Category Archives: Politics

Be thankful, because it’s not all bad

By Steve Brawner

© 2017 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Problems are not hard to find, but there’s also much good in the world if we look for it. In the spirit of this Thanksgiving season, let’s do that for a change.

In Iraq and Syria, ISIS is all but defeated. After taunting the world with their cruelty and barbarism, the jihadists have lost one city after another. When Iraqi and American-led coalition forces last week retook the city of Rahway, ISIS was left with only isolated rural areas in that country, and Syria is in a similar situation. Remember that black-clad spokesman who would threaten the world and then behead an unfortunate victim, all captured on video? He’s long dead, and the fighters that remain are now surrendering.

The defeat of ISIS is liberating Iraqis and Syrians from that horrible group. Meanwhile, millions worldwide are being freed from another type of bondage. In 1990, 1.9 billion people lived in extreme poverty on less than $1.25 a day, according to MDG Monitor, published by various United Nations agencies. In 2015, that number had been more than cut in half, to 836 million. That’s more than a billion fewer people, even as the world population has grown. In 1990, nearly half of all people in developing nations lived in extreme poverty. By 2015, that figure had been reduced to 14 percent.  Continue reading →

America’s health care sickness: Paid to treat, not heal

RosenthalBy Steve Brawner

Dr. Denise Faustman believes type 1 diabetes might could be cured using a tuberculosis vaccine already sold as a generic. Unfortunately, she’s had trouble obtaining funding for research. Too many people have a financial incentive to keep the status quo.

Faustman, a Harvard Medical School researcher, found that  the vaccine, long sold on the market, showed promise when tested on mice.

That would be big news, especially for the 1.25 million Americans living with type 1 diabetes. And it did cause a stir when she published the initial results – in 2001.

However, the pharmaceutical industry wasn’t interested in funding further research because it didn’t see a pathway to profits using a drug that’s already on the generic market. The big medical foundations haven’t wanted to fund her research because they’re allied with the pharmaceutical industry – in fact, often financially invested in its products. Despite the roadblocks, Faustman managed to find enough funding to publish further research in 2012. Now she’s trying to raise money through her website, www.faustmanlab.org.

Rosenthal: They’re paid to treat, not heal

Faustman’s story is one anecdote in “An American Sickness,” a book by Elisabeth Rosenthal, a medical doctor who became a New York Times reporter and is now editor in chief of Kaiser Health News. If you want to better understand why the American health care system is failing, read this 330-page book. Continue reading →

Not if you don’t cut spending

By Steve Brawner

The economy grew 3 percent in the third quarter, which was pretty good – almost as good as the second quarter, when it grew 3.1 percent. The past four quarters, in fact, have been better than the previous four. Meanwhile, the federal budget deficit was bigger in 2017 than it was in 2016.

Hmm. That’s weird, because we’re being told that economic growth by itself reduces deficits.

Here’s the background. President Trump and congressional Republicans have been pushing for tax cuts. To get there, they needed to pass a budget that would allow the cuts to pass with a simple majority. Otherwise, the Democrats would filibuster.

The House of Representatives voted for a budget that included a framework for both tax cuts and offsetting spending cuts. On paper, the yearly deficits would end by 2027, though the overall debt, now $20.4 trillion and much bigger by 2027, would remain.

Then the Senate passed its own budget that includes a framework for tax cuts, which are popular, without spending cuts, which are not. In fact, it calls for a total of only $1 billion in cuts out of a potential $47 trillion in spending. That’s a cut of .00002 percent. If you weighed 250 pounds and were trying to lose weight, that would be .005 percent of a pound. That’s some kind of painless diet. Arkansas Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman voted for it. The House of Representatives, including all four members of the state’s delegation, quickly voted to shelve their own plan in favor of the Senate’s. Continue reading →

Little Rock’s base hit

By Steve Brawner

Let’s start with two assumptions. One is that we live in an attention-based economy where having a message isn’t enough if no one notices it. The other is that what’s good for Little Rock is generally good for Arkansas.

Which brings us to the capital city’s “rejection” of Amazon.

You may be familiar with the story. The Seattle-based tech giant announced it is opening a second headquarters and invited communities to apply. (Which of course would include offering generous tax breaks and government subsidies). The company promised to hire 50,000 workers, many of them highly paid, and invest $5 billion. The winner will be transformed, as Seattle has been, which is why 238 cities have submitted applications.

Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, facing a tough re-election campaign against two credible opponents so far, initially said his city would apply. But Little Rock didn’t meet some of Amazon’s specifications, and it was obvious the city couldn’t compete against places like Boston and Austin, Texas, that are bigger and cooler. Continue reading →

Why is this man so comfortable?

Asa Hutchinson

Gov. Asa Hutchinson visits with reporters Oct. 17.

By Steve Brawner

This is the part of the calendar when elected officials often are more worried about campaigning than governing. That’s not the case with Gov. Asa Hutchinson – not yet, anyway.

Hutchinson’s apparent peace of mind – with the campaigning part of his job, anyway – was reflected during an Oct. 17 sit-down with reporters. With the Republican primary half a year away, he might have used the occasion to toss red meat to the base. Instead, he talked policy. He stated his opposition to using general revenues for highways. He also offered assurances that his Arkansas Works health program would not be harmed by President Trump’s ending some subsidies for insurance companies.

That’s boring government stuff, not campaign stuff.

Why is Hutchinson so comfortable with the state of his campaign? Several reasons. Continue reading →