As fun and exciting as it is to follow the horse race aspect of politics, I think we all, and I am often guilty of this, sometimes forget exactly what is at stake. Check out the conclusions from the latest data released by the Census Bureau about the economy from 2001-2007:
Since 2001, poverty has worsened in Minnesota
Nearly 1 in 12 Minnesotans do not have health insurance.
Minnesota faces an economic downturn with a lower median income than in the last recessions.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
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We have two converging problems … the increasing income gap and the future of health care.
John McCain has a plan that the average worker will see an increase of $2870 in taxes to pay for health care benefits that were previously provided by employers as a free fringe benefit. That will only exasperate the problem as workers may want to go without coverage. McCain’s objective is that somehow competition will drive down policy costs that individual families will then purchase. The logic is incomprehensible to me (Note : Dr. Brian Davis subscribes to the “competition” argument.)
The income gap is finally getting some notice including by some Republicans. Today’s NYT Magazine has a piece by Bush’s ex-speechwriter David Frum where he notes that four miles from his home in Washington DC that “More than one-third of the people live in poverty. Close to half the young children are overweight. Fewer than half the adults work. The rate of violent crime is more than 10 times that of the leafy streets of my neighborhood.” Fram’s motivation may be the impact on his Party as well as impact on America’s future. “When asked, “Are you better off than you were five years ago?” only 41 percent of middle-class Americans say yes, the worst result since pollsters started asking the question half a century ago. It’s this pervasive economic unease that is capsizing the Republican Party… Republican economic management since 2001 has not yielded many benefits for middle-income America. Adjusting for inflation, the incomes of college graduates actually dropped by 5 percent between 2000 and 2004 …” [Sidebar comment : In reality another report indicated that only rise in income was for those with post-graduate degrees … but that is oversimplified as the real money was made by the medical profession (aka Dr. Davis with his $411, 720 fits this category] Frum continues “ What the middle class needs most is not lower income taxes but a slowdown in the soaring inflation of health-care costs. If health-insurance costs had risen 50 percent rather than 100 percent over the Bush years, middle-income voters would have enjoyed a pay raise instead of enduring wage stagnation.”
I wish that Franken and Coleman would stop these silly “character attacking” commercials and actually discuss health care and the income gap. By most projections, the Dems will probably increase their majority in the Senate, so the focus is on Coleman. IF Coleman is re-elected, will he endorse McCain’s plan (or accept support Obama’s depending who wins)?
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