DEFENSE BUDGET - May 30, 2011

USA is the largest manufacturer of arms and ammunition. It is also the biggest supplier of the same to countries all over the world either as outright donation or at heavily subsidized rates so as to help our 'friends' to defend themselves against their 'enemies'. Billions of dollars of tax payers' money is siphoned off and paid to manufacturers of arms and ammunition. On the other hand day in and day out we keep on praising the supreme sacrifices made by our armed forces creating an image of our defense budget  as a sacred cow and questioning it as an unpatriotic act. 

There is NO OTHER COUNTRY left in the world today which will even think of a war against the USA because no one, including Russia and China, would be willing to put at peril their nascent economies. Our allies praise us now and then as saviors and defenders of democracy and for these few worthless words our taxpayers pay out in billions. It is time we seriously reduced our defense budget and ploughed in the money saved in development of infrastructure. As an economic super power we will command more respect even from our 'enemies'. Nobody cares for the bully in the street, but everybody defers to the rich.

(As published in The New York Times, May 30, 2011)

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TOPIC OF THE DAY - May 30, 2011

Comments on: The Changing Politics of Doctors -http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/the-changing-politics-of-doctors/

Poor doctors, they are in an unenviable position. True. They spend about 6 to 8 years of their prime life spending more hours per day than in any other field, in learning and getting a license. Then if they decide to set up their own business, they find most clients carry insurance and they will be paid the rates fixed by insurance companies fifteen years back! In private business they have to pay malpractice insurance running into several thousands. Above all since they do not have to pay the doctor directly and it costs them the same, patients go the best doctors available and new comers take a long time before they become popular, if at all. With all these problems no wonder doctors now prefer to be employed. They get a stream of patients from day one. No malpractice insurance to be paid. Regular hours of work. That is how it should be. They also deserve to have a normal life like everybody else. They also deserve compensation based on superior service. The perceived advantage of one doctor for lifetime is not valid any more. All doctors totally depend on computer for patient information which are extremely detailed nowadays and any doctor should be able to pick up the thread while treating patients. The next fight will be between hospital managements and insurance companies. In due course it is more likely hospital managements will also dominate medical insurance business and private practice as we know today may not exist. But for patients healthcare cost will not become cheaper. There will hardly be more than one very good hospital within a reasonable distance as it requires a pretty huge initial investment and it will be able to demand its price. The only difference will be instead of hospital hiking up their service charges with profit motive and then insurance companies also putting up their premia further with the same motive, we will be left with only hospital/insurance company combination fleecing patients. Is there no solution to this? There is. It is all a question of demand and supply. If we have more doctors and more sources of supply of medicines and if patients can easily and directly access them, there will be real competition and price reduction. Till then there will be competition only in price increase! American industry is able to depend on a huge number of foreign suppliers for its profits. With the advent of internet, call centers, video conferencing, cloud computing, etc. no country can claim the only repository of superior knowledge in any field. In the light of the foregoing we can try (i) allowing foreign medical insurance companies to provide healthcare to our citizens through our own doctors which will create some real competition in the insurance field; (ii) allowing experienced doctors from other countries to treat patients in hospitals set up by government through video conferencing; (iii) allowing reputed foreign pharmaceutical companies to supply generic medicines in state hospitals. Above all by allowing fresh well qualified medical graduates from other countries to come and start practicing here. Let's not forget one thing: Healthcare is as important in life as educational, financial care, etc. Not everyone is afflicted with catastrophic illness every other day. Most of us probably visit the doctor once in six months or so for regular checkups. Just the fear of getting sick which will cost us a bundle to treat, should not make the nation pay through its nose ONLY for healthcare to institutionalized monopolies.       

(As Published in New York Times - May 30, 2011

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TOPIC OF THE DAY - May 29, 2011

Illegal Immigration : Illegal immigration should be fully stopped and all steps taken towards that end. However, those who have already entered the USA and settled should be given a more humane treatment, especially children who have been born and brought up in the USA. Think of it, had the USA been booming with full employment, we would not be talking about illegal immigration at all! It is even quite possible that we might relax the rules a bit more so as to get more labor! Hence, the real problem is not illegal immigrants as such, but the wrong assumption that they are responsible for the present state of affairs. To hit both problems simultaneously why not pass a law that allows illegal immigrants to stay on for a certain number of years, as long as they are able to provide employment to at least two unemployed for each illegal? They are one of the largest communities and by pooling their funds together and with the help of other sympathetic citizens, they can certainly absorb enough illegals to make the issue irrelevant.