I stumbled on this a couple days ago. Just to give you an idea of how long the right wing in this country has been able to choke off the idea of universal health care in this country, this is a speech from 1962. That was 63 years ago. The concept of universal health care in the US goes back another 50 years prior to this speech to Bull Moose Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.
A year plus after that speech President Kennedy was assassinated. In the aftermath of his assassination, universal health care for the elderly – Medicare – was among one of the many bills President Johnson was able to get passed. Medicare was supposed to be the first step in the move to universal healthcare in the US.
At approximately the same time Canada was passing their version of Medicare which still covers Canadians today. The US remains stuck in the mud.
Having such disparate systems next door to each other makes for easy comparisons since our societies are fairly similar. Canada pays about 11% of GDP for a system that covers everybody for damn near everything including dental and vision.
Through various methods including insurance payments, taxes, co-payments, out of pocket payments and payments for services not covered US citizens pay about 20% of GDP. Simply stated we could save half and add more services by going to a universal system.
The roadblock that has stalled this simple step forward is the racism that is so deeply ingrained in our country. The concept that some human is not deserving of medical care because of the color of their skin or their sexual orientation.
Our first mission that is staring us in the face immediately is to stop trump and his toadies from totally ruining our democracy. Universal health care should one of our top priorities after keeping our democracy.
Hard to believe, but it has been 18 years since the world wide financial meltdown known as these Great Recession. As with many crises or catastrophic situations, the consequences often take long to develop. One of the consequences of a crisis in 2007 is that 18 years later there are fewer children coming into adulthood to fill in holes in the workforce being left by retirees.
There are also fewer 18 year olds going on to higher education. We are now beginning to see the some of the consequences of policies that have slowly hollowed out the middle class over decades but which had a real wallop as Republican policies led to financial failure across the world in 2007 and 2008.
As college enrollments slow there will consequently be shortages in college trained individuals to move into professional jobs and leadership roles. And as a compounding factor, the fewer children of this generation will also be having fewer children since many of the policies that produced this pull back in children will only be worsened by the coming administration.
From the Hechinger report, a web site that watches trends in education comes a report on the current state of higher education. They note that not only is the demographic cliff beginning to emerge, it will be a long term trend.
“This so-called demographic cliff has been predicted ever since Americans started having fewer babies at the advent of the Great Recession around the end of 2007 — a falling birth rate that has not recovered since, except for a slight blip after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Demographers say it will finally arrive in the fall of this year. That’s when recruiting offices will begin to confront the long-anticipated drop-off in the number of applicants from among the next class of high school seniors.
But the downturn isn’t just a problem for universities and colleges. It’s a looming crisis for the economy, with fewer graduates eventually coming through the pipeline to fill jobs that require college educations, even as international rivals increase the proportions of their populations with degrees.”
Expected bad policies from the upcoming administration will most likely contribute to expanding what already seems to be a trend. One of the methods of population replacement has long been immigration. Policies expressed by the new administration including deporting over 11 million immigrants should really stunt growth from that area.
Population growth within a country is not only the way to keep jobs filled, but also to keep the supply of labor sufficient to keep the price of labor (wages) low for business owner. Right wing politicians have been decrying access to abortion for decades. The unstated reason was that as the amount of laborers decreased the price of labor rose.
One answer they had was to outlaw abortions. When Dobbs v. Jackson was decided in 2022 that greatly restricted abortions in the US there was an unexpected reaction in this country. Instead of leading to a rise in births it led to a rise in permanent sterilization among young people. Surprise, surprise!
The plummeting birth rate is not only a phenomena in the US, it is much bigger in other nations as the Times of India points out that birth rates in China and India are low enough that both countries are expected to be below one billion in population by the end of the century.
But back to the United States. Vox has an analysis on the reasons behind our falling birth rate. It looks like much of the problem is due to the policies that MAGA has foisted on this country:
In the US, meanwhile, rhetoric aimed at getting people to have more children can ring hollow given a racist history in which white motherhood has been lauded while Black women’s fertility has been viewed as disordered and suspect, to the point that Black women have been forcibly sterilized. In a country where Black women die in childbirth at nearly three times the rate of white women, it’s impossible to hear calls to increase the birth rate without questioning who they’re really aimed at. Black women have always understood, “You’re not talking about me when you’re saying these things,” said Regina Davis Moss, president of the nonprofit In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda. Indeed, college-educated Black women in the US have fewer children than their white counterparts, with researchers speculating that concerns about maternal mortality could be a reason why.
Snip
The lack of family-friendly policies like paid leave and subsidized child care could also contribute to falling fertility in the US. There’s evidence, for example, that some people are having fewer children than they want. In a 2018 US poll, about a quarter of respondents said they had or were planning to have fewer kids than they would ideally like to have. Of those, 64 percent cited the cost of child care as a reason. Ballooning costs — of child care, housing, college, and more — are an issue around the world, with South Korea and China topping the list of most expensive places to raise a child. “When you ask people, why aren’t you having the kids that you want, we do see economic reasons come to the fore,” said Gemmill.
It is to be seen whether lowering birth rates will be good or bad. My take is that there will be some of each. But since the world is so stressed as it is, it seems lowering the population wouldn’t hurt. Like it or not it looks like we are about to find out.
Democrats are voting for a national chair next month. Marc Elias of Democracy Docket is doing a DNC chair candidate series. Thanks to Dave Bradley for passing this on; we hope everyone gets a chance to watch. It is critical that Democrats get this right.
Wikler:
strategy in every state
year round organizing
crisis is opportunity
Here is a brief excerpt from the interview.
Marc Elias asking Wikler what he would do as chair on voting rights and democracy:
Elias: “The RNC invested heavily in the 2024 election. Mike Whatley got the job over Ronna McDaniel in part because Donald Trump didn’t think McDaniels was doing enough to suppress the vote, what they call their election integrity program…”
Ben Wikler: “We should be really clear eyed as you are.. that Republicans try to get power and then change the rules and rig the system to make sure that no one can ever win that power back. That is their playbook. They seize control… and then they try to rig everything to prevent the public’s voice from being heard. I think as Democrats we should view that as a core part of the fight… We’re trying to fight back against Republicans who think that the public should have no voice in our democracy, that this should just be a handful of very powerful people on the far right who decide everything for everyone.”
Adam Kinzinger in a scene from “The Last Republican”
Substack is no replacement for newspapers but it is a place to find good writing and good people fighting for democracy. It’s free or you can choose to be a paid subscriber to whoever you like. And it’s nice that you don’t have to wade through social media feeds to get to a decent read. It comes right to your inbox.
Today I would like to mention Adam Kinzinger. Most people are familiar with him as the other Republican on the January 6th Committee along with Liz Cheney. There is also a documentary out about him, The Last Republican (don’t we wish) now in theaters, haven’t seen it.
What I like about Kinzinger (and Cheney too for that matter) is that he has no fear of Trump. By that I don’t mean he doesn’t know the danger we’re in. Of course, he does. But so many others in the media and the punditry class seem to focus primarily on fear mongering and laying it on thick about Trump’s supposed omnipotence. It seems to me that is doing nothing but scaring our side into panic or paralysis.
Conversely, Kinzinger’s attitude is bring it on, Trump.
We need more of that.
Some people say, oh, he’s republican, he voted with Trump blah blah blah. I do not care. It doesn’t bother me that he was a Republican. I will gladly accept into this fight whoever declares for democracy over Trump.
Here’s an excerpt from a recent Substack. Again, you can follow for free or be a paid subscriber. Word of caution he is followed by some conservatives (not necessarily MAGAs) but just be aware if you dabble in the comments.
“The fight now is to stay in the fight. The temptation to walk away, to give up, to let the weight of it all break us down into despair is real—and I feel it too, at times. But we can’t give in to that. I want to remind you that you’re not alone. There are countless people who feel the same frustration, the same concern, and yes, the same exhaustion. And in some strange way, knowing we’re in this together can be its own kind of strength.
The key is to sustain our energy and find the victories where we can. The extremist MAGA movement is in full view, and I am more convinced than ever that it will eventually collapse under its own toxicity, tearing itself apart in the process. We have to be there when it does, standing strong with our values intact.”
Now that is a happy thought. Have a fear free day!
From the January 2025 edition ofThe Prairie Progressive, Iowa’s oldest progressive newsletter. The PP is funded entirely by reader subscription, available in hard copy for $15/yr. Send check to PP, Box 1945, Iowa City 52244. Click here for archived issues.
by Jon Krieg
When I was a kid, I’d often hear good news/bad news jokes in the halls and lunchrooms of Byron Rice Elementary School in Des Moines. Most of them weren’t that funny, but that kind of humor has come to mind in the wake of Governor Reynolds’ approach to child hunger in our state.
The good news is that last August, thousands of Iowans raised their voices via calls, emails, social and conventional media and a petition that advocates presented to the
governor. The petition called on her to implement the SUN Bucks program in 2025, providing $120 in a Summer EBT card that would enable families to purchase healthy
food of their own choosing. Around 240,000 of Iowa’s kids already missed out on the program in the summer of 2024 due to the governor’s inaction.
And it was a bit of good news when the governor announced her intent to do something to address the issue. However, instead of simply accepting around $29 million in Sun
Bucks benefits, she applied for a waiver to the USDA to do something completely different from the policy that passed a divided congress with bipartisan report.
The bad news is that the governor’s proposal, however well intentioned, has serious problems. In lieu of a simple card that allows families to choose their purchases, her idea is to give low-income children whose families opt in to the program a box of food as chosen by the government. And presumably poor kids will be expected to eat that food
whether they like it or not.
While it is to her credit that she at least proposed some action, it’s still paternalistic. The USDA subsequently denied Iowa’s proposal, with one official saying, “Through this waiver request, the governor is asserting that the State knows better than its own families do about what their needs are.”
Would we like total strangers to select our food at restaurants or grocery stores? Would most kids like that? Giving everyone the same contents doesn’t allow for variations in tastes, dietary needs, allergy concerns, or cultural food traditions.
It’s a bit like issuing everyone an identical pair of size 7 shoes. If you’re lucky and the shoe fits like Cinderella’s glass slipper, great. But it’s probably not what many people would pick for themselves, and you’re out of luck if your feet are bigger or smaller.
A spokesperson for Gov. Reynolds now says the state will again apply for a waiver under the new Trump administration. But even if the USDA grants the waiver—and I wouldn’t bet the farm on that since it’s so different from the enabling legislation and intent of federal lawmakers—the process would be so cumbersome that many would miss out even from this one-size-fitsall approach. By contrast, the SUN Bucks program ensures that the food credit goes directly and pretty much automatically to the vast majority of eligible children.
If Iowa’s waiver request is denied by Trump’s USDA, we’d be back to zero again, which puts hundreds of thousands of kids at risk of food insecurity.
Iowa’s businesses and farms would also miss out on the economic impact of SUN Bucks. The governor’s proposal would have the state purchase merchandise wholesale from distributors. By contrast, farms, farmers markets, and grocery stores all across the state
would benefit by the $29 million the original program would bring— not counting the $1.50 to $1.80 multiplier effect in economic activity for each dollar spent.
Governor Reynolds needs to listen to what Iowans are saying about SUN Bucks.
“Many children are in need as parents struggle to keep a roof over the heads and the lights on; feeding their children should never be an issue, especially in Iowa,” said Kelly, a SUN Bucks petition signer from Oelwein. “Yes, Iowans are resilient, yes, we’re tough, but access to food due to pricing is forcing working parents to use food banks if they are lucky to have one nearby.”
A letter signed by over 150 Iowa organizations puts it well: “In a country as wealthy as the United States, and in a state with as rich an agricultural tradition as Iowa, no child should ever go hungry. No matter who takes care of them, no matter where they live, no matter what.”
Given all these issues, it would be a good idea to think again and take advantage of this federal food program as originally intended. It would be a win all around for kids,
families, and communities. Pick up your phone, get on your computer, and tell your state
legislators: Take the federal money. Feed our kids.
—Jon Krieg is a regional communications specialist with the American Friends Service Committee
In the spiritual struggle against the sin of liberalism the Republican majority’s sights turned to the regent institutions. This session, a new legislative committee will deal specifically with higher education policy. Leading the effort is Republican Rep. Taylor Collins from Mediapolis. He said to expect “significant reforms to Iowa’s higher education system,” according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
Framing his jihad as addressing the workforce shortage in Iowa, Collins is riding a national wave in opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in education. No worries on the part of administrations at the three major Iowa public universities. They are bowing down to the jihad in advance. The University of Iowa already announced closure of some offending programs, including the gender studies and American Studies programs in advance of the new DEI law going into effect in July. They discuss the possibility of forming a new umbrella school for these and other programs, although that seems uncertain as I write.
Rep. Taylor Collins seeks to refocus Iowa’s higher education system on producing students ready to fill high-need jobs in our state, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley said in a statement.
“In his first term, (Rep.) Collins led efforts to dismantle the DEI bureaucracies at the regent institutions and remove political bias from the university presidential selection process,” Grassley told the Cedar Rapids Gazette. “I’m eager to see the work he will continue to do as chair of this new committee. A comprehensive review of Iowa’s entire higher education system is long overdue.”
I am a graduate of the American Studies Program in 1981, although we were a loose consortium of interests rather than an official department. It was a way for me to get an interdisciplinary degree to further my liberal arts education. I had no interest in using the degree to get any job.
I paid very little for my undergraduate (1970-1974) and graduate (1980-1981) degrees from Iowa. Today, the cost of an undergraduate degree from Iowa is $29,219 per year or $116,876 if a student can finish in four years. Now we’re talking real money. I understand one expects something to go with that expenditure and related debt. But a job?
If the legislature’s aim is to turn the regent institutions into a fancied up community college program then count me out. If that’s the case, I’d go one step further and make a modest proposal. Keep key curricula and programs like education and sell off the big pieces for workforce development. Who better to manage the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics than a big insurance company like United Healthcare or Kaiser Permanente? Why not sell the agriculture programs to Cargill? Engineering? Maybe Apple, Halliburton, Microsoft, General Dynamics, Alphabet, Meta, or Amazon might buy them and integrate them into their other product offerings. Hell, there are so many potential buyers on that one we could run the sale price way up.
The truth is, Rep. Collins hasn’t said much about this or how Iowa survives as an economic base going forward. He is hacking away at DEI, and everything that means. Last year wasn’t good, and this year isn’t shaping up to be much better.
This will be one to watch and I expect to keep a ring side seat. The 2025 session of the Iowa Legislature begins Jan. 13.
Today is a good day to remind us of the danger of tyranny.
From the On Tyranny series by Timothy Snyder, lesson #7 of twenty. Check here for a lesson every Monday or you can find them on YouTube. They are all short videos, no ads.
There is just simply a lot happening in science. There is a lot happening in science in particular in the area of renewable and non-polluting energy. A major reason for that is climate change. Our previous methods of creating energy also made our atmosphere some form of toxic and causes changes in the climate of the planet.
So the race is on for the holy grail of energy: highly efficient, renewable, safe and non-polluting.
The Biden administration was on board. They said it in their budgets by investing in the needed research. This helped keep the US at the forefront of the future of energy. Will the next administration put any priority on science? Their record to now says it is unlikely.
If they do not we will be losing the race every day we are not in the race.
Remember that future demands for energy will be growing geometrically. The demand from AI will be massive for instance. If the energy we use is not renewable and clean we will be adding to climate problems on a massive scale. Keep an eye on the MAGA administration to make sure they have OUR future in mind!
Carter was so far ahead of his time in so many ways. As he lived another 45 years past his presidency, historians are only now understanding much of what Carter stood for. What Carter stood for is how he conducted his life. In politics that was and still is rare. America lost one of its rare gems last week.
Yet I am sure we can depend on the media not to delve deeply into Jimmy Carter, but to focus on the surface and the headlines. Expect them to focus on the hostage crisis and not the treason that Reagan was committing behind the scenes. For as George Orwell noted in “1984” “Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future”. And right now MAGA is in the business of controlling the country.
We will have some questions on Carter among the weekly doings.
A) Many of our top politicians are lawyers or business people. What professions did Jimmy Carter have before becoming a politician?
B) Two major terrorist type attacks were prominent in the news last week. A truck rammed into crowds in what section of New Orleans New Years Day in the very early morning?
C) An attack in Las Vegas happened in front of a building owned by what famous American?
D) Well, it seems the holidays still have a little left in the tank. What two holidays are marked tonight and tomorrow?
E) What college football teams are left to compete for the national title?
F) Elon Musk is not just America’s troll. He has inserted his right wing philosophy in at least what two European countries in the past couple of weeks?
G) Despite President Nixon getting all the credit, Carter was really the president who opened relations and trade with what country?
H) Iowa finally has a lieutenant governor. When and why did the previous lieutenant governor leave?
I) The new lieutenant governor steps in with an ethics complaint being levied against her for doing what?
J) Back to the terrorist attacks. The incoming administration immediately claimed the attacks were perpetrated by whom before any investigation was done?
K) What did the perpetrators of the two attacks have in common?
L) What major American retailer is facing a boycott from MAGA?
M) Why is MAGA calling for this boycott?
N) Among those receiving the Presidential Citizens Medal Thursday were what two leaders of the January 6th Committee?
O) An airplane crash killed 179 in what country as landing gear failed to deploy?
P) Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called for cancer warning labels on alcohol. How many cancer cases per year are directly tied to alcohol in the US?
Q) The truck used in the Las Vegas bombing was what kind of truck?
R) What member of the Osmond Brothers died from massive stroke earlier this week?
S) Yesterday was the first anniversary of what tragedy in Iowa?
T) Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of what national tragedy?
Pete Hegseth Declares End to His Dry January. – Andy Borowitz
Tip of the hat to democraticunderground.com
Answers:
A) Peanut farmer and nuclear engineer
B) Bourbon Street
C) Trump
D) Tonight is Twelfth Night and tomorrow is the Epiphany
E) Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas and Penn State
F) Germany which has an election in February and the UK
G) China
H) Adam Gregg left in early September to “spend more time with his family”
I) The complaint filed by Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane. The complaint accuses Cournoyer of harassment of a citizen. More here.
J) illegal aliens – neither were
K) Both had served or were serving in the US Army
L) Costco
M) because Costco reiterated their pro-DEI stance during their latest board meeting
N) Bennie Thompson and Liz Chaney
O) South Korea
P) 100,000
Q) A Tesla Cybertruck
R) Wayne
S) The Perry school shooting (January 4th, 2024)
T) The Trump coup
But people need to stop calling it a “conservative” agenda. There is nothing conservative about it. Try christo-fascist, extremist, activist agenda. Pick one of those words. We have a serious word problem here, and everyone just rambles on using “conservative.” – Randi Mayem Singer
There are so many things to be apprehensive about as MAGA is once again poised to take over the reins of government. The economy, our mutual defense alliances, the vast gulf between the rich and the middle class and poor, education and social programs to name just a few.
One thing in particular that casts a long specter over the land is the anti-science stand that MAGAs and the right wing are so proud of. So proud that they openly nominate and back one of the most anti-science of them all – Robert F. Kennedy, jr. to be their secretary in charge of Health and Human Services. This is a post where he can do a huge amount of damage.
Remember that because of the previous Trump administration’s terrible response to all things covid, we probably lost more than half a million Americans. That seems to be a very low ball number. Do not forget that that administration dismantled operations that were set up world-wide to catch such a pandemic early on. We will never know what the outcome might have been had those operations been left in place.
We know Kennedy, if approved, will do what he can to inhibit current vaccination programs. All those childhood diseases THAT CAN AND DO KILL CHILDREN may no longer be mandatory. Therefore, Kennedy could be ushering in another dark age for diseases.
All this makes me very apprehensive as we turn into the New Year and I read stories of bird flus skipping between various species. So far the disease is being monitored and tracked very well. Human cases are popping up, but so far county health offices are on top of it.
Several flocks of domesticated birds (turkeys and chickens) have already been culled due to the birds flu. So far there seems to be no human-to-human spread, Iowa is currently closely monitoring the situation:
At this time CDC and Iowa HHS have said the public health risk remains low as there is “no evidence” that human-to-human transmission is occurring.
“Iowa has monitored the spread of avian influenza closely since it was first detected in poultry in the state in 2022, and our state is prepared with the established knowledge, strong partnerships, and effective tools to mitigate its impact on our community,” State Medical Director Robert Kruse said in the HHS press release.
Pritt, who is also the chair for the CAP council on scientific affairs, explained the H5N1 virus is an RNA virus, so in every infected animal the virus replicates and is prone to mutations, therefore raising the likelihood of a mutation occurring that would make it more transmissible among humans.
“But it is true that at this point, there are no mutations that are really … making us worry that this is going to widely spread between humans,” Pritt said.
Pritt’s other concern is the range of animals being infected with the virus, including domestic cats and, importantly, pigs. Pigs, she explained, can carry both bird and human influenza viruses which creates a “mixing pot” that can lead to the creation of new viruses.
Note also that bird flu is showing up in cats, both feral and domesticated. While currently not easily spread from feline to human a mutation could change that. Also note that some cats on farms are thought to be getting the disease through raw cows’ milk. Mr. Kennedy is thought to be in favor of lifting regulations on sales of raw cows’ milk.
Once burned, twice shy! We have seen the destruction that bad policies can have on the collective health of the country. We need to be vigilant and to make sure that the leaders of the Democratic Party have our backs in the bird flu situation.
Based on their track record we know that MAGA politicians (especially Grassley, Ernst, Miller-Meeks, Hinson, Nunn and Feenstra) sure won’t.
Governor Kim Keynolds: (515) 281-5211 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Iowa Members of Congress - Rep. Randy Feenstra (R) - Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) - Rep. Zach Nunn (R) Iowa US Senators - Senator Joni Ernst (R) - Senator Charles Grassley (R)
