rawstory--2020-01-08--Capitalism versus socialism: Did capitalism really win?

In a recent op-ed , “ I Was Once a Socialist .
Then I Saw How It Worked , ” conservative columnist David Brooks wrote , “ We ran that social experiment [ between capitalism and socialism ] for 100 years and capitalism won.
” But did capitalism really win ?
As I indicated in a chapter ( “ Capitalism , Socialism , and Communism ” ) in my An Age of Progress ?
Clashing Twentieth-Century Global Forces , history tells a more complicated story .
As sociologist Max Weber and conservative economist Milton Friedman have told us , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ profit .
Friedman even believed it was business ’ s main “ social responsibility.
” Sociologist Daniel Bell wrote that capitalism has “ no moral or transcendental ethic.
” Nineteenth-century capitalism provided no adequate answers for how to deal with such problems as unsafe working conditions , unfair business practices , pollution , public health , slum housing , or the abuse of child labor .
Nor did it deal with the distribution of income and left unanswered if great poverty should exist along with great wealth .
At that time socialism , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ major challenger of capitalism .
By 1917 , socialism had split into two principal types , the communist variety led by Vladimir Lenin–later formalized in the name Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR ) –and a revisionist type , more common in western Europe , that advocated democratic , reformist means of obtaining power .
The goal of such socialism was primarily greater economic equality through such steps as government ownership of at least the chief means of production .
In general , democratic socialists wished to control and regulate the economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the German parliamentary election of 1912 , the German Social Democratic Party received more votes than any other party .
Marx ’ s ideas also influenced trade-unionism and other isms that challenged nineteenth-century capitalists .
One such was Progressivism , a cross-fertilizing trans-Atlantic movement that was powerful enough in the USA to produce the Progressive Era from 1890 to 1914 .
But Progressivism did not attempt to overthrow or replace capitalism , but to constrain and supplement it in order to insure that it served the public good .
As Daniel Rodgers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Politics in a Progressive Age ( 2000 ) , it was a diverse movement “ to limit the socially destructive effects of morally unhindered capitalism , to extract from those [ capitalist ] markets the tasks they had demonstrably bungled , to counterbalance the markets ’ atomizing social effects with a countercalculus of the public weal [ well-being ] .
” After World War I and a dozen years of Republican rule , progressivism returned with the election of Franklin Roosevelt ( FDR ) in 1932 and his subsequent implementation of the New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to our own , the U.S. economy , as our State Department indicated in 2001 , has been “ mixed : ” “ The United States is often described as a ‘ capitalist ’ economy , ” it “ is perhaps better described as a ‘ mixed ’ economy , with government playing an important role along with private enterprise.
” Following World War II , many western European economies also became mixed as they introduced more welfare-state provisions–social programs assisting the poor , old , sick , and unemployed .
Generally , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gave more assistance to the needy and the government controlled more of the economy .
But in both the USA and western Europe the degree of government regulation has fluctuated considerably .
Prominent European democratic socialists Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany and President Francois Mitterrand of France led their countries from from 1969 to 1974 and 1981 to 1995 , respectively .
Conversely , in the 1980s Ronald Reagan in the USA and Margaret Thatcher in Britain cut back the government regulation of capitalism .
While progressivism , the New Deal , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ democratic socialism , the Reagan-Thatcher opposition to “ creeping socialism ” and “ big government ” encouraged conservatives to place more trust in capitalism or “ the free market.
” Today , not only are there very different types of capitalism in different countries–Brooks , for example , distinguishes “ between a version of democratic capitalism , found in the U.S. , Canada and Denmark , and forms of authoritarian capitalism , found in China and Russia ” –but U. S. capitalism today is not the same as it was before the Progressive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Europe the same as it was in 1912 , when the German Social Democratic Party demonstrated its popularity .
A fair and unbiased review , “ Democratic Socialist Countries 2019 , ” concludes that most prominent European countries contain a mix of capitalist and democratic-socialist elements .
For example , it states , “ Norway , like other Scandinavian countries , is .
.
.
[ not ] fully socialist nor fully capitalist.
” Thus , Brooks is too simplistic when he writes “ capitalism won.
” If one equates socialism with communism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , then saying capitalism won over socialism is closer to the truth .
For Soviet-style communism did collapse by 1991 with the disintegration of the USSR .
Still , that ’ s not completely accurate because western economic-political systems are more mixed than purely democratic capitalist .
Brooks ’ narrow view of socialism and triumphant take on capitalism require a historical corrective because of three significant problems .
The first is the political use of simplistic capitalism-vs.-socialism propaganda .
Socialism and socialist have long been scare words conservatives hurl at opponents .
Social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ !
In the 1960s when Congress debated Medicare , the American Medical Association ( AMA ) hired Ronald Reagan to speak out against it on a record entitled “ Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine.
” More recently , Donald Trump stated that socialism “ promises unity , but it delivers hatred and it delivers division .
Socialism promises a better future , but it always returns to the darkest chapters of the past .
That never fails .
It always happens .
Socialism is a sad and discredited ideology rooted in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nature.
” His campaign has claimed that “ Bernie Sanders has already won the debate in the Democrat primary , because every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism.
” The second problem is that our political-economic development has made us more of a mixed system than a capitalistic one thanks to such developments as Progressivism , the New Deal , Lyndon ’ s Johnson ’ s “ Great Society , ” and Medicare .
The third main problem is that capitalism ’ s main aim of profit-seeking still needs ( in Bell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moral or transcendental ethic.
” Seeking the common good is one such ethic that has often been suggested , from the Progressive era to , more recently , Pope Francis and Nobel Prize–winning economist Joseph Stiglitz .
In previous articles such as “ BP , Corporations , Capitalism , Progressivism , and Government ” and “ The Opioid Crisis and the Need for Progressivism , ” I dealt with the profit-at-all-cost operations of corporations such as British Petroleum ( BP ) , and Purdue Pharma .
I also addressed why governments need to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opioid deaths to ensure they serve the common good .
In the last two years , two more notable cases of insufficient corporate concern for anything but profits emerged , again demonstrating the need for government oversight .
The first involves Pacific Gas & Electric ( PG & E ) .
In early December , 2019 it agreed to pay $ 13.5 billion for causing Northern California wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and killed more than 100 people in just two of the fires .
The LA Times noted that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ profits before necessary safety measures.
” A Marxist publication ’ s headline read “ Profits before people : Why PG & E turned off the lights in California.
” The second case involves aircraft manufacturer and defense contractor Boeing .
In late 2018-early 2019 , two Boeing 737 Max 8 Jets crashed killing 346 people .
Again , profits were placed before safety .
One Daily Beast article declared that “ top managers in the company ’ s Chicago headquarters , more alert to Wall Street than airline safety , gave priority to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , government regulation of Boeing was insufficient .
Pilot Captain Chesley “ Sully ” Sullenberger , depicted by Tom Hanks in the movie “ Sully : Miracle on the Hudson , ” criticized the USA for not providing sufficient funds to the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) , leaving it ill equipped to oversee aircraft safety .
Instead , Sully charged , the FAA allowed Boeing itself to certify that it was meeting safety standards .
“ To make matters worse , there is too cozy a relationship between the industry and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases , FAA employees who rightly called for stricter compliance with safety standards and more rigorous design choices have been overruled by FAA management , often under corporate or political pressure.
” Thus , history demonstrates that the assertion that capitalism “ won ” is inaccurate .
The irresponsibility of corporations like BP , Purdue Pharma , PG & E , and Boeing indicate the ongoing cost of unregulated capitalism .
Today , President Trump continues to assail the type of enlightened regulation produced by the Progressive Era and FDR .
The main @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will not be to choose whether we want capitalism or democratic socialism .
Rather , it will be to decide the best pragmatic mix of the two ( and best presidential candidate ) to further the common good .
Walter G. Moss is a professor emeritus of history at Eastern Michigan University and a Contributing Editor of HNN .
For a list of his recent books and online publications click here .
His most recent book is In the Face of Fear : Laughing All the Way to Wisdom ( 2019 ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

In a recent op-ed, “I Was Once a Socialist. Then I Saw How It Worked,” conservative columnist David Brooks wrote, “We ran that social experiment [between capitalism and socialism] for 100 years and capitalism won.” But did capitalism really win? As I indicated in a chapter (“Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism”) in my An Age of Progress? Clashing Twentieth-Century Global Forces, history tells a more complicated story.
As sociologist Max Weber and conservative economist Milton Friedman have told us, the primary purpose of capitalism is earning a profit. Friedman even believed it was business’s main “social responsibility.” Sociologist Daniel Bell wrote that capitalism has “no moral or transcendental ethic.”
Nineteenth-century capitalism provided no adequate answers for how to deal with such problems as unsafe working conditions, unfair business practices, pollution, public health, slum housing, or the abuse of child labor. Nor did it deal with the distribution of income and left unanswered if great poverty should exist along with great wealth.
At that time socialism, especially Marxist socialism, arose as the major challenger of capitalism. By 1917, socialism had split into two principal types, the communist variety led by Vladimir Lenin--later formalized in the name Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)--and a revisionist type, more common in western Europe, that advocated democratic, reformist means of obtaining power. The goal of such socialism was primarily greater economic equality through such steps as government ownership of at least the chief means of production. In general, democratic socialists wished to control and regulate the economy in behalf of the entire population. In the German parliamentary election of 1912, the German Social Democratic Party received more votes than any other party.
Marx’s ideas also influenced trade-unionism and other isms that challenged nineteenth-century capitalists. One such was Progressivism, a cross-fertilizing trans-Atlantic movement that was powerful enough in the USA to produce the Progressive Era from 1890 to 1914.
But Progressivism did not attempt to overthrow or replace capitalism, but to constrain and supplement it in order to insure that it served the public good. As Daniel Rodgers indicates in his Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (2000), it was a diverse movement “to limit the socially destructive effects of morally unhindered capitalism, to extract from those [capitalist] markets the tasks they had demonstrably bungled, to counterbalance the markets’ atomizing social effects with a countercalculus of the public weal [well-being].”
After World War I and a dozen years of Republican rule, progressivism returned with the election of Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) in 1932 and his subsequent implementation of the New Deal.
From FDR’s time to our own, the U.S. economy, as our State Department indicated in 2001, has been “mixed:” “The United States is often described as a ‘capitalist’economy,” it “is perhaps better described as a ‘mixed’ economy, with government playing an important role along with private enterprise.”
Following World War II, many western European economies also became mixed as they introduced more welfare-state provisions--social programs assisting the poor, old, sick, and unemployed. Generally, compared to the USA, western Europe gave more assistance to the needy and the government controlled more of the economy.
But in both the USA and western Europe the degree of government regulation has fluctuated considerably. Prominent European democratic socialists Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany and President Francois Mitterrand of France led their countries from from 1969 to 1974 and 1981 to 1995, respectively. Conversely, in the 1980s Ronald Reagan in the USA and Margaret Thatcher in Britain cut back the government regulation of capitalism. While progressivism, the New Deal, and welfare-state policies inched liberals closer to democratic socialism, the Reagan-Thatcher opposition to “creeping socialism” and “big government” encouraged conservatives to place more trust in capitalism or “the free market.”
Today, not only are there very different types of capitalism in different countries--Brooks, for example, distinguishes “between a version of democratic capitalism, found in the U.S., Canada and Denmark, and forms of authoritarian capitalism, found in China and Russia”--but U. S. capitalism today is not the same as it was before the Progressive Era. Nor is democratic socialism in Europe the same as it was in 1912, when the German Social Democratic Party demonstrated its popularity.
A fair and unbiased review, “Democratic Socialist Countries 2019,” concludes that most prominent European countries contain a mix of capitalist and democratic-socialist elements. For example, it states, “Norway, like other Scandinavian countries, is . . . [not] fully socialist nor fully capitalist.”
Thus, Brooks is too simplistic when he writes “capitalism won.” If one equates socialism with communism, as Brooks comes close to doing, then saying capitalism won over socialism is closer to the truth. For Soviet-style communism did collapse by 1991 with the disintegration of the USSR. Still, that’s not completely accurate because western economic-political systems are more mixed than purely democratic capitalist.
Brooks’ narrow view of socialism and triumphant take on capitalism require a historical corrective because of three significant problems.
The first is the political use of simplistic capitalism-vs.-socialism propaganda. Socialism and socialist have long been scare words conservatives hurl at opponents. Social Security? Socialist! Medicare? Socialist! In the 1960s when Congress debated Medicare, the American Medical Association (AMA) hired Ronald Reagan to speak out against it on a record entitled “Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine.”
More recently, Donald Trump stated that socialism “promises unity, but it delivers hatred and it delivers division. Socialism promises a better future, but it always returns to the darkest chapters of the past. That never fails. It always happens. Socialism is a sad and discredited ideology rooted in the total ignorance of history and human nature.” His campaign has claimed that “Bernie Sanders has already won the debate in the Democrat primary, because every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism.”
The second problem is that our political-economic development has made us more of a mixed system than a capitalistic one thanks to such developments as Progressivism, the New Deal, Lyndon’s Johnson’s “Great Society,” and Medicare.
The third main problem is that capitalism’s main aim of profit-seeking still needs (in Bell’s words) a higher “moral or transcendental ethic.” Seeking the common good is one such ethic that has often been suggested, from the Progressive era to, more recently, Pope Francis and Nobel Prize–winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
In previous articles such as “BP, Corporations, Capitalism, Progressivism, and Government” and “The Opioid Crisis and the Need for Progressivism,” I dealt with the profit-at-all-cost operations of corporations such as British Petroleum (BP), and Purdue Pharma. I also addressed why governments need to regulate companies responsible for oils spills and opioid deaths to ensure they serve the common good.
In the last two years, two more notable cases of insufficient corporate concern for anything but profits emerged, again demonstrating the need for government oversight.
The first involves Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). In early December, 2019 it agreed to pay $13.5 billion for causing Northern California wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and killed more than 100 people in just two of the fires. The LA Times noted that critics believe the company put “short-term profits before necessary safety measures.”A Marxist publication’s headline read “Profits before people: Why PG&E turned off the lights in California.”
The second case involves aircraft manufacturer and defense contractor Boeing. In late 2018-early 2019, two Boeing 737 Max 8 Jets crashed killing 346 people. Again, profits were placed before safety. One Daily Beast article declared that “top managers in the company’s Chicago headquarters, more alert to Wall Street than airline safety, gave priority to stock buybacks and shareholder returns.”
Again, government regulation of Boeing was insufficient. Pilot Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, depicted by Tom Hanks in the movie “Sully: Miracle on the Hudson,” criticized the USA for not providing sufficient funds to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), leaving it ill equipped to oversee aircraft safety. Instead, Sully charged, the FAA allowed Boeing itself to certify that it was meeting safety standards. “To make matters worse, there is too cozy a relationship between the industry and the regulators. And in too many cases, FAA employees who rightly called for stricter compliance with safety standards and more rigorous design choices have been overruled by FAA management, often under corporate or political pressure.”
Thus, history demonstrates that the assertion that capitalism “won” is inaccurate. The irresponsibility of corporations like BP, Purdue Pharma, PG&E, and Boeing indicate the ongoing cost of unregulated capitalism. Today, President Trump continues to assail the type of enlightened regulation produced by the Progressive Era and FDR. The main task of voters in 2020 and thereafter will not be to choose whether we want capitalism or democratic socialism. Rather, it will be to decide the best pragmatic mix of the two (and best presidential candidate) to further the common good.
Walter G. Moss is a professor emeritus of history at Eastern Michigan University and a Contributing Editor of HNN. For a list of his recent books and online publications click here. His most recent book is In the Face of Fear: Laughing All the Way to Wisdom (2019), which treats humor from a historical perspective.


rawstory--2020-01-08--What does a full-blown fire age look like? We’re about to find out: Get ready for the Pyrocene

Millions of acres are burning in the Arctic , thousands of fires blaze in the Amazon , and with seemingly endless flareups in between , from California to Gran Canaria – fire seems everywhere , and everywhere dangerous and destabilizing .
With a worsening climate , the fires dappling Earth from the tropics to the tundra appear as the pilot flames of an advancing apocalypse .
To some commentators , so dire , so unprecedented are the forecast changes that they argue we have no language or narrative to express them .
Actually , the fire scene is worse than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is not just about bad burns that crash into towns and trash countrysides .
It ’ s equally about the good fires that have vanished because they are suppressed or no longer lit .
More of the world suffers from a famine of good fires than from a surfeit of bad ones ; the bad ones are filling a void ; they are not so much wild as feral .
Underwriting both is that immense inflection in which humans turned from burning living landscapes to burning lithic ones in the form of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Burn of today , acting as a performance enhancer on all aspects of fire ’ s global presence .
So vast is the magnitude of these changes that we might rightly speak of a coming Fire Age equivalent in stature to the Ice Ages of the Pleistocene .
Call it the Pyrocene .
So there does exist a narrative , one of the oldest known to humanity , and one that has defined our distinctive ecological agency .
It ’ s the story of fire .
Earth is a uniquely fire planet – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the continents .
Equally , humans are a uniquely fire creature , not only the keystone species for fire but a species monopolist over its manipulation .
The fires in the Arctic testify to the planetary antiquity of fire .
Nearly all are kindled by lightning and burn biotas nicely adapted to fire ; many could be suppressed , but extinguishing them will only put off , not put out , the flames .
By contrast , the fires in the Amazon bear witness to a Faustian pact that hominins made with fire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our genome .
They are set by people in circumstances that people made , well outside ecological barriers and historical buffers .
This is a narrative so ancient it is prelapsarian .
Our alliance with fire has become a veritable symbiosis .
We got small guts and big heads because we learned to cook food .
We went to the top of the food chain because we learned to cook landscapes .
Now we have become a geological force because we have begun to cook the planet .
We have taken fire to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reached on its own , and it has taken us everywhere , even off world .
We have leveraged fire ; fire has leveraged us .
How this happened is a largely hidden history – hidden in plain sight .
Fire disappeared as an integral subject about the time we hid fire into Franklin stoves and steam engines .
( The only fire department at a university is the one that sends emergency vehicles when an alarm sounds . )
It lost standing as a topic in its own right .
As with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in history has been to illustrate other themes , not to track a narrative of its own .
Yet how the present scene came to be is clear enough in its general contours .
How , outfitted with firesticks early humans could take over select biotas .
How , with axes and plows and livestock as fire fulcrums , societies could recode the patches and pulses of vast swathes of land for agriculture .
How , hungering for ever more firepower , we turned from burning living landscapes to burning lithic ones – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , gas , lignite , and coal .
Our firepower became unbounded .
That is literally true .
The old quest for sources has morphed into one for sinks .
The search for more stuff to burn has become a problem of where to put all the effluent .
Industrial combustion can burn without any of the old ecological checks-and-balances : it can burn day and night , winter and summer , through drought and deluge .
We are taking stuff out of the geologic past and unleashing it into the geologic future @ @ @ @ @ @ @ changing climate , or acidifying oceans .
It ’ s about how we live on the land .
Land use is the other half of the modern dialectic of fire on Earth , and when a people shift to fossil-fuels , they alter the way they inhabit landscapes .
They rely on industrial pyrotechnologies to organize agriculture , transportation , urban patterns , even nature reserves , all of which tend to aggravate the hazards from bad fire and complicate the reintroduction of good fire .
The many conflagrations sparked by powerlines nicely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lithic landscapes .
Still , even if fossil-fuel combustion were tamed , we would yet have to work through our deranged relationship to fires on living landscapes .
Because fire is a reaction , not a substance , the scale of our fire-induced transformations can be difficult to see .
But we are fashioning the fire-informed equivalents of ice sheets , mountain glaciers , pluvial lakes , outwash plains , and of course changing sea levels , not to mention sparking wholesale extinctions .
Too much bad fire , too little good , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s an ice age for fire .
The Pyrocene is moving from metaphor to descriptor .
It ’ s all there : narrative , analogue , explication .
A couple of centuries ago we began hiding our fires in machines and off site , which can make it difficult for modern urbanites to appreciate how profoundly anthropogenic fire practices inform Earth today .
We use the rampaging flames to animate other agendas , not to understand what fire is telling us .
But fire , the great shape-shifter , is fast morphing beyond @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fire age look like ?
We ’ re about to find out .
Steve Pyne , emeritus professor at Arizona State University , is the author of the recently updated and revised Fire : A Brief History ( University of Washington Press ) .

Trained in political science and the law, he has no formal education in disaster preparedness or response. And prior to his current role, he never held a full-time job dedicated to emergency management.
Instead, his main qualification was being chief of staff to then-mayor Alan Arakawa. But in that role, he told Civil Beat Tuesday, he assisted during emergency operations. And he said he participated in online FEMA trainings and workshops throughout the years.
In 2017, Andaya beat out 40 other applicants for the job, Maui Now reported at the time.
As the mayor’s administration was coming to a close, a panel of government officials – which said it was independent of the mayor – chose Andaya for the civil service role.
Civil Beat reviewed Andaya’s experience after historic Lahaina was swallowed by an inferno last week, killing scores of residents and visitors who never saw it coming.
The Maui Emergency Management Agency had the authority to issue siren warnings that might have alerted people. After Andaya’s agency decided not to sound them, many survivors reported they only became aware of the fire when they saw and smelled smoke.
Andaya said sounding the sirens wasn’t an option officials considered because they’re “mainly used for tsunamis.” That’s why they’re mostly located on the coast, he said.
But the state’s own website says the sirens are useful for many kinds of emergencies.
“The all-hazard siren system can be used for a variety of both natural and human-caused events; including tsunamis, hurricanes, dam breaches, flooding, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, terrorist threats, hazardous material incidents, and more,” the site states.
Andaya wasn’t on the island when the fires started, and he hasn’t made any appearances at press conferences since the disaster occurred.
Asked about Andaya’s resume, David Hafner, a retired telecommunications planner for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, questioned whether his relative inexperience affected his agency’s performance in a crisis.
“It’s a good ol’ boy network,” Hafner said. “This time it cost lives.”
Hafner said it’s “absolutely essential” for emergency management leaders to have experience in the field so they make the right decisions both before and after disasters strike.
Not having it, he said, “can lead to grave mistakes in judgment.”
Andaya’s hiring came at a time when Hawaii’s counties had just taken on increased responsibility for disaster response, according to Hafner. State emergency management officials used to be the designated authority to respond to emergencies, he said, but an update to the law in 2014 put the counties in the driver’s seat.
Asked about Andaya’s LinkedIn resume, Colin Moore, a political scientist at the University of Hawaii, said he was shocked by the emergency administrator’s lack of relevant experience. He said the public is owed an explanation.
“It’s a legitimate question to ask why the person leading the county emergency services agency has no clear background in fire, police, public health, the usual emergency services backgrounds,” he said.
“Having that on-the-ground experience, you develop the instincts and the connections to be able to perform a job like this. And if you just have general government experience, there is just no opportunity to have that kind of on-the-ground knowledge that often is really useful in a crisis.”
Andaya said as a former member of the mayor’s cabinet, he was qualified for the job.
“Whenever there was an activation in the emergency operations center, we were involved,” he said. “To say that I have no experience or no background in emergency management is not correct.”
‘Political Influence’ A Concern
Andaya, 52, is from Maui and graduated from HP Baldwin High School.
He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from the University of Hawaii Manoa. He also has a law degree from the UH Richardson School of Law, although he never became a licensed attorney, according to the Hawaii State Bar Association’s online database.
He began his career clerking for Maui Judge Artemio Baxa. He then worked for the law office of Lynn Araki-Regan, an attorney who is the wife of Arakawa’s managing director, Keith Regan.
When Andaya vacated his position as chief of staff, it was filled by Araki-Regan, who was by then the county budget director. Regan said he had no involvement in Andaya’s hiring.
From the early 2000s onward, Andaya has held leadership positions in Maui’s Department of Housing and Human Concerns and worked as the assistant to the chancellor of UH’s Maui College, according to his LinkedIn resume. He is married to Rowena Dagdag-Andaya, a former elementary school teacher who served as Maui’s public works director and now works in Maui’s Office on Aging.
Andaya was Arakawa’s chief of staff from 2011 through 2017. That year, the mayor appointed him acting administrator of MEMA, and he became permanent by the end of that year.
In contrast, Honolulu’s emergency management director, Hiro Toiya, has technical training in emergency response, worked for years as a preparedness planner for the Hawaii health department and rose up the ranks of Honolulu’s Department of Emergency Management. He worked there for more than seven years before becoming the director.
Asked how he stood out among a pool of 40 job candidates, Andaya said Maui doesn’t have a lot of emergency management professionals to begin with. He noted that he had to take an exam and based on his score was determined to be a finalist.
“You would have to question the civil service process if you can believe that politics was involved,” he said. “This is something that my predecessors have to go through as well.”
Before Andaya was hired, there were concerns in Maui’s political scene that the county was considering someone who wasn’t qualified.
“In the past, this position has sometimes been filled by individuals without the proper emergency response background.”
Former Maui County Council Chairman Mike White
In July 2017, the chair of the Maui County Council at the time, Mike White, took the unusual step of writing a Maui News column warning that the job of emergency management was too important to be “subject to political influence.”
“In the past, this position has sometimes been filled by individuals without the proper emergency response background,” White wrote.
“The administration must search for well-qualified candidates who can make a seamless transition in leading our Emergency Management Agency. The stakes are too high and our community has grown to a point where emergency coordination has become quite sophisticated in its implementation.”
In his column, White praised the outgoing emergency management chief, Anna Foust, who had previously worked for years leading the Maui branch of the Red Cross. White emphasized her expertise.
“During her tenure, she used her emergency response experience and training to help guide the county to keep citizens safe during hurricane warnings and watches, flooding events and tsunami warnings,” White wrote.
Civil Beat wasn’t able to reach White for comment.
Panel Of Specialists Chose Andaya
On Tuesday, Arakawa’s former managing director, Keith Regan, said that politics was not a factor in Andaya’s hiring. Asked why Andaya was the best candidate, Regan said he didn’t know because he wasn’t on the hiring committee. But he was adamant there was “zero” political influence in the process.
“This was a straightforward civil service process,” said Regan, who is now the state comptroller.
When Regan ran for Maui County Council in 2015, Andaya was his campaign manager. This year, Andaya wrote a letter of support of Regan’s nomination to state comptroller.
Regan noted that the hiring panel included numerous experts in the field. Maui Now identified them at the time as then-Maui Police Chief Tivoli Faaumu; then-Maui Fire Chief Jeff Murray; Elton Ushio, administrator of the Kauai Emergency Management Agency; and Vern Miyagi, then-administrator of the Hawaii State Emergency Management Agency.
At the time, Ushio was quoted by Maui Now as saying Andaya’s “proven leadership abilities, executive level experience, and impressive knowledge of emergency management” made him a great fit for the job. Murray cited Andaya’s familiarity with government processes, his “institutional knowledge of the various emergency incidents” in recent years, and his then-recent work as acting leader of the department.
“These are not people that, you know, are just political people,” Regan said. “They’re people who understand emergency management and are going to make the right choice for the community.”
In a statement, former HI-EMA director Miyagi said the public’s focus should be on working together on response and recovery.
“Herman Andaya and his staff at MEMA are really good people,” he said. “They carried Maui successfully through numerous hurricanes, floods, and other disasters.”
He said the public should wait for the attorney general’s investigation before drawing conclusions.
Civil Beat left messages with the other hiring committee members on Tuesday, but they were not returned. Former mayor Arakawa also did not respond to a request for comment.
“Herman is a very skilled, experienced, knowledgeable, professional individual,” Regan said. “I trust that is making the right decisions … There is no question in my mind that he cares about that community, and he’s going to do everything he can to keep that community safe.”


rawstory--2020-01-08--Cruise ships can be floating petri dishes of gastro bugs

A cruise can be the perfect summer holiday .
But cruise ships , with hundreds , even thousands of people in close quarters , can also be a hotbed of germs .
In particular , cruises are somewhat notorious for outbreaks of gastro .
One study , which looked at close to 2,000 cruises docking in Sydney , found 5 % of ships reported they ’ d had a gastro outbreak on board .
If you ’ re about to head off on a cruise , there ’ s no need to panic .
There are some precautions you can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a happy , gastro-free holiday .
Viruses are the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in Australia .
Norovirus is the main culprit , causing an estimated 2.2 million cases of gastro each year .
Norovirus is usually transmitted from person-to-person via the faecal-oral route , where virus particles found in the stool of one person end up being swallowed by another person .
Extremely large numbers of virus particles are shed in faeces and vomit , yet a person only needs to ingest a very small number of virus particles to catch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Check : how long are you contagious with gastro ?
Norovirus is hardy and can resist acid conditions ( like those in the gut ) and moderate temperatures ( at which we wash clothes or reheat food , for example ) .
Further , many chemicals used in cleaning products and hand sanitisers don ’ t effectively remove norovirus .
The main symptoms of gastro caused by norovirus are diarrhoea and vomiting .
Symptoms normally only last for a short period ( two to three days ) , and will stop on their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is of most concern for young children and the elderly .
Generally , a cruise ship will declare a “ gastro outbreak ” once 2-3 % of passengers or crew are ill with gastro symptoms .
So on a ship of 2,000 passengers , 40-60 people would need to be unwell before an outbreak is declared .
An Australian study found 5 % of cruise ships that arrived in Sydney between 2007 and 2016 reported gastro outbreaks ( 98 out of 1967 ) .
Of the outbreaks with a known cause @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reports pop up in the news from time to time when there ’ s a significant outbreak , like when the Sea Princess recorded 200 cases of gastro caused by norovirus in 2018 .
Read more : Viruses aren ’ t all nasty – some can actually protect our health How does it spread ?
You can be infectious with norovirus before symptoms appear and even after they resolve , so a person might unknowingly bring norovirus onto a cruise with them .
On a cruise ship , norovirus is mainly spread directly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not surprising as many activities on a cruise involve mixing with other passengers in a reasonably closed space .
While a handshake is a normal greeting , it ’ s a fairly unsanitary practice .
A recent study suggested a “ fist-bump ” should be promoted on cruises , while a modified version dubbed the “ cruise-tap ” ( where only two knuckles are touched ) could be even better .
The other way norovirus typically spreads is from touching contaminated surfaces .
A person with norovirus may not wash their hands properly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the toilet , leaving many invisible norovirus particles on their hands .
When this person touches surfaces ( for example hand rails , buttons in the lift , or utensils at the buffet ) they leave behind norovirus particles .
Other people can then touch these surfaces and transfer the particles to their own hands .
Then , if they put their hands to their mouth , they can give themselves the virus .
It ’ s rare to inhale norovirus particles from the air , but it can occur , usually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While norovirus can be found in food , cruise ships have strict food handling practices to prevent the spread of illnesses such as norovirus .
Though this doesn ’ t mean it ’ s unheard of .
It ’ s impossible to completely eliminate the risk of catching norovirus , but there are some things you can do to minimise your risk : • wash your hands well and frequently , especially before eating • don ’ t rely on hand sanitisers ( hand washing is always better ) • leave the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Prepare for a healthy holiday with this A-to-E guide If you do get gastro symptoms on a cruise , it ’ s important you tell the medical personnel as soon as possible and follow their instructions .
You may be asked to stay in your cabin for a short period so as not to infect other passengers ; just as you would wish another infected passenger not to spread the virus to you and your family .
The sooner the crew can identify a gastro case , the sooner they can start @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prevent an outbreak .
Also , if you tell medical personnel , they may be able to provide medication and organise appropriate food to be delivered to your room .
Above all , to minimise the risk of gastro spoiling your cruise , wash your hands thoroughly and often .
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license .
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rawstory--2020-01-08--A season in hell: Australia bushfires push at least 20 threatened species closer to extinction

Images of desperate , singed koalas in blackened landscapes have come to symbolise the damage to nature this bushfire season .
Such imagery has catalysed global concern , but the toll on biodiversity is much more pervasive .
Until the fires stop burning , we won ’ t know the full extent of the environmental damage .
But these fires have significantly increased the extinction risk for many threatened species .
We estimate most of the range and population of between 20 and 100 threatened species will have been burnt .
Such species include the long-footed potoroo , Kangaroo Island @ @ @ @ @ @ @ midge orchid .
The fires are exceptional : way beyond normal in their extent , severity and timing .
The human and property losses have been enormous .
But nature has also suffered profoundly .
We must urgently staunch and recover from the environmental losses , and do what it takes to avoid future catastrophes .
The fire and its aftermath One estimate last month put the the number of birds , mammals ( other than bats ) and reptiles affected by fire in New South Wales alone at 480 million .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been killed by the fires themselves , or due to a lack of food and shelter in the aftermath .
Some animals survive the immediate fire , perhaps by hiding under rocks or in burrows .
But the ferocity and speed of these fires mean most will have perished .
One might think birds and other fast-moving animals can easily escape fires .
But smoke and strong winds can badly disorient them , and mass bird deaths in severe bushfires are common .
We saw this in the current fire crisis , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yellow-tailed black-cockatoos washed up on the beach at Mallacoota in Victoria .
Fire impacts are deeply felt in the longer-term .
Many habitat features needed by wildlife , such as tree and log hollows , nectar-bearing shrubs and a deep ground layer of fallen leaves , may not develop for decades .
Populations of plant and animal species found only in relatively small areas , which substantially overlap fire-affected areas , will be worst hit .
Given the fires are continuing , the precise extent of this problem is still unknown .
Read @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is astounding .
These are the tricks they use to survive We estimate most of the range and population of between 20 and 100 threatened species will have been burnt .
The continued existence of such species was already tenuous .
Their chances of survival are now much lower again .
For example , the long-footed potoroo exists in a very small range mostly in the forests of Victoria ’ s East Gippsland .
It ’ s likely intense fires have burnt most of these areas .
On South Australia ’ s Kangaroo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there are serious concerns for the Kangaroo Island dunnart , an endangered small marsupial , and the endangered glossy black-cockatoo , whose last refuge was on the island .
Both species have lost much of their habitat .
Many threatened plants are also affected : in NSW , fires around Batemans Bay have burnt some of the few sites known for the threatened Spring midge orchid .
Fire has long been a feature of Australian environments , and many species and vegetation types have adapted to fire .
But the current fires are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such adaptation .
The fires are also burning environments that typically go unburnt for centuries , including at least the perimeter of World Heritage rainforests of the Lamington Plateau in south-eastern Queensland .
In these environments , recovery – if at all – will be painfully slow .
Many Australian animal species , particularly threatened birds , favour long-unburnt vegetation because these provide more complex vegetation structure and hollows .
Such habitat is fast disappearing .
The shortening intervals between fires are also pushing some ecosystems beyond their limits of resilience .
Some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experienced four fires in 20 or 30 years .
Read more : ‘ This crisis has been unfolding for years ’ : 4 photos of Australia from space , before and after the bushfires This has reduced a grand wet forest ecosystem , rich in wildlife , to a dry scrub far more flammable than the original forest .
Such ecosystem collapse is all but impossible to reverse .
Fires also compound the impacts of other threats .
Feral cats and foxes hunt more effectively in burnt landscapes and will inexorably pick off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What does this mean for conservation ?
In a matter of weeks , the fires have subverted decades of dedicated conservation efforts for many threatened species .
As one example , most of the 48,000 hectares of forest reserves in East Gippsland established last year in response to the rapid decline of greater gliders has been burnt .
This has further endangered the species and makes the remaining unburnt areas ever more critical .
Beyond counting the wildlife casualties , responses are needed to help environmental recovery .
Priorities may differ among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a general list : • increase control efforts for pest animals and weeds that would magnify the impacts of these fires on wildlife • strategically establish captive breeding populations of some threatened animals and collect seeds of threatened plants • care for and rehabilitate injured wildlife and establish monitoring programs to chart a hoped-for recovery .
Some of these actions may be mere pinpricks in the extent of loss .
But any useful action will make a small difference , and perhaps help alleviate the community ’ s profound sense of dismay at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Governments , conservation groups and landholders must all play a role .
Recovery actions should be thoughtfully coordinated , and form part of the broader social and economic post-fire recovery program .
Read more : In fact , there ’ s plenty we can do to make future fires less likely Critically , we must also reduce the likelihood of similar catastrophes in future .
Some have blamed the fires on national parks and a lack of hazard reduction burning .
Skilful and fine-scale application of preventative burning does have merit .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fires , and the number of days suitable for such burning is diminishing .
Increasingly severe drought and extreme heat , associated with global warming , are the immediate causes of these wildfires and their ferocity .
To prevent this fire-ravaged summer becoming the new normal , we must take drastic measures to tackle climate change .
A caption in an earlier version of this article said the glossy black cockatoo was extinct on the mainland .
It was referring to the South Australian subspecies found on Kangaroo Island .
The caption has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Woinarski , Professor ( conservation biology ) , Charles Darwin University ; Brendan Wintle , Professor Conservation Ecology , University of Melbourne ; Chris Dickman , Professor in Terrestrial Ecology , University of Sydney ; David Bowman , Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science , University of Tasmania ; David Keith , Professor of Botany , UNSW , and Sarah Legge , Professor , Australian National University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license .
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rawstory--2020-01-08--Unemployment pushes more men to take on female-dominated jobs

In the last few decades , many high-paying jobs that are mostly done by men – like manufacturing – have contracted or disappeared .
At the same time , many jobs in fields dominated by women – like education and health care – have significantly increased .
In fact , female-dominated jobs have some of the highest projected job and wage growth in the economy .
We are sociologists interested in the following question : If jobs in female-dominated sectors represent the future , what will it take for men to take them ?
Women have made significant progress entering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and medicine – over the past several decades .
However , men have made far less progress entering female-dominated jobs like those of teachers , nurses or human resource representatives , among others .
Men have largely avoided female-dominated work for two key reasons .
First , men may face social stigma by entering jobs that challenge masculine ideals that they distance themselves from feminine activities .
Second , female-dominated jobs tend to pay less than male-dominated ones , even when skill levels and education requirements are equivalent .
However , not all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nursing can offer high wages , good benefits and job stability .
Yet even in this field , men remain a small minority at about 13 % .
Prior research shows that few men aspire to work in female-dominated jobs , but we wondered what men who lose their jobs and become unemployed will do ?
Would they consider female-dominated work then ?
It ’ s more than just an academic question because many men – particularly working-class men – may face unemployment at some point in their careers .
Our recent study @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much more likely to switch to a female-dominated job .
And when they do , some men experience job advantages .
Men who enter female-dominated jobs experience , on average , a 4 % wage increase and significant boosts to the prestige of their job relative to their previous job before unemployment .
In contrast , men who entered male-dominated jobs or jobs that had an equal balance of men and women either maintained or lost ground in wages and occupational prestige .
Examples of mixed-gender jobs include claims adjusters , property managers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that female-dominated jobs may help mitigate common scarring effects of lost wages or prestige in a man ’ s subsequent job after being unemployed .
If female-dominated jobs tend to pay less than comparable male-dominated jobs , what explains these job advantages ?
We suspect that some men may be willing to take a female-dominated job only if it offers higher wages or more occupational prestige .
Thus , they may specifically target upgraded jobs in these cases .
Employers may also more highly value men ’ s previous occupational backgrounds in male-dominated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to higher level jobs than in other sectors .
Notably , there may be future benefits of entering female-dominated jobs , like stepping onto a “ glass escalator.
” Research on men in nontraditional fields have found that straight , white men are often fast-tracked to management positions , akin to riding an invisible – but very real – escalator up to the top .
These processes , of course , starkly contrast the glass ceiling that many women face in which they experience barriers in rising to leadership and contribute to gender @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these advantages accrue in female-dominated jobs only if men stay in them , and compelling research by sociologist Margarita Torre casts doubts that men will stay in these jobs for a long time .
Torre ’ s work shows that many men use female-dominated jobs as a stopgap position before moving back into a male-dominated or mixed-gender job .
Having men doing “ women ’ s work ” may not just affect their careers .
It could impact society as well .
Jobs associated with women are economically devalued in the American economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , such as teaching , child care and health care .
Although we contend that female-dominated jobs merit better wages regardless of men ’ s entrance , men ’ s participation in these jobs may enhance the job ’ s status and economic value .
Indeed , research has shown that wages tend to increase after men enter jobs dominated by women , potentially because employers may more highly value the work that men do or more readily accept men ’ s negotiations for higher wages .
Men ’ s entrance into female-dominated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ market shortages , like those expected in health care .
Depending on the job , such position may provide men with greater job stability and employment opportunities , given the high projected job growth of many female-dominated jobs .
Moreover , men ’ s entrance into female-dominated jobs may push along what we , and many other scholars , see as a needed shift in how the culture values work traditionally done by women .
If female-dominated jobs were as highly valued as comparable male-dominated jobs , the incomes of women in these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broader economic status – would increase .
Our research shows that economic conditions are strongly associated with men ’ s entrance into female-dominated work .
The challenge is getting past the point that men in the workforce need an economic shock like unemployment to consider female-dominated jobs .
Raising wages in female-dominated jobs and removing stigmas associated with men doing them would go a long way in advancing men ’ s integration into these jobs and reducing gender inequality in the workforce .
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Jill Yavorsky , Assistant Professor of Sociology , University of North Carolina – Charlotte and Janette Dill , Associate Professor , University of Minnesota This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license .
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rawstory--2020-01-08--Universal coverage, single-payer, ‘Medicare for All’: What does it all mean for you?

Collectively , health care is our biggest industry .
And , health care has long been one of the most politically contested issues .
Partisan wrangling over health reform has perhaps been the most acrimonious issue in Americans politics , exemplified by the failed Clinton health reform efforts in the 1990s and the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 .
Most Americans are befuddled by it , and the political debate surrounding it only makes it more confusing .
You have no doubt heard these terms bandied about : Universal coverage , public option , “ Medicare for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these terms mean , and why do they matter going into the Presidential race in 2020 ?
Universal coverage refers to health care systems in which all individuals have insurance coverage .
Generally , this coverage includes access to all needed services and benefits while protecting individuals from excessive financial hardships .
Most Western nations fall into this category .
The U.S. serves as the notable exception , with millions of Americans remaining uninsured .
The Obama administration touted the passage of the Affordable Care Act as a step toward “ near universal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Clinton ’ s proposal in the 1990s which made covering all Americans a centerpiece .
Practically , there is no single pathway to universal coverage .
Countries that have achieved it have done so in diverse ways .
This includes approaches ranging from private to public insurance and delivery systems , or hybrids of both .
From a policy perspective , achieving universal coverage is a worthwhile goal .
There is ample evidence that insurance coverage generally improves the health of individuals .
Perhaps equally important , insurance coverage serves as an important @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insurance coverage does not necessarily entail having access to health care services , since travel distances or wait times may impede care .
Moreover , regulatory loopholes currently expose many individuals with insurance coverage to large out-of-pocket bills .
“ Single-payer ” refers to financing a health care system by making one entity , most likely the government , solely and exclusively responsible for paying for medical goods and services .
It is only the financing component that is necessarily socialized .
Single-payer is not necessarily socialized medicine , a medical system wholly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ systems are often hailed by advocates for their administrative simplicity .
Moreover , single-payer systems include everyone in the same risk pool .
That is , there is no segregation of individuals based on their medical status .
Crucially , single-payer systems are able to use their absolute market and budgeting power to hold down costs .
Government is often the dominant but not sole payer .
Even in the United Kingdom , whose National Health Service is famously popular , private insurance coverage and private pay options are available .
Conceivably , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to providing catastrophic coverage only .
However , this would clearly restrict its ability to realize its full market power .
Finally , it is important to note that single-payer systems should not be confused with so-called all-payer systems , like those in existence in Germany .
Here , a number of private entities band together to establish common prices for health care services and benefits .
Medicare in name only : ‘ Medicare for All ’ The most talked-about Democratic health reform proposal , Medicare for All , prominently references Medicare , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America ’ s seniors .
However , simply expanding Medicare to all Americans would lead to a rude awakening for most .
Traditional Medicare benefits are rather limited and often carry with them large out-of-pocket payments .
For example , Medicare does not include dental and vision coverage .
A premium-based prescription drug benefit was not included until 2003 .
And it came with the infamous Part D donut hole that exposed many seniors to significant out-of-pocket costs for their prescription drugs .
In essence then , Medicare for All proposals just borrow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system in the United States .
As proposed by its two most ardent advocates , Senators Bernie Sanders , D-Vt. , and Elizabeth Warren , D-Mass.
, Medicare for All would eliminate all private insurance .
It would also come with a very generous benefit package , and very limited , if any , out-of-pocket costs .
One particular stumbling block for implementing Medicare for All is that it makes the overall cost of health coverage an obvious focal point .
Of course , costs for expanded benefits and coverage expansions would increase @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It would also like increase health care utilization .
However , most detrimental from a politics perspective , Medicare for All unifies all of the country ’ s exorbitant health expenditures , roughly US $ 60 trillion from 2022 to 2031 , in one single budget .
This creates the misperception of being overly costly , while mostly just illustrating current costs .
It will also entail a major realignment of the health sector with potentially substantial job losses particularly in the insurance sector .
Not all Democrats are arguing for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Another set of presidential candidates are arguing for an expansion of the Affordable Care Act .
Led by former Vice President Joe Biden , these proposals largely retain the existing structure of the health care system .
The proposals include the creation of a “ public option.
” This type of approach first gained traction during the debate over the Affordable Care Act .
Then , Progressive Democrats sought to include a government-run insurer in the ACA marketplaces .
This government entity would have competed with regular insurers for customers based on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purchasing insurance on their own .
Yet the Public Option 2.0 is significantly more progressive than its ACA cousin .
It would be open to every American , whether they purchase their own insurance or receive it from their employer .
This public insurer would also be using its market power to negotiate better prices .
Over time , it would likely also function as a wedge to conduct further and more progressive reforms .
A potential final outcome might be a single-payer system .
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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license .
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rawstory--2020-01-08--If Democrats nominate a woman for president, don’t try to make predictions about how she’ll do

Four women remain out of an original six in the Democratic primary for president : Sens .
Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar , Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and activist Marianne Williamson .
They may face a harder road than the men in the race .
Research on candidates has shown that women encounter a number of obstacles in a political campaign .
Gender stereotypes work against women .
Voters may be less likely to see them as leaders , or may see them as credible only on “ feminine ” issues like education and child care , and question their ability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ security .
In a recent experiment , Dr. Meredith Meyer , associate professor of psychology at Otterbein University , and I showed that women candidates are better off focusing on so-called feminine issues regardless of the voter ’ s beliefs about gender .
“ People often form negative attitudes against those who deviate from gender norms , ” we concluded .
“ Female candidates who tend to focus on issues stereotypically thought of as feminine are generally more positively evaluated than those who focus on stereotypically masculine domains.
” This means that even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ favorability among Democratic primary voters , they may be reluctant to vote for her .
Defeating President Donald Trump is an important concern for these voters .
As much as they might like Warren , they may prefer what they think is a safer bet for the general election .
There are missing pieces in political scientists ’ understanding of female presidential candidates that limit our ability to make confident statements about gender and electability .
If the Democrats nominate a woman , that woman will undoubtedly face challenges arising from sexism and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be true about any woman entering any male-dominated profession .
Saying sexism exists isn ’ t much of a prediction .
There is much uncertainty about how gender would affect the viability of a female presidential candidate .
It ’ s still not clear which Democrat actually has the best chance of winning in 2020 , and it ’ s actually not clear that gender matters much .
Political scientists study campaigns to see how various circumstances might affect the outcome of an election .
For example , a researcher might want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people to vote .
To answer this kind of question , a researcher will look across multiple races , measuring a wide variety of factors .
Comparing and contrasting similar and dissimilar factors in candidates , messaging and other aspects of campaigns allows researchers to create statistical models about what factors matter in a campaign .
Scholars then take those findings and make predictions about similar campaigns .
Congressional races are especially useful for this task because there are 435 races every two years , which means we can collect data on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a tight time period .
But it is difficult to be certain about what matters in presidential elections because they are so unusual .
Presidential campaigns are very different from other kinds of campaigns .
Voters and media pay far more attention , and this attention can alter the campaign effects .
This means that research on congressional campaigns doesn ’ t necessarily apply to presidential campaigns .
Political scientists can try to generalize by looking at presidential elections on their own , but this becomes a problem because there are so few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , campaign techniques , life , the universe in general – have changed over time .
Collecting data during a campaign can tell you what happened in the last presidential election , but that doesn ’ t necessarily tell about future campaigns .
Put simply : The 1952 Eisenhower v. Stevenson campaign does not tell us much about the 2020 presidential election .
Obviously , it is even more difficult to have a general understanding of how gender affects presidential candidates .
Hillary Clinton is the only woman to win a major party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s also the only woman to ever come close to being elected president .
It is difficult to make scientific statements that can be generalized to a larger group , let alone predictions about future events , when you start with a sample size of one .
In practice , much of the research about “ female presidential candidates ” is research about Hillary Clinton .
Researchers are left asking how much of voters ’ response to Clinton was due to her gender and how much of it was due to her as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sexism played a role : Research suggests that sexism motivated some voters on President Trump ’ s behalf in the 2016 election .
But did Hillary Clinton ’ s gender alone guarantee that sexism would be a mobilizing factor in 2016 ?
Did her unique personal history encourage more sexism , or did the public ’ s familiarity with her actually decrease the importance of sexism relative to her own personal conduct and reputation ?
Is it even possible to separate sexism from evaluations of Hillary Clinton ?
Scholars don ’ t know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have no one to compare with Clinton .
Adding to scholars ’ confusion is that the 2020 Democratic nominee will likely face President Trump , who is also a unique kind of candidate .
In their work on the 2016 election , scholars Nicholas A. Valentino , Carly Wayne and Marzia Oceno find that sexism and anger combined to mobilize turnout on President Trump ’ s behalf in 2016 .
However , they point out that there is really no way to disentangle how much of sexism ’ s mobilizing effect was due @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been due to the president ’ s own sexist behavior and campaign rhetoric .
Research indicates that some respondents felt their national identity was tied to stereotypical masculine traits and worried that Americans were becoming too soft and feminine .
These so-called “ gendered nationalist ” voters responded favorably to Trump ’ s hyper-masculine rhetoric .
Since it is unlikely the president will alter his rhetoric in the 2020 campaign , it seems fair to assume he will do well with these voters again .
Sexism could still be a mobilizing force @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not the Democrats nominate a woman .
Research on female candidates often looks at views rather than votes .
In our experiments , we studied how voters responded to male and female candidates who used gender stereotypical and nonstereotypical campaign appeals .
We showed participants campaign messages from male and female candidates and measured how respondents rated the candidates on warmth , competence , authenticity and likability .
This approach works well if you are thinking about how candidates might fare in a primary election where policy differences between candidates may be less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ candidates .
But in a general election , and particularly in a presidential election , partisanship is often the key determinant of vote choice .
If a voter ’ s only interest is selecting a nominee most likely to win a general election , then gender may not matter .
Kathleen Dolan ’ s work on female congressional candidates shows that party identity seems to carry more weight with voters than gender identity .
While her work focused on congressional elections , it suggests that Democrats who may prefer a man to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrat , any female Democrat , rather than Republican President Trump .
But mostly , researchers are left with speculation in this area .
Maybe voters won ’ t be as willing to volunteer or donate money for a female candidate .
Maybe media coverage for a woman would be different than it would be for a man , which could have some indirect effect on voters .
You could even speculate that a female president would face unique obstacles to her policy agenda due to gender stereotypes .
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Four women remain out of an original six in the Democratic primary for president: Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and activist Marianne Williamson.
They may face a harder road than the men in the race. Research on candidates has shown that women encounter a number of obstacles in a political campaign.
Gender stereotypes work against women. Voters may be less likely to see them as leaders, or may see them as credible only on “feminine” issues like education and child care, and question their ability on “masculine” issues like national security.
In a recent experiment, Dr. Meredith Meyer, associate professor of psychology at Otterbein University, and I showed that women candidates are better off focusing on so-called feminine issues regardless of the voter’s beliefs about gender.
“People often form negative attitudes against those who deviate from gender norms,” we concluded. “Female candidates who tend to focus on issues stereotypically thought of as feminine are generally more positively evaluated than those who focus on stereotypically masculine domains.”
This means that even though presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren enjoys widespread favorability among Democratic primary voters, they may be reluctant to vote for her. Defeating President Donald Trump is an important concern for these voters. As much as they might like Warren, they may prefer what they think is a safer bet for the general election.
But a man isn’t necessarily a safer bet than a woman.
Missing pieces
There are missing pieces in political scientists’ understanding of female presidential candidates that limit our ability to make confident statements about gender and electability.
If the Democrats nominate a woman, that woman will undoubtedly face challenges arising from sexism and gender stereotypes.
But the same thing would be true about any woman entering any male-dominated profession. Saying sexism exists isn’t much of a prediction.
There is much uncertainty about how gender would affect the viability of a female presidential candidate. It’s still not clear which Democrat actually has the best chance of winning in 2020, and it’s actually not clear that gender matters much.
AP/Paul Sancya
The data problem
Political scientists study campaigns to see how various circumstances might affect the outcome of an election.
For example, a researcher might want to know the best way to encourage people to vote. To answer this kind of question, a researcher will look across multiple races, measuring a wide variety of factors. Comparing and contrasting similar and dissimilar factors in candidates, messaging and other aspects of campaigns allows researchers to create statistical models about what factors matter in a campaign.
Scholars then take those findings and make predictions about similar campaigns. Congressional races are especially useful for this task because there are 435 races every two years, which means we can collect data on a large sample of candidates and campaigns within a tight time period.
But it is difficult to be certain about what matters in presidential elections because they are so unusual. Presidential campaigns are very different from other kinds of campaigns. Voters and media pay far more attention, and this attention can alter the campaign effects.
This means that research on congressional campaigns doesn’t necessarily apply to presidential campaigns.
Political scientists can try to generalize by looking at presidential elections on their own, but this becomes a problem because there are so few of them, and politics – voters, campaign techniques, life, the universe in general – have changed over time. Collecting data during a campaign can tell you what happened in the last presidential election, but that doesn’t necessarily tell about future campaigns.
Put simply: The 1952 Eisenhower v. Stevenson campaign does not tell us much about the 2020 presidential election.
The Hillary problem
Obviously, it is even more difficult to have a general understanding of how gender affects presidential candidates.
Hillary Clinton is the only woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination. She’s also the only woman to ever come close to being elected president.
It is difficult to make scientific statements that can be generalized to a larger group, let alone predictions about future events, when you start with a sample size of one. In practice, much of the research about “female presidential candidates” is research about Hillary Clinton.
Researchers are left asking how much of voters’ response to Clinton was due to her gender and how much of it was due to her as an individual. There is little doubt sexism played a role: Research suggests that sexism motivated some voters on President Trump’s behalf in the 2016 election.
But did Hillary Clinton’s gender alone guarantee that sexism would be a mobilizing factor in 2016? Did her unique personal history encourage more sexism, or did the public’s familiarity with her actually decrease the importance of sexism relative to her own personal conduct and reputation?
Is it even possible to separate sexism from evaluations of Hillary Clinton?
Scholars don’t know the answer to these questions because they have no one to compare with Clinton.
The Trump problem
Adding to scholars’ confusion is that the 2020 Democratic nominee will likely face President Trump, who is also a unique kind of candidate.
In their work on the 2016 election, scholars Nicholas A. Valentino, Carly Wayne and Marzia Oceno find that sexism and anger combined to mobilize turnout on President Trump’s behalf in 2016. However, they point out that there is really no way to disentangle how much of sexism’s mobilizing effect was due to Clinton, and how much may have been due to the president’s own sexist behavior and campaign rhetoric.
Research indicates that some respondents felt their national identity was tied to stereotypical masculine traits and worried that Americans were becoming too soft and feminine. These so-called “gendered nationalist” voters responded favorably to Trump’s hyper-masculine rhetoric.
Since it is unlikely the president will alter his rhetoric in the 2020 campaign, it seems fair to assume he will do well with these voters again. Sexism could still be a mobilizing force for Trump voters regardless of whether or not the Democrats nominate a woman.
AP/Cliff Owen
Partisanship drives voting decisions
Research on female candidates often looks at views rather than votes.
In our experiments, we studied how voters responded to male and female candidates who used gender stereotypical and nonstereotypical campaign appeals. We showed participants campaign messages from male and female candidates and measured how respondents rated the candidates on warmth, competence, authenticity and likability.
This approach works well if you are thinking about how candidates might fare in a primary election where policy differences between candidates may be less important than voters’ feelings about the candidates.
But in a general election, and particularly in a presidential election, partisanship is often the key determinant of vote choice. If a voter’s only interest is selecting a nominee most likely to win a general election, then gender may not matter.
Kathleen Dolan’s work on female congressional candidates shows that party identity seems to carry more weight with voters than gender identity. While her work focused on congressional elections, it suggests that Democrats who may prefer a man to a woman will still vote for a female Democrat, any female Democrat, rather than Republican President Trump.
But mostly, researchers are left with speculation in this area.
Maybe voters won’t be as willing to volunteer or donate money for a female candidate. Maybe media coverage for a woman would be different than it would be for a man, which could have some indirect effect on voters. You could even speculate that a female president would face unique obstacles to her policy agenda due to gender stereotypes.
But we don’t really know.
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Nathaniel Swigger, Associate Professor of Political Science, The Ohio State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


rawstory--2020-01-08--Trump administration’s proposed ‘secret science’ rule directly threatens children’s health

The Trump administration is working to weaken U.S. environmental regulations in many areas , from water and air pollution to energy development and land conservation .
One of its most controversial proposals is known as the “ secret science ” rule because it would require scientists to disclose all of their raw data , including confidential medical records , in order for their findings to be considered in shaping regulations .
This proposal would drastically limit what kinds of scientific and medical research the Environmental Protection Agency can draw on as it makes policy .
According to press reports , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appointed by President Trump has criticized the rule , saying it will do little to increase transparency and may limit what kinds of research get done .
As director of a center on urban health , I study issues including human exposure to toxic substances such as lead and mercury .
Confidential patient information is a key resource for my work .
If the secret science rule is enacted , I believe that children ’ s health will suffer as a direct result .
My work is made possible because researchers can obtain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and oversight to ensure their confidentiality throughout analysis .
These controls are mandated under federal regulations that were rightly instituted to protect people ’ s identities and health data pursuant to the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act , or HIPAA .
I started researching lead exposure hot spots in U.S. cities almost 15 years ago , well before thousands of kids were poisoned by lead in Flint .
Pediatric exposure to lead results in permanent neurological effects – namely , reduced IQ and deficits in attention , learning and memory compared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ permanent , so it is critical to identify and eliminate lead exposure sources before children are poisoned .
Because I did not have the resources to obtain and analyze millions of samples of soil , dust and water for lead , I turned to medical records .
Children around the country have routine blood tests , and many of them include an assay for blood lead levels .
I realized that if I could obtain those records , as well as each child ’ s age , test date and home address , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lead poisoning .
In an ideal world public health experts wouldn ’ t use maps based on kids who have already been permanently poisoned to find exposure sources .
Nevertheless , 16,000 medical records later , I was able to produce a detailed block-by-block map of blood levels in children in Indianapolis .
This approach led me and my colleagues to two major discoveries that have improved communities and shaped policy at the local and national levels .
Neither of these insights could be used to implement solutions under the proposed secret science @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pediatric lead poisoning distribution patterns we identified from medical records matched a rudimentary map of patterns of legacy lead contamination – lead emitted over decades by sources such as leaded gasoline , lead-based paint and industrial emissions – that we constructed from separate research work on urban soil and dust .
This indicated that at least in Indianapolis , soil and contaminated dust generated from it was likely the major exposure mechanism for lead in children .
We were able to leverage that finding in some particularly contaminated neighborhoods where the EPA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , our work spurred the agency to reanalyze one of these poorly mitigated neighborhoods and reopen the cleanup over a much broader target area .
Second , we were able to verify the source of seasonal variations in children ’ s blood lead levels .
Through some basic atmospheric modeling , we identified seasonal dust generation as the main driver of this pattern .
For example , when soil becomes drier for an extended period of time , it generates more dust that can be tracked into homes or blown into the air @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contaminated with lead , the dust is also contaminated and becomes a regional exposure source .
After expanding this analysis to 10 different U.S. cities , we were confident enough to begin recommending to clinical networks that they take blood test dates into account .
An August blood lead value could be double the level from a February test , so we believed it was important to consider timing in evaluating whether a child might be at risk of unsafe exposure .
This led to the first such screening policy to be implemented @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Neither of these findings would have been possible without access to original , confidential patient medical records .
For each patient we needed a specific home address and exact individual results from blood lead tests .
These both are protected classes of personal information that must be kept confidential under federal regulations .
I participated in 2011 in the EPA ’ s Integrated Science Assessment for Lead review process , in which the agency reviewed papers and consulted experts to determine whether provisions in the Clean Air Act regulating airborne lead exposure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particularly interested in the small-scale links between blood lead levels and known sources of lead from dust that our research was finding .
Eventually , the agency lowered acceptable standards for lead in dust in 2019 .
Childhood lead exposure is still a public health hazard of epidemic proportions in some parts of the U.S. , particularly cities .
The potential sources are relatively well known : soil , dust and water .
The challenge is that researchers don ’ t have adequate environmental measurements for these sources .
Until we do , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remain our best way to identify sources , and thus inform policies to protect children .
If the secret science rule is adopted , EPA officials will have to pretend that this kind of research doesn ’ t exist , since the patient records that it draws on can ’ t be made public .
In my view , this will leave hundreds of thousands of children across the U.S. at risk of a lifetime of avoidable harm from lead poisoning and other types of pollution that researchers analyze using private medical data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each day .
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Gabriel Filippelli , Professor of Earth Sciences and Director of the Center for Urban Health , IUPUI This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license .
Read the original article .


rawstory--2020-01-08--Could Iran-US tensions mean troubled waters ahead in the Strait of Hormuz?

Soaring tensions between Iran and the United States have reignited fears that the Strait of Hormuz could become a flashpoint as Tehran responds to the killing of its top general .
Oil prices climbed on news of the fatal airstrike , reflecting concern that any fallout could disrupt shipping in the narrow seaway through which 21 % of the world ’ s crude oil passes .
Meanwhile , the U.S. Maritime Administration issued an alert over potential Iranian action against “ maritime interests in the region ” and the U.K. announced that the Royal Navy would resume escorting vessels through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As a researcher who studies strategic maritime chokepoints like this one in the Middle East , I have seen how past skirmishes in this waterway have fit into Iran ’ s use of hybrid warfare – unconventional tactics that achieve strategic goals without triggering conventional military retaliation .
In fact , Iranian leaders will likely feel tremendous political pressure to ratchet up maritime hybrid warfare in response to the drone strike that killed the general .
This 21-mile-wide channel connects the Indian Ocean with the Gulf .
For all of recorded history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ civilizations with the Indian subcontinent and Pacific Asia .
For example , before the rise of European seaborne empires in the 15th and 16th centuries , porcelain from China and spices from the Indochina peninsula often passed through the strait on the way to Central Asia and Europe .
Today the Strait of Hormuz separates Iran from the countries of Oman and the United Arab Emirates , which have strong military ties with the United States .
All shipping traffic from energy-rich Gulf countries converges in the strait , including crude oil and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraq , Kuwait , Bahrain , Qatar , Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates .
This maritime chokepoint became an arena of conflict during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s .
Each side in the so-called “ Tanker War ” tried to sink the other ’ s energy exports .
To avoid being targeted , Kuwaiti oil tankers were reflagged under the U.S. shipping registry , obscuring their true ownership .
Although crude oil continued to flow , marine insurance rates for vessels operating in the strait spiked by as much as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a concern now ?
The U.S. killing of General Qassam Soleimani has sparked fears that Iran could take action in the Strait of Hormuz as part of a retaliatory move – as they have threatened before .
Recent tensions in the Strait of Hormuz arose after the Trump administration ’ s decision to leave the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 .
When Iran struck that accord in 2015 with the U.S. , U.K. , Russia , France , China , Germany and the European Union , it agreed to restrict its nuclear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against it .
By July 2018 , Iran had threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to retaliate against the ratcheting up of U.S. sanctions against it .
By engaging in hybrid warfare , Iran appeared to be disrupting trade flows through the Strait , raising diplomatic stakes in the process .
Notably , in June 2019 attacks on Japanese and Norwegian-owned oil tankers coincided with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ’ s visit to Tehran .
Iran denied any involvement , but the U.S. released video footage it said showed Iranian special @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the tanker ’ s hulls .
If Iran was behind the attacks , it could have been a signal to Japan and China that they need to pressure the Trump administration to ease its sanctions against Iran – or risk disruptions to vital oil and gas exports to Asia transiting the Strait of Hormuz .
In my view , Iran would certainly have trouble stopping all shipping through the Strait of Hormuz .
Modern cargo vessels are massive and difficult to disable .
Unlike in the 1980s , most oil tankers now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to sink .
Furthermore , earlier this year the U.S. assembled a multinational coalition to monitor and respond to threats to commercial shipping in the strait .
Iran will also be wary of the impact that closing the Strait of Hormuz could have on its relations with important economic partners , such as China .
It is estimated that 76 % of crude oil passing through the waterway is destined for Asian markets , with China , India , Japan , South Korea and Singapore among the largest markets .
In the past @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back to diplomatic solutions when tensions have become too high , suggesting that neither side wants to see the conflict escalate from hybrid warfare into a full-blown war .
Portions of this article appeared in a related article published on July 19 , 2019 .
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license .
Read the original article .


rawstory--2020-01-08--Political prophet who correctly predicted every presidential election since 1984 says Iran is troubl

Political prophet who correctly predicted every presidential election since 1984 says Iran is trouble for Trump

1 .
Party Mandate : After the midterm elections , the incumbent party holds more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives than after the previous midterm elections .
2 .
Contest : There is no serious contest for the incumbent party nomination .
3 .
Incumbency : The incumbent party candidate is the sitting president .
4 .
Third party : There is no significant third party or independent campaign .
5 .
Short-term economy : The economy is not in recession during the election campaign .
6 .
Long-term economy : Real per capita economic growth during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the previous two terms .
7 .
Policy change : The incumbent administration effects major changes in national policy .
8 .
Social unrest : There is no sustained social unrest during the term .
9 .
Scandal : The incumbent administration is untainted by major scandal .
10 .
Foreign/military failure : The incumbent administration suffers no major failure in foreign or military affairs .
11 .
Foreign/military success : The incumbent administration achieves a major success in foreign or military affairs .
12 .
Incumbent charisma : The incumbent party candidate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 13 .
Challenger charisma : The challenging party candidate is not charismatic or a national hero .
“ One , nine and 12 [ are ] locked in against [ Trump ] , ” Lichtman told Salon by email .
“ Six for .
Many others are fluid either way , although I am sill hard pressed to see Trump securing either Key 10 or 11.
” When Salon asked Lichtman about the ramifications of the Soleimani assassination , he prefaced by saying that it was “ much too early to gauge the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He added that at the moment he sees “ Trump losing Key 11 on foreign/military success and likely losing Key 10 on foreign/military failure.
” He saw the possibility that “ Trump might get a short-term boost from the killing , which almost always follows from a U.S. military operation .
However , I am hard pressed to see this leading to a long-term success and it could cement in the failure key against Trump if it results in significant harm to the U.S. and its interests.
” If the Soleimani assassination indeed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mean that five of the 13 questions are “ false.
” Many of the remaining variables are beyond the control of anyone besides Trump and the Republicans , but Democrats could lock in a sixth key against Trump by nominating a candidate who is charismatic and/or a national hero .
It isn ’ t clear , of course , that they have such a candidate available — although charisma is , to some extent , in the eye of the beholder .


rawstory--2020-01-08--Philippines sending ship and planes to evacuate workers from Iraq

The Philippines will dispatch cargo planes and a ship to help evacuate Filipino migrant workers from Iraq after ordering its citizens to leave following an Iranian missile strike targeting US troops , officials said Wednesday .
Manila issued the mandatory evacuation order for its nationals after the Islamic republic carried out its first act of promised revenge for the US killing last week of a top Iranian general .
About 1,600 Filipino workers are in Iraq — among some two million of their countrymen across the Middle East — as part of a vast diaspora that is a key pillar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Iraqi bases housing the US military , and Iranian state television said it was in response to Friday ’ s killing of general Qasem Soleimani , one of the most important figures in the country ’ s government .
Philippine defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters the government will send at least three military cargo planes and a newly built coastguard ship to get Filipinos out of harm ’ s way .
The coastguard vessel , which left a French shipyard in December , will likely shuttle workers to Qatar , Lorenzana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we can maybe charter a plane or charter our ships to bring them home , ” he added .
Around 10 million Filipinos work abroad and the money they send home is a lifeline in a nation where many live in deep poverty despite the country ’ s robust economic growth .
The government has for decades hailed overseas workers as modern heroes , but advocacy groups have highlighted the costs — which include the vulnerability of Filipinos to danger in troubled nations .


rawstory--2020-01-08--Economists ‘surprised Americans aren’t revolting’ over $8,000 tax they pay each year due to for-prof

Economists ‘surprised Americans aren’t revolting’ over $8,000 tax they pay each year due to for-profit healthcare system

Highlighting the thousands of dollars American households are forced to pay in healthcare costs that people in other wealthy countries save thanks to universal healthcare plans , two top economists wondered aloud this weekend why Americans have accepted increasingly high costs and poor health outcomes for decades .
At the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in San Diego on Saturday , Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton said they were “ surprised Americans aren ’ t revolting against ” the $ 8,000 per year that U.S. households pay to doctors , hospitals , health insurance companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rest of the for-profit healthcare system , compared to what people in other countries .
“ A few people are getting very rich at the expense of the rest of us , ” Case said .
Case and Deaton compared the yearly costs to a poll tax , or head tax , because the costs apply to all Americans regardless of their ability to pay .
Americans pay $ 8,000 a year more than what people in Switzerland pay to that country ’ s system—the second-most expensive healthcare system in the world after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the U.S. healthcare system are “ like a tribute to a foreign power , but we ’ re doing it to ourselves , ” Case said .
Calling the expenditures “ a tax ” led one single-payer healthcare advocate on social media to question the premise used by many people who oppose Medicare for All on the grounds that some Americans ’ tax bills would rise slightly to pay for the program .
“ I ’ ve been trying to get this message across for years now , ” tweeted former congressional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So what if your taxes went up modestly ?
” While campaigning for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential race , Sens .
Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) and Elizabeth Warren ( D-Mass . )
have also rejected the notion that Americans should fear higher taxes under Medicare for All , considering the annual “ tax ” they essentially pay to the for-profit healthcare industry .
“ We are going to increase personal taxes , ” Sanders said at last month ’ s Democratic debate .
“ But we ’ re eliminating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we ’ re eliminating deductibles , we ’ re eliminating all out-of-pocket expenses , and no family in America will spend more than $ 200 a year on prescription drugs.
” Case and Deaton , who are the authors of an upcoming book called Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism , say skyrocketing healthcare costs over the past two decades have helped drive the rising number of deaths from opioid overdoses , alcohol-related diseases , and suicide .
“ We can brag we have the most expensive healthcare .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the worst health of any rich country , ” Case said .
Case and Deaton spoke two days before researchers at the University of Michigan released a study showing that because of price-gouging by the for-profit healthcare industry , the cost of childbirth in the U.S. went up by about $ 1,500 from 2008 when it cost about $ 3,000 to 2015 when the average rose to more than $ 4,500—an increase of more than 50 percent .
Although the net costs associated with childbirth remained relatively stable over that time period , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ relative lack of restrictions on things like co-pays and deductibles ” allowed insurance companies to “ sneakily shift the financial onus onto [ patients ] by charging them more upfront , ” according to Claire Lampen at The Cut .
Case and Deaton ’ s statements on healthcare costs led to renewed calls on social media for Medicare for All .
“ Nobody should have to choose between their health and providing for their family , yet that is the reality for so many Americans , ” tweeted Rep. Carolyn Maloney ( D-N.Y. @ @


rawstory--2020-01-08--‘War with Iran is madness’: MSNBC’s Chris Hayes says ‘don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise’

Even as President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night that “ all is well ” with regard to Iranian strikes at a U.S. military base in Iraq , angry and frustrated progressives hit back at the U.S. leader ’ s reckless drive to war .
“ The American people do not want a war with Iran , ” Sen. Elizabeth Warren ( D-Mass . )
told a presidential campaign rally crowd in Brooklyn shortly after the strikes .
Around a dozen Iranian missiles—launched in retaliation for Trump ’ s order last week to assassinate Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani—hit the al-Asad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s decisions , that have now put the two nations squarely on the brink of outright war , have infuriated progressives opposed to escalated conflict with Iran .
“ I just want to say this very clearly , that a war with Iran is madness , and it is strategically and morally a disaster in the making , and don ’ t believe anyone who tells you otherwise , ” said MSNBC host Chris Hayes as he closed out the network ’ s 8pm hour .
Hayes wasn ’ t alone in criticizing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military establishment and its media allies .
Al Jazeera journalist Sana Saeed pointed out on Twitter that the power differentials between the two countries aren ’ t being discussed in context by the U.S. media .
That ’ s a problem , Saeed said .
“ In case it ’ s being lost in the jingoism : Iran and the US are not equal partners , ” said Saeed .
“ Not in the world , not in violence ; their relationship is asymmetrical because one actually has the power to crumble the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decades to hurt innocent civilians.
” The innocent civilians at risk in the latest eruption of tensions between the two countries are , of course , Iraqis .
The country ’ s decades-long oppression under the American boot was noted by peace advocacy group CodePink .
“ The only casualties reported at the Al Asad base so far are Iraqis , ” CodePink tweeted .
“ After decades of U.S.-imposed sanctions , occupation , and attacks on Iraq , the nightmare continues for the Iraqi people as their country is used as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day of protest on Thursday—as Common Dreams reported on Tuesday—social media was abuzz with users sharing “ No War With Iran ” and associated hashtags and images .
But the left wasn ’ t losing sight of the real enemy in the march to war .
“ Trump did this , ” tweeted author Stephen King .
“ It ’ s all on Donald Trump.
” Medea Benjamin , co-founder of CodePink , also took to Twitter to fault the president for his aggressive actions toward Iran .
“ This is Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Benjamin .
“ This is a Trump-provoked war .
This is a Trump-manufactured war .
”