More on anti-semitism

Why anti-semitism? My theory is that people hate G-d, pure and simple. Life is hard, you have to get up every day, you get angry, 'pleasures' don't really provide pleasure, 'entertainment' is not so entertaining...what kind of G-d would do this to us? And yet, everyone knows that the
G-d of Israel is G-d; when the founders of the Christian and Islamic religions wanted to root their religions in a foundation of truth, they based their religion on the G-d of Israel, then added that G-d had changed his mind about the Jews, which of course he didn't.

Everything concerning Jews is big and important. We are constantly in G-d's 'eye' and we are the subject of his 'attention'. We are truly his royal family on earth. He wants us to serve him and we don't. We, just like everyone else, find it painful to live under G-d 'thumb'. We also hate G-d (G-d forbid). So...

Non-Jews hate Jews, except for Jews who are truly pure and holy and righteous.
Jews Hate Orthodox Jews, except for Orthodox Jews who are truly pure and holy and righteous.
Orthodox Jews hate Jews who are more Orthodox than they are, unless these Jews who are more religious than they are are truly pure and holy and righteous...

...and very few of us are successful at achieving purity and holiness and righteousness. May G-d bless me and you with a "arousal from above" to be successful in our quest to be pure, holy and righteous.

Reforming Health Care Jbirdme's way

Here is my proposal for reforming health care in the USA:

Catastrophic coverage run through private insurance with a upper limit (8% of income) with Medicaid to expand to cover those who cannot afford the upper limit . This coverage would kick in when someone, in a calender year, has spent over $5,000 or $7,500 on any healthcare related expense. It would cover hospitalization, visits with physicians (incl. nurse practitioners and physician assistants), medications and "durable medical equipment". To reach the $5,000 or $7,500 limit, any healthcare expense that is covered by a Section 125 plan would be included, even though many of these expenses would not be covered by the catastropic insurance itself.

Expansion of the Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC)/Rural Health Clinics (RHC) to allow communities and providers to offer affordable healthcare with strings attached. FQHC's, otherwise known as community health centers, offer comprehensive healthcare to low income communities, with the Governement subsidizing through grants and cost-based reimbursement. RHC's allow private physicians in rural, underserved areas to obtain cost-based reimbursement for Medicare. I would expand/reform these programs beyond rural and low income areas to provide cost-based reimbursement for all patients based on the patients being charged according to a sliding scale based on income. If a person has insurance, the sliding scale would apply to the copay, deductible, etc. In both the FQHCs and RHCs, the cost-based reimbursement would have an upper limit per visit, as they do now.

Reform of the malpractice system. Yesterday, I read an article that says that overuse and unnecessary use of the healthcare system is driven by physicians paid for treating illness, not maintaining health. I think these costs are driven by fears of malpractice. Someone who wants to sue his physician should have two choices: 1) a healthcare court which gives awards based on the injury, not on the supposed 'neglegence'; and 2) use a regular court, but the plantiff must prove the 'negligence' according to a very high standard, and if the physician successfully argues that his care was based on the correct use of a national guideline or other evidence-based practice, the plaintiff loses.

Expansion of HSAs. A person should be able to save $ tax free for any healthcare cost that would be covered by a section 125 plan.

Creativity The most important outcome of this would be to open up the healthcare system to true market forces and allow the "vendors" to package healthcare services in ways that are currently not covered by health insurance. This is where I think the American version of national health care can be better than France's, Germany's, Australia's and anyone elses healthcare system.

Accountibility

On Sunday, I heard a prominent Rabbi say that the reason why we keep having boom and bust cycles in our economy is because of a lack of accountibility (read: liability), which is built into our system. The entire idea of a corporation is to shield the actual owners of the company from liability for the negative consequences and monetary losses resulting from the actions of the company.

So...what would replace corporations? Instead of stockholders buying shares, would investors trade "partnership shares" that would carry liability? I don't think most prudent individuals would want to carry liability unless they were personally involved in the operation of the business. So, capital would be raised primarily from loans, or loan-like instruments which offered some variable upside like a stock, but left the liability with the borrowers.

And what about the people who have lost lots of money recently due to their investments going sour? Why wasn't the risk of losses enough incentive to not invest in companies where one doesn't really know what is going on or how profits were really being earned?

In a recent post, I complained about the $500,000 limit on executive salaries for companies who receive 'bailout' funds from the Feds. I now see an upside to this...most companies will think long and hard and look elsewhere before taking bailout money.

State Security Secrets - Bush and Obama

The NY Times, in an editorial today, critisized the Obama administration for going to court and using the same arguments that the Bush administration used in asking that certain terrorism-related cases not be tried in open court. The NY Times is very disapointed in Obama, basically calling him out for lying on the campaign trail.

Did it ever occur to the Times that now that President Obama has access to the same information that President Bush had, he realizes that the actions that President Bush undertook were in fact justified and necessary, and that the security of the United States depends on his continuing the policies of his predecessor?

Bailout Nation

Yesterday, President Obama said that companies that are bailed out by the US Government should have a $500,000 cap on top executive compensation. I completely disagree.

Earlier this week, Bank of America, which received bailout funds last fall, was criticized for hosting an event at the Super Bowl.

This is ridiculous. If the condition for receiving bailout money is that the company is going to be micromanaged by the government, they will never recover.

I don't have an answer for how this could be done better. It is a direct contradiction, capitalism and government bailouts. I didn't like the idea of bailouts when they were first done in September or October, and I like them much less right now.

Bombings and Death

In Iraq, a suicide bomber kills 20, 25.

In Israel, a suicide bomber kills three.

In Gaza, an Israel mortar kills 40 in a school where Hamas men were firing mortars at the Israeli troops.

In Sederot, a kassam lauched deliberately at a school damages an empty kindergarden classroom.

A katusha launched from Gaza at Ashdod kills a family of Israeli ARABS.
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Why do so many more Arabs die in attacks than Jews?

I believe that it is an open miracle. My wife thinks it is a hidden miracle. Hashem is protecting us.

If you look at the # of Arab attacks against Jewish targets versus attacks aimed at Arab targets (by both Israel and their fellow Arabs), clearly the casualties on Israel's side could be much "less", G-d forbid.

As with any miracle that Hashem does in this generation, there are logical explanations that don't involve Hashem's intervention, as far fetched as they seem to me.

Many generations to come

Here is a comment from a NY Times reader, 'Hakim':

"Once again, Israel has demonstrated its thirst for blood and callous disregard for human life and international law. The carnage they leave behind in Gaza will fuel hatred and violence in the region for many generations to come and they will surely pay for it sooner or later!."

It is worth noting that sixty-one years after the establishment of the State of Israel, no one worries that the fact that no Arab country or party recognizes Israel as a Jewish State or that Hamas is committed to Israel's destruction will fuel hatred and violence on the part of Jews will for 'many generations to come'.