If things are so good in the US why are they so bad.

By Ted Belman

I have been having a discussion with a leftist who is concerned with the poor and disadvanged. I argued that the Left wants to “feed” the poor and that the Right wants them to learn to feed themselves.

She replied,

    As for the US, the right doesn’t focus on how to get the poor on their feet, to the contrary they don’t focus on the poor at all. The poor do much better in Canada with healthcare for all and access to low-cost education than they do in the US where they haven’t a hope in hell of good schooling. According to numerous studies, is far easier for someone to get out of the cycle of poverty and move up the social order in Europe and Canada then in the US. In the US, if you are born poor, you stay poor.

She is blaming the US making no distinction between the Left and the Right or the Republicans or the Democrats.

Is she right?

Report Shows Stagnant Upward Mobility in U.S.

    Add it to the other depressing economic news: upward mobility has remained stagnant in the past two decades. 

    A new report by Pew’s Economic Mobility Project broke individuals up into five income brackets or quintiles and found that of those in the lowest bracket, half were still likely to be there 10 years later. It’s a trend that held true for a group studied from 1984 to 1994 and reiterated itself in a group studied from 1994 to 2004.

Healthcare Costs and U.S. Competitiveness

    Introduction 

    According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States spends two-and-a-half times more than the OECD average, and yet ranks with Turkey and Mexico as the only OECD countries without universal health coverage. Some analysts say an increasing number of U.S. businesses are less competitive globally because of ballooning healthcare costs. U.S. economic woes have heightened the burden of healthcare costs both on individuals and businesses. The U.S. healthcare reform law signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, includes measures aimed at making healthcare less expensive and more accessible, including upgrades to government-run Medicare and Medicaid. Still, reforming healthcare has proved politically divisive, especially over the option to expand social medicine, as well as new mandates on employers and individuals. Whether these reforms will reduce the healthcare-cost burden on U.S. industry remains under debate.

    Competitive Disadvantage

    The United States spent more than 17 percent of its GDP in 2009 on healthcare, higher than any other developed nation. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that number will rise to 25 percent by 2025 without changes to federal law (PDF). Employer-funded coverage is the structural mainstay of the U.S. health insurance system. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 71 percent of private employees in the United States had access to employer-sponsored health plans in 2006. A November 2008 Kaiser Foundation report says access to employer-sponsored health insurance has been on the decline (PDF) among low-income workers, and health premiums for workers have risen 114 percent in the last decade (PDF). A March 2010 report by Thomson Reuters, a business intelligence service, found that employers’ healthcare costs rose 7.3 percent in 2009 (PDF) compared with 4.8 percent in overall U.S. health spending that year. Small businesses are less likely than large employers to be able to provide health insurance as a benefit. At 12 percent, healthcare is the most expensive benefit paid by U.S. employers, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

I haven’t been able to find an article that critqued the US education system. But I know it attracts and lot of criticism and all kinds of ideas as to how to improve it.

Let us assume that things are as bad as she says. It would appear to me that neither the Democrats or the Republicans have been able or willing to make a difference. Is this fair.

Having a universal healthcare system seems to the standard all over the world. So why is a majority of Americans against Obamacare? Is it a bad law. Is there a better universal health care law out there. Or are the Republicans right that competition is the way to go. But the Republicans don’t talk of universal coverage, private or otherwise. What happens to people who have no insurance?

Hopefully some of my readers can povide some answers.

While we make the assumption that the Democrats are good for the poor, I read many articles about how bad they have been for the blacks. Are they all talk and no action. Or are their solutions not solutions at all. Are the Republicans any better.

June 11, 2011 | 62 Comments »

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12 Comments / 62 Comments

  1. Laura

    The America I grew up in does not exist any longer and what was will never be again. Two of my relations are planning to return to Israel of
    after living in America for over 20 years. They are not related to ea. other and don’t know ea. other. Both are highly successful one is a partner in a wall st. PR firm and the other is a CPA with big name clients and offices all over the US.

    A sign of the Times?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4WOYMWp29g&feature=player_embedded
    More signs!

  3. 12 More Signs That Society Is Collapsing

    Earlier this year, McDonald’s held a “National Hiring Day” and a million Americans showed up to apply for jobs. Only 62,000 of them were hired. That means only 6.2% of the applicants got jobs. So what are we supposed to tell the 93.8% that didn’t get hired? Are they supposed to have any hope for the future when they can’t even get a minimum wage job at McDonald’s? When I was a teenager, I went over to McDonald’s one day, filled out an application and was instantly hired. My, how things have changed. Now we have millions upon millions of young people that are staring directly into a very bleak future. The level of frustration in this country is rising to frightening levels and large numbers of people are already showing that they will stoop to anything in order to survive.

    Read more

  4. The Coming Economic Hell For American Families

    Since the financial collapse of 2008, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government have taken unprecedented steps to stimulate the economy. But even with all of those efforts, we are still living in an economic wasteland.

    So what is going to happen when the next wave of the economic crisis hits?

    During one recent interview, Peter Schiff made the following statement….

    If you look at the economic relapse that’s going on right now, look at Friday’s abysmal job numbers, look at the housing numbers, understand that all of this is taking place with record monetary and fiscal stimulus. What happens if we remove those supports?

    At the end of June, the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program is slated to end.

    Read More

  5. Will The Banksters And The Corpocracy Eventually Own It All? 29 Statistics About Extreme Income Inequality In America That Will Blow Your Mind

    If you are a “Kool-Aid drinking Democrat” you are going to be really upset by this article. If you are a “Kool-Aid drinking Republican” you are going to be really upset by this article.

    Most Republicans have been brainwashed into believing that “capitalism” means cheerleading while the big corporations hoover up money and power.

    Most Democrats have no trouble with big corporations either because most establishment Democrats have been brainwashed into believing that large concentrations of power (whether governmental or corporate) are generally good. Most Democrats just wish that big corporations were a little less greedy and were a little more “socially responsible”.

    Today, the big banks, the big corporations and the federal government are all in bed with one another and it is average Americans that always lose out.

    Our founding fathers tried to warn us about large concentrations of power. They attempted to establish a very limited central government, they wanted to keep us free from the tyranny of the big banks and they were very suspicious of large corporations.

    Read More

  6. Suddenly Everyone Is Warning About The Next Financial Collapse Read More

    Global Financial Markets Tremble As Bad Economic News Continues To Pour In

    As the U.S. economy starts to slow down once again, global financial markets are beginning to tremble. Over the past couple of weeks, all kinds of bad economic news has been pouring in. The ADP jobs report was a “disaster”, the housing numbers are dismal, manufacturing has slowed way down and consumer confidence is dropping like a rock. The Democrats and the Republicans are bickering over the debt ceiling and this is causing a lot of uncertainty as well. All of this bad news is starting to spook investors. On Wednesday, the Dow was down 279 points and the NASDAQ was down 65 points. It was the worst day of the year for the Dow, and many are wondering what is going to happen next if we see even more bad economic data. QE2 is slated to end at the end of the month, and already the bond markets seem to be anticipating QE3. If the U.S. economy enters another significant downturn during the second half of 2011, it seems quite likely that the Federal Reserve would attempt to do something to stimulate the economy and that would probably mean more money printing.

    Read More

  7. The Sky Is Falling, It Is Time To Panic And The U.S. Economy Has Fallen And It Can’t Get Up

    Now it looks like the economy is going to starting heading downhill once again.

    What is that going to do to the job market?

    Last year, only 45.4% of Americans had jobs. That was the lowest figure since 1983.

    In some states it was even worse than that. In states like California, Arizona and Mississippi only about 37 percent of people had a job last year.

    The economic news just seems to get worse and worse and worse. The American people have been relatively calm over the past several years as they have waited for the promised “economic recovery”, but what do you think is going to happen if we have another major economic downturn and unemployment spikes back up by several more percentage points?

    And what in the world can our “leaders” really do to “help” the economy if we do have a repeat of 2008?

    We are already running trillion dollar deficits.

    The Federal Reserve is already printing money like it is going out of style.

    So what would their next moves be?

    Most Americans have no idea how fragile our financial system and our economy really are.

    Let us hope and pray that things can hold together for as long as possible, because when the next wave of the economic collapse happens it is going to be really, really messy.

    Read More

  8. Laura let me make this clear, u have proven nothing to me, just cause u say i am wrong doesnt mean i am wrong i shake the dust off my feet, also i am very pro Israel pro Jewish i hate terrorism period so dont even start with me and question my views on Israel and the Jewish people, ur right this conversation is over cause i dont believe in talking to people that are hardheaded

  9. Already America has more prison inmates than all of the industrial world put together.

    If those people did not commit crimes, would they be in prison?

    i know what poverty is, and i am not backing off on my opinions PEROID

    So then you disagree with the assertion that “if everybody in North America experiences a tenfold increase in wealth over the next 30 days, the number of people living below the poverty line won’t change one iota“.

  11. I don’t care if you back off your opinions Clinton, but I’m not going to back down in telling you that your opinions are wrong. Socialism has been a PROVEN failure and those still promoting it do so against reason and logic and historical precedent.

    Aaron Y, American Jews are also highly educated as well as successful. If Russia was so great for Jews, why did so many flee to Israel and many to America? I know that Jews along with others were in gulags under that wonderful system. I also know that America has the largest Jewish population in the world other than Israel. There’s a good reason for that just as there is a good reason millions of Jews fled Europe and I’m certainly grateful my ancestors fled Europe for America. I consider this the end of this conversation

  12. dan friedman says:
    June 13, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    The communist revolution came and went, why revive it now?.

    New College grads are not finding jobs (50%), most are saddled with large student loans.

    Real unemployment close to 20% and even higher in the inner-cities.

    mllion have lost their homes. Prices of homes today is below 2002 levels and continuing to fall.

    real inflation is close to 10% and climbing. The dollar has lost it’s value since Obama by 12% in the last year. Part of the rise in commodities and oil is the debased dollar.

    America is always slow to react to social and economic stimuli. The rioting today in Europe will come sooner or later to America. Young people communicate over the Net. America could find itself in a sort of violent revolution led by young people who have lost hope for the future.

    This will be the American Haves seeking to protect their wealth against violent disillusioned youth. Something like the 60’s but potentially more violent and sustained. This won’t be a reprise of the Marxist Revolution it will be pure anarchy.