By now everyone is feeling the effects of the economic situation at some level so I would like to pose a question to all of you. If you or your spouse were to lose your job how could you immediately reduce spending and how much could you save? what are the greatest expenses (Medical, Food, Insurance, Credit Card Debt, Communication to include home, cell, cable and internet, Energy, etc.) for your family? Like me, do you really know how much you are spending and what that spending is for?
It didn't take me but a few minutes to realize that my wife and I probably spend far more money than we should on communications such as cable, internet, cell, home phone and monitored security. I can tell you that if one of us lost our job that many of these items would be either greatly reduced or eliminated entirely.
We eat out more than we should even though we have reduced that expense greatly. Still, the price of groceries have really increased and even eating at home has become very expensive.
We have three cars that are all financed with full coverage insurance that cost more than our house. If push came to shove I would try to sell at least some of them and drop my insurance coverage to just liability.
Luckily, we are fairly healthy but I realize that many American's health is such that simply paying for monthly medications is pushing them to the brink of financial collapse. As we get older I understand that this cost will increase especially if we don't do something to reduce our weight and increase our fitness levels.
Thank goodness no one in our family drinks or smokes. I am certain that the cost of alcahol and tobacco greatly affects the budget for many Americans and that's just the cost of the product. Facts prove that these same people who drink and smoke will incur greater medical cost. The cost of this bad habit is just too high.
So, I guess my real question is what would you eliminate in your life if push came to shove and are there specific industries that stand to be affected by a common decision to reduce when family members lose their jobs?
From Meet 2During the Healthcare discussion held at my home on Sunday, December 21, 2008 6 people attended. We had a very good discussion about healthcare and agreed that the new administration should:
Identify healthcare as a basic need. Healthcare should be a partnership between the government, medical community, insurance companies, education and individual participation in fitness and preventative care. We believe that the government should provide a basic form of healthcare coverage to all American citizens that would include medical, dental, vision and mental health care. This basic coverage should use the current Medicare system as a model to best meet America’s basic needs and manage cost. This basic coverage could either be provided through a non-profit or limited profit insurance provider. We believe that the current burden on companies to pay for healthcare could be reduced but should not be eliminated entirely. While many employers do not contribute to the overwhelming cost of insurance for their employees we would recommend that all employers be required to pay a tax for each employee to help pay for universal basic healthcare coverage. Individuals who are self-employed would be required to pay this tax for themselves. To offset the cost to small business and self-employed individuals a tax credit could be given based on revenue. Individuals, who are elderly, medically handicapped or under the age of 18 would need to be automatically covered regardless of employment status. Qualified veterans would seek care through a local VA medical facility. We recommend that Individuals wanting or needing additional coverage could turn to private insurers at their own expense. Private insurers would only offer coverage above and beyond that already provided under the basic plan. To maximize the efficiency of this basic coverage, citizens would need to actively participate in preventative medical care such as annual physicals, well woman visits, mammograms, colonoscopies, etc plus work to reduce their weight, stop smoking, reduce alcohol consumption and be drug free or risk having to acquire additional private insurance. Policy should also require public and private schools to provide additional education concerning preventative healthcare to students prior to graduation from high school. A national campaign would be needed to improve understanding and awareness for the general public concerning their responsibilities to ensure their own care. We also feel that it is imperative that all medical records be computerized as quickly as possible to help reduce cost and improve the speed and quality of medical care regardless of the patient's location. We would like to see government policy to encourage drug makers to either offer a generic version of a drug or pay a higher fee for filing for a new drug patent.
On Saturday, December 13, 2008 I hosted a Victory Now Change house party at my home. While I only had 5 guest, we had a very good discussion on a broad range of issue that we felt will have the greatest impact on our community and our country.
We discussed reaching out to our Republican counterparts during future house meetings since the issues being discussed affect all Americans and not just Democrats. We also believe it may be wise to join forces with the members of house party groups in our surrounding area to add emphasis of like type issues.
Our top 4 issues include:
i. We believe that the federal and state government to should limit new home construction if there is more than a certain percentage of available houses in the area. Continued building is causing the market to be oversaturated and is driving down the value of existing homes. New homes could still be built if the construction would replace an existing home.
ii. We believe that banks should be encouraged to loans in default to extend the loan term and set a fixed interest rate. An entry should be made on the borrower’s credit reporting to reflect this renegotiation of terms.
iii. We would also like to ask that these borrowers who are in default be required to have their finances reviewed by a non-profit credit counseling agency prior to being considered for restructuring to see if the default is as a result of bad lending or poor personal financial management.
i. Americans who can afford it should be provided additional options to pay for an upgrade to their coverage which would include addition service.
ii. We think there should be a not for profit organization designated to oversee this universal healthcare program. As long as for profit insurance companies are involved medical care in America will continue to deteriorate.
iii. We would like to see these benefits limited to citizens who are paying their far share (taxes) to support the needs of our country. We cannot continue to provide people (non-resident and non-tax paying Americans) a free ride.
iv. We would like to see an overhaul of the Medicare/Medicaid that would streamline the program and provide patients with the proper treatment for their doctor’s diagnosis.
v. We would like to see oversight to speed the implementation of online medical record that would speed patient treatment and reduce cost.
i. Period of Transition from deployed troops from Combat to Civilian
ii. Medical care
iii. Job Training and Placement
iv. Housing Assistance
i. Need to inventory and replace inadequate, worn and outdated equipment
1. Provide the manufacture of MRAPs assistance to speed production and deployment of MRAPs to combat zones to replace the outdated and inadequate HUMVEEs.
a. Perhaps as a condition of an auto industry bailout the big 3 auto makers could be enlisted to improve production
ii. Need to immediately return all National Guard troops to the U.S. These troops are designed to protect and defend our homeland.
1. Many of our troops currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been over-utilized and need to be replaced.
2. Need to consider at least a limited draft that would require young men to serve a period of two years in what could be called a non-deployable ready reserve. At least a percentage of these draftees would elect to re-enlist and would then be deployable. The others would incur a 5 year inactive reserve commitment.
a. In return we should offer them a 4-year college education at one of their state’s universities.
i. Home or neighborhood officing
1. Using broadband to perform administrative duties from home or community office.
2. Create jobs converting uninhabited buildings that are available in nearly all communities to be used as individual office space with IT support and an office environment.
a. Worker or employer would basically rent an office space within the community.
3. Reduce daily commute times from 2 or more hours to just a few minutes.
a. Reduce carbon emissions
b. Reduce Fuel Consumption
c. Reduce Highway and public transportation congestion.
d. Reduce employee stress
e. Increase involvement in the family and community
ii. Four day work weeks
iii. Limiting businesses and retail to 6-day weeks
i. Mandatory conversion of truck stops with in window power/heat/air and communications.
ii. Change from Interstate trucking to Regional trucking using increased rail transportation of goods.
iii. Development of more efficient trucks
As a group we agreed that during this holiday season that it would be difficult to develop and conduct a public service project other than those we are already involved in. We did discuss contacting our respective cities to see what committees or boards have openings and submitting an application to serve on one or more of these committees.
· Salvation Army Angel Tree
· Operation Care Dallas – Christmas Gift 2008(Worlds Largest Homeless Christmas party) http://www.operationcaredallas.org/
· Projected for 2009
o MS Walk in Fort Worth – Team Txnerd
o Salvation Army
o Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
o Legislation should be passed that would limit the percentage of profit that law firms would be allowed to take for representing patients as a part of a medical malpractice claims.o Doctors who are required to pay a settlement because of medical malpractice should be required to take additional training in the area of concern and would need to be board re-certified before being allowed to resume practicing medicine.
Perhaps the answer to the auto bailout is for the US Government to buy the physical plants that the auto makers are using to build cars right now. If they can't manage their business and go under then we could retool and use these facilities to speed production of new military vehicles, build windmills, solar power units, build barriers to help secure the flood-prone New Orlean and other coastal areas, build FEM housing, etc. The issue is not losing the auto makers but is insted is about losing vital jobs. If we can't build cars there must be something else we can build in these facilities to keep America productive and moving in the right direction.
We will probably give the auto makers a bailout plan but it should be a one time deal and should come with close government oversight. It should insist that the company and workers make the right decisions to ensure their company and their jobs going forward. We cannot be held hostage by for profit American companies.
