CIA Drones Use Pakistan as Base

Israeli Government Takes a Right Turn

Obama Makes First Move in Afghanistan

Pakistan Government Retreats In the Midst of Taliban Gains

Small Steps in Iraq

The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act Is Going Through the House

Nazis? Nein Danke

Sake Please

Just over a year ago a poll was conducted that listed the happiest countries in the world. The US ranked 21st on the list. The top ten are Denmark , Puerto Rico, Colombia, Iceland, N. Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, and Austria. The US sits at twenty first place. What makes most of these countries happy? Most of these nations have a safety net. Most of them are socialist and provide health care for their entire citizenry. On this merit I rank the establishment of a nationally funded health care system as the number one issue in which Obama needs to address.

Many of the Conservatives will be apoplectic at the thought of national health insurance but despite the economic times (and maybe due to them) such a program is right for America now for many reasons. In order to compete against other advanced economies whose states provide health insurance (and that is most of them), US companies need to be released from the burden of providing expensive coverage for their employees.  With our manufacturing base exiting this nation at a rapid clip and finding a home in developing nations with their cheap labor, the growing cost of company provided health care makes moving overseas attractive for the manufacturers that still remain in the US. And this is not just limited to manufacturing. Segments of the service economy, the backbone of the modern US economy, are also moving to East and South Asia as well as Latin America. Eliminating the cost of health care will make staying in the US more appealing for businesses. This will enhance the American free market, not harm it. If a society doesn’t produce goods in which to trade it loses its economic foundation.

The US spends twice as much as any industrialized nation on health care per capita. Despite spending over $7000 per person per year, this nation still has more than 47 million of its citizens who are without insurance. The private companies serve as a patchwork system where greed finds a home in the halls of Washington as lobbyists work their magic to inflate prices of drugs and care. It is said that a failure to modernize and a lack of a cohesive health care system costs $1 for every three spent. The money saved in unifying a national health care system is purported to be in the neighborhood of $350 billion per year. Hospitals would no longer suffer from patients not being able to pay for expensive care and emergency rooms wouldn’t be filled with people who wait until they can no longer stand the pain before they seek care. Sure, we would see higher taxes, but the rewards to our system would be manifested in a stronger and less strapped business sector. As jobs in the 21st century are rarely life long, like the employment trends of the 20th century, many Americans have found themselves more exposed to a less than sympathetic health care system.

Those who are complaining about the stimulus package should look at the details. One large component of the bill is providing extended COBRA insurance for those who have been laid off. It simply is throwing money into the already inefficient health care system. It is time for Obama to stare down the naysayers and begin the transformation of our outdated health care. Perhaps the US can then move up the happiness scale.

With President Obama promising to speak in public within an Islamic capital in his first 100 days I decided to write him a letter of encouragement. Having lived two years in the Middle East I wanted to share a little of my experience in the region:

Dear President Obama,

I wanted to share with you a story as you prepare to travel to an Islamic capital. It is a story of friendship and moderation at a time when those things seem to be in short supply in our relations with the Islamic World.

In 1988 I joined the Peace Corps and was selected to go to Yemen. Being from Kansas City and never having traveled abroad you can only imagine how this experience transformed my world view. I was chosen to take part in a pilot project that put Peace Corps English teachers in rural villages. I was the first Westerner that most of the people in my village had ever seen. I was blessed though. The teachers that taught in my school were from all over the Arab World. Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Tunisians, Sudanese, Somalis, and Palestinians were all represented there. And there was me, the American or Amreeki as they called me. For them I was the only image of America that they had ever seen. I am tall, with blond hair and blue eyes and I was teaching in Yemen…for free. With electricity for only six hours a day we would often talk into the night, long past the time when the generator switched off, and the candles provided the only light. Some in English, most in Arabic we would talk about our homes, our beliefs, our country and our politics. I was sent to teach the Yemeni kids English but I learned way more from living in that small mountain village than I could ever teach them.

After a year in my village I met Naji Kilani. Naji was a Jordanian who taught English at the local elementary school. He, his wife and his two children all lived in a small apartment-like dwelling in the village. We became quick friends. He helped me with my Arabic and I helped him with his English. We played chess and his wife would make Jordanian food and serve super sweet tea. I would invite Naji over to my two room hovel and I would make him tacos. When my two years were up we exchanged addresses and each went our own way. At first the letters between us were sporadic.  Then in the early 2000s there were e-mails. And now with the advent of instant message we have been chatting and even calling each other over the internet. It is like the 20 years that have transpired since we last saw each other had not passed at all. Despite the first Gulf War, 9/11, the invasion of Afghanistan, the Iraq War and all the tensions surrounding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict we are as close of friends as we were in 1988. We talk about the lunacy of those amongst us who stray to the fringes of fanaticism and we maintain the notion that an American from Missouri and a Jordanian from Irbid can talk with one another over thousands of miles and find many more things in common that differences.  

So Mr. President take heart. Those in the Islamic World are looking for a path to moderation. Sure, there are those whose blind faith has led them down a destructive path but as you know from living in Indonesia, most of the people are willing, and even eager, to embrace America again. All the best on your journey. I am pleased the road you have chosen is a much different one than your predecessor.

Stimulus. The mere mention of the word makes one want to yearn to be interested. It sure has gained the attention of the nation. Republicans just can’t get over the failed notion that tax cuts for the rich produces jobs through “trickle down” economics. All that has done for us is produce greedy Wall Streeters and spiraling debt. Democrats refuse to turn their backs on the social giveaways of the 1960s that lead to more dependence and less initiative. The Stimulus package consisting of over 600 pages. What one comes away with after perusing the bill is much of the bill attempts to pick up the detritus that is transforming the American economy. Many decry the fact the bill doesn’t have enough stimulus in it. The reality is the bill is attempting to ease the suffering of those who are collateral damage in this economic crisis. Much of the funding goes to state and local governments who are buckling from the weight of the meltdown. Maybe the bill is a finger in the dyke. This stimulus package appears to be more a bridge for those who are suffering than job creation measure. Most would like to see more infrastructure spending in the bill. This fact brings me to number two on the things Barack Obama should do as President.

Infrastructure and the Green Economy

If one spends anytime in places like Singapore or Oslo and then compares them to Chicago or Jacksonville it will become apparent that the United States is losing our edge. Singapore is using the interest they make off of US loans and investing in their infrastructure. Their modern airport has internet portals and kid play zones. American airports are functional but dated, dark and dingy. Look at the images when people are stuck in them during a snowstorm.  The Katrina episode pointed to the fact of how antiquated our infrastructure is. The bridge collapse in Minnesota highlighted this notion again. The complacency of America is in full swing. The innovation in the manufacturing sector has gone the way of its workers: overseas. For a nation to be truely viable, it needs to have something to trade. Trade was the instrument on which this nation was built. In large part Britain’s obstruction of unfettered colonial free trade played a large role in the Patriots telling old England to take a hike.

Infrastructure and trade work like a hand and glove. As the manufacturing sector has continued to migrate from the US, its infrastructure has continued to decline as well. At the height of the US’s industrial power following WW II (we were producing 60% of the world’s products), Eisenhower began the most significant infrastructure project of the 20th century; the establishment of the US highway system. American industrialism demanded it. It reminds me of the fact that the roads built by the Romans in their heyday continued to be the avenues by which the Europeans traveled during the Renaissance. Granted, the comparison is not as drastic but our infrastructure is in vital need of repair. For the better part of four decades American money has been bleeding towards overseas ventures. Defending Europe during the Cold War, maintaining hegemony over Japan in East Asia, the Vietnam War, payoff money for attempted Middle East peace in the 70s, the Gulf War, $3 billion a year to Israel, and the war in Iraq to name the biggies. Overseas trade is good but the hemorrhaging of American money is not.

To make the US energy independent should be near the top of President Obama’s list. If this nation can utilize its ingenuity and meet all its energy needs without using Middle Eastern oil, we can make that entire violent region superfluous. A shift away from ultra-militarism and more toward redefining the US economy is the only way to reignite America’s greatness. We have the capacity to develop a green sector in this country. Boundless reaches of this nation are ideal for wind turbines. The Southwest is  perfectly suited for solar energy and with huge investment, both through government incentives and private development, we have the brainpower to create energy in ways we can only dream about as long as those entities with competing interests will not be allowed to interfere. We saw this with the killing of the electric car in the 1990s. President Obama has openly stated he intends to proceed with a new energy agenda. Let’s just hope the economy will allow him to add it to his plate.