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“Oh my there is so much happening in the news these days Dan,” says Casey. Dan responds with “lets see if we can RAP IT ALL UP Casey.” Well, you have to check it out..they do indeed RAP IT UP.

Obamacare, don’t you dare,touch my junk, its not fair,pat downs, radiation,don’t ask…don’t tell,debt panels, medicare,social security go to hell,unemployment, that’s OKbut don’t take my tax cuts away,people, people where does it go?the republicans got it…JUST SAY NO!

But, on to the real stuff. Casey and Dan have a great conversation with our friend RN Karen Higgins about the recommendations that came from the President’s Debt Reduction Panel. What Karen has to say is shocking, at the very least, and should make all of us stand up and take note. We are NOT in the business of spreading fear but we do want to shine the light on the continued assaults on the working class in our country. If you are a nurse—can you imagine working in the ICU or any other department in a hospital when you are 69 or 70? Think of what it takes to get through your shift now—when you are still physically strong—add a few years and who’s lifting who?

Brace yourselves! Karyn Buxman is in the house. Karyn is an RN, MSN, and publisher of the Journal of Nursing Jocularity, a humor magazine for RNs. She is also the current president of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor conference. If you are allergic to laughter…don’t say we didn’t warn you! Read more…

Here’s what Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has to say about single payer, in an interview published in The Times of India:

Why have you been pitching for a single payer system for health insurance rather than a system where several private companies compete?The US model of private health insurers has been proven inefficient and expensive. Insurance companies have a very strong incentive to do cream skimming. They make more money figuring out the high cost and low cost people. Rather than provide better healthcare at lower costs, insurance companies innovate at finding better ways of discrimination. They are inefficient because they are trying to figure out how to insure people who don’t need the cover and keep out people who need it. With many companies, they also need to spend on marketing and advertising. The incentives are all wrong and the transaction costs are very high and you have to give them a high profit. In health, social and private incentives are totally disparate. Competition does not work in healthcare especially in the health insurance market. Several countries like the UK, France and Sweden have a single payer system, differing only in the organisation of healthcare delivery. People in these countries have done much better than the US.

I wish more of our political leaders would listen to what experts like Stiglitz have to say. We’d be better off. Read more…