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I worry the day is coming when the Bastille is stormed. Joel Send a noteboard - 29/03/2010 11:06:31 AM
you are absolutely right. Obama made Wall Street and the banking industry richer and now he has done the same for insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies (stocks also up sharply since Monday's opening bell). Will real cost control happen? Not until the entire country turns into California. The only silver lining for me is that I will likely be tucked in to my permanent dirt nap before the bill finally comes due. You, my friend, won't be so lucky.

It's sad things so often have to come to that, not least because there's usually a lot of collateral damage by people driven past the point of rationality (see Robespierre, Maximillian and Stack, Joe. ) As things stand the whole country remains well on the way toward the same problems CA is having (as with utility deregulation, CA may be a microcosm of the nation as a whole. ) This bill will only accelerate that, since it puts the federal government on the hook for skyrocketing insurance premiums the whole country is now legally obligated to endure. From that perspective the best case scenario may be that since rates will continue to rise well above the rate of inflation, more and more people will decide it's cheaper to pay the "uninsured tax" than premiums only marginally offset by subsidies (IF you qualify. ) We hear talk of how wrong "government control of 1/6 of the economy" is, but no one ever stops to consider what it means that rapidly rising healthcare costs are ALREADY 1/6 of the economy. Put another way, healthcare already costs the nations consumer-taxpayers twice as much as the federal government, and the cost continues rising at an alarming rate.

For me, personally, the best course by far seems to be moving to a country where private health insurance is legal but unmarketable due to federal insurance that covers everyones healthcare as part of taxpayer funded government service. It's perplexing that such places are held up as examples of how wrong government insurance is on the grounds that it works SO well only an idiot would by private insurance. That's a real epic failure (of intellect. ) Granted, I'd rather have a system more like the Brits where non-essential care is only covered by private insurance than one in which taxpayers finance every elective procedure, but if I have to choose between the latter and millions going without critical care, it's a no brainer.

So you're looking forward to being gone in 50 years and I'm trying to leave; wtf happened to this country? Tell me again how we reconcile "Christian family values" with insatiable greed. Understand, I'm not asking for a defense or endorsement of either, just an intellectual exercise in how they can be wed.
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No posts on the bill passing? - 22/03/2010 08:22:27 AM 1250 Views
Meh - 22/03/2010 09:07:27 AM 575 Views
Re: Meh - 22/03/2010 01:53:43 PM 536 Views
I know what you mean. I love hearing that the "majority" are against this. - 22/03/2010 01:57:15 PM 687 Views
surveys are crap anyways. - 22/03/2010 01:59:39 PM 507 Views
That's ignorance speaking. - 22/03/2010 02:02:46 PM 546 Views
well yah. Sorry, I wasn't meaning to say surveys as a whole are nonsense - 22/03/2010 02:09:42 PM 483 Views
Some are a plurality, some are a majority.... - 22/03/2010 04:01:56 PM 597 Views
But most of them with a high/low don't go into enough detail - 22/03/2010 09:24:29 PM 628 Views
A question? - 23/03/2010 01:11:07 AM 548 Views
I accept that there are situations where leaders must go against popular opinion - 23/03/2010 02:53:00 AM 591 Views
on the other hand *edited stupid spelling error* - 23/03/2010 03:09:47 AM 720 Views
On a certain level I do agree with you - 23/03/2010 05:14:24 AM 504 Views
I was thinking about this after posting - 23/03/2010 12:12:17 PM 519 Views
Ahahahahahahahaha - 23/03/2010 12:57:17 PM 663 Views
why? *NM* - 23/03/2010 03:37:00 PM 271 Views
Because "populous" is not a noun in English. *NM* - 23/03/2010 03:42:16 PM 274 Views
This. - 23/03/2010 03:46:25 PM 571 Views
damn you phonetics. - 23/03/2010 03:50:33 PM 825 Views
As Emo Philips would say - 23/03/2010 04:32:52 PM 604 Views
I always laugh when I see someone say people are "retarted" *NM* - 23/03/2010 03:51:46 PM 350 Views
"Get a life, morans!" *NM* - 23/03/2010 03:55:27 PM 274 Views
I think this is one of them - 23/03/2010 12:49:35 PM 977 Views
A step in the wrong direction. - 22/03/2010 10:38:31 AM 670 Views
didn't realize it had - 22/03/2010 11:49:36 AM 532 Views
I am happy for it - 22/03/2010 11:55:10 AM 531 Views
The Bill passed? - 22/03/2010 12:27:36 PM 634 Views
I think with the saturation coverage it has been getting people are just worn out *NM* - 22/03/2010 01:27:59 PM 294 Views
hollah that. *NM* - 22/03/2010 01:58:47 PM 237 Views
Yes. - 22/03/2010 02:38:03 PM 541 Views
Re: No posts on the bill passing? - 22/03/2010 01:39:14 PM 557 Views
I chose to read about it first at the NYT, then the WSJ, then the Economist. - 22/03/2010 01:43:07 PM 733 Views
Re: I chose to read about it first at the NYT, then the WSJ, then the Economist. - 22/03/2010 02:01:07 PM 544 Views
The Bill won't get repealed. Whatever happens in November. - 23/03/2010 12:17:21 AM 538 Views
There are 18 incumbent Dem Senate seats; 41+18<67. - 29/03/2010 11:15:29 AM 537 Views
I am worried. The official reports show that it will actually erase some debt. But . . . - 22/03/2010 01:39:26 PM 659 Views
I think reform had to start now. - 22/03/2010 02:27:11 PM 716 Views
That's a good column. - 22/03/2010 02:44:56 PM 629 Views
I think the problem highlight what I don't like about this bill - 22/03/2010 03:20:54 PM 552 Views
Re: I think the problem highlight what I don't like about this bill - 22/03/2010 03:33:31 PM 522 Views
Let's be realistic here at least.... - 22/03/2010 04:16:23 PM 540 Views
I hope your house is built on fimrer foundations then your reasoning - 22/03/2010 04:25:49 PM 536 Views
I'm not worried, there are lots of ways to pay for the bill. - 22/03/2010 05:36:39 PM 465 Views
You should worry about cost control (AKA the only real reason for healthcare reform to begin. ) - 23/03/2010 07:02:24 AM 637 Views
bingo - 24/03/2010 03:45:48 AM 672 Views
Next question: WTF do we do about it? - 24/03/2010 04:00:39 AM 551 Views
sadly probably not a damned thing... - 24/03/2010 04:20:45 AM 529 Views
I worry the day is coming when the Bastille is stormed. - 29/03/2010 11:06:31 AM 619 Views
It is a good start - 22/03/2010 03:01:08 PM 506 Views
Re: It is a good start - 22/03/2010 04:13:28 PM 524 Views
Heh - 22/03/2010 04:21:22 PM 568 Views
Re: Heh - 22/03/2010 04:32:30 PM 521 Views
Re: Heh - 22/03/2010 08:25:05 PM 591 Views
Sorry, I was out seizing the means of production. *NM* - 22/03/2010 07:43:19 PM 239 Views
You should delve the debate before getting excited. - 23/03/2010 07:22:36 AM 620 Views
I really like what GRR Martin wrote in his blog. - 23/03/2010 09:55:11 AM 643 Views
I agree with him - 23/03/2010 12:14:47 PM 550 Views
I would say it is rather weak point - 23/03/2010 01:12:43 PM 529 Views
Erm... - 23/03/2010 01:39:58 PM 623 Views
I am pleasantly surprised - 23/03/2010 04:14:52 PM 479 Views
Exceptions? - 24/03/2010 05:08:17 AM 483 Views
I haven't been following it too closely - 23/03/2010 02:10:39 PM 663 Views

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