Excerptcize

Archive for the ‘US Politics’ Category

Last week I noted some ways that healthcare reform in the States could adversely effect Canada. While that possibility is there, the potential to benefit Canada, indirectly, is there as well. Reform in the US takes a two-pronged approach; extending coverage, which has received the bulk of attention abroad for it’s moral implications, and controlling costs, which, while not being ‘sexy’, is a measure that does have some potential relevance for Canada and other countries.

Medical advancements, like other technological innovations, are not zero-sum propositions; pharmaceuticals that were first researched and developed in the States now benefit people around the world. When it is shown that a 50% reduction in surgical mortality rates and a 36% decline in complications can be attained by following a basic checklist, those checklists can be implemented at a larger scale. The same goes for improvements in cost effectiveness.

Just as I imagine that in the long run cost effectiveness measures developed in the US will be a boon to other countries, the US will also hope to be the benefactor of efficiencies gained elsewhere. As Ezra Klein noted:

Even if the bill does a better job than CBO projects, health-care costs will still bankrupt us. This is one small step for cost, one giant leap for coverage. My great hope is that the bill makes thenext steps easier. But there’s still no guarantee we’ll take them.

The same can be said about Canada, and really any industrial country. This graph from the Parliamentary Budget Officers recent Fiscal Sustainability Report features a pretty scary forecast for our future federal debt:

Not all of that sharp upwards climb will be due to increases  in healthcare expenditures, but a lot of it is. The first members of the baby boomer generation are turning 65 this year; couple that with an ever rising life expectancy and you have a perfect formula for endlessly escalating healthcare outlays. For my part, I am an optimist that these are problems that can be solved, and having the US as part of “the club of states who don’t turn their back on the sick and the poor” is a necessary part of the puzzle.

• Danny Williams: Not Hiking The Appalachian Trail I'm sure that I am not the only one, who upon hearing that Danny Williams exact location in the US was unknown, thought to themselves 'Uh oh! Sex scandal!' It turns out though, that the...
• Oh Yeah, That Whole Senate Thing [/caption] In my haste to post on the prorogation of parliament, I completely forgot to mention one of the more tangible reasons for Mr. Harper to do so; Senate appointments. As I understand it, (mostly...

• Terms Use In Google Adsense And Its Meaning There are many terms used in an ad network some of which you should know what is stand for and its meaning. CPC It stands...
• Health Care Reform Bills As you might have known, America is now divided and in chaos about the government proposed health care reform bills. Government and government supporters say...

Amidst my general happiness for our American friends in joining the rest of the western world in providing access to health insurance for all of it’s citizens, there are a few aspects of this story concerning Canada that I want to take a look at. Yesterday I heard from a few people that while they too were happy for the American people, they didn’t really care as it would have no effect on them. There’s a few reasons why this is not true, but what immediately jumps out to my mind is the twofold effects of ‘brain drain’.

First, new provisions in the law will allow over 30 million people to gain access to health insurance/care for the first time. Hospitals are going to be adding doctors and nurses to their staffs, and Canada is, and will continue to be a fertile recruiting ground to fill those spots.

Compounding this is the new ability for those who are self-employed to purchase insurance on ‘exchanges’, which will effectively give individuals the same purchasing power as large groups. This will finally make purchasing health insurance for oneself a tenable position. There are many folks who in the past have been turned off from emigrating to the States based solely on the fact that buying healthcare insurance on the individual market was next to impossible. That is no longer the case, meaning that there is that much more intellectual/entrepreneurial talent flowing south.

This country already has a doctor shortage as it is and we should be aware that they will be sought out even more so now by US hospitals. This fact highlights that we need to continue in our efforts to train more physicians as well as increase our acceptance of foreign trained care providers. US health care reform also holds the possibility to have some positive effects on Canada, and I will look at those in post to follow shortly.

• US Affordable Care Act: What's In It For Me? (Canadian Edition) Last week I noted some ways that healthcare reform in the States could adversely effect Canada. While that possibility is there, the potential to benefit Canada, indirectly, is there as well. Reform in the US...
• Canada's Subsidised Culture This is the third in a series of posts highlighting the merits of governement supporting artistic endeavours.  I talked about Canada's government funded public broadcaster, and more specifically CBC Radio 3 here and about Canadian...

• Best Reads of the Week: the Inconvenient Truth of the Health Care Debate Edition For some unknown reason, I've been taken aback by the recent debate in government sponsored health care.  Maybe I'm having some sort of an extended...
• Save Money on Health Care Need ideas and strategies for saving on health and medical care? I have some suggestions. The older we get, the more we spend on health...

I’m sure that I am not the only one, who upon hearing that Danny Williams exact location in the US was unknown, thought to themselves ‘Uh oh! Sex scandal!’ It turns out though, that the firebrand Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador has traveled to the States on the advice of his doctors to undergo a form of heart surgery that cannot be delivered on the Rock. Even though his departure from the island does not appear to be tryst related, controversy has nonetheless ensued. Predictably, in the US much hay has been made about the inadequacies of the Canadian healthcare system, but the same thing is being said about the fact that he had to travel out of province at all. It’s worth remembering that Williams comes from an island province with a total population of just over 500,000. I’ll be callous here and suggest that is a good thing that not every surgical procedure possible can be performed in St. John’s. At this time, the exact nature of the procedure the premier will undergo is not known publicly, but it is some kind of heart surgery. Heart surgery. The fact that every type of heart surgery possible cannot performed in Newfoundland should surprise no one.

A facet to this story that is rather interesting, and one that I have not found any specific details on, is what decision making process was made by Mr. Williams and his doctors to undergo treatment in the US. Did he choose to travel to the US rather than visiting another province for reasons of expediency, or is this particular surgery not available in Canada period? Has Medicare played any role in sending him south, or is it only possible due to his own financial wherewithal? With the brouhaha this surgery has generated, I imagine in the next few days we will be hearing more details about the state of, and manipulations to, Danny William’s heart. There are important issues at play here having to with our healthcare system, but the basic fact of having to leave Newfoundland for heart surgery is not one of them.

• US Healthcare Reform Is A Subsidy To Private Insurers, But... Parker Donham, writing at Contrarian has a post up Wednesday talking about the rising values of health insurers stock value as reform legislation slowly grinds towards passage in the States. In it, he cites Glenn...
• Friday Announcements This afternoon will see announcements on two big news stories that are only mildly related. On the political front, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to appoint five new Conservative senators later today. In sporting...

• Ahhh the Impossibilities of Convincing Liberals to Follow Reason: More Post-Shirley Sherrod [tweetmeme source=”TCJournalUpdate” only_single=false]Last night I watched something truly shocking take place on my TV screen.  During Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace (great reporter, by...
• Stem Cell Treatment Gives Michigan Man a Second Chance at Life James Eilert went on a 20-mile bike ride the other day! Why is that amazing? Because18 months ago, the thought of getting on a bicycle...

Sarah 'Esther' Palin, during her resignation speech last July (Image: AP)

On Friday I wrote the following:

[...] socially conservative, right wing political factions in the US have truly earned the label ‘noise-machine’. Social conservatives in the States are vocal, well organized, well funded and extremely active in all levels of politicss [They] recycle talking points through an endless echo chamber that greatly increases the media attention given to what are often fringe opinions. The huge media saturation that these groups are able to attain inflate their perceived strength.

While I do believe this to be true, it is just barely so. The Obama adminisration is still less than a year old, and prior to January 20th, 2009 the leader of the US was a man, who after countless disgraces,  is still adored today by a third of the populace. Even with the majorities in Congress that Democrats gained in 2006 and strengthened in 2008, passage of any legislation is still a tenuous and delicate balancing act. With a large majority in the House of Representatives and a vaunted (at least in most media circles) ‘supermajority’ of 60 of the 100 seats in the Senate, any and all legislative victories are still extremely hard won, as the GOP, masters of legislative procedural abuse (tactics Canadians are also becoming more familiar with) are also very good at rejecting, in unison, every single policy proposal that attempts to wend it’s way through Congress. It’s also further worth noting, that were it not for a few hundred voters in Minnesota who pulled the lever for Al Franken, the Democrats would have ‘only’ 59 seats in the US Senate (a body that hilariously refers to itself as ‘the greatest deliberative body on the planet’) and the House and Senate majorities, along with Obama in the White House, would not have been sufficient enough to pass anything this past year.

It also seems that on the day I decided to write about over perceptions of ‘conservative’ strength, events had conspired to highlight how strong and pervasive it truly is.

Last week it was announced that Sarah Palin would be joining Fox News Channel on a multi year deal to provide “political commentary and analysis.” She also made her debut on the ‘fair and balanced’ broadcaster, and from a ratings stand point, was a smashing success, as nearly 4 million people tuned in to her appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor”, double the combined audiences of MSNBC and CNN. Those who love Palin really love her. Andrew Sullivan, who at his blog The Daily Dish has written about Palin in near abject horror since she was thrust onto the national stage by a desperate John McCain, commenting on the ongoing fusion of Fox News Channel and the Republican National Committee, noted the following after watching her interview with Glenn Beck:

• Different Flavours Of Social Conservatism The other day while discussing the prorogation of parliament with my dad, an interesting point came up that is worth mentioning here. I was saying how depressing it can be paying heed to events as...
• Naive Me The title 'Naive Me' has so much breadth and depth that it would probably make for a good regular feature, but in this particular case I am referencing Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt to blow...

• What is the Middle Class Task Force and Who is on it? I never knew until today that the Obama Administration, in his/their infinite wisdom, created The Middle Class Task Force.  According to the White House the...
• Book Reivew: "Going Rogue" by Sarah Palin [/caption] I bought this book right after it came out, but I just finished it up last night.  (Those who follow me on Twitter know...

The other day while discussing the prorogation of parliament with my dad, an interesting point came up that is worth mentioning here. I was saying how depressing it can be paying heed to events as they unfold in the US, as right wing ‘conservative’ commentators have honed the act of endlessly spouting partisan vitriol into a science, whereas when reading comment threads on the CBC about a story such as Omar Khadr’s, how surprised and taken aback I am by the extremely base language that is rather prevalent. My dad was not surprised by this in the least. My differing reactions to the same kind of mindless commentary coming from both sides of the border highlight three worthwhile points.

First, Canadian social conservatives not only exist, but they make up a larger part of the populace than I know I instinctively feel is there. To make a generalization, Canadians tend to be shy and reserved with many of their personal viewpoints. In the States, abortion is a very visible, vocal and dividing issue. In Canada it just does not have the same power.

Second, socially conservative, right wing political factions in the US have truly earned the label ‘noise-machine’. Social conservatives in the States are vocal, well organized, well funded and extremely active in all levels of politics. As such, an entire cottage industry has formed to recycle talking points through an endless echo chamber that greatly increases the media attention given to what are often fringe opinions. The huge media saturation that these groups are able to attain inflate their perceived strength (which is not to say that they aren’t strong.)

The last thing I wanted to point out are some aspects of the US media that magnify the already over represented, vocal minority of social conservatives. Thankfully, Canadian reporters as a whole have not completely devolved into he said/she said, stenography ‘journalism’. The same can not be said for their US counterparts. And while Canadian journalists are bad for spending to much time on the ‘horse race’ aspects of politics, they do deliver policy analysis. The Villagers of D.C. however are in perpetual campaign coverage mode (did you know there’s less than 11 months until the midterm elections? Are the Dems in trouble? Stay tuned..) When that is the model used to deliver news, it is self serving to portray two competing sides as if they were in extremely close competition. It is mind numbing the extent that US news reports will feature blatant lies voiced by one side of an argument as a rebuttal to a perfectly reasonable and true claim. Readers are treated to both claims, yet sadly, truth distinctions are rarely made. You need to suggest that ‘death panels’ are going to be installed before many media outlets will even bother to think of doing a fact check.

• Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, DFA (And Sports Psychologist) [/caption] Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Nation's  sponsorship of the US speed skating team was a story I wrote about when it first came about, but I foolishly haven't been posting on any of the...
• Naive Me The title 'Naive Me' has so much breadth and depth that it would probably make for a good regular feature, but in this particular case I am referencing Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt to blow...

• Ideas For Creating Financially Rewarding Social Media Marketing Expert Services In 2009 best social media for businessCompanies are scrambling for assist! As a Virtual Assistant or On line social media marketing Professional, supplying these significantly-wanted companies will...
• Canadian Pharmacies Many people are preaching the benefits of choosing a Canadian pharmacy over American pharmacy options, but this opportunity for acquiring your medications across the border...

I suppose the whole notion of declaring a ‘War on Terror’ demonstrates that you have not really grasped how to effectively deal with the extremist tactic of terrorism in the first place, but baby steps are still a good thing.  Fareed Zakaria is driven to have to write the obvious in one of the State’s biggest papers:

The purpose of terrorism is to provoke an overreaction. Its real aim is not to kill the hundreds of people directly targeted but to sow fear in the rest of the population. Terrorism is an unusual military tactic in that it depends on the response of the onlookers. If we are not terrorized, then the attack didn’t work. Alas, this one worked very well.

It’s shameful and disappointing that this needs to be pointed out. At least in the year 2010 there are easily accessible tools that allow for the dissemination of this basic point. You don’t have to go to far back in time to get to a place where the garment rending of scared neo-cons is all that one can hear.

• Tough On Crime Stance Continues Apace Recently the Prime Ministers Office has been engaging in some populist pandering as part of the ongoing Conservative  electoral tactic of 'getting tough on crime'.  Last month the hubbub was over reports that convicted child...
• It's Budget Week! It has been a big week from a political standpoint; Parliament reconvened with a Speech from the Throne on Wednesday and Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled his governments latest federal budget on Thursday. Before...

• What Will It Take to Balance The US Budget? Well, it's coming up (again); the United States government needs to vote to increase its own borrowing authority in order to keep functioning.  There's also...
• Waxing your Board 101 If you plan on waxing your snowboard, then you are going to need to do a little bit of work to set things up. First...

Something that I’ve tended to think about the current tenure of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is that although his government has pushed through (or tried to push through) much legislation that I personally disagree with (cuts to the CBC, cuts to arts funding, “tough on crime” legislation), by and large the government has been competent (there have been exceptions to this though too.) Being one who has never had much love for the media, Harper had made no public comments on his recent prorogation of the Canadian parliament until he recently deigned to sit down with the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge for an interview:

At 5:24 into the piece, Mansbridge asks the PM about his decision to prorogue the current parliamentary session; in a very casual manner, and apparently doing his best to dissuade me of my belief in his government’s competency, Harper says “coming off an extraordinary year [2009][...]we want to take some time to recalibrate the government’s agenda, both on the economy and on some other matters.” What kind of government is not capable of evaluating what you’ve done in the past, realign goals for the future and govern at the same time? Not one worthy of governing in my opinion. Unfortunately this video clip cuts off without showing Harper’s comment that since the controversy about the transfer of Afghan detainee’s isn’t on Canadian’s radar at large it’s not something that his government is going to be concerned with. To see that as well as Mansbridge’s logical followup question “Just because it’s not an issue in polls, does that not make it important?” you can view the full clip here.

Something I find rather interesting is to compare our PM’s assertion that the government needs two months to ‘recalibrate’ and that they are focused on the economy, not silly little things like the rule of law and how we adhere to international treaties, with the constant criticism that President Obama faces in the US that he is not ‘focused’ enough for his decision to deal with the terrible legacies Bush left in the GWOT, healthcare, the economy, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan/Pakistan and whatever other issues an effective executive needs to deal with. The blogosphere in the States makes the easy analogy that one can walk and chew gum at the same time to illustrate that good governments needs to be multifaceted, as we are a multifaceted society. It’s a shame our PM either feels that is not the case, or crassly makes that case to defend his current politicking.

• From The Department of Holy F#@k! Felix Salmon, economics blogger for Reuters had this post up a few days ago: Mike Mandel has four nominees for his “Economic Statistic of the Decade” award, including home prices (obvs), Chinese growth, and global...
• Canadians Against Prorogation: Vancouver Edition [/caption] January 23rd, 2010 saw thousands of people of all political stripes (as well as those lacking any stripes) from across the country come together in peaceful protest to demonstrate their displeasure with Prime Minister...

• Sean O’Hair Wins in Surprising Upset at British Open This week in golf can show just how unpredictable the game can be at times. There are moments when you might feel you are doing...
• Cheney Betting Against The Dollar Not exactly fresh news, but its been reported that Dick Cheney, our beloved vice-president is betting against the US Dollar. He has tens of millions...

The title ‘Naive Me’ has so much breadth and depth that it would probably make for a good regular feature, but in this particular case I am referencing Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab’s failed attempt to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight on Christmas Day. After my initial sigh of relief that this was a failed attempt, resulting in no casualties, I feared the impending drum beat of how unsafe we are, how if this attack had been successful it would have been ‘devastating’ and of course, how all of it inevitably was the fault of President Barack Obama. Matt Yglesias had a post up that had a very cogent response to the attack which also illustrated the potential for misuse of the incident for partisan political gain:

Obviously, people shouldn’t be lighting anything on fire inside airplanes. That said, all the big Christmas airline incident really shows to me is how little punch our dread terrorist adversaries really pack. Once again, this seems like a pretty unserious plot. And even if you did manage to blow up an airplane in mid-air, that would be both a very serious crime and a great tragedy, but hardly a first-order national security threat.

And then there’s Peter King:

“This was the real deal,” said Representative Peter T. King of New York, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, who was briefed on the incident and said something had gone wrong with the explosive device, which he described as somewhat sophisticated. “This could have been devastating,” Mr. King said.

Ultimately, it does no favors to anyone to blow this sort of thing out of proportion. The United States could not, of course, be “devastated” by anything resembling this scheme. We ought to be clear on that fact. We want to send the message around the world that this sort of vile attempt to slaughter innocent people is not, at the end of the day, anything resembling a serious challenge to American power. It’s attempted murder, it’s wrong, we should try to stop it, but it’s really not much more than that.

Exactly. Rep. Pete King has demonstrated time and again that he is an unserious moron not deserving of the media platform his office gives him and Matt voiced a perfect response to his nonsense. The Canadian media seemed to report on the incident as it happened and it received no more attention than it deserved. I didn’t notice too much other trumped up hyperbolic speak on the ‘dread terrorists’ from the American media and usual suspects on the right, and very prematurely figured that perhaps the US had grown and matured, responding in a responsible manner to this criminal act.

• Change we can believe in? One thing that I've that I've learned in my short time in the blogoshpere is that snark plays. I had hoped to avoid resorting to it as much as possible.  Sadly, my initially positive reaction...
• Canadians Against Prorogation: Vancouver Edition [/caption] January 23rd, 2010 saw thousands of people of all political stripes (as well as those lacking any stripes) from across the country come together in peaceful protest to demonstrate their displeasure with Prime Minister...

• Federer Wins His 15th Grand Slam! When the dust settled from the epic battle between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick, Federer managed to capture a fifteenth Grand Slam title after a...
• Is a Middle Class Tax Increase on the Way? President Obama lost control over the spendulus bill, letting both the House and Senate tack on some of their favorite new social programs. More recently,...