The absurdity of the American political system is really getting me down recently, which means it must be election season, though it seems anymore there isn’t a time when people aren’t campaigning. I suppose especially with the looming move back to the states I’ve been bummed out even more though due to the fact that it will soon have a direct effect on me. Here’s what I do not understand about America:
1. Why do people try to put themselves on a moral high ground with certain issues, i.e. abortion, separation of church and state, stem cell research and whatever else it may be, while at the same time, paradoxically, are so immoral with issues such as the fact that millions of people within the united states are without healthcare and many other basic needs/rights. They might as well look at the blood on their own hands, because they are effectively aborting their fellow countrymen by not helping them. I don’t see how people who claim to be religious can look at the state of America and continue to naively look on as people suffer in front of them. So this democrat believes in abortion, so what I say. What makes him any worse than the republican who keeps giving to the rich and allowing normal people to be crushed under avoidable debts that are amassed by something like a chronic medical condition because they work a job that doesn’t provide healthcare and can’t afford it? You don’t have to be in full agreement with someone to vote for them, if people would educate themselves about whom they voted for, and not just look down party lines, then you’d realize you will never have every viewpoint in line with one candidate. I personally do not know how someone could be so passionate about saving the life of an unborn child, and yet so complacent about people who they could be “saving” that are currently living in less than ideal situations, i.e. the 53+ million Americans without any healthcare, and the 30 more who are under insured. All it takes is to have a bad toothache to realize how much your quality of life is affected by it. Imagine if the situation was more grave than just a little toothache, diabetes or another chronic condition that without medication can be lethal. How can you say someone shouldn’t kill a baby, but can say that this person doesn’t have the right to live a full life, thus effectively killing them in a way? Anyone who would believe that it’s just because they don’t want to pay for health insurance has been thoroughly propagandized by the wrong side. If it were affordable, people would pay.
2. How do republicans continue to buy (republican voters)/sell (republican politicians) this rhetoric of tax cuts, while simultaneously, somehow being able to miraculously reduce the deficit. Is the average republican really that uneducated? It takes less than basic math to know that if you are taking in less money in, you have less money to spend, hence perpetually compounding the debt. Anyone who has a credit card knows that there’s interest on all debt, and if you barely have enough to make the minimum payment, and then continue to take less and less money in (taxes), how does one feasibly propose to eventually pay back a debt? Well, in the case of the government and the republicans, they’d have to cut government spending, to things like Medicaid, Medicare, veteran services, etc, these exact ideals they so strongly purport to champion (the elderly and the military). They won’t say this of course, just like they do not say that the bullshit of “trickle down economics,” doesn’t work. What rich person do you know that “invests” his tax break back into society? Of course, there is the charitable, tax deductible gift, as well as the investments to ultimately grow his own fortune, but creating jobs for the average American or helping to build the country up for the future generation, i.e. a sound infrastructure (roads, bridges,etc), education, healthcare, are not seeing any direct betterment from these top 2% and their tax cuts. When will people wake up and look at statistics and not just jingoistic party line jargon? This “socialist” Obama, wants to raise taxes on the highest 2% of people in the country. Do you make over $200,000 a year and are single? Or $250,000 a year and have a family? Then you can put yourself in the category of the taxed. Otherwise, you don’t have to worry about it because your taxes are staying the same! Paul Krugman summed it up quite succinctly in his September 19th article entitled, “The Angry Rich”:
These days, however, tax-cutters are hardly even trying to make the trickle-down case. Yes, Republicans are pushing the line that raising taxes at the top would hurt small businesses, but their hearts don’t really seem in it. Instead, it has become common to hear vehement denials that people making $400,000 or $500,000 a year are rich. I mean, look at the expenses of people in that income class — the property taxes they have to pay on their expensive houses, the cost of sending their kids to elite private schools, and so on. Why, they can barely make ends meet.
People, rich people that is, are living well, very well. If you’re rich and an American, life is great, you have everything and more. If you’re poor and an American however, then you have very little going for you. Hell, if you’re a middle class American, things aren’t easy. Myself for example: I’m moving back home, where I will have no health insurance, at least for a time. It takes just one unavoidable accident to completely jeopardize everything. One car wreck, one broken bone even, and suddenly, you’re thousands of dollars in debt. I’m a college educated, middle class, white male. This is not typically the demographic you expect this from, this is typically the “privileged” demographic, but due to a simple, preventative issue: health insurance being too expensive (especially if it’s viewed with through the eyes of the American consumer, constantly on the lookout for the bargain and a better price to performance ratio, $113 a month for blue cross/blue shield medical, no dental, no vision, with a $1000 deductible and very limited coverage just doesn’t cut it), one can be rendered helpless under unpayable debt (the astronomical amount of the bill, compounded by the fact that due to the medical emergency, you are unable to work). This makes me indignant, and it should make you indignant as well. Why? Because it is quite simply unfair in a land of “limitless opportunity.” For all the Tea Partiers out there who champion the constitution and it’s right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and simultaneously want to overturn the health care bill without proposing one, one, soluble, concrete alternative, one question: how can you pursue happiness when you have an insurmountable debt over your head due to a medical condition that bleeds you dry and can’t get any insurer to take you on because you’re not “profitable?” Answer: you can’t.
Sonntag, 26. September 2010
Montag, 5. April 2010
back in the studio...
i was in the studio today for the first time in a while. it's just too damn expensive and i, being a musician and student, am not exactly in a position where i make a lot of proverbial "dough."
my first record,"the places you might have gone" i'm satisfied with, that is to say, not happy, but i don't hate it. this is not a case of artistic self-deprecation as can be the case. the album is simply not an accurate representation of what it is i wanted to make at the time (this is due to a yes man producer, in the sense he would just nod his head and say yes, as if he was paying attention to what i suggested/wanted, and then wouldn't do it...), nor is it an accurate representation of what it is that i'm creating/doing now, which i believe is definitely one of the most frustrating things for an artist, or just in life in general: being misrepresented/misunderstood.
whether conscientiously or not, art is an attempt at the sublime. it's meant to transcend language, transcend the normal way that we would interact with other people. it says something when nothing particular is being said, and speaks directly to people to whom it never had a specific intention to do so. when art is done well, it achieves a certain abscence of self/self-perception for the observer, (or listener as is the case in of music), as well as the artist, and achieves an unspoken intersubjectivity (for the layman/non-philosophy student...) that brings people together if even only for a 3 minute period.
this explains, at least in part, the difficulty of finding a person, read:producer and/or bandmate, collaborator, who completely understands your idea for your songs: something that is based on emotion or the aforementioned abstract, unsaid intersubjectivity. perhaps that's why someone who understands your vision is worth their weight in gold, because they know what it is you're trying to express without you needing to articulate it constantly and try to explain it to death. it's these same kind of people who are the ones not trying to squeeze in a scorching, virtuosic solo when all the song needs is a simple bit that adds a layer to enhance the song. it's the guy that's willing to tap the tambourine once every 4 beats of a song, or lay down a shaker, or minimalistically hit the snare or kick drum, who will inherit the musical kingdom of heaven so to speak. the person who, is capable of, but for his ego doesn't need to unpack the mal apropos, superfluous solo. in short, it's difficult to find contentedness in musicians; contentedness with the small things.
finding someone who knows what you're going for and knows how to guide the song to where it needs to get to, is perhaps why radiohead works exclusively with nigel godrich, or up until now at least. in my humble opinion, there is no band today, and perhaps ever, that has successfully mixed such progressivism with mainstream appeal, and with such incredible consistency and longevity. there are many bands that swing for the fences by changing their sound on a follow up of a hit album, but none have been able to do that as well and as often as radiohead ('the bends' and the massive jump to 'ok computer', to the change-up of an album, 'kid a' and 'amnesiac' and then releasing the name-your-price 'in rainbows' unexpectedly). any other well known band working as long as radiohead has not maintained the cutting edge songwriting and avoided the kitsch so successfully. not u2, not the rolling stones, not aerosmith, not anyone. but i digress...
antonio from creation studios heard my show down at the rogue coffee roasters when i first got into town and was kind enough to offer to record a couple songs with me for no cost. well, after my very hectic schedule during my "vacation," we were finally able to make some time to do it today and i laid down the acoustic guitar and vocal tracks for 3 songs previously unrecorded. on top of that, niki, a friend of mine over at point.click.shoot. was kind enough to volunteer to shoot the session as well and i'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.
well, off to berlin a couple days so we'll see if i get another chance to write in the next few days. for now, i'm off to watch the ncaa finals
my first record,"the places you might have gone" i'm satisfied with, that is to say, not happy, but i don't hate it. this is not a case of artistic self-deprecation as can be the case. the album is simply not an accurate representation of what it is i wanted to make at the time (this is due to a yes man producer, in the sense he would just nod his head and say yes, as if he was paying attention to what i suggested/wanted, and then wouldn't do it...), nor is it an accurate representation of what it is that i'm creating/doing now, which i believe is definitely one of the most frustrating things for an artist, or just in life in general: being misrepresented/misunderstood.
whether conscientiously or not, art is an attempt at the sublime. it's meant to transcend language, transcend the normal way that we would interact with other people. it says something when nothing particular is being said, and speaks directly to people to whom it never had a specific intention to do so. when art is done well, it achieves a certain abscence of self/self-perception for the observer, (or listener as is the case in of music), as well as the artist, and achieves an unspoken intersubjectivity (for the layman/non-philosophy student...) that brings people together if even only for a 3 minute period.
this explains, at least in part, the difficulty of finding a person, read:producer and/or bandmate, collaborator, who completely understands your idea for your songs: something that is based on emotion or the aforementioned abstract, unsaid intersubjectivity. perhaps that's why someone who understands your vision is worth their weight in gold, because they know what it is you're trying to express without you needing to articulate it constantly and try to explain it to death. it's these same kind of people who are the ones not trying to squeeze in a scorching, virtuosic solo when all the song needs is a simple bit that adds a layer to enhance the song. it's the guy that's willing to tap the tambourine once every 4 beats of a song, or lay down a shaker, or minimalistically hit the snare or kick drum, who will inherit the musical kingdom of heaven so to speak. the person who, is capable of, but for his ego doesn't need to unpack the mal apropos, superfluous solo. in short, it's difficult to find contentedness in musicians; contentedness with the small things.
finding someone who knows what you're going for and knows how to guide the song to where it needs to get to, is perhaps why radiohead works exclusively with nigel godrich, or up until now at least. in my humble opinion, there is no band today, and perhaps ever, that has successfully mixed such progressivism with mainstream appeal, and with such incredible consistency and longevity. there are many bands that swing for the fences by changing their sound on a follow up of a hit album, but none have been able to do that as well and as often as radiohead ('the bends' and the massive jump to 'ok computer', to the change-up of an album, 'kid a' and 'amnesiac' and then releasing the name-your-price 'in rainbows' unexpectedly). any other well known band working as long as radiohead has not maintained the cutting edge songwriting and avoided the kitsch so successfully. not u2, not the rolling stones, not aerosmith, not anyone. but i digress...
antonio from creation studios heard my show down at the rogue coffee roasters when i first got into town and was kind enough to offer to record a couple songs with me for no cost. well, after my very hectic schedule during my "vacation," we were finally able to make some time to do it today and i laid down the acoustic guitar and vocal tracks for 3 songs previously unrecorded. on top of that, niki, a friend of mine over at point.click.shoot. was kind enough to volunteer to shoot the session as well and i'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.
well, off to berlin a couple days so we'll see if i get another chance to write in the next few days. for now, i'm off to watch the ncaa finals
Samstag, 27. März 2010
the oregon coast and making the best of things...
i updated the following status to my facebook page before i left on this coastal adventure with my brother and parents, for our first "family vacation" since i don't even know when:
off to gold beach, where time surely stands still, though the oregon coast is a beautiful, but cold, but still beautiful, thing...
my favorite lady pointed out that it was almost poetic, and rereading the post with that in mind, i actually thought so too. without being pretentious, cos i'm no f. scott fitzgerald, it reminded me of the way he may have phrased something in his book the great gatsby, which i highly recommend to anyone who's not yet read it. it's funny how other people seeing things in your allows you to see them as well.
as i write this blog from a bar, the only place open with free wireless internet in gold beach, the sun peeks through a ramshackle skylight, where a malapropos state of california flag and some sort of kite in the shape of an old bi-plane hang. the song "here comes the sun" comes on the radio, which would be incredibly kitsch to write were it not true, followed by the oh so familiar voice of the one and only hank williams. it's no later than 2pm here but the bar already ebbs and flows with people much, like the ocean that one can see through the bay windows behind the bar. 2 women come in, order a white russian and some sort of mai tai looking drink and sit down to try their luck at the video poker and slot machines. a saturday afternoon indeed.
before landing here, my brother and i made more of a status quo attempt to get on the internet at a local cafe, only to find that they, in addition to drink prices, charge $2.50 for 3 hours of internet. welcome to 5 or more years ago where wireless internet was a luxury and not a necessity as it is in all big cities, hell, just about any size city, now. while waiting on my freshly ordered coffee, a dark italian roast that my palate was greatly looking forward to, an elderly woman, who had apparently just ordered the same thing and who was holding a mug containing the fruits of that labor, extends it towards me and says, "smell it. that's the dark roast." welcome to small town america. i lean towards the cup, and against my current big city protocol of how one interacts with people, i feign to smell it. this brand of rehearsed kindness is due to a dormant, small town politeness that manifests itself upon occasions when one finds themselves in similar situations to their childhood/adolescence.
imagine asking someone in paris, san francisco, new york city, or even berlin where i currently live, to smell your cup of coffee. i'd love to be a fly on the wall for that reaction. maybe the idea of mine in a big city, where personal space and private property can be so scarce, is much more pronounced and fiercely defended. i try the coffee. it's awful. not in a snooty, "this isn't my big city, organic, fair trade, french roast" kind of way, just in an "oh my god, how do they make money selling this" kind of way.
once i discover the internet is not free, we pack up our things and head out. dutifully sipping my coffee, we make our way the couple blocks to the other place in town with internet: the crow's nest. who saw that coming?? a bar in a coast town with a vague reference to some sort of seafaring theme?? go figure.
this is all happening on the day after our night out at...wait for it... "the sea shell" (see aforementioned reference to seafaring bar themes in towns on the coast...). this place had a very strange dynamic to it. there were quite a few scurvy characters in there (lots of carhartt clothing), however, being spring break, there was a contingent of 20 or so osu students in the bar, bravely brandishing their identity, err...school colors. they were doing this in the form of sweats, sweatshirts, hats, jackets and anything else that would help them belong. it's not enough that you pay about 20 grand a year for school, you also want to drop an extra grand on clothing throughout your college career to fit in and/or prove to people you go to that school. people should really just walk around with their official "student loan" receipts in their pockets and they can whip those out in order to prove that they belong. oh yeah, you belong buddy, to the tune of 40 grand in student loan debt....
after listening to a surprisingly good, read: accurate cover band, playing several games of pool at 75 cents a game (what!!?? it's cheaper in manhattan) and for sure being mistaken for "gays" a few times, my brother and i decided to call it a night. where are we off to tonight though after the parents call it a night you may ask? well, probably the sea shell, for round 2.
until the next time....
-r-
off to gold beach, where time surely stands still, though the oregon coast is a beautiful, but cold, but still beautiful, thing...
my favorite lady pointed out that it was almost poetic, and rereading the post with that in mind, i actually thought so too. without being pretentious, cos i'm no f. scott fitzgerald, it reminded me of the way he may have phrased something in his book the great gatsby, which i highly recommend to anyone who's not yet read it. it's funny how other people seeing things in your allows you to see them as well.
as i write this blog from a bar, the only place open with free wireless internet in gold beach, the sun peeks through a ramshackle skylight, where a malapropos state of california flag and some sort of kite in the shape of an old bi-plane hang. the song "here comes the sun" comes on the radio, which would be incredibly kitsch to write were it not true, followed by the oh so familiar voice of the one and only hank williams. it's no later than 2pm here but the bar already ebbs and flows with people much, like the ocean that one can see through the bay windows behind the bar. 2 women come in, order a white russian and some sort of mai tai looking drink and sit down to try their luck at the video poker and slot machines. a saturday afternoon indeed.
before landing here, my brother and i made more of a status quo attempt to get on the internet at a local cafe, only to find that they, in addition to drink prices, charge $2.50 for 3 hours of internet. welcome to 5 or more years ago where wireless internet was a luxury and not a necessity as it is in all big cities, hell, just about any size city, now. while waiting on my freshly ordered coffee, a dark italian roast that my palate was greatly looking forward to, an elderly woman, who had apparently just ordered the same thing and who was holding a mug containing the fruits of that labor, extends it towards me and says, "smell it. that's the dark roast." welcome to small town america. i lean towards the cup, and against my current big city protocol of how one interacts with people, i feign to smell it. this brand of rehearsed kindness is due to a dormant, small town politeness that manifests itself upon occasions when one finds themselves in similar situations to their childhood/adolescence.
imagine asking someone in paris, san francisco, new york city, or even berlin where i currently live, to smell your cup of coffee. i'd love to be a fly on the wall for that reaction. maybe the idea of mine in a big city, where personal space and private property can be so scarce, is much more pronounced and fiercely defended. i try the coffee. it's awful. not in a snooty, "this isn't my big city, organic, fair trade, french roast" kind of way, just in an "oh my god, how do they make money selling this" kind of way.
once i discover the internet is not free, we pack up our things and head out. dutifully sipping my coffee, we make our way the couple blocks to the other place in town with internet: the crow's nest. who saw that coming?? a bar in a coast town with a vague reference to some sort of seafaring theme?? go figure.
this is all happening on the day after our night out at...wait for it... "the sea shell" (see aforementioned reference to seafaring bar themes in towns on the coast...). this place had a very strange dynamic to it. there were quite a few scurvy characters in there (lots of carhartt clothing), however, being spring break, there was a contingent of 20 or so osu students in the bar, bravely brandishing their identity, err...school colors. they were doing this in the form of sweats, sweatshirts, hats, jackets and anything else that would help them belong. it's not enough that you pay about 20 grand a year for school, you also want to drop an extra grand on clothing throughout your college career to fit in and/or prove to people you go to that school. people should really just walk around with their official "student loan" receipts in their pockets and they can whip those out in order to prove that they belong. oh yeah, you belong buddy, to the tune of 40 grand in student loan debt....
after listening to a surprisingly good, read: accurate cover band, playing several games of pool at 75 cents a game (what!!?? it's cheaper in manhattan) and for sure being mistaken for "gays" a few times, my brother and i decided to call it a night. where are we off to tonight though after the parents call it a night you may ask? well, probably the sea shell, for round 2.
until the next time....
-r-
Donnerstag, 25. März 2010
healthcare in the good ol' u.s. of a and how it affects me directly
well, this is the topic of the moment isn't it? so what would be more a propos, than an average, middle class citizen of this country, directly involved in the debate due to the healthcare bill's indirect involvement of everyone who calls him/herself a citizen of the united states, to sound off on it and how it affects him personally? because really, if we take everyone's position into account and see the polarizing effects that this bill has brought out in our society, then we see that it's people and their individual opinions, regardless of how inane or illogical they may be, that make up the core of this debate and they're the ones to decide it, whether it be by having encouraged they're representatives to pass the bill, or by trying to vote the representative out of office who did pass the bill that is so out of touch with the people, as the tea party members would most likely protest.
my opinion on the situation, oversimplified for this example of course, is that even if both positions are taken to an extreme, in the sense that you have extremists on each side blindly preaching their values, whether or not they know the reasoning behind it, much like in this video
at least on the side of universal healthcare, in spite of the fear of "government interference"(which is a misnomer saved for another blog post perhaps. anyone heard of a government program called medicaid?? hmmm...), people are being taken care of.
now i've never been a democrat, nor a republican, i'm a registered independent in fact, though party, nor alliegence should be incredibly important in my opinion when it comes to health care. why is this you say? well, health care is something that is in my opinion, a fundamental human right, because this "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" that we as americans swear upon, is directly affected by one's health and ability to carry out normal, quotidian affairs directed at achieving said happiness. Unless it's just some cruel joke, i'm sure the founding fathers upon writing that into the declaration of independence, didn't mean it in the sense of a carrot on a stick, but rather the pursuit of a personal, attainable happiness. one may pose the question: what does universal healthcare have to do with any of that? well, my retort would be to point out anyone who has had a cold or any other short term, curable malady, such as the flu, strep throat, etc, can attest to the debilitating nature of being sick in hopes of accomplishing anything. anyone who has been bed ridden for a week due to illness knows that it's no picnic and life goes from "the pursuit of happiness" to survival. now, if one were to expound this debilitating condition, turning it into something of a chronic, incurable nature, and then compound that with not being able to get treatment for the aforementioned malady, that's a whole different story, in fact, it's a travesty. even more so when you consider the surroundings; this isn't happening into some poverty ridden, far off country, this is occurring to people in our country, and more immediately, in our communities, to people we know personally, not just statistics. this is happening in america, a place where these people going under are surrounded by an incomparable wealth and abundance unseen in the rest of the world. consider this:
"That the country needs to reform its health care system is painfully obvious. At least 47 million Americans have no medical coverage, 75 million are underinsured with skeleton plans, and 86.7 million Americans have been uninsured for at least 6 months over last two years. There has been a dramatic rise increase in the uninsured rate in every state. Lack of health care coverage caused 45,000 deaths per year. Health care premiums shot up more than 90% between 2000 and 2007, while the profits of the 10 largest insurers increased 428 percent over the same period. Without real reform, there will be a 94% increase in health insurance premiums by 2020. Harvard researchers say 62% of all personal bankruptcies in the US were caused by health problems—and 78% of those filers had insurance. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, despite having the most expensive per capital health care in the world, the US in only ranked 37th in the quality of care."
in berlin, germany where i've lived for the last 3 years, i randomly contracted pink eye one day, anyone that's had it recently, can attest to the fact that it's no fun. now pink eye is very curable and i was able to procure the necessary drugs for less than 10 euro if memory serves, and everything cleared up in one day, which made me think. people in third world countries are not so lucky as to have the access to those same drugs, therefore transforming a curable condition into something potentially serious. in america, not having insurance is our equivalent. the drugs are in reach, but aren't accessible, much in the same way that drugs aren't accessible in third world countries, albeit for different reasons, the bottom line is the same: people are not being helped.
i read this quote in an article in the new york times: and found it very accurate:
"In the broadest sense, insurance is meant to spread the costs of an individual’s misfortune — illness, death, fire, flood — across society."
When we start losing the plot, it's sometimes best to get back to the definition of something, to the root of it. at some point in time, someone invented this thing we now call "insurance" in order to safeguard people from catastrophes that no one person could ever prepare themselves for. nowadays, insurance companies will look for that loophole that allows them to deny payment, or at least to give the bare minimum. people can say this isn't true, and i understand people making a living, but the mere fact that someone can be denied health insurance due to the fact that they're already sick, i.e. a pre-existing condition, is something that, putting it bluntly, just seems inhumane, especially considering they are the ones who need help the most. of course, the rich will have to pay a bit more, and the rich don't like that, but when nobody is left to work in their factories, producing their ideas that earn them millions, (consider the example of the cotton farmer who makes a pittance for the raw materials he provides, about $25 a bale, to the designer who then sells a t shirt composed of that cotton for 100 dollars) what will they do then?
i have been living abroad for the better part of the last decade and have been therefore not directly affected by the staggering giant we call the u.s. healthcare system. i do know however what i've been "missing out on" if you could call it that. we as americans are told and learn by rote that we have the best healthcare system in the world. i know personally, that i had been indoctrinated enough by this idea that i was afraid to get a cavity filled in germany, another first world (to use an antiquated term) country and wanted to get it done in the united states before i left, where i had no insurance. well, i go to the dentist, uninsured, and am told that i have 6 cavities that need to get filled and that unless i want to look like a pirate, i.e. no silver and gold fillings, it's going to cost me 1900 dollars. i go to germany and have a dentist take a look, he says that i have one. one. single. cavity. it cost me 25 euro to get it filled and it could've been for free, however i chose to go the porcelain route (see pirate argument above).
now, there are 2 sides to this argument. once the possibility of profit is removed, so is the incentive to go above and beyond the call of duty so to speak. the other side of that coin is that once profit is introduced, there is the option of going too far for the sake of lining one's pockets. i can say this: the doctors and dentists in germany where i've lived, are not hard up for money. in fact, i'd venture to say that they are all still in the top 10% of earners in that country, and as long as the prestige that doctors receive for becoming doctors exists, there will be no less incentive to become a doctor (doctor shortages is another staple of the "don't socialize medecine" argument). the difference however between one cavity and six does seem significant though.
this blog post has become much longer than i originally intended, and there's still much more that i could say, but given all the links and supplemental reading within this blog, , and at the risk of boring my reader, i'll perhaps add something to this later. for now though, i'll hold my peace and hope you are out there weighing the options of all this. though the health care bill that has been passed is far from perfect, it is a step, and it is most of all, a stop to the inaction of the american government (consider that the last major bill passed was in the late 60s). the argument that something isn't perfect is not a good reason to do nothing at all. this bill is a much needed beginning, a jump off point. please treat it as such...
my opinion on the situation, oversimplified for this example of course, is that even if both positions are taken to an extreme, in the sense that you have extremists on each side blindly preaching their values, whether or not they know the reasoning behind it, much like in this video
at least on the side of universal healthcare, in spite of the fear of "government interference"(which is a misnomer saved for another blog post perhaps. anyone heard of a government program called medicaid?? hmmm...), people are being taken care of.
now i've never been a democrat, nor a republican, i'm a registered independent in fact, though party, nor alliegence should be incredibly important in my opinion when it comes to health care. why is this you say? well, health care is something that is in my opinion, a fundamental human right, because this "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" that we as americans swear upon, is directly affected by one's health and ability to carry out normal, quotidian affairs directed at achieving said happiness. Unless it's just some cruel joke, i'm sure the founding fathers upon writing that into the declaration of independence, didn't mean it in the sense of a carrot on a stick, but rather the pursuit of a personal, attainable happiness. one may pose the question: what does universal healthcare have to do with any of that? well, my retort would be to point out anyone who has had a cold or any other short term, curable malady, such as the flu, strep throat, etc, can attest to the debilitating nature of being sick in hopes of accomplishing anything. anyone who has been bed ridden for a week due to illness knows that it's no picnic and life goes from "the pursuit of happiness" to survival. now, if one were to expound this debilitating condition, turning it into something of a chronic, incurable nature, and then compound that with not being able to get treatment for the aforementioned malady, that's a whole different story, in fact, it's a travesty. even more so when you consider the surroundings; this isn't happening into some poverty ridden, far off country, this is occurring to people in our country, and more immediately, in our communities, to people we know personally, not just statistics. this is happening in america, a place where these people going under are surrounded by an incomparable wealth and abundance unseen in the rest of the world. consider this:
"That the country needs to reform its health care system is painfully obvious. At least 47 million Americans have no medical coverage, 75 million are underinsured with skeleton plans, and 86.7 million Americans have been uninsured for at least 6 months over last two years. There has been a dramatic rise increase in the uninsured rate in every state. Lack of health care coverage caused 45,000 deaths per year. Health care premiums shot up more than 90% between 2000 and 2007, while the profits of the 10 largest insurers increased 428 percent over the same period. Without real reform, there will be a 94% increase in health insurance premiums by 2020. Harvard researchers say 62% of all personal bankruptcies in the US were caused by health problems—and 78% of those filers had insurance. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, despite having the most expensive per capital health care in the world, the US in only ranked 37th in the quality of care."
in berlin, germany where i've lived for the last 3 years, i randomly contracted pink eye one day, anyone that's had it recently, can attest to the fact that it's no fun. now pink eye is very curable and i was able to procure the necessary drugs for less than 10 euro if memory serves, and everything cleared up in one day, which made me think. people in third world countries are not so lucky as to have the access to those same drugs, therefore transforming a curable condition into something potentially serious. in america, not having insurance is our equivalent. the drugs are in reach, but aren't accessible, much in the same way that drugs aren't accessible in third world countries, albeit for different reasons, the bottom line is the same: people are not being helped.
i read this quote in an article in the new york times: and found it very accurate:
"In the broadest sense, insurance is meant to spread the costs of an individual’s misfortune — illness, death, fire, flood — across society."
When we start losing the plot, it's sometimes best to get back to the definition of something, to the root of it. at some point in time, someone invented this thing we now call "insurance" in order to safeguard people from catastrophes that no one person could ever prepare themselves for. nowadays, insurance companies will look for that loophole that allows them to deny payment, or at least to give the bare minimum. people can say this isn't true, and i understand people making a living, but the mere fact that someone can be denied health insurance due to the fact that they're already sick, i.e. a pre-existing condition, is something that, putting it bluntly, just seems inhumane, especially considering they are the ones who need help the most. of course, the rich will have to pay a bit more, and the rich don't like that, but when nobody is left to work in their factories, producing their ideas that earn them millions, (consider the example of the cotton farmer who makes a pittance for the raw materials he provides, about $25 a bale, to the designer who then sells a t shirt composed of that cotton for 100 dollars) what will they do then?
i have been living abroad for the better part of the last decade and have been therefore not directly affected by the staggering giant we call the u.s. healthcare system. i do know however what i've been "missing out on" if you could call it that. we as americans are told and learn by rote that we have the best healthcare system in the world. i know personally, that i had been indoctrinated enough by this idea that i was afraid to get a cavity filled in germany, another first world (to use an antiquated term) country and wanted to get it done in the united states before i left, where i had no insurance. well, i go to the dentist, uninsured, and am told that i have 6 cavities that need to get filled and that unless i want to look like a pirate, i.e. no silver and gold fillings, it's going to cost me 1900 dollars. i go to germany and have a dentist take a look, he says that i have one. one. single. cavity. it cost me 25 euro to get it filled and it could've been for free, however i chose to go the porcelain route (see pirate argument above).
now, there are 2 sides to this argument. once the possibility of profit is removed, so is the incentive to go above and beyond the call of duty so to speak. the other side of that coin is that once profit is introduced, there is the option of going too far for the sake of lining one's pockets. i can say this: the doctors and dentists in germany where i've lived, are not hard up for money. in fact, i'd venture to say that they are all still in the top 10% of earners in that country, and as long as the prestige that doctors receive for becoming doctors exists, there will be no less incentive to become a doctor (doctor shortages is another staple of the "don't socialize medecine" argument). the difference however between one cavity and six does seem significant though.
this blog post has become much longer than i originally intended, and there's still much more that i could say, but given all the links and supplemental reading within this blog, , and at the risk of boring my reader, i'll perhaps add something to this later. for now though, i'll hold my peace and hope you are out there weighing the options of all this. though the health care bill that has been passed is far from perfect, it is a step, and it is most of all, a stop to the inaction of the american government (consider that the last major bill passed was in the late 60s). the argument that something isn't perfect is not a good reason to do nothing at all. this bill is a much needed beginning, a jump off point. please treat it as such...
Mittwoch, 24. März 2010
monkey see-eth, monkey doeth...
i think that's probably how that quote originated, in times of "yore", or something...
well, i'm starting a little blog here that i am certain to never maintain, but my favorite girl just started one and i'm a bit bored myself so it's inspired me to start my own as well. i actually, according to blogger.com's records, have been a member since september of 2007, and well, this is my first post so we can see how that good intention didn't amount to... well... shit.
so i'm back in the states, have been for awhile now, and you know those times in your life where you have epiphanies?? well, this has not been one of those seasons for me. we all have those occurences, plans that are coming up for the future and you see it as some sort of breeding ground for epiphanies and life direction. that was of course how i viewed my trip home. i figured i'd glean some sort of something that would give me the clarity to figure out what my next step was, i.e. what i'd 'be doing and/or where i'd be living next year. well, that has not happened. so far, everything has been such a whirlwind that i've had little to no time to get a feel for anything, let alone get a specific direction down. i kinda feel like i'm on a rushed vacation. go go go and not enough time. the one thing that i've gotten out of this is that i don't really miss berlin badly, which means i could move back to the states and be fine not being in europe i suppose, but i do miss it over there, and most of all i miss the big city.
what is it about big city life that appeals to so many people, present company included. is it the inaccessability that you have once you are a face in the crowd? is it that oppressive "regard des autres" that sartre would refer to, which, though it's not the case, seems refreshingly absent in big cities. anonymity. you can just be you, and the people around you don't really care (some also wouldn't care if you were alive or dead, but that's a different topic....).
how it is though that "big city people" evolve into such is a mystery to me. one guess i have is that depending on where you come from, a small town or big town (i come from a small town (by american standards, 25,000 people or so....), you decide that you either love it or hate it there, and then once that's decided, you either stay or never go back. i suppose that is quite an over-simplified version, but it seems to hold true to form somewhat.
well, i'm going to end this blog on that note. feel free of course to share your own opinions should you have any regarding what has been posted. take care
well, i'm starting a little blog here that i am certain to never maintain, but my favorite girl just started one and i'm a bit bored myself so it's inspired me to start my own as well. i actually, according to blogger.com's records, have been a member since september of 2007, and well, this is my first post so we can see how that good intention didn't amount to... well... shit.
so i'm back in the states, have been for awhile now, and you know those times in your life where you have epiphanies?? well, this has not been one of those seasons for me. we all have those occurences, plans that are coming up for the future and you see it as some sort of breeding ground for epiphanies and life direction. that was of course how i viewed my trip home. i figured i'd glean some sort of something that would give me the clarity to figure out what my next step was, i.e. what i'd 'be doing and/or where i'd be living next year. well, that has not happened. so far, everything has been such a whirlwind that i've had little to no time to get a feel for anything, let alone get a specific direction down. i kinda feel like i'm on a rushed vacation. go go go and not enough time. the one thing that i've gotten out of this is that i don't really miss berlin badly, which means i could move back to the states and be fine not being in europe i suppose, but i do miss it over there, and most of all i miss the big city.
what is it about big city life that appeals to so many people, present company included. is it the inaccessability that you have once you are a face in the crowd? is it that oppressive "regard des autres" that sartre would refer to, which, though it's not the case, seems refreshingly absent in big cities. anonymity. you can just be you, and the people around you don't really care (some also wouldn't care if you were alive or dead, but that's a different topic....).
how it is though that "big city people" evolve into such is a mystery to me. one guess i have is that depending on where you come from, a small town or big town (i come from a small town (by american standards, 25,000 people or so....), you decide that you either love it or hate it there, and then once that's decided, you either stay or never go back. i suppose that is quite an over-simplified version, but it seems to hold true to form somewhat.
well, i'm going to end this blog on that note. feel free of course to share your own opinions should you have any regarding what has been posted. take care
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