trillion and to run the government it is 2 trillion. Between 2001-2005

health care went up 30% and income went up 3%. Big Pharma not only grew in profits, but they started cheating on their research with phony studies of meta-analysis and vanity journals that would published the garbage because the journals were indirectly

owned by the pharmaceutical companies.

Now, not only in real numbers are there more uninsured, but those that have insurance, pay more and more and more with increased co-payments. At the time, it also illustrated that Hillary Clinton was not able to compromise. She is now.

15 years later, the presumptive Republican nominee will offer a $5,000 tax deduction to buy your own plan. And, at the time of this writing, the two Democratic presidential

candidates have some universal coverage. They all have choices within the plans and how much risk that you want to take. There is also a sunshine plan within them so that lousy medical doctors are known to consumers.

The Republican plan does not have the shared risk nor does it have the fact that the insurance company can exclude you if you have a pre-existing condition.

The feds organize it and you choose your own medical doctor.

THE NEW NEW WORLD ORDER

Review of the POST AMERICAN WORLD by Fareed Zakaria. By Reed/ 80

In BUSINESS WEEK (2008) 5/19

What went wrong? When the old U.S.S. R. collapsed, the administration taking office in 2000 felt invincible. With the use of hard neo-consevative, fundamental capitalist principles it got itself involved in 2 wars and numerous tax cuts to the rich. In 7 short years, the USA is one of the largest debtors in the world. The dollar continues to fall and

consumers find a growing stagflation at home.

The world now looks to China and India. Globalization helped bankers and the wealthy but left most folks behind. For every 3 good jobs that leave the USA it creates 2 minimum wage service jobs and one highly professional one. The world is copying us, but keeping their powder dry. The USA has the nuclear warheads, but weaker nations can dump their dollars in the world spot market and we can go into a severe recession.

The author is the editor of the INTERNATIONAL NEWSWEEK.

TIME (2008) 5/19 40-45

FORGETTING IS THE NEW NORMAL.

Folks are living long enough so that they can now struggle with their memory. The two best things to do are memory games and exercise. There may be meds in the future, but the ones now on the market can be harmful to your health.

THE WEEK (2008) 5/16

11/ Polygamy have been around for a long time. There have been a few societies where the female has more than one husband, but it is quite the other way in most societies. Mom shares her husband with many other wives and many males do not have a wife, because the rich males have the most. In the Bible, some of the major religious figures had a number of wives. Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints have a number of wives as do some
Muslims. So what happens? The rich male can have sex every night. Other sons that are born without money must leave and try to make it on their own. Little girls copulate with old men. So in effect little boys are thrown out and little are girls are forced into sex and early motherhood. Many men remain celibate or go to brothels.

38/ the creator of LSD died. So did the young black lady who married a white man and the marriage was taken to the Supreme Court. The last German officer to try to kill Adolph Hitler also died.

44/ A literature professor say you can read too much. She cites many examples of fiction that idealized the world. Could there be a happy medium? You can also read

non-fiction and learn something about something else. You can also after awhile come to see the biases in everything including the things that I write.