Better Late Than Never?

The United States House of Representatives this week passed legislation called the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act. This legislation is meant to control the abusive lending that lead to the sub prime mortgage crisis. Only, the crisis has already come and gone. So why enact legislation now? Banks have already adjusted their own lending practices, making it increasingly hard to gain credit. The Federal Reserve has also adopted new rules to discourage predatory lending. This new legislation in essence is to prevent future episodes of mass foreclosure and mortgage default. I find the most interesting piece of the legislation is a mandate that would require lenders who originate loans to retain at least 5% of the risk when a mortgage is bundled into securities and sold.
Obviously, new rules need to be enacted. Though the initial crisis is over, we are still dealing with the mess of the sub prime collapse. Critics think that current legislation could actually do more harm than good by inadvertently punishing consumers since many of the mandates are untested. The last thing we need is new legislation making the situation worse, especially when the economy is already shaky at best. I am not sure what the solution is. I think we should be looking at how we got into this mess in the first place. How were banks allowed to grant loans to people they knew would not be able to pay them off? And we now actually need a law that states that lenders cannot do this! Luckily, there is also legislation in the House that funds more investigation into how this financial meltdown happened in the first place. Its just too bad that Congress is getting involved in these financial matters after they have destroyed so many!

Blog stage 6

I agree with Anita Marie, education in the United States is in need of a massive overhaul. When you think about education in America you think of standardized testing, not learning. You think of underpaid and overworked teachers. There is really, very little positive imagery that comes to mind. And I have to ask, what is more important than effectively educating our future leaders?
As Anita Marie mentions in her blog, when did the need for a well rounded education die? We teach today what is needed to pass the standardized test. We do not place a great emphasis on music, arts, and physical education. In fact, in most schools these programs are being cut dramatically. The blog Betrayed states it best when they say that our school systems are designed to teach the "same thing, in the same way, with the same package curriculum." We all learn differently. We all have areas where we are gifted and areas where we will struggle. So how can every child be expected to learn in exactly the same way?
I would like to believe that overhauling the school system is attainable. To me, it is going to be harder to change people's preconceived ideas about testing and how children should learn. We seem to be a society obsessed with figures and data, so there is likely to be a lot of opposition to finding a new measure of what has been learned other than standardized testing. But I agree with Anita Marie that it is worth it and our children are worth it.

Health Care Reform

Republican, Democrat, or Independent. Whatever you might call yourself, most of us would agree that major reform in the health care system is one of the most important issues that we face as a nation today. As the economy continues to sour, more people find themselves uninsured or paying more and more out-of-pocket costs. The concern is so high in the white house, that President Obama just this week signed and executive order creating an office that will oversee the overhaul of the medical industry.
One of the biggest and most controversial ideas of the current administration is to develop an insurance system much like the one current government employees enjoy. This system would be paid for by the government and eligible to those under 65 who do not meet guidelines for other federal and state programs ( such as medicaid and SCHIP) and those without access to employer health care, or those who cannot afford their employer health care. It would, in theory, still leave room for private insurance companies. This sounds wonderful, until you think about logistics. How will this program be funded? How will this effect the private insurance industry? How will this effect the medical community? Don't get me wrong, I would love for there to be affordable insurance choices for everyone, but we have to be realistic. President Obama targets the cost of such a plan will run around $50 to $65 billion in the first year. He expects this money to come from removing tax cuts for those in the higher tax bracket (over $250,000 a year). Do we really think that those who usually hold the most power and influence are going to sit around and let these tax breaks happen?
As someone who currently works in the medical industry, I also would like to know how the reimbursement rate for doctors will be set. This could be the make-it or break-it point of this whole system. If the rate is set too low, then no doctors will participate, much like what has happened with Medicaid. Setting the pricing too low would also cause the private insurance sector to go out of business. They would be unable to compete with pricing and that would create even more job loss. It could also cause less people to go into the medical field and result in a shortage of talented doctors and nurses, thereby affecting the quality and availability of care.
My great hope is that the new office made to overhaul the system can avoid being influenced by all of the varying lobbyists in the health care arena. These groups outspend all other lobbying groups, spending roughly $237 million to push their agenda. This group includes the very powerful pharmaceutical companies, private insurance carriers, doctors and nurses. I do hope that reform can happen, but it isn't something to rush into.

Looking through several of the national blogs, I came accross one in AMERICAblog that caught my eye. It is commentary by Joe Sudbay based on the transcript of Congresswoamn Michelle Bachman calling for a revolution. Obviously, the author is intending his audience to be those who lean more to the left politically. What I find interesting and what lends credibility to his commentary is that he uses the actual transcript from Bachman. He then breaks down parts of her speech and makes his own commentary on it. Therefore, it is easy to see what part of the blog is his opinion. Sometimes that isn't so easy to do and this is where I feel a lot of misinformation gets to the public.
As for the actual opinion being stated, I find Sudbay to be fairly persuasive. He isn't overly condescending towards the opposing side, but he brings up several good points. I especially liked his reference of elections as "orderly revolutions." And I agree with his take that a member of Congress should not engage in calling the current administration the enemy or other incendiary talk. I would also agree that had this been a Congressman or Congresswoman during the latter part of the Bush administration, there would have been a lot more negative publicity. Overall, I think that Sudbay does a good job of reaching his intended audience and getting his point across without too much negativity.

I think that we can all agree that there is a major need to reform health-care in America today. It seems that every year premiums and deductibles get higher while care and access get worse. Out-of-pocket costs for even simple office visits are soaring and sinking many Americans. The subject is especially urgent in regards to low-income, uninsured or under insured children.
In the article We Cannot Delay Health-Care Reform, Senators Baucus and Kennedy attempt to persuade us that by reforming the health-care system, especially for children, we will also heal our economic woes. It is obvious that both Senators fully support a move to Universal Health Coverage and their audience would be liberal leaning Democrats. There are many impressive statistics and reasoning's for making this move. The Senators also approve of renewing the Children's Health Insurance Program. This is where I begin to question their knowledge. The Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, sounds like a wonderful program. It is geared towards providing uninsured children with access to medical care. In reality, due to the extremely low reimbursement rate to providers for seeing CHIP patients, finding a doctor who actually accepts CHIP patients can be harder than winning the lottery. I have no problems with the government pouring money into a system that works, but CHIP does not work in its current state.
Reading this article, I can understand the logic and the passion with which the Senators have about the subject, but I think they should spend a little more time understanding what it will take to change the way insurance companies work. The article calls for more preventative care, which is often denied or limited by insurance companies. But I do agree that quality health-care should be available to Americans and that our current system is in need of a change. I would like to see how that change can realistically be made instead of just abstract ideas.

What about Us?

I came across an article in Newsweek that caught my attention. http://www.newsweek.com/id/160698 Aptly titled, "What about Us?", the article puts a human face to the worsening economic crisis that we are in the midst of. Everyday I hear about economic stimulus plans and bank bailouts, but what does that mean for the average American? Will we see any relief? What do those numbers mean for me?
Job loss is at its highest since 1974 and we all are certain to either know or be one of the many people effected by this number. In Miami, over a thousand people waited in line for the chance to apply for one of 35 openings for a firefighting position. It seems like everywhere you look, houses and businesses are being foreclosed upon. And as an average, middle class American, it appears to me the only people getting relief are CEO's on Wall Street. The government seems to be failing to meet the needs of taxpayers, workers, and homeowners, yet bailing out investment banks with fraudulant practices. The new stimilus plan that is expected to be signed into effect this weekend, is supposed to pump millions of dollars into the economy, but that money is being pumped mostly into government programs and not into taxpayers hands. How is that going to put food on the table of struggling families? I encourage you to take a look at this article, read the stories of people that are just like all of us. Its a scary time in America, an uncertain time. We need to find a solution that addresses all of the people and not just the wealthy.