JS in New England

jp

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With all due respect, Michael, I’d have to say that the argument as presented looks like a reiteration from the US Chamber of Commerce. Been there; done that; learned all too well that THEY ARE NOT US! (they are AIG, Chevron et al)

Free marketers I believe see the word “free” and often mis-construe “free market” for “free profit”, when in reality we all know (and expect) that nothing is free.

What we’re talking about here is the ongoing greatest transfer of wealth in the history of our nation, with the very old and the very poor already on government insurance, with a growing number of Boomers signing up for their benefits against a shrinking pool of those entering the workforce paying in. While I’d acknowledge the 13% number in terms of fraud/waste in Medicare, we might also consider the reality of the fraud, waste and abuse of those buying “free market” insurance whose cost has risen by up to 160% over the past few years for many small businesses, as well as the very real prospect of bankruptcy when their carrier exercises their rights to deny coverage or a policy at all.

I think it an embarrassment that the richest nation on earth has allowed it’s government and corporations to treat its workforce and its people as profit centers instead of assets to be cultivated and nurtured. Whatever system is decided upon initially (perhaps a compromise–what a novel idea) had better have some flexibility to allow us to patch what clearly doesn’t work, and stick with what does; the bottom line being the strongest most productive workforce and people in the world.

Anything less is just something that Eisenhower missed when he warned us of the dangers of the growing MILITARY industrial complex. Who would have ever thought that the MEDICAL industrial complex would be our ruination?

The merits of expanding health care for the millions of uninsured is laudatory Joe but a public option is not the solution – it will only drive the cost of care up while providing arguably worse coverage. We do need dynamite for the system but our economy is not in a position right now to take the blast.

What we need is the ability for small business to pool resources and buy across state lines, have greater flexibility with health savings accounts and not be the source of all tax revenues. Pelosi may have won a small battle on Saturday evening but the war is far from over.

Best,

Michael Makin
President & CEO
Printing Industries of America

Now there’s a marketing angle for Print: Perhaps we could apply this “carbon footprint” and sustainability factor to the collective footprint of all this electronic wizardry and COAL that keeps it running?

Sadly, somehow it seems that greed’s gotten a hold of our upper echelon’s of govt/bigbusiness, where a salary in the 100′s of thousands is considered “minimum wage/starter pay”. You’d think Gordon Gecko somehow set a new standard, and it was only a movie!

I think the great divide in our health scheme, and the reason it’s so tough to fix, is that you have such a huge disparity in the “haves” and “have nots”. Government officials have it by “right” (compensation package) and just haven’t a clue……as to what the working man of this country goes through to take care of his family on less than a third of a Senator’s salary. Our Founder’s premise of government’s job as “level the playing field” has become a distant memory.

Great blog as usual. Insightful and responsible. You make very valid points and I concur that it is up to the market to decide. Unfortunately, sometimes political influence can cloud issues and make it difficult for this to occur. I believe this is happening here. Wherever I have traveled and certainly wherever the Chairman of the Board of Printing Industries of America has traveled, we have heard consistent messages from printers and vendors alike, “why can’t you guys just get together? I am tired of paying two memberships!” I guess we will just have to wait a little bit longer until this message is heard. In the meantime, you are dead on that it is entirely our responsibility to ensure that we present as compelling a value proposition as possible.

Michael Makin
President and CEO
Printing Industries of America

Katie Gekker