A Democrat needs to take Bernie Sanders message and put it on steroids.

[kentuck]

Howard Dean, on MSNBC this morning, was discussing how the Democratic Party was out of touch with the younger generation of voters. They have different expectations than Democrats of the past. Slightly left of the Republican Party simply will not cut it.

Howard Dean may be right? Maybe Bernie was a bellwether for the voters of the future. If so, Democrats will need to be much more bold than they are at present. Moderate Republican-like compromises will not cut the mustard.

Democrats need someone like Bernie Sanders, but even bolder in their plans and ideas for the future. If the last election proved anything, it is that the status quo will not be accepted. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

[Trust Buster]

1. Democrats are the minority party. The Republicans are trying to kill the ACA.

That will leave millions without insurance. Fixing the ACA is where the Dems focus should be. Sanders, either intentionally or unintentionally, is handing Republicans the final nail necessary to kill the ACA over an issue he knows he doesn't have the votes to even come close to passing. Words don't describe how foolish the timing is here.

[comradebillyboy]

6. Amen...

[Raster]

2. EVERYONE wants a future... that includes teens, tweens, twentysomethings...

...thirtysomethings, fortysomethings, fiftysomethings, sixtysomethings, seventysomethings, eightysomethings and ninetysomethings. As long as the 1% are allowed to REALIZE ALL OF THE FINANCIAL GAINS in this country, as long as parasitic health insurance and pharmaceutical companies are allowed to feed off of the ill, as long as the Lords of Money are allowed to pillage at will, THERE IS NO FUTURE FOR ANYONE. This must change.

[democrank]

5. Such truth, Raster.

Your choice of the word "PARASITIC" is spot on. Those speaking out in favor of reforming our health care system MUST address costs. How many thousands per month now for nursing home care? What about the costs of drugs in the United States as compared to other industrialized nations? Our insane approach to delivering health care must end.

I applaud Senator Sanders and all the courageous Democratic senators willing to stand with him on supporting single payer health care. I don't expect them to have every answer, nor do I expect this movement toward single payer to be easy. I admire their courage and their willingness to consider such an important change.

I'd like the "too expensive", anti-single payer naysayers to produce some research on the average annual salary offered to a pharmaceutical company's CEO. How many million? $15,000,000?, $28,000,000? How much? Who pays for it?

[Raster]

15. Here's the list of the highest paid Pharma CEOs...

Top 17 Paychecks in Big Pharma:

1. Miles White - Abbott - $33.4M
2. Fred Hassan - Schering-Plough - $30.1M
3. Bill Weldon - Johnson & Johnson - $25.1M
4. Bob Essner - Wyeth - $24.1M
5. Robert Parkinson - Baxter - $17.6M
6. Daniel Vasella - Novartis - $15.5M
7. Richard Clark - Merck - $14.5M
8. Frank Baldino - Cephalon - $13.5M
9. Sidney Taurel - Eli Lilly - $13M
10. Jeff Kindler - Pfizer - $12.6M
11. Jim Cornelius - Bristol-Myers Squibb - $11.3
12. Franz Humer - Roche - $11.1M
13. Robert Coury - Mylan - $8.5M
14. Jean-Pierre Garnier - GlaxoSmithKline - $6M
15. Werner Wenning - Bayer - $4.77M
16. David Brennan - AstraZeneca - $4.3M
17. Gerard Le Fur - Sanofi-Aventis - $3.27M

http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-report/top-17-paychecks-big-pharma

[Raster]

17. Here's a list of the 20 highest paid CEOs in healthcare (insurance and pharma)...

1. Leonard S. Schleifer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Tarrytown, N.Y.) — $47.46 million
2. Jeffrey M. Leiden, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Boston) — $28.09 million
3. Larry J. Merlo, CVS Health (Woonsocket, R.I.) — $22.86 million
4. Robert J. Hugin, Celgene (Summit, N.J.) — $22.47 million
5. Alex Gorsky, Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, N.J.) — $21.13 million
6. Michael F. Neidorff, Centene (St. Louis) — $20.76 million
7. Alan B. Miller, Universal Health Services (King of Prussia, Pa.) — $20.43 million
8. Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck & Co. (Kenilworth, N.J.) — $19.89 million
9. Miles D. White, Abbott Laboratories (Chicago) — $19.41 million
10. John C. Martin, Gilead Sciences (Foster City, Calif.) — $18.76
11. Richard A. Gonzalez, AbbVie (North Chicago, Ill.) — $18.53 million
12. Heather Bresch, Mylan (Canonsburg, Pa.) — $18.16 million
13. David M. Cordani, Cigna (Bloomfield, Conn.) — $17.31 million
14. Mark T. Bertolini, Aetna (Hartford, Conn.) — $17.26
15. George A. Scangos, Biogen (Cambridge, Mass.) — $16.87 million
16. Robert L. Parkinson, Baxter International (Deerfield, Ill.) — $16.65 million
17. John C. Lechleiter, Eli Lilly & Co. (Indianapolis) — $16.56 million
18. Marc N. Casper, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, Mass.) — $16.31 million
19. Robert A. Bradway, Amgen (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) — $16.09 million
20. George Paz, Express Scripts Holding (St. Louis) — $14.84 million

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-issues/20-highest-paid-healthcare-ceos-in-2015.html

[democrank]

25. KICK

[Raster]

18. Let's talk about the bucks spent on lobbying by the Pharma industry...

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/business/dealbook/rising-drug-prices-put-big-pharmas-lobbying-to-the-test.html?_r=0

Drug makers have been getting their $2.3 billion worth in Washington. That is how much they have spent lobbying Congress over the last decade. It may help explain why no legislative proposal to rein in rising prescription prices has gone anywhere. The latest outcry involving Mylan will put that hefty investment in influence to its biggest test.

<snip, more>

[democrank]

24. KICK

[Raster]

19. Your final question: "Who pays for it?"

The resounding answer is WE DO.

The United States spends the most on health care per person — $9,237 – according to two new papers published in the journal The Lancet.

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/04/20/524774195/what-country-spends-the-most-and-least-on-health-care-per-person



U.S. Healthcare Ranked Dead Last Compared To 10 Other Countries

For this year's survey on overall health care, The Commonwealth Fund ranked the U.S. dead last
Earlier this year, Cadillac ran a controversial TV ad that first aired during the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics. It was called "Poolside" and featured actor Neal McDonough extolling America's work ethic over other countries — specifically France.

Turns out that many of those "other countries" (including France) score better than the U.S. in one key metric not included in Cadillac's TV spot — healthcare. At least that's according to The Commonwealth Fund in their latest report "Mirror, Mirror On The Wall — 2014 Update".

For this year's survey on overall health care, The Commonwealth Fund ranked the U.S. dead last .

1. United Kingdom
2. Switzerland
3. Sweden
4. Australia
5. Germany & Netherlands (tied)
7. New Zealand & Norway (tied)
9. France
10. Canada
11. United States

It's fairly well accepted that the U.S. is the most expensive healthcare system in the world, but many continue to falsely assume that we pay more for healthcare because we get better health (or better health outcomes). The evidence, however, clearly doesn't support that view.

<snip, more>

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danmunro/2014/06/16/u-s-healthcare-ranked-dead-last-compared-to-10-other-countries/#7f1cb2b9576f

[democrank]

23. Thank you so very much for posting this important information.

I appreciate your effort.

[Raster]

26. Thank you. Quality, competent healthcare for all...

....IS A RIGHT, and not something to be rationed and dolled out per one's personal purse. This must change.

[WhiteTara]

3. Two things

One: Without any Republicon input, this is dead in the water and a waste of time.
Two: John Conyers has a bill with 120 co sponsors to expand Medicaid. Why not work on that? If one thing can be learned from all this political interest is that change is rarely complete overnight.

Bernie is supposed to be the most popular kid on the block. Let's see him get the Republicons on board and then there might be a chance.

[workinclasszero]

22. It is never a waste of time to do the right thing

IMO.

[WhiteTara]

32. The devil is in the details. nt

[Major Nikon]

33. Bernie is working on exactly that

Conyers is in the House, Bernie is in the Senate. Their efforts are parallel. Conyers has no GOP support either, BTW.

[Freddie]

4. Agreed

But not Bernie himself. Sorry - alert on this if you must - too many hard feelings from 2016 and yes, too old. We need a younger candidate to carry the message. And please we can't let HRC's "defeat" (I refuse to think of 3M more votes as a "loss"!) mean that we can't run a woman.

[democrank]

8. Bernie obviously isn't "too old" to deliver the message since he's doing just that today.

There are enough "hard feelings" all around, but we can't make decisions on national health care based on grudges. Let's try to find common ground.

[sacto95834]

11. Agreed

I do wish we as a party can move past 2016 and attack 2018. We will need everyone to make that election a tidal wave of change!!

Unfortunately, as the sage Molly Ivins said, sometimes we get so scared (angry) we do things that only hurt ourselves....

[Expecting Rain]

7. Bold visionary optimist leadership, yes!

Angry populist demogoguery, no!

We need leadership that will inspire people, who will fuel their ambitions, and help create an economy where there are opportunities to rise.

Not a pessimist who scapegoats the rich as the cause of all society's ills and who deflates the ambitions of young people.

Populism is a dangerous ideology. Instead we should embrace bold liberalism in the grand tradition of the Democratic Party.

Light, not heat. Reason, not rancor.

FDR knew populism was poisonous. Let's be the sort of bold optimistic liberal party that inspires people's dreams and brightens their futures.

Bill

[Hell Hath No Fury]

10. And you have Bob Dylan as your avatar?

[DemocraticWing]

20. Screw populism and liberalism, it's time to try socialism.

Yes Virginia, the rich are the cause of society's ills. It's called class war, and us poor folk are losing right now.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

9. The younger generation of voters --

grew up with Occupy Wall Street in their consciousness and their large support of Sanders in 2016 was the result. Smart Dems will see the writing on the wall -- we are already seeing that with the new embrace of single payer we are seeing from certain Dems. BUT. It will not be enough to give lip service to things like singe payer or income inequality and then vote otherwise -- young voters do not tolerate bullshit like that. They expect authenticity and the candidate that tries a bait and switch will (rightfully) feel their wrath.

[sacto95834]

12. I agree ten fold...

I believe the appeal of Bernie Sanders was his authenticity. You can't fake that.

Bernie has been backing reforming political financing, single payer, higher minimum wage and state college education for all his entire career. I recall watching/listening to him when he was a regular on Thom Hartman's program. He just didn't have an audience.

Come the 2016 campaign and he was the candidate that captured the aspirations and dreams of the OWS movement and became the candidate that spoke to the hearts of the millennials and the old progressive wing of the party. His rise from no name recognition to almost beating HRC was nothing short of a political miracle. The time for Bernie's message has finally arrived.

If it's not Bernie, I throw my support to the Democrat who steps up and champions his causes.

[bettyellen]

21. Trump lies every day, and is still touted as "authentic"- maybe because he's consistently erratic?

Consistently an asshole who doesn't know what he's doing? Time to discard this idea that having a "persona" is anything but a creation by the media.

[Expecting Rain]

16. Occupy was the perfect example of the fruitless populism that Democrats who...

want to inspire the next generation should reject.

Populism is a pox.

[Blue_Adept]

13. Can we do it without his name?

Even as someone who voted for him last year I'm just damn sick of hearing about him constantly, especially around these parts as the primary refighting continues on.

It's like all we're capable of talking about are him and Trump with a dash of some white nationalism once in awhile.

[redstatebluegirl]

27. Lord so am I!@@@

He is really good at self promotion. He became a D just long enough to blow up our party and then took his toys and left. Report me if you wish this is not bashing a D this is bashing an I.

[Blue_Adept]

28. It's almost to the exclusion of Democrats around these parts these days

I get the Hillary threads for a wide range of reasons, but beyond that it might be a bit of Pelosi or Schumer of how we need to get rid of Feinstein. Even Warren's dropped off the radar.

Posters from all over the country are largely only talking about Bernie. Wish they'd talk about their own dem senators more if they have them, or the dem house reps in their state.

We need a 50 state strategy. Not a Bernie strategy.

[Joe941]

14. I think Bernie is doing a fine job delivering his message.

[kentuck]

29. I don't think Bernie will run for President again...

But, I think he started a movement that is here to stay. In my opinion, Democrats ignore it at their own peril.

[Raster]

30. I supported Bernie in the primary and Hillary in the general...

...I still like and support most of Bernie's ideas, but I hope he does NOT run for President again. I do, however, want him to continue to speak his mind and continue to challenge our Democratic Party and be a strong and independent powerful voice in the Senate. Bernie proved that the youth vote is real and that even those that don't readily identify with either established political party have skin in this government game.

I thank BOTH HILLARY AND BERNIE for what they brought to the electoral table and for what they both still bring to our American discourse.

[kentuck]

31. Me too!

Bernie started a movement. I truly believe that. The young and the Millenniums demand to live in a better world, and youth will be served, eventually. They don't quite yet understand the difficulties involved, when everyone begins to demand fairness and equality. Bernie and Hillary are the roots of this movement. Neither of them will run again. But someone will step forth, I am certain.

There should be a goal for 2018. Throw Out The Republicans!