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STOP MAD COWBOY DISEASE
By DAVE CHADDOCK
So
proclaimed a nearby bumper sticker as an enthusiastic crowd, having assembled
near Seattle Center at the same time as the State of the Union address, defied
the rain to bang pots, blow whistles, and chant "Bush Step Down!" They
did not need to listen to the address. They knew it would be more malarkey.
It
is not that Bush himself is all that is wrong and that his removal would solve
every problem. But his enthusiastic embrace of a whole panoply of perverse and
crappy policies has made him a symbol of everything that is systematically
amiss.
From his war in Iraq, which was justified neither by
his constant references to 9-11, nor to any imminent threat; to his tax cuts for
the rich (whom he calls his "base") and his beggaring of every
worthwhile government program, his reign is an all-pervasive disaster.
After
three years of intervention in Iraq, he has created a witch's cauldron of death
and destruction that grows progressively worse. In January alone, according to a
recent graphic in the NEW YORK TIMES, there were 832 war deaths in that
suffering country.
While Exxon Mobil made profits
of $36 billion last year, corporate tax receipts have been steadily dropping.
And a tax break that gives $100,000 to the average millionaire factors out to be
about $200 to the average Joe, a pitiful amount that does not even make up for
higher heating bills.
In
his State of the Union address, Bush called for improving math and science
instruction. But this will be hard to achieve as he cuts a billion dollars from
the education budget. He also called for "cutting edge methods of producing
ethanol" at the same time as the Renewable Energy Lab is facing huge staff
layoffs as Bush has drastically trimmed its funding. (Sorry folks, we need that
money for war and the millionaires!)
Now
the latest hare-brained Bush scheme is to offer tax breaks for those who open
so-called "health savings accounts." For example, a $5,000
contribution could save $630 in income tax. But who can afford to make such
contributions? Certainly not the low income families who are now being forced to
make co-payments for needed medicines. The real supporters of this plan are the
big banks and money managers. As less and less companies with 200 workers or
more offer any health care benefits to their retirees ( only one third of them
today compared to two thirds in 1988 ), the Bank of America and J.P. Morgan look
forward to raking in a pile of loot, charging 50 to 75 dollars to open a
"Health Account", and an additional $40 a year to maintain it.
We in the ILWU family have come to appreciate that the
right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is meaningless
without the right to health
Care.
It should not be a privilege reserved for the wealthy. It should be granted to
every one of us.
As
many other nations have discovered, providing such universal coverage can
actually provide better care and at less cost. For it eliminates a whole army of
administrators who preside over a thicket of competing private insurance
companies who are all trying to give the least care to those who really need it!
Bush and his cronies
may seem to be riding high, but as more and more people are being given the
short end of the stick, there is bound to be a comeuppance. The working people
of the United States are not a flock of sheep. The vehemence of the protesters
in the rain last Jan. 31st is a sign that change is in the air.
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