CQC CHRONICLE


Vol. XIX, NO.3 --- June 1,2009

NEXT MEETING: August 12, 2 PM, Cedar Lane Unitarian Church, 9601 Cedar Lane, Bethesda, Md., lower level. ALL WELCOME

AGENDA: the Economy, Education, Health, Globalization, Transportation

NEWS ITEMS

1. Suspension of June CQC Meeting:- Please note next meeting is Aug. 12, for- 3 reasons: Bob Saloschin's wife hurt her foot, needs assistance while recuperating; CQC's health work is urgent since Congress will probably act soon; and Bob must catch up on a long-standing commitment to his literary agent to finish a book that hopefully will stimulate CQC-type civic activity.

2. The Economy: Summarizing our March newsletter, the basic problem is purchasing power in the broadest sense. For consumers, businesses and nonprofits that means adequate income; for governments it means adequate revenues.

Except for temporarily tapping into assets, creditworthyness and other economic activity requiTes purchasing power. Restoring it may require serious changes.

3. Education: Our Education Policy Group met April 2 and 29 on needs and obstacles in all 4 levels of education: preschool, school, higher ed. and continuing ed. Newspaper and TV news can't do much for kids who lack its context. Adults who know the context have little intergenerational time. Some schools discourage teaching on vital public issues. Many groups support parts of education but few support all. And even part is tricky: thus CQC supports history for citizenship but that is ineffective without a good curriculum.

4. Health Policy: Our Health Policy group met May 4 and issued a 5-page "Civic Criteria for- M1ljo1 Health Care Refonn". It starts with a 9'- point checklist: the ultimate goal, the means to reach it, costs and funding, new improvements, allocating resources, better information, better quality, adjusting the cultures of service and of profit, and covert rationing. We've started distribution (see our website) and will use it to evaluate the expected proposals.

5. Globalization: HOORAY!!! After 4 years of work under Ann McDonell's leadership we have published our highly readable, balanced and comprehensive 24 page handbook "Globalization and the Economy - What Every Citizen Should Know". Extracts are on our website, distribution lies ahead.

6. Transportation:- We continue collecting infonnationon local and intercity travel