Go home!

"Shut it" And "go home." Two syllable words, two word sentences. If I disappointed you as a friend, I'm sorry, heartfelt sorry. If I didn't care about our friendship my reply would be a two sentence comment with punctuation. But I do care about our friendship. So I've devoted this blog to you.
But coming back on the "go home" thing. If you refer to that by: "The European motherland..."? Then, boy did we ever! You may wanna grab a seat for this one! Rachel and I went on a 9 month Aspen sister cities ski patrol exchange in Chamonix in France. I worked for 5 months on the La Flégère ski patrol at one of the mountains four of the Compagnie du Mt Blanc. Avalanche control work with explosives, helicopters, avalauncher, Gazex and of course rescue, the whole badaboom. It was awesome! Don't just take my word for it, I made a documentary:

"Directors's cut: Quarante-deux: Ski Patrol Exchange Chamonix" Written and directed by Danno

Together with my wife, who I adore, we had 4 months of travel, which makes it a total of 9 months in Europe. We bought an old VW ambulance van online in Germany and converted into a camper.  It runs on diesel and included a standalone heater (also on diesel) which was perfect for ski trips. It has an automatic transmission to an inline 5 kicker, fuel injected, turbo charged and super efficient; 80 Euros would get us about a 1000kms.

We got to live there in a small studio apartment in a chalet at the foot of the Glacier les Bossons. By spending and extended amount of time living there we really got a feel for the place. We learned about the daily struggles people face there: The air pollution which gets trapped in the valley during high pressure inversions. We saw the housing crunch in the Chamonix Valley, similar to here. But it was the experience of clocking in at work, the locker room with a uniform and name tag, a radio in a charger, and making friends for a lifetime - all in French, which rocked our world! I call it the human experience. 

Before, during and after the season, on the Silverpeak Apothecary tandem wing, we embarked on a 12,000 Kilometer trip in the van. We saw a lot of places, met even more nice folks and roamed free around the European continent. We flew the paraglider in Europe in some of the most spectacular places and camped on deserted beaches, parking lots, plaza's, take-off and landings. It was just amazing! We loved living there everyday, it was fantastic. Well don't take my word for it, watch the video Rachel and I made and check out our travel blogs on: France & Italy as well as Greece.

A ski patrol season abroad, the travels together with Rachel. Christmas Special edit. Written and directed by Danno.

French was language number six for me, definitely the hardest language I've ever learned. It's always easy to have an opinion, but I wanted to share some experiences instead. Republicans always talk a lot about the devil called: "socialized medicine" i.e. universal healthcare. Let's have a look at two paystubs. 

Here's my pay stub from Colorado:

In Colorado I pay 23% taxes. However this does not include health insurance or retirement. My employer pays for sick days and my health insurance is paid for by the company and myself separately.

Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare but you can see in OASDI/EE and MED/EE deductions that I am paying for that. So republicans want to cut something we're already paying for.

Here's my pay stub from France:

I blurred some numbers but take my word for it: 22% in taxes... Look at the the list of itemized of deductions: You've probably never seen that many deductions. 6300 Maladie=health insurance, 6304 Veillesse=Retirement 6900Chomage=unemployment, etc, etc. Sick leave, paternity leave, 6 weeks paid vacation, a cheap college education, unemployment, retirement and last but not least: UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE Yes, it's bureaucratic, but every fraction of a percent is accounted for and it all adds up to 22%! No hand in the cookie jar. That's just how taxes should.

But wait a minute...wait a minute... Where does my 23% in the US go to? Obviously not to healthcare or a college education, well... where does it exactly go to than?

There is a lot of cash missing. When one tells me it's the black folk in the inner cities who took it in the form of food stamps, welfare and free Obama phones... I don't see a lot of cash. All I see is poverty. When I think of cash, I envision  Starwood, Hollywood or Trumps gilded wood, not poor people on welfare.

So tell me: where does our tax money go? It's impossible to tell whose got the hand in the cookie jar with only 4 lines of deductions on you pay stub, isn't it? Does it go drones and Humvees in Iraq that keep blowing up? This Bush Cheney fabricated war on Arabian muslim paupers who can then be held in check with their oil-king-pins ruling on the same nepotistic cronyism here in corporate politics and their never ending 'terrorist' war?

"There is a lot of cash missing. When one tells me it's the black folk in the inner cities who took it in the form of food stamps, welfare and free Obama phones... I don't see a lot of cash. All I see is poverty. When I think of cash, I envision  Starwood, Hollywood or Trumps gilded wood, not poor people on welfare."

"This is not an ideological issue, this is a pure accounting issue..."

This is not an ideological issue, this is a pure accounting issue...

We should NOT have our prisons filled with pot smokers. Instead we should lock up those who are fleecing our books. I do not believe billionaires who get richer every time they go bankrupt, should be in charge of keeping the books. A billionaire who flops into bankruptcy four times, duping thousands of people by not paying them back the money he owes them by claiming the private jet as an expense, should be locked up. Just like Hillary, just like the entire Bush family and I even could be talked into putting Obama on trial.

Yes, I'm OK with more bureaucracy, 50 pages spreadsheet along with my paycheck at the end of the month, accounting for where our tax dollars go, itemized and in alphabetical order. Let the government (CIA, NSA, FBI) focus on where our tax dollars go, not this diversion bullshit in Arabia. 

Dude universal Healthcare is achievable. I'm on your side; it doesn't have to be free.  It's not that the Euro's get it for free, they pay for it with their taxes, and every euro is accounted for.

The media- with the Fox BS machine leading the way as well as the American people, have switched off from paying attention to where tax money goes, because it's booooring. All we do is watch ourselves silly on cable TV: "Dancing with the Billionaires," "The Bold around the World turns Beautiful," NFL, NHL and NBA. Being intellectual and smart and spending an energetic evening on spreadsheets has become so not cool.  

It is merely an accounting issue. So I think that a man whose business dealings are so shady that he can't even release his tax records and flopped 4 times into bankruptcy should NEVER be in charge of government accounting.

Yes, we had to go madame doctor in France: Cabinet Medical. Was it perfect? I guarantee you: NOT! But that's not what they're selling. However for €27 a visit it's affordable. How? Simply by mandating it by law.

Healthcare is not a like a pair of shoes which you order on Amazon. If you have a myocardial infarction you don't shop around for emergency rooms, you rush to the nearest one. When your kid has acute croup and you live in rural Ohio you don't shop around for pediatric care centers, you'll take anyone... Healthcare is fundamentally different, and should be treated so. 

Imagine how different rural America would be if a doctors visit cost was $29, the same price as in New York City or anywhere across the country?  Smart laws that regulate by demanding a higher standard of living (assuming we include health in the standard of living definition) for our society. Not just profit.

You agree with me that, if market forces are at work a for profit healthcare is served best by the least healthy population. That's not rocket science right? If there would be no sick people that would be HORRIBLE for business... So all supply chains associated evolve that way.

"One will never tackle this problems without tort reform."

It was reflected in all the places in Europe where we went paragliding: practice at your own risk, but by all means go for it, and if you get hurt: "Don't come suing us." It was so refreshing, no paragliding monopoly, choking the sport for profit. There are no endless waivers, just a code of responsibility.

As a matter of fact, in France on the ski patrol we would invoice for a toboggan rides! No courtesy rides for whiney 1 percenters. Isn't that what republicans always talk about: Taking responsibility?

I think tort reform would instill in our society a sense of taking responsibility which I hear loud mouth republicans always calling for, I agree my friend. We all should take responsibility for our actions. We need tort reform! It's crushing our healthcare costs and eroding many business opportunities.

Instead lawyers should be focussed on corporate and government accounting fraud. I hear nothing on tort reform from the Trump camp because sue happy Don Don has thousands of law suits pending himself. Walk the walk man! Let's enforce corporate/government shafting of our books in a gravity of the way goons brutalized the indigenous people who were protecting their direct environment on their own reservation in Standing Rock.

Besides the people, one of our favorite experiences was the food. 

Agriculture in Europe is subsidized with tax payer money only to promote quality food, laws keep GMO out. It has to make some fiscal sense. But for profit should not be the only denominator, if you can't take into account the human, environmental, social, cultural, or practical values in policy, you're trending in the Neanderthal direction. We tried and tasted the food, we loved it! The quality, availability and prices were all better. You should have seen the cheese and sausage selections in France!

Explain to me why on earth a for profit agriculture would ever serve us healthy food if the whole supply chain of supermarkets and strip-mall developers only functions on profit and popping big pharma pills? The problem is not too much legislation. The solution it is the application of legislation with at heart the highest possible quality of life possible for as many as possible people, not merely the commercial interests of big businesses. The highest quality of life has nothing to do with big money. It is about having a meaningful productive life, some are good with their hands, others think faster.

Together we have crafted this civilization where with trade, cooperation and a highly educated society we have created computed chips which fit in cast engine blocks that navigate cars in cities all over the world by means of GPS satellites, created by Nasa men. It is cooperation. The thriving of science has to be a champion to maintain the level of civilization we have, denying science is...sorry to say it: dumb

In Europe, with 21% sales tax, food is so much cheaper, more varied and... Well I refer to the video for the food. It was so good: Schnitzel in Germany, Fondue in France, Risotto in Italy, Tatziki and Gyros with Feta in Greece, and grilled things in Albania, boy and cheap!

In the US now we are still subsidizing agriculture and it's supposed to be a for profit! Write me a blog about that. US agriculture enterprises' sincere goal is to maximize profits, they're actually pretty open about it. Bringing quality food to your table is not their priority. It's part of the whole for profit corporate shakedown of strip-mall developers, big pharma, for profit healthcare, for profit everything. Look at the 'foods' on the shelves at Walmart: Processed high fructose carcinogens in a jar. Because it's good for profits and it fits well in the supply chain.

Boy I miss these bakeries in France, Italy and Germany. When you look on my French pay stub you see a line with a deduction "7910 Taxe Apprentisage." That pays for apprentice-ships. In Europe there is a historically strong policy and culture which fosters the quality training of vocational skills. Bakers, plumbers, mechanics, you name it. Anyone can afford to go, because tax money is set aside for it. If college is not your thing, the system will train you to be a successful tradesman of your choice and talent. Furthermore bureaucratic legislation -which republicans hate so much- protects the public from charlatans and putzes who pretend to be a plumber or mechanic. And guarantees you amazing pastries in the bakeries.

Imagine a law that would simply prohibit the sale of softdrinks? We don't even need a new law, we recycle the marijuana law and replace "Cannabis" with "High fructose Soda."
Aren't the republicans wanting to drop healthcare costs?  Imagine probation and parole funding going to a mandatory detox on beet, carrot, ginger, celery juice, grown on farm in rural America subsidized by money not spend on aircraft carriers and war in the Arabian peninsula?

22% Is a bareble tax burden. But instead of watching "Dancing with Billionaires" we have to start watching "Whose ripping off our billions!- spreadsheet presentations" Instead watching NFL games, I'ld prefer a season of the physical crushing bankruptors of the liking of the Don Don .
For profit healthcare will never succeed, as long as people make market charged investment profits on chemo therapy. Thousands of fire fighters, nurses and teachers do amazing work all the time on something as humble as a salary, no bonuses, no profit, no shares package.

One Final thought... Listen to this one: Just like in many other European countries, France state law mandates a 35hr work week. "On partagé en France" or "We share in France." Share the love, share the work.

Yes, on the ski patrol in France I had 3 day weekends! Dude I have never felt as supercharged as I did there and even skied on my days off! I know there were some people over there on the "less charged" side, but that I blame entirely on Europe's sunken cannabis legislation. But a 35 hr workweek is nice bro! It renews the human spirit, charges the batteries and gives you the time to pay attention as to where your taxpayers money goes. I tried it and approve it's healthy!

Explain me how can one be vigilant to as where your tax payer money goes working 80hrs week? How can parents raise good kids if they have not the time to do so? In Europe parents are encouraged to spend time with their families, financially support daycare, No cookie jar to have a hand in. 

Hey it ain't all that either over there all the time. Definitely on the weed thing, flying the colors of the Silverpeak wing, Europe disappointed me with their lack of reform in marijuana legislation and their way of enforcement. There is some headway to be made there. Also as far as social mobility: that's a tough one to call.

When we left Europe we didn't sell out camper van. Life is pretty good in 'socialist' Europe. I grew up in Germany, 60km from the iron curtain in the 80's and only 8miles from the former concentration camp of Bergen Belsen, historically hallowed ground. Because of that, having emigrated, speaking six languages as well as the exchange, I'm lucky to have a pretty crisp view on the world in perspective of current affairs in its historic context.

62 Richest billionaires own as much wealth as the poorer half of the world’s population. It will be a struggle for a fairer society, it always has been. The only thing I wanna warn you with Don Don Drumpf is that in Europe they've paid for it in the past. Bloody revolts of the poor people ended in the city squares on barricades with pitchforks and bayonets... Let it not end with AR-15 on Trump plaza with Apache Helicopters and Militarized police against the American people standing rock style.

Rachel and I will keep "home" as an open option. We are world citizens and are in this together with everyone else on this planet. We just can't help thinking about how nice life in Greece and Italy was can't wait to go back. Best of luck with your 'win'. Love you bro!