"To tell us, with a straight face, that he can insure millions more people without adding to the already skyrocketing deficit, is world-class chutzpa and an insult to anyone's intelligence. To do so after an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office has already showed this to be impossible reveals the depths of moral bankruptcy behind the glittering words."
Listening to a Liar
Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
The most important thing about what anyone says are not the words themselves but the credibility of the person who says them.
The words of convicted swindler Bernie Madoff were apparently quite convincing to many people who were regarded as knowledgeable and sophisticated. If you go by words, you can be led into anything.
No doubt millions of people will be listening to the words of President Barack Obama Wednesday night when he makes a televised address to a joint session of Congress on his medical care plans. But, if they think that the words he says are what matters, they can be led into something much worse than being swindled out of their money.
One plain fact should outweigh all the words of Barack Obama and all the impressive trappings of the setting in which he says them: He tried to rush Congress into passing a massive government takeover of the nation's medical care before the August recess-- for a program that would not take effect until 2013!
Whatever President Obama is, he is not stupid. If the urgency to pass the medical care legislation was to deal with a problem immediately, then why postpone the date when the legislation goes into effect for years-- more specifically, until the year after the next Presidential election?
If this is such an urgently needed program, why wait for years to put it into effect? And if the public is going to benefit from this, why not let them experience those benefits before the next Presidential election?
If it is not urgent that the legislation goes into effect immediately, then why don't we have time to go through the normal process of holding Congressional hearings on the pros and cons, accompanied by public discussions of its innumerable provisions? What sense does it make to "hurry up and wait" on something that is literally a matter of life and death?
If we do not believe that the President is stupid, then what do we believe? The only reasonable alternative seems to be that he wanted to get this massive government takeover of medical care passed into law before the public understood what was in it.
Moreover, he wanted to get re-elected in 2012 before the public experienced what its actual consequences would be.
Unfortunately, this way of doing things is all too typical of the way this administration has acted on a wide range of issues.
Consider the "stimulus" legislation. Here the administration was successful in rushing a massive spending bill through Congress in just two days-- after which it sat on the President's desk for three days, while he was away on vacation. But, like the medical care legislation, the "stimulus" legislation takes effect slowly.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will be September 2010 before even three-quarters of the money will be spent. Some economists expect that it will not all be spent by the end of 2010.
What was the rush to pass it, then? It was not to get that money out into the economy as fast as possible. It was to get that money-- and the power that goes with it-- into the hands of the government. Power is what politics is all about.
The worst thing that could happen, from the standpoint of those seeking more government power over the economy, would be for the economy to begin recovering on its own while months were being spent debating the need for a "stimulus" bill. As the President's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said, you can't let a crisis "go to waste" when "it's an opportunity to do things you could not do before."
There are lots of people in the Obama administration who want to do things that have not been done before-- and to do them before the public realizes what is happening.
The proliferation of White House "czars" in charge of everything from financial issues to media issues is more of the same circumvention of the public and of the Constitution. Czars don't have to be confirmed by the Senate, the way Cabinet members must be, even though czars may wield more power, so you may never know what these people are like, until it is too late.
What Barack Obama says Wednesday night is not nearly as important as what he has been doing-- and how he has been doing it.
Great analysis, you should post it in your own blog or post it as an individual artical, very educational.
Real knowledge is true power.
Thank you!
mehaa 发表评论于
回复bornin1968的评论:
America is America, America is not Europe. Get over it, I don't give a damn what Europe does, that's their own business. Over two hundred years ago our founding fathers escaped the oppression of their government and came to this land, they shedded their blood for independence, freedom and liberty. Today radical Obama and his cronies want to take this away from us in the name of "morality and helping the poor". It won't work. Call me redneck, you take away my freedom, you take my life.
On the House floor where President Obama spoke just a half-day earlier, two words shouted by a Republican congressman reverberated louder than the finer points of health care debate.
House Democrats seized on House rules Thursday to demand South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson offer a high-profile apology to President Obama for shouting, "You lie," during the president's health care address.
Wilson called the White House shortly after Obama's speech to say he was out of line. The White House said early Thursday that the president accepted the apology.
But that did not put the issue to rest, and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, also of South Carolina, asked Wilson to apologize on the House floor in front of his colleagues. The final vote of the day was held open by Democrats to give him an opportunity to do so, but he refused.
Democrats have threatened to censure Wilson absent such an apology. With a leadership meeting set for Thursday afternoon, it is possible they will discuss it and introduce such a measure next week even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had said that was not being talked about.
回复bornin1968的评论:
Are you kidding, Do you know what you are saying, you really mean what you said??
90% of my family members are moderate liberals, some of them voted for Obama last year, but all of them now are opposing his plan. Why? they are not republicans. They are just ordinary americans. You need to do your homework before opening your big mouth.
Insurance companies are all devils, how about drug corparations who make just as much money as insurance companies, how about lawyers who always find a way to sue you to death. Why don't Obama mention those groups, because they are in bed with him. They are cutting the deals with him behind the scene. Don't evey fool yourself. Obama is just another partyism politician, business as usual, even worse. Are those changes you want to believe in?
The point is not whether we need healthcare reform or not, the point is how we are going to reform. As a senator, Obama voted against every single healthcare bill proposed by GOP. Obama wants what only Obama like. Obamacare is more politics than healthcare reform, people know it. He can not just sneak it through. This is people's country, not Obama's country. Your obama fan better be aware of this!
I am proud to be an independent conservative. You can be a socialist if you want to. This is a free country.
noso 发表评论于
回复mehaa的评论:
hahaha~~~
noso 发表评论于
回复haha的评论:
好观点，you nailed it! 谢谢。
noso 发表评论于
回复qwertzfy的评论:
好观点，谢谢。
汉代蜜瓜 发表评论于
呵呵，记得当年也有人骂罗斯福是社会主义分子，而他却无可争议地成为美国历史上最伟大的总统之一。
整个医保就是社会主义了？那社会主义也太简单了吧！
博主你家是开保险公司滴？
noso 发表评论于
共和党医生议员的发言
Good evening. I'm Dr. Charles Boustany, and I'm proud to serve the people of Louisiana's 7th congressional district. I'm also a heart surgeon, with more than 20 years of experience during which I saw firsthand the need for lowering health cost.
Republicans are pleased that President Obama came to the Capitol tonight. We agree much needs to be done to lower the cost of health care for all Americans.
On that goal, Republicans are ready, and we've been ready to work with the president for common-sense reforms that our nation can afford.
"Afford" is an important word. Our country's facing many challenges. The cost of health care is rising. Federal spending is soaring. We're piling huge debt on our children. And families and small businesses are struggling through a jobless recovery with more than 2.4 million private sector jobs lost since February.
It's clear, the American people want health care reform.
But they want their elected leaders to get it right.
Most Americans wanted to hear the president tell Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and the rest of the Congress that it's time to start over on a common-sense, bipartisan plan focused on lowering the cost of health care while improving quality.
That's what I've heard over the past several months, in talking to thousands of my constituents.
Replacing your family's current health care with government-run health care is not the answer. In fact, it will make health care much more expensive.
That's not just my personal diagnosis as a doctor or a Republican. It's the conclusion of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the neutral scorekeeper that determines the cost of major bills.
I read the bill Democrats passed through committee in July. It creates 53 new government bureaucracies, adds hundreds of billions to our national debt and raises taxes on job creators by $600 billion.
And it cuts Medicare by $500 billion, while doing virtually nothing to make the program better for our seniors.
The president had a chance, tonight, to take the government-run health care off the table. Unfortunately, he didn't do it.
We can do better with a targeted approach that tackles the biggest problems. Here are four areas -- four important areas where we can agree, right now.
One, all individuals should have access to coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions.
Two, individuals, small businesses and other groups should be able to join together to get health insurance at lower prices, the same way large businesses and labor unions do.
Three, we can provide assistance to those who still cannot access a doctor.
And four, insurers should be able to offer incentives for wellness care and prevention.
That's something particularly important to me. I operated on too many people who could have avoided surgery if they'd made simply -- simply made healthier choices earlier in life.
We do have ideas the president has agreed with. We're grateful the president mentioned medical liability reform and we hope he's serious. We need to establish tough liability reform standards, encourage speedy resolution of claims, and deter junk lawsuits that drive up the cost of care.
Real reform must do this.
Let's also talk about letting families and businesses buy insurance across state lines. I and many other Republicans believe that that will provide real choice and competition to lower the cost of health insurance. Unfortunately, the president disagrees.
You can read more about all of these reforms at healthcare.gop.gov. These are common sense reforms that we can achieve right now without destroying jobs, exploding the deficit, rationing care, or taking away the freedoms American families cherish.
This Congress can pass meaningful reform soon to reduce some of the fear and anxiety families are feeling in these very difficult times. Working together in a bipartisan way, we can truly lower the cost of health care, while improving quality for the American people.
I'm Dr. Charles Boustany. Thank you for listening.
Well, it sounds perfect everyone has medical insurance. how about everyone has free meal? The problem is where is the money come from? who is going to control the 17% GDP? Obama is absolutely a socialist.
mehaa 发表评论于
Reid will be kicked out next year. Pelosi needs more botox. Obama is wondering how the hell the right-wingers found out my green job czar is a 9/11 truther and self-admitted communist.
mehaa 发表评论于
You nailed it, buddy.
I don't care how he wants to overhaul our healthcare system, I am all for it as long as Washington politicians are on the same policy with me, otherwise, no, hell no. If Obamacare is so good, why don't politicians jump into it, simple and plain. Think about it, kool-aid drinkers.
Your arguments are all copied (translated) from the right wing talking points. What is new?
The simple fact is that the US spends the most on health care in the world and gets the worst care among all the industrial countries. Why do you think this should be left unchanged? If there is any place where CHANGE is needed, health care is the one!
There are a lot of debates on the high healthcare cost in US. I believe the real reason of high health cost is the artificially inflated Dr's salary.
This problem primarily attributes to the AMA (American Medical Association), an institution which effectively enforces a chronic supply shortage in addition to unnecessary demand. The educational system is strangled by the withholding nature of the AMA, which requires every dr practices in US to have residency in US (even for well experienced froeign Drs). On the other hand, the AMA restricted number of residency slots available. This environment prevents equilibrium from occurring, or the AMA effectively enforces a chronic supply shortage to the increasing demand. By eliminating competition, Drs can maintain high salary.
AMA’s monopoly on the production of Drs has to be removed. Let the free market decide the price. Capitalism is best at determining fair value when you don't have unions controlling supply of labor or politicians picking winners or greedy monopolies eliminating competition. In the free market environment, the Drs have to provide good service at reasonable price to stay in the market in which the consumer will benefit.
Without free market in the production of Dr, the country will be dragged deep to the sea. Any reform without changing current monopoly in production of Drs will not work.
真人不露面 发表评论于
Support Obama medical reform all the way!!!!
Don't you know under the current medical system, cancer patients can never buy medical insurance as a individual. Is it ridicules? No wonder 2/3 of bankruptcy families related to medical bills.
