Break Up Insurance Monopolies

Well, as long as I'm talking petitions today, here's another one worthy of consideration: the insurance anti-trust exemption that the industry has enjoyed since 1945. This online petition is from Senator Pat Leahy of Vermont and urges the Senate to follow the House of Representatives action in bringing this out of control industry under anti-trust regulation.

America's health insurance companies have had a pretty sweet deal for decades.

They can pick and choose their customers and deny coverage to anyone with any sort of pre-existing condition -- even acne.  They can get away with dropping your coverage when you get sick.

And since 1945 they have been exempt from the antitrust regulations that apply to nearly every other industry, rules that protect consumers from anti-competitive business practices
like price-fixing.

That's why I just sent a letter to my Senators, supporting the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act, which will eliminate the outdated insurance industry antitrust exemption, and force health insurance companies to compete fairly -- like virtually every other business in America.

Please join me by sending a letter to your Senators as well: click here

More US Jobs Moving To Mexico (Update)

Back on 08/31/2009, I posted about the decision of the Whirlpool Corporation to close an Indiana plant and move the operation to Mexico, with a loss of more than a thousand American jobs.   The closure date is now approaching and the AFL/CIO has a petition online to ask Whirlpool to reconsider:

The Whirlpool Corp. plans to start closing its refrigerator plant in Evansville, Ind., on March 26. The refrigerators now manufactured at this plant will be produced in Mexico, eliminating 1,100 local jobs. Meanwhile, Whirlpool--the world's largest home appliance maker--enjoys healthy profits and has received a $19 million economic matching grant that should be creating jobs here in America.

Join me and sign this important petition today and tell Whirlpool: Keep It Made in America.

Wonder Where The Money Went...

Remember that old toothpaste jingle?   "You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent?"  Well, you should wonder where the money went, when your government raided the Social Security Trust Fund (SSTF).  Hum it to the tune of "Liar Liar Pants On Fire."  

This article outlines what happened to $1.37 TRILLION of SSTF money during the GW Bush Presidency.   Despite his repeated campaign promises, the President raided the fund throughout his entire Administration, creating a giant hole in the ability of the fund to meet it's obligations to America's workers.

But nothing changed with the inauguration of George W. Bush. Despite his pledge to protect the Social Security money, Bush spent every dime of Social Security surplus revenue that came in during his presidency. He used it to fund his big tax cuts for the rich, and much of it was spent on wars.

Bush maintained his fictional support for protecting these funds until 2005, until his new goal was privatization of the Social Security System. Perhaps he thought admitting the fund was depleted might bolster his push to hand the rest of it to Wall Street.  

The most upsetting part of this story is the fact that while the media covered the status of the Trust Fund fairly closely during the 2000 Presidential campaigns, the story failed to generate interest later, when the American people thought the raiding was history and the fund was safe.   It most assuredly was not.
 

More U.S. Jobs Lost

Well, another American company has decided to "reduce expenses" and is closing down a local call center in favor of outsourcing the operation.  Redbox is the outfit that maintains soda machine size vending machines all around the country, at which you can rent $1 videos.  The business model is killing Blockbuster and even attracting attention from Netflix. 

While news reports aren't specific about the plan, it's not a big stretch to conclude that "outsourcing" means "off-shoring."  The loss of Illinois jobs will be probably be matched by an increase of jobs in Manila, Bangalore, or Singapore.  The number of jobs involved isn't huge, about 200, but this is a company that is making money and planning expansion at the same time they're laying off employees. 

To those who say that this is "good business decision" and it's just "global economics," all I can say is that's baloney.   The global economy does not have to be the only game in town.   If we as Americans want to preserve jobs and livelihoods of Americans, we need to start complaining loudly when companies treat us like this.   Especially when the company, like Redbox, is making money.  At the very least, American workers (those that are still employed) should not be patronizing such businesses.  As long as we just take this abusive corporate behavior without complaint, the employment opportunities will just get worse.

If you'd like to express your lack of appreciation to Redbox, drop them an email.