The latest evolution of the health care monstrosity slinking through the Capital is just as dangerous as earlier versions. The House is considering a version that would supposedly allow doctors to negotiate prices with the government instead of the earlier plans that included set prices that amounted to price controls.
Price controls are a problem because they are historically unrealistic and, over the long run, produce shortages. When a company is forced to sell an item at a price below the cost of production, distribution, and profit they stop producing—resulting in a shortage. Price controls also cause shortages through overconsumption. Thomas Sowell in Basic Economics (pg 29) tells of wealthy people who did not even live in the city holding on to apartments covered under New York’s rent control laws. This reduced the number of apartments available for the poor who were supposed to benefit from the laws.
When one of the agents is the government, negotiated prices are price controls with a less offensive name. Control is negative and implies a use of force. Negotiation sounds warm and fuzzy, sitting down over coffee and biscotti, and seeking what is best for both parties. In order for a negotiation to be effective, and balanced, each must have something to offer and negotiate from an equal footing. When one agent is far more powerful than the other, negotiation quickly gives way to demand. How is anyone, other than a separate sovereign nation, to negotiate with the US government? This is not possible because the government will set the terms of the negotiation. This will quickly degenerate to hidden price controls along with the resulting shortages.
What our healthcare system needs is a healthy dose of free market economics. Our system has been under the boot of big government for too long; Mr. Obama and his cronies in the Congress want us to believe the solution is adding the other boot.
That’s right. The White House has declared war against Fox news. Why? Fox News broadcasts the opposing view. In other words they practice journalism. I would not be so naive to say that Fox new is always unbiased. They have commentators who regularly speak against the left, just like CNN does. The problem is that the Obama administration loves CNN and MSNBC because the love is returned. These two stations have been in a love fest with this administration long before Obama was sworn in. Of course, MSNBC is the worst of the two. If they didn’t occasionally broadcast the weather MSNBC could not even be called a news station. CNN, formerly the Clinton New Network and now in the thralls of Obama, has yet to air a story in any way negative of the new president.
The First Amendment was not put in place to protect the government’s mouthpiece but to protect those who would speak against the government so that the people will hear more than the official side. This role has fallen to Fox News, the only station following its First Amendment mandate.
Though it may sound like a bad, old joke, it is actually today’s news. Senator Olympia Snowe, from Maine, has once again crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats in favor of government healthcare. Many have referred to Senator Snowe as a moderate Republican, but this is not the proper term to describe her. To call someone a moderate implies that they stand in the middle on issues between extremes and seek to find the best way to work with the right or the left. Moderation connotes discipline and thoughtfulness, but political moderation is not what Senator Snowe practices. Since Arlen Specter left the party he pretended to support for years, Senator Snowe is now the turncoat-in-chief.
Of course, the Democrats are the one delivering the punch line in this joke. They are claiming a victory for the president, hoping it will shield moderate Democrats who have been forced to stand against this program. Senator Snowe has always danced to the left’s tune. I wonder if she realizes that today is National Coming-Out Day and those hiding their feelings are being encouraged to come out of the closet and express who they really are. Senator Snowe, it is time you came out of the closet and accept that you are a Democrat; you are not a moderate but a hard-left statist.
What can the left do when their president slips in the polls daily? President Obama has failed miserably at everything he has done so far. He has not ended the Iraq war as he said he would. He will not be able to close Guantanamo as promised. He has not stopped the Iranian nuclear program. He has alienated friends and cuddled up to enemies and terrorists. He has spent the nation into a record debt, likes of which our nation has never seen. He has handled over the reins of his office to self avowed Communists and America haters. He tried to put his own people in charge of the Census. He has meddled in the finance industry and GMC, seizing control of huge swaths of the economy. Then there is of course healthcare, and his related failures there.
So how is the left to rehabilitate this president’s ratings and raise his poll numbers? Simple, give him the Nobel Peace Prize—no need to produce peace or even move towards it. Of course the prize has nothing to do with producing peace—remember Jimmy Carter won it. It has more to do with making political statements and influencing public opinion. The Nobel Committee is the new PR department of Obama political machine. Do you hear that whirring sound? It’s Alfred Nobel spinning in his grave.
At one time the federal government was seen as limited. Now under the liberal junta currently running this nation the states are being reduced to branch offices of Washington. This was never envisioned by the founders who saw our nation as sovereign people in several sovereign states joined together and pooling part of their sovereignty in the federal government. King Obama and his Hip-Pocket Congress are working to sieze control of American lives and the American economy far beyond anything King George would have imagined. If you think healthcare has a problem now, wait until it becomes a government program–emergency room meet Post Office and DMV.
