The Wall Street Journal thus appropriately subtitled its editorial on the bill narrowly passed in the House last night by two votes over the minimum. The only bright side here is that the bill as it stands almost certainly would never pass the U.S. Senate (which requires a 60-vote filibuster-proof majority, and several moderate Senate Democrats have already signaled their opposition to the bills presented to date). The point is, any nontrivial changes in the Senate version would almost certainly affect the arm-twisting and compromises made to squeak this vote across the finish line.
As far as I'm concerned, any pathetic politician who voted in favor of this bill violated professional ethics. This contradicted Obama's own promise to engage in serious bipartisan dialog on significant pieces of legislation; only one Republican, representing a heavily Democratic Louisiana district, voted for it. A major entitlement change should not pass by the margin of 3 House Democrats (i.e., 220-215 vs. 217-218). It has no moral authority. All of this is supposedly over 46 million uninsured? There are more focused, less expensive, less obtrusive ways to handle this issue.
On a side note: Michael Steele, note the outcome of the folly of the local New York (NY-23) GOP officials in nominating a liberal Republican to replace McHugh. A mainstream candidate would almost certainly have defeated Bill Owens, whom won by divide and conquer over a split GOP. Owens was one of the votes for this monstrosity.
The WSJ critique focused on a number of specific points, which I paraphrase as follows:
- government empire building. Even Obama's own actuaries note that the government share will increase from today's 46% to about 60%. Talk about socialist creep with all sorts of moral hazard, with government subsidies extending almost into 6-figure households. (Should we really be surprised? Democrats have constantly sought to expand federal programs like SCHIP to upper middle-income families, which has the net effect of financially-capable households transferring their children's health care expenses to the backs of future American taxpayers.) Medicaid expansions (going beyond low income and disabled), rigged, heavily regulated insurance markets--not to mention what appears to be a single point of corruption that would make Thomas Jefferson turn over in his grave: instead of a Byzantine system of individual state mandates, an insurance czar would be empowered to add mandates, further adding costs to health "insurance"--which is not really insurance, but heavily subsidized health care, including unnecessary tests, services, and drugs, where individual consumers have no vested interest in minimizing costs. The Journal also points out predictable Democratic spin aimed at rationalizing empire building--the so-called "waste" in Medicare Advantage, which enables a significant percentage of seniors to enroll in private sector insurance.
- phony financing gimmickry and inevitable rationing. The financing puts House Democrats in the same class of people as those fast-talking mortgage or car lenders with gimmicky loan terms. Should the fact that the major costs are shifted to the last 5 years of the 10-year bill surprise anyone, given the fact that Democrats in the House, Senate, and White House, unconstrained by the facts they are paying off their special interests on the backs of their grandchildren, that they have been running up the federal deficit like drunken sailors? We've already heard and seen this song and dance: states like Massachusetts, Tennessee, Hawaii and Oregon, with their own version of health care
disasterreform, have struggled to balance budgets--and that means things like tightening eligibility, denying life-extending treatments and medicines, etc., i.e., rationing. - vast tax increases/anti-business growth/jobs. Let's remember that businesses have a budget for labor costs--including salaries and benefits. Money is fungible; it doesn't matter how you split up compensation. If businesses, in particular small businesses, decide to structure compensation to increase salary (so workers can choose health insurance on their own, just like they shop for car insurance), they are now being told they will have to pay a surtax if they don't provide what becomes a de facto mandatory benefit. This does not end well for either the company or the worker. There's no such thing as a free lunch. In fact, WellPoint estimates that the costs of individual plans (given mandates) may triple in some markets, even if a business pays the tax penalty of about 8%.
Don't Let the Progressives (Liberals) Do to America What They Did to Detroit
Financial newsletter editor Porter Stansberry wrote an interesting piece on the problems of Detroit governance, which he traces from its being a crown jewel in LBJ's "Model Cities Program". (He also points out the prominence of black progressives since then and the pervasiveness of entitlement politics, with all relevant moral hazard problems. I do wish that he would also have pointed out a number of well-known black conservatives, including economist Thomas Sowell, Larry Elder, J.C. Watts, and Clarence Thomas, whom want no part of progressive ideology.) And what did these enlightened leaders do? Diversify the city's economy from its dependence on the auto industry? Provide attractive, competitive business taxes, lower bureaucratic red tape, a model school system to attract households to relocate back to the city? Of course not. "Enlightened progressives" (like Barack Obama) who think they know how to manage the economy (i.e., he knows better than the private sector about the future of the American economy--alternative energy (which has largely depended on government subsidies for decades), education (controlled by teacher unions with their stunning performances in our nation's urban centers), and health care (yes, the same politicians whom just this year suddenly discovered that Medicare fraud is a problem--but decide extending government control to 60% of the health insurance market is a higher priority than resolving an existing $30T unfunded mandate in Medicare). The result? The Model Cities Program shrank the number of residents by nearly two-thirds and the number of housing units by almost half. More recently, an auction of nearly 9000 seized homes failed to sell over 80% of the properties, despite many of them starting with an opening bid of as low as $500.
Political Cartoon
This comes from one of my favorite cartoonists, IBD's Michael Ramirez. To provide context, the Philadelphia Phillies just lost the World Series to the New York Yankees; Speaker Pelosi is deliberately overlooking voters in heavily Democratic New Jersey denying the incumbent, Jon Corzine, a second term, and Virginia electing its first Republican governor in 8 years, despite Obama's frequent appearances on behalf of both Democratic candidates. She is arguing that two special election Congressional seats, won by the California Democratic Lieutenant Governor against a novice in a Democratic district, and New York's Bill Owens, whom narrowly beat a third-party candidate, a political novice, by less than 5 points, even with the endorsement of the GOP nominee in the race, were a big win for the Democrats.
Musical Interlude: Jewel's "Hands"
Jewel - Hands
Uploaded by Belzebar. -
If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we're all OK
and not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
and useless in times like these
I won't be made useless
I won't be idle with despair
I will gather myself around my faith
For light does the darkness most fear
My hands are small, I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
and I am never broken
Poverty stole your golden shoes
But it didn't steal your laughter
and heart ache came to visit me
But I knew it wasn't ever after
We'll fight, not out of spite
For someone must stand up for what's right
'Cause where there's a man who has no voice
There ours shall go singing
My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
and I am never broken
In the end only kindness matters
In the end only kindness matters
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
and I am never broken
My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
and I am never broken
We are never broken
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's mind
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's heart
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's eyes
We are God's hands
We are God's hands
[ Hands Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]
