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OMG, they’re actually using the D-word.

Depression risk might force U.S. to buy assets

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fear that a hobbled banking sector may set off another Great Depression could force the U.S. government and Federal Reserve to take the unprecedented step of buying a broad range of assets, including stocks, according to one of the most bearish market analysts.

Aren’t the Washington types still insisting we’re not yet in a recession?

Chimpy speaks! (SotU 2008)

I’m not sure this counts as “liveblogging,” but I’m going to record a few thoughts as I go.

I’ve missed a couple of these, but wanted to see how badly Bush humiliates himself in waffling about the current state of the economy.

See also other coverage on:
* MyDD
* AMERICAblog
* Also some comments on OpenLeft and DailyKos

Sparing you folks on the front page…
Continue reading “Chimpy speaks! (SotU 2008)”

Thoughts on today’s Iowa NPR Democratic debate

I listened to most of the NPR Iowa debate, although I missed about the first 15 minutes.

With the exception of Clinton, it was overall a good performance for those credible candidates there. Clinton came off as a bit too rightist and belligerent, and I was disappointed that Richardson was not there. Of the rest, Biden did better than I expected; I started off pretty much writing him and Dodd off as “boring and not progressive enough” and both of them have been both improving in not being boring and moving to the left.

As for the two minor candidates, I think Kucinich is doing a much better job than Gravel at getting a progressive perspective across without sounding crazy, which is too bad – I was really enjoying Gravel’s perspective early on in the primary cycle, and he’s increasingly just sounding grumpy. Which is justifiable, but is not the way to win voters’ hearts and minds.

My strongest opinion is pretty much “not Clinton” and that’s gotten stronger over the course of the primary race. I’d also love to see either Gravel or Kucinich as a serious contender, but right now I don’t see that happening.

It will be very interesting to see who will still be in by the time the California primary is closer, and if the gap between the top tier (Clinton, Edwards, Obama) and the second (Dodd, Biden, Richardson) narrows. When the time comes I’ll probably tell you who I end up voting for; what I will say now is that I’ve donated a little bit of money each to Edwards and Dodd.

What’s funny is that I don’t remember who I voted for in the 2004 primary; I *think* in the end I voted for Kucinich because Kerry was looking inevitable by the time it got to California. Whomever it was, it was a last-minute decision – I remember liking all three of Kerry, Edwards and Clark well enough to have had a hard choice there.

I am, however, still sad that neither Gore nor Feingold decided to run this time.

Daily Roundup, tragic.

Tragic first – we need a real national health system to help prevent crap like this:
When staying alive means going bankrupt

LOMPOC, Calif. – Kathleen Aldrich, financially ruined by two bouts with ovarian cancer, is not who you might assume she is.

She raised three kids as a single mom. She worked hard for years. She had good jobs. She paid her bills. She lived in a nice house and drove a nice car. She had a decent credit rating. She had health insurance.

Now she has a record of bankruptcy and is the embodiment of the fear that nags at millions of U.S. families: that they are but one medical calamity away from losing everything. Like Aldrich, they — and perhaps you — could be.

The meat of the story isn’t captured by the intro though – to sum up, basically, she got screwed over by the combination of insurance companies and doctors not coordinating well, and by switching insurance during treatment. I’m reminded of my own “unpaid medical bill” situation, where the *bleep*ing hospital in Colorado, and (slightly less *bleeping*) HIP were unwilling to talk to get the bill paid. Much smaller bill, but the hospital was still in essentially the same position of throwing the bill to collections and refusing to deal with it.

AskANinja.com on NetNeutrality

Funny, although I’m not sure the analogy makes sense (then again, I’m not sure any of the Ninja stuff makes sense. But it’s funny.)

Via OpenLeft, where there is very nice article by the guy behind AskANinja.com to go with the video clip.

PS, yeah I know too much YouTube lately, not nearly enough writing. What can ya do?

Sicko, and an interesting article…

I saw Sicko over the weekend, and thought it was an excellent, if thoroughly depressing, film. I thought it was an excellent piece of polemic for those of us who basically agreed with him. It’s much harder me to tell what impact it would have for those who don’t already agree that the US health care system is fundamentally broken… or for those who think that moving things to a more laissez-faire free market is the solution.

I’d be curious what other folks think.

On a board I read, someone posted the link to this article where an EM physician responds to the film. The person posted it as a disagreement, but while he does take Moore to task for issues he doesn’t address, by and large I think it’s more of a valuable addendum:

Article is at: I Treat the Patients Michael Moore Forgot

In order to keep the length of my quoting reasonable, let me grab the part from the middle where I think he and Moore basically are saying the same thing:

Many Americans oppose a single-payer health care system. My support of this initiative has grown from witnessing inequities daily through years in an emergency room.

I hear the concern about such a system; people worry that they won’t get what they need, that the government will ration health care. But in fact, that’s exactly what we have right now. It’s just a little more subtle, a form of rationing that’s based on a person’s ability to endure hours of anxiety in the ER, to wait for the next medical appointment, to afford high-quality insurance.

So how can we have a public discussion about this subject? This country has limited resources to devote to health care. But it also is saddled with an inefficient health care system that gives advantages to the privileged and well-off while ignoring preventive care and abandoning those most in need.


And in a separate note, Marie found a response from Kaiser Permanente to the film:
Kaiser Permanente’s Prominent Role in American Health Care Reform

In this context, Kaiser Permanente’s portrayal in a new movie, “Sicko,” must be corrected. While Kaiser Permanente has always (and will always) welcome new voices to the incredibly important discussion of health care reform, Kaiser Permanente’s 8.7 million members, the communities Kaiser Permanente serves, and the country as a whole, deserve to hear facts that should help clear up misconceptions created by the movie.

“The Redistricting Game” and a few minor round-up items.

No, not metaphorical … this time it’s literal, via Slashdot:

An anonymous reader writes
“This is a cool redistricting game that was launched out of the capitol building in Washington DC last week. It was created by the USC Game Innovation Lab and has been getting lots of press. It’s about time someone took on a tough issue like redistricting reform using the power of the internet.”
It’s crazy that gerrymandering is actually good fodder for a video game.

Worth checking out.

Also of note, lately:
1) Not much here, sorry.
2) I’m starting a class.
3) I’m not traveling anywhere soon, except back east for a family friend’s wedding. Bummer.
4) Today’s big news story seems to have been Mayor Bloomberg leaving the Republican party. Does anyone else think he and Lieberman deserve each other?

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