Hospitals & Asylums    

 

June 2008

 

We made so much progress this month I took a week off.  After the rain broke the muggy heat, the weather became very nice.  Hopefully the nice weather holds out for the Independence Day celebration.  The United States of America is one of the oldest constitutional democracies in the world.  There is a lot to be proud of however there is also cause for concern.  All of the American problems are however social problems and can theoretically be redressed with social work.  America is now home to over 300 million people.  As the result of this large population and standards of living nearly as high as Europe and Canada, America is the richest nation in the world.  Like in Europe, people are living longer than ever before and the retired population is increasing as a percentage of the general population.  America however enjoys a higher fertility rate than other developed nations and in 2006 reached a rate of 2.1 births per woman, enough to replace the population without immigration.  This high birth rate is particularly auspicious for the solvency of the social security trust funds and there is a fair chance that the United States will have a higher per capita income than the Europeans by the middle of the century, by which time China and India should be equal competitors.  Although the dollar has begun to adjust downward for many reasons, namely the international trade balance, many people still migrate to the United States to benefit from the exchange rate. Greater effort needs to be made to appreciate the currencies of countries from whence high numbers of immigrants come, while keeping the dollar strong against the Euro and Canadian dollar.  While these developing nations might lose some unfair advantages a strong currency is an asset to economic growth and stability.  As the result of the high birth rates among Latino women in the United States the question arises, are more Latinos born in or migrate to the United States? 

 

To help cure Uncle Sam of the erectile dysfunction he complains so vociferously about, ostensibly from American male circumcisions that don’t seem to impact the birth rate, the articles on changing the names of Title 22 Foreign Relations and Intercourse (a-FRaI-d) to Foreign Relations (FR-ee) and Court of International Trade of the United States (COITUS) to International Tribunal (IT) have been delegated to the Human Rights Campaign that is dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equal rights.  The Canadian Supreme Court seems to give the highest marks, allowing an appeal of gay prose with costs.  Without a functioning government, a system of legal fees or any corporate social responsibility, one can only pray that the American people contribute to Barack Obama for President and Steve Driehaus for Congress campaigns.  They would, at least in theory, reverse the widening gap between the rich and the poor and alleviate the class struggle that depreciates everyone’s lives.  Americans are however unique for donating to ultra rich philanthropists whose charities are not registered as official development assistance by the United Nations and probably don’t administrate much of what they take in.  For those Americans wishing to apply the principles of social justice and administrate real change, I suggest donating to Hospitals & Asylums.  For those Americans wishing to try and convict a poor man of tax evasion I suggest donating generously to Hospitals & Asylums.  For those Americans wishing to read an article on the Human Rights Campaign Camp Equality that is coming to Cincinnati July 12-13 I suggest donating $35 to Hospitals & Asylums.  If you donate to Hospitals & Asylums you will be directed to the Constitution of Hospitals & Asylums Non Governmental Economics (CHANGE). 

 

Social Work Act of 2008 HA-17-6-08

 

An Act alternatively cited the Now Hiring Social Workers Act resolving to tell the Social Security Administration (SSA) to “get a job”.   The act will create a Social Work Administration (SWA) to establish a pro-social rule for the centers of the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) with enough dignity to graduate with a Public Health Department (PHD).  SSA trust funds, the largest national savings accounts in the world, will have $2.4 trillion by the end of FY 2008, however staffing is insufficient to administrate disability petitions let alone eliminate poverty and injustice as they can afford. As the result of five years of under-funding overall SSA employment has dropped from 63,569 in 2003 to 60,206 at the end of 2007 it is therefore resolved that SSA be paid $350 million FY 2008 above current appropriations to stimulate the employment of at least 10,000 new SSA employees by the end of FY 2009 when the budget will be no less than $11 billion.  The disability backlog has soared from a legal limit of 350,000 in the 1990s to over 1.4 million today, it is therefore resolved that SSA be given the option of a $1 billion annual budget to dismiss petitions for a one time payment of $500-$1,000 per capita with which to purchase medical tort claims, small business claims, and claims against the federal government.  The dismissed petitioners will be send a form to re-apply if they are still in need.  The social work profession is the absolutely best investment for the federal government to stimulate economic growth, social research, social responsibility and public health amongst the unemployed, underemployed, disabled and retired petitioners who have the time to represent the public interest of the poor.  By adequately financing the social work profession the federal government will make progress achieving international social norms the nation consistently lag behind in.   Social work is clearly a topic that the federal government must review.

 

Natality in the United States HA-15-6-08

 

In 2006 there were 4,265,996 births out of nearly 6.6 million pregnancies, a 3 percent increase from the year before, the largest single-year increase since 1989 and the highest total number of births since 1961, near the end of the baby boom.  The 2006 fertility rate of 2.1 children is the highest level since 1971. The United States’ under-5 mortality rate (8 per 1,000 live births) is two to three times higher than other industrialized nations.  In the United States, America-Indian and Alaska-Native infants are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to die than white infants and African-American infants are 2.4 times more likely to die than white infants. The maternal mortality rate among black women (36.1 per 100,000 live births) is about 4 times the rate among white women (9.8 per 100,000 live births). The United States slipped in its ranking for maternal health from 26th in 2007 to 27th  in 2008.  Pregnancy is divided into trimesters, which last about 12 - 14 weeks each. The medical literature defines childbirth as a three-stage process.  In the first stage, labor, the cervix, dilates from being nearly closed to its fullest dimension of approximately 10 centimeters, almost 4 inches.  In the second stage, delivery, the baby is pushed out of the mother’s body.  The third stage is the expulsion of the placenta.  There are four types of births – vaginal delivery, vacuum assisted vaginal delivery, forceps assisted vaginal delivery and caesarean section.  The cesarean section rate increased from slightly over 5% in 1970 to 29.1% in 2004. 99% of American births take place in the hospital and 92% of births are attended by a medical doctor.  More than 70 % of US women receive epidural anesthesia for pain relief during labor. The presence of a doula, birth attendant, tends to reduce the overall cesarean rate by roughly 45%, length of labor by 25%, oxytocin use by 50%, pain medication by 31%, the need for forceps by 34%, and requests for epidurals by 10-60%. The United States lags dramatically behind all high-income countries, as well as many middle- and low-income countries when it comes to public policies designed to guarantee adequate working conditions for families.  Every state in the United States has a program to afford pre-natal and infant care, call 1-800-311-BABY

 

CHAPTER 3 Health and Welfare (HaW)

 

To amend Chapter 3 National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers §71-150 and to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the US Constitution.  Fifth draft.  The objective of this Chapter is to insure Americans an income of $1,000 a month pursuant to the fine in §154.  162 million workers, 54% of the 300 million population, had earnings covered by a 15.3% in social security taxation, 12.4% split between employer and employee for retirement and disability insurance with a $96,500 limit on taxable income and 2.9% for Medicare across all income levels.  SSA administrated $546 billion in benefits to 49 million people, 34 million retired workers, 7 million survivors and 9 million disabled workers for $5.3 billion in administrative costs and collected $745 billion in revenues, a $193.7 billion profit.  As of 31 December 2006 SSA had $2,048.1 billion in savings, $1,844.4 billion in OASI and $203.9 billion in DI.  CMS serves 87 million people with health insurance.  Medicare covered 43.2 million people 36.3 million aged 65 and older, and 7 million disabled.  Medicare expenditures were $408 billion, 3.1% of the GDP in 2006, and revenues were $437 billion, a profit of $29 billion bringing Medicare assets to $339 billion.  Medicaid served 52 million beneficiaries at an annual cost of $305 billion.  There are 45 million uninsured Americans.  Inflation in all health care costs must be limited to 3% annually.  The new $65 and one half all further income exemption for SSI eligibility must be brought into use to resolve the disability backlog.  The federal budget must be balanced while protecting SSA trust fund growth.  Official development assistance contributions must be increased until there is a 1% international social security tax on every pay-stub.  No amendments were made this June.

 

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