Tucson Tom turned the big six-oh a few weeks ago. It didn't hurt very much.My surprise gift was a "This Is Your Life" (remember that TV show?) appearance by Jeff Day. Shari disappeared one day mumbling something about doing errands, and when she returned (from the airport), there was Jeff -- fresh from his year in Nanjing, China.
To help celebrate, Shari organized a small party. The themes were good friends, good food (I think we are all foodies), and come as you are. This time of year people in Tucson live in their underwear, so shorts or a dhotie actually meant we were dressed up.
Shari danced for us. She made a new costume for the occasion, and put together music for a solo followed by another lively song for others to join in.
The dancing was a big hit and a few of us did join in for the second song. Of course, I had to, but then I like dancing.I think we all had fun -- I know I did. Thanks, Shari and friends.
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A couple of weeks later, reality crept in. I got a 60th birthday present from our health insurance company. A $520+ increase in our monthly insurance premiums. Yes, monthly. And $520 is only the increase. The reason? I turned 60.
I didn't intend to get political, but I will. We pay over $27,000 a year in health insurance premiums. No wonder we can't afford travel. God bless America and the the right to make a business out of anything and everything. Nutters, fed by crazies who make a good living indoctrinating nutters, elect politicians with an agenda to preserve business interests, an agenda that's disguised as patriotic, God-fearing flag-waving.
We forbid the government from competing with insurance companies. People argue about the actual percentages, but studies regularly show that Medicare overhead is far less than that of private insurers. We also make it illegal to buy prescription drugs from Canada. Why? "It's unsafe," say the drug companies who sell their wares in Canada.
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| Google it. Amidst our economic downturn, banks, brokers, insurers and Wall Street have been making a fortune. |
It's the government's job to protect the people who suck a fortune out of the economy, especially the really wealthy on top who buy politicians and media like you and I buy groceries. We have government by the wealthy for the wealthy.
What next? Give tax cuts to the wealthy? Wage endless wars overseas and privatize war support services? Wage endless wars on drugs and immigrants and privatize the prisons? Force college students to borrow money from banks so when they graduate, they become an indentured class that turns over its income to banks that had borrowed their money from the government for nothing? Make it so student debt can't be discharged in bankruptcy?
Oh, we've already done all this.
Well, how about privatizing Social Security, or just plain eliminating Medicare? Let's protect the right of entrepreneurs to exploit. Let's outlaw unions. Let's streamline efficiency and eliminate costly workplace safety regulations. Hey, a building collapses in Dacca killing hundreds of workers. No biggie. The free market will take care of it. Let's bring back the glory days of free enterprise: debtor prisons, child labor and the six-and-a-half day work week.
I can hardly wait to see if there is any Medicare when I turn sixty-five. God bless America.
