The-Asterisk

There are two major schools of thought when it comes to providing and paying for medical care in the United States. The first is single payer where one entity, most likely the Federal Government, pays for all medical care; basically acting as the universal health insurance provider for all citizens. Many countries use this model. We will not discuss the efficacy and economics of these single payer plans in this posting. The second school of thought is to keep medical insurance in private hands and allow individuals or employers to purchase care as they deem most effective and most affordable, and oftentimes these two schools are in total conflict. Over the years I have promoted a bifurcated health provider scheme where all citizens have access to basic day-to-day health care through a network of government and government-sponsored facilities. Those who want more customized, personal, comfortable and immediate health care can pay out of pocket or through supplemental insur...

Fifty three percent (53%) of my being wants to let this corrupt and incompetent administration and its acolytes in the Congress just go ahead and have their way with this country because that is what the 53% want. It is all about the majority, right? Even though the Republicans have a small majority in the House that can thwart some harmful legislation, there will be a white-hot push to get the Republicans to "compromise" with the Left so that we can "progress" as a nation. (Remember, Republicans who stick to their principles are called  obstructionists , while Democrats who stick to their beliefs are labeled  principled .) At this point in my life, I want to let go and give these brilliant thinkers and their tribal / herd / pack-animal followers the keys to the machine. I guess I am going all "Who is John Galt" in my old age. I am going to hunker down, grow my business to the extent possible during the expected economic decline and do what I can do ...

As much as I want to not watch them, I still am drawn to the Sunday morning news talk shows. Today, as can be expected, the top subject is the debt ceiling deadline coming up in just 16 days. There is always a Democrat and a Republican on there, trying to "not negotiate the deal on TV." I am watching Rep. Chris Van Hollin (D-MD) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) on Fox News Sunday. Democrats almost always argue by pointing to the absurdity of the Republicans' stance. The Republicans almost always argue from a heartfelt, pragmatic point of view that the system is f'ing broke and needs to be fixed NOW. As I listen, I keep thinking that this argument is not congruent. We should remember that just because one can argue convincingly and well, that the argument is not necessarily sound. I must be a little slow, because, it really just came to me listening to Van Hollin justify raising taxes to match the "framework" (I love that term) of the Clinton years, when ev...