December 30, 2011

Prescription Drugs and Medicare Part D

Remember in 2003 when the Republican Congress and GWB stripped Medicare's ability to get prescription drug pricing at group/bulk rates? Yet, Medicaid, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, the Public Health Service, the Bureau of Prisons, and other federal agencies all buy drugs at negotiated prices.

Here's a reminder of the chief author of the drug plan and where he went:

House's Author of Drug Benefit Joins Lobbyists
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: December 16, 2004

ASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Representative Billy Tauzin, a principal author of the new Medicare drug law, will become president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the chief lobby for brand-name drug companies, the trade group announced Wednesday.

~snip~

Drug makers said that the job was not a reward for Mr. Tauzin's work on the Medicare bill, which followed the industry's specifications in many respects. The law was signed by President Bush on Dec. 8, 2003, a few weeks before a lawyer for Mr. Tauzin began talks with the drug trade group.

~snip~

Mr. Tauzin (pronounced TOE-zan) and Mr. White refused to discuss Mr. Tauzin's new salary, except to say it was comparable to the pay at other large trade associations. People at other trade groups said they believed that Mr. Tauzin would receive $2 million a year or more.

Representative Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, said: "As a member of Congress, Billy negotiated a large payout to the pharmaceutical industry by the federal government. He's now about to receive one of the largest salaries ever paid to any advocate by an industry."

FULL ARTICLE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/politics/16drug.html?_r=1

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It is difficult and maddening at times to see how corporate Democrats operate but how anyone could vote for a Republican is simply mind-boggling.

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December 15, 2011

The Start of a Newt Era of Policy Battles

In a conversation with California Healthline, Taylor pointed to the 1992-1994 collapse of President Clinton's health plan as the moment when the ground shifted.

The concerted resistance to Clinton's reforms -- as well as the White House's own missteps -- is well-chronicled in "The System," a 1996 book by Washington Post reporters David Broder and Haynes Johnson.
In an excerpt from the book:

Newt Gingrich was determined there would be no Republican support for the only kind of reform Clinton would offer. ... Politically, he had no interest in compromise. ... As early as 1991, Gingrich had concluded that thwarting Democrats on health care was the key to halting and then rolling back decades of Democratic efforts to build an encompassing social safety net.

Led by then-House Minority Whip Gingrich and his "coagulation" strategy of building clots of resistance, Republicans deflected Democrats' reforms. Even Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole -- who initially assured Clinton that they'd "work something out" -- backed away from dealmaking with the White House.
Gingrich's opposition plan ultimately helped the GOP retake the House in 1994.
And "that was the beginning" of the current era of partisan health care battles, according to Taylor.


Read more: http://www.californiahealthline.org/road-to-reform/2011/politics-have-always-been-part-of-policy-but-have-we-hit-a-new-low.aspx#ixzz1gcTl7h6h

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The seeds this man has sown are terrible.
The furious karma he will reap won't be stopped or lessened by his phony conversion...he is still this way.
He is evil personified.


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December 14, 2011

Do you know what a Redevelopment Agency is California?

You should.


California’s Secret Government
Redevelopment agencies blight the Golden State.

Governor Jerry Brown wants to eliminate redevelopment agencies and save the state about $1.7 billion annually, with greater savings possible down the road, when debts are retired.
In Sacramento, Governor Jerry Brown is planning to close California’s $26.6 billion structural deficit through spending cuts and tax extensions. Opposition has been spirited but less contentious than expected, probably because of the size of the budget hole. But one item of Brown’s plan—something that would save about $1.7 billion annually—has generated heated debates between local officials and the new administration. The governor has proposed eliminating California’s approximately 400 redevelopment agencies (RDAs).

In theory, RDAs spearhead blight removal. In fact, they divert billions of dollars from traditional services, such as schools, parks, and firefighting; use eminent domain to seize property for favored developers; and run up California’s debt to pay those developers to construct projects of dubious public value, such as stadiums and big-box stores. Most Californians have long been unaware that these agencies exist. As the activist group Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform puts it, RDAs constitute an “unknown government” that “consumes 12 percent of all property taxes statewide,” is “supported by a powerful Sacramento lobby,” and is “backed by an army of lawyers, consultants, bond brokers and land developers.”

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_2_california-redevelopment-agencies.html

http://www.stopthemoneypit.com/


I offer this as an alternative to the constant drumbeat against public worker retirement systems.
Going after people is what Republicans do.
Going after fat cat corporate cronyism is what Democrats do.


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December 13, 2011

Something for the "strict Constitutionalists"

Article 1, Section 8, Clause 7:
To establish Post Offices and post Roads

http://www.house.gov/house/Constitution/Constitution.html

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