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Unified theory of Obamaism, fifth (final?) installment:
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In the service of his ultimate mission -- the leveling of social inequalities -- President Obama offers a tripartite social democratic agenda: nationalized health care, federalized education (ultimately guaranteed through college) and a cash-cow carbon tax (or its equivalent) to subsidize the other two.
Problem is, the math doesn't add up. Not even a carbon tax would pay for Obama's vastly expanded welfare state. Nor will Midwest Democrats stand for a tax that would devastate their already crumbling region.
What is obviously required is entitlement reform, meaning Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. That's where the real money is -- trillions saved that could not only fund hugely expensive health and education programs but also restore budgetary balance.
Except that Obama has offered no real entitlement reform. His universal health-care proposal would increase costs by perhaps $1 trillion. Medicare/Medicaid reform is supposed to decrease costs.
Obama's own budget projections show staggering budget deficits going out to 2019. If he knows his social agenda is going to drown us in debt, what's he up to?
He has an idea. But he dare not speak of it yet. He has only hinted. When asked in his March 24 news conference about the huge debt he's incurring, Obama spoke vaguely of "additional adjustments" that will be unfolding in future budgets.
[/align][/align]Rarely have two more anodyne words carried such import. "Additional adjustments" equals major cuts in Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.
Social Security is relatively easy. A bipartisan commission (like the 1983 Alan Greenspan commission) recommends some combination of means testing for richer people, increasing the retirement age and a technical change in the inflation measure (indexing benefits to prices instead of wages). The proposal is brought to Congress for a no-amendment up-or-down vote. Done.
The hard part is Medicare and Medicaid. In an aging population, how do you keep them from blowing up the budget? There is only one answer: rationing.
Why do you think the stimulus package pours $1.1 billion into medical "comparative effectiveness research"? It is the perfect setup for rationing. Once you establish what is "best practice" for expensive operations, medical tests and aggressive therapies, you've laid the premise for funding some and denying others.
It is estimated that a third to a half of one's lifetime health costs are consumed in the last six months of life. Accordingly, Britain's National Health Service can deny treatments it deems not cost-effective -- and if you're old and infirm, the cost-effectiveness of treating you plummets. In Canada, they ration by queuing. You can wait forever for so-called elective procedures like hip replacements.
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Rationing is not quite as alien to America as we think. We already ration kidneys and hearts for transplant according to survivability criteria as well as by queuing. A nationalized health insurance system would ration everything from MRIs to intensive care by myriad similar criteria.
The more acute thinkers on the left can see rationing coming, provoking Slate blogger Mickey Kaus to warn of the political danger. "Isn't it an epic mistake to try to sell Democratic health care reform on this basis? Possible sales pitch: 'Our plan will deny you unnecessary treatments!' . . . Is that really why the middle class will sign on to a revolutionary multitrillion-dollar shift in spending -- so the government can decide their life or health 'is not worth the price'?"
My own preference is for a highly competitive, privatized health insurance system with a government-subsidized transition to portability, breaking the absurd and ruinous link between health insurance and employment. But if you believe that health care is a public good to be guaranteed by the state, then a single-payer system is the next best alternative. Unfortunately, it is fiscally unsustainable without rationing.
Social Security used to be the third rail of American politics. Not anymore. Health-care rationing is taking its place -- which is why Obama, the consummate politician, knows to offer the candy (universality) today before serving the spinach (rationing) tomorrow.
Taken as a whole, Obama's social democratic agenda is breathtaking. And the rollout has thus far been brilliant. It follows Kaus's advice to "give pandering a chance" and adheres to the Democratic tradition of being the party that gives things away, while leaving the green-eyeshade stinginess to those heartless Republicans.
It will work for a while, but there is no escaping rationing. In the end, the spinach must be served.
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__________________
John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
Good post. The news reports today, that the tax cuts for 95% of americans will have to be cut short to pay for this grand idea. Too much too fast spells trouble.
Good post. The news reports today, that the tax cuts for 95% of americans will have to be cut short to pay for this grand idea. Too much too fast spells trouble.
Congressional Democrats near agreement on budget[/align]By ANDREW TAYLOR "“ 10 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) "” President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in Congress have agreed to let his signature $400 tax cut for most workers expire after next year but are moving to give him a better chance at passing his health care bill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Friday that most issues have been resolved in trying to combine different House and Senate approaches into one budget bill. That measure will set the rules on how Congress considers Obama's agenda for the rest of the year.
Lawmakers are rushing to agree on the budget framework in time to give Obama a victory within his first 100 days in office. Late-night talks Thursday produced the framework of a deal that would protect his ambitious plan to overhaul the U.S. health care system from a Republican filibuster.
A senior Democratic congressional aide revealed the fundamentals of the accord on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.
The negotiations have centered on the annual congressional budget resolution, which sets the parameters for the legislation that follows. Congressional votes next week would provide a symbolic victory for Obama's sweeping agenda to enact a universal health care system, invest in education and clean energy and cut the exploding budget deficit to manageable levels.
Obama marks his 100th day in office on Wednesday.
Most importantly, the tentative agreement would give congressional Democrats the ability to push Obama's health care initiative through the Senate under rules that prevent filibusters. Under typical Senate rules, 60 votes are needed to advance a bill, but passage of the budget plan would allow majority Democrats to enact the health care plan with just a simple majority and only 20 hours of debate.
Democrats hold 56 seats in the Senate plus two independents who typically vote with the party. Republicans have 41 seats, and there is one vacancy.
The fast-track process would limit the ability of Republicans to get concessions and give Democrats far more control over the specifics of the health care legislation. Obama's plan to cut private banks and other lending institutions out of the market for student loans would also move on a filibuster-free path. But Obama's signature "Making Work Pay" tax cut of $400 for most workers and $800 for couples would expire at the end of 2010 as currently scheduled. The temporary tax cut was part of the economic stimulus plan enacted in February.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota told reporters that the budget plan would extend for three years a temporary fix that prevents the alternative minimum tax, or AMT, from hitting more than 20 million taxpayers. The AMT was enacted 40 years ago to make sure wealthy people can't dodge the tax system, but it was never adjusted for inflation and now increasingly threatens middle-class taxpayers with increases averaging $2,000 a year. The budget plan also anticipates the expiration of former President George W. Bush's tax cuts on income and investments at the end of next year. But it ignores Obama's calls for raising taxes to help pay for his health care initiative by reducing the benefits wealthier people take on itemized deductions like charitable gifts and mortgage interest.
The measure also avoids taking a stand on Obama's unpopular cap-and-trade plan, proposed by the White House to raise more than $600 billion to pay for tax cuts and clean energy programs. Under cap-and-trade, the government would auction permits to emit heat-trapping gases, with the costs being passed on to consumers through higher gasoline and electric bills.
The Democratic plan promises to cut the deficit from levels as high as $1.8 trillion this year to about $500 billion by 2014, about 3 percent of the size of the economy. That's the level economists say is sustainable without producing a crippling debt burden.
Republicans are sure to protest the measure as spending, taxing and borrowing too much. And they have been complaining furiously at the prospect of health care reform passing under fast-track rules.
Democrats, including Obama, have said repeatedly that they want the health care debate to be bipartisan and that the filibuster-proof terms would be used only if the GOP obstructs. But Republicans say the move has already poisoned the debate.
"Reconciliation is basically a nuclear weapon to use against the negotiators so what happens is nobody negotiates seriously because they can always go to reconciliation ... tilting the playing field unfairly," said Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, top Republican on the Budget Committee.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
Gee, FM, you posting someone else's opinion? So what else is new?
Oh, and you chose a true brain trust who came up with this gem (as though this is something new, something that no one has thought of previously, let alone been clamoring about for the last 20 years or so: "My own preference is for a highly competitive, privatized health insurance system with a government-subsidized transition to portability, breaking the absurd and ruinous link between health insurance and employment."
Gee, no kidding? Is that your personal preference, Jack? In other words, in a perfect world there would be no problem with health care in America? Isn't that special? How very clever.
And his sorry repetition of the pipe dream that will never come true includes a comment about the "ruinous" link between health insurance and employment. Gee, I remember you, FM< posting about how you saw no problems what so ever in that realm. In fact, you consider health care something that an employer owes you as a matter of right, something that you expect as part of your competitive wage package as I recall...yet this guy calls it a ruinous link...and here you are posting his opinion?
More proof that your own opinion is not really your own and is half-baked to boot.
As I predicted the crisis has arrived. Now we'll have the left-wing plan spoon fed to us...because people like you and this jackass whose opinion you posted still refuse to admit to the full scope of the problem.
Gee, FM, you posting someone else's opinion? So what else is new?
Like you have any credability on the subject there VC. I've posted and backed up my opinion numerous times. You on the other hand have never posted anything except to jump up and down screaming we have a problem in America. At one time you jumped up and screamed it was the third party payer system that was the problem. Then in the very next sentence, your screaming for your neighbors to pay for your healthcare. When asked how does shifting your healthcare bills from your private company to the government paying them, your silent except for your screaming, "I'm not having my neighbors pay for my healthcare"
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Gee, no kidding? Is that your personal preference, Jack? In other words, in a perfect world there would be no problem with health care in America? Isn't that special? How very clever.
Gee VC, what is the healthcare problem in America? You don't know this either. In fact, you went on record stating over 80 million had no insurance. Gee, never backed that claim up did you? NO YOU DIDN'T! I postyed a study that broke down the mythical figure of the 40 million who supposedly didn't have insurance in America. I remember you ripped that without any facts without any articles to back any up you said. The thread went silent, your MO all the time when asked for your facts on healthcare! FYI, the number of people with healthcare in America is 100%, including people here illegally.
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And his sorry repetition of the pipe dream that will never come true includes a comment about the "ruinous" link between health insurance and employment. Gee, I remember you, FM< posting about how you saw no problems what so ever in that realm. In fact, you consider health care something that an employer owes you as a matter of right, something that you expect as part of your competitive wage package as I recall...yet this guy calls it a ruinous link...and here you are posting his opinion?
Where's the problem here? Under our current system what's the probelm. When over 70% of Americans love their Healthcare, why F it up by having your neighbors paying for you VC? Hey VC, wouldn't it be better to clearly define who has insurance and who doesn't and then the reason why before we throw money at it? For the record folks, I asked the question about three times on the thread that broke down the numbers of who didn't have insurance thread, VC had no response back then.
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As I predicted the crisis has arrived. Now we'll have the left-wing plan spoon fed to us...because people like you and this jackass whose opinion you posted still refuse to admit to the full scope of the problem.
What crisis? Some real prediction when the left has been trying to bring us government care since the 1930s. Besides, your the head cheerleader for your neighbors paying. That's the only solution you've ever posted. For the record, this jackass is a medical doctor. He has a degree from Harvard Med. Exactly what is your "Medical" background? FYI, getting a finger up you rearend once a year (more when you play with your toys) doesn't make you an expert. Come to think of it, the lack of any facts and/or eroneous facts on the subject proves your certainly not an expert.
__________________
John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
At one time you jumped up and screamed it was the third party payer system that was the problem. Then in the very next sentence, your screaming for your neighbors to pay for your healthcare
Lies. I should expect no less from you. All that you led off with in your response is nothing more than lies and twisting of my comments. Nice try.
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The thread went silent, your MO all the time when asked for your facts on healthcare!
Lol, yet another lie. You would like to paint my absence from this board during my peak season as a concession to the half-baked opinions (OF OTHERS) that you would hope to post as your own. I even mocked you for it recently and you naturally had no response what so ever.
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Where's the problem here? Under our current system what's the probelm
I love it. Here you actually show that you disagree with the guy whose opinion you just posted, Bozo. He calls it "ruinous." So why are you questioning me? This shows what a shallow thinker you are and you hope to sound so informed. Instead all you can do is twist the facts with lies when you are asked to back up the tripe you post on the matter.
Look around, Bozo. Its is happening right under your nose. The private sector failures are leading this nation down the path that you despise the most and you don't even so much as pause to ponder how that could happen. If this clown whose opinion you posted had half a brain, he realize that his pipe dream of a "highly competitive" system was LONG AGO buried by the special interests of the providers, the insurers, and the lawyers who feed off the private system.
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Hey VC, wouldn't it be better to clearly define who has insurance and who doesn't and then the reason why before we throw money at it? For the record folks, I asked the question about three times on the thread that broke down the numbers of who didn't have insurance thread, VC had no response back then.
You posted nothing more than straw man arguments and then claimed victory. What is happening as we speak is the facts running over your arguments and leaving tire tracks on your face. National health care as crafted by the far left is most likely on its way like a runaway train. I blame you and yours for hoping to discredit those who point to the problem, instead of (you) actually addressing the problem itself. Your above captioned quote is proof of exactly what I am talking about. You will now get exactly what you deserve from the heavy hand of government...from the far left, which was able to essentially tap-dance its way into power...across the legislative board. Lol, and here you are still claiming to have somehow made a point somewhere along way. So if there is no problem, why is the left in power and making headway toward a national plan? If the current system is so efficient, how could those people with those ideas (which they trumpeted LOUDLY during the election) ever get elected??? If this nation is so satisfied with the system as it stands, how could that ever happen? (I can't wait to hear the twisted logic you'll conjure up to address the facts now).
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For the record, this jackass is a medical doctor.
And what is amazing is the stupidity you display by posting an opinion of someone with such an obvious vested interest in keeping the status quo. Once again, you don't know and you don't know that you don't know. You are incapable of thinking past your nose and instead all you have in return is lies and personal attacks. What is happening at the hands of the Obama administration highlights the problems better than I ever could.
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What crisis?
Lol, as long as someone else (your employer) is paying for yours for you (and allowing you to cheat the employers by way of abusing the COBRA system as you admittedly did), who cares, right?
Lol, "what crisis?" Go back to sleep, Bozo, and just continue to let the left answer your questions for you.
Notice everyone, VC has lost the arguement on his second post. Instead of posting a single fact on the subject, he feels the need to call me names. This has gone down the same path as all of the other posts he has had on the subject of healthcare insurance. Blame others, take no postition, offer no ideas and BTW, he has no background and no input on the subject.
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And what is amazing is the stupidity you display by posting an opinion of someone with such an obvious vested interest in keeping the status quo.
Your ignorance is vey telling VC. Charles Krauthammer has no vested interest in keeping the status quo. He no longer practices medicine. Can you study some facts before you put your foot in your mouth?
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Once again, you don't know and you don't know that you don't know. You are incapable of thinking past your nose and instead all you have in return is lies and personal attacks.
My so called personal attacks are trying you to put up or shut up. We been down this road several times and the only thing you do on this subject is attack my ideas, which I've put forth many times and all the articles I postede on the subject. Unlike you, most of us aren't born with all the knowledge of the world. We go to school, earn degrees and research subject matters to form and opinion. You on the other hand can only attack someone else on the subject of healthcare, violate the rules and call me names,blame others and duck out on any position or news ideas just like your doing it again on this thread. I ASK YOU ONCE AGAIN, WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND IN THE MEDICAL INDUSTRY? YOU SEEM TO BE THE SME WITHOUT A SINGLE FACT!
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Lol, as long as someone else (your employer) is paying for yours for you (and allowing you to cheat the employers by way of abusing the COBRA system as you admittedly did), who cares, right?
FYI, my employer isn't paying for my health insurance. They are compensating me for exchange of my services which BTW I negotiate every year under a new compensation contract. I'm considering switching next year to the compensation only package and going with the local pay as you go system. FYI, I've posted several times on that subject which should come as no surprise, you attacked that one too. FYI, when I do this new start up, I will offer my employees the pay as you go system we now have in our area and a catstrophic plan to back that up. As far as Cobra goes, who took advantage of what? I didn't. I used the system exactly the way it was designed to work. If you have a problem with that, complain to your congressman not to me. I didn't write the law, I followed it.
__________________
John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
Rationing of healthcare is coming
