Obama Fast Tracking the Nanny State

[bonnie]

http://www.urbancure.org/article.asp?id=3161

Obama fast tracking the nanny state

The White House knows that Mr. Obama's honeymoon won't last forever

Monday, June 15, 2009

by Star Parker

President Obama wants health care reform this year.

He said at a town hall meeting the other day that he won't tolerate "endless delay" and that we probably won't reform health care if we don't do it this year.

Now why is that Mr. President? Will Congress be on vacation for the remaining three years of your term?

Consider that it's not unusual to take a full session of congress -- two years -- to pass legislation a fraction of the size and consequence of health care reform. Yet our president is demanding that a bill to overhaul a $2.5 trillion sector of our economy -- one sixth of it -- be considered and passed in a few short weeks.

It ought to be clear that this is not about taking an honest and sincere look at how to make this a better country and how to do a better job at delivering health care to Americans. It's impossible to look at something this massive and deal with it in such a short time frame.

This is about raw politics. When Mr. Obama says that if we don't get "it" done this year we probably won't get "it" done, he doesn't mean reforming health care. He means reforming it the way he and Ted Kennedy want to do it. Government run, nanny state health care.

To pull it off, they have to move fast.

First, the White House knows that Mr. Obama's honeymoon won't last forever. While his personal approval ratings remain high at 60 percent, his disapproval rating now at 33% is almost twice where is stood last February. And, in latest Gallup polling, the majority now disapprove of how Obama is handling government spending. So the White House wants action now on health care while their man is still popular.

Second, the White House knows that next year is an election year. It will be far more difficult to get Senators and Congressmen to play ball.

Third, they know that the big reason that Hillary Care failed in 1993 was that the American people were given an opportunity to look at it and consider it. They don't want to make the same mistake of giving voters a chance to actually understand what is about to happen to them. They know that the more Americans have an opportunity to take a look at the bureaucrat run, nanny state health care freight train, the more likely they will jump of the track.

Breathlessness is a great political technique. Telling voters that the world will end if we don't get X passed now.

This is how the $800 billion dollar "stimulus" bill got passed earlier this year. We were flashed images of the Great Depression of the 1930's and told our only hope is the stimulus bill.

Now, three months later, it's clear that our current economy bears no resemblance to the 1930's, that signs of recovery are emerging, and thus far only 6 percent of the $800 billion "stimulus" pot of political lard has been spent.

The trillions in new debt have been piled up at such a dizzying pace in the last few months Americans are numb. The federal government take from our economy has jumped from one fifth of it to one fourth.

Now, Mr. Obama and his Democrat colleagues want to layer on a new government health care plan to "compete" with private plans. "Compete" means raising taxes a few trillion dollars to provide subsidized insurance, and in some cases, free insurance, through a government plan in which all Americans will eventually wind up. And putting federal bureaucrats in charge of approving what health care procedures we are permitted.

The health care nanny state freight train is moving. Will we wake up before it's too late?

Star Parker is president of the Coalition for Urban Renewal & Education and author of the new book White Ghetto: How Middle Class America Reflects Inner City Decay.

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[bonnie]

http://www.urbancure.org/article.asp?id=3163

The uninsured: A bogus excuse for trillions in new welfare spending

Rather than perpetuating poverty through further institutionalization of the welfare state, expose poor kids to the values and education necessary to enable them to make the right choices for their lives

Monday, June 22, 2009

by Star Parker

The Democrats' health care initiative reminds me of the joke about the Boy Scout fighting on a street corner with an old lady.

When a passerby asked what was going on, the scout said, "I'm trying to help her across the street but she refuses to go."

Health insurance, so far, is not mandatory by law, and we've got 16 percent of the population -- 47 million or so -- without it. Auto insurance is mandatory by law, and according to the Insurance Research Council, 14 percent of drivers nationwide still don't buy it.

Government can't make people do what they don't want to do. And it can't change human nature. Political freedom and capitalism work so well because they reflect the truth that human beings have free choice. But this means individuals take personal responsibility.

The left has always been in denial about this, which is why they're endlessly trying to expand government and reduce freedom. They see individuals as hapless victims the state must take care of.

During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama said "The reason people don't have health insurance isn't because they don't want it. It's because they can't afford it."

This is largely not true.

According to a new study from the Employment Policy Institute, authored by two economists from City University of New York (one, June O'Neill, spent four years as head of the Congressional Budget Office), 43 percent of the 47 million can afford insurance and choose not to purchase it.

According to 2007 census data, 20 percent of uninsured households earn over $75,000.

Regarding the remaining 57 percent, the authors call them "involuntarily" uninsured because they can't afford insurance. But "involuntarily" is also a misnomer, because it implies no connection in how they choose to live to the fact that they can't afford insurance.

The study provides the following portrait of this population: About a third are high school dropouts; they are disproportionately young; about a third are immigrants, mostly Hispanic non-citizens; about half are single without children; about 40 percent did not work during the year.

Pulling immigrants out of the equation, we're left with an uninsured population that can't afford insurance that is about a third the size of the widely quoted 47 million. It's a population that is generally poor, young, uneducated, and not working.

We're already set up to deal with these folks. Either through Medicaid or covering their emergency room visits. The operative question is do we want to further institutionalize this reality into a new national health care plan involving trillions in new taxes and programs.

I think the answer is clear: No.

What should we do?

A recent study by consulting firm McKinsey & Company on American education estimates our annual GDP would increase by $500 billion if the educational performance of black and Latino kids is raised to the national average. Otherwise stated, it is costing us $500 billion per year to not do this.

This dwarfs the excessive costs in health care that our president now calls our No. 1 economic problem.

It is simply not credible for Obama to propose taxing Americans trillions to subsidize health care when he refuses to come to grips with why so many are poor.

Open the door to millions of poor kids out of broken families, broken public schools, and the cycle of poverty through school choice. Give them the opportunity to go to church schools.

Rather than perpetuating poverty through further institutionalization of the welfare state, expose poor kids to the values and education necessary to enable them to make the right choices for their lives.

There is no future for a nation of victims, whether we're talking about health care or anything else. But there is a great future for a country of responsible, free people.

Star Parker is president of the Coalition for Urban Renewal & Education and author of the new book White Ghetto: How Middle Class America Reflects Inner City Decay.

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[carolaa]

Over half the personal bankruptcies are due to medical expenses.

[carolaa]

Another view on the nanny state:

http://www.conservativenannystate.org/

[carolaa]

You can download the above book for free by clicking "Download as a PDF"

[there buster]

Since the second page of the preface makes a false statement which is used as evidence for the book's conclusion, there's no point in going further.

[Tom Wetmore]

And the Semmelweis Reflex strikes again...

[there buster]

Quote:

Semmelweis Reflex strikes again

Yes, it appears to be so severe for some that they must have a restricted forum where disagreements are not allowed to intrude and trigger them.

[carolaa]

I don't know of any forums like that.

[carolaa]

Since the second page of the preface makes a false statement which is used as evidence for the book's conclusion, there's no point in going further.

Hmm, my preface only has one page. Maybe you could clarify exactly what it is that you believe is a false statement.