Share Ted Kennedy Stories

IT seems that all of the news commentators have a story about Senator Ted Kennedy, each ending with laughter or awe or compassion. And I notice that they speak of him in the present tense...something I have never noticed. Now I invite you to share your Senator Ted Kennedy story here with mine.

FIVE years ago Ted Kennedy was the featured speaker at a Families USA (The Voice for Health Care Consumers) Conference that I attended in Washington, D.C. Punctual to a fault, I arrived at a room with 500 empty seats. So I took advantage and secured a place in the second row, directly in front of the stage.

THEN I notice Senator Kennedy sitting next to the podium. Just the two of us in that bare room. I have always been in awe of anyone who can clasp hands across the aisle to move powerful bills into being. And he has gained a history of bills that touch each of us. Bills for Wage Earners, Veterans, Social Security, Health Care as a Right, Drug Safety, Disability, Elder Care, Mental Health, Civil Rights, National Service. A life of good works.

AND Senator Kennedy looked up. Not a word passed between us. But somehow he made me feel beautiful. I don't know how that happened. But I have no doubt.

I held a throw-away camera to secure him along with all of the Capitol's monuments. But from the instant he spoke, his passionate words captured my attention. I had never heard such a charismatic speaker. My camera lay untouched.

AFTER he spoke, the media stood ready. As Senator Kennedy turned to the cameras, his charisma transcended time and space. And I understood.

Don't Blame Me

Every day I hear economic experts faulting us for causing the recession with our unbridled spending & credit cards. But business taught and nurtured us to ride on the backs of our spending.

At the same time, in an attempt to squeeze out the last few dollars, corporations cut too close to the quick. And now that ride is limping badly, business displaced too many jobs, forcing the economy into a wall. It seems our jobs were the fuel that makes our economy go. Imagine that?

Sounds like a dichotomy to me. I suppose we could have one hand signing for the credit card purchase while the other hand stays home instead of shopping. And how exactly would we do that?

Yes greed caused this recession, which incidentally started in 2004. But it was corporate greed, business that broke the economy. Now how how is it going to fix it?

Economic Predictions 2009: Past & Future

The Quantum Thinker's Economic Predictions: Past

1. Job loss source of deep recession, 1972.
2. Failure of Trickle-down Economics, 1981.
3. Failure of deregulation, 1982.
4. Need for internally computerized patient charts, 1983 (invented & implemented the first one).
5. Individually owned PC's, 1984.
6. Failure of corporate outsourcing, 1985.
7. Individual GPS, 1988.
8. Significant collapse of Fortune 500 companies, 1995.
9. Failure of No Child Left Behind Act, 2001.
10. Failure of Iraq War, 2003.
11. Anticipated major economic recession, 2004.
12. Predicted failure of a global economy, 2005.
13. Folly of Social Security outsourcing, 2007.
14. Failure of governmental outsourcing, 2008.

The Quantum Thinker's Economic Predictions: Future

1. Advantages of one-provider health care, 1970
2. Public education systemic problems, 1972.
3. Fundamental shift in upper education, 1988.
4. Dynamic corporate management vs. authoritarian, 1990.
5. Failure of Welfare-top-Work Program, 1995.
6. Remove cap on Social Security tax bracket, 2001.
7. Deficiencies in Ground-based mid-course defense (missile intercept), 2003.
8. Defect in electronic border system, 2006.
9. Fundamental flaw in computerized patient health records, 2007.
10. Housing bubble hoax, 2008.

NOTE: Fixes for Future Predictions Available.