Chris' notes:

Healthcare
- right not a privilege; why should only wealthy have healthcare? We are rationing healthcare now!
- Healthcare insurance as a profitmaking business is inherently immoral…making profit more important than serving everyone.
- 42 million uninsured, ranks are growing due to layoffs, increasing use of temporary employees, and empoyee "choice"
- our health dollars are not well spent, $ is going to insurance companies; doctors and patients feel pinch
- most industrialized nations have universal healthcare
- cost containment is problem in any healthcare system
- NC House Bill 493 - to have statewide referendum on universal healthcare in NC: endorsed by John Hope Franklin, Bill Friday. Ellie Kinnaird, Verla Insko, and Joe Hackney support bill; how about you and your legislators?
- Websites:
- www.ncdefendhealthcare.org
- www.everybodyinnobodyout.org
- www.pnhp.org
- estimates that system would pay for itself once insurance industry is removed from equation. Blue Cross in Massachusetts employs more people to administer coverage for about 2.5 million New Englanders than are employed in all of Canada to administer single payer coverage for 27 million Canadians.
- forms of universal healthcare:
- single payer as in Canada
- blend of single payer and private insurance for not covered expenses

Globalization
- appears to be zero sum game - winners and losers
- US job losses, 3rd world benefits; is this good?
- Working class & middle class in US is shrinking
- NC job losses in textiles
- More job losses in furniture industry
- Eroding tax base, increasing demands on taxpayers, increasing need for services
- Good jobs replaced by service sector jobs, not new high paying jobs
- Overseas workers not unionized, so wages are suppressed; attempts to unionize are brutally suppressed in some 3rd world countries
- Overseas countries have weaker environmental laws and regulations
- Oversight of world trading confined to people NOT elected by governments, but appointed by the current ruling govts.
- No easy answers, but we need to pay attention to this, and think about how to make this a win-win situation.
- Some say you can't stop this; I say we can impact it if we choose to and organize to change it.