JensJohansson wrote:1) I would probably classify as a liberal but not necessarily a pedocrat
I have friends that are over thirty, forty, and even a few over fifty- and they are
still liberal- I'm trying to lead them out of the wilderness, so to speak.
JensJohansson wrote:2) I still laugh at these words: pedocrat, Hillary Klingon, Nazi Pelosi, Arafart, Obamao.
Political humor is one of my favorite types of comedy. Do you remember "Ron Headrest" from Doonesbury in the late '80s? Garry Trudeau had drawn this caricature that was a composite of Max Headroom, the wisecracking CGI TV character, and President Reagan. It was hilarious, and I'm still laughing at it over 20 years later!
Ron Headrest c. 1988
JensJohansson wrote:3) Don't fret fundamentally about the US, the US has survived a lot of strange things and will still be there for many generations after we are gone ..
I honestly wish that I could agree with you on that point, however, you're pretty familiar with my eschatological beliefs- particularly the part that that the end will most likely come
in our generation.
JensJohansson wrote:4) I think health care reform in the US was a good thing.. seriously, who defends the health insurance companies of their own free will (ie, if you're not a lobbyist for one, or working for one?)
Part of the problem of HR 4872 "Obamacare" is that little or nothing was done to address the major problem that the insurance industry has become a cartel within each state, or in other words, you can't buy health insurance across state lines. The only exception to this particular rule is that if the corporate headquarters of your employer is in another state.
For instance, let's say that you're a programmer and work for Unum Insurance in their Bangor, Maine regional office. You would still be covered by the Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennessee policy that your employer has purchased since Unum's corporate headquarters is in Chattanooga.
There are lots of other stupid things that went on in HR 4872, such as not wanting to have drug companies bid for Medicare contracts, for instance, and that means that the drug companies can continue to screw Medicare- i.e., the taxpayers, on prescription drug costs.
Wal-Mart, on the other hand, used their purchasing agent Nazis to beat the drug companies down on costs(by offering them long term multi-billion dollar contracts which = steady, predictable revenue for decades)in exchange for making the most 100 or so commonly prescribed drugs extremely inexpensive. When I was taking Paxil, I was able to get a month's supply for something like seven or eight dollars.
Not a perfect solution, but Wal-Mart on it's own, and with no legislation did far more for their customers by making commonly prescribed meds significantly more affordable than the 535 dickheads in Congress ever did or ever will.
The medical device manufacturers just got hit with a tax (which they of course, will pass down to their customers) for opposing ObamaCare. So again, government meddling and favor peddling just screwed the American taxpayer again- AND- and at our own expense, of course. This means that grandma or grandpa will now have to pay quite a bit more to rent a nebulizer to use at home for breathing treatments. So much for lower costs!
The American Bar Association was also exempted once again from tort reform of any sort, and there are lawyers that I am acquainted with right here in my city that went out and got drunk to celebrate! They gleefully chase ambulances, and shake down doctors and hospitals and get rich off of it while the patient gets very little, and then the rest of us end up having to pay even higher costs for doctors, and hospital visits. Obamacare strikes again!
To add still further injury to insult, the White House as well as Congress are -exempt- from having to purchase insurance from the same 'product pools' that they are imposing upon the rest of us, so they get to keep their 'Cadillac' health plans, oh, and they also exempted themselves from the "Cadillac Health Plan Tax" (of course). Oh, and by the way, Congress just voted itself a $15,000 dollar cost of living increase.
JensJohansson wrote:It seems to me the amount of hate in "normal people" in the US against health insurance companies the last 15 years has been just unbelievable... OK anecdotal evidence, but I mean, almost everyone who has health insurance seems to be very unhappy.
Indeed they are! Look at all of the ridiculous bullshit in HR 4872 (just check my summary, but if you really want to read the 2,500+ pages of the law, be my guest!) Also, there is a great deal of Medicare fraud that goes on- it's quite profitable, and most never get caught- and the ones that do made a killing and can afford to sit in jail for five years since they'll be rich when they get out. Let's throw 20 million or more illegals into the mix, and we are looking at a great deal of indigent care- the illegals don't pay a dime. Who pays? That's right- the taxpayer via higher taxes, and the insurance policyholder via higher premiums, and the employer via higher employer contributions to the policy.
I have a friend/former client that was really depressed about 5 years ago when he was going over the insurance renewal bids for his small company. $100,000 a year for his 25 person company. The bids from five or six different carriers were almost identical- like a fucking cartel!
And that was just the employer's contribution. At the time, the employee's contribution for a family policy was about $800 per month, which of course, is over $1,000 per month now- and climbing. Again, someone has to pay- and fewer payments means less medical professionals available to treat patients and fewer hospital beds available to treat sick people. It's really as simple as that- and no amount of laws can change the laws of supply and demand.
JensJohansson wrote:I have a feeling the republicans are very scared that the general public will like the new system with a "why was this obstructed for 50 years... what was the big deal?"
Trust me, that's the farthest thing from their minds. If that were actually true, there would be broad bi-partisan support, but the numbers simply don't add up. What are seeing is massive power grabs- first the bank bailouts, then the Detroit bailouts, and now national health care. If there is no incentives/rewards for hard work, then innovation and efficiency will soon be gone forever from this country. Then the US will begin to slide into
Brezhnevanomics- stagnation, and more despair.
JensJohansson wrote:6) this thread is the #3 result when you google for SA 3556 .. of course the subject heading shows up in google as well..
A great way to drive traffic to the site, without having to pay Google's "per click" fees!
that's my favorite number... it means so much to me I might get depression because of it's abscence 
and Obama loves cigarettes. >shrugs<