Roughly 60% of Americans favor single-payer health insurance

Single-payer is the not-very-exciting name for a national insurance plan under which every american would be covered, i.e. a universal health care plan. Under such a system, all the expenses incurred by our hospitals would be paid by one single entity- the government (hence the name). This is a pretty significant departure from the 40 or so private health insurance companies paying the bills now.

Proponents argue that the single-payer system would simplify things for caregivers (having to only fill out one set of paperwork, etc.), and save money through the elimination of enormous overhead and administrative costs associated with private insurance (which estimates say amount to $400 billion per year), all the while leaving no one uninsured and giving people the choice to see any doctor they wish (which they cannot do under current private health plans without suffering big additional costs).

In a sense, its basically taking medicare, which currently insures senior and some disabled citizens, and expanding it (a lot) to cover everyone in the country. Obviously concerns of government inefficiency abound, but they're a little hard to accept given that 4% of medicare's expenditures go to administrative costs as compared to the insurance industry's 11%. So, all in all, single-payer sounds like a pretty legitimate deal.

...and yet, as congress met to decide upon what health care reform will look like this week, single-payer proponents were denied a seat at the table. But... how could it be that congress would not want to listen to a plan that 60% of the country, including to 59% of those in the medical profession, thinks is the best way to go?

The answer, if it had to be summed up in a sentence, might read:

For 2008, insurance was the 8th among industries in political contributions to members of Congress, giving $28,654,121, of which 51% was given to Democrats and 49% to Republicans.

I'm not sure what is more disturbing about that quote, the fact that such large sums of money were being paid to politicians on a completely bipartisan basis, or that insurance is only the 8th largest contributor. And how does Senator Baucus, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, fit into that equation? Surprisingly, he has received millions from insurance industries over his career, including hundreds of thousands in his last campaign alone.

Despite this pretty disgusting influence that money wields over our policy-makers, a lot of people refuse to stay quiet on this issue, and more of that has to happen, more of us should be making our voices heard on issues like this. I get the feeling sometimes politicians need reminding that if they don't do what a majority of their constituents want, they're not going to be reelected, no matter how much special interest money they receive.

How to "break the cycle of generational poverty"

The quote in the title comes from the website of the Harlem Children's Zone, which describes itself as a "holistic system of education, social-service and community-building programs aimed at helping the children and families in a 97-block area of Central Harlem." And ending the cycle of generational poverty really is their goal; one that they are achieving. Skeptical? President Obama isn't. From his poverty agenda:

Establish 20 Promise Neighborhoods: Obama and Biden will create 20 Promise Neighborhoods in areas that have high levels of poverty and crime and low levels of student academic achievement in cities across the nation. The Promise Neighborhoods will be modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone, which provides an entire neighborhood with a full network of services from birth to college, including early childhood education, youth violence prevention efforts, and after-school activities.

So what's got him convinced? For starters, there are these two statistics: Nationally, "7% of black eighth-graders perform at grade level in math / 97.4% of Harlem Promise Academy eighth-graders were at or above grade level in math." (for anyone who does EOTO at Hamilton Elementary, you should look for the similar (to the national average) statistics posted outside the main office)

The two Promise Academies, which opened in 2005 and 2006, have each been adding a new class every year and will eventually run from kindergarten to 12th grade. But what has made them so successful? Here's a possible explanation: "The budget for the HCZ Project for fiscal year 2009 is over $40 million, costing an average of $3,500 per child." So no surprise there; the more money you spend, the better the kids will do.

Well, not quite. As it happens, "in 2004–2005 (the most recent school year for which data are available), an average of $9,266 was spent per pupil in American public schools", that's more than 2.5 times what the Harlem Children's Zone spends. And we've seen the results of that money, so far. And HCZ students are certainly not doing well because they're born into great circumstances: Harlem's unemployment rate is twice that of the rest of New York, and a 1990 study reported that a 15 year old women from Harlem had only a 65% chance of making it to 65, while men had a mere 37% chance of making it to 65.

For those who listen to This American Life on a regular basis (and you should if you don't), they did a show on HCZ and its founder, Geoffry Canada some time last year. Central to the plan Canada sets forth with the HCZ is to start on kids very early (see: baby college) and to continue to provide resources to both the children and their families throughout the education process.

Canada sums it up his views on our education system best here:

We can spend escalating amounts of money on jails, drug treatment and welfare --
or we can pay a fraction of that money up front and do the job of educating low-income Americans right the first time.

Vote in the St. Louis Municipal Elections...Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, April 7th, St. Louis is holding its municipal general elections, and everyone should vote! Yes, Slay is going to be reelected pretty much regardless of what you do, but more importantly your district may have very important propositions on the ballot as well.

For those who live in University City (like me), the passage of Proposition U will determine whether or not two of U City's schools will be able to stay open.

Prop U involves no tax increases, but will help to rebuild two schools and renovate four, improving U City students' learning spaces and ensuring that their class sizes do not become detrimentally large.

For those who do not live in U City, there could be similarly crucial propositions on your ballots, so try your best to make it to the polls!

Free Rice in the DUC!

This Wednesday from 11am-3pm in the DUC commons ASAP is sponsoring a friendly yet fierce competition of wit and wisdom that will result in the donation of rice to the hungry, and could land you a gift certificate to PF Chang's for some rice (and other food) of your own!

We're doing this by introducing people to FreeRice.org, a website that asks you questions on a topic of your choice, and donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program for each correct answer.

We expect that this Wednesday's event will result in the donation of a significant number of meals, but also hope that those who learn about this fun and educational website will both begin to use it themselves and spread the word. Because, really, every step in the right direction, regardless of size, is ultimately a significant constituent part within the large composite of forces for positive change.

So make sure to stop by Wednesday, play fun games, donate some food and win some for yourself all at the same time!

P.S. Happy Birthday Mollie!

The Washington University Social Justice Blog

For anyone new that might interested in posting on the blog send me an email at a.ericduffy@gmail.com and I'll make you a contributor.
Below is a tentative description of what we hope to achieve with this forum.

With this blog we seek to attain a greater understanding and awareness of issues pertaining to social justice in St. Louis, the United States, and the world, as well as advocate the solutions we and others are implementing to tackle these problems.

It may serve as a collective and communal forum in which you and your group can broadcast your upcoming events and enlist participation, record your accomplishments, or broadcast new ideas and receive helpful feedback.

We all stand to gain greatly from each other’s specialized areas knowledge and interest, so all are strongly encouraged to contribute posts concerning current social justice issues. Any and all mediums, such as articles, other blog posts, pictures and personal experiences, are welcome.

Articles from Jodi

These two articles found by Jodi reveal both the disappointing state of homelessness in our country today, and steps, no matter how small, being taken to reverse it.

A 2005-06 report found that 1 in 50, or 1.5 million, children in the US were homeless. No doubt this number is substantially higher today. 1 in 7 of those children were found to have severe health problems, and far less than half project to graduate from high school.

President Obama has rightly said that a high school dropouts are not only failing themselves, but their country. In this case, as in most, we should take that one step further and see how our country is failing them first.

A second article details how one man, curiously enough the producer of the "Revenge of the Nerds" movies, is trying to take the first step towards restoring the security, dignity and sense of ownership that one loses with the onset of homelessness.

An EDAR (Everyone Deserves A Roof) is a $500, four-wheeled home. It provides space for a bed, pillows, a place to put one's possessions, and a tent-like roof to keep out the elements. One EDAR owner sums it up perfectly: "Its a step up to you. It's like our making progress... Now, I have me a little place to stay. I'm moving up."

1 in 50 US Children Face Homelessness

Tents on Wheels Give Homeless People Roof and Pride

A Needed Boost for our Education System

In this recent op-ed, Nicholas Kristof revises his opinion as to what is currently our greatest national shame, deciding that though health care is a very pressing issue, the current state of our education system is unacceptable.

Among the many important changes must occur, the quality of teaching is crucial. The current system of certifying and evaluating teacher productivity has been a failure. It has been shown that there is essentially no correlation between elementary school teacher performance and graduate degrees, college quality, or SAT scores, suggesting that current conceptions of evaluation are neither adequate nor appropriate.

There is hope, however. In what Education Secretary Arne Duncan terms a “staggering opportunity”, the new stimulus plan promises to allocate $100 billion dollars to our education system, which does seem quite immense given that this year’s current budget for the education was $59 billion.

Education, especially early education, has been proven again and again to be one of the most important factors in determining the opportunities a child will or won't have in the future. As Kristof and others say, teachers need to be held more accountable for their performance and replaced if need be. Moreover, given that the nation’s best teachers are disproportionately prone to be in the schools of already privileged children, educators shouldn’t be punished for teaching in the schools of low-income cities and neighborhoods, but rather rewarded for their efforts.

Our Greatest National Shame

The "face of the economic crisis"

Thanks to Jodi for pointing out this article!

At a recent rally Obama was holding in Florida to promote the economic stimulus package, a newly homeless woman named Henrietta Hughes went up to the microphone to ask for help, to which Obama responded he and his staff would do whatever they could, though he also noted, significantly, that there were a lot of other people like her out there as well.

Hopefully the stimulus package Obama is trying to push through now will work towards alleviating the hardships Henrietta and all the millions others like her are facing.

Homeless Woman's Plea to Obama Draws Flood of Support

Video here

Celebrities Who Were Once Homeless

Here's the link to a site about celebrities that were once homeless: 

http://homelesstales.com/2008/07/famous-people-who-have-been-homeless/

There's a new HUD head...so whats the plan?

This past Saturday President-Elect Obama named his Secretary of Housing, and given that about 1.4 million Americans wound up in foreclosure in 2008, it's a pretty important post.

Shaun Donavon, former housing commissioner in New York, graduated from Harvard with graduate degrees in Public Policy and Architecture, and has served in the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the past.

Mr. Donovan has experience in all facets of the affordable housing market, having worked in both the nonprofit and private sectors and in academia as a scholar of housing policy. He has even worked as an architect in New York and Italy.

People have, understandably, been asking him how he plans to tackle the housing crisis. Apart from those who already lost their homes in 2008, hundreds of thousands more are on the brink of foreclosure. A successful plan to combat these foreclosures has not yet been implemented.

Back in July a plan called Hope for Homeowners was created to insure up to 300 billion dollars of 400,000 troubled homeowners risky loans by swapping for "conventional 30-year fixed-rate loans with lower rates". The problem, though, is that the program is voluntary for lenders, who probably have felt they could get more money by abstaining. Only 100 applied in the first month of the program, and participation hasn't been much better since, largely because in the current plan,

lenders have to take a big loss. They must absorb the difference between the current mortgage’s value and a new loan for 90 percent of the house’s current appraised value.

That doesn't sound like very a hopeful scenario. An alternate way to help homeowners that Secretary-appointed Donovan says he is "looking very closely at" is having the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) injecting money directly into the troubled mortgages.

Currently, since the proposal of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was proposed, $350 billion have been in the works, with "$189 billion having been [spent] in 257 banks in 42 states and Puerto Rico". This past Monday, the Senate approved of the second $350 billion, with one plan drafted by Barney Frank appropriating at least 40 billion of that amount to home foreclosure prevention.

Anyway, all in all, the new Secretary of Housing has a lot on his plate, and a whole bunch of peoples' home security in his hands.

Mr. Donovan, 42, would have an automatic place on the boards that oversee the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program, an economic recovery fund, and the agency restructuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the home loan repurchase giants.

Hopefully he'll be able to get the money where it needs to go.

"A philanthropic venture capital fund?"

The Acumen Fund, founded by CEO Jaqueline Novogratz represents a great newish way of thinking about philanthropy and donating. Typically, when you donate money, you pick a really good cause, send it over, and it (hopefully) does some good. The Acumen fund has the same goal of improving lives when it gives out its money, with that added benefit that the fund gets it all back to be donated again.

Novogratz' organization is a venture capital fund, which is almost always associated with the for profit sector. But charity in the usual sense is a really unsustainable practice; typically, you give it out, and its gone. The Acumen Fund, on the other hand,

takes a business approach to aid. It takes philanthropic funds and instead of “donating” money, “invests” it in businesses that help the poor – making mosquito nets, delivering babies, providing clean water, and so on. The investors are as rigorous as bankers and are careful to measure results and help businesses they invest in.

The Acumen Fund is a global venture and operates on a budget of 5o million dollars or so, but it seems to bring up a larger issue about "charity" in general that applies to all of us as individuals. There's nothing wrong with being charitable; money donations are obviously hugely beneficial and necessary. But they can also serve to encourage a mentality of "us and them", and perhaps too often result in relationships of dependence as opposed to empowerment and collaboration. Venture capital philanthropies aren't just writing a check, they're getting involved and making sure their investments are not just helpful, but actually grow and improve.

A Charity with an Unusual Interest in the Bottom Line
Investing to Fight Poverty