Anyone listening to Spitzer on C-Span now?

[EC]

He's talking about all the fraud in insurance companies, every form of insurance..., and he's complaining about the LACK OF PRESS and this is the press club national committee he's talking too (actually scolding)...


I'm in insurance and the last 4 years have changed soooooooo much, I can see what's going on, just in auto, life , health and homeowners....they are ripping you off, and you should be writting the Insurance Commissions of your states, and all your State Reps, just tell them to hold insurance companies more responsable..and to stop using credit scores...

On edit: Better yet, Googgle Spitzer and read his investigations and get angry first...then write or call.

[msgadget]

1. Thanks, EC,

Edit to add:

This is the first time, I think, I've heard him speak at length.

I like this in response to a Social Security question:

'fiscal unreality of this administration as there has been from day one'!!

He's only talking about the larger insurers like Marsh, isn't he?

[burythehatchet]

6. AFter having spent 20 years with the likes of Marsh and Aon

I can tell you that the problem is so deeply embedded in the industry structure that Spitzer's heroic accomplishments are the tip of the iceberg. Its just the part that you can see. Insurance is a business that is conflict of interest defined. In my little way I too am working to poke holes in the brokerage business model. i.e., stick to the purely financial risk, like buying an option (which is basically what insurance is.

[sandnsea]

2. Turned it on

I liked what he said about the Democratic Party being the party that keeps the market and business clean enough so that middle America will invest in it and protects workers so they'll have a chance to invest in the first place. That Bush just cloaks himself in the words, but Democrats actually have done the work.

[Mel]

3. did you see this article

Spitzer gets a mention here's the link.
What caught my eye in the article was this part:

<snip>Donohue also opposes increased securities regulation -- from the Bush administration or any other source -- and does so with typical ferocity. The chamber is even suing the Securities and Exchange Commission. Donohue has called investigations by New York state Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer "the most egregious and unacceptable form of intimidation that we have seen in this country in modern times.</snip>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x103528

Original message

A Quiet Revolution In Business Lobbying

Chamber of Commerce Helps Bush Agenda

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 5, 2005; Page A11

After brief pleasantries on the phone the other day, Thomas J. Donohue got down to business with a top health insurance executive. "We're in a new year and a new time," Donohue said smoothly. "Can we put you on the list and get your money?"

The executive said yes, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was $100,000 richer. So, in effect, was President Bush's push to rein in trial lawyers and lower taxes.

The chamber is at the forefront of a quiet revolution in business lobbying. Corporate groups now raise big money to advance broad issues, largely to help the Republican president enact his fiscal agenda. That's a long step away from what trade associations traditionally did: concentrate on narrow concerns while shunning partisan spats.

The big money has become commonplace in day-to-day lobbying, and few people are more responsible for that than the outspoken Donohue. When he became the group's president in 1997, the chamber took in only about $600,000 from its largest corporate members. Last year, collections for that category, called the President's Advisory Group, totaled $90 million. <snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6

[EC]

4. This pisses me off........n/t

[Mel]

5. me too...pisses me off

Do you know if they are going to show a rerun of Spitzer on C-Span? I missed it :(
I went to work right after I posted my earlier message and am just getting back.

I read about Donohue the weasel (I think?) about one or two months ago don't quote me but I think the article was in the New York Times. I do remember Spitzer didn't get a mention in that article though.

[EC]

8. I couldn't find it listed on C-Span for replay

But here is the video:
illegal codeplayClip('rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e013105_spitzer.rm')

[hector459]

7. Makes Bush's push to limit medical liability another big lie!

If we don't hold the media accountable, nobody will!!

[KoKo]

9. Thanks for this post...The fraud is so bad with the Markets, Insurance and

in every area of our lives...at least if we here on DU can stay informed we might be able to safeguard ourselves in whatever few ways are left. Just keep reading and trying to steer ourselves in some direction that will keep us from going down in the coming years.

But, we are all dependent on insurance and if we have any spare money trying to save...but jobs keep changing and we are bombarded with these folks 24/7 with so much bad news that's threatening. In the meantime they keep pushing credit to keep us spending while they merger and downsize and send our jobs overseas. We are all caught up in this mess they've created since Reagan started loosening all our regulations and the rest of them continued it...even Clinton, sadly.

I'm sorry Spitzer is leaving SEC to run for Governor. He's tried to do reform...I hope he isn't so discouraged that he's had enough. Without folks like him..I hate to think what our future holds.