when our elected officials and professionals join the many actions in our regions it is inspiring and amplifies the urgency of all who agree to push back on egregious policies. Good photo of Dr. Leach on NO KINGS day, I think (?) at a We Rise or Indivisible rally. People came dressed in their professional outfits. Across from this was a valiant graduating student dressed in cap and gown, (imagine her future under the present regime) and, of course Indivisible's Statue of Liberty. July 17 is the next big nationwide protest to express the unpopularity and destructiveness to many of the Big Bad Bill just passed and the wreckage of policies and institutions built to support the common good.
We have been kicking the aging crisis down the road for decades. Even if this recent bill did not exist, an aging tsunami has been building worldwide. If you’re not wealthy or live in Scandinavian country and you need some form of care, it is becoming a family nightmare for many. Every touch point in the elder health and welfare system is facing a growing challenge. Staying healthy is a great option if you are able. Otherwise, it’s best to make a realistic plan as 3 of 5 people over 65 will require some form of long term care during their lifetimes.
Great essay, thank you Dr.Leach. You explained very clearly the consequences of the new policy. My hope is that people in our community will read this to really understand. I will share your words with my friends and family so that our fellow citizens realize how their lives their lifestyles will be changed . We all must do our part! Gloria Ragonetti
The goals of the current GOP is to make sure our Government only provides military and policing. They do not believe the role of Government is to help citizens with education or healthcare. No need for libraries, the arts or national parks. Their purpose is to enhance corporate power and instill fear to keep the citizenry in line. Thank you Dr. Leach for your frank outline of what we will be experiencing very soon. Our healthcare system was already weak and it seems like it will be close to non-existent.
Thank you Dr. Leach for delineating the practical ramifications of this administration's wrecking ball "budget" bill. It couldn't be clearer that everyone but the short-sighted ultra rich will be and are already feeling the negative effects of their malevolent efforts to protect their exclusive entitlements. America's oligarchy is baring it's teeth and flexing its claws. We (the people) are at a pivotal point in our history.
Thank you Dr Leach, you have clearly listed the problems expected after passage of the president’s agenda and budget. My concerns that this will unfold so gradually that most of us will not notice. The people being affected by loss of their jobs and health care are the poorest and least powerful Americans. While they suffer, the rest of us will go to rallies and continue to pay more for eggs while going about life as usual. I would like to be wrong about this and am looking for the next needed thing to do to support those affected.
I share that fear, especially since many of the worst cuts are scheduled, not by coincidence, to begin after next year's midterm congressional elections.
I sure hope that by then the Dems will have found their voice and their "footings". I think the "establishment" Dems need to sit back and turn loose AOC, Crockett, Stansbury, and so many others and not worry about decorum!
I agree with you about establishment Democrats. Trump I and Trump II happened on their watch. In 2015, Bernie Sanders had momentum, the youth vote, and a message that resonated. If they had just allowed things to play out without putting their thumb on the scale who knows where we’d be right now. Hilary had way too much baggage, deserved or not, to ever appeal to the many people who sensed politics as usual was leaving them behind. I feel like many current Democrats just don’t have the wherewithal to do more than wring their hands and rend their garments.
Exactly! I have commented my feelings about this at some point - and being told (paraphrasing) I shouldnt put all Dems in the same basket! I didnt. There are so many younger and not so young (Bernie-bless his heart) out there and they are seemingly being told "its not your time"!!!!!!!! Remember Jerry Connelly & the Oversight Committee? He said it was HIS turn - rather than AOC.
Thats MY opinion. Honestly, if now isnt their time - when the heck will it be? I worry about Bernie - hes been saying the same thing for how many years? He looks tired - I'm sure he would like to be able to retire. But he doesnt dare in these times.
Long ago, a Democrat spelled out his version of GOP health care: 1) "Don't get sick. 2) "If you do get sick, die quickly." The pesky lower middle class voters & the unionized upper working class have long been a thorn in the side of right-wing plans for a stable, permanent dictatorship. Better to do away with both.
12 years of Reagan/Bush One "Trickle down" reduced the middle class by 20% and grew the working poor by 120%. So far, so good. MAGA/Trump & the billionaire/corporate class now have the golden opportunity to finish the job of third-worlding America. The diamond-shaped US class structure needs to be redone as pyramid-shaped, ending that American Dream bulge in the middle.
Taking us back to pre-FDR/New Deal healthcare and safety net standards is one prong of this top-down class warfare pincers movement, with its goal of a compliant, hopeless, defeated, permanent underclass, much like the serfs of the feudal ages, conned into voting for Trump because he fakes hating the same folks they fear: immigrants, Blacks, Hispanics, gays, etc., while faking strength to macho-delusional American male voters.
These exploited victims so rarely climb out of poverty; they can't find the ladder, & few know it even exists. Full disclosure: after 17 years of birth defects, missing fathers, homelessness, SNAP benefits/public housing projects, I stumbled upon the Navy in 1962. A master's degree on the GI Bill finished the climb, later. With the MAGA bullseye on the VA, this gate is now closing for others.
The other prong of this pincers movement is terrorizing the immigrant class, which amounts to genocide for brown people here. Team Trump knows that with our low birth rate & baby boomers now aging out of the workforce, we need immigrants paying into Social Security or that system goes permanently broke sooner. Genius, evil genius.
After ten years demonizing all immigrants, Trump laid off immigration judges & defunded legal aid for asylum seekers. This delays legal-entry seekers at the border, with hungry children & fears one of the cartels may catch up with them. So they're forced to jump the gun & enter illegally, thus becoming "illegal, law-breaking", worthy of deportation to likely death, brown folks genocide.
often 'tried' has the connotation that they weren't achieved.. and though maybe what reagan did wasn't always 100% successful.. they did put into action a road map to hmpy trmPedo
It would be interesting to know the percentage of illegal immigrants vs. those who are here legally. The people who hire illegals should face stiff fines. They are just as guilty.
Is that the solution? What about the consumers who buy the fruits and vegetables harvested by immigrants who crossed into the U.S. illegally and were hired by farmers? What about the local people who buy local dairy products from farms that have hired workers here with improper or no visas? Do we get to exempt ourselves from blame, even though we knowingly benefit from the work of migrants not here legally?
Respectfully, I offer this wish: that I could introduce you to some of the undocumented immigrants I have known. I guarantee you would like them. And if you knew their stories, how they struggled to get here, how they made the best of terrible circumstances, how they have contributed to our regional economies and to our cultures, then you might understand why the words on the Statue of Liberty are so famous and moving.
Instead of forcing people to live in the shadows fearing deportation - allow them a path to citizenship. Most immigrants already get the old "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" routine.
OR maybe do something to improve living conditions in the countries they came from - people wouldnt migrate if they could make a living and be safe in their own country.
While I generally agree with the negative impacts mentioned in this piece that the bill will have on ny21, I wish more data points in addition to Gov Hochul’s had been cited to bolster the opinions.
Super helpful, thank you. A close relative works in one of our small, community hospitals, and will attest anecdotally (of course!) to the large % of patients who are elders on Medicaid. The hospital is not just providing a community service, it also is a significant place of employment for skilled professionals - not many places like that in our rural district.
Verbose as ever, I ran out of space for finishing my earlier comment on brown folks' genocide. Please forgive me. If you're brown/adjacent-appearing to ICE troops, even carrying your US birth certificate no longer helps. If the birth certificate names of you and your birth parents appear Latinx, SCOTUS has just ruled that you also need to prove that at least one parent was a US citizen when you were born. Or else. A tall order if you don't know about this new requirement, and/or such proof is hard to obtain. Trump re-defines "birthright citizenship" for brown-appearing residents.
These "undocumented" workers must not only pay into Social Security yet not collect unless they become naturalized citizens, we now can "DEnaturalize them should we find any old or new crime, offense, or omission on their paperwork. Another new Trump trick.
Without due process, we can deport all the above government targets to El Salvador prisons where few leave alive, or to war-torn third nations where they have no family ties & don't speak the language. How long would you or I last? This is organized government persecution leading to multiple deaths. There's a word for that. We all must now choose between being a little Hitler's helper, or a little Schindler's helper.
1) The lead should always be: recipients of medicaid are - - - >
low-income adults, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
You can write off people with disabilities, if you believe in eugenics and you culd say you want to put old people on an ice flow and push them into the sea (please say you don't)
but don't tell me your are okay with detroying the lives of children and soon to be born children.
A G A I N
Number one is
not cutting the funding
not saving money
not streamling goverment
The republican party has made children the main enemy of America.
don't help them sell it by NOT starting the conversation with: You have chosen to kill children
when our elected officials and professionals join the many actions in our regions it is inspiring and amplifies the urgency of all who agree to push back on egregious policies. Good photo of Dr. Leach on NO KINGS day, I think (?) at a We Rise or Indivisible rally. People came dressed in their professional outfits. Across from this was a valiant graduating student dressed in cap and gown, (imagine her future under the present regime) and, of course Indivisible's Statue of Liberty. July 17 is the next big nationwide protest to express the unpopularity and destructiveness to many of the Big Bad Bill just passed and the wreckage of policies and institutions built to support the common good.
Several local doctors are taking the lead in speaking out about the cruelties and ignorance of the Trump administration. It makes a difference.
We have been kicking the aging crisis down the road for decades. Even if this recent bill did not exist, an aging tsunami has been building worldwide. If you’re not wealthy or live in Scandinavian country and you need some form of care, it is becoming a family nightmare for many. Every touch point in the elder health and welfare system is facing a growing challenge. Staying healthy is a great option if you are able. Otherwise, it’s best to make a realistic plan as 3 of 5 people over 65 will require some form of long term care during their lifetimes.
Great essay, thank you Dr.Leach. You explained very clearly the consequences of the new policy. My hope is that people in our community will read this to really understand. I will share your words with my friends and family so that our fellow citizens realize how their lives their lifestyles will be changed . We all must do our part! Gloria Ragonetti
The goals of the current GOP is to make sure our Government only provides military and policing. They do not believe the role of Government is to help citizens with education or healthcare. No need for libraries, the arts or national parks. Their purpose is to enhance corporate power and instill fear to keep the citizenry in line. Thank you Dr. Leach for your frank outline of what we will be experiencing very soon. Our healthcare system was already weak and it seems like it will be close to non-existent.
Thank you Dr. Leach for delineating the practical ramifications of this administration's wrecking ball "budget" bill. It couldn't be clearer that everyone but the short-sighted ultra rich will be and are already feeling the negative effects of their malevolent efforts to protect their exclusive entitlements. America's oligarchy is baring it's teeth and flexing its claws. We (the people) are at a pivotal point in our history.
Thank you Dr Leach, you have clearly listed the problems expected after passage of the president’s agenda and budget. My concerns that this will unfold so gradually that most of us will not notice. The people being affected by loss of their jobs and health care are the poorest and least powerful Americans. While they suffer, the rest of us will go to rallies and continue to pay more for eggs while going about life as usual. I would like to be wrong about this and am looking for the next needed thing to do to support those affected.
Linda Muller
I share that fear, especially since many of the worst cuts are scheduled, not by coincidence, to begin after next year's midterm congressional elections.
I sure hope that by then the Dems will have found their voice and their "footings". I think the "establishment" Dems need to sit back and turn loose AOC, Crockett, Stansbury, and so many others and not worry about decorum!
I agree with you about establishment Democrats. Trump I and Trump II happened on their watch. In 2015, Bernie Sanders had momentum, the youth vote, and a message that resonated. If they had just allowed things to play out without putting their thumb on the scale who knows where we’d be right now. Hilary had way too much baggage, deserved or not, to ever appeal to the many people who sensed politics as usual was leaving them behind. I feel like many current Democrats just don’t have the wherewithal to do more than wring their hands and rend their garments.
Exactly! I have commented my feelings about this at some point - and being told (paraphrasing) I shouldnt put all Dems in the same basket! I didnt. There are so many younger and not so young (Bernie-bless his heart) out there and they are seemingly being told "its not your time"!!!!!!!! Remember Jerry Connelly & the Oversight Committee? He said it was HIS turn - rather than AOC.
Thats MY opinion. Honestly, if now isnt their time - when the heck will it be? I worry about Bernie - hes been saying the same thing for how many years? He looks tired - I'm sure he would like to be able to retire. But he doesnt dare in these times.
Long ago, a Democrat spelled out his version of GOP health care: 1) "Don't get sick. 2) "If you do get sick, die quickly." The pesky lower middle class voters & the unionized upper working class have long been a thorn in the side of right-wing plans for a stable, permanent dictatorship. Better to do away with both.
12 years of Reagan/Bush One "Trickle down" reduced the middle class by 20% and grew the working poor by 120%. So far, so good. MAGA/Trump & the billionaire/corporate class now have the golden opportunity to finish the job of third-worlding America. The diamond-shaped US class structure needs to be redone as pyramid-shaped, ending that American Dream bulge in the middle.
Taking us back to pre-FDR/New Deal healthcare and safety net standards is one prong of this top-down class warfare pincers movement, with its goal of a compliant, hopeless, defeated, permanent underclass, much like the serfs of the feudal ages, conned into voting for Trump because he fakes hating the same folks they fear: immigrants, Blacks, Hispanics, gays, etc., while faking strength to macho-delusional American male voters.
These exploited victims so rarely climb out of poverty; they can't find the ladder, & few know it even exists. Full disclosure: after 17 years of birth defects, missing fathers, homelessness, SNAP benefits/public housing projects, I stumbled upon the Navy in 1962. A master's degree on the GI Bill finished the climb, later. With the MAGA bullseye on the VA, this gate is now closing for others.
The other prong of this pincers movement is terrorizing the immigrant class, which amounts to genocide for brown people here. Team Trump knows that with our low birth rate & baby boomers now aging out of the workforce, we need immigrants paying into Social Security or that system goes permanently broke sooner. Genius, evil genius.
After ten years demonizing all immigrants, Trump laid off immigration judges & defunded legal aid for asylum seekers. This delays legal-entry seekers at the border, with hungry children & fears one of the cartels may catch up with them. So they're forced to jump the gun & enter illegally, thus becoming "illegal, law-breaking", worthy of deportation to likely death, brown folks genocide.
reagan worst president EVER
ª He is responsible for the homelss epidemic (by closing mental health institutions)
ª He didn't just increase the wealth of the already filthy rich, he also decreased what they pay in taxes
ª He allowed monopolies (like R Murdoch) to destroy competition in capitalism
ª he funded Iran's descent into a terrorist organizaiton
People often talk about a time machine to stop Hitler
And certainly a worthy cause.. especially if you care about Jews.
but if we could have sterilized Jack Reagan, it might have stopped us from marching to the end of democracy at a break-neck and goose-step speed
It's a good point that many of Trump's bad policies are not original with him and were tried by Reagan.
often 'tried' has the connotation that they weren't achieved.. and though maybe what reagan did wasn't always 100% successful.. they did put into action a road map to hmpy trmPedo
Wonderful essay, Dr. Leach. The president seems intent on bringing the carnage he spoke of in his first inaugural. Damned if anyone knows why.
Simply, greed, cruelty and power.
It would be interesting to know the percentage of illegal immigrants vs. those who are here legally. The people who hire illegals should face stiff fines. They are just as guilty.
Is that the solution? What about the consumers who buy the fruits and vegetables harvested by immigrants who crossed into the U.S. illegally and were hired by farmers? What about the local people who buy local dairy products from farms that have hired workers here with improper or no visas? Do we get to exempt ourselves from blame, even though we knowingly benefit from the work of migrants not here legally?
Respectfully, I offer this wish: that I could introduce you to some of the undocumented immigrants I have known. I guarantee you would like them. And if you knew their stories, how they struggled to get here, how they made the best of terrible circumstances, how they have contributed to our regional economies and to our cultures, then you might understand why the words on the Statue of Liberty are so famous and moving.
Instead of forcing people to live in the shadows fearing deportation - allow them a path to citizenship. Most immigrants already get the old "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" routine.
OR maybe do something to improve living conditions in the countries they came from - people wouldnt migrate if they could make a living and be safe in their own country.
While I generally agree with the negative impacts mentioned in this piece that the bill will have on ny21, I wish more data points in addition to Gov Hochul’s had been cited to bolster the opinions.
Glad you asked. Here are some estimates for NY CD 21, from NYS Dept of Health:
Total newly uninsured in our district: 44,082, with 38,598 individuals losing Medicaid, and 5484 individuals losing the essential plan.
Total district fiscal impact: $356,560,436
Total district hospital impact: -$96,141,526
Average monthly cost increase to marketplace insurance: for a couple, $253, or about a 38% increase
Super helpful, thank you. A close relative works in one of our small, community hospitals, and will attest anecdotally (of course!) to the large % of patients who are elders on Medicaid. The hospital is not just providing a community service, it also is a significant place of employment for skilled professionals - not many places like that in our rural district.
Verbose as ever, I ran out of space for finishing my earlier comment on brown folks' genocide. Please forgive me. If you're brown/adjacent-appearing to ICE troops, even carrying your US birth certificate no longer helps. If the birth certificate names of you and your birth parents appear Latinx, SCOTUS has just ruled that you also need to prove that at least one parent was a US citizen when you were born. Or else. A tall order if you don't know about this new requirement, and/or such proof is hard to obtain. Trump re-defines "birthright citizenship" for brown-appearing residents.
These "undocumented" workers must not only pay into Social Security yet not collect unless they become naturalized citizens, we now can "DEnaturalize them should we find any old or new crime, offense, or omission on their paperwork. Another new Trump trick.
Without due process, we can deport all the above government targets to El Salvador prisons where few leave alive, or to war-torn third nations where they have no family ties & don't speak the language. How long would you or I last? This is organized government persecution leading to multiple deaths. There's a word for that. We all must now choose between being a little Hitler's helper, or a little Schindler's helper.
Dr. Leach, you forgot to include in your dissertation all the adverse effects it will have on global warming or Climate Change.
Yes, another whole essay…
Ice attacks?
Thank you!
Republicans want to kill children
1) The lead should always be: recipients of medicaid are - - - >
low-income adults, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
You can write off people with disabilities, if you believe in eugenics and you culd say you want to put old people on an ice flow and push them into the sea (please say you don't)
but don't tell me your are okay with detroying the lives of children and soon to be born children.
A G A I N
Number one is
not cutting the funding
not saving money
not streamling goverment
The republican party has made children the main enemy of America.
don't help them sell it by NOT starting the conversation with: You have chosen to kill children
It's bad, isn't it, Dr. Leach, and only going to get worse. Who can stop this tyranny?
We can…you and me