Five things Americans don't want to hear, but must

Let's face it, we're moving forward into times where a whole lot of things are going to change.

At state and federal levels, the budgets are in deficits, serious deficits.

Government workers are having benefits severely cut back as well as jobs and pay. Ditto for private sector.

There are solutions to these problems. There are better times ahead, but we have to, as Americans and Minnesotans, understand some hard truths.

1. Medicare must be cut. 

Yes. It's a great program. It has served many of our families and most importantly our elderly. But the exponential growth in the number of people who will qualify will create expenses that exceed our ability to pay for them.

Smart people and political leaders are trying to figure out how to deliver the same services more efficiently, but it may mean you talk to a diagnosis nurse on an 800 number before you get the personal meeting with your favorite doctor.

2. We can't completely protect ourselves from terrorists and others around the world.

We can, to a certain extent, but the number of groups, the number of unstable countries and the risk of nuclear weapons getting into the wrong hands are all on the rise.

It helps that we're trying to forge peacekeeping transitions in a lot of these countries, mostly Middle East, but it's hard to say this risk is decreasing.

3. We can't rely on the stock market as much as in the past as a solid investment for our retirement savings.

This confidence was shaken after the 2001 terrorist attacks and was somewhat regained until the financial crisis of 2008.

For years, baby boomers were told to leave your investments in one place. Over time the stock market is the best place.

I'm no expert, but it seems to me, the confidence in the stock markets has eroded with 2001 and 2008 events.

There are thousands of people who invested for their children's college education in 1995 who have a "cost basis" that is above what they have in that account. In other words, they lost money.

They will not have great confidence about investing again.

4. Voting matters less than it used to.

Corporations and organizations will have unlimited financial power, thanks to the Supreme Court, to influence elections. Corporations were cleared by the court to spend as much as they want on influencing elections, and in many cases, it can be kept secret.

5. These first four problems cannot be solved by the same old "passive American" democracy - that is, wait for a while, let the politicians handle it and because they want your vote, they'll fix it.

No. Americans are going to have to get much more "physically involved" in democracy in the future if we want change. It may be protesting at capitols or organizing groups over the Internet to recall politicians, but a "vote" may not be enough.

Democracy will require tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

"Public influence groups" will need to be formed with like-minded individuals to counter the power of  "private interest groups."

If this all sounds a little depressing, that's not the intent. Rather, I write these things because I have great confidence in the American tradition of democracy directed by the people.

Happy 4th of July!

The most informative government shutdown/budget stalemate articles

Here's what I'm reading to stay informed on the impending government shutdown.

Eric Black's MinnPost story on Supreme Court setting a hearing on constitutionality of judiciary's role in keeping some parts of state running. 7/11/11. Major implications.

Another solid explanation of the impasse regards policy between Dayton and GOP by Elizabeth Dunbar, MPR. 7/11/11

Another good story by Elizabeth Dunbar of MPR on some real costs of a state shutdown. 

Star Tribune solid explanation of complicated budget numbers. GOP spending "not an increase."

Here's a solid opinion piece by Jim Mulder, former Independence Party candidate for lieutenant governor. It's a viable solution to the state budget stalemate.

Another good Doug Grow analysis from MinnPost. Friday, July 1.

Doug Grow's excellent analysis piece in MinnPost, Thursday, June 16.

Good info from people smarter than me: Medicare

Here's one from experts at the Concord Coalition, the nonpartisan budget watchdog group.

Contrary to popular belief and Michele Bachmann, the previously inaccurately described "death panels" are not, cannot cut Medicare, but can and are needed to offer a promising way to curb health care costs and inefficiency.

Here's a solid article by Joshua Gordon of Concord Coalition showing these kind of "advisory" groups are often useful and key to solving big problems but are demagogued away by politicians.

Gov. Dayton at Society of Professional Journalists banquet

A few quick observations from Gov. Mark Dayton's talk to the Society of Professional Journalists awards banquet in St. Paul Tuesday.

I talked to Dayton a month or so ago in Mankato. At that time, he said there was a 50-50 chance of coming to an agreement on the budget with Republicans.

Asked for an update Tuesday, Dayton said the odds are "less than 50-50."

That's alarming. It appears a government shutdown is imminent.

The other item of interest that drew the attention of other journalists at the event was the elimination of the early childhood funding bill (supported by both Democrats and Republicans and big money players like the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce).

Dayton said the bill was killed by a "tangential" fringe group, and Republicans bought the groups ideas.

Those ideas have been reported elsewhere as ones where the group feels all moms should stay at home to teach their children, and that government shouldn't do what parents should do.

Human services budget seemed hijacked

Reviewing what the Legislature passed as a health and human services budget and Gov. Mark Dayton's veto of the plan, I get the feeling some good Republican ideas were sort of hijacked by over-reaching policy provisions that supported a national political campaign against the Affordable Health Care Act.

Whenever I've seen or heard Republican Chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee Jim Abeler, I've been impressed with his thoughtfulness. I've been convinced he sincerely wants to help people who can't afford health care to get treated and keep the costs reasonable to taxpayers.

That's why I was surprised to see things in the bill like the repeal of Gov. Mark Dayton's executive order on the early opt-in on Medicaid, something that would save the state millions and allow Minnesota to lead in health care cost reform.

It was disappointing to see provisions in the bill that Dayton described as "divisive policy provisions" that included prohibitions on stem cell research and provisions to somehow prevent the state from participating in the federal health care law.

Clearly, these were provisions that Dayton told legislators would draw a veto. They were in there anyway.

Abeler actually had some pretty good ideas in terms of controlling costs of state provided health care for the poor.

The experiment last year with GAMC patients that provided block grants to participating hospitals who worked with all providers as a team and improved outcomes at lower costs showed some success.

It's downfall was that outstate hospitals didn't participate because they said they couldn't afford a 50 percent reduction in their reimbursements.

That's the kind of reform that could have advanced the ball forward on this huge part of the state budget. But for some reason, all these controversial, divisive policy provisions got in there and scuttled the bill.

Obviously, a final bill needs to be reworked. Let's hope the political forces of the Republican Party let a smart guy like Abeler do his work.

State budget dilemma: here's the crucial info

Outstate would be hurt more by GOP all-cuts budget.

14 Chambers of Commerce, many from outstate took the unusual and politically risky move of opposing Republican budget plan. Here's the story.

And here's a great backgrounder from Arne Carlson on the kind of fiscal situation Gov. Tim Pawlenty left us with. (Gives whole new meaning to Pawlenty's pronouncement in recent presidential bid that we have too much debt. He was the king of taking on debt!).

Carlson makes a key point: some budget cuts cost more in the future. Take cuts below needs to road funding during Pawlenty's administration.

Some 700 miles of highway are now in "poor" condition because we've never met the goal of 2 percent in poor in the last eight years.

When a state highway needs an overlay, if it's not in "poor" condition it costs about $130,000 per mile, according to MnDOT. When it goes to poor condition it costs three to six times more per mile, again, according to MnDOT.

The same thing can be said for health care. When Republicans reformed GAMC last year, they had to set aside $30 million for hospitals to draw from for all the folks that no longer qualified for GAMC as they came to hospital emergency rooms.

Some budget cutting does make sense - duplication of programs etc - but some absolutely makes no sense because we're not analyzing how it creates higher costs in the future.

Here's Dayton's detailed responses to Republican budget and story on same. His veto messages are unusual in that they carry very specific numbers, estimates from revenue and are worth reading.

Story with links to veto messages.

Sister paper in Joplin in the eye of the storm

Eighteen staffers who work at the Joplin Globe lost their homes Sunday. Another eight sustained severe damage.

Many came into work Sunday night to put out the newspaper nonetheless.

Here's a first person account of surviving storm by Joplin reporter.

The Globe is owned by The Free Press parent company, CNHI, and I've had different conversations with the staff and editors there over the years.

They are now dealing with battles on two fronts: many have friends and family whose homes and families have been devastated by the tornado, but as always, they're dedicating to informing their readers at this very critical time.

They're no doubt working tirelessly around the clock. Here's their web site http://www.joplinglobe.com/

I can only imagine what they are going through. I remember when the St. Peter tornado hit in 1998, though Mankato was not damaged, we had staffers who lived in St. Peter.

Newsrooms, like other places, can get a bit chaotic during these times. Who's available to cover what? How do we split it up? How do we convince authorities to let us through? Is the equipment and machinery working?

It's a very difficult time when newspapers have to cover the disasters that affect their staff personally. But it's no surprise they rise to the occasion. We often see the need to inform the public at these times are paramount. People need to know what happened, and more importantly that help is on the way.

The newspaper gives them something that is familiar, and it is one of those times when the community is drawn together by ink and paper.

We suspect the folks at the Joplin Globe will leave bundles of papers on downtown corners where they can be picked up by anyone, subscriber or not.

We've offered our help in whatever ways might be needed. Our company executives have also started a fund for families.

We can only keep our colleagues and the folks in Joplin in our thoughts and prayers.