Obamacare: Private vs Public vs Happiness for All

I don’t have a television and just had the feeling to explore this issue of Obamacare.  I was intrigued to find out that President Obama is indicating that the group within the Republican party has shut down the government.  Sounds like a double dissolution similar to Australia, makes me think back to Gough Whitlam whose Labour Government faced the blocking of supply (money bills) in the Senate.  That meant the government couldn’t finance projects or function, this action forced an election.   In the background was a loans affair by a Energy Minister where centrally the loans were not being sourced from traditional American/European banks but the Middle East. It was the time of petro dollars, hence enormous profits from oil prices governed by the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).  There were ideological/financial undertones to this situation and some felt external interference in Australian politics and democracy. Here is a link to some background http://whitlamdismissal.com/what-happened/overview1

I feel to just flow with some musings based on my scant knowledge of the Obamacare situation and links to the Australian experience. My mind wanders to Medicare here in Australia where we never worry about hocking our homes for medical bills or letting someone die who is not insured. It is not an issue here. I also reflect deeply that the very beginning of the Labour movement started in Australia and the idea of 8/8/8 – 8 hours work, 8 hours leisure, 8 hours rest. Trades Hall here in Melbourne was the centre of the labour movement and really the essence was to balance power between private interests and the people. It really ran to the heart of democracy representation of the people by the people.  Those in the labour party were working people hence their connection to the rights of other people.  The political arena was really the wealthy/business types versus the unions and working class.  It was a class division essentially.   Prior to the 1980’s we had what we economists call public goods, of which health care, education, telecoms, energy and infrastructure are featured. This means that anything that is shared by the people is paid for through taxation, so anyone rich or poor can use the universal services and facilities. Also it meant those in the rural areas would pay the same as those in cities, it created equity so no-one was disadvantaged because they lived remotely.  It created a sense of fairness and underneath that, equality.  It is, in my view, what makes a real society feel like One country.  It has nothing to do with nationalism, it has to do with sharing as a community, or common unity I write in my poetry.

I remember when I studied economics in the 1980’s. It was good timing to be learning about it as the users pay idea was coming in and around that private interests were seeking privatisation of public assets. Users Pay was basically saying if you use a service – carpark, street parking, buses, registration etc. you have to pay for it.  It subtly undermined the idea of universal coverage as private enterprise sought to make money out of goods and service, which is the nature of profit maximisation. What I found fascinating about the sell off of a telecommunications – we called ours Telecom (a government owned company).  They actually privatised by offering shares to the public.  The great irony was that the people owned Telecom, yet they persuaded people to buy back their own company so they could do a public share float and have private interests involved.  There was also the argument that public sector managers were not as street wise (good at making money) as private managers.  I always wondered why not just employ a private sector manager in a public sector department.  Seems a lot cheaper than selling the asset to private industry who do not resonate with fairness, cross-subsidisation or running at a loss.  In the case of Telecom (later to become Telstra) I believe a golden share was there, that is where the government has a controlling share but the asset is largely sold off. So it moves from public hands (parliament) to private hands (shareholders).  You can see how power is shifted.  The fact that all people need telecommunications reveals that it is a public good.  There was some talk that the phone calls could have been free given it was government.  In New Zealand they had free calls, but instead Australia moved towards economic rationalism subtly as did other countries in alignment with creeping capitalism. 

There is the debate here (similar to other countries) about ideology between private and public power and control. Private is profit maximising in its ideology as definied by the economic paradigms, it works on the theory that self interest will distribute resources efficiently and fairly.  So self interest is applauded, that is why the old Gordon Gecko theme of ‘greed is good’ came creeping in.  It projected itself as success, sex and freedom which in truth it wasn’t, the financial collapse revealed it was a bubble built on illusion.  The public ideology considered that services should be provided to all citizens inclusive of rich and poor.  The people would pay for it through the tax system whether they used it or not.  It was a means of cross subsidisation and inherent within that a realisation that social stability is providing equality to people.  For those compassionate types like me, it is about caring for others and giving them access in a philosophy of equality. 

Users pay of course excludes people on low incomes as they can’t afford to pay. So we end up creating distortions, discriminations and resentment in society for those who have, will get what they want and those who can’t, won’t. So underlying that is thwarted wanting which lays the seeds for negativity and conflict.  I see the inequality created through placing tolls on roads that were a public good paid for by the public.  Now people pay each time they use (it adds up).  On the toll roads mostly you see cars that are new and when you look at the cars on the roads without tolls, you see cars that are second hand, clearly a poorer demographic. It was interesting to see inequality made so visible.  People would see it in suburbs.  I just recently house sat in a rich suburb of Perth and imagined everyone having the same opportunity to live in a nice home, why should a person because they are unfunded live in a shoebox.  I find that mentality hard to understand.  I don’t aspire to live in the mansion by the way, I prefer freedom, but I just noted it. 

So we philosophically/ideologically create two streams of traffic or life for those who are rewarded by the economic system they get the fast lane and those who are not, are stuck in the traffic or re-routed to secondary roads or paths. Interesitngly those who would be catagorised as ‘losers’ economically, would be single parents, the elderly, young people, the diasabled or those who are working in blue collar jobs and simply cannot cover the bills.  Does this make them less than another, of course not, we are all equal.  Each person has a rich wealth of inner potential, mostly untapped because they believe they are a good deal less.  That is how we get generations living on welfare, they believe they are not good enough.  Jane Elliot (Blue Eyed series) proved the power of discrimination and suggestion, it literally changes worlds. 

So really when we speak of public goods which serve the whole society we can approach it as universal coverage or we can take the track of privatised. The insurance debate is really about the privatisation of health care, in the case of the US there are big vested interests making loads of money from it, I can understand why they want to fight as they believe their lifestyle, position and industry is everything to them, it is their identity, they can’t see the importance of the big issues and make a sacrifice or have the industry transformed in another way. So we look under the mask of privatisation and the various arguments supportive of its existence are grounded in self interest. Naturally it will be, as we have all been taught to serve ourselves first, some here in Australia call it the ‘me generation’, those who have forgotten that there is a ‘we’ and that we are living together in community. I was surprised to learn when I was in the United States earlier this year, that some believe peace education is communist. I found myself stepping into an ideological gap between Australia and the United States. The communist era was after the Second World War and it faded here overtime.  They still bring it up but there is no fire in the belly as everyone knows it is a dinosaur and really it was an ideological war against collectivism vs private interests shrouded in the magic tricks of progress and freedom.  Those bunnies were pulled out of the hats to make sure government power was reduced, so private power could increase.  It is really the simple nature of it.  I found the communist ideology alive in the US by those opposing it. In Australia we have moved well beyond that. I would say Canada would be on the same page as Australia. Although there is market fundamentalism here as we have seen the wealth move to the top end of town from the 1980’s onwards, we have seen the sell off of public assets, yet in our history there is still a common belief of collective services, thank goodness.  In Canberra (capital) where I am from you can get all sorts of services to support the elderly and it is free. You can also get a Healthcare card and can find doctors who will bulk bill (payment direct from the government).  Although there are more doctors deciding to take money, so that greed is creeping in.  I told my mother thank goodness we still have this ethic, otherwise my mother couldn’t afford insurance and get the drugs she needs to stay alive.  

I might just add here that the reason we need health care is that we are getting more sick.  Why is that? In my view we are working too hard, the food is not healthy and we are not in balance.  We are in truth living in a toxic society because our inner world is becoming toxic, negative thoughts and a feeling of powerlessness.  I find television fuels this, fragmenting families, cultures of violence and a belief that the world is not safe (anxiety).  There is more stress and the list goes on.  Cancer is an epidemic, I think of nuclear testing and the latest debacle in Japan with Fukashima.  So our fundamental life is not in balance and you can see how interests work against each other rather than for each other, all the money wasted in legal action because we have not found that sense of community.  It all links together in a wholistic system rather than islands of economic interests who see themselves as separate.  So the health situation is really a reflection of our disconnection from ourselves, each other and our true purpose, it masks the real dis-ease we all feel.  I feel that is the pressure point we have to release.  There is so much pain in society and when you speak with people it pours out.  People have indeed been suffering.  Our economic system has not produced true happiness for the people and that is the pink elephant that will be covered up with endless argument, polarisation and blindspots that reflect denial of reality.

To my way of thinking universality and sharing is a sign of a sophisticated civilisation where the so-called least (unfunded) are treated the same as the well healed (wealthy) and we adopt systems of harmony where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I am not into exclusivity or better than and its dysfunction is illuminated particularly when it comes to health, education and basic social services. In the US you can see clearly from this perspective that it is an ideological battle and greed is beneath it. It is an old paradigm that won’t move on.  So when I hear of a shutdown of the US Government it is clear the Obama is pressing a few buttons (pressure points) in those who want their cake and eat it.

I would say with great love them, the party is over kids. The economic wind-down across the planet is the reality asserting itself. The greed of the US financials system (and other banks worldwide) is evidence that greed has no interest in community wellbeing (unless there is money in it), all the home foreclosures revealed that. The creation of credit, the selling of debt for profit, the privatisation of public goods has led to an economic environment where their have been huge disparities between the rich and poor with that gap growing. The Pareto Principle comes to mind 80:20 rule. In the case of the United States according to Wikipedia – wealth is unevenly distributed, with the wealthiest 25% of US households owning 87%[2] of the wealth in the United States, which was $54.2 trillion in 2009. So the issue becomes one of fairness and distribution of income equally. Now this would be anathema to some of the richest 25% as they want to have more. It is the addiction to greed which drives this, I would see this quite realistically as an illness or dis-ease. Those who have wealth tend to want more, there is something they are searching for. According to Echart Tolle they are wanting to feel more so that they can be more, it is the ego driving this.  So they acquire materialism and find they are still feeling empty, it is like a hunger that many have not stopped long enough to really reflect on. So the psychological state of greed becomes visible in this flow. We start to feel the insecurity driving those egos who really never feel satisfied and that is why we are in the midst of an environmental crisis.  The ego for explanation is the sense of a separated state, when you move into values like love, compassion, truth, empathy you start to feel yourself joining with others, it leads to unity consciousness.  It is our true nature.  The ego state is always feeling empty and not enough.  We have not really examined the illness of greed and the insatiable nature of it. Whereas if we really felt a connection to other people, we felt peaceful within ourselves and satisfied that need would not exist.  Hence, Obamacare would not need to exist.  Yet for the moment, universal health care is important, it could be you in need.

I gave it some thought recently to run as an Independent candidate at the last Federal Election. First time woo hoo.  I felt inspired actually to have a go. What I learned was that we as a society are disengaged from politics. So many are so disgruntled and turned off by politicians that they are no longer interested. In the American system they don’t have to vote but here in Australia it is compulsory. So I thought we really need a shift in politics away from greed and money and towards happiness and true freedom. For example in the health issue in the United States, quite simply it makes me feel happy to think an unfunded person (not poor within) is operated on and that if someone collapses in the street someone will come to their aid. I don’t feel happy in a world of tooth and claw where it is survival of the fittest (or those with money) contrasted with those who don’t have enough. So I started to research happiness. That is fun for me as I am a clown and right up my clown alley. For those scared of clowns a quick interlude, stop watching scary films. Now back to the point. Gross National Happiness would be a national shift away from Gross National Product or what we call Gross Domestic Product. Where we shift our focus to what makes us happy not necessarily getting the most money but living a life which really expresses our talents. Now why can’t we have a global living wage, where all our basics are taken care of. If we had an ethos of sharing in our community (delete the words socialism and communisms) and simply call it what it is, sharing, not unlike a family. Mothers don’t make their children pay for food or what they use, they are the perfect example of a GNH system that feels happy when the other members are looked after and happy. All families at essence want this. So why can’t we extrapolate it out to the greater society. Just imagine if people were out to help you not get you. What if instead of ripping people off they were keen to give you more. I remember in Thailand I bartered for a product in a village and I bartered up, the trader kept arguing and found it hard to hear that I was offering more. Eventually the person got it. I was out to give not take. Clowning with Patch Adams (go to his website http://patchadams.org/) he talks about Friendshipism and free hospitals. He became a clown because he saw the lack of connection in the male doctors who could only see the patient and symptoms and described what was happening. If a person died they got the nurses. Patch decided he would be more like the nurses and be compassionate. So when you have to tell the family their child has died, you speak with love and empathy. Patch speaks about the love revolution where the many lead the few, I like the reverse Pareto Principle idea there. It is about living to give and caring. No it is not fairy floss it is a great life. I’ve lived like this for quite a while now and I have felt nothing but goodwill from people. In my tripping around the world I found people just like me, the majority are loving and kind. It is the few who live in great fear or are addicted to status as some form of quasi love, to feel admired or somehow greater than, these are the ones that do not know what real love is. Funny how I ended up quite quickly at love. Yes some see it as fluffy but it is the mother or father who will dive under a car to save a child. It is the soldier who takes a bullet for a friend, it is the one who gives up everything for the other, it produces the moment of tears in your eyes at such sacrifice and is often used manipulatively to get people to become nationalistic or join the army. The true compassion shares and this for me is the real essence of the Obamacare debate. I don’t care about the little arguments around it, at the end of the day economic rationalism doesn’t work. We have seen the power of multinational business emerge (small to medium business is more in alignment with community) and when they have been given power by politicians and given places on boards, committees or entre into government, we have seen corruption. The waste of money on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan was allowed to happen yet there is more debate over health care. I see some clear distortion of priorities here. I think there is need for a wake up call and a complete sea-change or see change in politics.

So check out my little attempt at seeing differently ha.worldpeacefull.com and decided do you want to be right or happy. I made my choice. I am definitely happy.

Here is some information on Obamacare. I send good wishes to President Obama may he break the stranglehold of private interests in America and usher in a new era of sharing for all. Those who have held on so tight to their money will find it will never bring them a sense of fulfilment, what will change their world is to remember who they really are. What they love and expand on that. Everyone will breathe easier and we can get on with living to our highest potential. That is the real reason we are here and at the end of the day, it is to be happy.

Wow that was a roll…

Here is an overview from the Sydney Morning Herald.  I don’t know how accurate it is, you make up your own mind.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/making-sense-of-obamacare-seven-key-questions-20131002-2uri4.html

And here is some information from the Obama side.  http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-facts.php