Sunday, September 13, 2009
Editorial: Delivering the lambs to slaughter
Wednesday, Barack Obama tossed a lot of vague words in the latest attempt to sell ObamaInsuranceCorporationGiveAway. He decried those who used fear as he . . . proceeded to do just that.
We are, he said, at "the breaking point" and then he told horror stories. Despite being at the broken point, he insisted the US couldn't take "a radical shift" and have single-payer health care. No, that would "disrupt" and, again, be "a radical shift."
He acknowledged that there were five bills in Congress -- apparently it was supposed to be understood that they're all different. He had time to finger point at others and say, "And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned."
Uh, no, Barry, if confusion reigned it was because there was no plan -- there were multiple plans -- and you, Barry, did nothing to inform the people of them. You were happy to meet with the insurance lobby in the White House and discuss your plan. It was just the people you serve that you wished to leave in the dark.
He insisted we were at "the breaking point," he maintained "the time for bickering is over" and, golly, even the "times for games has passed."
Wow, sounds like there's a real sense of urgency. Except . . .
Except he said, "This exchange will take effect in four years, which will give us time to do it right."
Four years. But we must act now. The "times for games has passed." We must rush to . . . stand in line and wait.
His most honest line resulted in laughter. The room erupted after he said, "And while there remain some significant details to be ironed out . . ." (Doubt us and missed the broadcast? Check the official transcript where the laughter is noted.)
Even after all this time, he has nothing concrete.
So why are we all supposed to be rushing into something?
Something that's lousy and useless unless you're Big Pharma or an Insurance Corporation.
Mandatory. People will be forced to buy insurance or face stiff fines. What Barack will be doing is creating a new pool of consumers for the insurance companies by forcing people to purchase policies. The insurance companies will still be running everything. Nothing will be fixed. But that's really not the point, is it? The points is for Barack to deliver the lambs (the citizens) to Big Pharma and the Insurance Corporations.
That may have been the only thing made clear in his speech.