Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:59:25 -0800WeeblyTue, 09 Mar 2010 20:51:02 -0800http://www.jackwadeshow.com/1/post/2010/03/wade-to-insurance-cos-thank-you-for-bringing-it-up.htmlAfter spending an enjoyable day cheering on our courageous health insurance protesters, I was treated to a thoroughly annoying news story on one of the evening network newscasts.  The thrust of the story was that insurance companies have taken a new direction in their fight against the upcoming health care legislation. The Insurance people have released advertising that says that insurance company profits have only gone up by a small percentage last year, but health care and pharmaceutical costs have risen dramatically.

That may or may not be so, but one thing the insurance companies don't tell you is that the rise in health care costs can be statistically mitigatged by the fact that all of their insured people are not sick at once, that is to say that the healthy insureds ostensibly can offset some of the expense incurred by the unhealthy insureds.  That's why insurance companies love to disqualify pre existing conditions and, in some cases refuse to write policies. 

I feel that  the very reason private health insurance DOESN'T work in our country is, in it's present state, it HAS to disqualify some of it's less healthy potential clients in order to exist.  That is to say, if an insurance company has a client base that was largely in poor health, the operating expenses would drive it out of business.  That is inconsistent with the idea of getting health care for all.

The insurance companies have a point about the rapid rise in medical and pharmaceutical costs.  We should thank them for bringing it to our attention because it tells us that we need to nationalize every aspect of health care to really control it's spiraling costs.  Private insurance companies can not regulate health care expenses by law, governments can.

At this point I can hear loud sqeals of protest coming from conservatives.  They will say that government shouldn't be in  the health care business. I say that health care should have always been a government function because it protects and serves public life and safety in the same way a police or fire department does.  We wouldn't think of privatizing our police departments, why should we privatize our health care?  Some people might say, doctors sacrifice their lives by spending years in medical school and should be rewarded for their effort.  Police, fire and for that matter our military personnel have sacrificed their lives to protect our lives.
Under a national health care model, doctors will be free to be doctors, not businessmen.]]>Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:54:43 -0800http://www.jackwadeshow.com/1/post/2010/03/abc-vs-cablevision-corporate-strike.htmlThe dispute between WABC's parent company, The Walt Disney Co. and Cablevision does more than inconvenience some viewers, it portends a scary trend in the broadcasting industry. To hear about it, visit my Listen Here! page.

This just in: Fifteen minutes into the Academy Awards, WABC restored it's program feed to Cablevision.  Gee, thanks a lot Disney & Cablevision, that was big of you!]]>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:32:34 -0800http://www.jackwadeshow.com/1/post/2010/03/there-ought-to-be-a-law.htmlWe have always been concerned when our government attempts to invade our privacy.  We should be twice as concerned when big business actually invades our privacy, violates our rights as citizens and hurts our means of earning a living. 

What I'm refering to is the pre-employment credit check that is a part of  almost every job application these days.   I've called it the double whammy on my show because a person who becomes unemployed, through no fault of his or her own will probably fall behind on credit card and or mortgage payments.  When a company uses the credit check as part of it's hiring criteria, it guarantees a perpetual cycle of unemployment.

As usual, you can't ask big business to do the right thing, you have to make big business do the right thing.   The State of Illinois has pending legislation that addresses that issue, HB4658, The Employee Credit Privacy act. That legislation should be a model for similar federal and state laws.

Stand up for your rights as a citizen and working person. Ask your state and federal representatives to sponsor similar legislation.]]>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:58:45 -0800http://www.jackwadeshow.com/1/post/2010/03/snatching-failure-from-the-jaws-of-success.htmlMr. President, I am going to give you some unsolicited free advice. You were elected based on your campaign that pointed out many of the failures of the previous administration and some glaring shortcomings of the American system.  When you point out a problem, the implication is that you are prepared to fix it.  In other words, if you point it out, you own it. 

Pointing out many of those problems can get you elected, but can also be like opening up Pandora's box.  You have reminded and, in some cases awakened people to some major inequities in the American system:
To the fact that two percent of the US population control most of the wealth. 
To the fact that banks and Wall Street had a party during the Bush administration. To the fact that our health care system sacrifices the heath of many of our citizens to allow others to profit. 

If you can't fix those problems, the Republicans and other Right Wing elements will use them against you.  Right Wing talk show hosts have openly said that they want you to fail: 
You can guarantee failure by seeking a bipartisan solution to those issues. The Republicans will not profit by your success and are willing to take our country down the drain to get back in power.  
You can guarantee failure by seeking the approval of the Blue Dogs, they are Republicans dressed up as Democrats.
You can guarantee failure by continuing to court the independent voter at the expense of the principals that got you elected in the first place.

 I am a Progressive Democrat and a Progressive radio talk show host, I want you to succeed. In case you  don't realize it by now, we were your core supporters during your Presidential campaign. Out of necessity, you had to court unaffiliated voters and disgruntled Republicans.  But, to be honest with you, what hurts us the most is when, in the name of bipartisanism, you classify us as the extreme left side of the political spectrum.  The take away from this, for ALL Democrats is that you can't be all thing to all people and expect to get re-elected.]]>Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:16:40 -0800http://www.jackwadeshow.com/1/post/2010/02/health-care-for-all.htmlPlease help me to help everyone by sending a link to my Listen Here! page to your friends.]]>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:25:38 -0800http://www.jackwadeshow.com/1/post/2010/02/whats-an-msp-and-how-does-it-affect-your-heath-care.htmlFor many years, in another life, I was an official in a broadcast industry union local.  As you all know, unions are no stranger to a process known as collective bargaining, otherwise known as the fine art of negotiation.  At contract renewal time, that process of give and take between union and management can amount to months of tedious hours of nitpicking, or it can go smoothly.  The take away from that process is that there are a set of proven techniques that, if followed,  usually lead to a successful outcome.

The most important thing to remember is just pure common sense. When you present a particular issue for negotiation, you always start the bargaining process by presenting your MSP or maximum supportable position.  The maximum supportable position is the most that you can ask for without getting the other side of the negotiations so upset that they walk away from the bargaining table.  It's the starting point that you ask for with the realization that it is going to be bargained down. A numeric example is if you want to get say $40,000 annual salary for the people you represent, you would start out by asking for $60,000. If you asked for 70,000, management would walk out. If you asked for $40,000, management assume that is your starting point and proceed to bargain down from there. That's not rocket science, it's negotiating 101.

I feel that one of the main reasons we've had problems with the Republican's and Teabaggers being able to block any health care legislation is that, from the beginning,  the President and the Dems. haven't started the health care debate by demanding full European-style national health care as a maximum supportable position. The fall-back could then be single payer health care. The public option should have been absolutely not negotiable and the thing we settle for if all else fails. 

President Obama was a community organizer.  I'm sure he knows the rules of the road when it comes to negotiating.  By originally turning the debate over to Congress and the Senate and letting the issue fester by taking what is essentially a passive role in the debates, I felt that his support was luke warm at best.  By releasing his health care plan without a public option, he is starting from a rock-bottom maximum supportable position.  It makes me wonder if he considers his health care campaign promises to be a liability, rather than an asset and wants to sign any law that has the words health care in it just to say that he fulfilled a campaign promise.]]>Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:19:10 -0800http://www.jackwadeshow.com/1/post/2010/02/the-party-of-maybe.htmlHas the Democratic party become the party of maybe?  Visit my Listen Here! page to find out.]]>Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:37:33 -0800http://www.jackwadeshow.com/1/post/2010/02/job-application-rejection-letter.htmlIf you've ever applied for a job and wound up with nothing but one of those canned rejection letters to show for it, you're going to love what's on my  Listen Here! page.]]>Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:31:15 -0800http://www.jackwadeshow.com/1/post/2010/02/say-it-aint-so-health-care-revisited.htmlDespite the best efforts of the special interest groups, there seems to be a breath of life left in the pending health care legislation.  One of my favorite sayings is, "Where there's life, there's hope".  For the sake of ALL Americans, not just the rich, I am going to give the health care issue some quick CPR.

In my travels, both in person and on Twitter, I've met many people who have had their lives destroyed by our present for profit health care system.  Some of them have gone into bankruptcy because they couldn't pay their medical bills.  Some friends are suffering with major illnesses like cancer without the benefit of health insurance. Tragically, others have lost family members to conditions that would be minor issues, but escallated to life threatening and life taking conditions because they didn't have insurance and couldn't pay the pound of flesh that is needed to get "the best health care in the world", under the present system of greed that we call health care in the "good old USA". 

What galls me is that almost every industrialized country in the world has some sort of national health care except for our country.  Yet, special interest groups, who have been profiting from our present system for years, have been able to convince certain segments of the middle class that having a universal health care safety net that covers everyone is somehow bad for them.

Some of you are going to blame the right wing radio and TV media for blowing the astro-turfed town hall meetings and demonstrations out of proportion, but the mainstream media has also been guilty of giving the people involved in those demonstrations lots of face time and lots of false credibility.  There's plenty of blame to go around, so let's move on to my favorite culprits..

Most of our electeds seem to be listening to health insurance lobbyists and not to the REAL voices of the people who elected them. The Republicans seem to support the big corporate insurance interests and not those of the average working person, big surprise there.  The Democrats appears to be a house divided.  The efforts of many good intentioned members of that party are thwarted by the blue dog democrats, who are marching to the tune of the Republican party's drum.  
The blue dogs cause just enough problems to tie up legislation that benefits the average voter. That amounts to a virtual one party system.

The cure for any foot-dragging on health care is to make our electeds walk a mile in our shoes. Take away their taxpayer financed health insurance and make them buy their own individual policies from the same insurance corporations that we have to deal with.  Currently, we are all paying for their insurance out of our taxes, even those of us who have no insurance of our own, yet they have the nerve to deny that p!  When it effects their health care, they will give use national health care in the blink of an eye.

Now a few loose ends:
1- Mr. President, I hear rumors from various sources that your interest in getting a health care bill passed is waining.   That was one of the main reasons that I supported and voted for you in the last election. Mr. President, say it ain't so.

2- I want each and every one of you to keep calling your elected representatives. Tell them that you want single-payer health care, but will settle for a public option.

3- Give yourself a hand because you are the driving force behind The Jack Wade Show.

Stay tuned because my next show is going to be a blockbuster!]]>Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:39:47 -0800http://www.jackwadeshow.com/1/post/2010/02/working-people-meet-your-real-best-friend.htmlI have a few choice words for those of you who are working people and still think that the Tea Party represents you. To hear them visit my  Listen Here! page.]]>