Corporate Tax Crackdown. Obama hits tax havens.

President Obama has initiated a tug-of-war by proposing to reform International tax codes. Tightening loopholes, and addressing the issue of tax havens abroad is the hot topic of the week, and Corporate America is fighting back.

Obama wishes to simplify tax codes, and the plan seems to have a two-fold underlying purpose. Firstly, it would seem that he wishes to stimulate job creation at home, and secondly to finance proposed programs through tax revenue. Closing questionable loopholes means that some of the current outsourcing will be less lucrative.

Corporate America is not taking this sitting down. Early out was the rebuttal and accusation that Obama's plan would cause corporations to lose a global competitive edge, and that countless jobs will be lost.

This may turn into a battle of wills, and it may get a little messy. And yet, the subject interests me for another reason. It will be fascinating to see how the Administration handles the corporate world in a conflict of interest such as this. Why? Because, there are lobbying powerhouses to be dealt with in the future, and many of them have their long arms woven through our national health industry.

Are corporations crying wolf? If jobs head back home, will they be able to compete with the low wages and costs of other countries? Will they lose the competitive edge? Give this short post consideration in your personal opinion.

Will Obama succeed in his tax reform proposal? Can it, and/or should it happen?





Tamera Daun©




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Swine Flu. Follow and track outbreak incidence on this interactive world map.

Woe is the Swine Flu, however not many complaints can be aimed at the sources of information keeping us updated. In cooperation with health officials, the mainstream media has, thus far, adequately informed us of necessary precautionary measures as the Swine Flu spreads. The President and his staff maintain calm composure.

In these types of situations I consider it vital that we allow the proper authorities to lead the way. In other words, the rest of the public should avoid adding to any potential cauldron of confusion, sometimes caused by "too much" contradictory information floating around out there. We need to stay out of the way and let the authorities do their jobs, and especially in these initial phases. I know. It's the Nurse in me talking here, but it is more important than people sometimes realize.

The purpose of this post is to encourage everyone to follow public announcements and instructions. I also wanted to share an interactive map I found that shows the city and country breakdown of disease incidence as it spreads. The map is continuously updated.

Be well, and stay safe.


Here's the link:

Swine Flu Map





Tamera Daun©



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Obama and Health. Objectives for the Nation.

We all realize that the Obama Administration has inherited a whole host of issues to resolve. There is a wave of uproar sweeping from coast to coast regarding the amount of funds proposed to cover President Obama's plans and initiatives, and his health reform is one of those areas that concerns citizens. This is a legitimate complaint and concern, and it is understandable when people fear that a deficit hole will be deeper than we can manage.

Yet, while we see dollars being spent, there may be additional knowledge of which we are not aware. That knowledge may help us to better understand the health issue currently on the table, and this issue is dynamic and ever-changing.

On the one hand, we witness soaring health-care costs resulting from individual responsibility at suboptimal levels for too many. How do we know this? Well, one manifested consequence of people not taking care of their health is the extreme prevalence of obesity in this country. And, this should also be of interest to citizens in other Western countries as the numbers are increasing there as well. The World Health Organization describes obesity as "an escalating epidemic", and "four of the leading causes of death in the United States are related to dietary imbalance and excess" (Boyle & Holben, 2006, p.12).

So, many of our health-care problems leading to over the top costs are self-created problems. And, this is just one example. However, it does not help using time to lay blame, because that will not aid in getting back on track. We have to dig in and help ourselves, and each other. I bring this point to the table only as a reminder to us all that the heavy load on health-care providers is somewhat preventable.

On the other hand, our government has a responsibility and policy role to play in dealing with the health care issues of citizens. It is not a responsibility that President Obama conjured up, because he felt like spending money. Increasing the number of health-insured people, which provides access to health care, was an objective issued in the year 2000 in order to reach 2 major goals of better health and quality of life for the nation's people by 2010. We have enormous challenges to meet. An estimated "40 percent of our population- some 120 million people- will have a chronic disease or condition by the year 2010" (Boyle & Holben, 2006, p.25).

Getting our collective state of health in shape, demands an immense effort and collaboration across the board between public and private entities. Each of these entities has specific objectives to achieve, and the work is in-progress.

Firstly. Repairing the damage of existing problems and burdens needs immediate action. It is here that difficult decisions must be made, and we have the choice of actually fixing "we, the people" and our system, or leaning on timeless arguments of who gets to foot the bill. As long as insurance companies operate profit-based, the exploitation of people will resume, and countless others are shut out from coverage, and access to quality health-care.

If this is what we want, then I must question if people understand the premises of what the "highest good of this nation" are based upon.

This issue is too important to be viewed from a partisan political perspective. Why? The lives of people are at stake.

"The goals of sustainable development cannot be achieved when there is a high prevalence of debilitating illness and poverty, and the health of a population cannot be maintained without a responsive health system and a healthy environment" (2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development).

Health is recognized as a resource for, and an outcome of, sustainable development. Healthy people means productive people, and it is an important resource factor in our economy.

Secondly. The current Administration is committed to ongoing health education to fulfill disease prevention objectives, in addition to "emergency repair". Again, these working areas are specified in the most recent health initiative, issued in the year 2000.

The health initiative is entitled, Health People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health. It presents a national health agenda for the first decade of the twenty-first century. The Healthy People documents, "represent a national health agenda developed by a consortium of national health organizations, state health departments, the Institute of Medicine, and the U.S. Public Health Service" (Boyle & Holben, 2006, p. 11).

Arguments that satisfy the fear of people regarding a "socialist movement", is only fear. The issue at hand is basic in nature. It is about pursuing the opportunity of fundamental health and well-being for all human beings. Our system currently operates not much better than countries hosting dictatorship regimes, which sabotage the opportunities of its citizens to thrive and be productive.

Healthy People 2010 is the U.S. commitment to work towards that which was outlined by the nations of the world in a 1978 conference on primary health care, and convened by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund. The goal of the world community is, "to protect and promote the health of all people in the world".




Boyle & Holben (2006). Community nutrition in action. Ca: Thomson.



Tamera Daun©