While Obama and the Republicans square off on healthcare today, a process that will not change anything, an interesting news came up. The premier of Newfoundland is coming to the U.S. to get heart valve surgery. Immediately the people who are critics of government run insurance points to the fact that the premier does not want to get treated under his own government's health system. The truth is many rich foreigners come here to get medical treatment. We do have the best medical technology in the world. It is also true that Canada does not have anywhere the number of CT scans, MRIs and other technology that we have. They do have to wait for certain procedures. But they and most western countries have better infant mortality rates and life expectancy than we have. Those numbers are more important than the numbers of CT scans available. Rich folks, Americans or foreigners, will always want to get the most advanced treatments here. But that is not great news for the average American who can't get insurance because he got lay off or has a pre-existing condition.

The Canadian system is far from perfect. They don't allow private medical care. So if I have the money and want to cut in line, I can't. While that sounds fair, it slows down everyone else also. If the people who can afford to pay for a CT scan but can't or won't go to the U.S., then the line for the rest of the people will stay longer. Without private competition, the government also does not have the incentive to make the system more efficient. But the opposite is the so-called health reform in the U.S. without the public option. If you subsidize people who can't afford insurance and force people who can afford it to buy it, then the insurance companies will make a killing without lowering the costs. It is only when you have both public and private competition that you can have a chance to bring down cost.

Mitt Romney recently said that he is proud of his government insurance plan in Mass. He says it is much better than the Obama plan. He also does not think there should be a public option. Of course then he says the Mass plan is not perfect and that while it does a good job of covering people, it has not decrease cost. Dah! Let me see: No public option, no decrease cost. Shocking!

News last week of Greece needing a bailout from the EU reinforces what may happen in our country in the future. It is already happening in our cities (see Detroit in the previous comment) and our states (right here in Calif.). If we keep running our national deficit higher and higher, someday we will be like Greece. The big problem in Greece is that the politicians handed out jobs and benefits way beyond their means. Now one out of six is a government job and attempts to cut them are met with riots from the unions. Sound familiar, Mayor Bing and Gov. Arnold?

I had an argument with my wife the other day. She said that unions are always bad. Everyone should be paid according to his worth, not because unions negotiate higher wages for him. My feeling is that if there was no unions we would still be living like back in the industrial revolution days when a few barons became very rich on the back of laborers who barely survived. No big middle class would have developed. So I don't have trouble with private unions. They don't hold a gun to the head of corporations to give them a contract. If the auto companies gave too much to the UAW in the past, that is their own fault. The lobbying by the unions in government is offset by the lobbying by the corporations. If the company is not doing well, unions have to give up some of the wages or benefits or they will go down with the company.

Unions for government employees, however, is another story. Their employer is the government which means they negotiate with politicians. The politicians are not using their own money to pay the workers. They cannot go bankrupt, like a company. The unions also contribute to the politicians and so politicians are beholden to them. So if people like Bing tries to save taxpayer money, you can bet the unions will try to get him out the next election. There are no corporate lobbyists going against the union lobbyists. So to me government employees should not be allowed to have unions. The wage and benefits should be set by an independent agency. If you don't like it, find a job in the private sector! Or go to Greece.

You may have heard of Anh "Joseph" Cao. He is a Congressman from Louisiana. His story is an example of the great opportunity of this country and also the problems with our political system. Cao was a Vietnamese refugee who through hard work earned a degree in physics and then a law degree. His election to Congress was the result of a series of unusual circumstances. He is a Vietnamese-American Republican from a district that is overwhelmingly Democrat and black. He faced a black, nine term Congressman. He should not have even tried to run. No other Republican tried. But the incumbent, William Jefferson, was indicted for bribery. Even then Jefferson should have beaten Cao. But Jefferson had to fight 2 primary rounds for the Democratic nomination which eliminated his money advantage by the general election. Then due to a hurricane, the election was postponed which led to a much smaller black turnout. If the election had been in November, Jefferson would have won with the heavy black turnout for Obama. As a result, this unknown immigrant won in a squeaker and headed to Washington. What a country!

Now the bad part. Cao is now the most likely person to be voted out. Obviously the Democrats feel they should take this seat back easily. This district was carved out to insure a black person would be elected. Cao, who almost became a Catholic priest, is against abortion. He voted against the stimulus bill. So the Democrats want to get rid of him in the worst way. Ironically, the Republicans are not happy with him either. He voted for the Democrats' healthcare bill. While he agrees with many of the Republican party's positions, Cao says he will vote his conscience. He promises honesty and do his best for his district and country. Unfortunately for him, these qualities will not be enough. He will be voted out in November.

This is an example of how difficult it is to get people with integrity and intelligence into politics and keep them the same once they get there. Many districts are carved so that the incumbents can win election easily. By staying with the party line, accepting contribution from lobbysts, and bringing pork to the district, a Congressman can stay in power forever. You can be an extremist, but as long as you do those three things above, you will get re-elected year after year. If you are an independent thinker, you are gone. I don't agree with many things that Cao believe in. But he is at least looking at the issue and decide according to merits of the case and his own conscience. We need more people like him in government and it is a failing of our system that someone like him cannot get in or stay in Washington.