Does multimillionaire Mittzie want to privatize?

[Guns Guns Guns]

Mitt Romney has flirted with the idea of privatizing veterans’ health care.

He goes steady with the Medicare privatization forces and is believed to be secretly married to the folks who want to privatize public education through the use of vouchers.

“When you work in the private sector and you have a competitor, you know if I don’t treat the customer right, they’re going to leave me and go somewhere else, so I’d better treat them right,” Romney said in a round-table discussion with veterans in South Carolina.

This is the exact road he was going down on the dreaded day when he said he enjoyed firing people.



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/opinion/collins-political-private-practice.html

 

[wanderingbear]

Ofcourse he does. He dosnt give a shit about the poor and needy.

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

Republican governors are big privatization fans.


Examine the wondrous outcome of a pioneering effort by the State of New Jersey to privatize some of its prison functions, particularly a halfway house program for people on the way in or out of the criminal justice system.


The program costs about half as much per inmate as a regular jail. This may be in part because the prisoners keep escaping. More than 5,000 have run, walked or wandered off since 2005. That placed a sometimes tragic burden on the victims of the crimes the escapees later committed, but it must have definitely reduced upkeep. Perhaps you could call it inmate self-privatization.


Some years before he became governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie was a lobbyist for the company that’s the biggest player in that halfway house system.


Rick Perry tried to build a humongous highway through Texas in a public-private partnership that would have severed the state with a toll road as wide as four football fields. He dropped the idea after his own political base revolted under the theory that the road was going to be part of a “NAFTA superhighway” that would strip the country of its sovereignty and turn us into citizens of the North American Union.


Really, it’s always something.


As to former Republican governors who would like to be Romney’s running mate — there are no words for the privatization passion.


Except those of Tim Pawlenty, who recently said that “if you can find a good or service on the Internet, then the federal government probably doesn’t need to be doing it.”



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/opinion/collins-political-private-practice.html?_r=1

 

[NOVA]

Does multimillionaire Mittzie want to privatize?

I don't think these other multimillionaires will allow it....or the other 200+ in congress

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), worth about $244.7 million; Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worth about $214.5 million; Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), worth about $209.7 million; and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), worth about $208.8 million.

The multimillionaire President Obama (D) we now have don't want that does he.....

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

Privatization means turning over a government function to the private sector.

Politicians of both parties are privatization fans, although the Republicans are more so.

Texas tried to turn eligibility screening for social services over to a private company, creating all sorts of messes until it gave up the experiment.

The most apocryphal story involved a privately run call center that told applicants to send their documentation to a number that turned out to be the fax at a warehouse in Seattle.

The hottest new wrinkle for private companies eager to tap into public school funding is charter cyberschools. A study at the University of Colorado’s National Education Policy Center found that only about a quarter met federal standards for academic progress.

There are plenty of private prison operators on the Web, although they like to be called “re-entry services.” Also mercenaries, although Academi, which used to be called Xe, which used to be called Blackwater, prefers the term “security solutions provider.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/opinion/collins-political-private-practice.html?_r=1

 

[Cancel 2016.2]

Mitt Romney has flirted with the idea of privatizing veterans’ health care.

He goes steady with the Medicare privatization forces and is believed to be secretly married to the folks who want to privatize public education through the use of vouchers.

“When you work in the private sector and you have a competitor, you know if I don’t treat the customer right, they’re going to leave me and go somewhere else, so I’d better treat them right,” Romney said in a round-table discussion with veterans in South Carolina.

This is the exact road he was going down on the dreaded day when he said he enjoyed firing people.



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/opinion/collins-political-private-practice.html

You do realize that both Romney and Obama are multi-millionaires.... don't you?

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

 

[Rune]

Unbeleivable.

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

Unbeleivable.

Believe it.

 

[Howey]

Romney has few supporters left. If he wants to disenfranchise the millions of veterans out there, let him try to privatize the most effective health care system there is out there.

Here's an essay I wrote for Memorial Day on my forum. It was subsequently published nationally.

​

Every Memorial Day I post a picture of my father to honor his thirty years of service in the Army Air Corp and Air Force. A pilot, and one of the few Flying Sergeants of the day, he was in every sense of the term an American hero.

Throughout American history, the Veteran has been a revered member of our society. Veterans fought for our country, and when we weren't at war, they made sure we were continually safe.

Until the past few years. Beginning with President George Bush, funding for Veteran's programs have failed to meet demand.

Back in 2005, President Bush underfunded the Department of Veterans Affairs by about a billion dollars, despite its need. The result? Secretary Jim Nicholson was forced to crawl before Congress and plead with it to pass emergency supplemental spending, just so it could keep the doors open.

Suddenly, our veterans have fallen out of favor with certain members of Congress and with the populace. Calling them leeches, protests of veteran's benefits and health care have met with applause by extremist right wing members of the Republican Party. Bill after bill has been introduced, not to honor our veterans, but to punish them by privatizing health care, decreasing monetary benefits, and delegitimizing our heroes. Even the Republican presidential candidate is recommending changing VA health benefits to a "voucher system".

In contrast to President Obama’s plan for veterans, Romney said his plan would be to privatize veterans’ benefits by “creating a voucher system.” Like the vouchers in his Medicare privatization plan, these vouchers, as the New York Times’ Paul Krugman points out, would “be inadequate, and become more so over time, so that veterans who don’t make enough money to top them up would fail to receive essential care.”

As pointed out by Jon Soltz, an American hero of our current generation, the current budget of the Republican Party, approved last month, does not mention the word "veteran" once.

Do Republicans care about keeping our promise to veterans? Looking at the recently released GOP budget, written by Rep. Paul Ryan, it's hard to see how they do. In fact, looking at the nearly 100 page document, the word "veteran" doesn't appear once. Not once.

What about veteran's benefits? Slashed under the budget.

If enacted, the Ryan GOP budget would cut $11 billion from veterans spending, or 13 percent from what President Obama proposes in his own plan.

It's unconscionable that they'd do this at a time when so many Iraq veterans have just come home and rely on veterans care. Over 45,000 US troops were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more will come who will rely on VA services, on top of veterans of other wars and eras who depend on the VA. But, this shortsightedness isn't new.

Additionally, after the backlash against ending Medicare the last time Paul Ryan released a budget, they're at it again. That, too, affects veterans. I was speaking with one veteran in Missouri, who lost both of his legs in Iraq. His entire primary care now relies on Medicare. It pays for all of his primary care, as it does for so many veterans with 100 percent disability. So, no, I couldn't believe that Paul Ryan and the GOP would again propose ending Medicare.

It's sad that our nation has fallen to the level where making sure the rich and the bankers are rewarded for destroying our country and our veterans are treated like vagrants.

Yes, everyone must sacrifice. Veterans too. The President's proposed budget increases TriCare premiums to levels commensurate with other federal employees.

Military retirees would pay an annual fee for TRICARE-for-Life health insurance and TRICARE pharmacy co-payments would be restructured under the deficit reduction plan President Barack Obama released Sept. 19.

"If we're going to meet our responsibilities, we have to do it together," Obama said during a Rose Garden speech to announce the President's Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction. The plan reduces $4.4 trillion from the $14.7 trillion federal deficit over 10 years through a combination of spending cuts and increased tax revenue...

The plan includes savings of $6.7 billion over 10 years by establishing "modest annual fees" for members of TRICARE-for-Life, which becomes a second-payer insurance to military retirees who transition to the federal Medicare program upon turning age 65. The change would begin with a $200 annual fee in fiscal 2013.

That's sacrifice without showing dishonor to our veterans.

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

Mitt Romney suggested that he was open to introducing “private sector competition” into the health care system U.S. military veterans receive.


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politic...ial-privatization-of-vets-health-care-system/

 

[christiefan915]

Romney has few supporters left. If he wants to disenfranchise the millions of veterans out there, let him try to privatize the most effective health care system there is out there.

Here's an essay I wrote for Memorial Day on my forum. It was subsequently published nationally.

​

Every Memorial Day I post a picture of my father to honor his thirty years of service in the Army Air Corp and Air Force. A pilot, and one of the few Flying Sergeants of the day, he was in every sense of the term an American hero.

Throughout American history, the Veteran has been a revered member of our society. Veterans fought for our country, and when we weren't at war, they made sure we were continually safe.

Until the past few years. Beginning with President George Bush, funding for Veteran's programs have failed to meet demand.



Suddenly, our veterans have fallen out of favor with certain members of Congress and with the populace. Calling them leeches, protests of veteran's benefits and health care have met with applause by extremist right wing members of the Republican Party. Bill after bill has been introduced, not to honor our veterans, but to punish them by privatizing health care, decreasing monetary benefits, and delegitimizing our heroes. Even the Republican presidential candidate is recommending changing VA health benefits to a "voucher system".



As pointed out by Jon Soltz, an American hero of our current generation, the current budget of the Republican Party, approved last month, does not mention the word "veteran" once.



What about veteran's benefits? Slashed under the budget.



It's sad that our nation has fallen to the level where making sure the rich and the bankers are rewarded for destroying our country and our veterans are treated like vagrants.

Yes, everyone must sacrifice. Veterans too. The President's proposed budget increases TriCare premiums to levels commensurate with other federal employees.



That's sacrifice without showing dishonor to our veterans.

Excellent article, thanks.

 

[Damocles]

Ofcourse he does. He dosnt give a shit about the poor and needy.

Care is not measured by how much government "gives" them, nor is compassion measured by how many people we force into government "help" programs.

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

Care is not measured by how much government "gives" them, nor is compassion measured by how many people we force into government "help" programs.

True.

Are you saying veterans didn't earn their benefits, and are forced to accept them?

 

[Damocles]

True.

Are you saying veterans didn't earn their benefits, and are forced to accept them?

I am saying that Wanderingbear's assertion that because somebody may not want government to be the provider for the care means that they do not care at all is based on a flawed premise.

I am also saying that suggesting a way to get the same coverage cheaper does not mean they do not "care".

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

I am saying that Wanderingbear's assertion that because somebody may not want government to be the provider for the care means that they do not care at all is based on a flawed premise. I am also saying that suggesting a way to get the same coverage cheaper does not mean they do not "care".

So you're OK with government-provided care as long as you can opt-out?