April 26, 2006
Stop Coughing Or I'll Give You Something To Cough About!
The first and last step in the GOP health care plan.
This category rarely gets a workout*. The primary question I have about capitalism in general is: how do a series of individually, monumentally irrational economic decisions lead to an efficient marketplace? Let's say that the good or service in question is political leadership, which is not so much purchased so much as one has an opportunity cost in voting for a particular party/candidate. Now let's consider these pocketbook issues:
(1) People seem to be hella-concerned about the doubling of gas prices over the last several years. If the average person consumes about 500 gallons of gas in a year, this would cost the consumer $750. Nothing to sneeze at, but some alternatives exist to driving your goddamned car a half-block to pick up a lotto ticket.
(2) However, people seem to accept as divine edict by the Germanic god Hayek that the loss of their family's health insurance should be seen as an immutable, imponderable by-product of our paper-shuffing economy. I don't think I need to tell anyone how much $750 gets you in your average hospital. Two bowls of gelatin, if I'm not mistaken.
Now, assuming that the development in part two is more catastrophic than the one described in part one, let's consider the following:
The percentage of working-age Americans with moderate to middle incomes who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year rose to 41 percent in 2005, a dramatic increase from the 28 percent in 2001 without coverage, a study released on Wednesday found.
and
About 45.8 million Americans did not have health insurance in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Wouldn't it be semi-rational to think that a large portion of the population would be down with electing the party that logistically had an answer for such a problem? It even ranks at the top of the list of concerns that "greatly worry" the American voter, for shit's sake! Does the mere invocation of the exclamations "Socialist engineering!" or "Holy shit, them queers wanna burn the flag!" really enough to neutralize this?
Incidentally, 72% of Americans think that the economy is fair or poor, and Hale Stewart has the breakdown. Does the challenging of a non-Republican candidate's sincere desire not to make Iran uninhabitable for a century via nuclear hellfire make this go away as well? Of course, I'm asking this question at about the time Scary Movie 4 crosses the $50 million (7 million viewers) barrier.
* I got my B.A. in Economics in 1993, making me currently about as qualified as a mound of Rhodesian Ridgeback leavings to opine on the economy.
Does the mere invocation of the exclamations "Socialist engineering!" or "Holy shit, them queers wanna burn the flag!" really enough to neutralize this?
Judging from the last decades worth of elections, the answer is, wait for it, "yes."
Posted by: Grotesqueticle at April 26, 2006 07:06 PMYep, fear of socialism tends to cloud the mind. I know a few hardcore-red-voter people who desperately need better (or any) health insurance and who still think a single-payer system would be wrong because it would "limit their choices" or "reduce the quality of care." Sure, compared to some theoretical choices and quality they could have if they had enough money or benefits to get in the game, but they don't see that particular forest. I don't understand their lack of pragmatism so I chalk it up to fear.
Posted by: kcb at April 26, 2006 07:17 PMI don't think I need to tell anyone how much $750 gets you in your average hospital. Two bowls of gelatin, if I'm not mistaken.
Based on the girlfriend's latest trip for a soccer injury, $750 won't get you any gelatin. Maybe a few breaths of heavily MRSA laden air, maybe.
Posted by: evilchemistry at April 26, 2006 07:29 PMWhy did you use the word "hella"? That word is an abomination. They use that in Austin now, too? This is a sign of the apocolypse! And you are bringing it upon us! Cease usage of that word immediately.
Posted by: not from nor-cal at April 26, 2006 08:27 PMOnly in East Austin, we're about 4 years behind the times. People think we're hella-uneducated, but we don't care.
Posted by: norbizness at April 26, 2006 08:41 PMI got my B.A. in Economics in 1993, making me currently about as qualified as a mound of Rhodesian Ridgeback leavings to opine on the economy.
Well, without that college education you'd be a much smaller pile of droppings. Pekingese, say.
I don't have a problem with "hella," but whatevs.
It makes me sad, angry and laughy all at the same time when people without health insurance inveigh against a single-payer system like they're the CEO of a corporation that provides health care for thousands of employees. Or when people who can barely afford to make the minimum payment on the maxed-out credit card voice their opposition to the death tax and taxes on dividends. I mean, what the fuck?
Most of those people would check a box to invest their 401K in the Powerball, if such a box could be checked. That is, if their job provided a 401K to employees who work 34 hours a week or whatever.
Posted by: TravisG at April 27, 2006 09:00 AMthe reason people are afraid of single-payer plans is because Stalin killed a lot of people.
Also, in (1), you don't list any alternatives! Typical librul: all criticism, no cattle.
Posted by: mathpants at April 27, 2006 03:28 PMI have that same problem understanding Bushism from the general public, outside the boardrooms & country clubs -- the vast majority, in other words, the people who should at least look out for their own interests and see how it is playing out for them NOT.
My brother, a Vietnam vet who almost didn't make it back, voted against Gore & Kerry even though he couldn't state one positive reason why Bush deserved his vote -- all other issues not forthcoming, he couldn't even argue against the absurdity of someone like him supporting a model of hypocrisy, mendacity & unfair privilege over a guy who actually set foot in the warzone.
Incredibly, he voted for Bush the second time after the administration had a chance to show how it supports the troops and cares for its veterans. He could only rationalize that "Bush ain't that great but I hear the other guy is worse." For some reason he is only hearing, or believing, one side's message.
Same thing at work where most of my co-workers are veterans, all of them male, all Bush voters and no one knows why. Not one of them can name two things Bush has done right (most will come up with tax-breaks (for the rich)) yet they can only bring up the specter of another Clintonite in power for comparison. They all whine about the cost of our (very good) medical benefits snd then repeat the fear-bites "Gov't can't do anything right, look at Medicare. Yeah in Canada they refuse a lot of treatments cause it's cheaper for them to bury you." when I mention that single-payer would cost them less.
(And to keep on ranting) nearly any f-up whether malevolent or inept is brushed aside because Gore lied about inventing the internet and the only person Kerry shot in Vietnam was himself. Everything Bush has done has far surpassed the most blatant fabrications about Gore & Kerry even if they had been true, but none of these guys show the slightest regret for backing such a complete incompetent with dangerous powers & perilous delusions and his bloodthirsty circle of greeedheads. And these guys are mainstream media types, they don't watch Pat Robertson and they don't get their news from Rush.
Somehow, they only ingest one side's message, which is usually of the attacking variety. So is that it: because the Donkeys are such polite sheep lately, cowed into submission until they appear chicken, the citizenry doesn't trust them to take charge and Keep America Strong?