Ambassador's Corner

WEEKLY MESSAGE FROM AMBASSADOR JOHN BRUTON 

July 22, 2008

The tasks facing the next President of the United States

Many interesting books have been published on the job that the next President of the United States will have to do. Some of these have been published by the candidates themselves, others by people who may feel that they ought to have been candidates.

One very good book that I read recently is entitled Opportunity 08 – Independent Ideas for America's Next President. It is published by the Brookings Institution and edited by Michael O’Hanlon.

I will not attempt to summarize it, but a few point that it makes are worth repeating.

In the section on ending oil dependence, it says that the number of miles travelled by Americans in their cars has increased by 26% between 1993 and 2003 and that they now spend approximately 62 minutes of every day in their cars. One way of reducing oil dependence would be to promote more energy efficient vehicles. The book points out that the federal government itself buys 65,000 vehicles every year and suggests that it should only buy highly energy efficient ones. This would create a bigger market for such vehicles. It also calls for more investment in mass transit, pointing out that five times as much tax revenue goes to road building and maintenance, as goes to mass transit.

In the section on poverty and inequality, the book claims that:

“increasing work force participation, increasing marriage rates, and improving education are the three best ways to reduce poverty. Securing full-time jobs for all would reduce poverty by 40%, restoring marriage rates to 1970s levels would reduce it by 30%, and achieving universal high school graduation would reduce it by 15%. By contrast, even doubling cash welfare payments would reduce poverty by less than 10%.”

It further emphasizes the point about links between marriage and poverty by claiming that:

“Doubling the number of couples who receive premarital education could reduce divorce rates by 7% and, over a decade's time, reduce the number of children living in poverty by at least 160,000.”

In the section on the federal government deficit, it says that:

“By the early 2030s, assuming health care costs grow at their historical rate, the three major entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) will absorb all of the federal government’s projected revenues.”

It claims:

“The US has the only open-ended, cost-plus, health care financing system in the world. As a result, we spend more than twice as much per capita as do other developed countries.”

The high cost of healthcare for employers and individuals is emphasized by the fact that the annual health insurance premium for an American family - $10,880 in 2005 – about equaled the earnings of a full-time minimum wage worker. The book says that:

“to slow the growth of spending on health on a sustained basis, the federal government would have to adopt regulations to control outlays, including limits on total and institution-specific spending. Without near-universal coverage, hospitals and other health care providers that were subject to spending controls would of necessity curtail care for the uninsured.”

It also makes a statement which is deeply unpalatable:

“To rein in health care spending will require rationing - that is, eliminating health care services that are not worth what they cost.”

It stresses the importance of candidates being:

“candid with the American people about the nature and the magnitude of the challenge and acknowledging that the problem cannot not be solved simply by cutting fraud, waste and abuse…”

These are very difficult messages, and are not ones that are easy to communicate during an election campaign. Even the most modest attempt to raise such questions would be liable to be immediately jumped upon as a “gaffe.”

This process of magnifying so-called “gaffes” in political campaigning is really an abuse of free speech. In fact, it achieves the opposite of what was intended by those who promulgated the right of free speech. Emphasis on gaffes inhibits free expression and stifles the sort of honest debate that might enable voters to make voting choices in full knowledge of the options that really exist. It thus prevents them taking their share of responsibility in the difficult decision-making which the people they elect will eventually be obliged to undertake.

Governor Mark Warner

Last week I met former [Virginia] Governor Mark Warner, a Democrat, who is a candidate to replace Senator John Warner, a Republican and not a relative, who is retiring from the Senate at the end of this session. Mark Warner is contesting the race with another former Governor of Virginia, Jim Gilmore.

The State of Virginia has been transformed in recent years by rapid suburban and service industry growth in the Northern part of the state, near Washington, DC. The influx of new residents has begun to change the political balance of the state. Virginia had traditionally been a Republican state, but Democrats have been winning most of the more recent State-wide races.

Mark Warner and I discussed the major European investment in Virginia. Investment by European companies in Virginia amounts to $12 billion and adds up to 72% of all overseas investment in the State. It supports 104,000 jobs. Furthermore, exports from Virginia to the EU are worth $5 billion.

While he was Governor, Mark Warner was successful in improving the finances of the state. He also invested heavily in education, and Virginia students achieved the highest math SAT scores in the nation during that time.

I will be attending a conference in Wyethville, Virginia, organized by Congressman Boucher, on the promotion of regional economic and investment in the state during the month of September.

UN Special Envoy for Malaria, Mr. Raymond Chambers

The first ever United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria, Raymond Chambers, came to see me last week. He is an outstanding philanthropist and has devoted large amounts of his personal resources, as well as his time, to eradicating malaria. He founded the “Malaria No More” Organization. He told me about his efforts to highlight the disease, including a White House Summit on malaria, and a segment during the very popular American Idol television programme which focused on malaria and AIDS.

Malaria causes between 1 and 3 million deaths a year. A person dies from malaria every 30 seconds. Almost 90% of all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. It is especially prevalent in rural areas.

Malaria can be treated with chloroquine, but this is only effective if administered very soon after symptoms appear, which can be very difficult to achieve in remote rural areas with few clinics and no roads. Strains of malaria have recently spread from Asia to Africa with which chloroquine no longer works.

Malaria is spread to humans as a result of mosquito bites, to which one is most vulnerable when asleep at night. The most effective ways of preventing malaria is to put insecticide-treated nets over the beds where people will sleep. Such nets cost no more than $5.50 per net, remain effective for up to five years and represent a very cost-effective way of saving lives.

Raymond Chambers has set himself a target of 100% coverage of at risk populations with anti-malaria nets by the year 2010. Approximately 100 million nets will have to be provided and he intends to make sure that governments in the developed world fully live up to the promises they have made to finance the provision of these nets.

Some European visitors

This week I met with the President of the newly founded state of Kosovo, President Sejdiu (left), the Prime Minister Thaci and the Foreign Minister Hyseni. They are here for important meetings with the US Administration. We discussed the economic, political, administrative and judicial development of the new state.

Several Members of the European Parliament were also in town on separate visits: Arlene Mc Carthy (in her capacity as Chair of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee), Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Bill Newton Dunn and Olle Schmidt (as Members of the Liberals/Democrats (ALDE) group, by chance they also sit on that Committee) and Joseph Daul, leader of the EPP/ED Group who I met with his colleagues Jaime Mayor Oreja, and Marian-Jean Marinescu.

Joseph Daul (right) was, previous to becoming party leader, Chairman of the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament. He is a beef and grain farmer and has been very active in farming organizations.

I was also delighted to welcome Paul Kehoe (left), TD, Chief Whip of the Fine Gael party in Dáil Éireann, and Councillor Patrick O’Donovan (below) a Fine Gael member of Limerick County Council.

Please send me your comments about this or any of my weekly messages or other EU matters. I look forward to hearing from you!