Bill Clinton warns of looming disasters

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070504/ap_on_re_us/clinton_disaster_conference_2

Bill Clinton warns of looming disasters

By JESSE HARLAN ALDERMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri May 4, 6:27 PM ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Former President Bill Clinton said Friday that disasters such as worldwide famine and an obesity epidemic could destroy the U.S. health care system unless politicians begin to look ahead and cooperate.

Clinton, speaking at a forum sponsored by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said governments fail to act even when disasters are anticipated because leaders are distracted by fulfilling campaign promises and scrambling to respond to immediate emergencies. Big-picture planning gets "crowded out," he said.

"This is coming," Clinton said. "And I know there is no great political constituency for it, but we can avert these disasters for not very much money if they can be put into the public debate and people understand clearly what's going to happen."

The Kennedy School is spending $1.5 million over two years to study why governments across the world have failed to act on threats such as heat waves and hurricanes, even when they know they are coming.

From looking back at Hurricane Katrina and forward to the absence of firm plans to cool the planet or stem malaria, some of the school's top researchers will study the roots of government inaction.

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Where have you been Bill?

"Bill Clinton said Friday that disasters such as worldwide famine and an obesity epidemic could destroy the U.S. health care system unless politicians begin to look ahead and cooperate"

How would worldwide famine destroy U.S. health care? What is U.S. health care? Only Medicare and Medicaid. The rest of us are on our own.

And the famine-obesity combination. Is that from eating inferior food? Like many people do now in the United States?

I think Bill Clinton is right. If there were to be a worldwide famine, there would be millions coming to this country, both legally and illegally. Emergency rooms/hospitals _do_ have to treat anyone who walks through the doors with an actual emergency, regardless of ability to pay. (Even if only to get the patient "stable.") Our ERs would be overwhelmed constantly, especially if a large number of our new citizen were to come here with malnutrition-related health problems. If hospitals have to waive payment for these patients, they could easily be in a position where they could not pay staff. Yes, This certainly could destroy our healthcare system.

As for the obesity epidemic, as the children raised on fast food become adults they will have multiple health problems related to their diet, many of which are disabling to the point where the patient will not be able to work. This, too, could lead to a breakdown in our system.

Bill Clinton is right so often. *sigh* I miss him.

:hi:

Can you say conservative movement spreading with help of the media with leaders who want to drown government in a bathtub....unless it's controlling women or gays.

I mean, why spend all that money? They simply don't want to fund it. That's why.

They want the churches to take care of all of us. They want the government not responsible for the people.

Don't bother with the study.

They are not equals at all. The war on obesity is probably so the insurance companies can call it a preexisting condition and not cover it.

<snip>
"disasters such as worldwide famine and an obesity epidemic could destroy the U.S. health care system"


How will worldwide famine destroy our already teetering system? Obesity here at home, yes. Worldwide famine could only destroy our system through Worldwide chaos and anarchy. Anarchy sounds better than Clintons scenario - Anarchy is about ignoring (ignorant) gov;'t's and policing themselves.

His Foundation has been addressing this stuff for years.
Just because the MSM decides to finally report one speech,
you think he just woke up to this?

He has been going on for years about how faced with with the
constraints of privately funded charity work in the third world,
he finally realized how very much more efficiently this work
could be done, saving over 75% of the cost that it took while he
was in office. His reason for not realizing it sooner? His words
were "because we were stupid, that's why." He is not Bush, who in
his own words doesn't make mistakes.

He tries hard to see problems ahead. He is interested in desalinization
projects to head off the coming shortage of fresh water, even though
this may be decades off. Huge third world problems, if we are to help
on a massive scale, will require devoting resources that we could
otherwise devote to domestic projects, including health care. Of course,
there is also the Republican approach--pay attention to neither.

x(

Seems like the one would cancel the other out.

Natural disasters are natural population control.

:sarcasm:

I had a religious relative tell me that.

And which "lack of personal responsibility" was this?

Just curious...

How will this play out when contrasted with Hillary's policy of take-it-slow?

fix the problem? How do you prevent people in a free society from eating poorly or over-eating?

We don't have one..........unless, of course, you're rich and famous! And most of the obesity epidemic is right here in United States of DumbDumbs. And that's the way the rich like it - keep the sheeple fat and dumb. I have news for Bill....we are a third world nation! What we really need is a revolution - nothing less:nuke:

.. and it sounds as though he doesn't really
understand his own part in this stuff.

"governments across the world have failed to act on threats such as heat waves and hurricanes"

Hillary winning the nomination and the war goes on forever.

It's called politics.

We didn't get universal health care when he was President either, and if I recall Rwanda had a genocide we did nothing to stop. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out the roots of government inaction, and he was a party to it as well. And does Bill Clinton's statements on this now mean he has broken all ties with the Bushes who have done nothing but exacerbate disaster on a global scale and trashing our Constitution? Does he favor impeachment for the bastard that didn't respond to Hurricane Katrina OR 9.11 and who took us into an illegal war based on LIES, and who hired his incompetent buddies to positions of responsibility to make him look smarter which have killed innocents in the hundreds of thousands? He's still part of the status quo, so I don't really place much credence in his speeches anymore.

... the 90's. I am not so sure on her stand on wars but from what I have heard of her speeches she is just as well informed on climate change as Gore is. This current statement from Bill is pretty stunning to say the least.