Choice? Health Care Reform, Cars, and Freedom
Well, Oklahoma is still abuzz with discussion about the new health care bill. Many say they are outraged about the concept of people being forced to purchase something. And, besides health insurance companies, what other company do you know with a guaranteed market—a market where participation is required by the government?
Of course, there are other purchases not required by the government that afford little choice. Electricity and natural gas are examples of companies that more or less have a monopoly market granted by the city government. We can argue that people have a “choice” not to purchase gas or electricity, but I don’t think many of us believed that last winter when it was 20° outside. But, these utilities are regulated. The books are audited, and rates are set by the Corporation Commission.
Car insurance is another similar situation mentioned often. Anyone who wishes to operate a car has to purchase liability insurance or face the long arm of the law. I have not seen any Oklahomans crying their eyes out over drivers being forced to buy car insurance. Some have even suggested that the car insurance situation is drastically different from the health insurance situation in that no one has to drive a car.
So, Oklahoma, here’s a challenge. Park your car for a month. Okay, not a month. How about a week?
Can’t make it through a week? Three days?
One day?
Okay, so how much “choice” do we have
when it comes to owning, maintaining, operating, and insuring cars? We have not invested in public transit. We haven’t planned neighborhoods, schools, libraries, grocery stores, or anything for pedestrian access. We built our state on cheap oil. A car-free Oklahoman is a very marginalized citizen.
This article is not meant to support or oppose the new health care bill. I only hope a few people will think twice about the arguments surrounding “choice” and “coercion.”
Teens and Texting: They’ve Grown up Just Like Me
Many Oklahomans have their gripes about the most prevalent teen habit right now—texting. Kids sit staring at their cell phones, punching buttons, and managing to convince us all that by the time they’re 25, they will be a gold mine for the carpel-tunnel-surgery-industrial complex.
In Our Day It Was Phones
The basics are not new. Texting is a way to say to everyone around, “You are not as important as the person receiving my text message.” For those of us who grew up in the pre-cell-phone world, there was the telephone. We could attept to ignore parents who wanted us to do homework by spending hours on the phone. In the 50’s there were songs about letters from boyfriends and girlfriends. Maybe someone out there can envision such a thing… that’s too far back for me.
So, Where Do Kids Get Ideas Like This?
Of course, we all feel we’ve taught our kids good manners and set a good example. And we know that kids learn more from what we do than what we teach them through our words. And there is a certain degree to which we all have to learn a little from our own mistakes even though parents and teachers try to save us from the most devastating mistakes.
I was reminded of the rudeness of teen texting just recently. I walked into the office of a co-worker, not uninvited—we were involved in a joint project—and saw a little too late that he was on the phone. He covered his other ear; as if I would make such a ruckus that he would be unable to hear. He was very dismissive toward me, even though (as far as I know) my contribution to the project was needed.
It reminded me of an earlier discussion of office etiquette years back when voice mail was new (now there would probably be no such discussions). I was in a minority of one when it came to insisting that physical people in one’s office took priority over those calling on the phone. (Maybe I’m weird—what’s voice mail for?) Someone who has taken the trouble to come by the office of a co-worker to accomplish some project, pick up forms, or whatever doesn’t take priority over someone who is too lazy to come by and calls on the phone? Of course, trips around a workplace can become a source of inefficiency, and a trip for every little question would be silly. Anyway, I think I was out-voted.
Here’s an Old Song
The whole thing reminds me of an old song from the 70’s, “Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin. The song relates the story of a dad who is proud of his son, but always has work to do and cannot be present for much of the little boy’s life. The last verse is the clincher; dad’s retired and calls to say he’d like to visit. The son is too busy, but when he can find time—won’t it be great to get together. The father then realizes, “He’d grown up just like me; my boy was just like me.”
Next time you are tempted to complain about a teen and texting, listen to the song.
Check out lyric to this great song:
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/harry-chapin/cats-in-the-cradle.html
Arden Rea lives in Oklahoma City.
Pottersland: Where We Are Now
Move over, George Bailey. We’re all in Pottersland now.
In the classic movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) received a wonderful gift. He got the chance to see his beloved community of Bedford Falls, as it would have been if he had never lived. It turned out that George and George alone had saved the charming community from a dreadful fate—the fate of being re-made into Pottersville—a terrible and cruel place fashioned after the designs of the evil (and very wealthy) Mr. Potter.
Of course, in real life, no one person could have saved Bedford Falls, and the movie isn’t about Bedford Falls anyway. It’s about George.
So, what will it take to save our nation from being transformed into Pottersland? Today’s Supreme Court ruling gets us nearly there—to Pottersland that is. The Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that laws forbidding corporations from buying political advertising are unconstitutional. The reason? The rights of a corporation to “free speech” would be violated if the corporation were not permitted to buy all the political advertising its cold, dark, profit-maximizing heart desires.
Crying an Ocean of Tears
Breaks your heart doesn’t it? Seeing the rights of Northrop Grumman, Monsanto, or AT&T trampled underfoot! No doubt, this has been weighing heavy on your mind—well, fret no more!
Now your favorite corporations can speak their minds about politics. The makers of Vioxx, Celebrex, bisphenol A, and PCBs can let us know what’s on their minds. The organizations who brought us the sub prime mortgage, liar loans, mortgage-backed-securities, credit default swaps, and collateralized debt obligations can freshen our airwaves, enlighten our minds, and lift our spirits with advice aplenty. We can count 
on the makers of high-fructose corn syrup for their collective wisdom on the school lunch program. In case you were wondering whether or not Texaco would want more legislation limiting air pollution, now you will be able to hear right from the oil company’s mouth!
Perhaps you share my worry that our Supreme Court has neglected our corporations’ other rights. Why focus so narrowly just on freedom of speech?
Doesn’t Goldman Sachs deserve the right to bear arms? What about Lockheed Martin’s need to be protected from unreasonable search and seizure? Does Blackwater (now Xe) need protection from being forced to join a state church? Shouldn’t HealthSouth have protection from excessive bail? Alas, so much to do for our corporations and so little time.
But, what if you want to hear from George Bailey?
He has a right to free speech too you know. There’s just one small problem. Remember that the financial deck was stacked against George. He was not a rich man. He could speak his mind, but his audience would be extremely limited, even if quite a crowd did gather in his living room about the time that little bell rang on his Christmas tree. So, George’s ability to exercise his right of free speech is severely limited by his modest means.
George doesn’t count. And that’s pretty much where you and I are too. Here in Pottersland.
Arden Rea lives in Oklahoma City.
OK, I Know What Jesus Would Drive
A few years ago, some well-meaning people started a sort of a campaign to ask the question, “What would Jesus drive?” Their aim was to nudge Americans to think about their transportation choices, since our country burns so much fossil fuel in the process of getting from here to there. Would Jesus drive a Hummer? A BMW? A Volkswagen? I have always maintained Jesus would ride the bus.
Bus Riding Memories
A friend mentioned Jesus and hybrid cars just a few days ago, and that made me remember some of my bus rides here in Oklahoma City. Most people tell me they wouldn’t ride the bus, and that I shouldn’t either. They believe only chain-saw murderers ride the bus. Sometimes there are scary people on the bus, but I think Jesus would ride anyway.
Once, my grade-schooler and I were catching the bus in mid-afternoon. It was about a week before Christmas, and we were at a corner where we did not normally catch the bus. Not seeing a designated bus stop, we stood at the far corner of the intersection.
The bus stopped and the driver growled, “Well, I guessed right!” I gave him a puzzled look and said, “We need transfers please,” as I pushed my Easy-Fare ticket into the machine. He said, “I guessed right—you wanted to ride the bus—I thought maybe you were waiting to cross the street.” It was then I noticed that there was a sign (not a bench, not a shelter) designating a bus stop about 30 yards from where we were. There was a speed limit sign in between, at eye level, and this particular speed limit sign not being transparent and all, I did not see the bus stop sign.
He stopped for more passengers, and was grumpy with them too. My child and I played a game and tried to ignore it all. At Penn Square Mall, there was quite a scene. A man boarded the bus with a walker. He was having a terrible time getting to a seat with his packages. The bus driver was very angry with a lady in a green coat. He kept yelling, “Lady with the green coat” repeatedly. He made her come from the back of the bus, climbing over several people (with her packages) and come to the front (nearly tripping over the man with the walker) to show him her bus pass. He said she had not shown it to him the first time.
At N.W. 23rd and Penn, I got out, grade-schooler in tow, to transfer to the eastbound #23. The green coat lady got out too. We were behind schedule, partly because of the big scene at Penn Square Mall. Just making casual conversation, I said to the green coat lady that the bus driver was a big grump. She said, “Oh, girl, he be jus’ EVIL!” I couldn’t argue with that. She then said, “Did you see what he did at the mall?” I answered that I saw he demanded to see her bus pass. She said that wasn’t all. One problem for the man in the walker was that the driver refused to kneel the bus! She repeated, “He be an EVIL man.” She then added, “I be prayin’ for him—my church be prayin’ for him—my friend’s church be prayin’ for him.”
I have to admit; praying for the man was not the first thing that came to my mind.
Things Take a Turn for the Better
Next, the green coat lady said she believed Larry would be driving the #23. If we had been on time, our driver would have been Mike. Sure enough, Larry pulled up in a few minutes. Larry greeted the green coat lady warmly; it was obvious she was a regular. He was very friendly to us too. The bus was very full, but there were seats left at the front.
At 23rd and Classen, a young girl (about 14 or so) got off the bus. As she crossed the street and the bus waited at the light, Larry said, “I’m so proud of her—she’s a good kid; she rides this bus every day to get home from school.” He went on, “Do you know what she did the other day?” He explained that she had taken on a leadership role in a service project at her school. The kids raised some money to benefit a senior center. The green coat lady chimed in, “I know some wonderful teenagers; people think teenagers are all gangsters and drug dealers, and it’s jus’ not true.”
The atmosphere of this bus was a night-and-day difference from the one we had left. Larry’s bright attitude and the cheerful green coat lady made me feel like a menacing fog had lifted. Even though this bus was not filled with millionaires, the feeling was comfortable, several conversations going on, laughing and joking.
Jesus does ride the bus.
Sometimes, Jesus is the green coat lady. Sometimes, Jesus is the man who digs for some extra pocket change for someone who boards the bus but doesn’t have enough money to pay the fare. Sometimes Jesus is the lady who yells “STOP” as the bus is about to pull away from a stop because the passenger who just boarded left a briefcase behind. Sometimes Jesus is a man who finds an umbrella and gives it to the driver to be taken to lost and found as he leaves the bus, stepping out into the rain with no umbrella for himself.
So, hop on a bus. Someone will be there—someone you’ve wanted to meet.
Stories are all true, though names have been changed.
Arden Rea lives in Oklahoma City.
When It Comes to Family Values, We Brag a Lot
Oklahomans are fond of “family values.” We feel we place family relationships at a much higher priority than heathen movie stars in California or liberal East-Coast crazies. Sometimes, I wonder just how much we value families–our talk rings more than a little hollow.
I have recently heard from some distraught single moms. These ladies are making heroic efforts to care for kids and keep body and soul together. Sometimes they feel like they may lose the battle in an instant because they are so close to the edge. They worry about poor decisions their latch-key kids might make while Mom is still at work.
It is so odd that in the age of the Internet, we can’t offer more jobs that allow telecommuting.Isn’t it just a little bit puzzling that many U.S. companies have “telecommuting” employees in Mumbai or Bangalore, but struggling single moms, even in the family-values-valuing Bible Belt cannot have any such opportunity.
(If the Econ-O-Nomaly staff is mistaken and there is a plethora of telecommuting choices here in Oklahoma, our readers will surely bring this to our attention.)
Taxes Are Bad Except When We Like Them
Oklahomans can be mysterious. Ask an Oklahoman what she thinks about taxes, and you’re likely to get an earful. Oppressive, unnecessary, unfair, government pickpockets, incompetent bureaucrats… That’s why it’s a little surprising that just over a week ago, Oklahoma City residents voted to continue a tax they could have ended.
Odd, isn’t it? Generally, Oklahomans will tell you that if they have to pay taxes, they don’t want to support any boondoggles and pork-barrel projects. So, you might expect this sales tax to go towards something guaranteed to be successful, a bread-and-butter project. So what have we voted for?
A convention center — now there’s something all of us need for our family reunions. Several thousand of your nearest and dearest can gather for a weekend.
Then, we will somehow turn our small river into a whitewater rafting area? Now this is one thing we’ve all been needing desperately!
There’s more, but the smallest project–$10 million (that’s less than the $17 million contingency fund) is sidewalks. At last, one thing we need!
Time will tell about the wisdom of this project. We’ll all be watching.
MAPS 3 Madness
Oklahoma City residents have a choice to make on Tuesday, December 8. Do we continue to pay a penny of sales tax to support some new stuff for our City or not?
Many reporters and bloggers around town have already weighed in on one side or the other. One point that appears to have gone unnoticed is that of basic fairness. So, let’s look at fairness.
First, let’s go back to those wonderful memories of economics classes we took in school.
To be specific, let’s talk about progressive and regressive taxation. If the terms progressive and regressive are not part of your most treasured memories from school, read this next paragraph. Otherwise, skip on to the next!
Progressive taxes are those that impose higher rates for those taxpayers who have the greatest ability to pay. That is, the wealthiest taxpayers, or those in the highest income brackets, pay higher tax rates than those who have less income or wealth. Regressive taxes are taxes that place a heavier tax burden on those with less wealth or lower income. For example, a sales tax is regressive since low-income families have little choice but to spend everything they make and thus pay sales taxes. They pay a higher percentage of their income in sales taxes than do those who are wealthy enough to save or invest—those who need not spend their entire paycheck just to cover basic necessities. Some cities and states attempt to remedy this situation by exempting groceries from sales taxes, or providing some sort of tax rebate for low-income taxpayers. Our City does not have any program to remedy the regressive nature of sales taxes.
Note that both MAPS projects have been financed by sales taxes. Cities find sales taxes easy and inexpensive to administer. Imagine the difficulty in implementing a city income tax! Still, there are some important questions to ask about MAPS 3.
Where is the money going?
Where is the money coming from?
Who benefits?
The various projects are listed and described on several sources listed below.
City Government Website
Doug Dawgz Blog
Oklahoma Gazette MAPS 3
Oklahoma Gazette Voter Opinion Article
Oklahoma Gazette).
So, vote on Tuesday, December 8! And when you do, ask yourself if a new convention center paid for by regressive taxes, is what our city needs. I don’t think so.
Arden Rea lives in Oklahoma City.
Warning⎯Competition Can Be Hazardous to Your Health
Economists like competition, and politicians all over the country have acquired this mindset as well. Politicians here in Oklahoma are especially enamored with competition (except when it involves third parties!) and become very braggadocious when discussing their love of competition. We are proud of how tough we are! Our ancestors were pioneers and cowboys! Because we are so tough, we can face any competition thrown at us, and it’s only those sissy city slickers who might be afraid.
I was reminded of our love of competition when a friend sent me an article about our national health care dilemma. It’s quite a long article, but well worth reading1. The subject is the perplexing high costs of medical care in two different cities in Texas. (Oklahomans always enjoy puzzling over the quirks of our southern neighbors.)
An economist, the thing that jumped out at me was competition. Competition sometimes hinders the quality of medical care and simultaneously raises costs, and this can occur at several different levels within the medical-industrial complex. The article relates a situation in which physicians who are reluctant to collaborate with colleagues in delivering medical care duplicate tests and prescribe unnecessary procedures. It is not difficult for us to envision doctors’ refusal to collaborate¬. After all, pride alone would lead to wanting to be the only star on the patient’s horizon. Then there are the questions about exactly who gets to prescribe what, and to whom financial rewards go. The resulting lack of cooperation leads to a duplication of services, unnecessary services, and extra expense with no better health outcome for the patient. In some cases, the outcome is even worse, due to risks associated with tests and procedures. A combination of pride (concern of students of human nature) and greed (concern of economists but called “profit motive”) interact and the result is unfortunate.
Additional examples of medical insanity include the relatively new practice of advertising. There is no need to elaborate about the proliferation of often-embarrassing advertisements in American media. Creative people are working to bring us advertising to encourage us to “choose” hospitals, clinics, and medications. With all the problems our society has, couldn’t these bright energetic people be using their talent somewhere else?
Anywhere else!
And one of my all-time favorites involves high-tech mega-gadgets purchased by hospitals. A terrific example is the introduction of the Gamma knife in the mid 1990s. Everyone wanted a Gamma knife, though the types of ailments for which a Gamma knife is needed are quite rare. One surgeon threatened to leave a hospital if he didn’t get his Gamma knife. Every hospital administrator felt her hospital would “lose out” in the race to profitability if she didn’t buy a Gamma knife. The result, of course, was too many Gamma knives, under-utilization, and bloated costs for everyone2.
The long-accepted economic theory, that competition is the inescapable best solution to all human ills, falls flat. But we find it hard to turn loose of the idea. We feel we must assume the worst about our neighbors; they are our competitors—they will take advantage of us if they have the chance. This assumption can bring out the worst in us, and so it goes.
Mayo clinic is often seen as an example of an alternative economic arrangement. Doctors are not financially rewarded for each medical procedure. My question is, how did the Mayo clinic arrive at this model? Did they dig up the writing of radical economists and read about wasteful competition? Were they motivated by knowledge of human nature or psychology? What cultural factors would have to exist in order for a Mayo clinic model to work? Our confidence in competition, our certainty that it is an inevitable natural law, and the acclimation of our culture to competition has led us to a very dark place. We need a new vision.
Arden Rea lives in Oklahoma City.
FOOTNOTES
1. Atul Gawande, “The Cost Conundrum,” New Yorker, November 12, 2009
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande.
2. George Anders, “High-Tech Health: Hospitals Rush to Buy A $3 Million Device Few Patients Can Use — Surgeons Want Gamma Knife For Certain Brain Cases And Often Get Their Way — Two Machines 10 Miles Apart,” The Wall Street Journal, April 20, 1994, pg. A.1
Book Review–To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise
To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise
by Bethany Moreton
Harvard University Press, 372 pages
0674033221
At some point during my childhood, my mother began shopping at a new grocery store in our western Oklahoma town. She told my sister and me not to tell our grandfather that she was shopping there. You see, the new grocery store was a dreaded CHAIN STORE! The owners of the store did not live in our town, and they owned TWO other grocery stores—one of them in Kansas! Many Oklahomans of my grandfather’s generation did not like chain stores! My sister and I pledged our secrecy, and my grandfather suffered no ills (at least not because of my mother’s grocery shopping).
What a difference forty years makes! Now, no self-respecting Oklahoman would do anything other than shop at chain stores (indeed there is hardly anywhere else to acquire necessities). We have one special favorite chain store—Wal-Mart! How did things change so much?
Yale graduate, and University of Georgia professor, Bethany Moreton, attempts to answer this question and does so masterfully.
Her analysis revolves around the culture of the Ozarks, where Wal-Mart began. Her penetrating discussion of the company, the folkways of the Ozarks, the religious faith of the customers and employees, and broad political and economic factors give the reader a sweeping panorama of the past fifty years. “Wal-Mart country” has expanded geographically, indeed to global proportions, taking Scots-Irish folkways and evangelical Christianity with it.
Though most of us in Oklahoma don’t identify immediately with the Ozark culture, there are many similarities between that tradition and our rural, agricultural, oil patch heritage. Indeed, many elements of Ozark culture are common throughout the rural South. These various social norms are part and parcel of Moreton’s writing. Rather than taking a simplistic view that interprets Wal-Mart solely as the product of the Ozarks, Moreton paints a complex picture of interaction with and among various cultural threads. Wal-Mart is influenced by the prevailing culture of Sam Walton’s Bentonville, but in turn, Wal-Mart country has been influenced and unquestionably shaped by the behemoth retailer.
Moreton does not write with a bias for or against Wal-Mart. This is an evenhanded treatment seeking to simply take in the various aspects of an international phenomenon. The book is extensively documented with over 100 pages of footnotes and index. This makes it a little shorter than most non-fiction books. It seems a few ideas could have been better developed, and possibly were summed up a little too quickly in the interest of brevity. Nonetheless, this is a great first book from a young Ph.D. We can expect great things from this lady. Read the book.
Of Blue Berries and Big Boxes
High on our list of favorites here in Oklahoma are Veggie Tales cartoons and big box discount retailers. At first blush, there is no obvious connection between these two, but the book, To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise by Bethany Moreton, made me remember Madame Blueberry.
Let’s recall this all-time great Veggie Tales episode. This dramatic work opens with Madame Blueberry feeling very blue. She spends her days envying her neighbors, who have more stuff. Though she has a lovely tree house, she is very blue. An adventure ensues when three guys who resemble skinny green onions show up at her door representing a newly opened big box retailer, Stuff Mart. She immediately rushes to Stuff Mart where she buys all sorts of stuff. When she arrives home with her stuff, she discovers that her house can’t really hold it all, and that’s a problem when you live in a tree. It’s not a pretty picture. In the end, she learns that happiness does not come from a store, and sometimes, we would do well just to be thankful for what we have.
It’s a little odd, though, that the only person who learns a lesson here is Madame Blueberry. The skinny green onion guys are off the hook. No problem that they exploited her weakness (envy) to sell her stuff she did not need and could not even store in her small but charming tree house. No mention of easy credit made available to vegetables with insufficient incomes. No mention of overseas children working at slave wages to manufacture this unnecessary merchandise, the poor quality of the merchandise that will soon find its way to the landfill, or the wasted resources devoted to advertising all this. No, the only problem here is Madame Blueberry who should have known better than to buy all that stuff.
I’m not excusing Madame Blueberry, and I like Bob the Tomato as well as any other Oklahoman. And I am not really intending to disparage Veggie Tales. After all, it’s a thirty-minute cartoon intended for kids. The complexities of our globalized economy can hardly be dealt with in a thirty-minute cartoon.
But, we adult Oklahomans sometimes tend to look at complex situations armed with the intellect, moral judgment, and discernment of an 8-year-old Bible schooler. That is, we apply a Veggie Tales mentality to situations that are beyond the complexity of Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. For example, here in Oklahoma, our response to the sub prime mortgage crisis has been outrage. But outrage directed at whom? What I hear and see is disdain for the individual homebuyers who took out loans for a home, and were subsequently unable to keep up their payments. Negative comments about homebuyers who bought “beyond their means” abound. Same for those with staggering credit card debt. It is quite possible that many Madame-Blueberry-wannabes bought houses or consumer goodies that were simply beyond their families’ budgets. What about the loan officer or credit card company making this loan? Clearly those who are paid to loan money and assess the potential for repayment were asleep at the wheel. The lending institutions had the upper hand in a lopsided power relationship. Yet, one hears little criticism of these institutions here in Oklahoma. Like the skinny-green-onion-guys and Stuff Mart executives, they seem to be only sideline characters.
We tend to see many situations as a mistake by a single individual, even when a powerful institution (business or government) clearly had more power than the individual involved. Did Madame Blueberry cause us to see things this way? Of course not. But we tend to interpret economic circumstances as matters of individual action or choice, while failing to notice the influence of large institutions. Maybe we need to reconsider our analysis of Madame Blueberry!
Arden Rea lives in Oklahoma City.