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Healthcare - Democrats are wimps!
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saltman
Nov 3, 09 11:44
Post #1 of 39 (415 views)
Healthcare - Democrats are wimps!
Can't Post
The healthcare debate has been lost and that is on the hands of the Obama administration. There I said it, bk and others should be happy. Obama was afraid to use political capital to push this through, which is disappointing. All that can be salvaged at this point is a watered down piece of shit.
There seems to be a split among Republicans as the primary problem. Some think its too expensive. Goddamn right its too expensive if you limit its availabilty to an already adversely selected population. The logical answer to that would be to allow anyone to choose Medicare, but there in lies the other problem. If you open it up to everyone, the govt. gets into the insurance business and its stifling private enterprise moving us closer to communism.
There is no solution to the problem for Republicans. If the Dems are not willing to band together shove this down their throat, they might as sit around fingering themselves. The Democrats are proving once again that great ideas die at the hands of there own ineptitude. Fucking pantywastes.
(This post was
edited
by saltman on Nov 3, 09 11:45)
chainpin
Nov 3, 09 11:53
Post #2 of 39 (399 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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In Reply To:
The healthcare debate has been lost and that is on the hands of the Obama administration. There I said it, bk and others should be happy. Obama was afraid to use political capital to push this through, which is disappointing. All that can be salvaged at this point is a watered down piece of shit.
There seems to be a split among Republicans as the primary problem. Some think its too expensive. Goddamn right its too expensive if you limit its availabilty to an already adversely selected population. The logical answer to that would be to allow anyone to choose Medicare, but there in lies the other problem. If you open it up to everyone, the govt. gets into the insurance business and its stifling private enterprise moving us closer to communism.
There is no solution to the problem for Republicans. If the Dems are not willing to band together shove this down their throat, they might as sit around fingering themselves. The Democrats are proving once again that great ideas die at the hands of there own ineptitude. Fucking pantywastes.
I have stated for some time that the end product would be nothing more than an insurance industry regulatory bill on steroids.
The legislation is too complex, too big, too costly, and most certainly doomed to fail.
It's funny reading the far left blogs, you would think that the Blue Dogs were terrorists the way some of those guys(bloggers) villify and despise them.
"I really wish you would post more often. You always have some good stuff to say. I copied it below just in case someone missed it." BarryP to Chainpin on 10/21/06
sphere
Nov 3, 09 12:00
Post #3 of 39 (389 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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President Obama dropped the ball early on this one. Then the congressional Democrats gang-raped it. But hey, at least Olympia Snow kind sorta almost likes some part of an early iteration of one version of it, maybe.
Of course, it won't stop 'em from hoisting the 'Mission Accomplished' banner over the stinking pile of nothingness they'll call Reform.
Irrigation stops a smelt's beating heart
dvfmfidc
Nov 3, 09 12:03
Post #4 of 39 (384 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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1.2 trillion and counting!
MJuric
Nov 3, 09 12:07
Post #5 of 39 (380 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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If the Dems are not willing to band together shove this down their throat, they might as sit around fingering themselves.
An interesting take on politics and life in general. In essence it states "I know what is best and you don't, end of story". I guess if you believe one party, group of people or individual is that omnipotent, then by all means they should jam things down people throats. I personally believe that no one is that "All knowing" and in fact most are merely narrow minded and and sighted and can hardly figure out what is best for themselves and certainly can make no determination for others. But that's just me I guess.
~Matt
big kahuna
Nov 3, 09 12:14
Post #6 of 39 (371 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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The healthcare debate has been lost and that is on the hands of the Obama administration. There I said it, bk and others should be happy. Obama was afraid to use political capital to push this through, which is disappointing. All that can be salvaged at this point is a watered down piece of shit.
The Democrats could have passed it at any time. The problem lies not with Republicans -- who couldn't stop a fly from sneezing out of its ass right now -- but with the different groups of quarrelling Dems in the Congress at present. Today's Democratic Party isn't a single, monolithic structure; not even close to it, as a matter of fact. And Reid and Pelosi are finding it almost impossible to reconcile competing visions for what President Obama wants to see in a bill.
Any "political capital" he (Obama) would have used would quickly see an almost total rout of Democrats in 2010, for one thing. For another, what any politician loves more than anything else is getting reelected. Passing some form of healthcare bill that people will call "ObamaCare" is a quick route to political irrelevancy for at least a decade and an almost certain repeal of the bill once Republicans are back in charge. The Dems know this, though Pelosi may be willing to sacrifice all (mainly because she and folks like Waxman and Rangel are in the 70s or 80s and "on their last bag of life," as Kenny L. so eloquently puts it in his signature line). However, those 80 Congresscritters sitting in districts that were won by either Bush or McCain (or both) in 2004 and 2008 certainly aren't willing to open their gorgets and then slit their own throats.
There seems to be a split among Republicans as the primary problem. Some think its too expensive. Goddamn right its too expensive if you limit its availabilty to an already adversely selected population. The logical answer to that would be to allow anyone to choose Medicare, but there in lies the other problem. If you open it up to everyone, the govt. gets into the insurance business and its stifling private enterprise moving us closer to communism.
Certainly, no Pub in the House is going to vote for ANY form of Obama(Pelosi)Care. And Medicare -- which is rapidly going bankrupt and will be trillions of dollars in debt in unfunded liabilities -- is no answer. At least, not in the way in which Dems envision it being reconstituted, which will kill choice, limit options and allow government a big say over what sorts of medical care one receives as one moves through the various stages of life. This is also sure to get Dems slaughtered at the ballot box in 2010, as legions of angry seniors (who vote in far higher percentages than any other group) throw them out of office.
There is no solution to the problem for Republicans. If the Dems are not willing to band together shove this down their throat, they might as sit around fingering themselves. The Democrats are proving once again that great ideas die at the hands of there own ineptitude. Fucking pantywastes.
See my reply to the first observation you made above. It's not Republicans. They can't stop anything. The Dems have done a piss-poor job of selling this monstrosity to the American people, mainly because they themselves don't have a clue about what it is they want to put forward. When you have several different competing philosophies in your own caucus (Blue Dogs, Moderates, "Conservative"(that's a laugher) Dems and "Progressive" Dems) you're not likely to come up with anything remotely satisfying to everybody. That's not even taking into account the Senate, where more than a few Senators from red states understand that their political lives are on the line if they attach their names to something as odious as Pelosi- or ObamaCare (think Blanche Lincolin in AR, Ben Nelson in NE and Mary Landrieu in LA, for starters). Even Bill Nelson in FL understands that something with a public option in it would be the death knell for Democrats.
Actually, the Republicans don't need to do a thing but let the Dems hang themselves with this bill and then pick up the pieces that are left over after a popular revolt.
T.
(This post was
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by big kahuna on Nov 3, 09 12:17)
big kahuna
Nov 3, 09 12:23
Post #7 of 39 (352 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [big kahuna]
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I also like what Doctor Zero, in his latest essay, has to say about the basically powerless and wimpy 'Pubs when it comes to today's elections and what they portend for 2010 and what President Obama is allowed to do and not do:
"The Stupid Party"
The radical nature of the current Administration makes the idea of “moderate” compromise laughable. What’s the moderate position on freedom-crushing trillion-dollar health care and environmentalist legislation? They’re okay, as long as the Democrats pinky-swear to keep the cost under $800 billion? That’s the kind of promise no politician could keep, even if it was made in earnest. A moderate Republican is someone who lives in a state of perpetual surprise as he ponders the monthly bills for nanny-state government. What’s the point of electing people who are guaranteed to spend the rest of their political careers complaining about how they’ve been played for fools?
Too much of the Republicans’ “Stupid Party” strategy is based on the mechanics of getting people with little elephants on their campaign signs elected. They view the election as the conclusion of a contest, when in fact it’s only the beginning. A successful Republican Party doesn’t have to be ideologically rigid, but it should insist on candidates who possess an intellectual foundation of conservative theory, and the ability to explain it at least as well as the thousands of people posting comments on conservative blogs.
Read the rest here:
http://hotair.com/...02/the-stupid-party/
T.
MJuric
Nov 3, 09 12:24
Post #8 of 39 (351 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [big kahuna]
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Actually, the Republicans don't need to do a thing but let the Dems hang themselves with this bill and then pick up the pieces that are left over after a popular revolt.
Of course they don't have to, no party not in power does and this of course is "Politics". Of course this is also why most people are sick of politics in the US, it's all about "Getting re elected" and holding on to power rather than doing what needs to be done.
Each party bides it time and only makes moves that will make them look good even allowing really crappy legislation to pass so they can pull a "I told you so".
In the mean time that crappy legislation is yet another millstone around the economy and the citizens and rarely if ever gets repealed when the "Other party" gets in power.
Why don't they repeal it? Simple, every piece of burdensome piece of crap legislation that gets passed puts more dollars and more power in their pocket...they actually like the crappy legislation, both sides, because when it's "Their turn" it's THEIR power.
~Matt
balanceguy
Nov 3, 09 12:27
Post #9 of 39 (345 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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It was a bad bill from the start and it just kept getting worse. Perhaps something good will come from this.
big kahuna
Nov 3, 09 12:36
Post #10 of 39 (340 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [MJuric]
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Why don't they repeal it? Simple, every piece of burdensome piece of crap legislation that gets passed puts more dollars and more power in their pocket...they actually like the crappy legislation, both sides, because when it's "Their turn" it's THEIR power.
The Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act was repealed by the Congress back in 1989 (it was passed in 1988 and led to a huge outcry among seniors), so there's a precedent. My guess is Pubs will certainly try to repeal any version of ObamaCare containing a public option or much of anything else that looks to involve the government any further in healthcare decisions.
T.
saltman
Nov 3, 09 12:44
Post #11 of 39 (330 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [big kahuna]
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bk, its astounding how many things we actually agree on considering how far apart on the political spectrum we sit. A
few
points I disagree with below.
Any "political capital" he (Obama) would have used would quickly see an almost total rout of Democrats in 2010, for one thing. For another, what any politician loves more than anything else is getting reelected. Passing some form of healthcare bill that people will call "ObamaCare" is a quick route to political irrelevancy for at least a decade and an almost certain repeal of the bill once Republicans are back in charge.
Most democratic voters voted for real "ObamaCare", including myself. It makes sense to open up Medicare to everyone. Insurance companies make money via spread of risk. You can't take on ALL the risk and expect it to not cost money. I don't want that! Medicare is a black hole today, because it covers old, sickly people. It IS the definition of adverse selection. The best way to avoid that is to open up medicare to the millions of younger healthy people! Passing the turd that I am reading and hearing about now is a good way to lose votes such as my own. This bill is worse than doing nothing!! Somebody needs to be screaming this! I also don't think the Republicans have the balls to repeal a bill that could cause people to either lose insurance or not be able to gain insurance. History has shown that bills of this magnitude tend to stick.
And Medicare -- which is rapidly going bankrupt and will be trillions of dollars in debt in unfunded liabilities -- is no answer. At least, not in the way in which Dems envision it being reconstituted, which will kill choice, limit options and allow government a big say over what sorts of medical care one receives as one moves through the various stages of life.
See my previous post, Medicare is going bankrupt because of the extreme costs of its user base not being offset by the premiums of healthy users. Expanding Medicare, expands choice. Its not a replacement of private insurance, its a substitute for private insurance. If people begin choosing Medicare over private insurance, thats the fault of the insurance industry.
The Dems have done a piss-poor job of selling this monstrosity to the American people, mainly because they themselves don't have a clue about what it is they want to put forward. When you have several different competing philosophies in your own caucus (Blue Dogs, Moderates, "Conservative"(that's a laugher) Dems and "Progressive" Dems) you're not likely to come up with anything remotely satisfying to everybody.
We agree in full on this point.
trail
Nov 3, 09 12:45
Post #12 of 39 (327 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [MJuric]
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In Reply To:
Why don't they repeal it? Simple, every piece of burdensome piece of crap legislation that gets passed puts more dollars and more power in their pocket...they actually like the crappy legislation, both sides, because when it's "Their turn" it's THEIR power.
It sounds like you want to void the Constitution and implement some sort of dictatorship. Clearly elected leadership is not the way to go.....
saltman
Nov 3, 09 12:47
Post #13 of 39 (323 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [balanceguy]
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It was a bad bill from the start and it just kept getting worse. Perhaps something good will come from this.
You are right, and that's because they started from a weak position that could only get weaker. They needed to start at a single payer system.
I come from a place of pragmatic reform. I want reform that has a chance to pay for itself, which I think a full public option can do. This version is the WORST possible scenario and will kill the Democrats and they are too fucking blind to see that. It won't be accessible to all and it will cost more than a single payer system.
(This post was
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big kahuna
Nov 3, 09 13:07
Post #14 of 39 (309 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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Most democratic voters voted for real "ObamaCare", including myself.
True enough. But apparently, this isn't what Independents and Republicans who voted for Obama thought they were getting. They're deserting the Democratic vision in droves:
Source: CNN/Opinion Dynamics
It makes sense to open up Medicare to everyone. Insurance companies make money via spread of risk. You can't take on ALL the risk and expect it to not cost money. I don't want that! Medicare is a black hole today, because it covers old, sickly people. It IS the definition of adverse selection. The best way to avoid that is to open up medicare to the millions of younger healthy people! Passing the turd that I am reading and hearing about now is a good way to lose votes such as my own. This bill is worse than doing nothing!! Somebody needs to be screaming this! I also don't think the Republicans have the balls to repeal a bill that could cause people to either lose insurance or not be able to gain insurance. History has shown that bills of this magnitude tend to stick.
This is the whole point behind the individual mandate, which is proving to be hugely unpopular. Without such a mandate that scoops up that ocean of young, healthy people out there, there's no way risk can be spread across a broad enough pool to cover those with preexisting conditions or those who eventually become sick. I agree that this particular bill is the cock-up of all cock-ups when it comes to trying to reform health care, but I don't really think that was its intent in the first place.
See my previous post, Medicare is going bankrupt because of the extreme costs of its user base not being offset by the premiums of healthy users. Expanding Medicare, expands choice. Its not a replacement of private insurance, its a substitute for private insurance. If people begin choosing Medicare over private insurance, thats the fault of the insurance industry.
Again, it comes back to the individual mandate and lack thereof. Unfortunately, most people not from the far left would look at expanding a government program like Medicare -- in the form contemplated by Pelosi et al -- as being nothing more than a socialist takeover. Unfortunately, the only way to get people to buy off on something like a "Medicare Part E (expanded)" would be to leave it as is, with reasonable choice and availability, but that'll also lead to its cratering the economy.
I just don't see people in this country, as yet, being ready to move to so-called "universal" healthcare.
T.
saltman
Nov 3, 09 13:14
Post #15 of 39 (302 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [big kahuna]
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True enough. But apparently, this isn't what Independents and Republicans who voted for Obama thought they were getting. They're deserting the Democratic vision in droves:
The longer the debate the more the deserters. Swift decisive action was necessary and the Dems lost their leverage. They are too stupid to realize that they are close to losing ALL leverage going forward. The individual mandate was not sold well, as evidenced by the fact that we are calling it a mandate as opposed to say....an "auto-enrollment".
I just don't see people in this country, as yet, being ready to move to so-called "universal" healthcare.
I really hate to say this because it epitomizes the lefty elitist attitude, but you know me already. People in this country don't know what is good for them.
big kahuna
Nov 3, 09 14:05
Post #16 of 39 (282 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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I really hate to say this because it epitomizes the lefty elitist attitude, but you know me already. People in this country don't know what is good for them
.
It may be that many understand what they might be giving up in terms of access to healthcare but they fear -- right or wrongly -- the diminution of personal liberties and choice that would have to be given up in order to fulfill their end of the social contract executed between them and their government when it comes to something like ObamaCare.
They also may not want to see the government any larger than it already is, and with new CBO and other scoring reports that come out daily and that speak about the gargantuan costs for a program that may not even work as advertised anyway, it's easy to see why they don't want to strengthen an already-pernicious culture of dependency. Soon enough, something like 10 percent of the people in this country are going to be paying the bills, in a way, for the other 95%. That's deeply unfair and unhealthy for the country in the long run.
T.
MJuric
Nov 3, 09 14:14
Post #17 of 39 (278 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [trail]
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It sounds like you want to void the Constitution and implement some sort of dictatorship.
Why would I want to do that? Clearly the capacity to repeal and change laws, regulations etc etc exists as on the rare occasion it happens. The problem is that people are mired in the mentality that there are only two parties, two ideologies and kowtowed into the the idea that "Their party" is the only party that "Knows what's best".
I'm simply proposing that people wake up and understand that we've been "Piling on" for the last several decades, if not a century or more and it's time to start "unpiling" rather than throwing more crap onto the trash heap in hopes that "This one" will fix the problem.
Clearly elected leadership is not the way to go.
It's not the "Leadership" that is the problem...it's the people voting the leadership into power that is the problem.
Why should the "Leadership" do anything different if we keep putting them in office? Putting them in office is a ringing endorsement of "Hey we love what you've been doing, keep it up".
Seems to me it's pretty obvious that "What we've been doing" hasn't been working out so well for use for many years, even decades now. Maybe, just maybe we should try different leadership...possibly even a different approach all together.
Of course doing the same shit for another 3 or 4 decades should work out just fine, I'm sure.
~Matt
MJuric
Nov 3, 09 14:18
Post #18 of 39 (277 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [big kahuna]
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The Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act was repealed by the Congress back in 1989 (it was passed in 1988 and led to a huge outcry among seniors), so there's a precedent.
So you're pinning you're hopes on one out of 1000's or more of pieces of legislation from two decades ago? Good luck with that :-)
~Matt
big kahuna
Nov 3, 09 14:21
Post #19 of 39 (275 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [MJuric]
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So you're pinning you're hopes on one out of 1000's or more of pieces of legislation from two decades ago? Good luck with that :-)
Nope. I'm pinning my hopes on, as SEIU chief Andy Stern has said, "the power of persuasion." Barring that, I'll settle for "persuasion through power." Millions of angry people demonstrating in the streets has a way of scaring Pubs and Dems fairly straight.
T.
JasoninHalifax
Nov 3, 09 14:30
Post #20 of 39 (268 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [big kahuna]
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if there is that much dissatisfaction amongst the teapartiers with the Republicans as well as the Democrats, why isn't there a 3rd national party? Do they really have that much support, or is it a small, but very vocal, group of people?
____________________________________
"I'm a dirty girl" - Katy
dave_w
Nov 3, 09 14:36
Post #21 of 39 (266 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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I like this Economist take from as a big picture perspective:
American health reform
Back from the dead
Oct 29th 2009
From The Economist print edition
Unfortunately, a government-run insurance policy is on the table again
AFP
THOUGH you would be forgiven for thinking otherwise, around half of all Americans get their health care courtesy of the government. There is Medicare, which provides for the elderly; Medicaid, which looks after the poorest; and a big federal programme that covers children in most of the country’s worse-off families. To their numbers must be added tens of millions of government employees, from the president and the members of Congress down to teachers, firemen, soldiers and veterans. The actual provision of health services, in hospitals, diagnostic labs and doctors’ surgeries is, with a few exceptions (veterans have a NHS-like network of their own), carried out by the private sector. But the government pays the bills.
So what on earth could be wrong with extending this system in the shape of a “public plan” that might offer cover to those who currently lack insurance, or who are obliged to buy costly plans on the open market, or who are unhappy with the plans their employer offers them? To be sure, it would be a big step in the direction of “socialist health care” as practised in the rest of the developed world. But, given that most of those countries get decent care for a lot less than America pays, that might be no bad thing. And anyway, the land of the rugged individual is halfway there already.
Until this week, the question of a public plan looked as though it might sink Barack Obama’s bold hopes of reforming health. The House of Representatives, which leans further left than the Senate, has been adamant that it would not pass any health-reform bill that did not include a public plan, while the only bill that seemed likely to emerge from the Senate was one that pointedly excluded this feature. But this week, Harry Reid, the majority leader of the Senate, said that he may have the 60 votes necessary to pass a version of the health-reform bill that includes some form of public plan.
A public plan may, therefore, now be politically viable again. But that does not make it good policy, and there are several reasons to think it isn’t. First, it is not necessary. The purpose of a public plan is to expand coverage to the uninsured. But the system of insurance exchanges and generous subsidies that both Republicans and Democrats broadly agree on ought to do that. If in five years, say, the market has not responded by creating adequate low-cost plans in particular states, it might then, and only then, be right to introduce government versions. For while public plans could do some good, in the context of America’s health system they could also do damage.
A public plan is likely to damage competition. A government insurer has some big advantages over a private one; its financing costs would be lower because the government can borrow cheaply; it would not have to worry too much about future liabilities since it could never go bust; and its economies of scale would be larger than those of the competition. Those using the public plan would benefit in the short term, but the scheme might very well squeeze private insurers out of business, which would be bad news for the other half of Americans that have them—and, according to opinion polls, are generally happy about that.
It’s all about cost
The next big problem is that a public plan will not do anything to drive down the overall cost of healthcare. Current government programmes like Medicare have not done much better than private ones in resisting cost inflation, even though the government sets the rates at which it pays out. What is needed, as The Economist has repeatedly argued, is a fierce assault on the distortions that keep health costs so high, not the shifting of a large unreformed lump of spending from the private to the public sector. So far, there have been precious few moves in that direction. This means that a public plan will be expensive—either for the government or for private policy holders. If doctors and hospitals are obliged to hold their prices down when treating people on the public plan, they will recoup their losses elsewhere: from private patients. This already happens in the case of Medicare.
And finally, by resurrecting the idea of a public plan, the Democrats are serving notice that what little chance there was of a bipartisan effort on health is gone. True, the Republicans have hardly bent over backwards to help Mr Obama; but they can fairly point out that nothing has been done to win their support. Reform of crazy medical liability laws has never really been on the table; cross-state-border competition in healthcare, another big item on the Republican wish-list, has also failed to materialise. Mr Obama had hinted that he might be prepared to do without a public plan. That apparent concession may now be withdrawn. If so, the next seven years are going to be bitterly partisan ones in Washington.
saltman
Nov 3, 09 15:05
Post #22 of 39 (250 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [big kahuna]
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It may be that many understand what they might be giving up in terms of access to healthcare but they fear -- right or wrongly -- the diminution of personal liberties and choice that would have to be given up in order to fulfill their end of the social contract executed between them and their government when it comes to something like ObamaCare.
I am sure there are millions of people that assumed they would retire rich and never need a dime from social security......oops.
I am sure there are millions of people that assumed they would always be employed and never need a dime from unemployment.....oops.
big kahuna
Nov 3, 09 15:27
Post #23 of 39 (238 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [JasoninHalifax]
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if there is that much dissatisfaction amongst the teapartiers with the Republicans as well as the Democrats, why isn't there a 3rd national party? Do they really have that much support, or is it a small, but very vocal, group of people?
I don't know what to make of the Tea Party folks. I met plenty of them at that 9/12 march on Washington and most of them seemed fairly mainstream, but some were so angry with what was going on when it comes to spending they were almost unable to make a coherent sound. I don't know that they're all that anxious to bolt from the Republicans, either, though plenty of them seem to be more conservative than the average Republican is today.
T.
Tri N OC
Nov 3, 09 16:51
Post #24 of 39 (222 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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The longer the debate the more the deserters.
Swift decisive action was necessary and the Dems lost their leverage.
Not to be too confrontational, but doesn't this suggest a certain amount of underhandedness? Sneaking it by before people had a chance to weigh in?
Bone Idol
Nov 3, 09 17:22
Post #25 of 39 (214 views)
Re: Healthcare - Democrats are wimps! [saltman]
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In Reply To:
..... Some think its too expensive. Goddamn right its too expensive if you limit its availabilty to an already adversely selected population. The logical answer to that would be to allow anyone to choose Medicare, but there in lies the other problem. If you open it up to everyone, the govt. gets into the insurance business and its stifling private enterprise moving us closer to communism......
.....and in other news out today the International Monetary Fund has identified the best managed economies during the financial crisis (what crisis?), declaring, inter alia, that only ''Denmark, Korea, Norway, Australia and Sweden among advanced economies will require little or no medium-term adjustment to keep government debt at safe levels''.
That would be:
Denmark - COMMUNIST - with extensive government funded national healthcare,
Sth Korea - not the USA, so effectively communist,
Norway - COMMUNIST - with extensive government funded national healthcare,
Australia- COMMUNIST - with extensive government funded national healthcare,
Sweden- COMMUNIST - with extensive government funded national healthcare,
In Oz the Reserve Bank yesterday raised interests rates
again
, as growth accelerates further, and the government/treasury Monday revised upwards projections for growth and revised downwards projections for unemployment, debt and inflation. We have avoided recession, and haven't had a single bank failure or bail-out. Out sovereign wealth fund (where we deposited multi-billions in Federal savings during the period that Bush's administration was busy running up your multi-trillions in debt) has reserves back above the pre-GFC level.
The US, with Federal debt heading to 110% of GDP, remains an economic basket-case, but it does seem to have managed to ensure that tens of millions of its citizens continue to fear that serious illness will lead to the financial ruin of their families. That must be an immense consolation to the right in that country.
The religious right in the USA might be an easy target for derision, but I increasingly think that it is those for whom the Right
is
their religion who are the most intellectually disabled by dogma. Here's a seditious idea that they
just know must be wrong
: the US could learn a lot from the world's progressive social democracies, and could actually be in far better economic shape by being in many ways more like them (including, yep, national healthcare).
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