The Large N Limit

Call for Referendum On Universal Single Payer Health Care

PDSimic — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:39:07 EST

Please help build momentum for Single Payer Health Care system by following the link below and voting:
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/call_for_referendum_on_universal_single_payer_health_care

Universal Single Payer Health Care system is an idea whose time is come. Yet, there are powerful special interests to overcome; they are already at work behind the scene, distorting the idea and diluting the enthusiasm for it among the lawmakers. We can't let this happen, not this time. We need a powerful political tool in our hands, a definitive signal to Washington that this time people will be heard, that this time people will not be deceived, that this time people will take their destiny and the destiny of this country in their hands and will demand nothing less then the Universal Single Payer Health Care system.

So the idea is to press our representatives and the Obama administration for a national referendum for or against the Universal Single Payer Health Care system. If we win, and win we will, for the first time in history there will be an explicit democratic mandate to our president and our lawmakers that will empower them enormously in their fight for Universal Health Care for every American.

Carrots/Sticks Phrase Invokes a Wrong Master/Slave Methaphor, Obama Should Not Use It.

PDSimic — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 12:50:27 EST

Source: New York Times
Link: Obama Says Will Pursue Carrot / Stick Iran Policy

"Carrot and Stick" phrase used by US foreign policy establishment for years is deeply insulting, as the implied semantic frame is that of an absolute superiority of us over them, a master /slave relationship, and not one of a respect and possible partnership. I still trust that Obama will make changes for the better in our foreign policy, but given some of his recent appointments it is reasonable to question if this trust is based on reasonable estimates and facts, or on a wishfull thinking (change *I want to believe* in). Nevertheless, I am surprised that a person with his multicultural background, experience, and sensitivities is not more careful with choice of methaphors.

On Wrong Incentives Built into our Health Care System

PDSimic — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:50:03 EST

For-profit corporations have a duty to maximize profit for their owners. They do this by providing products and services, and as a side-benefit to the society, create jobs. We rely on them to provide some but not all the services that society needs. There is a good reason for relying on them for some services, and not relying on them for other...

Impending $60 Trillion Disaster - Should The Government Simply Cancel all the "Naked CDS" Contracts?

PDSimic — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:42:26 EST

It would be interesting to know what percent of the AIG "loss" is attributed to the "naked CDS" contracts, the ones where the buyers of insurance where speculators with no real exposure to the CDS reference debt? In another words, how much of its "loss" is simply a gambling paper "loss" due to their contractual obligation to pay the CDS speculators their gambling "wins"?

The Credit Default Swaps - The Impending $60 Trillion Disaster and What our Government Should Do About it

PDSimic — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:31:30 EST

Original Article: The Real Reason for the Global Financial Crisis…the Story No One’s Talking About

Comment: PDSimic

The fundamental point seems that the CDS, being an unregulated OTC instrument, could have been entered as a way to bet on a default of some reference debt obligation to which the “protection” buyer had no economic exposure. While this is outrageous, there is a good news too. The good news is that speculators, not having a real exposure to the reference debt obligation can not possibly claim any real loss in the case of default of either insurance company or the reference debt obligation. All they could claim is a loss of opportunity to profit enormously from a successful bet that should never been allowed in the first place.

On Socialism for Wall Street, Capitalism for Main Street

PDSimic — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:48:03 EST

Here is an interesting article by Joseph A. Palermo, of Huffingtonpost.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/socialism-for-the-rich-na_b_127121.html

"For twenty-eight years, since the beginning of Ronald Reagan's first term, we have been subjected to a steady stream of Republican propaganda claiming that if we just got government out of the way and "off our backs," deregulate the economy, and let the market work its magic, prosperity would "trickle down" to the average American citizen. In the mid-1980s, corporate lobbyists descended on Washington, threw huge amounts of campaign cash around, and told us that deregulating the Savings and Loan industry would be a great idea.

On War and Why our Economy is the Way it is Today

PDSimic — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:43:06 EST

Political Punch: Jake Tapper, ABC News' Senior National Correspondent, October 31, 2008.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/obamas new-atta.html?cid=137258875#comment-137258875

Side Punch: Kristokoff

"PDSimic, your emotions are blinding you if you are not willing to find out why our economy is the way it is today..."

Counterpunch: PDSimic

- I know, it has nothing to do with the 10 billion a month that Bush and McCain and their neo-con friends make us pay for pursuing an ill-advised war in Iraq.

- I know, it has nothing to do with the fact that Bush and the wealth-will-trickle-down gang in his administration could not separate their ideological views - any regulation of banking system is bad, except "self-regulation" - from practical reality and their responsibilities to the American people.

Any Tax System is Redistribution of Wealth....(as it should be).

PDSimic — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:32:05 EST

Poltical Punch: Jake Tapper, ABC News' Senior National Correspondent, October 31, 2008.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/obamas-new-atta.html?cid=137258875#comment-137258875

Any tax system is a redistribution of wealth. It is just that in democracies, such as ours, the shape of the redistribution curve reflects (or better, *should* reflect) the dominant civil values of the population...

On : Obama's New Attack on Those Who Don't Want Higher Taxes: ‘Selfishness’

PDSimic — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:53:46 EDT

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/obamas-new-atta.html?cid=137258875#comment-137258875

Political Punch: Jake Tapper, ABC News' Senior National Correspondent, October 31, 2008.

Counterpunch by: PDSimic

American people are good, generous people. It is just that they have been massively brainwashed for so long that even the otherwise reasonable and functioning people become complete zombies the moment the key word "sharing", or "socialist", is pressed. It would be funny if not sad, and, as the last 8 years testify, very dangerous for everybody (including the zombies themselves).