Editor’s Note: This is a personal, political rant, part two, hopefully the last. If you are at all squeamish or a Republican, DO NOT READ THIS! If you are conservative, but open minded, you could attempt to read it, but I’m telling you now you won’t be happy. Some of you didn't pay attention to the earlier warning and have developed dangerous nervous tics as a result! On the other hand, there is no foul language.
In response to the need to do almost anything domestically many politicians, including all Republicans, always say we must conduct public policy, “in ways that don’t burden the economy.” Tax cuts for the wealthy apparently don’t burden the economy for the majority, in their view.
They say this about anything reasonable like an affordable health insurance system for all Americans, or energy efficiencies, or clean air policies. Why not burden the economy exactly? Everything else is burdened. I’m burdened with taxes and so are you. The public schools are burdened with knuckleheads who should be expelled. The hospitals are burdened with uninsured sick people. We are all burdened with two wars of dubious value to our future security and economic stability.
Where did this exemption come from? Is the economy not supposed to be part of the world we live in? Why exactly can’t it be burdened?
Currently, perfectly profitable companies are laying people off or moving facilities to Mexico and India. How’s the quality control in Mexico? How many Indians does it take to people a call center and mumble in English? Some companies are laying people off and moving facilities because when they announce such moves their stock skyrockets and the management profits handsomely. Later, they reassess and in some cases conclude an error was made by previous management. The stock flies high again! You can’t lose.
Does anyone suggest that the economy, DBA this company or that, is burdening the rest of us with layoffs and foreign moves?
Supporters of the Iraq war sometimes say, “Now that we are there, regardless of the original justifications, the fabled WMDs, we can’t leave until Iraq has a working democracy and a strong economy.” But we can destroy both systems at home while attempting to accomplish this in a geographic region the British fabricated in order to escape from. What benevolence.
So, the economy isn’t unnecessarily burdened by spending billions to help the Iraqis and the Afghan people but it would be if charged to help our own with health care and jobs and clean energy. I’m slow but I think I’m getting it.
You're coming fast out of the gate on your birthday. MSNBC called, they're considering a show called Morning Joes.... Good rant, though. When can we expect part 3? Charlie M
ReplyDeleteYou warned me but I read it anyway. Here's my comment:
ReplyDeleteCoburn Rebuts Obama on Tort Reform, Medicare Cuts
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9:05 PM, Feb 25, 2010 ·
BY John McCormack
Oklahoma Republican senator Tom Coburn says he had a "pretty positive attitude" leaving today's health care summit at the Blair House in Washington. He had even suggested Obama and lawmakers have another such meeting on health care. But now, after reading news reports saying that Democrats are set on using reconciliation to ram the Senate bill through Congress, Coburn is wondering if today's summit was pointless.
"It's fairly disappointing," Dr. Coburn told THE WEEKLY STANDARD this evening. "If the Dems are just going to run the bill anyway, why’d we just do it?"
Coburn's remarks today focused on waste in the health care system, which totals one-third of all health care costs. Due to time constraints, Coburn didn't get a chance to correct some of President Obama's misconceptions about what causes waste and how to reduce it.
Obama said during his closing remarks that "if we're serious about delivery system reform, if we're serious about squeezing out the waste that Tom Coburn referred to, you should embrace those mechanisms that are in this bill" such as Medpac, an independent board that would recommend Medicare cuts.
But Coburn wants to control costs by creating a transparent health care market that is "patient-centered," not a "government-centered" plan that uses MedPac to cut Medicare. "The whole idea at the time of Medpac is to ration care," Coburn said. "The way you change behaviors is to incentivize them. You don't come down with a rule and a hammer. What you need is a scalpel not a hammer."
Obama said today that tort reform would only save $5 billion a year, but Coburn replied this evening that tort reform would, in fact, do the most to save consumers money.
"The biggest cost driver that accounts for this 33% [of health care waste] is defensive medicine," Coburn said. Obama's figure, based on a CBO report, doesn't take into account all the tests doctors needlessly order to avoid lawsuits.
"You fix the tort system in this country and you’ll cut costs like crazy. It’s $250 billion a year in defensive medicine costs," Coburn said. "If you just got rid of half of that, in one year you’d cut everyone’s cost of health care five percent."
Coburn's final word for the president on health care: "The last thing in the world he ought to do is divide this country further over this issue."