Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Miscellaneous 125
1) I'll admit it. I'm still somewhat ambivalent on Obamacare. On the one hand, I defend it by pointing out to my conservative colleague that the plan is essentially a knockoff of the 1993 Republican plan, a Heritage Foundation paradigm, Romneycare, and the 2007 bipartisan Wyden-Bennett proposal. And on the other hand, I criticize it to my liberal colleague for the plethora of inconsistencies in it; the fact that the penalty isn't nearly sufficient enough to ensure compliance (it essentially allows individuals to simply pay the fine and then buy insurance only when they get sick), the hundreds and hundreds of waivers that have up to now been granted it (multiple chapters of the SEIU, for instance - a group that has donated heavily to Mr. Obama).............Right now, I myself am leaning some toward health savings accounts (with subsidies for those who can't afford it) and only having insurance for catastrophic illnesses. That way, the people will be a little bit more prudent and make these SOB providers actually compete for our services for a change.............2) Black music has essentially gone from Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, and Thelonious Monk to Nicki Manaj and some idiot who simply goes by the name of "Common". I mean, I know that the concept of "progress" can be measured in a great many ways and all but this to me is just flat-out REGRESS (and, yes, I understand that there is more to black music than simply these two numb-nuts but, in the mainstream, I'm saying).............3) I call President Obama a corporatist and a crony capitalist and I get accused of "bashing the President". Some individual by the name of Cenk Uygur essentially says the same thing and suddenly this becomes an insightful criticism. Only in America, folks. Only in America.............4) I criticize President Obama for his (what I consider to be reckless) foreign policy and I get accused of "bashing the President". Noam Chomsky accuses President Obama of war crimes and says that the man should be dragged in front of a Nuremberg caliber tribunal and CRICKETS!. Wow, huh? And to think that the hard-left (the Olbermanns and Schultzes of the world) still frigging wonder why we hate them so.
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16 comments:
[1] I'm somewhat ambivalent too. Single payer would have been the way to go. But this is what we have. We can't scrap it and go with something else. Something else has no chance of passing. The Republicans said "repeal and replace", but I think they're lying. Do you think they were telling the truth?
Also it does not essentially allow individuals to pay the fine and then buy insurance only when they get sick. You don't have to pay the fine. There is no enforcement mechanism.
I'm leaning toward single payer.
[2] "Common" is an idiot just because you don't like his stage name?
[3] You bashed the president. Cenk Uygur provides construction criticism. He's a progressive who believes Obama should be more progressive. You're a centrist who thinks he should be more centrist. Only then would he get "it".
[4] "We" don't hate Keith Olbermann or Ed Schultz. We're fans of these progressive champions.
If there isn't an enforcement mechanism, then that makes it an even more idiotic construct. People will simply not be fined AT ALL and only buy insurance when they're sick, to which they cannot be denied coverage because of the pre-existing condition clause. What kind of a bunch of idiots are Pelosi and company to come up with such ridiculous construct?
Forbes: An individual who fails to pay the penalty is not subject to criminal or additional civil penalties. The IRS's authority to use liens or levies does not apply to the penalty. No interest accrues on the penalty. The Act contains no enforcement mechanism. ... All the IRS, practically speaking, can do is offset any tax refund owed to the uninsured taxpayer [end quote from Forbes, 8/17/2011].
Will, I don't listen to Cenk Uygur nor have I read anything recent from Noam Chomsky, so the "crickets" you hear may be because very few people are unaware of their criticisms. I don't criticize people who find problems with Obama's policies. I do find fault with the idiots who call him, his wife, and his children vile names, and who label him a "socialist," while the evident opposite is right in front of their noses. The capitalists in this country are doing just fine--one has to only look at the stock market's trajectory since Obama's been president.
On the health care issue, I was for single payer, but understood that the GOPers and the Blue Dogs were NEVER going to vote for it.
I agree with you on the music. My cousin is a sculptor, and a tenor sax musician, who has a one-man show at a gallery right now in the Boston area of his wood carvings of jazz greats like Miles Davis.
Take a look.
YES, wd, and THAT'S the problem! If there isn't any penalty (I think that there needs to be a much BIGGER penalty), people will simply wait until they're sick before purchasing insurance AND, because of the new pre-existing condition language, the insurance companies will be forced to sell to them. The entire system is going to effing implode!......Shaw, you're an open-minded liberal. Please, read Dr. Ezekial Emanuel's (he's a former Obama adviser and so he isn't any sort of right-winger) book, "Healthcare Guaranteed". You can basically get it for a song at Amazon. I really think that fellow is on to something.
And, wd, why do you always ascribe sinister intent to people who you disagree with politically? My criticism of Obama has absolutely NOTHING to do with where I fall on the political spectrum and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that the fellow has taken copious amounts of money from powerful entities and has then crafted legislation which has handsomely profited these very same interests. He was against the mandate but then after getting a gazillion dollars from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, youza, he's suddenly for it. He gets gazillions more from the SEIU and magically they get a bunch of waivers from Obamacare. My God, wd, if a Republican had a money trail like this, you and your march in lock-step buddies would be foaming at the mouth over it. And you know it.
Also, do you consider Mr. Chomsky's criticism "constructive", too?
Anybody ready to move to Cuba>?
I don't know, Les, it sounds in fact like Mr. Chomsky would find it far, far superior there.
Will: The entire system is going to effing implode!
Then we do single payer.
Ezekial Emanuel's (he's a former Obama adviser and so he isn't any sort of right-winger)...
Will, don't you know that Ezekiel Emanuel was "instrumental in drafting the Affordable Care Act"?
And I'm not aware that Obama got "gazillions" of dollars from anyone. This combination of "gazillions" of dollars and magic sounds like nonsense to me.
As for Noam Chomsky, I'm sure he doesn't intend his criticism to be constructive (unlike Cenk Uygur).
Health savings accounts is a horrible idea. Let me guess, you're in favor of the health insurance companies selling across states lines too?
Shaw Kenawe: I don't listen to Cenk Uygur...
Cenk Uygur is a strong advocate for Progressive politics. I just posted a blog about the story The Young Turks (Cenk's show) lead off with last night. Read it here: Banksters Threaten Politicians With SuperPAC.
wd, you're opposed to monopolies but have zero hesitation in nationalizing the banks, the health insurance sector, and all of the off-shore oil-wells. You evidently haven't dealt all that much with the government bureaucrats, have you?......Yes, I believe that we should be able to buy ANYTHING (that's legal, that is) across state lines. You frigging don't?......There aren't any perfect solutions to healthcare, wd (nope, not even single-payer). But health savings accounts are a good thing because they a) largely take the middle man (in this case, the insurance company or government) out of the equation and b) force people to actually shop around and make the providers compete for our business. Couple that with subsidies to poor people, catastrophic coverage for everybody, the ability to buy health insurance across state lines and drugs from Canada, and some simple common-sense tort reform and, yeah, I really think that that could bend the cost curve immeasurably. And, please, think about what I just wrote for a couple of minutes before you reject it out of hand in favor of a much more Leviathan ladened approach.
A monopoly run by "we the people" is fine by me. And I will reject your proposals immediately. I don't need minutes to think about them... I've already thought about them plenty. From you isn't the first I've heard of them. They are all Republican ideas.
I do not think health insurance should be able to be purchased across state lines. The HI will all move to the state with the least restrictive rules. Don't you believe in states' rights?
Tort reform is another Republican idea and I'm opposed.
Will: Yeah, I really think that that could bend the cost curve immeasurably.
I really think you're 100 percent wrong.
The monopoly will NOT be run by "we the people". It will be run by a bunch of bureaucratic layers that will be both repressive and Kafkaesque.............And my proposal is somewhat different from the Republicans'. It involves subsidies to the poor to get them the same amount of coverage and catastrophic care coverage for everybody. And, yes, it prompts the people to shop around. Right now, we could care less how much something costs.............And, yes, all of the insurance companies are going to move from CT to Mississippi just so they can screw the consumer. Where do you get this paranoid shit (don't tell me, Thom Hartmann)? Businesses go out of business when they don't provide a quality product/service at a fair price (as opposed to the government which can screw up 'til the cows come home and often do). And if we set up a system with minimum standards of coverage, they wouldn't be able to screw us even if they wanted to. Think outside the frigging box, wd. Any frigging idiot alive can parrot, "single-payer".
Will: The monopoly will... be run by a bunch of bureaucratic layers that will be both repressive and Kafkaesque.
I'm the paranoid one?! In any case, this is the system we have now. I doubt it could get worse if run by "we the people". My strong opinion is that it would get significantly better.
Will: ...all of the insurance companies are going to move... just so they can screw the consumer. Where do you get this paranoid shit...
It isn't "paranoid shit", it's common knowledge to anyone paying attention. It's what the credit card companies did.
This block granting crap is the way to go if you want people to die. Shame on Ron Wyden for signing on to the Republican plan to murder old and poor people so the wealthy can get more tax cuts.
WD said: "I doubt it could get worse if run by "we the people". My strong opinion is that it would get significantly better."
It would be better if run by 'we the people'. But you propose having it run by the ruling elites, which is a lot different. The unaccountable monopoly that will shoot you if you refuse to do business with it. That's worse than Kafkaesque.
"This block granting crap is the way to go if you want people to die"
Actually, this saves lives. Gives people enough money to control their own health care and save their lives. Your alternative is the deadly one. Single slayer? No thanks.
"Shame on Ron Wyden for signing on to the Republican plan to murder old and poor people so the wealthy can get more tax cuts."
There is no such plan, so no need to shame Ron Wyden.
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