Some success stories

There is so much to regret and to enrage us going on in the world that it's good to focus on the successes every once in a while.   Here are a few:

1.  A few weeks ago, the Walgreen drug chain put up a trial balloon, saying they were acquiring a related European firm and that they would move their headquarters to Europe to manage to entire merged company.     This would mean that a huge portion of their corporate profits would not be taxed in the United States -- another hit of perhaps billions on our federal budget.    And Walgreen is just one of many corporations who have, or are contemplating, made such a move.

A grass roots outcry from progressive organizations -- I've signed several internet petitions -- as well as from Democrats in Congress and the President himself -- apparently has changed Walgreen's mind.    Consumers have quite a bit of power still in this focus-group, ad-driven market -- but it has to be organized.    Latest word is that Walgreen will not be shifting it headquarters and its taxes.    Chalk one up for People Power.

2. Despite recent polls showing that "Obamacare" still has high disapproval ratings, there is good data coming out now showing that states that took full advantage of the Affordable Care Act (expanding Medicaid and setting up state insurance exchanges) have a much larger drop in uninsured people than those who did not.    Arkansas, Kentucky are among the most successful in lowering their uninsured rates.

3.  Republicans fought really hard for years to stop the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau;   it got created but they made it impossible for Elizabeth Warren to be appointed to head it, despite her having been in charge of creating the organization.   Then they tried to kill it by hampering its operations in all sorts of ways.

The good news is that it's working anyway -- protecting us from predatory or unfair credit card charges, bad mortgages, student loans, etc.   Thanks mostly to Elizabeth Warren, now in the Senate representing Massachisetts and trying to quash the "Ready for Warren" movements to get her to run for president.   

4.  The agreed-to 72 hour cease-fire in Gaza has now held for about 32 hours, and plans are being made for beginning indirect truce negotiations in Egypt between Israel and Hamas.   It's hard to find any good news coming out of that conflict -- but this slight ray of hope to end the active fighting is welcome.

5.  There was a brief outbreak of hysteria, fueled by Donald Trump and others of his ilk, over the prospects of two Ebola patients being brought into this country for treatment.   First, they are now at a special, super-isolated unit at Emory Hospital that is actually under the aegis of the nearby CDC and was designed to handle just such dreaded communicable diseases.    Second, both patients are American citizens, medical missionaries from Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Table.   Why shouldn't they be brought home, especially if home is where they can obtain the best treatment.   Third, Ebola is spread by body fluids;  it is not going to get out of this special isolation unit;  it will not start an epidemic here.   Fourth, both patients are said to be improving -- which is very good news.

6  And the best news lines of the day were from Whoopi Goldberg, responding to Donald Trump's hyperventilated bloviating about keeping even Americans with Eboli out of the country.   Whoopi's comeback:   After explaining some facts about the disease, she said:
"Do your homework, Donald. . .  Just do your homework ... Before you say something that dumb -- you know better than that. Come on.”

May more good stories come our way.

Ralph