War in North Korea (Maybe) — GOP Privatization War Run Amok (Real)

Corporate America Retort: “Hey, works for us”

Only Two Sheets Needed: Will Help Keep Your Underwear Clean

(GOP sounds like those TV “Enjoy the go” Bears)

Today I focus on three continuing privatization schemes that the GOP always pitches and pursues: The VA, Healthcare including Medicare and Medicaid, and Public education.

First this background and review to set the stage as it were:

One of the President Trump’s first orders of business on January 23, a mere three days after taking office, was to sign an executive order establishing a federal hiring freeze, which the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) warns will impact workers and communities across the nation, as more than 85 percent of federal employees live and work outside the nation's capital.

During a press briefing, press secretary Sean Spicer framed the memorandum  which prevents vacant positions from being filled or new positions from being created, except within the military or national security apparatus — as an effort to create an “effective and efficient government.”

But, as AFGE national president J. David Cox Sr. pointed out, the freeze will “actually increase taxpayer costs by forcing agencies to hire more expensive contractors to do work that civilian government employees are already doing for far less.” In effect, it's a step towards privatizing the federal government, and Cox continued: “Numerous studies have shown that contractors are two to three times more costly than each federal employee they replace. President Trump's federal hiring freeze will result in more government waste as agencies are forced to hire high-priced contractors to do the work that federal employees can and should be doing.”

And, here we are today – more the same old, same GOP crap with the following areas:

THE VA AND HEALTHCARE: Trump said back in December 2016 that he considering a “public-private option” that would allow some Veterans to get all of their medical care from private-sector physicians and with the government paying the bill adding: “It’s one of the options on the table. Definitely an option on the table to have a system where potentially Vets can choose either or, or all private.”

FACTS:  

1.  About 9 million veterans — 40 percent of the total U.S. veterans population — use VA medical services or receive veterans benefits.

2.  VA officials said nearly one-third of all medical appointments conducted last fiscal year were with physicians outside the department.

3.  Congress in 2014 approved a new Choice Card program, which allows veterans facing lengthy wait times or significant travel to visit private-sector clinics instead of VA facilities.

(I Note: That program has faced mixed reviews, with VA officials saying it has limited use and critics saying department officials have undermined the program with unneeded bureaucracy).

4.  Trump promised to “ensure every Veteran in America has the choice to seek care at the VA, or to seek private medical care paid for by our government.”

However, critics of such a dramatic change, a critic of which I am a strong one, are questioning how such a plan would work and what the potential costs would be.

There are far too many unknowns… we need to make the VA stronger just as Abe Lincoln said: “… to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.” Nowadays, that also means: “… to care for her …”

I say, stop tinkering with the VA – solve problems and sustain it, fund it, and make it better… don’t believe me – ask the Vets.

(ACA) OBAMA-CARE REPEAL EFFORT TO GET AHCA) TRUMP-CARE:

Keep in mind Trump has been woefully ineffective despite the fact of his daily EO signing TV spots. He and his party control both the House and Senate and all they needed to repeal Obama-care and pass Trump-care was a simple majority vote and they couldn’t even muster that. Now part II is about to raise its ugly head by keeping a lot of Obama-care provisions, but giving states a road to waivers to drop provisions and cut people while and you guessed it: passing the savings up the line to millionaires and billionaires who need it least or needs it like another Trump reality show.

PUBLIC EDUCATION:

Now another “voucher crazy idea on top of Paul Ryan’s previous pledges to privatize Medicare, too – while tossing Medicaid to the states for full funding and tinkering with Social Security – always been a long time GOP goal since FDR days is this attack on public education – yep; vouchers for schools – stated this way:

Despite the national marketing campaign by President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, vouchers take scarce funding away from public schools, where 90 percent of students attend, and create two different education systems — one private and one public — funded by taxpayers. The risks inherent in vouchers are especially pronounced in rural areas, where there are no or few private school options, and schools often serve as the social center of the community and the sole provider of critical services such as summer lunch and programs, food pantries and sports.

Private and religious school vouchers have received increasing attention in the past few months as Trump and DeVos have traveled the country extolling their virtues. Unmentioned in their sales pitch is that vouchers would be particularly harmful in rural communities and small towns, where removing funding would destabilize already financially challenged public school systems, and transportation to the nearest private voucher school — which can be an hour away or more — must be paid for and arranged by the student’s family. 

Who is Betsy DeVos anyway — short bio:

The Trump-DeVos voucher proposal’s has drawn opposition from key federal elected officials, including Senator Patty of Murray (D-WA), who is the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee who recently wrote a memo to committee members and said:

“In many rural areas, there are no, or very few, private school options. Students in rural areas often have to travel very far to attend the nearest school. Without taxpayer funded transportation, arranging private transportation would be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming for many families in rural areas. For these students and families, their public school is the only real option and claims to the contrary only amount to a false choice.”

According to the Center for American Progress, vouchers are highly unlikely to work and could decimate the public system in nearly 9,000 sparse school districts that have four or fewer schools. After excluding charter schools and regional agencies that are legally considered school districts, 85 percent of the 11,200 regular school districts fall into these two categories of sparse and average districts (a unified school district with five to eight schools, an elementary-school-only district with four to five schools, or a secondary-school-only district with three to five schools) where vouchers are entirely or more than likely to be unworkable, concluded CAP.

Nearly 9 million of the 50 million public school students across the country attend rural schools, finds a forthcoming report from the Rural School and Community Trust. “For rural schools, the emphasis on school choice means little because the closest schools are impossibly far away. Rural educators worry that their schools will gain very little from the school-choice model. If anything, it could siphon away critical funding,” states the organization.

In a Washington Post article using Maine and Alaska as examples of states where rural districts are common, reporters Jose A. Del Real and Emma Brown wrote about these shortcomings of the Trump-DeVos proposal this way:

“Washington has long designed education policy to deal with urban and suburban challenges, often overlooking the unique problems that face rural schools. . . With a new administration in the White House that prefers “school-choice” approaches — favoring charter schools and private-school vouchers so parents can opt out of public schools and bring taxpayer dollars with them — the nation’s rural schools are left to wonder about their fate.”

So, what can you do – well, plenty actually. You can call, write, or email your Senator or Rep. in Congress and tell them in no uncertain terms:

“Do not to divert billions of dollars of my tax dollars to vouchers or similar privatization schemes – strengthen and improve and help public education – that is the backbone of the country.”

CLICK HERE FOR SAMPLE >>>

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