I’ll never forget the grim visage on the face of my patient who had just lost his job of 28 years. He successfully fought back the tears as he described how he had no chance of finding another job that paid close to his previous salary level, even though he had two kids in college. This patient comes to mind as we are about to witness the fourth taxpayer bailout of American’s financial elite in the past 15 years. Nobody bails out the middle class and working poor when they lose their jobs. They are forced to fend for themselves, competing for jobs that pay $8 an hour without pension or health benefits. But now a coalition of brokerage houses and international banking conglomerates – the financial elite – is asking our politicians to lend money to failing Asian economies to rescue their bad investments. Asian politicians have made the same discovery as American politicians: The best way to remain in power is to fulfill today’s promises by handing down debts to future generations in the form of bonds. The financial elite have invested heavily in these bonds. The problem is the over speculated Asian countries are unable to pay these bonds back. Enter the International … [Read more...]

Major financial interests, in their never-ending quest to plunder the middle class, have now turned their attention to health care. In fact, the for-profit HMOs (health maintenance organizations), according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, have a problem. They cannot figure out what to do with all the money they are making. Some analysts believe they will buy more hospitals, others suggest they will give larger dividends to shareholders, but my bet is that executives will simply take $50 million in salaries. It never ceases to amaze me how an immigrant can arrive on our shores not knowing a word of English and unable to distinguish George Washington from John Travolta, and still receive totally free health care courtesy of the American taxpayer. Yet laid-off workers from Pratt, whose mothers are members of the Daughters of the American Revolution, live in fear that a bicycle accident by one of their children could cost them their life's savings. Why is the United States the only Western country to allow this situation to exist? The answer is that our populus has been led to believe that any further government intervention in health care is tantamount to … [Read more...]

February 6, 1995 A populist revolt over the bail out of Wall Street speculators after the devaluation of the Mexican peso forced Bill Clinton to use his executive powers to rescue the Wall Street Welfare State. Three weeks ago, the bailout appeared to be a done deal with the leadership of both parties predicting swift passage. When a coalition of anti-NAFTA Democrats and first term Republicans refused to acquiesce, heavy hitters from America’s ruling class – The New York Times, the Federal Reserve Board, and past Presidents – bludgeoned the American people with apocalyptic warnings. The public didn’t buy it, with polls showing over 80 percent opposed to the plan. When Mexico devalued the peso six weeks ago, Wall Street bondholders saw their investments tank 40 percent in one week. This accelerated the flight of foreign capital from Mexico’s central bank and Mexico had no chance of repaying the $16 billion in junk bonds that were are due this year to the Big Boys on Wall Street. Thus, just like the Savings and Loan bailout five years ago, our financial elite demanded that the hard working middle class taxpayer come to their rescue before they fell behind on … [Read more...]