Forbes Magazine: Fred Allen: 'Gun Control: A Congress of Cowards'

Source:Forbes Magazine- U.S. Vice President Jospeh R. Biden (Democrat, Delaware) and President of the U.S. Senate.

"Why was the Senate unable to even hold an up-and-down vote on legislation that 80% to 90% of Americans support?" 

From Forbes Magazine

"The United States Senate displayed a mass failure of leadership yesterday when it killed, without even allowing an up-and-down vote, the measure that would have required background checks for sales of guns at gun shows and on the Internet and in other commercial transactions. The action was not really about differences of philosophy or Second Amendment rights, not when polls show that 80% to 90% of Americans favor expanded background checks. It was mainly about cowardice, in both parties. Democrats feared reelection challenges from the right. Republicans feared both electoral challenges and having to support both gun control legislation and immigration reform, two middle-of-the-road initiatives both backed by President Obama.

Moreover, the Senate defeated the bill in its most cowardly way, with a filibuster defeating the will of the majority of senators. The vote was as much a mark of dysfunction as of cravenness. As Gabrielle Giffords wrote this morning:

I was elected six times to represent southern Arizona, in the State Legislature and then in Congress. I know what a complicated issue is; I know what it feels like to take a tough vote. This was neither. These senators made their decision based on political fear and on cold calculations about the money of special interests like the National Rifle Association, which in the last election cycle spent around $25 million on contributions, lobbying and outside spending.

The filibuster offended Americans across the political spectrum. It even provoked Joe Scarborough, the conservative former Republican Congressman from Florida,  to say this on his show Morning Joe this morning... 

From Forbes Magazine

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Forbes Magazine: 'Ex-Citi Chief: Split Up Big Banks'

Source:Forbes Magazine- ex-Citi Bank head Sandy Weill.

"Why Sandy Weill's recent statement is poppycock.  Plus, Facebook earnings on deck, and Sheila Bair's harsh words for big time bankers." 

From Forbes Magazine

I like what the two guys in this Forbes video were saying. Saying now that the big banks should be broken up, after you contributed to the huge financial meltdown of 2007-08, that the country is still paying for, is like a bank robber giving a speech about why you shouldn't rob banks, right before he's sentenced. Where was this before the actual crisis happened? And why should anyone with intelligence, who also happens to be sane and sober, all at the same time, listen to Sandy Weill about anything?

Forbes Magazine: Jim Yong Kim- 'The Next Phase of Health Care Reform: Providing Low Cost, High Quality Medical Care'

Source:Forbes Magazine- Jim Yong Kim: President of Dartmouth College.

"To save costs, we need to fix the delivery system says Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim.  And he's got a plan to do just that." 

From Forbes Magazine

The 2010 Affordable Care Act wasn't about healthcare reform in general, but about health insurance expansion. And regulating the private health insurance industry with a Patients Bill of Rights. And these things will help bring down our healthcare costs with everybody contributing to their own healthcare costs. As well as some reforms in Medicare and some other reforms in Medicaid. Which were less positive because it made millions of more people eligible for Medicaid. But without paying for it leaving the bill to the states which they aren't going to like. 

So the first round of healthcare reform (as I call it) was about health insurance expansion and regulation. Not so much about bringing down our long term healthcare costs. And that gets to things like expanding healthcare, more hospitals and clinics, taking better care of ourselves as a country, so we don't have to consume as much healthcare in the future and only getting Healthcare that we actually need to stay healthy and survive. And discourage things that are more on the luxury side of healthcare, like certain plastic surgery's, massages, that sort of thing. 

Forbes Magazine: 'Rescuing Detroit: Can It Work This Time?'

Source:Forbes Magazine- Detroit Mayor Dave Bing.

"Auto chiefs, entrepreneurs and politicians discuss the future of the city. From Forbes and Joan Muller." 

From Forbes Magazine

If you look at Detroit from the outside as your just entering it, it looks like a great big American city with big beautiful buildings and architecture and a great lake by it, with a lot of business's around it. It doesn't look like a city thats lost half of its population the last ten years or so. 

Detroit up until around 2000, was a city of 1.5M people about the size of Philadelphia, the sixth or seventh largest city in America. Today it's still a big city but of around 750K people, they've lost half of their population and tax base the last ten years. And if you look at Detroit from the outside and didn't know that, you probably wouldn't of guessed that, but thats just and outside view of what was once a great big American city and one of the greatest cities in America if not the World. 

But why has Detroit lost so much ground, especially since Cleveland which is just about a couple hours south of Detroit has gained so much ground, but why has Detroit come so far down, since it used to be a city where people could live in it, get a good job in the city, raise their kids without having to worry about them being attacked or killed and think they could live well in Detroit forever, but thats no longer the case. 

The Detroit economy plummeted, but hopefully has started to come back. It's now perhaps the most dangerous big city in the country if not the most dangerous city in America. And has one of the worst public school systems in America if not the worst. The Great Recession of 2008 hit Detroit and its auto industry harder than any other big city and Michigan harder then any other state in the Union. And without the auto bailout, other than Ford Motor Company, there wouldn't be any auto industry in America right now. 

But the problems were already there for Detroit. You can have the most dedicated workforce in America but if you're not producing enough high-skilled workers, your not going to have the workers for the good jobs. They have to improve their public education system, by rewarding good educators, paying good educators more. Allowing competition in the public school system with public school choice, so students aren't trapped in bad schools. Reward good educators, retrain or eliminate bad ones. Reward good schools and reform or eliminate bad ones. And equalize the funding for the schools so schools in low-income areas can get the resources they need to do a good job. 

The auto industry coming back to Detroit is great and they need that but the auto industry needs to diversify like making cars that are more fuel efficient. (For example) And they need to build other things, just like the rest of the country. We need to rebuild our manufacturing industry, start building things in America again and then having good trade agreements so we can sell our products oversees that are Made in America. That also includes trade adjustment for people who lose their jobs because of trade, so they can get the skills that they need to get another good job in another field. And then we have to stop encouraging American companies to send jobs oversees. 

Last but never least, no one is never going to want to live in Detroit if they don't feel safe there. They need to have enough cops, breakup organized crime and gangs. Get those people out of those activities and re skill them to work in legal professions so they can be productive citizens. 

Detroit can come back just like the Tigers did a few years ago and become a competitive and great big city again. But there are certain things they have to do to accomplish that to make it happen.