Starting to get bad in NY

[robert duke]

The simple solution is that the USA needs to implement what every other industrialized nation has brought in, a national sales tax. With all the revenues going direct to the federal government, not the states. In exchange, it will be the responsibility of the feds to provide health care for all Americans.

 

In Canada the federal sales tax started at 7%, and it eliminated the gov't deficit. Now Canada has chalked up federal surpluses for 7+ years. As a result of Canada's debt being paid down and federal budget surpluses the government sales tax was lowered to 6%, and starting Jan 1 2008, it's now 5%.

 

The goal being to get rid of it all together one day.

 

The bottom line is that you have to pay your own way, you can't deficit finance like the USA is doing for the next 50 years. Yes we all hate the GST here in Canada, that's true. But, I can see how it has helped the country.

 

The USA has such a massive economy, that a US federal sales tax of only 4% would generate so much revenue the benefits would out weigh the drawbacks. The federal gov't may be able to balance its budget and fund national health care.

 

Plus I know so many Americans are paying co pays to have their health insurance through their employers each month any way. You won't need these co pays with a national health care system, so your over all take home pay would not be affected by a 4% GST.

 

Self employed people in the USA can expect to pay $700.00 a month for a good quality health insurance plan, they could get rid of this $700.00 a month and pay the 4% GST instead. There is no way they would end up paying more than $700.00 a month in GST on things that they buy.

 

If you spent $10,000.00 a month on "stuff", that would only be $400.00 a month in GST. Who on earth spends $10,000.00 a month on food, gas, clothes, "toys", etc.

 

The very people who would scream the loudest in protest over a US GST are the very people who may end up benefiting the most.

 

Come to me America I have the answers to all your problems ;)

 

R,

It all seems simple in THOSE terms. But the truth here is that Major corporations/industries would stand to lose. Industries with Very potent lobbyists. Lobbyists are a funny way our government acctually runs. Our bills and laws arent written by legislators as they would have you believe. Laws are written by lobbyists and "shopped" around much like films. So to get laws passed such as a GST it would have to be written by a lobbyist and shopped to more legislators than its opponents.

 

The health insurance industry here is one of the MOST powerful lobbying bodies. They would stand to Lose everything or so they would have you believe. They would stop at nothing to knock down any law that would even hint at money leaving their coffers.

[John Sprung]

Laws are written by lobbyists and "shopped" around much like films. So to get laws passed such as a GST it would have to be written by a lobbyist and shopped to more legislators than its opponents.

Aha -- Now there's where we really need a writers' strike..... ;-)

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Guest]

"The health insurance industry here is one of the MOST powerful lobbying bodies. They would stand to Lose everything or so they would have you believe. They would stop at nothing to knock down any law that would even hint at money leaving their coffers."

 

They could stand to win as billions in tax dollars flood into their industries, guaranteed by the gov't. How many unpaid doctor and hospital bills are there in America today? Billions of dollars worth.

 

In Canada doctors first opposed national health care, then they signed on once they realized the gov't was a huge cash cow that paid their bills on time and guaranteed payment for every patient they see.

 

Much easier than dealing with 500 different insurance companies and constantly asking them to pay up.

 

R,

[robert duke]

It isnt the doctors and hospitals with the $ it is the Insurance companies. I agree with you the Govmt does become a lucrative cash cow when subsidized health care is created. Tennessee had a subsidized program that was a pioneer in health care for the working poor. There was a huge scandal labeled the Tennessee waltz. several lawmakers and corporate sponsors were caught in bribery scandals that destroyed it. Now there is a group called the Church Health care. It is Christian based but not overtly. Early in my career I was a client of this. It is spreading throughout the south for a low cost health insurance alternative. It actually was developed using models from the Canadian health care system. Doctors sign up for a day at a clinic owned by the Church health care. Members go to the clinic and are seen by a doctor, if more medical screening is neccessary they are sent to an affiliated doctor. There are affiliated emergency rooms etc. It is pretty cool. Look it up. We as a people have to help without the government because they wont help.

 

I helped do a membership video for recruiting doctors years ago after leaving the system. I got to give back.

 

http://www.churchhealthcenter.org/

Edited January 9, 2008 by robert duke

[Walter Graff]

Hey here is an idea. Everyone watches movies. If we set up a system that allowed us all to get movies on the web for free, we could have a national distribution system for movies. We'd never have to pay the high price at theaters again!! I know, how could you do that? The system is run by companies both public and private that make too much money to simply let it become such a system. Well that is what the health care system in the US is a trillion dollar a year industry run by mostly public and private companies whose livelihood is based on the system we have. No one is simply going to say, okay well give up the system so everyone can have healthcare. An unheard of 15% of GDP in the US is healthcare. Are pharmaceutical companies and healthcare companies simply going to give up their capitalist business model so you can have affordable health care? No, this is the U S OF A folks, sorry. You will never see it.

[David Mullen ASC]

My agency today sent out a notice that the biggest payroll company in Hollywood, Axium, is declaring bankruptcy. That's amazing that it only took a two-month slowdown of work to topple this company, assuming there wasn't some non-strike related cause.

 

When I tried to join the union in 2003, it was the non-union arm of Axium, Avalon, that helped me the most in gathering the payroll info and sending a letter to Contract Services, then sending another when Contract Services lost the first one.

[Brad Grimmett]

My agency today sent out a notice that the biggest payroll company in Hollywood, Axium, is declaring bankruptcy. That's amazing that it only took a two-month slowdown of work to topple this company, assuming there wasn't some non-strike related cause.

There are unconfirmed rumors that the IRS is involved. So this may not be completely because of the strike.

[Adamo P Cultraro]

Too bad about axium. I look fondly upon those paystubs. They were a decent company.

[James Baker]

There are unconfirmed rumors that the IRS is involved. So this may not be completely because of the strike.

 

http://defamer.com/342527/axium-the-enron-...-services-world

 

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/...2&cset=true

[Hal Smith]

The truth is that the healthcare industry has been very profitable for some people and they don't want to change that.

There is reason to believe that healthcare insurance companies keep 50% of the premiums received (IE: gross profit). They could care less about increasing healthcare costs. If medical costs go up 20%, they increase their rates, and their gross profit increases 10%.

 

Then they spend a fair portion of the gross profit on lobbying Congress so nothing changes. We got the worst of both capitalist and socialist healthcare. We pay high prices for insurance and then have to beg managed care systems to provide the healthcare we're paying for.

 

Don't get me started on large corporations trying their darndest to bust unions. Okay, I'll rant on one subject: The absolute worse position to be in as a small business or independent contractor is to be dependent on large corporations for one's income. They'll screw you every chance they get, unions are one of the few ways the working stiff has of equaling the political and economic power of corporations.

 

The ONE time I've been deliberately stiffed in the eighteen years of owning and running a successful small business was by Clear Channel Communications. A CC network General Manager manager called me in on a project involving one of their networks, then the home office claimed he didn't have the authority to hire anyone and stiffed me. Get that? They claimed a GENERAL MANAGER can't hire outside engineering.

[Walter Graff]

Funny thing is that the heath care industry is regulated in the US. Problem is it is regulated so that doctors can't do what they need making sure that health care companies make profit off of everything at your expense. Basically they lobby for this so that they can make as much money as possible. Hence why when you see a politician talk about reforming health care, you can be assured it is rhetoric. I should say only Bloomberg, if he ran could change things, but the rest of them are simply part of the system.

 

As for unions and corporate America, yes, they are working very hard to eliminate all the unions and having great success. Just recently at a national sports Association I worked for for many years, they bought out the union to eliminate it by doing deals with the editors (the union members) so that they would leave and the shop would be dismantled. It also got rid of those they didn't like. The ones they liked they made deals to so they would come back after the union was dismantled. The rest simply got bought out and left. I'd say in ten years, unions will be a single digit part of America since the percentage has been taking a nose dive as union organizations fight for their life.

[robert duke]

I had a similar experience with Time Warner a decade ago.