Just a few rants before I am out the door this morning. No, I am not attending the World Economic Forum at Davos.

I watched the State of the Union address last night, and was immediately taken with the generally lukewarm response from both sides.Recently, I listened to the 1938 broadcast of Orson Welles adaptation of the War of the Worlds. At a certain point in the story, man has exhausted all of his attempts to destroy the alien menace. And this moment of desperation is captured brilliantly by his performance. This is in many ways the sense I get from our elected officials, and it was visible, at least to me, while watching the Union Performance.

The President wants the American people to buckle down under new financial austerity measures, and yet almost everyone  understands that the government economic policies (do what the finance sector says) , banks and the financial services sector got us into this mess. We the American people bailed out B of A, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, you name it, and yet record bonuses were on tap for 2010. This statement on the part of the President is simply a renewal of the same financial plundering previously inflicted on us. How about we instead bring back the Glass-Steagall Act, and sever banking capabilities from sophisticated, rigged financial poker games? Just for a start.

He also wants us to move forward in building our renewable energy capabilities. This sounds great at first pass. But one million electric cars by 2015? This is simply not aggressive enough, for a variety of reasons.  Why not specifically tie electric vehicle production with things like massive, American made offshore wind farms and tidal power turbines? Scotland, yes Scotland, is taking the lead in the West, building up their wind and tidal capabilities so much that Europe is chomping at the bit, anxious to get on their grid? And why can’t we design and sell electric cars  that have home based solar panels as part of a bundled offer?

The point of getting us to a strong renewable energy state will have less to do with global warming. China and India will literally burn through huge reserves of oil and coal over the next twenty years. And nothing America can do will stop it. But we can achieve a much higher level of energy independence. And this should be one of the pillars of our new economic plan, but it simply won’t happen at the pace outlined by the Administration.

It also seems that our Administration is banking on new, as yet undiscovered technology game changers, as part of a larger research initiative. Why the wishful thinking when we have the technology we need?

Why the renewed commitment to education, when we need jobs? Sorry Mr. President, but the reality is that even if we had 300 million really well educated people here, we still need to get many of the jobs back from China, Mexico, and India. Besides, it is a big enough drag now having to deal with so many unemployed, well educated hipsters at the local coffee shop.

Many in my circle of friends feel that Democrats and Republicans are mere pawns to the financial oligarchy. I was not so shocked to see Immelt join the Obama team. Business as usual.

Why isn’t America working to reduce the energy footprint of the internet? By some estimates, internet usage accounts for 5-10 % of current energy consumption. Here is another area where technology and education could work hand in hand.

I just finished reading the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer, and found it to be fascinating. However, and this is entirely subjective on my part, it seemed watered down by the socioeconomic make up of the participants. Is this based on the possibility that they are interviewing clients? If so, I think Edelman should think about expanding their study for 2012 to include different socioeconomic classes, and non clients. Just a thought.

There has been tremendous interest in alternative energy sources, and the general public, at least in the developed countries, are now beginning to question the global strategy for sustaining modern society. And while our technology improves, as solar and wind power become more efficient, we still must contend with the weak link. Storage.

We all seem to assume that our 21st century technology juggernaut will solve this problem, either with a single, profound discovery, or with a collection of smaller, additive solutions.

Well, just to add to the mix, I’d like to make a suggestion. The Earth is essentially an oblate spheroid, a sphere flattened along the axis from pole to pole. Spinning on this axis, the Sun rises in the East, and sets in the West. As darkness falls here in Indiana, somewhere on the planet dawn is stirring others to begin their day.

With a fundamentally simple, but challenging (from a geopolitical perspective) approach, we could be relying on solar power from our neighbors opposite us on the globe. In other words, day lit locations on the spinning planet would supply much of the energy required by those on the dark side. And this process would simply “roll” with planetary rotation. This simple approach could potentially ease some of the storage dilemma.

Solar generating facilities, infrastructure, and  maintenance would obviously be done at the local level. As a result, though we would be sharing the energy bounty, local economies would benefit.

This would also require a fundamental change in how we are designing and building our national power grid system. Not just “smart”, but highly distributed. Remind you of anything?

I also read that by 2050, the human population will swell to about 9 billion, up from around 6 billion. Since we as a species have not done a great job in controlling our numbers, outside of murder, how about we make smaller people? I’m sure Monsanto or Dow would be delighted to start work on this GMO initiative.

The Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophe will have a huge impact on the living ocean, and America is just beginning to experience the most obvious effects. We will see a global impact, not just in the gulf, or the Eastern seaboard. The shear quantity of volatile hydrocarbons will kill a substantial number of the tiny critters that ultimately feed the entire food chain. In addition, oxygen producing algae and sea plants will take a hit. Where this leads to, nobody knows.

However, in the gulf region, we will be dealing with a double whammy.

We were already dealing with a “dead zone” from effluent that flows from the Mississippi. Last year it was about the size of Massachusetts. Primarily nitrates and phosphates from fertilizer (to feed the vast genetically modified monoculture fields of corn cotton, and soy) and those green, green lawns (which provide our illusion of civility). And oh, btw, guess where some of the main ingredients for these fertilizers come from…natural gas.

http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/news/feature/01112008.html

Here is some solid information on the state of the Deepwater Horizon effort,and it is harrowing.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593#comment-648967

The Clean Caribbean and Americas site also has links to the Material Data Safety Sheets for three of the most widely used dispersants, and they are quite interesting.

In my next post, I will outline my vision for a strategic shift in how we produce and consume resources used to power our civilization. The topics will run the gamut, from energy sourcing, to changes our American way of life will need to embrace.

We should also be thinking about how the promise of computer technology has eluded many of its intended goals. Should we begin to think about a technology revolution in this country from a different perspective? What ever happened to telecommuting? How can we make the next phase of technology one that brings us closer together, yet allows us to work from afar? How much energy would that save for, say, 20 % of our workforce? No daily drive, no commute.

How much further can we regain the sense of community, through the intelligent use of social networking technology?

How can we integrate this into a more localized, community based self sufficiency?

The great author and pioneer in the self sufficiency movement, John Seymour, taught us remarkable things. Why doesn’t the software industry use this type of mind, this incredible movement (that of the return to the land, to sustainability, to self sufficiency) to help guide the design of our computer technology?

Ravens Nest Farm Chinese Tea Eggs

12 eggs
2 cups soy sauce plus 1 cup water
4 whole star anise
4 tablespoons black tea (or 3 black tea bags)
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Sichuan or black peppercorns (optional)
4 strips dried tangerine, clementine, or mandarin orange peel (optional but recommended)

Place the eggs in a large saucepan and fill with water to cover the eggs by 1 inch. Add 1 tablespoon salt. Bring the water to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the eggs, drain, and then place the eggs in cool water for 5 minutes, then remove eggs to dry.  Using the back of a teaspoon, gently tap the eggshells to crack the shell all over. The trick is to make as many small cracks on the egg surface as you like. The more cracks, the more mottled the underlying egg will appear. You can even try experimenting with cracked “bands” around the egg midsection, etc. Now mix the other ingredients in a saucepan that will hold the eggs, and add the eggs. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then simmer on the lowest heat setting for 20 minutes turn off heat, cover with the lid and let eggs steep for a few hours to overnight. The length of steeping will determine the depth of color (and flavor) in the marbling on the eggs. Anywhere from 4 hours to overnight is good.

Once done, we recommend serving them slightly warm. These are great to share over a good cup of green tea

Ravens Nest Farm Pickled Beets and Eggs

Ingredients

12 eggs

2 (15 ounce) cans whole pickled beets, juice reserved

1 onion, chopped into ¼ inch wide slices. A large Vidalia onion is wonderful

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon salt

12 cracked black peppercorns (crack with the side of your knife just before adding to the saucepan)

2 bay leaves (optional)

12 whole cloves

2 pieces of 2 inch long cinnamon stick

Directions

Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Add 1 tablespoon salt, and slowly bring to a boil. The salt will make the shells come off very easily. Cover the eggs, remove from heat, and let eggs sit in hot water for 10 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, and peel.

Place the beets, onion, and peeled eggs in a glass, glazed pottery, or plastic container.

In a stainless steel, porcelain, or Pyrex glass saucepan, combine the sugar, the reserved beet juice, vinegar, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer 3 minutes.

Pour hot liquid slowly over beets and eggs. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes, add the lid, and refrigerate 48 hours before eating.

Try experimenting with some of your favorite spices next time. Allspice, mace, lemon peel, and others are some possibilities.  We have also used star anise, and it adds a very exotic flavor.

I had an interesting conversation the other day with a fellow marketer regarding the state of marketing today, especially in the CRM software arena. And it was all about the current rage for “content marketing”, linked with “inbound marketing” notions. Most any marketeer will tell you that they spend a good deal of time with content, whether it be web schlock, whitepapers (though increasingly, these are being outsourced), leave behinds (such as one or two page summaries of your goods superior powers), and the like.

Everyone is in a constant struggle to create what they think is more compelling information to pull them ahead of the pack. In fact, many companies use this as the “seed” information that they then use to build out everything else when it comes to information for external consumption. You can find evidence of this if you take the time to review many companies content. For example. Start with the 50 words or less tag they are using to describe what they provide, and why it is so much better than the competition.  Voila, you now have your “elevator pitch”. Drill down one level, and you usually find the same theme, made more verbose, in the form of much of the other content provided.

But here is where we began to disagree. In a simple exercise, I created a table of key words and small phrases, all arranged in a way that allows one to pick and choose to create a sentence or paragraph that describes a company and their wares.  To protect the guilty, I won’t mention names. A small snippet looks something like this.

Company A  / is the world leader in  /fully integrated CRM /  that lowers costs

ABC  / is a leading provider of  / a complete CRM solution /  that improves operational efficiencies

Super CRM  / is a state of the art /  enterprise CRM solution/ that improves customer loyalty

Anyway, I hope you can visualize how one can use this exercise to build out a marketing “calculator” that many folks are already using, though perhaps not intentionally. Pouring over such snippets, gleaned from competitors, industry pundits, analysts, and others, and spending an amazing amount of time to convert it into ever more complex content really does amount to gambling.

And here is where I lament over the sad state of content marketing. Most organizations don’t really provide information that potential customers really want. They usually have to piece together information gathered during the sales process, often from sales consultants/engineers, product marketing, and others. Even then, it is a gamble.

Providing useful information that potential customers can use is very painful, and takes a great deal of effort. It also demands a rather rare thing these days, and that is openness. But the process of getting to this corporate mindset can literally transform a mediocre organization into a powerhouse. Is your organization asking the right types of questions, you know, the ones you already ask yourselves? What is our integration story? Do we really do what we say we do? When we say “fully integrated” what does it look like, and do we describe specific examples of what is looks like? How do we actually turn a hum drum process, such as service and support, into an incremental sales opportunity? Tell them how you do it, flat out. How is your company using your own product?

If your company goes down the same road, using the great big old marketing table full of snippets, you are spinning your wheels. The companies that go through this transformational process of honesty are literally redefining a category, and putting themselves squarely in the center. And that is the most comfortable of places.

Most people, if they know anything about the local food movement, have some gut instinct that it is good for their community, and can provide tremendous advantages by enhancing their overall economic and environmental well being.

As a former worker in the dot com boom and bust world that was Silicon Valley in the 90’s, I saw an incredible move to outsource and offshore manufacturing capabilities, resulting in slow but drastic changes to the Bay area economy. This trend also brought about other changes to the workforce, such as the mass exodus of customer service and support centers, software development and engineering capabilities.

One would have expected to see radically lower prices for American consumers, but this was not the case. Any major Silicon Valley company would like to say that any potential savings that could have been passed on to the consumer were instead “eaten up” by the fact that their competitors were also on the same quest for cheaper labor, and more business friendly geopolitical locales.

It is the nature of any business in a capitalist system to continually seek lowers prices for raw materials, labor, and such. In our time, we are witness to the effects of this effort. The so called global economy is in reality just a hymnbook for corporate America to go fluttering about, taking advantage of places like China, India, and others. And it will never end. Perhaps someday, they may even swing back around to America, once we are making less than folks in China. Hey, that’s just the way the game is played.

But perhaps somewhere out there, in that vast basin of  greed we call Silicon Valley, one company might begin to buck this trend. They might decide to manufacture locally, for local consumption. Sure, they would have the same capabilities in China, but they would be used to supply Chinese consumers. Suddenly, people could actually afford to live and thrive in their own communities.

And I think the best single company to take the lead is Apple. So, Mr. Jobs, if you ever read this, do something really great. Stop thinking like a guy who sells iPhones and Macs for the highest possible profit, and start thinking about communities.

Our mornings are becoming cooler, and the season is offering us some great sleeping weather. Already, some of our trees are dropping leaves, while still more are beginning their color transformation. Our shagbark hickory trees surprise you with the random sound of nuts falling in the background. You get to the point where you miss the sound.

The tomatoes we planted were slow to provide mature fruits, but now they are coming into their own.

Our flock of laying hens continue to provide us, and a few lucky folks, with great eggs. We are anticipating an increase in eggs, as all have finished molting their old feathers, and the three juveniles we brought home are getting big!

Yesterday I was lucky to find a small, one horse plow for $20. We don’t have a horse yet, but the plow was a good deal. We are looking into creating a small, not for profit teaching and history farm, that will also use significant solar panel technology. Unfortunately, we will miss out on the recent announcement from the Indiana Office of Energy Development. They just raised the maximum award amount to $100,000, with can be used by businesses, not-for-profit organizations, municipalities and schools. From the IOED website:

“Technologies included in the program are Solar Water Heating for domestic hot water or radiant heating, Solar Electricity, Wind Power, Micro-hydro electricity and Biomass electricity and heating. Alternative energy systems make use of non-fossil fuel resources to produce clean, home-grown electricity and thermal energy.

The program is administered by the Indiana Office of Energy Development (OED). The grants are funded through the U.S. Department of Energy and the State Energy Program, but are not part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funding.

Each grant now has a maximum of $100,000 and will be awarded through a competitive system. Applicants are required to match the grant amount with private funding.  Applications must be received by September 25, 2009.  Grant awards will be announced October 2, 2009.”

Here is the site that contains application information.  This is a step in the right direction for Indiana, and we would like to see this program expanded to include Indiana residential installation, and have it linked to a parallel initiative that funds solar panel R&D and production in Indiana.

Wishing all of you a peaceful, mindful Autumn.

Let me start by saying something in plain English.

Our Indiana delegation attending the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai event is just playing up to big corporate interests, and this effort will not amount to a hill of beans for Hoosiers, and real jobs.

The delegation includes our governor, Mitch Daniels, Purdue Vice Provost Vic Lechtenberg, Indy Partnership President & CEO Ron Gifford (here is his travel blog), IU President Michael McRobbie, and others. Wish they would tell me who the private donors were who foot the bill.

The American Chamber of Congress in Shanghai is sponsoring a conference there, Greentech: A Call To Action.

Now I am not opposed to trade with China, and understand the need for US investment abroad. But at some point you just have to call it for what it is.

Corporate America, tapping into cheap Chinese labor, and subsidized investment schemes. All at the expense of real jobs for Americans.

They will be talking with representatives at Eli Lilly’s swanky facility in the Pudong Science Park, no doubt to keep the smiles coming. I’m sure the workers in Eli Lilly’s Research Center in China are thankful for the jobs, and look forward to the incredible savings that Lilly will pass on to US consumers as a result of cheap Chinese manufacturing and R&D costs. Honestly, I don’t know if this will include clinical trials in China, but why not? China routinely performs clinical trials, especially prisoners. Talk about value!

Our governor will also be talking with Chinese representatives about how we can work together as an agricultural partner. What does this mean for you, dear Hoosier? Well it could mean good news for the large farms in Indiana. You know, the ones that are raking in government subsidies, gaming the system. Or the large, corporate owned farms. ADM, Cargill, and others come to mind. What might it also mean for Hoosiers? China desperately wants to sell us things like raw chicken. The USDA country of origin labeling (COOL) program requires things like raw chicken, fruits and vegetables show their country of origin. I don’t know about you, but COOL is very important. My family wants to know where our food comes from. And we currently ban chicken from China, for some very good reasons.  But the irony to COOL is that processed foods are not subject to this law. For example, did you know that Companies like Tyson and Perdue want to ship raw chicken to China, where it would be processed, then shipped back to us for sale in supermarkets. All without you, the consumer, knowing that you are eating chicken from China. American companies like Tyson and others want to first repeal COOL, then have their way with the American public. Wal Mart doesn’t like COOL, either.

You will probably be shocked to know how much of your food comes from China. The good folks over at Food and Water Watch have created a calculator that shows you how much of your food is imported, do give it a try. It is a real eye opener.

What does it mean for the so called green jobs in Indiana, the Green Economy? Daniels and others in the delegation met with several Chinese companies. “Daniels met with two companies who are actively exploring investment opportunities in southern Indiana. The governor toured the production facilities and met with executive management at Shanghai Top Motor Co, Ltd. (Techtop), an electric motor manufacturing company, to discuss the company’s ongoing plans to expand its operations in Indiana. In 2008, Techtop announced plans to bring a new manufacturing and distribution center to Columbus in a joint venture with LHP Technologies. Daniels also met with officials from China Dongfeng Motor Industry Import & Export Company, Ltd, a government-owned automotive company, about its joint venture with Cummins supplier Yinlun and the company’s operation in Columbus.”

Ah yes, we should all remember how important hi tech electric motors once were to the Indiana economy. A small company in Anderson, called Magnequench, was a leader in the manufacture of high-powered neodymium magnets, which are the core of virtually all hi speed computers, as well as being absolutely essential to all defense electronics. and the technology also forms the basis for today’s hi efficiency electric motors, used in virtually all hybrid vehicles.  Magnequench was at one time owned by General Motors, and used Magnequench magnets in things like airbags and mechanical sensors. When GM sold it to an investment consortium acting as a front for Chinese interests, China eventually moved the technology, and the production capabilities, to China. The story of how China did this is painfully fascinating, but rest assured, companies like Cummins, and the IEDC, are looking out for us. Right. And GM has the Volt, which is nothing more than a billion dollar marketing campaign. Completely useless. They should copy the Prius.

So now China wants to be the world leader in electric and hybrid vehicles. They have a huge advantage on America, and corporate America is ready and willing to jump on their manufacturing bandwagon. Soon, you will be shopping for a Chinese hybrid, powered in part by Chinese solar technology, all thanks to our leaders in state and federal government.

I can’t understand why the Obama administration doesn’t get serious about using stimulus dollars to fund American solar manufacturing, and massive solar system installations for residential use. I find it absolutely frightening that our government allows American based, multinational corporations to play an economic shell game that is destroying our manufacturing base.

A truly intelligent stimulus effort should focus on creating an American solar manufacturing base, and simultaneously provide rebates that would enable almost every American home to install solar systems. This single act would have provided real long term jobs for us, and taken OPEC out at the knees. The bad news is that so much of the readily available technology, such as solar panels, are made in China. They have a huge advance on anything the US can provide, both by output and cost. One reason for this is the fact that the Chinese government subsidizes the solar industry there, providing a huge jump start in manufacturing capacity and technological edge. They are also superb gamers, adept at “dumping” artificially low priced goods into export countries.  China can undercut any manufacturer of solar panels, and has taken the edge from us on battery technology. And as we watch with bated breath to see the resurrected GM pull some miracle, China once again is poised to beat us at our own game.

But there is some light at the end of the tunnel. 

We’ll also need to achieve grid parity (make solar as cheap as fossil fuel derived power) for large scale installations. For example, First Solar has a 10-megawatt plant in Nevada that produces electricity without subsidies for 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour compared to 9 cents for fossil-based power.

But do we as a nation have the leadership to accomplish these goals?

How do you feel about the Cash for Clunkers program? Have you done any homework? The top choice for participants was Toyota. Now, mind you, many Toyotas are made here in America, and provide badly needed jobs. More on this program in a later posting.

But now there are rumors of a similar program for appliances, such as refrigerators, freezers, etc. And this industry, like many others, has been hit hard by the economy.

But let us all remember that the purpose of any well designed stimulus effort is to ultimately get American consumers buying again. And the critical apex is the individual consumer, who has a job.

One way to shape how this might pan out is to tell your elected officials that you are concerned that one of the main beneficiaries of such a progam, Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR), based in Benton Harbor, Mich., is eliminating its manufacturing plant in Evansville, Ind., destroying about 1,100 full-time jobs by mid-2010. These jobs will be moved to Mexico. There are another 300 jobs that are also up in the air. Let’s guess what Whirlpool executives will do to them?

This is what Al Holaday, vice president, North American Manufacturing Operations for Whirlpool, had to say.

“This was a difficult but necessary decision.  “To reduce excess capacity and improve costs, the decision was made to consolidate production within our existing North American manufacturing facilities. This will allow us to streamline our operations, improve our capacity utilization, reduce product overlap between plants, and meet future production requirements.”

“We are announcing this decision nearly one year in advance as part of our commitment to make the transition as smooth as possible.”

Nice work. But he says the same thing, every time they axe jobs. Nice gig, Mr. Holaday. Get your MarCom folks to write a shiny bit, practice it, make it your own. You can even say it while you are using your treadmill. Here is a quote from last year.

‘These decisions, while difficult, are an important part of our overall operating plans, and will help ensure that we remain competitive in North America,’ said Al Holaday, Vice President, Whirlpool North America manufacturing. ‘The changes are in no way a reflection on our employees at either the LaVergne or Reynosa facilities, whose contributions we greatly appreciate.’

Do you think Whirlpool will even pass on the incredible savings they’ll achieve in reduced labor costs to you, the American consumer? No way. Funny how that happens. Cheap foreign labor justified as a means of lowering the cost to the consumer. Show me some good examples of this in action. Good luck finding one.

Here is another good one. Rising costs. Steel is way down, Mr. Holaday. So is oil. Where are those lower costs to the consumer?

Tell your Congressman you want to see corporations that stand to benefit from such government sponsored giveaways to at least give something back to Americans. That is the ultimate goal of any stimulus program, right?

Like most people in America, I have been following the raging debate regarding healthcare reform. And as a marketer, I have been absolutely floored by the universally poor job both sides have been doing in articulating their game plans. Except for one camp. We should all give the insurance giants, and the pharmaceutical industry a big hand in how effectively they have positioned their businesses to profit regardless of the outcome.

You know something is fishy when big business is FOR reform. This is the first shell in the shell game. What does this so called reform mean for them?

Obama recently did a back room deal with the The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which promises to keep drug prices high, in spite of the $80 billion they say they will hand over. And concurrently, Congress moves to extend the patent protection on pharma to 12 years, since they say they can’t make a profit with five years of brand name exclusivity. Top that with the elimination of even a hint of price negotiations for Medicare and Medicaid, and you have Big Pharma laughing all the way to the bank.

America, you just got screwed by your president.

Now,  move on to the issue of the uninsured. This is a valid problem in America, and it is getting worse. With over 6 million Americans out of work in the past year, it is turning into a huge problem. But part of the real story, just under the surface, is that many of the same folks now uninsured, will be crushed with medical bills that will drive them to wipe out savings, lose homes, and erode the promise of the American Dream.

For the truly uninsured, they are now contributing a full one fifth of all ER visits, and the strain on our Federal coffers, as hospitals receive partial reimbursement from Uncle Sam.

But how many of those “one fifth” are undocumented aliens? In 2006, there were 120 million ER visits.

You have to understand a key difference between an ER visit for an uninsured American, and an undocumented alien. The American ER patient may still be liable for the bill, and as such, could go financially under. The undocumented alien, on the other hand, has their ER visit, as well as follow on care, paid for by the Federal government, via Program 93.784 Federal Reimbursement Of Emergency Health Services Furnished To Undocumented Aliens. Hospitals love this program.

America, you just got screwed again.

And the so called nonprofit hospitials (another follow on blog) love it even more.

Now, why would the big healthcare insurance providers like Wellpoint be all over Obama’s grand plan for reform? One reason is that they see a huge increase in the number of customers, since every American will be required to have insurance, and that single payer notion wil be killed before it is born. Do the math. Even with changes to pre-existing condition policies and rescissions, the insurnace companies will clean house.

Now I get to what I think is most important to most Americans, the ones with some insurance. We need insurance (or whatever) that is affordable, can’t be revoked because you or a family member gets really, really sick, and protects us from huge bills that take away our homes, our savings, and indeed, our lives.

So keep up those antics on both sides, America. Democrats, Republicans, and all in between, rant and rave all you want. Because the folks in power will come out of this smelling like a rose. Unless you start ranting about the real healthcare demons that keep us down.