While extremists dominate our broader public discourse with some of the craziest sh*t I've ever heard….the most important issues of the day are being decided quietly, behind the scenes, without much media coverage or discussion.
Carrie Prejean, former Miss Someone, was in the "news" again yesterday, not because any important news had been made, but because ratings-seekers wanted to run those killer body video clips of Miss Someone for their 19-54 male audiences.
David Letterman, a late night comedien talker, told a few tasteless jokes about former Miss Alaska runner-up, Sarah Palin…..and, naturally, that became "breaking news" deserving of Serious evaluation.
Drug addict multi-millionaire entertainer, Rush Limbaugh, blubbers out a new daily moron-meme declaring a white supremacist assassin to be closer aligned with the left than with the right….and all media must root around in that steaming pile of bullsh*t, hunting for profound gold-nuggets of wisdom.
Liz Cheney, a person rarely seen or heard from until Obama became president, makes 22 appearances on teevee in less than 30 days. MSNBC officials response to the question, why?, is answered by, "She makes a great guest."
Here's what the Very, Serious Professionals spend their time (and thus, our time) telling us about….
The job of the corporate media is not to inform Americans about what's of vital importance to them. The job of the media is to gather an audience of consumers for the sole purpose of parading their corporate sponsors' commercials in front of them. Out of an hour "news" program, 30 minutes are dedicated to that sole purpose. The "content" is simply filler.
It's a sad state of affairs. "Dumbing down" hardly captures the paradigm.
While the corporate media's monkeys continue to throw their own excrement around in their multi-million dollar cages…..Americans are not learning about very important decisions being hammered out in secret by our elected officials.
Take for example Obama's campaign promise of health care for all Americans.
Obama made it clear that the problem with Ameria's health care system is, "it costs too much." We spend more and receive less than many other 1st world nations. Obama is still fighting for what's being called a 'public option' for all Americans as one of many choices in national health coverage moving forward. The idea of a public, Medicare-availability-to-all, plan is to drive the cost of insurance downward.
All Republicans in Congress, and those Democrats whose constituencies are Big Insurance and Big Pharma….are against Obama's public option. This is a big story that Americans need to be informed about…..but my god, that Carrie Prejean looks great in a white bikini, don't she?
Some 69% of Americans polled want Obama's public option included in health care reform. Medicare currently runs more efficiently than private, for-profit health insurance….the Veterans Adminstration health program runs even more efficiently…..and therefore, a program which included Medicare availability for all Americans who do not have health coverage would help drive down overall costs…..but dude, did you hear about what Letterman said about Palin?
The "plan" being constructed right now by Big Health Corporations, Republicans and Corporate Democrats not only enriches Big Insurance and Big Pharma even more…it will drive health care costs even higher. The 50 million, or so, Americans who do not currently have coverage will be forced to purchase coverage…..much as all drivers have been forced to carry auto-liability. 50 million more customers, a boatload of new demand, will drive health coverage costs up, not down. Econ-101. Hundreds of billions of new tax dollars will flow into the bloated coffers of for-profit paper shuffling schemers to provide insurance for those Americans who can't afford it.
And it gets worse. These corporate and political bastards are planning on taxing your employee-sponsored health insurance if you have it now. With this plan now being worked out, not only will health insurance costs go up…..but while those costs are going up, you'll be taxed on benefits you aren't taxed on now.
But not to worry…..Liz Cheney makes a great guest, and Rush Limbaugh said more stupid sh*t today. And what more would you need to know about?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Econ 101? See there is a fatal flaw in your logic. The laws of supply and demand only fit the tangible goods situation. Housing, meat, wood, steel. Insurance is a service, that is not created it exists because of a pool of money. As more people contribute, the service becomes less expensive. Now, forcing people to pay should be your issue. What causes health care to go up is not additional customers, its additional service rendered without receipt of payment.
Do I like the idea? No, you force people to get insurance, they will demand higher income, higher income results in higher costs for other goods. Ideally what would fix health care, is helping those who work obtain health care for a lower cost. Help create a new company that can provide low cost insurance with a slightly higher deductable. Also, open up peoples options to pick who their health provider is. Right now I get the choice of 4 companies but there are way more than 4 companies out there that provide health care. Make the health care insurance market a true free market, so that weed out some of this high cost. People will migrate to more affordable coverages and it will force other companies to lower it to compete. They will have better rating scenarios to properly cover the costs of health care.
Thanks for the comment G-mann. My more conservative commenting friends are mad at me.
I'm no economist, that's for sure, ….it just seems to me that if more and more people are chasing after a service or product with their money (or government money), that the product or service being chased would rise in price. For instance, I haven't seen pharmaceutical prices go down since Plan D was put in place.
I think health care prices continue to go up…because the market isn't working.
While choices are all well and good in a free society…..today's for-profit insurance-based health program works to eliminate choices, not increase them. Mandating coverage for everyone will only make that problem worse. We will wind up dealing with a monopoly much like the oil industry. Just my opinion.
Additionally, bankruptcies caused by personal health crises (over 60% of all bankruptcies) will continue with an entirely free market health insurance plan. Good for capitalists who want to keep everything "in play"….but bad for the masses.
Thanks again.