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Tuesday  December 29, 2009

Today's Zinger: 

Continuous Change In A New Direction Is A Revolution In Slow Motion

Who Said It:

“People who are successful become vested in their ideas, it becomes extraordinarily difficult for new ideas to find their way.”

 

The Morning Briefing:

Congress is poised to pass the most profound social legislation since Medicare (about 60 years).  The new health care reform bill, which should really be called the health insurance legislation act, will set in motion a series of changes that will reshape how health insurance, not medical costs or care, are handled in the United States.  This legislation will affect every person in the United States and impact 16% of the U.S. economy.

Whether you are in favor of this bill or not, there is one thing that is certainly true, we as a nation are moving to allow government to take a more active role in our lives.  We as a nation are declaring that the free market cannot be shaped or legislated to provide the health care needs of the citizens of this country.

President Obama, in a speech following the historic vote of the U.S. Senate approving the Senate version of the health care bill, made a very profound statement, yet I’m sure that at the time he didn’t realize it.  President Obama said, “with the passing of this legislation, we can now move on to other initiatives and “do the work that we were sent here to do, to make the lives of Americans better.”

“To make the lives of Americans better”.  Is that really why he was elected to office?  Is that really the role of government?   Zinger looks at the ideology of Barack Obama and the role of government.

The Discussion:

“To make the lives of Americans better”.  When President Obama uttered these words in his speech following the Senate vote on health care insurance reform, he attributed a role to the U.S. government that many people will be happy to embrace and others will cringe.  Lets forget the U.S. Constitution and the role ascribed to the government for a moment.  The question that every American must ask is, should the government’s be responsible for the wellbeing of the American people or should the government be responsible for enabling the American people to be responsible for their own well being?

The key words that need to be debated are “enable” versus “provide”.  Clearly, based on President Obama’s policies, he sees the role of the government as a provider.  The provider role will have many supporters.  With almost 50% of American workers not paying income tax, why shouldn’t they look to the government to continue to make their lives better?  

In times of hardship, everyone understands the need for the government to assist through a transition.  Just like a parent provides for their young children.  But, when the government implements permanent programs, or programs that take away the incentive for personal responsibility, doesn’t this change future motivation?  Just like a parent providing for adult children, doesn’t this create a unhealthy dependency?

If we continue to provide unemployment compensation, doesn’t this say to an unemployed worker that we will take care of you until this economy turns around and you can find the right job.   Economists know that if you want to predict the length of unemployment, just look at how long the unemployed are compensated during their unemployment. 

The same is true of health care.  If we provide health care, what motivation is there to control it?  The individual is responsible for the key factors that affect health care costs, their amount of exercise, weight, foods they eat and activities they engage in.  The government cannot control these, unless we begin to say that the government needs to be more involved in the personal decisions of our daily lives that affect what we eat, our weight, etc.

 It is inevitable the current health care insurance reform will fail because of the way it is designed.  It is not properly aligned to reduce health care costs.  The assumption is that controlling insurance premiums will bring down costs.  They will not.  Insurance premiums do not drive health care costs.  This is a naïve notion that is geared for public acceptance and not health care improvement.  And when it does fail we will hear the cries for “a public option” as if this is the magic bullet to fix it.  It is not.  Government intervention and price fixing has never worked in the long term.  They may provide perceived short-term benefits, but it will fail.

Alternatively, the government can enable every American to provide for themselves and put in place the legislation that will force competition and new health care deliver models that will attack the costs as well as the incentives for health care. 

I have never been one to say that the Obama Administration is pushing socialism on America, however, the administration is pushing a social agenda that cannot be denied.  We have more legislation that puts the government deeper into our personal lives than at any time in history.  Just look at the economy and employment in Washington DC and you will get a glimpse at how government is growing.  Washington now leads the nation in employment compensation is higher than private industry, ,lobbying is higher than prior administrations, and Washington is growing.  Forget what the politicians say, start looking at what is actually occurring.

The Conclusion:

The question for all Americans is, are we at a transition point in this country where we think the government SHOULD try and make our lives better or do we continue to see the role of government as an enabler for its people?  If the government is a provider, then we must have a public option.  If they are an enabler, then they should legislate improved competition.  Its when we try to have it both ways, more government involvement and more competition, that we fail.   The current health care insurance bill is exactly that.

Who Said It?

“People who are successful become vested in their ideas, it becomes extraordinarily difficult for new ideas to find their way.”

Dr. Mina Bissell

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Cancer Researcher, on explaining why it is difficult for cancer researchers to explore alternative approaches and theories to curing cancer.

Today's ZingerToon:

             The Realities Of The Morning After.         Happy New Year.

       

Recent ZingerKing Articles:

Articles can be found under “Recent Articles” in the purple sidebar.   Older articles can be found in the archives that are stored by month.  These are found at the bottom of the purple sidebar.   Here is a list of the most recent articles.Click here to access the archives  www.ZingerKing.com

The Corruption Of Health Care Legislation

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President Obama's Job Fair and Search for Jobs

President Obama's Afghanistan Strategy and Speech

The Environmental Impact of Hybrid and Battery Powered Automobiles

Geithner, Stimulus, Health Care for Troops and more

Torture, Rendition and Iran's Nuclear Ambition

2009 Elections.  How Losers Become Winners

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Health Care and Illegal Immigrants

Obama's Eight Month Report Card


You can access these and other articles at  www.ZingerKing.com