An Open Letter to President Obama: You Really Do Need Health Care Reform

Dear Mr. President,

By your own admission, you have arrived at this day of reckoning. In saying this, and budgeting for a newly expanded set of goals and priorities as reported in The Huffington Post, you are confronting some of the most difficult issues, ever. According to Politico, you are now ready to begin work with Kansas Governor Katherine Sebelius heading up Health and Human Services. As one of your northern neighbours, I want you to know that you are doing the right thing by advancing health care reform in the United States.

In 2004, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ran a series about the greatest Canadian. The list included hockey great Wayne Gretzky, telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, and insulin discover Frederick Banting and two great Canadian prime ministers. Who did the public pick? Tommy Douglas (www.cbc.ca/greatest/) the man who introduced universal public health care to Canada, while Premier of Saskatchewan.

I suspect the debates that lie ahead regarding universal health care will make the Stimulus bill appear like child's play. But debate you must. It is wrong to leave 47 million Americans without health care, without the ability to be healthy, without the ability to be well, without the ability to fully contribute to your society.

My American friends want you to get going on universal health care. I believe you have already heard from my St. Louis friend, who believes the economic recovery will be faster if there is a health care plan. The current system equates good jobs with good health care, and that has proved a burden for too many companies. My friend from Virginia, who has lived in Canada for awhile, had a very serious stroke last fall and was hospitalized for 14 weeks. During that period, I asked her if she was angry. She told me that on the contrary, she is so appreciative of the Canadian health care system. She says she could not have afforded the stroke in the U.S.

Mr. President, I do not wish to mislead you and your country. Our system is far from perfect -- we have a shortage of doctors, long wait times, our nurses are overworked. However, we never think for a minute about cost or insurance coverage when anybody falls ill, or goes to the doctor. Medical costs are covered by taxes.

I believe that you and the House will examine many options, and there will be great argument. I hope that the Canadian government studies your various proposals and learns how to adapt and perfect our system in ways large and small. And I advise everybody to keep track of the people leading the charge for American health care reform. Because, like Tommy Douglas, one day they too could be known as your country's greatest Americans!

Good luck,

Diane Wilson

The Dow is Cooked for Now

Considering GE slashed its dividend 68% Friday, and Citigroup shares now trade for less than a 12 ounce can of Spam, you would have expected the Dow to fall more than 119 points yesterday. However, The Dow Jones Industrial Average -- the 30 companies that reflect the US economy -- has too many companies on deathwatch. Citigroup, the bank that the US government basically nationalized yesterday, currently has a market cap of US$8 billion. GM sports a cap of US$1.37 billion -- roughly three times Oprah's salary -- and trades at $2.25. By comparison, the Royal Bank of Canada has a market cap of US $32.5 billion, while the BCE takeover that never happened was priced at $51 billion.

Look for a redo of the Dow components later this year. In the meantime, the S & P will provide a better gauge of the market. And investors who used Dogs of the Dow Strategy -- the clever theory that suggests buying the ten Dow stocks whose dividends provide the highest yield -- might want to wait and see. Last year's Dog picks included Citigroup, Pfizer, GM, JP Morgan Chase and General Electric, among others --companies that are either staving off bankruptcy or shoring up balance sheets, while slashing dividends.