US Chamber Plans to Butcher Financial Overhaul

This Monday President Obama will deliver a speech on Wall Street, one day prior to the first anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing, with the purpose of jump-starting plans for a financial overhaul. Part of the plan is to establish a federal Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Get ready, taking a page from the Healthcare Reform opponents' handbook, the U.S Chamber of Commerce is planning a campaign to fire up the little guy. Only this time, they may have gotten, shall we say the wrong end of the cleaver?

According to a September 8 article in the Wall Street Journal, the Chamber spent $2 million on an ad that shows a picture of a butcher and the caption, "Virtually every business that extends credit to American consumers would be affected -- even the local butcher and the credit he extends to his customers."

The local butcher? Who the heck are they after with this one anyway? Do these guys spend so much time on Wall Street that they believe the Main Street the media keeps referring to really exists outside of Disney World?

About the only place you find a local butcher these days is in those gentrified city neighborhoods where customers pay through the teeth so they can walk to their shopping from high-end condos and tote home specially ordered cuts in eco-friendly reusable shopping bags. All the credit extended is on a plastic card. Somehow I don't think that's the demographic the Chamber is trying to reach.

But here's the really funny part. When you think of a time when the local butcher did extend credit to cash-strapped families, what does it bring to mind? Like maybe the Great Depression? So is that the best image for the Chamber's anti-financial reform message?

I guess they figure they're too big to fail.

Obama's Speech to Congress: Did It Do the Trick?

Many of us were hoping for one of those rousing campaign speeches by Barack Obama, sending us onward and forward for healthcare reform, and over all, I think he did a good job at appealing to our better angels. It's about time an American president pointed out that there are things only the government can do, and that you can't expect businesses to regulate themselves. Just a few short months ago, everybody was on board with that and ready to hang bank CEOs in effigy. I've always known Americans had short memories, but over the past few decades we've fallen into collective Alzheimer's. Which is why I don't get all the fretting from the Blue Dogs. By the next election most of their constituents won't even remember there was a healthcare debate, let alone how their members of Congress voted on it.

The president came out a little stronger on the public option than members of his administration were hinting he would. I have to believe it had something to do with all those petitions from Progressive organizations.

To my progressive friends, I would remind you that for decades, the driving idea behind reform has been to end insurance company abuses and make coverage affordable for those without it. The public option is only a means to that end – and we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal.

Can't disagree with that. I just don't know what other means there would be. Certainly not silly ideas like coops, but maybe Senator Baucus will be so tickled at having been singled out for his payment plan, that he'll drop that non-starter.

Here's my question, though. If it's true, as members of the Obama administration have been saying lately, that the public option is such a small part of reform that it could be jettisoned for the sake of compromise, then why do the private insurers take it so seriously? If people like House Minority Leader John Boehner believe so strongly that the government can't run anything, then why are they saying a public option would drive private insurers out of business? Of course, I should know better than to look for logic in any of this.

It's not time to quit yet. Click on these sites to learn what you can do to support the public option.

Pledge to donate a symbolic minimum of $3.26 to members of Congress who support the public option.

Call the White House: 202-456-1111

Call Your Representative in Congress: 202-224-3121

Call Your Senators: 202-224-3121

Then go to Senator Russ Feingold's site to let him know you called.

Call your own Representative.

Bill Moyers: Obama's Moment

If you missed Bill Moyers Journal on PBS last Friday, take a moment to listen to Obama's Moment. Moyer urges the president to take a strong role in pushing for the public option.

It's one thing for average Josephines like me to say what Obama should do, but I've never held any political office let alone a high one. Moyers, on the other hand, was a major adviser to Lyndon Johnson who took part in everything from drafting bills to messages to Congress. In short, he knows a thing or two about rallying lawmakers. I've always admired Moyers' bold and intelligent editorials. I'm often moved by his words. I hope the president is as well.

Compare Healthcare Proposals

The woman I was collecting signatures with today clued me into this link comparing all the major and minor proposals. The major ones covered are the two Senate proposals and the general guidelines provided by President Obama. In addition there are other proposals that, to my mind, are head and shoulders above HR 3200 or any of the major proposals. They are essentially single payer. The amazing thing to me is these plans haven't gotten a second glance, and yet, of all the proposals they appear to be the only ones with the potential to contain costs, and a clear-cut method for paying for them. Some would require individual buy-ins, others simply impose an across the board tax.