Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter #195
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Our Website Our Editor To Unsubscribe Table of
Contents * Featured Articles Calendars of Events Communication with Our Members It Takes an Outsider to Confront BIAW Opportunities Petitions Commentaries from Our Members David Spring: Rob McKenna’s $1 Billion Error** Valerie Tarico: KC Executive Race is Partisan Dave
Gamrath: Hutchison Is a Christian Conservative Ray McBain:
Description of Today’s Conservatives Liberals and Democrats Links to the Beef State and Local Links
to the Beef David Spring: BIAW Used Tax Money to Ruin Our Public
Education** Unfortunately, I-1033 Is Likely to Pass* Featured Advocacy Group: Project on Government Oversight Nation and World Links to the Beef Michael Moore: Our U.S. Fails Religious Morality See How Predatory Health Insurers Affect Us China’s Political System May Work Better than Ours* IMF Is Imposing Anti-Growth Policies on Poor
Countries. What Afghan Strategy Should U.S. Adopt? Our Liberal Spirit Should We Argue with Conservatives? Our
Political Priorities ·
Fair Clean
Elections and Open Government ·
Fair Taxes and
Competent Spending ·
Investment for
Productivity ·
Quality
Health, Education, Jobs, Income ·
Environmental
Protection and Energy Independence ·
Security and
Equal Rights ·
Justice and
Peace Everywhere ·
International
Cooperation and Leadership Conservatives oppose all of these Let’s
End Our National Nightmare
Let’s
Restore Our American Dream More on Conservative opposition to our
American Dream Washington State’s 5 Major Needs · Federal Funding for Health and Education · Substituting
a Progressive Income Tax · Replacing
Conservative Legislators Quote of the Week Never interfere when your
opponent is destroying himself. Napoleon
Calendar of Events
Saturday, October 10 at 6:30 at Sharon and Will
Creeden’s home (1661 Harbor Avenue SW, #202, Seattle) - inSPIRe Potluck and
Discussion of Homelessness in Seattle and King County.
Sunday, October 11 at 6:45 at the Pearl Warren
Building (606 12th Avenue South, Seattle) - film (about advocates of equality for women: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Susan B. Anthony, pioneer) and discussion
Tuesday, October 13 at 5:50 - 8:50 PM at CH2M Hill headquarters
(1100 - 112th Ave NE #400, Bellevue) - Phone
Bank to Oppose I-1033. For more information. Or call 206-682-2767.
Tuesday, October 13 at 6:30
at Issaquah Valley Senior Center (75 NE Creek Way, Issaquah) - Democrat
Speaker Series Dinner and Discussion of health care reform, with guest
speakers.
Thursday, October 15 at 5:30
- 9:30 PM at Seattle Center's Fisher Pavilion - Washington Toxic Coalition’s
Ninth Annual Auction for Action.
$100, $85 before September 15. To register.
Saturday, October 24 at 4:30 - 6 PM at Odd Fellows
Hall, Eastsound, Orcus Island - International Day of Climate Action
Sing-Along, coordinated by 350.org.
Thursday, October 29 at 5:30 PM at Town Hall Seattle
(1119 Eighth Avenue, Seattle) - 2nd
Annual Puget Sound Sage Vision for Justice Dinner. $70.
Communication
with Our Members
It Takes an Outsider to Confront BIAW
I
commented several weeks ago that BIAW’s transgressions are so many that it
may be vulnerable. While our labor,
education and other Liberal advocacy groups have refused to confront the BIAW’s
use of its financial power to ruin the capacity of our state government to
adequately serve our people, David Spring’s extensive research may stimulate
BIAW’s downfall.
I find it interesting that when so many
of our Liberal establishment are unwilling to risk themselves or have been
bought off, the ones who step up to the plate have been outsiders. David Spring has also advocated tax
reform. So has the Economic
Opportunity Institute. Craig Salins,
Marcee Stone, Annie Phillips and other leaders of Washington Public Campaigns have led the
struggle for public campaign financing.
We need more such outsiders. And we need these outsiders to become
courageous uncorrupted insiders. Dave
Thomas
Opportunities
Useful
Websites: contacts, maps, community organizing tools, and more.
A
new Sightline report defines green-collar jobs and describes their promise.
Petitions
Tell President Obama
to sign an executive order to protect our oceans and great lakes.
Tell
your senators to protect our national parks from the impacts of climate change.
Tell
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to stop wildlife poisoning on public lands.
Tell EPA Administrator
Lisa Jackson to regulate dirty coal ash.
Tell your
senators to support the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.
Tell national leaders to
support a strong climate change agreement.
Tell your senators to co-sponsor
the Breast Cancer (EARLY) Act.
Sign
a petition that indicates your support for a single payer health care system.
Tell
Senator John Kerry to support ratification of U.N. Rights of Child convention.
Tell
your representative to cosponsor the bill to end the School of the Americas.
Tell
your senators to stop spending for unneeded military equipment.
Tell
President Obama and your congress members to create an exist strategy from
Afghanistan.
More
evidence that our state government can and is required to obtain our retro
money back. Tell
Attorney General Rob McKenna to send you any contrary evidence that he is
using to insist that we can’t get our money back.
Commentaries
From Our Members
David Spring: Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna’s $1 Billion Error
On
Friday, September 28th, at a Retro Proviso Study Group meeting, Judy
Schurke, the Director of the Department of Labor and Industries, stated that L
& I agreed with the Wyman study that the Occupational Disease error led to
$300 million in overpayments to Retro agencies. Combined with the $150 million
“computer coding” error and the $75 million “45 month limitation” error, retro
agencies were overpaid by at least $525 million dollars since 1992. However,
Judy also announced in writing, that L & I would only seek re-imbursement
for the past 3 years of Retro overpayments.
I
believed, based on the following two laws, that tax payers should get back the entire
amount of overpayments. Here are the two laws:
1.
WAC 296-17-90402 requires that
retro employers as a group and non-retro employers as a group fund the same
portion of their total claim costs relative to their total premium charges. (If
retro groups are not required to refund ALL of the over payments, then they
will have paid a far lower proportion of premiums than non-retro groups which
would be a violation of WAC 296-17-90402).
2.
RCW 51.48.260
states: Liability
of persons unintentionally obtaining erroneous payments. Any person, firm, corporation, partnership,
association, agency, institution, or other legal entity, but not including an
industrially injured recipient of health services, that, without intent to violate this chapter, obtains payments under
Title 51 RCW to which such person or entity is not entitled, shall be liable for: (1) Any
excess payments received; and (2) interest on
the amount of excess payments at the rate of one percent each month for the
period from the date upon which payment was made to the date upon which
repayment is made to the state. (Since injured workers are
the only group exempt from returning overpayments, Retro groups MUST refund all
over-payments made during the past 15 years plus interest).
Therefore
on Thursday, October 1st, I sent an email to 4 members of the Senate
Commerce Committee (Senators Kohl-Wells, Franklin, Keiser and Kline) expressing
my belief that the tax payers were entitled to get ALL of their $525 million
dollars in overpayments back.
The
following morning, October 2nd, at a Senate Commerce Committee
hearing on the Retro program, Senator Keiser asked Judy Schurke why L & I
was not seeking reimbursement of the full amount of the overpayments. Judy
stated she had been given an informal Opinion by our State Attorney General,
Rob McKenna that they could only go back three years to recover
overpayments.
This
is a quote from an article in the Olympian on February 11, 2009 in which Brad
Shannon discusses this issue:
The (coding) overpayments
came to about 10 percent of what should have been paid out, said Bob Malooly,
assistant director of insurance services for L&I. "L&I says that in their legal analysis, they don't think the
retro group has to repay that money" since 1994, said Tom Kwieciak, BIAW's
program manager. But Kwieciak said that refunds are made in three yearly
adjustments, so it is possible that overpayments since the 2005-06 fiscal year
could be subject to adjustments… Judy Schurke, Director of L & I, said the
agency is working with the state Attorney General's Office (to
determine how far back they will be able to recover over-payments).
Thus,
Judy blamed the whole problem on the Attorney General. I still believed the Attorney General was
wrong. So, after the Commerce Committee hearing, I sought the help of Representative
Maralyn Chase’s office, who has been a strong supporter of Retro Reform. I explained to her why I felt the Attorney
General was wrong. Representative Chase agreed with me that there did not
appear to be any time limit in either of the two laws I was relying on. She
then immediately wrote an email to the Attorney General asking him to clarify
why he felt there was a 3 year time limit on recovery of overpayments owed the
State’s tax payers.
I
next met with Senator Adam Kline (who is on the Senate Commerce Committee). I
explained that there was no time limit in RCW 51.48.260. It clearly requires
ALL overpayments to be paid back in full plus interest. Senator Kline, who is an attorney, replied
that the statute I relied on was not the “controlling” statute. He then
explained that in all causes of action, there is a statute of limitations that
is the controlling statute. Senator Kline explained that the statutes of
limitation for various actions are found in RCW Chapter 4.16 and are generally
limited to 3 years.
Senator
Kline got out a gigantic book of State laws and flipped to RCW Chapter 4.16. He
showed me lots of causes of actions and their limitations. Most were in fact 3
years, although some were 2 years and some were 6 years. But Senator Kline kept
looking for a Section on recover of debts owed the State. He finally found it
in Section 4.16.160. After reading it, he got a big smile on his face and said,
“Well, it says here there is no time limitation on recover of
debts owed the State. It looks like the Attorney General was wrong.”
Here is the actual text of
RCW 4.16.160: RCW 4.16.160 Application of
limitations to actions by state, counties, municipalities. The limitations prescribed in this
chapter (RCW 4.16) shall apply to actions brought in the name or for the
benefit of any county or other municipality or quasi-municipality of the state,
in the same manner as to actions brought by private parties: PROVIDED, That,
except as provided in RCW 4.16.310, (a
statute which applies to defects in building construction) there shall be no limitation to actions brought in the name or for the
benefit of the state, and no claim
of right predicated upon the lapse of time shall ever be asserted against the
state…
Senator
Kline then immediately sent an email to the Attorney General citing RCW
4.16.160 and asking for a clarification of the Attorney General’s prior opinion
as to why Retro overpayments beyond 3 years could not be recovered. After finishing his email to the Attorney
General, Senator Kline explained to me that the solution to the problem was not
necessarily to pass a new law, but simply to insist that the Attorney
General enforce our current laws. He pointed out that, when 12% interest is
added on, the total owed is likely to be more than one billion dollars. He
added, “Given the financial crisis our
State budget is facing, we simply cannot afford to give away more than a
billion dollars in undeserved overpayments.”
Senator
Kline also encouraged me to meet with Senators Kohl-Wells, Franklin and Keiser
as soon as possible to answer any questions they may have about this issue. We next discussed how Retro agencies might be
able to pay back all the over-payments. I
pointed out that Retro agencies were scheduled to receive another $100 million
dollars in retro subsidies in 2010. I believed that, instead of sending this
$100 million to retro agencies, it should be credited against the debt owed the
State and returned to the Workers Comp Accident Fund. In addition, Retro
agencies should be assessed an additional $100 million per year. Assuming
$200 million per year in Retro subsidies and additional assessments were made,
Retro agencies could pay back the entire amount with interest in about 10
years.
The
net result would be that the Contingency Reserve would eventually be restored
to more than one billion dollars without any increase in Workers Comp rates on
any employers or workers. I pointed out that the proposed 8% rate increase,
intended to generate $117 million, would not be needed if Retro agencies were
required to pay back the money they owed. I also stated that it would be
harmful to our economy to increase Workers Comp rates in the middle of a
recession when the problem had been created by hundreds of millions of dollars
in over-payments to Retro agencies and could be solved merely by requiring the
return of the overpayments. I also pointed out that the BIAW was aware that
they might need to pay back the State. As early as 2006, BIAW Board meeting
minutes refer to building up a slush fund reserve of millions of dollars “in
the event that the retro program ends.”
We
next discussed the future of Retro programs. I pointed to several studies which
have shown that Retro agencies do not save money or improve safety. Most
concluded that Retro programs cost tax payers MORE than non-retro programs. I
therefore believe that the Retro program should simply be ended. I also pointed
out that employers already have a huge incentive to improve safety because of
the “Experience Rating” system and that this system was far more effective than
Retro in controlling costs.
Senator
Kline said that he felt that at least some Retro groups might do some good in
improving safety and reducing costs, but that the good apples were hidden by
all the bad apples. He said it was unfortunate that L & I had made so many
errors which placed the entire Retro program in danger. Thus, I believe Senator
Kline supports reforming retro and fixing all of the problems rather than
getting rid of Retro entirely.
We
agreed that whatever the future holds for Retro, right now the most important
thing is making sure the tax payers get their money back. Senator Kline assured
me that he would personally hold the Attorney General’s feet to the fire and
make sure that the Retro agencies paid back the entire amount of overpayments
plus interest.
Thus,
I believe our Attorney General made an error which could have cost tax payers
over one billion dollars. Fortunately, thanks to the dedicated efforts of
Senator Kline and Representative Chase, I also believe this error will
eventually be corrected and the tax payers are going to get their money back.
I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, look for updates on our website.
David Spring
More
evidence that our state government can and is required to obtain our retro
money back. Tell
Attorney General Rob McKenna to send you any contrary evidence that he is
using to insist that we can’t get our money back. For more.
Valerie Tarico: KC Executive Race is Partisan
Published by Seattle Times on 10/5/2009
Can we all stop pretending the King County executive
race is nonpartisan in any interesting sense of the word? True nonpartisanship is a quality of a civil
servant not an electoral contest. It means that no political party can count on
your loyalty when party interests conflict with what’s good for the public.
Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed is a rare,
genuine nonpartisan.
By contrast, Dow Constantine, a Democrat and darling
of environmentalists, and Susan Hutchison, with her check-writing to
Republicans and ties to the creationist Discovery Institute, should be
considered partisan until shown otherwise.
Valerie Tarico
Dave Gamrath: Susan Hutchison Is a Christian Conservative
Published by the Seattle Times on
10/6/2009
It’s fair for Danny Westneat to state opinions in his
column, but to label Susan Hutchison as a “sort-of-Republican” is a flat-out
lie, playing right into her obvious but disingenuous strategy of misleading the
public regarding her Christian-conservative background and views [“An Eyman
kind of year at the polls,” NWSunday, Oct. 4].
To write that she is no right-winger because she
claims support for liberal causes, even though her core campaign contributors
are feverishly against progressive issues such as gay rights and abortion
rights, is either extreme naivety on Westneat’s part, or a clear attempt by him
to disarm concerns of thinking King County voters and push them to vote for
Hutchison. Dave Gamrath
Ray McBain: Description of Today’s Conservatives
The usual attributes associated with
"conservatives" do not apply in today's world. Here are the
attributes I have learned to associate with conservatives. Warning: not
everyone who is self-described as a conservative has all of these attributes.
Fiscal irresponsibility
A conservative in today's world has in mind the concept that the fiscal
responsibility of the federal government should not apply to people. The people
do not deserve welfare paid for by the government. The people should not have
Social Security unless it is the kind that enriches private enterprise,
especially BIG BUSINESS. Like Merrill-Lynch, like AIG, like Bank of America.
The primary function of government, in the mind of a conservative, is to ensure
that the free reign of terror of BIG BUSINESS over the people is
unfettered and unregulated. Senators are to be purchased, as are
Representatives, by those with the deepest pockets and made to serve their
interests. Money is to be funneled into the hands of the wealthy. To make sure
that happens, money needs to be kept away from the poor and middle class. Any
attempt to secure the health and welfare of the 95% who have the least money is
to be called "socialism". As if that's a bad word.
Lies
Conservatives cannot hope to convince the
majority of the population that their way is best without lying. In fact, the
bigger the lies and the more often they are stated, the better the expected
results. If the conservatives can get everyone in the media to lie, so much the
better. And they have pretty much done that, starting with McCarthyism. To this
day, the media has not recovered its independence that it lost during the
McCarthy witch-hunt era in the fifties. To cement that lack of independence,
that control over the media, the wealthiest conservatives have purchased the
major media. The remainder of the major media is running scared; content to
concentrate on local (and national) scare stories: murders, rapes, arsons,
thieves, child abduction, and the like. These are, of course, important, but
they are not the whole story. TV media leave out the larger story altogether or
tell it the way the wealthy conservatives want it told.
The chief liars are: G. W. Bush, Dick
Cheney, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Ben Stein, and a
host of others. They are aided and abetted by such minor functionaries as
Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter [Bill Mahr's ex-girlfiend - oops, a typo]. Some
of these liars lie by omission or by misdirection. They leave out pertinent
facts or they try to confuse us with meaningless comparisons. Others ignore
facts and make up stories out of their twisted minds.
Greed
The greater the wealth, the greater the greed. We are witnessing an epidemic of Ponzi
schemes. These are frauds often perpetrated by the wealthy to get
wealthier. However, no greed surpasses that of the financial institutions who
are being let off the hook, given hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars, by a captive
government, a government that is too scared to let the capitalists dig their
own way out of the holes they created. The people who run these institutions
are happy to have the socialism the government can provide to them, but, like
the carpenter in The Walrus and the Carpenter, hide behind the napkin of anti-socialism,
which really means denying government-funded health care and other welfare
choices.
These people greedily eye the billions of dollars sitting in union pension
funds, teachers' pension funds, in the Social Security funds, in Medicare
funds, and so on, telling us we would be better off betting our money on the
stock market. Yes, over the years the stock market has risen in value. However,
at any particular point in time, taking your money out of the stock market is a
crap shoot. Like financing a child's college education. Or retiring and
counting on a steady income to augment your Social Security. Like now. There's
more but time is short, so...
The Last Straw
We need not concern ourselves with these liars and
thieves. So long as we recognize their lying, cheating and greediness. Let's
concentrate on our program. Get our points across. Work together to make
single-payer health care a reality in the USA. Work together to ensure the
health and longevity of Social Security and Medicare. Work together to make
affordable education for all a reality. Work together to stop the US government
from pursuing perpetual war on other people, in other lands. Ray
McBain
Liberals
and Democrats
Government Watch
Also go to Whitehouse.gov.
Maintaining Our Freedom
Another
window is opened into the operations of our government. ACLU recommends
restoring constitutional protection by replacing Patriot Act with Justice Act. Poll
shows great increase in global respect for U.S. due to Obama presidency.
Health Care Reform
In his weekly
address, President Obama explained why health
care reform is necessary for our economic recovery. Doctors
affirm that Obama’s health care reform proposal will not interfere with their
relation with their patient (video).
The effort to pass health care reform has made much
more progress in 2009 than it did at this time in 1993. The next step
is to get all Democratic senators to vote against filibuster, even if some will
then vote against health care reform. Refusing to offer any constructive proposals
for reforming health care, Republican
legislators will play no role in determining the reforms that will occur. For more. Some
other Republicans are supporting health care reform. For
more. Our
richest 400 Americans could easily pay for health care insurance for
everyone not now covered.
Stimulating More Jobs
President Obama
is considering several measures
which could stimulate more jobs. Our
stimulus-recovery package is funding $5 billion for medical research. Robert Reich’s proposals
to stimulate more jobs. For more.
Regulating Financial Companies
Senator Bernie Sanders
says financial companies that are too big to fail should be broken up. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation head Sheila Blair Agrees. House
Financial Services Committee Barney Frank introduces bill to regulate $592
trillion derivatives market. For
more. Large Financial Companies are
returning to the practices
that caused our bubbles and collapse (video). During the Great Depression, it
took 4 years for the Pecora Commission to get formed and stimulate passage
of needed regulation.
Environment
President Obama
requires government
agencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Obama
Administration wants legislation requiring chemical companies to give information
about their products. For more. For
more.
Foreign Policy
Unlike
previous foreign policy teams, President Obama’s team works effectively
together.
Here’s the Beef
During this supreme court
term, our activist Conservative supreme court justices may restrict our
freedoms. For
more.
Whistle
blowers Still Get No Respect
Money
for health care reform can be easily obtained by cutting wasteful military
spending.
We
should spend money educating our youth instead of incarcerating them. For more.
Obama
Administration is using stimulus-recovery funds to stimulate educational
reforms.
Congressman
Alan Grayson acts like ‘Give them hell’ Harry Truman.
Liberal
house members should vote as a block for raising taxes on high income people.
Nancy
Pelosi suggests value-added tax (VAT) may be way to fund public health care
insurance.
State
and Local
David Spring:
BIAW Has Used Tax Money to Ruin Our Education
The
research for this report began as an attempt to answer two simple questions:
·
First, why has school
funding in our State plunged dramatically in the past 10 years? It became obvious that the Building Industry of
Washington (BIAW) played a major role in electing dozens of anti- school
politicians during the past 10 years, as well as defeating dozens of
pro-education candidates. In the 2008 election alone, the BIAW spent nearly $10
million dollars and boasted in their Building Insight Newsletter that they were
“5 for 5” in defeating progressive pro-education legislative candidates in
hotly contested swing districts.
·
This led to the second question: Where
did the BIAW get $10 million to spend on the 2008 election? Like most
people, I assumed the money came from contributions from BIAW’s own members.
However, this turned out not to be the case. Instead, as is explained in more
detail below, nearly all of the $10
million came from diversion of tax payer dollars. This report explains how BIAW diverted
more than $10 million dollars per year in tax payer money to use for political purposes.
We conclude that this questionable activity has corrupted the entire political
process in the State of Washington and is the underlying reason school funding
in our State plunged to 47TH in the nation.
While
researching where BIAW was getting tens of millions of tax payer dollars every
year, I discovered an even bigger scandal, this one involving a “Retro”
insurance scam. In 2007 alone, over $100 million dollars of tax payer money was
diverted through the Workers Compensation “Retro” program to nearly five dozen
private Retro insurance agencies, one of which is the BIAW. The total cost to
tax payers of this questionable Retro “subsidy” program has been more than $2 billion dollars and is rising
rapidly.
But
it turns out that even $2 billion dollars in losses is just the tip of the
iceberg… because Retro is only a part of
a much larger Department of Labor and Industries scandal that is losing more
than $3 billion dollars annually such that the Workers Comp program is now in debt by nearly $30 billion dollars. $1 billion of this unpaid annual debt is from
Retro employers, bringing the entire tax
payer cost of the Retro program to more than $1.2 billion dollars per year.
Such
a claim may seem difficult to believe. After all, our entire annual State
budget is only $16 billion dollars. How can a single State agency be losing
billions of dollars every year for more than 10 years without it being noticed?
Recently the United States Senate held a hearing to determine how Bernie Madoff
could have constructed a $50 billion dollar Ponzi scheme without any federal
regulators noticing his questionable accounting practices.
I
believe we have uncovered an even worse Ponzi scheme right here in our own
State. At least Madoff was only losing the money of private investors. The
Ponzi scheme we are about to describe involves the loss of billions of tax
payer dollars, millions of which were improperly diverted to subvert
hundreds of elections throughout our State.
In short, what we are about to describe is the worst economic and political scandal in the history of our State.
Tax
Payers in our State have been subjected to an incredible scam during the past
15 years involving diversion of billions of dollars in tax payer money, more
than $300 million going to the BIAW, of which they used over $60 million to buy
both local and State wide elections.
The
following chart shows the cost to taxpayers of the BIAW portion of the Retro
program for the years 2002 to 2007:
BIAW Retro
Program, Refund/Assessment Summary 2002 to 2007 (in $ Millions)
|
Year
|
BIAW Premium |
Claims Losses
|
Premium -Losses |
Retro
“Refund” |
BIAW PAC=20% |
Cost to Tax Payers ($M) |
|
2007 |
169 |
195 |
<26m> |
15.7 |
3.0M |
41.7 |
|
2006 |
179 |
178 |
1M |
39.0 |
8.0M |
38.0 |
|
2005 |
176 |
166 |
10M |
45.5 |
9.0M |
35.5 |
|
2004 |
158 |
149 |
9M |
40.8 |
8.0M |
31.8 |
|
2003 |
137 |
129 |
8M |
36.0 |
7.2M |
28.0 |
|
2002 |
106 |
103 |
3M |
25.4 |
5.1M |
22.4 |
|
Total |
925M |
920M |
5M |
202M |
$40M |
$197M |
Source:
WA ST B&I Retrospective Rating Program, Refund/Assessment Summaries, July
1st http://www.lni.wa.gov/ClaimsIns/Insurance/Reduce/Qualify/FinInfo/default.asp
From 2002 to 2007, BIAW
Retro “Refunds” cost State Tax Payers $197 million
From
2002 to 2007, BIAW members paid $925 million in premiums to the State Workers
Compensation Insurance Fund. During these same six years, they had $920 million
in Claims meaning that the maximum total refund for this entire six year period
should have been $5 million or $1 million per year. However, Retro “refunds”
for these 6 years equaled $202 million for an average of more than $40
million per year. Thus, the cost to the tax payers of the Retro program for
these 6 years was $202 million minus $5 million equals $197 million
dollars.
The cost to
State tax payers is currently about $50 million dollars a year.
BIAW diverts 20% of its
Retro Tax Payer Gift into more than 20 Political Action Committees resulting in
a political slush fund of about $10 million dollars per year. None of this $10 million per year comes from BIAW
members. Instead, every penny comes from tax payer subsidies given to the BIAW.
This graph shows the Annual Cost to Tax Payers of the BIAW Retro Program has skyrocketed
from $5 million per year in 1992 to $41.7 Million per year in 2007
But BIAW is just a
fraction of the Retro Monster. Retro is a Workers Comp insurance option that was
started in 1980 and was supposed to save tax payers money. Instead it has cost
tax payers BILLIONS of dollars without providing any public benefit. This
program has spiraled out of control largely because “retro refunds” have been
systematically inflated.
There are many reasons
Retro refunds have been inflated much higher than they should have been. These
reasons include but are not limited to:
·
A 1994 Double Entry
Computer Coding “error”, which artificially increased the estimated cost of non-retro programs
by 10%, made retro programs appear to be doing much better than they were
actually doing and thereby led the Department of Labor and Industries (L &
I) to issue retro refunds at a rate far higher than were actually deserved. L
& I concedes this error cost tax payers $150 million dollars during the
past 15 years.
·
A 1994 Occupational
Disease Mis-assignment formula which also artificially inflated non-retro claims
increasing retro refunds by another 20%.
L & I concedes that this error costs tax payers $300 million in
erroneously issued subsidy checks.
·
An Actuarially “Unsound”
cut off of retro claims adjustments at 45 months causing Retro claims to be
under-stated by yet another 5%. or $75
million dollars.
·
Failure to correctly
calculate the “Performance Adjustment Factor (PAF). This factor is required by
Washington State law to insure that Retro and non-retro programs are fair and
equitable. WAC 296-17-90402 requires that retro employers as a group and
non-retro employers as a group fund the same portion of their total claim costs
relative to their total premium. Failure to correctly calculate the PAF may be a
violation of law.
·
Failure to require Retro
groups to pay back erroneously issued subsidy checks. Incredibly, L & I is
only asking Retro groups for $30 million of the $525 million in undeserved
subsidies. This is likely a violation of RCW 51.48.260.
While there have been many
reports of BIAW and/or Workers Comp corruption in the past, this report
provides evidence for five findings never confirmed before:
·
BIAW funds do not come from its members, but rather from tax payer
subsidies.
·
The cost to tax payers of all Retro subsidies is over $2 billion
dollars and rising rapidly.
·
There has been no “cost savings” to any of these Retro programs.
Instead, the public and the State legislature have been mis-informed about the
true costs of the Retro program. If any thing, Retro programs have higher claims and costs than non-Retro programs.
· The entire Workers Comp
program is now $30 billion dollar in
debt. More precisely, the Workers Comp program has $10.8 billion in assets
and $41 billion dollars in liabilities for a deficit of $30 billion dollars
which will eventually have to be paid by our State’s tax payers.
· BIAW as well as L & I
may have violated several State laws.
We are therefore requesting that our Governor
appoint an independent investigator to look into the concerns we have raised in
this report. In particular, we ask that the assets of the BIAW and its 15
affiliates and 20 political action committees be frozen so that tax payer funds
can be protected from further diversions and returned to the State treasury as
soon as possible.
Finally, we
recommend specific Retro Reform measures which will save Washington State tax
payers over one billion dollars. For example, we ask the Governor to order L &
I to seek immediate re-imbursement for the entire $525 million in undeserved
retro subsidies.
Unfortunately, I-1033 Is Likely to Pass
I understand that a poll indicates that
I-1033 will be approved. Since most
Washington taxpayers are paying too much tax, their approval is understandable
(especially during our economic collapse).
For
more. I just watched Ken Eyman defend
I-1033 and business people oppose I-1033 to the Seattle Times editorial board. I disagree with Ken Eyman, but his
presentation was very easy to understand: most
people are paying too much tax. The
business people never addressed this fairness issue. Nor is it addressed by the Vote No on I-1033 group. Nor
by the PTA. Nor was it addressed at
a League of Women Voters Forum. Without
saying so, those who oppose I-1033 (without proposing tax reform) are proposing
that our state services be paid for by our poorest people.
If I-1033 is approved, it will further
devastate the capacities of our state and local governments to provide our
people with needed infrastructure and safety net services. We may be able to look at California to
understand Washington’s future.
The only way to recover is for civic
leaders and groups to support clean elections, tax reform and elimination of
BIAW’s financial power. Unfortunately
that has not happened. Hopefully, David
Spring’s efforts to eliminate BIAW’s financial power will be successful. But even if BIAW’s financial power is
eliminated, we will still need clean elections and tax reform.
One of my priorities would be to have
strong primary challenges to Democrats who have voted with Republicans to
oppose clean elections, to support BIAW and to refuse to consider tax
reform. Unfortunately, it is difficult
to mount primary challenges, especially without public campaign financing.
It appears that Boeing will also open
its second 787 production line in South Carolina. This can be a mixed blessing. Our Boeing workers and government would not
have to make the concessions that Boeing is demanding. Demands on our infrastructure and safety net
would be less. But we would not obtain
the jobs that a second 787 production line here would produce. Dave Thomas
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here’s the Beef
After 104
years, Nisqually estuary is being restored.
Nation
and World
Michael Moore: Our U.S. Fails Religious Morality
Friends, I'd like to have a word with those of you who
call yourselves Christians (Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Bill Maherists, etc. can
read along, too, as much of what I have to say, I'm sure, can be applied to
your own spiritual/ethical values).
In my new film I speak for the first time in one of my
movies about my own spiritual beliefs. I have always believed that one's
religious leanings are deeply personal and should be kept private. After all,
we've heard enough yammerin' in the past three decades about how one should
"behave," and I have to say I'm pretty burned out on pieties and
platitudes considering we are a violent nation who invades other countries and
punishes our own for having the audacity to fall on hard times. I'm also against any proselytizing; I
certainly don't want you to join anything I belong to. Also, as a Catholic, I
have much to say about the Church as an institution, but I'll leave that for
another day (or movie).
Amidst all the Wall Street bad guys and corrupt
members of Congress exposed in "Capitalism: A Love Story," I pose a
simple question in the movie: "Is capitalism a sin?" I go on to ask,
"Would Jesus be a capitalist?" Would he belong to a hedge fund? Would
he sell short? Would he approve of a system that has allowed the richest 1% to
have more financial wealth than the 95% under them combined?
I have come to believe that there is no getting around
the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and
Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing:
It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's left for everyone
to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting
into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother's and sister's keepers
and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if
you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time
finding the pin code to the pearly gates.
I guess that's bad news for us Americans. Here's how
we define "Blessed Are the Poor": We now have the highest
unemployment rate since 1983. There's a foreclosure filing once every 7.5
seconds. 14,000 people every day lose their health insurance. At the same time, Wall Street bankers
("Blessed Are the Wealthy"?) are amassing more and more loot
-- and they do their best to pay little or no income tax (last year
Goldman Sachs' tax rate was a mere 1%!). Would Jesus approve of this? If not,
why do we let such an evil system continue? It doesn't seem you can call
yourself a Capitalist AND a Christian -- because you cannot love your money AND
love your neighbor when you are denying your neighbor the ability to see a
doctor just so you can have a better bottom line. That's called
"immoral" -- and you are committing a sin when you benefit at the
expense of others.
When you are in church this morning, please think
about this. I am asking you to allow your "better angels" to come
forward. And if you are among the millions of Americans who are struggling to
make it from week to week, please know that I promise to do what I can to stop
this evil -- and I hope you'll join me in not giving up until everyone has a
seat at the table.
Thanks for listening. I'm off to Mass in a few hours.
I'll be sure to ask the priest if he thinks J.C. deals in derivatives or credit
default swaps. I mean, after all, he must've been good at math. How else did he
divide up two loaves of bread and five pieces of fish equally amongst 5,000
people? Either he was the first socialist or his disciples were really bad at
packing lunch. Or both. Yours, Michael Moore
See How Predatory Health Insurers
Affect Us
Excerpts from a Longer Commentary by
Dr. Paul Simpson
·
A recent study by Dartmouth Medical
School determined that 1/3 of our healthcare expenditures are for unnecessary
care (including care to avoid malpractice suits)
·
Another 1/3 of our healthcare
dollars go to profit and administrative costs for health insurers. Most of
those administrative costs are incurred in the effort to avoid insuring those
most likely to become ill and in avoiding payment for care rendered to those
they do insure.
·
The top 5 insurers in California
denied, on average, 21 per cent ($31.2 billion) of claims from 2002-2009.
·
During the first half of this year,
United Healthcare’s Pacificare denied 40 per cent of claims. The other
four big California insurers denied 30 per cent of claims.
·
A study this year by the American
Medical Association showed that American doctors spend, on average, 44 minutes
per day dealing with efforts by the insurance industry to avoid paying for
care. The cost to doctors of this effort is $78,000 per doctor per year.
·
A Commonwealth Fund study reveals
that since 2002, the average annual family premium paid for health insurance
has increased by 87 per cent, now standing at $12,200. They project that figure
will rise to $23, 800 by 2020.
·
Since 2002, profits of the top 10
health insurance companies have increased by 428 per cent
·
America’s five largest health
insurers and their trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, spent over $6
million in lobbying during the first three months of 2009
·
Pfizer, the world’s biggest
pharmaceutical manufacturer spent more than $9 million on lobbying during the
last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.
·
Pfizer just received the largest
fine ever in world history, $2.2 billion for rigging the results of medical
research to favor its products and for making false claims about the benefits
of its drugs. $2.2 billion is two weeks of income for Pfizer
·
According to a Harvard School of
Public health report, over 100,000 Americans die annually due to medical
mistakes. Other analyses have suggested that figure is as high as 1 million
deaths yearly.
·
22,000 die annually because they
have no medical insurance.
·
President Obama recently announced
that new U.S Census Bureau data shows 6 million Americans have lost their
health insurance in the past 12 months.
·
A recent study of U.S. medical
bankruptcies by researchers at Harvard Medical School published in the August American Journal of Medicine showed that:
·
In 1981, 8 per cent of bankruptcies
resulted from medical bills
·
In 2001, 46 per cent
·
In 2007, 62 per cent
·
Between 2001 and 2007 the share of
bankruptcies which could be attributed to medical costs rose 50 per cent
·
37.2 million Americans were sent to
collection agencies for medical debts in 2003.
·
At onset of illness, 78 per cent of
those who later filed for bankruptcy had medical insurance. 3 per cent had no
insurance because pre-existing conditions prevented their getting it. Although
we keep hearing that most of the 47 million Americans without health insurance
have simply chosen not to purchase it, only 0.3 per cent of those in medical
bankruptcy had chosen not to buy insurance because they felt that coverage was
not necessary.
·
From 1980 to 2006, radiation
exposure to Americans per capita from medical tests increased more than
fourfold
·
A 2008 study from the Archives of
Internal Medicine showed that women who got mammograms every two years over a 6
year period were significantly more likely to get invasive breast cancer than
those who got mammograms only once at the end of the 6 year study period. The
authors attributed this effect to the possibility that some breast cancers in
the latter group had spontaneously resolved. They were later taken to task by a
letter writer for failing to even consider that the increase in breast cancers
could have resulted from the increased radiation exposure of the more frequent
mammograms.
·
A 2007 study from Columbia
University Medical Center in the New England Journal of Medicine calculates
that 1.5-2 per cent of all cancers in the U.S. may be caused by radiation
exposure from CT scans. Another study has concluded that 1/3 of CT scans are
unnecessary, with most of those being ordered in the practice of “defensive
medicine”
·
A 2009 study in the Journal of the
American Medical Association found that 95 per cent of emergency room doctors
ordering CT scans and 50 per cent of radiologists performing the scans were
unaware that CT scans cause radiation exposure. Paul
Simpson
China’s Political System May Work
Better than Ours
As governments across the West have become
increasingly bogged down trying to fix a broken economy, China has been
formulating a whole series of new, well-considered policies and forging ahead
with bold decision-making to tackle one daunting problem after another.
Triumphant from the 2008 Olympic Games, its leaders have undertaken the most
impressive infrastructure program in history, implemented a highly successful
economic-stimulus package, and now are moving into the forefront of green
technology, renewable energy and energy efficiency — the activities out of
which the new global economy is certain to grow.
In short, China is veritably humming with energy,
money, plans, leadership and forward motion, while the West seems
paralyzed. It is intellectually and
politically unsettling to realize that, if the West cannot quickly straighten
out its systems of government, only politically unreformed states like China
will be able to make the decisions that a nation needs to survive in today's
high-speed, high-tech, increasingly globalized world. China’s
decision to go green may be the equivalent of the Soviet Union‘s 1957 launch of
Sputnik. Will we react in the same
way as we did to Sputnik to quickly create a competitive green program?
China’s
economy is both more regulated and more competitive than ours. And its corruption is much less than
ours. While we are suffering from the
results of our corrupt lack of regulation, China is responding positively to
the decline in its exports. While our
reforms are stymied by partisan opposition, China is quickly implementing
reforms. For
more.
There
is also the possibility that China will evolve into a two party system, with
one party representing the desire to maintain financial equality among its
people and regions, and the other focused upon further development of the
already most developed areas.
IMF Is Imposing Anti-Growth
Policies on Poor Countries.
A new discussion
paper from the Center
for Economic and Policy Research finds that 31 of 41 of countries with
current International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreements have been subjected to
pro-cyclical macroeconomic policies that, during the current global recession,
would be expected to have exacerbated economic slowdowns. The pro-cyclical
conditions noted in the report are either pro-cyclical fiscal or monetary
policies.
"More than a decade after the Asian Economic Crisis brought world
attention to major IMF policy mistakes, the IMF is still making similar
mistakes in many countries," CEPR Co-Director and lead author of the
paper, economist Mark
Weisbrot said. "The IMF supports fiscal stimulus and expansionary
policies in the rich countries, but has a much different attitude toward low-and-middle
income countries."
The paper, "IMF-Supported
Macroeconomic Policies and the World Recession: A Look at Forty-One Borrowing
Countries," shows that in some cases, the IMF had relied on overly
optimistic growth forecasts - significantly underestimating the impact of the
world recession on borrowing countries. The paper also notes that in some cases
the Fund later loosened its policy conditions after the economic performance
was much worse than anticipated.
"It is time for the Fund to re-examine the criteria, assumptions, and
economic analysis that it uses to prescribe macroeconomic policies in
developing countries," the paper states.
The paper arises out of discussions with the IMF over the Fund's recommended
macroeconomic policies during the course of the current world recession. In a
panel discussion held on June
19, 2009, there was disagreement between the IMF and CEPR over whether or
to what extent the IMF has supported pro-cyclical policies in borrowing
countries during the current world recession. CEPR agreed to take a
comprehensive look at current IMF agreements, as a prelude to further
discussions with the Fund on this issue.
The papers' authors do have praise for the IMF's actions in one area: making
available for borrowing some $283 billion of Special Drawing Rights (SDR's -
IMF reserve assets that can be exchanged for hard currency) to member countries
without conditions. The IMF's unconditional lending and injecting liquidity
into the world economy with the SDR's, in a time of world recession, represents
an unprecedented step forward. "The next step should be to eliminate
harmful conditions attached to other IMF lending facilities," the paper
states.
The paper examines IMF agreements with the countries Afghanistan, Armenia,
Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Burundi, The Central African
Republic, Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, El
Salvador, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti,
Hungary, Iceland, Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique,
Mongolia, Niger, Pakistan, Romania, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Republic of
Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Ukraine, and
Zambia.
What Afghan Strategy Should U.S.
Adopt?
It is tempting to just focus
upon preventing al-Qaeda from re-establishing bases in Afghanistan. This would just require maintaining a presence
in a few places, from which any bases could be quickly identified and
destroyed. With this limited objective,
the Taliban would likely take control of much of Afghanistan, particularly due
to the corruption of the Harmid Karzai government.
As a Liberal and community developer, I would hate to see the Taliban
be able to impose their Conservative policies on Afghanistan. In the absence of any global police force, I
would prefer that our U.S. resist any control of Afghanistan by the
Taliban. I believe a major part of that
effort must be directed to eliminating Karzai’s corruption. I believe that there are many ways we can
pressure Karzai, using both carrots and sticks.
If a clean Afghan government can be established, the Afghan people will
prefer it to the Taliban.
However I respect those who prefer a more limited role. I will include petitions for such a role in
this newsletter for those who want to send them. Dave Thomas
Here’s the Beef
Broad FBI
surveillance rules are unconstitutional.
House legislation to
defund ACORN could also defund majority of top government contractors.
Retiring
baby boomers are moving to rural small town areas, which may make them less
Conservative.
Americans
are finding many ways to cooperate instead of simply competing.
Having lost $14 trillion in housing and stock
market wealth, Americans are recovering $2 trillion per quarter plus saving a
6% rate. Increases in the index of
leading indicators suggest that our recovery may be quicker than many are
predicting. For
more.
Americans
are finding lots of ways to reduce their gasoline consumption & greenhouse
gas emissions.
An increasing number of
businesses support action to counter global warming.
Wealthy
people are major contributors to resource depletion.
International
Monetary Fund is still imposing anti-economic growth policies on poor
countries.
United
Nations rates U.S. 13th in quality of life.
Our
Liberal Spirit
Should We Argue with Conservatives?
I
believe that when running for office against a Conservative, a Liberal
candidate should express Liberal values and general priorities. Then without presenting a detailed platform,
the candidate should focus upon attacking the Conservative candidate’s values
and priorities. This puts the
Conservative on the defensive, without offering details which can be
misrepresented and attacked by the Conservative. Just before the election, the Liberal
candidate can offer a more detailed platform, too late for it to become a
target.
But
election races have not yet begun. Many
tea bag and other Conservatives are so out of touch with mainstream American values
and priorities that the more they express themselves, the more they alienate
the majority of Americans. For
more. When our opponents are
destroying themselves, we should stay out of the way.
As
long as Conservatives are turning off mainstream Americans, it is a waste of
time for Liberals to argue with them. We
won’t change their minds. We can better
spend our time becoming better informed and organized to advance our values and
priorities. Most Americans will be more
impressed by our Liberal thinking, action and success than by any arguing we do
with Conservatives. For
more. Let’s stay out of the Tea Bag
gutter, unless there are signs that that mainstream Americans are somehow
attracted to their lies and hatred. Dave Thomas
Recommended Books – See our list of books for liberals
Steven
Hill, 2002, Fixing Elections, the Failure
of Winner Take All Politics
Steven
Hill, 2006, 10 Steps to Repair American
Democracy
Steven
Hill’s two books present reforms to make our government more democratic.