Sunday, June 21, 2009

David Brin: Loyal Democratic Ant

Not unexpected, but...

I simply adore the worshipful singularity of the comments here; thank God you abjure the Kool-Aid lest your brains collapse into a hive mind.

Health care in the U.S. is a terrible mélange of New Deal dinosaurs that hide-bound Democrats refuse to kill and replace. They are determined to make it worse no matter what.

Being the land of filial piety, Japan has the world's worst social security net. Aflac, the supplemental insurance, is huge in Japan for a reason.

Canada is a nightmare. The UK is even worse. And don't cherry pick stories on how some cousin got a booboo stitched. The waiting lists are statistical evidence of rationing.

George Bush created an entire private, no "public-option" Medicare D. Surprise, surprise: it's more popular than expected and cheaper than anyone thought possible.

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT! ONLY GOVERNMENT CAN SAVE YOU!

1. Outlaw employer-provided health insurance. It is insane. They insure neither my car nor apartment, it is ridiculous. Outlaw it and push the money they spent on health care to the individuals.

2. Create $2000 in matching funds for every person/dependent, and make it tax-deductible for the first $6000 or so.

Insurance pools risks for broken arms, cancer and heart attacks. Paying for runny noses is a check-splitting plan. The popularity of the latter is driving up our costs all across the board. Outlaw employer health care and poof! they disappear.

Now you may return to your regularly scheduled moonbattery. Perhaps some Holy Net Neutrality? "For he that charges by bandwidth, let him be blessed. But for he who charges for latency, let him be taken out and stoned to death." Yeah, it's in the Bible somewhere, Leviticus, I think.

Modern Grotesque

Stephen Green compares, properly, San Francisco's Planning Commission to the Red Guards : “In a 5–0 vote, it ordered Johnston to build a...