{"id":1988,"date":"2007-07-18T08:02:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-18T14:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/grover-and-cocky-boy-wrong-again\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T14:10:54","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T20:10:54","slug":"grover-and-cocky-boy-wrong-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/grover-and-cocky-boy-wrong-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Grover and Cocky Boy: wrong again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Carter Bundy<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Paul Krugman<\/a> had a great line this week. One of the top \u201cfailures\u201d anti-government extremists like Grover Norquist<\/a> point to is Canada<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>. No, not because they can\u2019t win the Stanley Cup, but because their public health insurance system is slow. A favorite rant is that hip replacements take far longer to get in Canada<\/st1:country-region> than in the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But Krugman points out that \u201cthe large majority of hip replacements in the United States<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> are paid for by, um, Medicare.\u201d It\u2019s our great public insurance system that betters Canada<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> \u2013 not our private system.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But our Decider-in-Chief is cocksure that only the private sector can deliver health care. So cocksure is W (is he ever not?) that he\u2019s vetoing health insurance for poor kids<\/a>, based on his rock-solid, blanket belief that the government is less efficient than the private sector.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But on health insurance, as with many other areas, not only is W\u2019s confidence in private sector \u201cefficiency\u201d misplaced, but he forgets the value of transparency and accountability that are more easily found in the public sector.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Bank has done nothing to protect my credit<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Wells Fargo has, for several years, been sending mail to my address for a woman with my last name. Don\u2019t know her, never heard of her, no relation, yada yada ya.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

When I accidentally opened a letter from Wells, there was a credit card in Ms. Bundy\u2019s name (I won\u2019t use her first name here for privacy reasons). I called the bank and they assured me that they would track her down and note the bad address. Please cut up the card. Done.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But a funny thing happened: Turned out Wells Fargo did about as much to protect my credit as the Houston Texans\u2019 O-Line has done to protect David Carr. Translation: Nada.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Over two years, I continued to get mail for Ms. Bundy and continued calling Wells. Nothing. Finally, this week, Ms. Bundy received a notice from a collection agency. So I called Wells for the fifth time in two years and was routed to nine different people in the course of two hours. I was polite, but several phone center managers hung up knowing there\u2019d be no repercussions, and twice I was \u201cdropped\u201d while being transferred.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, my credit may be getting dinged, and it\u2019s only the recently-enacted credit protection bill from the Roundhouse that\u2019s going to protect me \u2013 not Wells Fargo.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Grover\u2019s recipe for disaster<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Anytime something goes wrong at a government agency, we hear that \u201cGovernment is evil.\u201d That\u2019s been the far right\u2019s favorite mantra for the last 30 years. That and \u201cHurricanes are how Jesus punishes poor people.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Wait for 15 minutes at the MVD, and the refrain is \u201cthe public sector is bad.\u201d Ironically, Grover and his minions rant against MVD waits, and then demand more tax cuts for billionaires and lower MVD fees. You do the math.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But for some reason, when you can\u2019t find help at a department store, nobody says \u201csee, the private sector is jacked up.\u201d It happens to every single one of us on a regular basis. Maybe this week it was at Sears, maybe last month it was at a car dealer or auto mechanic, maybe your cat food got recalled, maybe the contractor who did your deck left it wobbly. It happens.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The difference is accountability. It\u2019s easy to get information about the agency with which you have problems. Not so with Wal-Mart. It\u2019s easy to find the name of a public entity\u2019s department director. Can you tell me the name of the Wells Fargo fraud center supervisor?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In the public sector, you can call a U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> representative or senator, state legislator, city councilor or county commissioner. They\u2019re wizards at getting a Social Security check or fixing, say, a bad address.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As a last resort, you can elect someone else next election day. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

By contrast, what am I going to do with Wells Fargo? I don\u2019t even have an account with them, so it\u2019s not even like I can take my business elsewhere. To paraphrase Joe Pesci, \u201cthey always XXXX you on the customer service line.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Free immunization<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a fun exercise for the next week: Every time you wait in line at a cell phone store, get a salesman who doesn\u2019t know plasma from LCD or get XXXXXX at the drive-thru, say Pesci\u2019s line. Clean it up if the kids are around, but actually verbalize it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

During the same week, make a mental note when your trash is picked up. Or as you get the mail. Or when you get running water from the tap and showerhead. And especially when your, ahem, solid waste goes out of your house with every flush.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

All I ask is one week. Try it. I guarantee you\u2019ll be surprised how often Grover and W\u2019s blind faith in privatization disappoints, and how often the public sector delivers. The point isn\u2019t that the private sector is always bad; it\u2019s that some things are better done by the public sector, health insurance and credit protection being two of them.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The exercise may even immunize you from W\u2019s contempt for kids\u2019 health care.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Bundy is the political and legislative director for AFSCME<\/a> in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. The opinions in his column are personal and in no way reflect any official AFSCME position. You can learn more about him by clicking here<\/a>. Contact him at carterbundy@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carter Bundy Paul Krugman had a great line this week. One of the top \u201cfailures\u201d anti-government extremists like Grover Norquist point to is Canada. No, not because they can\u2019t win the Stanley Cup, but because their public health insurance system is slow. A favorite rant is that hip replacements take far longer to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bundy-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}