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Bimonthly on election and health care reform. Unsubscribe instructions at the bottom.

Wisconsin Clean Elections Coalition

Promoting fair elections for all parties and candidates

eNewsletter #49

July 17, 2007

www.ThrowTheRascalsOut.org

Newsletter Archives

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. ~Plato

(Actually, "governed by idiots" is more like it, but a quote is a quote and I can't change it.)

In this issue:

1) Health Care

2) Campaign Reform

3) Healthy Wisconsin

4) Grassroots Business Group Forms to Support Wisconsin Health Reform Plan

5) Tidbits

6) Give me a Break!

7) Book recommendations

8) Contact Information

9) Unsubscribe instructions
.

Health Care

Senate Roll Call on Healthy Wisconsin HERE. Where does your senator stand? (Hint: All Democrats voted FOR it, all Republicans voted AGAINST it. Same in the Assembly.)

Action Item: Click HERE to Send a message to your congressman in support of HR676 Medicare-for-all

(Baldwin and Moore are already co-sponsors)

Linking campaign financing to what's wrong with the health care system
By Jack Lohman

Shifting to public funding of campaigns could be a big first step toward health care coverage for everyone.

See complete story HERE

GOP should shift gears, help improve health plan

Joe Leean, guest columnist --- 7/09/2007 11:18 am

Do our citizens really want comprehensive heath care reform and, if so, will our elected officials exhibit the statesmanship to bring it about?

This is an excellent article by a former Republican Senator, see HERE

Healthy Wisconsin is a healthy alternative

The Wisconsin Legislature is poised to make the fundamental changes needed to address Wisconsin's health care crisis.

Another excellent article by Rep. Jon Richards, see HERE

Healthy Wisconsin Town hall Meetings, please try to attend and support....

Wednesday, July 25th
4:00-6:00, Minocqua Town Hall, 415 Menominee Street, Minocqua, WI

Thursday, July 26th
Noon-1:30, Rhinelander City Hall Council Chambers,135 S. Stevens St., Rhinelander, WI

See Michael Moore blast Wolf Blitzer HERE

And don't miss Moore's rebuttal to CNN HERE

The Best Health Care Is Reserved for Congress

In an excerpt from his new book, Practicing Medicine Without a License, Don Sloan, M.D., shows that members of Congress enjoy health coverage with unlimited doctor visits, no deductibles and no co-pays -- all for $35 a month. So what about the rest of us?

See the complete story HERE and comment if you wish

Families USA issues a report, Healthy Wisconsin: Good Medicine for Wisconsin's Economy, which notes that the plan would generate more than $1 billion in new business activity and create nearly 13,000 new jobs.

See complete story HERE

David Newby, president of Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, believes that the Families USA study's job creation estimates are derived entirely from the implementation of Doyle's BadgerCare expansion and the new jobs created in the healthcare field. Newby predicts that far more jobs would be created by the reduction in healthcare costs for firms that pay good wages and expect to provide good benefits. Dropping expenses from typically 15-25% of wages to 10.5% will allow employers to add more people and pay higher wages, and lean toward more full time jobs and fewer part time jobs.

Take a good look at 'Healthy Wisconsin'

The Business Journal of Milwaukee - July 13, 2007

by David Newby

In the June 29 issue of The Business Journal, Bill Smith, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, argues that "Healthy Wisconsin," the innovative and timely universal health care plan added to the budget by Senate Democrats, would "discourage the creation and growth of small business, and place in jeopardy the jobs our small businesses provide everyday."

Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Healthy Wisconsin" provides greater advantages to small businesses than to others. Financed in part by a 10.5 percent payroll tax, "Healthy Wisconsin" ensures that workers in small businesses for the first time will have excellent, comprehensive health care.

I would urge all business owners and executives to do the math. Figure out what 10.5 percent of your payroll is, deduct costs of insurance if you are providing it now, and see how you fare. My hunch is that just about every firm that provides decent, affordable health insurance will come out ahead.

But then there is the small business that currently does not offer insurance to its employees. Will its employee costs increase? Certainly. But consider the following.

Many small firms would like to offer insurance. But in the small group health insurance free market today you pay far more than a larger firm and get far fewer benefits. Many small firms that don't provide insurance today could afford 10.5 percent of payroll.

Wellness programs and more consumer attention to cost, Smith's answer to our health care crisis, are well and good, but hardly a means to guarantee comprehensive health care for all.

It's time for a change. It's time to set aside tired old arguments about government control and "socialized medicine" and institute a rational, well-organized, affordable means of providing health care to all.

David Newby is president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

David is 100% correct. As well, one half of the savings to the state for covering its own employees goes back as a massive ($500 million) property tax cut that will benefit both homeowners and businesses. Where are the heads of right wingers, and the Republicans whose budget proposal leaves the highest deficit of all (see #2 below)?

Upgrading To National Health Insurance (Medicare 2.0)
The Case For Eliminating Obsolete Private Health Insurance

by Leonard Rodberg & Don McCanne

Private health insurance was an idea that worked during part of the last century; it will not succeed through the 21st Century. With jobs increasingly service-based and short-term, the large employment-based risk pools that made this insurance system possible no longer exist. Medical care has become more effective and more essential to the ordinary person, but also more costly and capital-intensive. The multiple private insurance carriers that emerged during the last century can no longer provide a sound basis for financing our modern health care system.

See complete story HERE

Health Care is not a Commodity

It behooves Canadians to pay attention to this debate, because the same people who, in the US, stand to lose the most if that country adopts universal health care also stand to gain the most if Canada abandons it.

See complete story HERE

Employer health premiums jump

Another double-digit increase hits Wisconsin, Minnesota, survey says

By GUY BOULTON gboulton@journalsentinel.com

Health insurance premiums increased an estimated 10.5% on average for employers in Wisconsin and Minnesota this year, according to an annual survey on compensation and benefits by Compdata Surveys.

See complete story HERE

Campaign Reform

Here are the structural deficits that will result under the various budget proposals. Though the Republicans have excluded Healthy Wisconsin from their budget, they have still topped out as the largest deficit among them. Am I missing something here?

Structural Deficit
STRUCTURAL DEFICIT
Gov -- $669 million
JFC -- $688 million
Senate -- $728 million
AssGOP -- $873 million

Let's see if I have this right. The Republicans claim magnificent tax cuts, and the elimination of Healthy Wisconsin, but they still manage a bunch of pork projects and end with the highest deficit of all? How did that happen? I wonder who is going to pick up the extra costs?

GOP PORK
Addition $4.3 Million GPR for UW-LaCrosse (Huebsch). 16 other campuses get $8 million cut.
New Juneau County Circuit Court Branch (Albers) -- $264,000 and 2 full time positions.
Vernon County DA (Nerison)
Chippewa County ADA (Wood) -- $130,600
Visitor Center in the Town of Stark -- $76,400
Earmark specific Highway Projects:

§ Rib Lake in Taylor County -- street improvements
§ Stillwater Bridge -- hire consultant
§ Village of Rothschild -- $238,000 for highway widening
§ Fond du Lac to Sheboygan -- speed up construction schedule
§ Colby -- street reconstruction
§ Oregon -- road widening

Soybean Grinder Grant -- $4 million (Davis)

I think "some" roadwork is appropriate, but it always seems that the road builders come out on top in Republican budget proposals. I wish it would happen without the flow of political money.

You have to give it to Jim Sensenbrenner, he IS Number One in privately paid travel. Source

MEMBERS RECEIVING THE MOST GIFTS OF TRAVEL

During the last six and a quarter years the Members receiving the most were:

Member of Congress Amount

1. SENSENBRENNER, F JAMES JR $230,862

2. MILLER, GEORGE $208,867

3. MCDERMOTT, JAMES A $205,728

4. HINCHEY, MAURICE D $200,423

5. ENGLISH, PHILIP S $195,711

more

Notes: Some of those listed are no longer Members.

If I had to choose things I wanted my congressman to be number one in, payola would not be my first choice.

To see the presidential candidate dollars (that will have to returned after the election), go HERE

Ed Garvey: Time to demand public financing

If you were alarmed by recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, let's talk. If you are not outraged by the decisions of the neocon majority of the Bush/Roberts/Alito/Scalia Supreme Court, stop reading and move to the sports page. If you are scared, read on and send your comments to FightingBob.com.

See complete article HERE

Healthy Wisconsin

Following is a clarification by David Reimer on the Healthy Wisconsin details. Of great importance is the fact that the teachers are NOT exempted, and as one employer (State of Wisconsin) saving much under this plan, HALF of the savings will go back to the taxpayers and result in a decrease of about $500 million in property taxes. That's essentially insurance company profits being returned to property owners!

Jack--
    One of the silly myths about Healthy Wisconsin that's circulating in the blogosophere and elsewhere is that teachers are exempt. That is untrue. Teachers are treated like all Wisconsinites. Their benefits under Healthy Wisconsin are the same as everyone else's. They pay the same assessment as everyone else. Their employers (school boards) pay the same assessment as all other employers.
    How did this silly myth that teachers are exempt come about? I believe it's because of a technical provision, inserted at the suggestion of the non-partisan Legislative Reference Bureau, that seeks to harmonize the provisions of Healthy Wisconsin with the provisions of the existing QEO (Qualified Economic Offer) law.
    I'm not an expert on the QEO law. But I believe that all the technical provision does is provide that, in interpreting an existing QEO requirement that teachers' existing health benefits must be maintained if a QEO is imposed at the end of the collective bargaining process, the meaning of "maintaining existing health benefits" once Healthy Wisconsin takes effect shall be the sum of the often lesser Healthy Wisconsin benefit package plus whatever supplemental benefits are needed to add up to existing benefits.
    This is a complicated provision. It's understandable that some people have misunderstood. Regrettably, others who know better seem to have intentionally twisted its meaning to try to score debating points.
    But the bottom line is that Healthy Wisconsin doesn't exempt teachers from anything. To continue to claim that teachers are exempt from Healthy Wisconsin is to distort the truth.
    This distortion is just one of many that's circulating. The more serious distortion about the plan that's floating is that Healthy Wisconsin will raise taxes.
    The fact is that the Healthy Wisconsin $15 billion assessment would automatically result in the elimination of far MORE than $15 billion in current spending by individuals and employers. As a result, the independent Lewin Group has concluded that, under Healthy Wisconsin: (1) total spending on health care will decline, mostly due to administrative savings; (2) families will save money; (3) employers as a whole will save money; and (4) currently insuring private firms will save money.
    Because governments (in their capacity as employers) save so much money, Healthy Wisconsin requires that half of government's savings be returned to the taxpayers in the form of a massive property tax cut. This tax cut will exceed $500 million. It will result in the second biggest statewide cut in property taxes in recent Wisconsin history. This reduction in property taxes is so large that people's tax bills will actually go down.
    Reasonable people can certainly argue about the merits of Healthy Wisconsin. But noone should get away with distorting the facts about it.
    Everyone covered by Healthy Wisconsin will have health insurance as long as they live in our state. They will remain insured regardless of their health condition, employment status, or family status. Only if they move into another health insurance program--such as Medicaid, BadgerCare, or Medicare--will Healthy Wisconsin stop covering them.
    Healthy Wisconsin lets people select the health care network they want--and choose the doctor they want. It puts us in control. We get to keep our doctors, even if we lose our jobs or change employment.
    Costs will be primarily controlled by getting the incentives right (for the first time in the history) and through competition among private organizations to lower prices and improve quality. For the first time, market principles--such as consumers having choices, and health care providers having strong incentives to become more efficient, lower prices, and improve the quality of their services--will truly apply.
    Healthy Wisconsin will dramatically reduce the number of uninsured--from 476,000 to 15,000, which means from 9% of Wisconsin's population to under half a percent. Wisconsin will be the nation's leader, by far, in having the smallest percentage of uninsured.
    Health spending will decline.
    Families' average health costs will decline.
    Employers average health costs will decline.
    Private employers who now provide insurance will on average see savings.
    And all of us who pay property taxes will see our property tax bill go down. Households will see a property tax cut. Businesses will see a property tax cut.

David R. Riemer
5051 W. Washington Blvd.
Milwaukee, WI 53208
414-453-9674

E-mail: driemermil@yahoo.com

Wisconsin Health Project
c/o The New Hope Project
2821 N. 4th St., Suite 211
Milwaukee, WI 53212
414-267-6020 x223
FAX: 414-267-6023
www.wisconsinhealthproject.org
www.wisconsinhealthplan.org

Got health-care horror stories?

Michael Moore's new film, Sicko, advances the proposition that the nation's health-care crisis affects not just the uninsured but the insured, who are subject to the predations of insurance companies focused on the bottom line.

Moore says a post on his Web site seeking health-care horror stories drew tens of thousands of responses in just a few days. He found people denied critical care, rejected after the fact due to pre-existing conditions and driven into financial ruin by non-covered costs.

Does this happen here too, and are the people to whom it happens willing to tell their stories?

Isthmus is asking readers to tell us about their experiences with local health-care insurers -- denials, excluded costs, red tape and runarounds. And, of course, we'd love to hear from current or former employees of health insurance companies charged with keeping down costs.

Let's start by asking for synopses of 500 words or less; these may later be published with the author's consent, or used as the basis for further inquiry.

Writers must be willing to have their stories told and to provide documentation to back them up, on request. And the stories ought to involve experiences that have happened with the last five years.

Send your tale by July 31 to Isthmus news editor BILL LUEDERS, blueders@isthmus.com, SUBJECT LINE: "health care story" or to Isthmus, 101 King St., Madison WI 53703.

Grassroots Business Group Forms to
Support Wisconsin Health Reform Plan

Grassroots Business Group Forms to Support Wisconsin Health Reform Plan

www.BusinessCoalition.net/wisconsin.htm

Contact: Keith Schmitz/414-963-0847/ schmitz1@ameritech.net

(Milwaukee, WI) -- Local businesspeople are invited to attend a meeting to organize grassroots business support in the Milwaukee area for the proposed Healthy Wisconsin plan which passed in the State Senate last week. This organization, the Business Coalition for Single Payer Healthcare, will be part of similar groups throughout the state.

The first of three meetings in the area will take place at noon on Thursday July 26th at Riverfront Pizzeria Bar and Grill, 509 E. Erie St., Milwaukee

The meeting will feature a presentation by Institute for One Wisconsin regarding the details on the Healthy Wisconsin plan, followed by a discussion of possible action that can be taken to support the plan.

The meeting is being organized by Jack Lohman, a retired business owner, Keith Schmitz an owner of public relations firm and a grassroots organizer, and C.J. Brown, a local business consultant. This will be the first of three meetings that will be held in the Milwaukee metro area through August.

Although Families USA reported that Healthy Wisconsin will create 13,000 new jobs and $1 billion in new business activity, existing business groups including WMC have opposed the proposal. That, even though the plan will provide all businesses and their employees with the healthcare coverage they need at a cost for many companies below what they are paying now for healthcare insurance. The plan promises to make Wisconsin businesses more competitive and ultimately make Wisconsin an attractive place to do business.

Space at this event is limited so please RSVP to Keith Schmitz at schmitz1@ameritech.net. You can call 414-963-0847 for more details.

Tidbits

Prune bad ideas from state budget In the two widely divergent state budget plans that emerged from Wisconsin's Democrat-controlled Senate and Republican-run Assembly lurk some really bad ideas.

See complete story HERE

Regarding the Holt Bill that I wrote about last week, Common Cause (National), for whom I have great respect, supports it and I would thus feel comfortable with it. However, other good groups do not support it. Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is taking no position on it at the moment, yet others have strong opinions against it.

A New Wealth Snapshot: We're Top-Heavier (From www.TooMuchOnline.org )

America’s go-to scholar on wealth distribution — New York University economist Edward Wolff — has just published his latest analysis on where money sits in the contemporary United States.

Wolff’s new take on the most current raw wealth data available — from the Federal Reserve Board’s triennial Survey of Consumer Finances — reveals an America ever heavier at the top and ever more squeezed in the middle.

Between 1983, the year the Fed started tracking wealth, and 2004, the most recent year with data, America’s top 1 percent saw their average net worth, after adjusting for inflation, jump by over $6 million, or 78 percent.

Over that same period, the bottom 40 percent of America's households saw their average household net worth drop by 59 percent, down to just $2,200.

And in the middle: “a sharp rise in the debt-equity ratio,” the amount of debt held by middle class families compared to their assets.

In 1983, debts equaled 37 percent of the assets of the middle 60 percent of U.S. households. In 2004, the debts of middle class households totaled 62 percent of their assets.

Wolff’s new paper, Recent Trends in Household Wealth in the United States: Rising Debt and the Middle-Class Squeeze, breaks “wealth” down into its many different components, everything from residential real estate to stocks and bonds.

Substantial stock holdings, Wolff notes, “have still not penetrated much beyond the reach of the rich and the upper middle class.”

In 2004, America’s richest 1 percent held 36.7 percent of all stock in the United States, including stock owned directly and stock held indirectly through mutual and pension funds.

That top 1 percent total almost quadrupled the 9.4 percent share of stock held by households in America’s bottom 80 percent.

Also, don't miss Inequality by the numbers

WORTH REPEATING: Goodbye to the city upon a hill and to its fabled economy

This appeared in eNewsletter #48, and I fear was overlooked by some. Please take a look....

See complete article HERE.

Give me a Break!

New Regulations for NJ Dept Motor Vehicles

1. Turn signals will give away your next move. A confident New Jersey driver avoids using them.

2. Under no circumstance should you maintain a safe distance between you and the car in front of you, because the space will be filled in by somebody else, putting you in an even more dangerous situation.

3. The faster you drive through a red light, the less chance you have of getting hit.

4. WARNING! Never come to a complete stop at a stop sign. No one expects it and it will result in your being rear-ended.

5. Never get in the way of an older car that needs extensive bodywork, especially with PA, NY or DE plates. With no insurance, the other operator probably has nothing to lose.

6. Braking is to be done as hard and late as possible to ensure that your ABS kicks in, giving a vigorous, foot massage as the brake pedal violently pulsates. For those of you without ABS, it's a chance to strengthen your leg muscles.

7. Never pass on the left when you can pass on the right. It's a good way to prepare other drivers entering the highway.

8. Speed limits are arbitrary figures, given only as a suggestion and are not enforceable in New Jersey during rush hour.

9. Just because you're in the left lane, and have no room to speed up or move over, doesn't mean that a New York driver flashing his high beams behind you doesn't think he can go faster in your spot.

10. Always brake and rubberneck when you see an accident or even someone changing a tire. This is seen as a sign of respect for the victim.

11. Learn to swerve abruptly without signaling. New Jersey is the home of high-speed slalom-driving, thanks to the Department of Transportation, which puts potholes in key locations to test driver's reflexes and keep them alert.

12. It is tradition in New Jersey to honk your horn at cars in front of you that do not move three milliseconds after the light turns green.

13. To avoid injury in the event of a collision or rollover, it is important to exit your vehicle thru the windshield right away. Wearing your seat belt will only impede your hi-velocity escape from danger.

14. Remember that the goal of every New Jersey driver is to get ahead of the pack by whatever means necessary.

15. In New Jersey, "flipping the bird" is considered a polite salute. This gesture should always be returned.

Image Viewer: FastStone MaxView is a tiny, very fast and innovative image viewer that supports all major graphic formats. Its intuitive layout and commands allow everyone, from beginners to professionals, to view and manipulate images quickly and efficiently. Download free HERE

Digital photo album, photo organizer software, free photo editing software, slideshow software, and free online photo albums. Download free HERE

RSS Reader: Free reader HERE

Folder Guide is a free handy utility that provides fast access to your frequently used and favorite folders. It can operate as the part of your context menu in your Windows Explorer. Download HERE (apparently not for Vista, only Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003)

Book Recommendations

See other reviews on Amazon.com

The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation

by Greg LeRoy (ISBN 1576753158)

See the book's web site at http://www.greatamericanjobsscam.com/pages/book.html There you can also print out the first three chapters.

Amazon Review:

By Perri Morgan (Raleigh, NC)

Across the country, state legislatures appropriate millions of taxpayer dollars each year on "corporate jobs incentives" under the guise of "economic development and job creation". Greg LeRoy manages to shed light on the fallacy of these programs, using real life examples to prove that "incentives" are simply corporate welfare schemes that do little more than pad the pockets of hugely profitable corporations - while providing photo ops for politicians.

As a longtime advocate for small business owners, who are responsible for the vast majority of new job creation despite their lack of eligibility for taxpayer subsidies, I have been frustrated by the ridiculous and baseless defenses used by lawmakers to justify using taxpayer dollars in this egregious manner. LeRoy narrows down a comprehensive study of the issue into an illuminating and ultimately readable treatise, wading through the many different forms that subsidies take - from outright cash hand-outs to Tax Increment Financing (TIF's) - and ultimately providing ample evidence that the "if you build it, they will come" approach is NOT responsible for new job creation in America.

This book is a public policy manual for our time; required reading for elected officials at every level who have voted - or are thinking about voting - for targeted tax subsidies. These lawmakers are creating an escalating "Economic War Between the States" at the expense of lower taxes, fair competition, and improved public services for all.

For citizens (and taxpayers), LeRoy will enlist your outrage.

For lawmakers who have voted against such disgraceful scams, he provides all the evidence needed to defend that vote in the face of a society which has been brainwashed to believe that "incentives = jobs".

Nothing could be further from the truth, and Greg LeRoy proves it.

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Contact information

Lohman is a retired business owner that volunteers’ time on the issues of Election reform and Universal health care -

Contact: Jack E. Lohman
jelohman@gmail.com or jelohman@charter.net
Phone 414-477-8686 (cell)
www.ThrowTheRascalsOut.org
www.WiCleanElections.org
www.BusinessCoalition.net

www.MoneyedPoliticians.com (my book: Politicians - Owned and Operated by Corporate America)

www.SmokeFreeDining.net (A searchable restaurant database)

Wisconsin State Assembly pages: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/leginfo/contact/legislatorslist.aspx?house=assembly

Wisconsin State Senator pages: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/leginfo/contact/legislatorslist.aspx?house=senate

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If either fails please notify me directly at jelohman@gmail.com. Thanks.

Disclosure: I am a center-right Republican that (regrettably) voted for Bush twice. But the Republicans look worse here because they (are/were) in power and the party blocking reform. Next year it may be the Democrats taking center stage. Were I to have a political choice it would be for a strong third-party reform candidate in all seats. I do not like our very costly and ineffective duopoly. Jack Lohman

See Lohman's complete disclosure HERE.

Wisconsin Clean Elections Coalition

GOP should shift gears, help improve health plan

Families USA issues a report, Healthy Wisconsin: Good Medicine for Wisconsin's Economy, which notes that the plan would generate more than $1 billion in new business activity and create nearly 13,000 new jobs.

Take a good look at 'Healthy Wisconsin'

Upgrading To National Health Insurance (Medicare 2.0) The Case For Eliminating Obsolete Private Health Insurance

Employer health premiums jump

Another double-digit increase hits Wisconsin, Minnesota, survey says

By GUY BOULTON gboulton@journalsentinel.com

Ed Garvey: Time to demand public financing

Prune bad ideas from state budget In the two widely divergent state budget plans that emerged from Wisconsin's Democrat-controlled Senate and Republican-run Assembly lurk some really bad ideas.

Upgrading To National Health Insurance (Medicare 2.0)
The Case For Eliminating Obsolete Private Health Insurance