Don’t know of you’re reading this but …

Former resident of the Flickertail State, here.

You know that game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? Well, the two of us are maybe one or two degrees apart – I know people who know you and I’m sure you know people who know me. Pitchfork fondues and all that.

Hope what follows makes sense

On topic. This is very important and it’s really sad that your colleagues on the other side of the aisle didn’t feel that this was a worthy cause. Over the years you have given very good examples of the waste and corruption in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would only add that waste doesn’t just exist in government bureaucracy, but even more insidiously in corporations.

I’m going to go off on a broader topic and hope you don’t mind

I’ve worked for a few different not-well-run, but successful manufacturing companies, where on the one hand, the manufacturing of the goods has been state-of-the-art, but on the other hand had very antiquated record-keeping and storage, and most troubling, the management had no affinity for what the workers actually did. To say that these companies are not run well, but successful, may sound counter-intuitive, but I would stress that the only reason these companies have done well is that they have filled a niche that is not easily filled; one was a billing co. and the other manufactured plastic bottles. I say more insidiously, because it’s not as readily apparent or as closely watched as government waste and corruption.

And I would also point out that I do see government waste as well. And the easiest example I would point to, that I see practically everyday, is a co-op of government and corporate waste – specifically there is roadwork being done in the town next to mine (Roseville, the largest city in the 2nd most Republican cnty in Ca.). You would not believe how many times I have gone by only to see two men digging a hole only to be watched by six or seven others (non-union men) – I’m not exaggerating. And what’s most disconcerting are the City of Roseville employees sitting in their city owned pickups watching the six or seven guys who are watching the two men digging the hole. Most people would look at Roseville and say, ‘well that’s such a conservative city they wouldn’t/couldn’t have waste.’ My answer is just drive down Riverside Ave. and see with your own eyes. I would guess that Roseville would be analogous to Bismarck, only larger

About co-ops …

And while the word co-op is in the news, and on my mind I would say this: some people don’t get it and what I would put your fellow Senator from the Prairie Rose State in that category – is that a successful co-op is one in which you produce the product; farm co-ops (e.g. food)

A co-op in the way that your colleague is thinking wouldn’t work well because 1) you’re still not producing the product – you’re a consumer of the product which is still being managed by 2) unseen incompetents and greedy execs with a business-as-usual-attitude hidden behind closed boardroom doors (see this).

What’s going to happen, is that you’re going to have a co-op of 20 or 30 or 40 families who are going to pay premiums for 5 or 10 years, where everything goes well, before someone contracts a serious illness such as diabetes, or has a heart attack, or leans too close to a pto while augering grain and gets their shirt sleeve or pants leg caught and severs a limb and loses a great amount of blood.

You know this will happen this year sometime, somewhere.

And as a result of any of these catastrophic events they will be at, or be close to having a negative balance.

I would point out, that you know as well as I do that rural ND, for example, is very … uh, mature, and the chances of several catastrophic illnesses in each of these co-ops will increase incrementally year by year.

So what will happen – just watch – in 5 or 10 years some slick salesmen will send out direct mail brochures to come to a free seminar on how to improve your healthcare bottomline. And what they will be selling is a merging of the co-ops, through which they can negotiate for lower rates.

Just read what your colleague Tom Harkin said

Yesterday, as Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) left the health-care hearing room, he leaned over to me and said:

“I used to sell insurance. The basic rule is the larger the pool the less expensive the health care. Today we have 1,300 separate pools – separate health care plans – and that is why health care is so expensive; 700 pools would be more efficient and less expensive and one pool would be the least expensive. That’s why single payer is the answer.”

They’ll leave out the ’single payer is the answer’ part and the fact that the co-ops will create tens of thousands of pools.

They’ll be a “nonprofit” healthcare provider – with a name like … oh I don’t know … Blue Shield/Blue Cross – which will provide “savings” because they are expertly trained administrative execs from the private sector (which you know doesn’t mean anything if you clicked the link) And 15 years from now people will still be talking about a broken healthcare system

And what happens if you move? What happens if you lose your job? What happens if you’re house burns down? What happens if you’re a student?

What happens if you have insurance, but your insurance company has a rescission policy? Like Blue Cross/Blue Shield ND who cancels insurance to kids with cancer? Click the link and read my thanks Senator

I guess my point is: just because something is privatized doesn’t make it efficient and that some things are just too big and too important to take a chance on

Think of the State Mill and Elevator, the State Bank, and the enlightened, forward-thinking people who founded both of them

Thanks Senator your work is very important

PS if you want to know what I think about other things, just click my name. I’m no Eric Sevareid, but then who is? Or your brother for that matter. I’m just an average guy

I’m not a constituent, but my family comes from Jamestown and vicinity. So I try to keep an eye on your work in Washington. Please keep up the good work.

On edit. Now confirmed by CNN. “Died a few hours ago.”