rssWhat’s In a Name?
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 2:45 pm
- 5 Comments
Amid today’s continuing Senate Finance Committee debate over the public option, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) just brought up a point that’s rarely mentioned. The public plan being proposed by the Democrats, Kerry pointed out, is hardly public at all. That is, while the public plan would be launched with government funding, it’s required by law to pay for itself. Indeed, the plans floating around Congress would be supported wholly by patient premiums and wouldn’t be eligible for government bailouts. The savings doesn’t come from subsidies, it comes because the plan would have lower administration costs and wouldn’t have to generate profits for shareholders.
“We’re talking about a private plan that is started by the government,” Kerry said. “I think the public plan … is the wrong name for this.”
Of course, at this late stage in the debate, it’ll be tough to come up with some other term that might reverberate more strongly with the public.
5 Comments
Comment posted September 29, 2009 @ 6:59 pm
Isn't Social Security required by law to pay for itself, too? It would seem, then, that the goal of the statist Democrats to impose yet another payroll tax to set up another fund, this time consisting of “insurance premiums,” that Rockefeller and his fellow “rapacious” senators can raid for pet projects any time they like.
Comment posted September 29, 2009 @ 11:40 pm
Whenever I read someone's comment containing the word “statist,” I always wonder how they drive their cars without roads…
Comment posted September 30, 2009 @ 3:42 am
Private toll roads, of course, to and from major destinations whenever possible. Most suburban streets are built by private developers. City streets and state highways everywhere else. The federal government only became heavily involved with road construction with the advent of the Interstate System, a project, like the Internet, originally developed to aid in the national defense. Unfortunately, Congress has now gained control of the process by blackmailing states with threats of withholding highway funding, a sad abuse of the Constitution.
Comment posted October 3, 2009 @ 10:36 pm
Just hire your own road crew. Oh, and hire your own police force after you've eliminated the “statist”one. I hear Blackwater's available for hire.Too spendy for you? Maybe you could pool your anti-statist neighbors' funds along with your own. I'm sure when you explain to them the hazards of maintaining statist police & fire they'll be enthusiastic. Hell, since all your neighbor's kids'll be getting home-schooled (after you eliminate public schools) they can be assembled into neighborhood watch shifts. Read 'em some Ayn Rand and they'll warm to your utopian game plan, I'm sure…
Comment posted October 5, 2009 @ 9:19 pm
Homeowners' associations in gated communities are hiring their own security guards to patrol and contractors to repair their streets. The downtown section of the city where I live was once an unsafe place to venture at night; now, it is thriving with new residential and commercial development because the business owners pay private security to patrol the area. Private schools are thriving here because parents are sick of the NEA and its agenda of indoctrination instead of education. Privately-hired individuals are always accountable to those who hire them; sadly, many of our publicly-paid police and teachers seem to believe that they're only accountable to themselves and their union bosses.
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