Day 9... Dear Mr. President

Day 9

Dear Mr. President

Some of the things I discuss are very trivial compared to the problems you have to deal with on a daily basis… quite frankly I don’t know how you do it, but I’m very grateful that you do.

On day 2 I told you about my brother Charlie passing away from the stress of not being able to find a job in the last year and a half.

Today I want to tell you about a remarkable member of Congress, Sam Farr. Sam is the Congressman for the 17^th District, a district that covers Santa Cruz, CA. On April 18, Congressman Farr sent a letter to Charlie’s partner Kari… here’s what it said.

Dear Kari:

My profound sympathies go out to you upon the loss of your partner, Charles Stuart Fields. He will be remembered by the love of family and friends.

The death of a loved one is always difficult, in part because we rarely have the time to properly prepare ourselves for their departure. I understand your grief because I, too, have lost many close to me, including my father, mother and youngest sister. I hope your fond memories and the support of our local community can in some way ease your loss.

Additionally, please extend my condolences to the rest of your family. If there is anything that my wife, Shary, or I may do to be of help to you, I hope you will not hesitate to let me know.

Sincerely,

SAM FARR

Member of Congress

I have never heard of a Congressperson sending such a letter. Kari was shocked and mystified at how Congressman Farr learned of her loss. I can also tell you, Kari was unbelievably grateful for his thoughtfulness, and the fact that he offered not only his help, but that of his wife Shary, too.

Unfortunately I live in the 3^rd district and my Congressman is Dan Lungren, one of the more unpleasant, disingenuous, and condescending members. I can’t even imagine him doing anything so kind and generous. I sincerely hope Dr. Ami Bara kicks his behind in the next election.

The point is Mr. President… the people are hurting, they desperately need jobs, health care, mortgage relief, etc… etc… but this wonderful, kind, thoughtful gesture from Congressman Farr says volumes about his character. Even if it’s just something that he has his staff do, and he just signs the letters, it’s still remarkably kind, and we need more Congress people like him.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

The Gadfly Granny

P.S. I told Kari to ask Congressman Farr to find her a job… I hope she does.

Day 8... Dear Mr. President

Day 8

Dear Mr. President,

Yesterday I came down pretty hard on you regarding the lack of “Shared Sacrifice” by the rich, Wall Street, Banks, and large corporations making obscene profits while paying little or no taxes.

Today I want to talk about one of the things you did to stimulate the economy that has worked. The first one that comes to mind is the auto industry bailout. So may people (well let’s be honest… the GOP) lamented that “Government” didn’t know anything about the auto industry, and while that’s true… Government did know that letting the auto industry fail would have meant disaster to several states in the Midwest, devastating their economies even further, and causing untold hardship on thousands of working families.

I know General Motors has paid back the bailout funds with interest, and managed to turn a profit of over $3 Billion dollars by producing “fuel efficient” cars.

So my question today is… why don’t we hear more about the successes like GM? Why do we only hear from the GOP about the failures? The GOP says that big government is not to be trusted, that big government inhibits the success of the private sector. I say… tell that to the auto workers that still have their jobs because you had the guts to bail their industry out.

My suggestion, Mr. President, is that you need to do a better job of “getting the word out” about what has worked, because if all the people hear, is the noise from the GOP, then that’s what the people will believe. Don’t let their rhetoric go unchallenged. 

This is just one small example of what “The Government” has done for average working Americans… you need to tell the rest of the story, and you can start with Medicare… a “fabulous” program… not perfect, but dog-gone good.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

The Gadfly Granny

Day 7... Dear Mr. President

Day 7

Dear Mr. President,

We’ve all heard the phase, and the call for, “shared sacrifice”… we’ve heard it from you, the Republicans, Democrats, and virtually anyone that needs to balance a budget, including every American family.

Here’s what the people hear when Washington talks about ‘sharing sacrifices’… “slash Medicare, slash Social Security, slash education, slash job training, slash parks, slash day-care, slash Planned Parenthood, and slash anything and everything that benefit ‘the people’. 

Here’s what we don’t hear from the politicos in Washington… reign in Wall Street, close the loop holes for tax dodgers like G.E., Exxon, B of A, Chevron, Boeing, Valero, Goldman Sachs, Carnival, FedEx, ConocoPhillips and Citigroup, and the list goes on. We don’t hear from politicians how they’re going to sacrifice, but we, ‘the people’, need to learn to do without affordable health care, without affordable housing, without affordable drugs, without an affordable education for our children, and any other public program they deem unnecessary.

Once again this is an area where ‘trickle down’ doesn’t work, and ‘trickle up’ is impossible. The sacrifice doesn’t start at the top from those who can afford it the most, it starts at the bottom, from those who can afford it the least. And worst of all it starts with the kids and hurts them the most. When families can’t even afford to stay in their own homes because they can’t get the banks to help with loan modifications, or mortgage refinancing…. Who do you think it hurts the most? It hurts families with children. And yet, the banks got the  ‘bail out money’. Did that money ‘trickle down’ to ordinary citizens? No!

Politicians are hurting the most vulnerable segment of the population… children. How can they get away with this abuse of power year after year? Because children don’t vote and nobody seems willing to vote on their behalf. That includes many seniors, whose children are grown… they vote down bond after bond that will help the schools and our kids. Shameful!

You’ve heard the expression, “you can’t get blood from a turnip”... well Mr. President, average Americans are a whole garden full of turnips… we’ve got no more to give and nothing left to sacrifice.

You, Mr. President, need to stop rewarding the rich with tax breaks they don’t need, and start taxing those corporations that are reaping huge profits while paying no taxes, and give the “American People” a break. You have the power… use it!

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

The Gadfly Granny

Day 6... Dear Mr. President

Day 6

Dear Mr. President,

Today I’d like to talk to you about family, and raising our children to be responsible adults. Not an easy task these days when so many have a sense of entitlement they have not earned, nor deserve.

I thought about Mrs. Obama and the girls because my son Colt, came up yesterday to build me two raised garden boxes so I can plant some vegetables, and perhaps a few strawberries. My husband Gary, and I live in Rancho Murieta, CA, a place where there is a huge deer and wild turkey population. That is why I haven’t planted a garden earlier, but I’m sure I can outsmart the critters and grow a fine crop of veggies. I was inspired by Mrs. Obama’s white house garden and her message to all of us that we can and should eat more fruits and vegetables. She also encouraged each of us to plant our own, a full-proof way to ensure freshness.

Colt is my youngest son and will turn 40 next month. He lives in Redwood City, CA with his wife and two children. Colt is a contractor now, but he has been in construction since his teens. He is an excellent finish carpenter, and has always had steady work until about two years ago. Because of the economy, people were reluctant to start new construction, or remodel jobs, fearing that they may need the money for necessities like food, insurance, cloths, education, etc… So finding work was difficult at best.

As a parent we do what we can to help our children through difficult times… the trick being, not to have it appear as a handout, because the message you send is that you don’t think they’re capable of taking care of themselves, when really… we just want to help make things a little easier and less stressful for them and their family. So I hired Colt to build my garden boxes, and plant some new trees. The project becomes a win-win for both of us. I get to have an extended visit, cook his favorite things, gain a garden and new trees, and Colt gets to visit, remember what it’s like to get a ‘little spoiled’, and he earns the money for the work he does.

I thought of you and Mrs. Obama, and how you are raising Malia and Sasha to be responsible and self reliant, and I can’t tell you how wise you are, and how right you are in your approach. They may complain a bit, but in the end they will thank you for teaching them these valuable lessons.

I hear so many parents say it’s easier to do things themselves, rather than teach their children how to do the simple household chores, and it’s a shame because the message they send is that the kids aren’t capable and their parents don’t value the contribution they could be making to the family.

You and Mrs. Obama are doing a wonderful job with Malia and Sasha… instilling a strong work ethic, teaching them to be self reliant, and teaching them that as a member of the family… they need to contribute. Everyone needs to feel important and needed, often we are the happiest when we are doing something for the benefit of someone else. Please give my best to Mrs. Obama, Malia and Sasha.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

The Gadfly Granny

Day 5... Dear Mr. President

Day 5

Dear Mr. President,

Yesterday I talked to you about fraud, schemes, scams, and cons that cost the Federal Government (the people) billions of dollars a year, and how we might end the abuse. The following example is just one scheme perpetrated by just one company, Genentech… involving just one drug.

Here’s the deal… two of the drugs that Genentech owns have proven to be very effective for treating macular degeneration for the elderly. One is Avastin and the other is Lucentis. Both belong to a new class of medications, and both drugs are covered by Medicare.

Lucentis costs $2000 for just one treatment, and for Avastin the cost is just $50. The FDA has approved Lucentis for this specific disease, while Avastin has not been approved for this treatment because Genentech did not apply for its approval for this particular disease. Avastin does have FDA approval for colon cancer.

Both drugs have proven to be equally effective. The use of the expensive drug for one eye for one year costs approximately $45,000, while the less expensive drug requires fewer treatments and is nearly 100 times less expensive.

So why doesn’t Genentech apply for FDA approval for Avastin? Because Genentech would cut it’s own profits gained when doctors prescribe the more expensive drug treatment. Why do doctors still choose to use the $2000 drug? Because Medicare allows doctors to charge 6% above cost ($120 per injection), and if a doctor gives patients 1000 eye injections a year, that’s $120,000 profit for using one drug over the other. Although doctors are not supposed to be practicing medicine for profit, we all know that money talks. Then if you figure in kickbacks, which we all know companies include as the cost of doing business… they still end up with huge profits.

Just requiring doctors to us the less expensive drug could save the Federal Government a half-billion dollars a year. The bottom line is always this… We, the people, end up footing the bill for this type of scheme.

This information came from Dr. Michael Wilkes, Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Davis. I say send the first $100,000 reward to Dr. Wilkes… a bargain compared to the half-billion it’s costing us for just this seemingly small scheme. Think of all the other schemes that are happening on a much larger scale that we either don’t hear about or know about. I don’t know about you, but it boggles my mind to even think about it.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

The Gadfly Granny

Day 4... Dear Mr. President... 60 Billion a Year in Insurance Fraud.

                                                                                            5/8/11

Dear Mr. President,

Yesterday I mentioned to you that we have innumerable problems in this country that need to be addressed, and I’m going to talk about just one of those problems that costs this country over 60 Billion dollars a year… insurance fraud. I say this country because this country is it’s people, and it’s the people that pay for that fraud through high premiums. This is just one scam… you can just imagine how much it is costing this country if you add all the scams together.

American Greed

You hear about it all the time… people receiving exorbitant medical bills for simple procedures, or for things like a band-aid costing $10 on a hospital bill. Half of the time if a person took the time to actually look at the itemized bill, they would discover that they didn’t receive half of the things their insurance company was being bill for. I know it’s, happened to me. When you bring it to the attention of the doctor, or the billing department, they often apologize and then remove the questionable charges. But, how often do you suppose people just say to themselves, “Oh well the insurance company will pay for it anyway,” not realizing that we all pay for it in higher premiums.

I’m not sure if you are aware of a television program called American Greed, but the purpose of the program is to expose fraud, scams, cons and schemes, perpetrated against the American public and our Government. I’ve watched a few episodes, and I want to tell you… it’s positively disgusting to think that people commit these crimes to get rich at the expense of their fellow citizens. You can Google American Greed and watch a few episodes for yourself, but trust me, you won’t be pleased to learn how much this is costing everyone. And of course, the real irony is… the Government and YOU get blamed for most of it. 

So here’s the plan… Reward people for catching fraudulent schemes, cons, and scams, yes, reward them with… oh, lets say, $100,000. I’ll tell you, people will be looking at everything with a skeptical eye… they’ll go over every bill with a fine-toothed comb… I know I would. See, here’s the thing… when we’re being robbed we scream like hell, but if we don’t know we’re being robbed, we’re silent. I say, “get the people behind you on this”… go on American Greed and pitch it to the public… What have you got to lose Mr. President? The people already think the Government is in collusion on some of these schemes, so again, what have you got to lose?

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

The Gadfly Granny

Day 3... Declare Victory and Bring the Troops Home.

                                                                                          
Dear Mr. President,

I know this is arriving after the fact, but I wanted all the brouhaha to subside before I sent my thoughts and comments.

Congratulations on bringing Bin Laden to justice… I don’t say for killing him because I think that’s kind of ghoulish, but you did indeed exact justice. In fact, I think it was the perfect solution to an unwinnable problem. If you had captured him like Saddam Hussein then the country would have been further divided by how to handle a trial, his care, his faith, etc… His followers, would never accept how America treated him, no matter what we did. You know that to be true just from how they have responded to his burial at sea. In short, there would be constant criticism, which would only serve as another distraction from our real problems, like unemployment, health care… you know the whole list better than I do.

Promise fulfilled by President Obama

To the point of today’s letter… Now that Bin Laden is out of the picture, you Mr. President, have the perfect opportunity to announce that you will be bringing home a good part of our military men and women deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan… Declare a small victory against terrorism and bring some of our children, fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers home to their families. Isn’t it time to easy the burden placed on these families that are sacrificing so much for this country? I say the time is perfect for you to fulfill that promise to the American people. You will then truly become an American Hero, at least in the eyes of many and certainly in the eyes of the military families. 

We have so many of our own problems here at home that need our desperate attention… so tomorrow I will talk about some of the problems facing ordinary people… people like my brother who was out of work for so long that the stress finally killed him. People like my sister who is upside down in her house, and cannot get relief from B of A or anyone else she had contacted.

In closing for today, I want to thank you again for fulfilling your promise to get Bin Laden… you did a great job, and please think about bringing home some of our troops.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

The Gadfly Granny