The real impact of 'universal' care is B.S.

Reading “The real impact of ‘universal’ care,” (East Valley Tribune, 8/19/07 pg. F3) I’m not sure if the same Dr. Marc J. Rosen who wrote the first three-quarters is the same person who wrote the conclusion. In any case, the editorial board should have given Rosen a better lead.

Cherry-picking problems with universal care does nothing to address this simple fact: people in countries with universal care are healthier than we are. Does it matter that “elective” hip replacements are limited in Canada? Not when those who need them for non-elective reasons can get them whenever they need them. This is an important distinction you will never hear universal care opponents mention in public.

Although I am certain Dr. Rosen wants better health care for his patients, he spends time in his op-ed worrying whether the “multi-billion-dollar health insurance industry will survive.” Not that I understand the link between their survival and the birth of IBM or the implied link between universal care and Nazi Germany. But why worry whether insurance will find something else to insure against? Somehow I think they'll find something. So much for that conservative belief in a “free-market” allowing firms to live or die based on conditions of the day.

Physicist Thomas Kuhn wrote in “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” that significant and meaningful change in just about anything originates as the result of crisis and usually comes from people who do not buy into the majority way of thinking. Other countries have thought outside of the box and have determined that universal care makes more sense and their citizens are healthier and happier as a result. The reason folks like Dr. Rosen don’t get it is because their paycheck depends on them –not-- getting it. At least he admits it while, at the same time, complaining about it.

Prop. 13 Nonsense

Bob Schuster is an editor for the Arizona Republic in the east valley. He's arguing in support of those crazies who think Arizona is California and therefore believe we need a Prop. 13 tax cut like California. He argues with one of the posters that people who want these cuts are simple folks who don't want the big bad government taking their money. The poster, CooperG, argues this:

Yeah, they are dangerous because the people behind it know no limits and have no concept of how much it costs to do things. They copy-cat California, which ain't Arizona. Maybe you can tell me exactly how Arizona's economy and California's are exactly the same. Betcha can't do it. Why can't rates go down? The Republicans control when that could happen, but they won't because they need the issue to sell to people who don't know any better and buy into bumper-sticker arguments. How is that good public policy?

As for Schuster's belief that all government is permitted to do is "protect your rights," I can't believe how naive that is. I know a very small minority of Arizonans buy into that narrow Libertarian opinion, but as an editor, I would think you have a better sense of history and the law. Did we somehow skip directly from the writing of the Constitution to 2007? Some pretty important stuff happened in those intervening years. I, for one, am tired of this ideological nonsense. Where has it gotten us? We’re last in education and tops in crime. We are near the bottom in health care and tops in Meth abuse. We have "America's Toughest Sheriff," but there are 45,000 felony warrants outstanding. Solutions to problems can't be purchased at Wal-Mart yet that’s what it seems these people want. How totally irresponsible can they get?

Especially in light of this:

http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&ID=1421

Here’s a quote: While taxes and government spending in Arizona are often thought to be high, the state actually ranks last in state and local government spending per capita. And the state actually makes out well on federal money invested in the state vs. taxes paid. For every dollar in federal taxes paid in the state, the federal government returns $1.30 in spending.

Ya know, I have to agree with him.

What Arpaio Wants Us To Forget - He's a Failure

It's comical that Sheriff Arpaio is telling us that "everyone forgets" (Critics of illegal immigration-tips hotline forgot they can't beat Arpaio) He wants us to forget the fact that his illegal immigration hotline has a .7 percent success rate. He wants us to forget the concept of "return on investment" by ignoring the fact that less than one out of 137 calls to the hotline leads to an arrest. Couldn't these officers' time be used more effectively? Couldn’t the money be used for something with a better record of reducing crime?

According to the FBI, serious crime has increased in Maricopa County every year Arpaio has been in office. Maybe that's why Arpaio wants us to forget the 45,000 outstanding felony arrest warrants he has failed to serve.

Hate crime is up in Maricopa County. Sheriff Arpaio should remind us how to reach his hate crime hotline phone number—except he doesn't have one. Just get those illegals, Sheriff.

Arpaio is great at turning any criticism of his failures into a criticism of the people pointing them out. But that doesn't lead to effective law enforcement. Arpaio wants us to forget his failures. That's the whole idea.

Making Flippy-Floppy

Today's Washington Post carries an article telling us our President is thinking about sending up to Congress a corporate tax cut bill to Congress because he wants to make U.S. corporations more competitive in the global market (Bush May Try to Cut Corporate Tax Rates). Here are some of the reader's comments:

"I am bending over. Please, please someone kick me in the a$$ for voting for this dummy. Twice. Arrgggghhhhhhhhh!"

"OK he was weird then he was crazy then he was bonkers and now he's just sick."

"How can anybody still think he's good for this country? Seriously? Can we have THEM checked for mental illness?"

I don't know why people are so critical of the president: he has rung up the largest deficit in history; he’s in denial in Iraq; still can't find Osama; instituted the worst senior drug program imaginable; sat back and watched during the largest increases in medical costs in history; exported American jobs to Asia (can't keep them in Mexico anymore); and now he thinks tax rates are the reason U.S. corporations are not competitive? What'd you expect him to think? When will you people ever learn?

But seriously, I can't think of a more Republican really dumb idea than to think corporate tax rates in this country make them less competitive. How about equal prices? How about tariff increases? How about instituting other policies that encourage these U.S. businesses to reopen manufacturing plants here and pay American workers living wages? Ooops, there I go being reasonable again.

The rock band Talking Heads had a song called "Making Flippy-Floppy," that includes this lyric:

I can't believe it
And people are strange
Our president's crazy
Did you hear what he said
Business and pleasure
Lie right to your face
Divide it in sections
And then give it away

Need I say more?

Update on Conservative Post Stating More Voting Is Bad

Just to let folks know, I posted a response to Red State Arizona's brain-dead belief that if more people voted, they'd elect more "liberals" and that the Arizona Advocacy Network is "radical left activist" for wanting to make sure people who are eligible to vote, can vote.

Needless to say, the moderator didn't see fit to post my reply--at least not almost 24 hours later.

Conservatives just can't handle the truth.

Conservative Blog Says More People Voting Is Bad

The right-wing conservative blog "Red State Arizona" seems to like casting stones to make its readers feel better. Besides spreading lies about the supposed fact there is voter fraud in Arizona (there isn't), we're told that if you want to make sure that legal U.S. citizens who reside in Arizona can exercise their right to vote, you must be a "radical left activist." According to this guy:

"AZ Advocacy Network's goal is to register as many people to vote as possible, in fact they'd love to make voting a requirement, because it would benefit liberals. Since conservatives are more likely than Dems to make the effort to vote on their own initiative, groups like this know the surefire way to pick up more liberal votes is to practically require people to vote, because that drags in the people who don't care - who will vote liberal. "If you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul.'"

Uh, yeah. If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with b.s. Who knows where he gets this claptrap from, but there's no truth to any of it. Of course, when did the truth matter to conservative Republicans in Arizona?

I see nothing "radical left activist" about trying to make sure that legal and qualified Arizona residents are able to exercise their Constitutional right to vote by making sure the law (Prop 200) is followed properly and people get the chance to provide the proper identification. Why is this guy opposed to legal residents exercising their right to vote? Oh, that's right, conservatives think if more people register, they'll vote "liberal."

As for registering illegal immigrants, the Maricopa County Attorney, the Secretary of State and the Maricopa County Recorder have stated in response to the legal discovery process they have no proof (as in zero) that any illegal immigrant has ever attempted to register to vote or has attempted to vote in Arizona. If they’re lying and you know it, they have committed perjury. If you have any proof, maybe some Republican can explain why the senior law enforcement and election officials in the state don’t know about it.

As for other cases of voter fraud, I challenge conservatives to please cite a single case in the state of Arizona that has been prosecuted in the last 10 years that has (a) been brought to trial or (b) resulted in a conviction or guilty plea. That really hot place will freeze over before you can come up with a single example.

Since there is no proof of voter fraud in Arizona or illegals attempting to vote in Arizona, I think conservatives should be cheering the Arizona Advocacy Network for looking out for and protecting Arizona citizen's Constitutional right to vote. Lord knows no group from the "radical right" thinks voting is worth fighting for. As the author of Red State Arizona clearly states, Republicans are plainly more concerned with stopping it.

More Tax Cut Lunacy - Arizona is California

We have folks here in Arizona who seem to think Proposition 13 in California should be replicated here because we have "the same problems" California did. Listen to them and they'll refer you to this Harold Jarvis cult-of-personality web site that attempts to make the case that Prop 13 worked wonders for California homeowners who were going to lose their homes due to high property tax rates.

Sorry, but I can't find a single measure where Arizona is anything like California--except maybe because we have more of them moving here with the profits from the sale of their home in California. So how can we have the same problems?

These Arizonans who call themselves "Friends of the Taxpayer" will tell you that our tax rates are, to quote intellectual wannabe Sen. Thayer Verschoor (R-22) "extraordinarily high." People will lose their homes, these folks say, because their property tax assessments will bankrupt them and because of this we need to roll back property rates --not assessments-- to 2001 levels. Why 2001? I dunno, cause that was when 9/11 happened? Actually,there is no reason other than that was before the real estate boom took hold in Arizona.

Never mind foreclosures are through the roof, driving home values down, and hence property assessment rates. Never mind that there is an average sell time of existing homes of 280 days, which is driving down rates and hence assessments. Never mind that credit is tightening up, which will make it harder for people to qualify for loans, which will drive down prices and hence assessments. Never mind the simple fact that Republicans control the County Assessors offices in this state and they set the rates and the Republican legislators write the rules regarding property assessments. So instead of holding them accountable, they'd rather run these red herrings up the flagpole so people who believe the B.S. this is rate problem when it isn't. When assessments go down, the problem goes away.

As for their other argument about high rates, here's the truth: Arizona's tax rates are in the bottom third of those in the U.S. Look at www.taxfoundation.org. Bottom third equals "high taxes?" Are they high? Too high for who? Them, obviously? Well some of us like police and fire protection. Some of us like bridges that don't fall out of the sky. Some of us want our kids educated at schools ranked higher than last in the nation. Apparently though, not these folks.

These folks think the increased revenues are due to high tax rates! Um, hello, it's because more people are paying into the system--that kind of comes with the territory of being the fastest growing state in the country. More people...more workers...more tax revenue. Can't make it any easier for you. If you don't get that, you'll never get it. Think lower taxes are good? tell that to Mesa police and fire officers. Tell that to Mesa school children. Tell that to people who have to drive on Mesa's roads. Wow, just what we need--to be just like Mesa.

More Philosophical Tax Bullshit

I'm really getting annoyed with these ideological reporters who try to push theory on people as if it were fact. What's worse is reporters who support bad public policy either overtly or through the simple fact they give them column inches. I rarely agree with the Republic's Robert Robb and today is no exception. Today, he's talking about the two groups who are pushing California-style Propostion 13 initiatives here in Arizona in a column titled "Efforts to limit property taxes taking shape.

Gee Robert, don't you read the paper? Didn't you read the story about the bridge that fell into the Mississippi River? Didn't you read about the number of bridges and other public infrastructure that is in bad shape and need repair? Didn't you read how many bridges in Arizona are rated as unsafe as the I-35W Bridge? How are we going to fix these things if cheapskates with narrow, unrealistic views of revenue and spending keep cutting the funds to fix things out from under us? Where are these dollars going to come from? Didn't you read about the story about foreclosures? How about the story on another large mortgage lender going out of business? Do people need to die in Arizona to wake you up? What are the sponsors of these propositions thinking? Are they blind, stupid or both?

As for business taxes, Robb overstates the problem. According to the Tax Foundation, Arizona's overall business tax climate is among the best in the country. Look it up. But the reason we have higher property tax rates for business is other potential revenue streams are too small or non-existent or cannot be tapped because we have ideological Neanderthals with blinders on setting tax policy. Anyone with a clue will see that cutting taxes on corporations means taxes will be raised elsewhere (like citizens) because at the end of the day, someone has to repair the bridges. Arizona is not a high-tax state and it's flat false to claim it is. Let's stop being ideological and start being practical for a change.