03/19/2010 12:30 pm
Culture
The View From Ishtar, by Liz Peek
Liz reports to wOw from Jordan, where the health-care issue seems worlds away.
The Monastery at Petra, Jordan © Shutterstock
Editor’s Note: Liz Peek is a financial columnist.
Viewed from afar, the health-care fight appears no less ugly and divisive than it does up close. News that President Obama and the Democrats continue to muscle through a bill opposed by the majority of Americans, using unthinkable political tactics and arguing misleading cost estimates, is disheartening. The party that has had control of all three branches of government has wasted a year – a year of trial for the United States and a year during which our unemployed millions would doubtless have sought a different agenda.I am glad to be visiting Jordan this week, where the health-care free-for-all is but a footnote in the news. Instead, it is the recent foreign-policy setbacks of the Obama administration that have attracted local attention. The visit by Vice President Joe Biden to the Middle East was tainted by Israel’s ill-considered announcement of plans to build another 1,600 Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. The settlements are viewed by the Muslim world as effectively crushing hopes of a two-state solution, since East Jerusalem is expected to serve as the capital for the Palestinian homeland. The timing was unfortunate, as Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has acknowledged, and led to a bitter tit-for-tat. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton harshly condemned the decision, but then retreated to reaffirming our close relations with the Jewish state.
More recently, Clinton has been embroiled in another fracas caused by awkward timing. As she met with Russia’s foreign minister, Prime Minister Putin announced that his country would start up a nuclear power plant it is constructing in Iran – contrary to the wishes of the United States. The U.S. has hoped to win backing from Russia and China for joint opposition to Iran’s nuclear program, as well as for increased sanctions against the defiant nation.
At the same time, a front-page article in the English-language [itals]Jordan Times describes the cat-and-mouse game Syria is playing with the U.S. For months, Damascus has been encouraging rapprochement with the U.S., implying that peace with Israel could follow. Now that outreach seems to have fallen victim to Syria’s calculated wooing of Iran and Turkey, which support Syria’s ties to Hezbollah in Lebanon. A Syrian commentator is quoted as saying, “The political reading of the regime is that Syria’s continuity is tied to Middle East forces, mainly Turkey and Iran. Washington is no longer considered fearsome.”
Not considered fearsome? The United States? Has President Obama been so keen to salve the diplomatic wounds left by his predecessor, so eager to reach out to our enemies and so careless of our allies that we are now neutered? Has the deterioration in our finances undermined our leading role on the world’s stage? Or has the preoccupation with passing health-care legislation so distracted this administration that our global relations have become an absolute muddle? I leave it for the very intelligent wOw audience to figure that one out.
Meanwhile, it is refreshing to be in a country where the government is committed to furthering its social agenda through economic development. Jordan is a Muslim country bordered by Israel, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Remarkably, the country has managed to maintain its neutrality in most local conflicts, and consequently draws visitors from all over the region, as well as from Russia and Europe. Jordan, unlike many of its neighbors, has been at peace with Israel since 1994. Because of its location, it has suffered great floods of refugees from Palestine and more recently from Iraq (some estimate the latter as close to one million), causing huge strain on the country’s infrastructure.
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Liz - Thank you for your interesting article.
I have only a couple of comments to make. The first is in reaction to the decision by the Russians to build a nuclear POWER plant in Iran. It is my understanding (and please someone tell if I am not correct) that Iran’s supply of oil is diminishing rapidly. I’ve read that by the middle of the decade, she will not longer have enough oil for export …. all that Iran produces will be needed for their own consumption. Therefore, what is the alternative for their future energy needs? Nuclear is the cleanest and the cheapest. It is a dilemma. The country will build nuclear because they need the power; yet, how is the world to know or, better yet, how will the UN or Israel prevent the diversion of nuclear power into nuclear weapons?
My second comment is simply about the fact that Jordan for all of these years (and yes, all these centuries) has managed to maintain an active dialogue and relationship with all of her neighbors, including, of course, in modern times … Israel. Did not the late King used to holiday along side Jewish vacationers on the Red Sea? What is that old saying, "no war without Egypt and no peace without Jordan". It would seem that the Jordanians are maintaining their relevance in the hotbed of the Middle East. It would now appear with the very high literacy rate, that Jordanians will continue to work abroad (and send money home) while the Palestinians continue to be hired as domestics throughout the region.
As to the health care bill, I wish it WOULD JUST GO AWAY! Sadly, this horrid piece of legislation might very well pass. Still thinking 50-50. And, if it passes, the next Congress better pass legislation immediately to counteract some of the nasty side effects that are coming the way of the individual and small business owner who generally buy their own insurance. We should not be forced to participate in any damn government plan because of the expected (and already here) rising costs to our premiums; the government wants to force us out of our existing plans in order to broaden the enrollment in the government plan so that the uninsured will be able to purchase insurance (which many will not) at what is considered an "affordable rate" … whereas we independents will be forced into higher costs or, sadly, less covered medical care that we enjoy now.
Bonnie, Iran has the third largest oil reserves in the world. What is diminishing is their dependence on imported refined oil products. Within a year or two, they hope to be able to export gasoline. Iran’s economy depends on oil exports. One of the reasons they want nuclear power is to feed their growing electricity needs without burning through their oil reserves. I am sure that is only secondary, but it is the only valid reason they have for nuclear power.
Without the cooperation of Russia and China, there is no way - through coercion - to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons.
We are the ones looking at diminishing reserves, which is why it is critical for us to completely migrate off the oil standard for personal transportation within the next twenty years.
This is probably the best guarentee we will get that at least the Russian-built facilities will be civilian. Russia has ties to Iran that run too deep for them to go along with extreme sanctions.
Likewise, China is limited by it’s dependence on Iranian oil. China is building oil refineries in Iran
ZeraLee - Thank you. I was having a difficult time in believing that the oil deposits in Iran were running dry. It just did not make sense. And, yes, I do realize that the major source of revenue for the country is derived from oil exportation. Yet, I heard or read the story of diminishing Iranian oil reserves several times during the last couple of years.
However, neither are American oil reserves in danger of being depleted. With that new oil field find in North Dakota, which remains largely untapped, America will not have to face that specific crisis for decades.
www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news2.13s.html
However, I do agree that the more America can transfer her source for energy to alternative fuels would be beneficial to all.
As for Iran and the Russians, do you trust them? I do not. I do agree with you that Russian ties to Iran are long-standing; it is doubtful if Russia would cooperate in the enactment of sanctions, let alone abide by them even if they were imposed by a group of nations outside of the UN. It is a dilemma.
Interesting article. Personally, I don’t think that there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be neutral in world conflicts. I feel that our country should do so more often. It saddened me that Israel would continue to build in an area that is supposed to occupied by the Palestinians.The peace process is so fragile there. To me it’s almost a declaration of war. On the Situation Room’s blog a couple of days ago, people posted their thoughts regarding Israel’s actions, and most people were dead set against it.
I am so tired of hearing about this health reform that I don’t know what to do. We need health reform, but we need to get it right.
As the Republican Party memo stated so clearly a couple of weeks ago, the Republicans are counting on the support of the undereducated who are easily duped.
Waiting for the "right" bill to come along — would be like waiting for all the traffic lights to be green before you left your house to get somewhere.
KatyTk - Get your facts straight. The increased premiums are already occurring for the independent heath insurance customer. And no, I do not exaggerate. What really bothers me most is that those folks who support the new plan refuse to believe that it is going to cost money. Lots of money, trillions. And the cleaning up of Medicare fraud will not pay for Obamacare. People believe what they want to believe. Some of us get our facts straight especially if it is our health care that is being targeted by the bill.
Paul Ryan last evening on The Charlie Rose Program said the same thing. Costs are going to rise and for some, the individual and the small business owner, they are going to go up higher and faster! Some folks are enamored of good deeds such as providing "affordable" (debatable) health care to 30 million citizens … as long as someone else pays for it or the costs can be fudged by an excise taxe that will not kick in until 2018 … assuming, of course, that a future President and future Congress will agree to enact legislation to activate the added tax of income to include employer provided health insurance. Ridiculous to believe such an unlikely event will occur. This Congress cannot force a future Congress to pass legislation so that THIS CONGRESS does not have to face their middle-class constituencies with an increase in the income tax which would kill the health care bill immediately.
My facts are quite true, regardless of what you choose to believe.
Bonnie — the fact that individual premiums are through the roof (for those who can actually get it and don’t have a pre-existing condition) is one of the main reasons we need the healthcare reform bill.
Of course it is going to cost money — healthcare costs are through the roof. If we don’t do something now, it’s only going to get worse.
What makes Paul Ryan an "expert"?
KayeTk - Rep. Ryan is an economist who has earned the respect of many in Congress. The President has selected him as a representative to service on the Presidential Commission to determine ways and means of lowering the deficit.
Do you not realize that the only way the new government based insurance company (Obamacare) will be enabled to insure 30 million Americans is to increase the numbers who will join the government based program … by millions of other Americans who currently pay for their own insurance? In addition, there is an incentive to have companies offer their employees a raise in salary so that when their company paid for health insurance plan is cancelled, those same employees will have the money to join the government plan … thus, achieving two objectives of Obamacare. The first being to increase the enrollment in the government plan and, secondly, to realize the benefit from all those increases in salary which will then be taxed as regular income!
The health care plan is flawed … rotten to the core. Health care insurance reform is needed in this country. Obamacare is more geared toward providing health insurance to the currently uninsured …. and not to attack the costs. There is only one way for folks, who are facing higher costs due to Obamacare, in addition to the higher costs that are already facing, is to drop their current coverage and join the government plan.
Bonnie — do you not realize that the best thing that could happen is for employers to get out of the business of providing health insurance? One of the reasons health care costs have skyrocketed is that for years, individuals were not aware of the actual cost of their health care.
KayeTK - Theoretically, I might agree with your proposal that employers cease providing health insurance to their employees. However, I am a realist. In the foreseeable future, that option has a zero chance of becoming a reality.
There is a vital need for the Congress to stop politicking and write legislation aimed at enacting necessary reforms to the medical insurance industry … not try to obliterate that same industry from existence.
Bonnie — the only reason we are not seeing real reform when it comes to the healthcare bill is that the Republicans have flatly stated as a group, they will not support any meaningful reform. They are not interested in bi-partisanship.
If the lies and fabrications stopped, people would understand clearly how it would be to their benefit to not have health insurance tied to their employment — many, many people already understand that. But, it is in the health insurance industry’s best interest to keep health insurance tied to employment.
No one is trying to obliterate the health insurance industry — although, I’m not sure that is such a bad idea. Right now the health insurance industry literally who lives and who dies in this country, it is a disgrace.
Congress has the lowest