What would happen, if we were to ask Congress to answer that age old question: when life deals you lemons, what do you do? "Make lemonade," Congress answers, naturally, believing that real go-getter types can get re-elected.

Therein lies our problem. The new healthcare plan, which nobody outside the Beltway has actually seen in its enormous entirety, is going to be our lemonade. Congress, with help from a lot of lemon-growers, has looked at the current healthcare "system" and decided to sweeten it up for us. In other words, this is a tax plan masquerading as a healthcare plan.

I have yet to meet anyone, who can say with some certainty, exactly how any new plan will impact their current plan. Why, because the emphasis in the plan is on those who do not have coverage, about 48 million people, a quarter of whom are illegal "aliens." You'd think that beings from another planet would have figured out healthcare a long time ago. At least these 48 million people know that they will get something better.

It's about time that we learned to deal with real lemons, which are not sweet, and their juice burns like hell when it hits a cut on our finger. Time for a dose of reality. The polls are all turning against the plan, because the neglected people who have coverage simply do not believe that Congress can do anything for them without it costing a lot more one way or the other, premiums or taxes. Or both.

The current Administration might just make Hillary look like she knew what she was doing the last time we tried this. The Administration mangled their top priority by rushing it and allowing Congress to manage the reform. Can you imagine anybody asking Congress to reform something? It's like a Madame reforming the Vice Squad.

Without Asking

Finding a job

after sixty’s

like finding

that needle

in a haystack

in a field of haystacks.

It’s true, sometimes

we Boomers forget

what's unimportant. Still,

we discover

new things

everyday, like

the missing blue shirt,

where we went looking

for a favorite brown sweater.

After a lifetime

spent looking for

a pot of gold,

we may find it

half-full of

unsigned iou’s.

There are those

who say they’ve

no regrets;

perhaps because

they lacked

great choices.

It’s not so much

that I would not

have changed a thing,

but that things

changed me

without asking.

Healthcare Polka

Let's take a step back from the precipice for a minute and refresh before we take this healthcare leap:

So far in our story, we have been asked to look at healthcare from several points of view:

• The Uninsured: 48 million people, about 11 million of whom are illegal "aliens."
• The Wealthy: Arbitrarily, people who make $250K, $500K, and over $1 million annually, who are going to cover the uninsured by paying more taxes.
• Corporate Insured: Individuals and families covered by large company "benefits."
• Small Businesses: Some offer subsidized coverage, some don't.

To this group, we add a couple of "special" categories:

• Congress and other government insured. Members of Congress, for example, offer themselves one of the most generous medical benefits plans in existence. Wouldn't it be nice to know what they will be sacrificing in any new national plan?
• The Media. that's right, the folks in the room during Obama's healthcare presentation "press conference." Most of them work for large companies (see above), and are also "Wealthy" (see above). These people believe that they represent the middle class, because that is their audience, but most went to elite schools, make great dough, and have great corporate coverage through Disney, Time Warner, Newscorp, etc. Wouldn't it be nice to know how their coverage would be impacted by the new plans?

Now, let's forget all of them, and focus away from all adults. What does healthcare look like from the perspective of a newborn baby? After all, health is the immediate unconscious issue for the baby, and will continue to be the most important issue as life progresses. Questions:

• Do we really want this baby to depend on an employer or the government to provide the most important human services, beyond parenting, that we will provide this baby? Do we want to tie its health to the profitability of a corporation, a small company, or an individual living in the cash/no tax economy?Do we want to gamble that future tax revenue will be able to cover the baby's health costs, without borrowing?
• Do we want to have this baby depend on a Medical Political Complex: Congress, Lobbyists, future Presidents, current political parties, pharmaceutical companies, State Legislatures?

If that baby could speak, it would probably tell us to take this opportunity to uncouple healthcare from employers. In the employer-based plans, those who work in Congress or for Goldman Sachs will always get better coverage and find ways to easily afford it.

If employer-based healthcare and healthcare insurance works so well, why don't we apply it to the other central issue in that baby's life: education? We are not talking about tuition reimbursement plans here; we mean K thru College. Why don't companies offer education insurance as a benefit?

Because it's a terrible idea. Real healthcare "portability" can only be created by individuals and families owning their coverage, whether its subsidized or not.

The real reason the plans are stuck is that we started with a bad assumption: that employer-based plans are the best way to go. The other wrong premise was "reform."

If the iphone designers or google engineers had started by trying to "reform" cell phones or online search, they never would have made radical change.

We need radical change. Radical change cannot come from a reactionary world composed of the same people who created the flawed system and nobody in the room thinking non-status-quo thoughts. We're watching The Lawrence Welk Show, when what our baby needs is John Lennon.

Intern Nation I

OMG, Holy Recession,

One day, Termination,

Next, we're Intern Nation.

Talk about stimulus!

Our friends are all envious.

What a country, this US.

Forget about 401K,

first apartments, sailing away.

All ages, interning, in the USA.

First, we focus our internships

upon our closed GM dealerships,

and make First-Aid from hardship -

a national chain of health clinics,

in the country and city limits:

in and out in fifteen minutes!

This model requires accounting genius?

Wait! We also own AIG among us -

Costs become profits without a fuss.

Have some questions, need more facts?

No worries, our plan by-passes Beltway Cats,

by direct-collecting a health sales tax.

Albany, Washington, Sacramento,

Eat your hearts out, you're so gonzo.

Welcome, new interns, to our capitol show.

Next, we'll take on the Warming issue,

tackle waste, coal and SUV misuse,

try to release the inner Intern in you.

Iphone, Ipod, Icare

One of the recession's favorite whipping boys, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. or PBGC as Belt-Heads know it, has announced that it will assume responsibility for $6.2B of bankrupt Delphi Corp. pensions. While many Delphi pensioners will make do with modified benefits, UAW members will be paid in full. This may be a good time to remind you that you own GM, and that this pension move is a way to have GM avoid holding the bag itself on these pensions. Instead, you hold the bag. If you don't realize why that's a benefit, nobody's going to explain it to you. Remember when $6.2B was a lot of money? Me neither.

Let's re-cap:

• The aforementioned PBGC is underfunded due to this year's crop of 135 bankruptcies.
• Social Security is well-underfunded, due to too many reasons to list, but mostly because Congress has stolen from it so many times to plug holes, it has become a whole hole.
• 401K's went south with detritus from socialized subprime housing.
• The President last night mentioned that our deficit will soon be over $7Trillion, but that we should feel really good, since it would have been nearly $10T, but for him and his Dems. Remember when $7T was a lot of money? Me neither.
• The same people who helped make us owners of GM, allowed underfunding of pension plans and agreed to adopt them for taxpayers, stole billions from Social Security, and arranged about $1.5T in stimulus spending, are reforming healthcare. It won't add a penny to the deficit. Oi.

Some of us are still wondering how bankers and traders managed to slip subprime by managements and boards, who believed reckless is the same thing as risky. Some of us are wondering how AIG, which we also own, managed to insure all of that. There are still a few people who didn't see the AutoWreck coming for at least twenty years, and believe the new Camaro will save GM. Many still cannot believe that investors and the SEC were gullible enough to believe that Bernie Madoff could really make those returns.

We might get some real insight into how bad stuff happened by watching closely how Congress and the Administration are selling healthcare "reform" to us. We are being asked, as in a science fiction film, to suspend our disbelief that Congress can provide anything that won't turn into a giant taxpayer sinkhole, because they cannot manage money without being reckless with it.

Citizens believe that this is Subprime II, because nobody has explained how much we will pay and how much care we will get, so that we can compare it to what we currently have. The 48 million who are not now covered, 11 million of whom are illegal residents, don't care a hoot; it's all for free. The wealthy don't care about the Charlie/Nancy-Tax; they can buy coverage anyway.

We gave houses to people who couldn't afford them, promised pensions that couldn't be paid, let subprime suck up our 401K's, and now we are asked to TRUST the same people who drove us off those cliffs.

It isn't working. If Congress were a company, it would be GM, AIG or Citi. That's not good enough.

Please, put Steve Jobs and his designers in a room with Google's engineers and let them re-design healthcare. It will take them about three days and icare/Googledoc will work. Then, let them tackle that $7Trillion. Please.

Remember when....ah, forget it.

Today, we answer The Mailbag: inquiries from loyal followers. You know who you are, both of you!

Maibag: What is the difference between mathematics and financial accounting?

3G: Math reflects the underlying code of the known universe. Both Yahweh's and Darwin's world is built upon arithmetic, geometry, algebra, calculus, etc. Math only goes off course, when manipulated by humans, as in genetic re-engineering. Financial accounting uses math like the magician uses her hat; it may reflect reality, but more often manipulates reality.

Mailbag: How does this special kind of math impact things like subprime, healthcare, etc?

3G: CEO,'s Boards, Congress, The Media and stockholders ( a few thousand prematurely bald guys) think that accounting is the same as math. They don't notice the distortion of reality, because they specialize in expecting people to distort reality for them (we call these lobbyists, managements, interns, experts, etc).

Mailbag: How can The Media not know that math and accounting are different?

3G: The media train in politics, history, international relations and celebrity studies. Many of them were drawn to media by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, who played the Watergate journalists in a movie. Business bores them to tears. Their mission is to bring down a Republican President, so they missed the whole subprime thing, missed Madoff, missed Auto Wrecks. Except for people at Fox (they rooted for the Watergate burglars), the Media is mesmerized by the new President, because he got rid of a Republican President.

Mailbag: Do you think Congress, despite its shortcomings, will finally reform healthcare?

3G: Having Congress reform healthcare is like having the State Liquor Authority run AA.

Mailbag: Is the Recession almost over?

3G: Stimulus, tax rebates, bank/insurance bailouts, Auto Wrecks, pension bailouts, foreclosure bailouts, tax hikes, increased borrowing, more stimulus and "no extra cost" healthcare require the kind of financial accounting that even Bernie Madoff couldn't do. And Bernie had a truly large magician's hat! So, we would say it ain't over. All of this spending will make the whole country resemble California at first, and then Iceland. The Icelandic word for recession, by the way, is the same as the word for dead. People simply "recede." That doesn't sound too good.

Maibag: Can the American Dream be revived?

3G: We sincerely hope not. It is time for America to awake from its slumber. The Subprime Dream of a house for everyone, the Billionaire Dream of owning Nantucket (the whole damn island, Bub) and Ted's Dream of a doctor in every pot are better left in Dreamy-Land. Now it's time to wake up, do the math and create a New American Reality.

Keep the card and letter coming!

Temp Is The New Perm

One clear outcome of the "Recession," is that corporations have discovered internships as a convenient and affordable way to, well, hire without hiring. What began as a way to do favors for clients and senior execs, and gathered steam as a way to promote diversity, has now been institutionalized. Large corporations, as well as small to medium-sized organizations now "hire" thousands, if not millions of interns for varying lengths of time. Most of these interns work for free and none of them receive what we used to call Benefits.

Could there be a better HR idea than that! Imagine how GM can cut white-collar labor costs and sleepless-Citi can replace those mortgage lenders. And, more good news, a majority of the available free interns are college graduates. Did we mention that there are no Bennies! Ted-Care is coming and interns will get health insurance at no extra cost to the decent citizens making less than $250K. What a country.

I recently spoke with two of these interns, Jennifer and Monica (No, really, that's her name) in New York, and asked for their comments on business, the economy, etc.

GM:

Jenn: When GM announced its first big move after bankruptcy, the Camaro, I was excited. It sounded like a cute little Italian thing. But, then they said it had been around for ages, driven by guys on the Jersey shore, and it only got 22 mpg.

Monica: My mom's uncle had one of those things. He was from Brooklyn, a long time ago. I think GM has a rule against having women in the company, all their interns are guys. Muscle cars are weird.

Moonwalk Anniversary:

Monica: Well, like, at first, like I was thinking with Michael and all, that this was about him. We studied this moon trip thing back in elementary school and we were like, who would want to go to the moon? Whatever.

Jenn: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the moon landing with a space walk seemed a bit extravagant to me. I mean, like, how can they afford to give me health insurance when they spend gazillions on floating in space. Wouldn't fireworks or video's of Michael's real Moonwalk have been more affordable?

Stimulus:

Jenn: That $750 Billion or whatever sounded good, but where did it go? I had $2 left on my Metrocard this morning and, like, I swiped it over and over until someone told me I now needed $2.25 for a ride. They can't stimulate a quarter? What's up with that?

Monica: My friend who commutes from the real boonies, Stamford, CT. now pays $24.50 roundtrip for her train and she works for free in advertising. I think that money got stuck in places like Albany or Harrisburg. I mean like, who would ever want to go there and get money?

Healthcare:

Jenn: My father explained healthcare costs this way. He makes right around that indecent and unspeakable $250K. He co-pays only $15 for his annual physical, which is listed as really costing $750. Then, his insurance company negotiates it down to $500, and they have to pay $485. So, so weird.

Monica: And my mom's monthly Lipitor prescription is $30, twice the cost of his $750 physical. That's why I love Obama, he'll get rid of all that, hopefully while Ted is alive to see the day. As unpaid interns, we really appreciate free healthcare, etc.

Intern-mometer:

Hottie: Gas, ATM, Message, D.I.Y., Reality, Intern Nation

Nottie: Dow, Bank, Media, Health Insurance, Reality TV, Unemployment

This is the first in a series of interviews and guest blogs by my intern network. You thought interns were temporary? In this recession, nothing is more perm than temp.

The Honeymoon Is Over

The Presidential Honeymoon will continue between Obama and non-Fox media, probably forever. But, the honeymoon's over for independent voters. It isn't so much "O" himself, whom they still admire; it is the heavy baggage of the majority party doing its best imitation of Albany. This isn't a good thing.

How do struggling citizens know the game is up? While these folks are "reforming" healthcare without adding a dime to the deficit and "stimulating" the economy, we are now coping with higher subway and commuter train fares. Yesterday, it cost $24.50 for a RT from Stamford CT to Grand Central. Think about it. If these guys can't hold down commuting costs for you, where is the stimulus money going? And, how are they going to Houdini healthcare costs?

Answers: Yes, that stimulus turned into smoked pork, rather than relief on commuting costs, and any third grade math class knows that Ted-Care is an unaffordable insult to their intelligence.

Independent voters do not give a moose-hoot about inept Sarah, but, unlike the media, they totally get why she quit being governor now (no, she does to have a boyfriend in Argentina or a girlfriend at the airport). She is clever in a way that smarmy talkheads don't get. She so knows that "O" is going to be vulnerable in '12 and that she only has to beat a couple of unknowns or male twits with names like Newt and Mitt, to be the candidate.

If you don't believe that, maybe you'll believe the rumor that someone just ordered 100 million "Mike in '12 stickers." The invoice was signed by M. Bloomberg.

Even the talkheads will have to take that one seriously. What could be more fun for them than a 24 month presidential campaign? A 36 month campaign, with advertising coffers jingling.

Less Is....Less

Less is….Less

One plus one

will never

make three.

One suit

in the closet

stays lonely.

A single word,

a book

won’t be.

A line drawn,

though bold,

not Monet.

Less of quite

a lot of lot

might be

A kind of more

to some,

but not to me.

July Fourth Eve Lament

"Bailing leaky boat,

we miss opportunity

for sweet, cleansing swim."

- Lung Ta

We continue to read about the foibles of the New York State Senate and the situation in California, which has begun issuing IOU's to creditors. Funny thing, but NY State's Comptroller must be the only person alive who believes that he can force the "Senators" into respectability by withholding their pay. Citizens know that these guys, and a few women, use their position as a stepping stone to much greater gains. The controversial new "Majority" Leader himself makes a half million a year from his health care company in The Bronx, where he no longer even pretends to live. Holders of CA-IOU's shouldn't hold their breath on payment of real dollars or interest by October. Like GM, CA is in a liquidation situation, except that politicos always wear 3D glasses and are keeping the monster alive to serve only themselves.

Why do we waste our time on this bilge on July 4th Eve? The newest US unemployment data sent the markets reeling yesterday, while all of the state mayhem continued. That mayhem is a constant reminder that the current, globally pervasive economic havoc is not at the core of our problem. The real problem, for those paying attention, was and is Corruption of both our business and political institutions. We have been treating the symptoms, which is fine, but, when will we begin to acknowledge and begin treating the real disease?

Corruption was at the heart of the crisis created when banks, insurers and others could not meet their obligations related to the mortgage markets. Our business institutions, enabled by government, lied to themselves and to their customers about their real financial condition. Private ratings firms and regulatory agencies stood by with blinders on all the while. What passes for media completely missed the story, while being obsessed with bringing down another President. We are now witnessing the baring of institutional corruption on a massive scale in business, media, state and federal government.

And, we haven't even touched upon Detroit and the so-called automobile "industry." The massive corruption of any real business management systems there, coupled with further political meddling by Michigan and federal politicos garnering favor with Unions and what passed for Management doomed GM and Chrysler, and, perhaps, Ford. Only further corruption of any principles regarding the proper use of taxpayers' money keeps these leaky boats afloat on a sea of darkest red filled with lier fish.

And, shall we mention the way that the same banks who messed up on mortgages began using the fine print of credit card agreements to extract much higher interest from their best taxpaying-creditor customers? Or, do we want to review the health care policies issued by Aetna and United Healtcare, among others, whose fine print basically said the companies were not liable to pay for much of anything related to healthcare?

Can we finally say, can our new Leader finally say, in public and out loud, "It's corruption, Stupid?" If we can't say that now and really begin to move forward with a deep sense of humility, we will all be like Governor Sanford of South Carolina. We will be humans who forgive themselves for merely being sinners in God's eyes, when God actually sees us for what we really are: unforgivable Perfect Idiots.

Tomorrow is July 4th. Let's not be celebrating lost heritage. It's time to begin living the true legacy of Independence Day. That legacy is not about the million ways to make a cheap buck; it is about courage, freedom, honesty, generosity, humility and honor. Our young friends in Afghanistan and Iraq are not fighting to save corrupt institutions or short-sighted and greedy politicians; they are fighting to save our true legacy. Let's make sure it's not in vain. Let's make sure there's something real and valuable here when they return home.