Noam Chomsky: America hates its poor
“The enormous benefits given to the very wealthy, the privileges for the very wealthy here, are way beyond those of other comparable societies and are part of the ongoing class war. Take a look at CEO salaries. CEOs are no more productive or brilliant here than they are in Europe, but the pay, bonuses, and enormous power they get here are out of sight. They’re probably a drain on the economy, and they become even more powerful when they are able to gain control of policy decisions.”
Beyond the spin, some facts about the Affordable Care Act
“Here are the top three facts that need to be addressed:
…And while companies can’t charge more to people with health problems as individuals, they can charge up to three times more based on age and cancharge more in geographic areas where the population has more health problems or the costs of care are higher. It is expected that if a company finds they can’t make enough profit in a particular area, they can just pull their plans from that area. These are some of the most obvious ways that insurers will game the system. The largest insurance companies assisted with writing the law and then with the regulations that accompanied it, so we will see what other tactics they employ as time goes on.”
The American public’s shocking lack of policy knowledge is a threat to progress and democracy
“The genuinely shocking degree of public ignorance regarding the ACA that has been revealed by this slew of recent polls, more than three years after the law was signed by President Obama, should not be something to which we respond by simply shaking our heads and lamenting that the American people are so ‘disengaged.’ No, this ought to be viewed as a very serious political crisis and a grave threat to whatever semblance of health our badly disfigured democratic culture still maintains.”