I too voted for ole George in 72, not so much that I liked his policies or his vision, moreso because he loooked nerdy and I felt it was time we had a nerdy looking president. And I was against the Vietnam war but not against the G.I.s fighting the war. My dad was one of them.
But, ole George's newest manifesto of keeping wages down for the middle class is, although genuine of him to say what everyone knows, unworkable in that greed for "more" as John L. Lewis was famous for saying, is a human trait that once tasted can be like a vampire's first taste of blood. Or, an alcholics first taste of cheap Trader Joe's wine.
Just go into any Trader Joe's and look at the store layout, the wine is always in the very central, most accessible, most visible portion of the store. And, more importantly, Trader Joe's is second only to Walmart in paying low labor costs. But, the do it in an insidious way, not by the Walmartian method of low hourly wages but by introducing efficiencies of labor distribution.
How you may ask? And the answer is simple. The large wine section! It requires very little tending, Just unload a few cases of Yellow Tail at the end of the aisle and in trundel the alcos and out goes the wine. As opposed to say the vegetable section where 5 Norwegian looking guys in aprons are hard at work sorting, wetting and pruneing the 80 types of tuber, stalk, leaf and bulbs. A large labor force is required for a product that produces very little profit. Yes, just look at the large amount of labour that went into producing a potato and there is the farmer, Ag. inspector,migrant worker, sorter, packer, shipper, unloader, Norwegian looking vegetable aisle worker. One potato.
Less vegetables, more wine.
I think these same advanced theories can be applied to universal health care. Take the Norwegian looking guys out of healthcare and it becomes efficient and affordable and universally available to all.
First let's look at the problem. Hospitals are very inefficient places much like the vegetable aisle in Trader Joe's. For instance, before you see a physcian, you have already seen 4-5 other people. At ER lady takes your name, insurance, etc., nurse opens door and allows you in and leads you to a gurney, orderly comes by with gown and booties, technician comes in and puts on EKG pads etc, nurse comes in and takes vitals (temp, rate, BP,etc). Now the long wait after the Norwegians leave. Finally, a doctor who now has to read your chart, ask all the same questions the Norwegians asked and by this time your original problem of shortness of breath, heart palpitations, etc. are gone and he says, "You look fine to me, I think you can go home now and schedule an appointment with your primary care physician.". Now all the Norwegians come back and undo the work done earlier and all seem happy you're OK. Very inefficient way of running a hospital.
Solution, again, a Trader Joe solution, more doctors, less Norwegians.
An older ER nurse at Northwestern told me the daily pattern is the same year after year.
4-6 PM Commuters with wreck injuries, and afterschool children's accidents.
8 PM Mother's with sick children.
Midnight-6 AM Drunks and druggies having wrecks, falls or OD.
6-9 AM Drunks needing detox and old men with chest pain.
10AM - 4PM Quiet time
So as was the case in 1872, I agree with McGovern about universal healthcare but only if you are sober and drug-free. Hospital should measure blood alcohol level and if it's above the legal driving level, you are billed. All other healthcare is free.
