Readers' Comments

Creepy!!

When I was 23, I had moved to Los Angeles from Toronto. I was taking the bus one day and I had my motorcycle helmet with me, as my husband was going to pick me up at the stop in another community. Long story short... a woman with a mental illness came up in my face and started screaming at me. I was scared and didn't know what to do. I tried to get away from her. No one helped me, despite about 10 people at the bus stop. Someone later asked me why I didn't bash her head in with my helmet. That never occurred to me and I would never have done that. I knew that there was something wrong with her, but I had a mom that was like that with me growing up, so my own fears from childhood kicked in. With today's Stand Your Ground Law, if it applied in CA, I could have pulled out a gun and killed her? That to me is horrible. There are a lot of people that have mental health issues that are amongst us. Maybe even people you know. Is this what you want your society to be? Very sad.

Do you not read? "Most of the cost of that visit came out of my pocket because of the deductible." The patient paid the bulk of the $900 fee, $500 of which was the boot you say the doctor gave for "free." Had the patient purchased the boot on their own, it would have cost $75. The provider billed more than SIX times what the boot was worth. "And here you are complaining about it." I don't know the original poster, but i sure would complain too!

For such harsh critism over the content of this article, your rebuttal doesn't add up.

First, you state that "reducing our national debt is a sound thing to do". This is incorrect right now. It is advantageous to borrow at this time as treasury rates are lower than the rate of GDP growth for the predictable future. Basically that means it is a good investment to borrow money at such low rates because our rate of return on any money we invest off of the borrowed money is almost certainly to be greater than the rate of return on treasury bonds. So no, reducing the debt right now is actually a bad decision.

Second, while yes the economy will heal naturally and is currently doing so, the rate at which this is happening in respect to jobs is horribly slow. Yes, government spending is only one part of GDP, but what you fail to understand is the government spending portion of GDP also has a higher rate of job expansion compared to the other parts of GDP, which has been shown again and again in data.

Resistance can be active or entirely passive, like just sitting there, not cooperating. That can be effective if enough people do it at the right time and place.

But pushback means you resist actively. Organizing, lobbying, petitioning, demonstrating loudly, filming the cops, the whole works.

Besides, a Latin-based word like "resistance" doesn't pack quite the same punch as "pushback" IMO.

State of Michigan said they would save 4 million dollars by privatizing the 150 caregivers at the Home for Veterans in Grand Rapids. The cost is now falling on our veterans who have protected and fought for us. The care is sub-standard , members have had as many as 18 different caregivers in the 3 months it has been in effect. State workers worked the same units to provide continuity of care. Private organizations don't know or,care what that means. Workers are paid at half the rate of state workers, with no benefits. They use the privatizing companies as stepping stones to better paying jobs! Not that I blame them, but it causes high turn-over of staff. Privatization sucks. For those that lose their jobs to it, for those who are used by companies to work these low paying jobs, and the recipients of the services provided by privatizing agencies!!

John I read your link,I just couldn`t add it up,some things are missing.

Trolls doing a cut-n-paste job with ancient info cuz they don't have time for real and current research.

In my lifetime, I as well as other middle class Americans, have invested and supported through our tax dollars; parks, teachers, public services, roads, and yes even prisons. These are OUR financial and social investments that improve our country. Privatizing these public resources sells our investments and hands them over to interest that are not vested in the well-being of the United States. We are shareholders and beneficiaries of the People's Investments, and as a shareholder, I refuse to sell!

Privatization often takes a government service, which has adequately yet not exorbitantly paid management and adequately compensated workers, and turns it into a system of exorbitantly paid management, and very poorly paid workers, with minimal oversight. The cost savings (if any) are always on the backs of workers.

The management often doesn't spend any money in the local economy, as they often live far away from the places they do business. The workers though in most cases do live nearby. Basically what I am saying is that privatization hurts local economies, because it removes money from them, even if it results in minor cost savings, and it often doesn't.

I know this from personal experience because i work for a private contractor to government. We don't save them a dime. In fact, if they hired our employees directly, the would save half a million dollars a year.

SHHHHH!

The only reason Walker vetoed anything was to make himself look like some hero for re-election. It was all just a set up by his fellow GOP Koch followers. Probably another Koch agenda-all planned out.

I work at a sewage treatment plant and I can tell you that no chemicals what so ever are used in our plant. And almost all the bad stuff is broken down in a series of digesters kept at different temps, denitrophication, and ultraviolet light for sterilization. We currently land apply all of our sludge. It is a great soil conditioner (not fertilizer). And we are working on getting a pelitizer and have had many offers from fertilizer companies that want to use it and add their stuff to it. Many fertilizer companies are buying pelitized sludge (must be grade A sludge, there are different ratings and only class A can be put directly on the ground anywhere) and it is completely safe and EPA approved.