McCain: We should deregulate health insurance like we deregulated Wall Street.
McCain: We should deregulate health insurance like we deregulated Wall Street.
Paul Krugman notes that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) published an article on his health care plan in the current issue of Contingencies — the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. In his article, McCain attempts to make his case for deregulating the health insurance industry by extolling the benefits of the last decade of deregulation in the banking sector. He writes:
Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.
As Yglesias writes, McCain is “such an enthusiast about financial market deregulation that he was bragging about his plan to make the health care system as awesome as the financial system.”
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Ouch. Not the best timing, Senator.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:20 amHe is sooooo out of touch! How could anyone vote republican?
I have heard many people say that if the republicans steal this, there will be wide-spread civil disobedience.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:24 amAs Yglesias writes, McCain is “such an enthusiast about financial market deregulation that he was bragging about his plan to make the health care system as awful as the financial system.”
There, fixed it.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:27 amIf people haven’t yet figured out that a free market systems means leting Wall Street play with your life, then we americans are in trouble. The answers are right before our eyes. What we have seen over the last 20 years is a mirror image of what was happening in the twenties. Making the same mistake over and over after being warned by past history is just stupid and is not the direction this nation should walk twords.
ARE WE GOING TO SMARTEN UP AND STOP LETTING THE MINORITY OF RICH PEOPLE CONTROL THE ADJENDA.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:27 amI cant believe McClueless could possibly be so stupid and tonedeaf
September 20th, 2008 at 10:31 amWhat I find astounding is the number of ppl that are undecided…It is clearly a no brainer that the right wing of the republican party has had control of America for far too long…While I have never trusted republicans, thank you Nixon, these guys make him look like a walk in the park. A “palin mccain” ticket would do great irreversible harm to this country and world…..last week this life long republican said to me…”If Bush ran for a third term I would vote for him” I stopped breathing for a minute. McCain disgusts me, Never was a Maverick, and never will be one.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:36 amYet, a significant portion of the middle class still plans to vote for this McMoron. It boggles the mind that so many can be so damn stupid to vote against their own best interests AGAIN. Just what we need, an economy in the crapper AND already exhorbitant health care cost quadrupling.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:36 amPoliticians can really screw things up, but it takes a republican to really break a system.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:40 amWhat we have witnessed over the past eight years is the total emptiness of republican ideas and their utter incompetence in governing this country.
The first “trillion-dollar investment” that GDumbya made was his dirty little avoidable war in Iraq. We all know how that worked out for us.
Now, we are being backed into another “trillion-dollar investment” because of a much-vaunted RayGunesque anti-regulation free market philosophy paired with the utter ignorance of our Idiot-in-Chief. We have yet to see how this “investment” is going to work out.
One thing is for sure, though. We don’t need a phoney “reformer maverick” and his “lipstick side-kick” taking over the helm.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:41 amEugeneDebs, surely you can believe the stupidity and tonedeafness of one man when you look at all of the people who support him. This stupidity is not confined to repugs; there are Dems in the mix. I just read an AP/Yahoo poll that says there are Dems who don’t think that Obama can bring as much change as he says that he can, so they will be voting against him.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:41 amWho needs Bin Laden when we have the GOP? Are these fools set on destroying the USA? Are we small enough to drown in a bathtub yet?
September 20th, 2008 at 10:46 amOT but worth a look:
a new study suggests that when it comes to the formation of political views, conservatives may in fact operate from the lizard brain:
…This would fit with the hypothesis that people who have more fearful responses to perceived threats are more likely to be conservative, while those who have weaker responses develop more liberal views.
The scientists considered it likely that “physiological responses to generic threats and political attitudes on policies related to protecting the social order may both derive from a common source”. This was unlikely to be indoctrination by parents and peer-groups, they said, because involuntary reflexes could be altered only with systematic training, which usually involves punishment. More probable was that political outlook and startle responses were affected by differences in brain activity, possibly in the amygdala region, which processes emotions such as fear and disgust. “Amygdala activity is also crucial in shaping responses to socially threatening images, and may be connected to political predispositions,” they said.
(emphasis mine)
September 20th, 2008 at 10:47 amExpect them to ditch the Nice Sarah image soon, now that her numbers are deflating, in favor of a cartoonish political cut-out; something like Bridge Terminator: the Sarah Palin Chronicles.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:50 amAre Conservatives born that way, or is it a lifestyle choice? I’ve known a few who turned around almost as if they woke up from a bad dream.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:51 amWhat a LUNATIC!
September 20th, 2008 at 10:52 amMaybe we should set up some “Cure the Conservative” facilities. I wouldn’t count on any material support from evangelical churches, though…
September 20th, 2008 at 10:52 amDean Baker of cepr.net says that McBane’s health insurance proposals are great – if you are healthy and don’t need insurance!
September 20th, 2008 at 10:54 am4. We all get healthcare because we all own it!
Just walk in and say “I’m ready for my MRI now.”
“But you don’t have an appointment.”
“Hey, you work for me now, so hop to it – and bring me a soda.”
September 20th, 2008 at 10:55 amSatirev @ 10, can you give a link to that poll?
Thanks!
PEACE
September 20th, 2008 at 10:55 amLooks like the McCain campaign will implode itself, I don’t think the dems need to do anything.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:56 amRalph, I like your “cure the conservative” facility idea. Think how many jobs it would produce and if it works it will pay for itself with improved government and society. Curing conservatives should be covered under all Health Care systems.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:58 amMcDoll’s fate has just been sealed by McVoodoo’s minister. If, by some doodoo miracle, the Pinnochio/Guissepi ticket is successful in stealing a slam-dunk from Obama/Biden old “Reverend Witchhunter” (a good man to lay hands upon Ms. Moosehunter) will have so many pins stuck in McCushion we will have to call him McPorcupine. (Just wrap yourself around all those metaphors and enjoy the day.)
September 20th, 2008 at 10:59 am#29. I’m not sure I understand your comment. You can read Dr. Baker’s column on the subject here.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:59 amKrazny Says:
Looks like the McCain campaign will implode itself, I don’t think the dems need to do anything.
I can see sparks coming from Straight Talk’s exhaust-pipe; never a good sign…
September 20th, 2008 at 11:00 amralph the wonder llama Says:
…This would fit with the hypothesis that people who have more fearful responses to perceived threats are more likely to be conservative, while those who have weaker responses develop more liberal views.
The pathology of Republicanism has been well studied. The strongest correlates are fear, particularly fear of change and fear of the unknown, and a strong drive to rationalize inequality of material wealth.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:02 amwell, reading only the thread copy, it’s obvious that the perceived benefits have nothing to do with health care and everything to do with making money in the gambling, er, insurance industry…
September 20th, 2008 at 11:08 amwould provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.
The worst excesses of what?
September 20th, 2008 at 11:11 ampax Says: I have heard many people say that if the republicans steal this, there will be wide-spread civil disobedience.
It was either MLK or JFK who said that when you make peaceful revolution impossible, you make violent revolution inevitable.
I’ve been hearing the same thing on the college campus where I teach.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:13 amOpening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.
Except, experts who have looked at the financial crisis in-depth (I won’t use the “a” word, to please the filter) have concluded that it will lead to a wave of bank consolidations, and considerably fewer choices.
Is that McCain’s real, unspoken message?
September 20th, 2008 at 11:14 amI can see sparks coming from Straight Talk’s exhaust-pipe; never a good sign…
I am waiting for the day that McNumbNuts wraps his lips around that exhaust pipe while the DoubleSpeak Express bus is idling outside a Failin’ Palin rally.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:15 am“We are all socialists now!”
-heard on olberman or maddow, may’ve been quoting another…
September 20th, 2008 at 11:18 amJust the Thing to Help an Ailing Economy
(shameless plug)
September 20th, 2008 at 11:19 amsatirev Says:
McKeating/Gramm/Bush has been “gaming the system” all along so they knew precisely what they were doing. They only hoped WS would endure a few more weeks before falling apart completely “on their watch”.
Funny how the universe has a less-than-subtle way to make us come to realizations, isn’t it?
As they say: “Timing is everything”! Thanks, Universe!
September 20th, 2008 at 11:19 amContinue to ask that Light be brought to Truth….
Guido the Loving OBGYN Says: Come Monday you and I will own everthing!
Karl Marx was right…
Frankly, I don’t, for the rest of my life, want to hear another Conservative complain about Welfare for the truly indigent, or about how we need to deregulate the free market (which was intended to be free only as long as the masses were in power of it), or about why CEOs should make 475 times more than their average employee because its good for the economy, or about why we should privatize everything.
Economic Crisis 2008. Brought to you by the Bush Administration, and fixed by We The People.
Power to the people! Now let’s act like it!
September 20th, 2008 at 11:20 amkaty Says:
“We are all socialists now!”
We should go over to Red State, and give our comrades a big, authoritarian bear-hug!
Chebornik!
September 20th, 2008 at 11:21 amWhere are all the trolls who called us socialists for wanting some protection from the evildoers who shipped all the good jobs overseas so that Bush’s haves could make a little extra profit. And now you have to wonder if this bail out is to save the economy or just the profits accrued by the super wealthy.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:24 amGreat idea there McLameo. It truly puzzles me that this man can say the most idiotic, insane, if they were ever enacted this country would be hoping to be as well of as Rwanda, positions and the media seems to ignore it, the brain dead electorate seems not to notice or care, and Obama could lose this election. What the ____ is wrong with this country? we are truly and utterly screwed if this man and his sidekick whose pastor hunted witch doctors in Kenya (see Olbermann last night for that scary doozy)become president/VP. Wake up America, please, I don’t want to have to move, but I am if this happens.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:25 amSo I guess what he is saying is that the Health Insurance Industry (I refuse to call it “care” industry) is now regulated? How is it regulated?
September 20th, 2008 at 11:27 amShayne Says: Where are all the trolls who called us socialists for wanting some protection from the evildoers who shipped all the good jobs overseas so that Bush’s haves could make a little extra profit. And now you have to wonder if this bail out is to save the economy or just the profits accrued by the super wealthy.
Definitely to save the profits. Otherwise, they’d start liquidating stuff, including the bank accounts of teh greedy pigs responsible for this nightmare that almost crashed the global market this week.
I was just getting ready to ask whether TP was blocking the trolls or whether they’re all hiding under their beds now because they’re too embarrassed to show up here anymore.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:29 am“We are all socialists now!”
OT comrads but the msm is pushing the notion that race will play a big part in the election saying that racist dems will not vote for Obama.
Now is it just me or does this seem like an overt attempt to inject race into this election? Aren’t most racists already republicans?
It reminds me of the media flying the “women will flock to palen” flag, just because she is a woman.
What do you guys think? I believe that racists moved to the republican party a long time ago.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:29 amSatirev, I’d like to kick them when they’re down. They have it coming. I only wish the vote wasn’t private so that if McCain should somehow steal the election with the help of those too stupid and too racist to have a clue we could go after the people who will have finally destroyed this nation.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:29 amGuess we won’t be hearing that plan anymore. Everyone realizes that a free market economy is a dead idead, right? No longer exists.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:29 amjb Says:
Ralph, I like your “cure the conservative” facility idea.
randi rhodes has some good “Republican Rehad” bits on her show…
September 20th, 2008 at 11:30 amguess that name is taken…
Makes sense to me. Afterall who would want anything like rules getting in the way of something like say safe healthcare? I’m thinking we should keep our hands off and go with the Dr. Nick Riviera approach
September 20th, 2008 at 11:31 amRehab
of course
September 20th, 2008 at 11:31 amliberalinaredstate Says:
What I find astounding is the number of ppl that are undecided…
I suspect that most of the “undecided” are the closet bigots that still don’t know whether they can bring them selves to vote for a black man. I find this very sad. What does the color of Barack Obama’s skin have to do with the kind of person he is and what he would do as President.
Ask a closet bigot if he would quit his dream job with excellent pay and benefits if his new boss was a black person. If they say no, ask them how having a black President is any different than having a black boss.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:32 amThis is an ad waiting to happen…
All those rePublicans who decry government-provided insurance should give up their insurance, but they wouldn’t be Republican if they didn’t show hypocrisy.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:32 amBilbo Hussein Baggins Says: So I guess what he is saying is that the Health Insurance Industry (I refuse to call it “care” industry) is now regulated? How is it regulated?
Well, if you stretch the definition of the word, I think you could say that there’s a regulation from our premium payments to their high profits. That’s definitely scrutinized to make sure we pay the absolute maximum, while being provided with the absolute minimum.
I like “Health Insurance Industry”. You’re right. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with care. Mind if I borrow that?
September 20th, 2008 at 11:33 amEverybody needs to tell their acquaintances that are too ignorant to vote for a black man to do their country a favor and stay their a$$es home on election day.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:33 amGuido the Loving OBGYN Says:
1. Free market healthcare
2. Free market health care market crash
3. The Chinese and Arabs/Muslims buy the entire healthcare market from YOU and ME!
4. We all get screwed because we all let it happen!
Fixed it for you…
September 20th, 2008 at 11:33 amScary survey, still too many racists and bigots out there.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26803840/
Oh, and terrorists blew up the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan (breaking news on CNN, MSNBC, etc.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:34 amFred Says: Aren’t most racists already republicans?
Considering a half-black man won the Democratic nomination, I don’t see how there could be that many racists left in the party.
Besides, you have to be pretty ignorant to be a Republican (I think it’s a requirement), and only ignorant people could possibly still be racist in the 21st century.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:37 amThe debacle we are witnessing these days reminds me of the old Fram filter commercial — “pay me now or pay me later”.
GDumbya and the Keystone Kops have been driving merrily along for eight years now. They never bothered to change the oil or filter. We’ve got major engine problems, folks. “Later” is now.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:37 amFred:
Now is it just me or does this seem like an overt attempt to inject race into this election? Aren’t most racists already republicans?
Reagan dems, who were formed during the first Supreme Court validation of their viewpoint, about reverse discrimination – and were typified by the Helms’ “hands” TV ads – are the primary focus. And their now-voting offspring.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:37 amTerrorist attack in Pakistan today at the Marriott and Pat Buchanan is saying this will help McCain by refocusing the issue of foreign policy experience. So
September 20th, 2008 at 11:38 am#jb Says:
Who needs Bin Laden when we have the GOP? Are these fools set on destroying the USA? Are we small enough to drown in a bathtub yet?
The next time someone gives you the “Bush has kept us safe because there hasn’t been another attack since 911″, the answer is “Why should OBL bother attacking us again, Bush and the Republicans are doing the job of destroying this country for him.”
September 20th, 2008 at 11:38 amShayne Says:
… And now you have to wonder if this bail out is to save the economy or just the profits accrued by the super wealthy.
… i never wondered about that… was always a given im MY mind…
i don’t think i’ve heard even one “specialist” offer any benefit to the commoners… regular banks are not in so much trouble as are the investment banks… which few actually deal with… and evidently those retirement plans and 401ks are wasted now…
not positive about all of that – correct me if i’m wrong…
September 20th, 2008 at 11:39 amfinally
September 20th, 2008 at 11:40 amMcNumbnuts has revealed his plan for health care. I wondered if he was going to before the election and he has.
“As Yglesias writes, McCain is “such an enthusiast about financial market deregulation that he was bragging about his plan to make the health care system as awesome as the financial system.””
Awesome,. . . . awful,. . . .It’s all just verbage,. . .right? — Sarah Palin
September 20th, 2008 at 11:44 amSarah “Cuda just keeps feeding the media narrative about her somewhat rocky relationship with the truth:
“An internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin’s most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into “Troopergate”.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:46 amMcCain health care adviser Al Hubbard has argued that Americans consume health care like caviar.
Perfect!
Please make more of these boneheaded political statements!
Americans consume health care like caviar – meaning some can’t afford it, while others binge.
It’s back behind the Straight Talk’s Curtain of Failure for Al.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:46 amLast time I checked caviar consumption per capita in the US was mighty low. Really when was the last time you had some?
September 20th, 2008 at 11:48 amWell what they’re saying Katy is that employers won’t be able to borrow capital needed to keep their business running and so it will cost jobs which is probably true to a point. But then couldn’t the government lend money to businesses instead of bailing out those that have failed because of bad business practices. After all they blame the homeowner who was screwed out of his home by predatory lending practices. Why shouldn’t the business people who only cared about higher profits and took bigger risks have to pay the piper. Then again if the government had intervened and told lenders to stop raising rates to unreasonable levels for mortgages we wouldn’t have gotten into this fix. While speculators making pigs out of themselves would still have been foreclosed on does anybody believe that anybody bought a home to live in knowing that in a couple of years they’d be kicked out because they couldn’t pay the mortgage. And the government could have at least protected the rates of primary residences.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:50 amralph the wonder llama Says: “An internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin’s most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into “Troopergate”.
Will be interesting to see what the October 10th investigation report into Troopergate will say, and if it’s honest, what will happen to McCain’s campaign.
This could be where Palin’s abuse of her authority comes back to bite her. You know how much disgruntled Conservatives like their revenge for past grievances (and apparently there are quite a lot of folks who feel this way in Alaska).
September 20th, 2008 at 11:50 amFrom McCain and Gramm,the ‘de-regulations’ lovers:
“And don’t you later start whining if you got no health coverage and we ask you for another 1 trillion dollars to bail health insurance companies”.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:52 amPerhaps the McSame Campaign can borrow a “Cone of Silence” from somewhere. I hear Saddleback Church has one they’re not using.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:52 amUh-oh caught in YE</strong>T another flip-floping, out and out lie. Big Daddy says there’s a strong reek of mendacity and notes that we are downwind of Palin-McCain.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:52 am#VerbalKint Says:
ralph the wonder llama Says:
The pathology of Republicanism has been well studied. The strongest correlates are fear, particularly fear of change and fear of the unknown, and a strong drive to rationalize inequality of material wealth.
Read John Dean’s Conservatives Without Conscience. He sums it up pretty well. They are the people who have very little ego strength and they need an “authority figure” to tell them what to think and how to feel. They are like the people who join cults. Dean says that at any given time, they are 25% of the population. Scary.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:00 pmmore choices of innovative products
treating healthcare like a commodity is insane. What decent and intelligent person would ever think like that? answer: none.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:03 pm.
McCain is not the first politician to live in an ivory tower. One of the most famous ivory tower pronouncements is “let them eat cake”. Indeed, this is the attitude displayed by McCain with these health insurance proposals. Let them eat cake.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:04 pmRalph, I am struggle to understand the caviar thing. It seems confusing to me as I have already noted that few US citizens eat caviar and besides the whole idea of caviar is to consume small amounts. What exactly was Al trying to say? I understand that he was trying to link the cost of caviar but still it doesn’t make any sense. Is he suggesting that citizens should eat something less expensive more frequently or an expensive item rarely?
September 20th, 2008 at 12:04 pmi understand and you’re correct, shayne… i was being cynical.
i need to get moving… away from this depressing news…
it just hurts to even think about all the ignorant bigots out there who can’t do the right thing because of selfish notions…
and most of my family of 8 siblings are in that group…
such shame…
September 20th, 2008 at 12:15 pmdbadass, I suspect the problem you’re having with Al’s statement is that you’re examining it from a rational/logical perspective. That’s pre-9/11 thinking.
As we know, 9/11 changed everything, including the principles of public discourse. Nowadays, all that’s needed to make a salient point is to marry a concept you want to demonize (in this case, health care) with a specious metaphor (doesn’t have to be specious, but they seem to favor that direction) with vaguely populist undertones. In this case, caviar.
Presto! Point made. Americans got it too good when it comes to health care.
Hope this helps.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:19 pmImpeach Hoover and tar and feather McHoover!
September 20th, 2008 at 12:22 pmThank John McCain
September 20th, 2008 at 12:24 pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJThPjvscFs
Yeah, deregulation works so well for the common citzen, NOT.
I have lost faith in Capitolism, it is totally corrupt.
Deregulate the Phone companies – your bill thriples.
Deregulate Energy companies – your bill quadtruples.
Deregulate Investment companies – your retirement account dissapears.
Anyone see a pattern here?
September 20th, 2008 at 12:24 pmThis just in from Gov. Palin:
“That article he wrote? About getting health care away from the cronyism? Well, we’re going to reform healthcare…
“Attacking him for his “verb-idge” is just overlooking his point, that the fundamentals of healthcare — the workers — remain strong. This is just a matter of verb-idge.”
Every time she speaks, her approval ratings drop — quite the combination.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:31 pmPresto! Point made. Americans got it too good when it comes to health care.
Hope this helps.
–
September 20th, 2008 at 12:34 pmThanks ralph. I see your point but it brings up the next problem… Why do they always want to prance around that greatest nation shit but then suggest the citizens of said great nation have it too good? Bipolar much?
satirev, thanks for that link at The Nation. I put the story up at The Zoo.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:36 pmBuckie Boy Says:
Yeah, deregulation works so well for the common citzen, NOT.
I have lost faith in Capitolism, it is totally corrupt.
Deregulate the Phone companies – your bill thriples.
Deregulate Energy companies – your bill quadtruples.
Deregulate Investment companies – your retirement account dissapears.
Anyone see a pattern here?
Hoover
Reagan
Bush
McCain:
September 20th, 2008 at 12:40 pm“
ClintonObama
Did
It.”
.
.
Yep
My bad Katy, I actually thought I was agreeing with you. You can’t be too cynical in this country today.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:40 pmWell, one thing Biden should ask Palin in the debates (in a non-sexist way), is what she means specifically when she talks of “fixing and shakin’ up” Wall Street.
It’s clear this ill-defined talking point has little substance, and it would be very effective for those who’ve heard her using it on the stump, to watch as it is debunked. She is politically shallow, and incapable of forming a logical defense, all valuable things for voters to see.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:41 pmSure John, we can get health rating agencies to package pools of overweight people with high blood pressure as Triple A rated. Then, insurance companies can sell derivatives based on the risk of caring for those patients. Of course, these would be off balance sheet items.
Pools of health backed securities could make their way into every pension fund, into everyone’s private Social Security retirement account. I wouldn’t want to hold the Cardiac portfolio when the whole house of cards collapses. That could be a real double whammy…
September 20th, 2008 at 12:42 pmralph, “principles of public discourse”
Who are you talking about? Those Republiscum Evangelicons will think you’re talking dirty.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:43 pmdb, I see you still insist on logical consistency between right-wing statements.
You’re going to have to give up this little quirk of yours if you’re ever going to understand the conservative mind.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:45 pmralph, dabdass…
ralph the wonder llama: “I’ll take “What the Hell You Talkin ‘Bout, Cracker? for $200, Alex.”
TREBECK: These very expensive fish eggs come mostly come from Caspian sturgeon and are usually consumed by very rich people washed down with the finest ice cold Vodka or Moet Chandon.
Ralph: “What is…caviar?”
TREBECK: “Oooh, I’m sorry that’s wrong. The answer is of course, Healthcare. Healthcare, Ralph. The clue is in the category title ‘What the Hell You Talkin About?’—the question has nothing to do with the answer.”
September 20th, 2008 at 12:45 pmMcShitstain and Phil Gramm will only gut what is left of this nation. How anyone could vote republican this year is beyond me. Must be the super-mind bending Kool Aid.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:51 pmThis asinine comment is coming from a guy who never had to pay for health insurance in his life.
Privatize medicare, privatize the infrastructure, privatize health insurance, privatize the military, etc., etc.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:57 pmMcCain is out of his mind. Look at what privatization got us.
And he wants more.
He must be sent home to Arizona and the old folks’ home.
shayne – now i’m confused…
i’m pretty sure we do agree…
i was just saying that i never wondered about the plan (to protect the wealthy investors) – having come to that conclusion many years ago…
it wasn’t sarcasm… call it snarky?
btw – i haven’t forgotten you, just forget to email those pics… soon, i promise!
…
have a good day all…
September 20th, 2008 at 1:00 pm*
Privatize the Profits – Socialize the Losses
*
September 20th, 2008 at 1:05 pmThis should be the exclamation point in McCon’s week of gaffes. The financial innovation, of which he brags, is the anchor dragging the American financial system underwater.
Apparently McCon wants to drown our social security accounts and health insurance in that same bathtub as Grover Norquist.
September 20th, 2008 at 1:07 pmExactly. They only share the sh*tty parts. I guess Rethugs didn’t learn everything they were supposed to in kindergarten.
September 20th, 2008 at 1:11 pm5th Estate:
September 20th, 2008 at 1:13 pmLove it…
It is weird that I feel sort of ill today considering I have a one pound container of tobiko in my freezer…
Didn’t you hear, terrorist attack in Pakistan = good for McShitstain. We are so over the whole economy thing. We’ve got to bomb, bomb, bomb somebody and take the sheeples minds off money.
September 20th, 2008 at 1:14 pmdbadass Says:
5th Estate:
Love it…
It is weird that I feel sort of ill today considering I have a one pound container of tobiko in my freezer…
Tobiko? Ah I just Googled it. Never had it myself, though I’ve had lumpfish and salmon. Trouble is I’m spoiled for Beluga. Sooo expensive though!
September 20th, 2008 at 1:33 pmMcCain health care adviser Al Hubbard has argued that Americans consume health care like caviar
And just who can afford caviar? The bastards that ran the ginormous corps and are now given aid.
September 20th, 2008 at 1:35 pmMcCain: We should deregulate health insurance like we deregulated Wall Street.
You mean to say, what we have now IS regulated?
September 20th, 2008 at 1:36 pm5th Estate:
September 20th, 2008 at 1:45 pmI have had those as well. I sort of like hackleback and Sevruga but I have only had them a few times. Have you had paddlefish? We carry it at the place I work but for obvious reasons I don’t get to sample…
John Goodman, another McCain health care adviser, previously said there are no uninsured Americans.
18,000 a year, Nader claims 40,000, die needlessly because they have no access to health care. These are not the elderly or disabled as they have medicare.
Most of us by now have either watched, heard stories or have been a victim of chronic illness or even death because of this insane health care insurance system we have… a system creating wealth for too many.
September 20th, 2008 at 1:55 pmYet another reason to vote for Obama come November. If I can help, McDepends will only see the oval office as a visitor!
September 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pm.
If I could afford caviar, I would buy myself some health care. But since I can’t afford a trip to an emergency room, I won’t be buying any caviar any time soon.
Caviar is rolling up in your Bentley to the spa for a week long face lift, liposuction, rejuvenation treatment. NOT free condoms at the corner clinic.
.
September 20th, 2008 at 2:09 pmDeregulate the Health Industry? Deregulate an industry that makes its money by denying services rather then providing services is a joke.
I see a deregulated Health Insurance company only insuring people who have never had a claim an in the paperwork they would sign promise never to make a claim, and the insurance company holds a stipulation that if you file a claim they can refuse it and drop your coverage. This way, it all profit! Just keep sending in the checks and the insurance company won’t send any out, except to the CEO to the tune of $xxx million. Heck, people don’t need insurance, there’s Emergency Rooms.
September 20th, 2008 at 3:22 pmI read another site where someone said ‘Hey, let them deregulate healthcare and when it fails the gummint will nationalize it.
September 20th, 2008 at 3:50 pmI wonder is I went up and tugged on Gramms or McCains scalp if a mask would come off exposing a Ferengi.
September 20th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Xisithrus Says:
I read another site where someone said ‘Hey, let them deregulate healthcare and when it fails the gummint will nationalize it.
from the mc/budget thread:
katy Says:
“This cripples the domestic policy priorities of the next president,” …
part of the plan, man!
you’ve tossed another possibility into the equation, x…
if destroying those domestic priorities IS part of the plan,
it could just backfire, like everything else, by privatizing… which will need bailed out, nationalized/socialized, eventually… it could work…
almost diabolical…
i’m kidding there. i’m having trouble putting my thoughts into words…
i do know that’s a helluva way to get to the inevitable result…
September 20th, 2008 at 4:35 pma lot of people are going to suffer in the meantime…
BearCountry Says:
EugeneDebs, surely you can believe the stupidity and tonedeafness of one man when you look at all of the people who support him. This stupidity is not confined to repugs; there are Dems in the mix. I just read an AP/Yahoo poll that says there are Dems who don’t think that Obama can bring as much change as he says that he can, so they will be voting against him.
This doesn’t make too much sense. Look at the crowds Sen. Obama attract compared to mcchimpy. The repugs/racist number don’t support your claim. Yeah there is a little racism in the dem camp, I saw this when hill was lying during her campaign. But it’s a fraction compared to the repugs.
Maybe you’re like the phonies the repug msm are talking about, the whites who will say one thing and do another behind the voter booth.
September 20th, 2008 at 8:27 pmpax Says: I have heard many people say that if the republicans steal this, there will be wide-spread civil disobedience.
People will do nothing. A handful will complain, protest, march, and get arrested, but the majority is so brainwashed and filled with Booze, Hormones, SSRIs, crap culture, rotten presidential choices, violence, war, fear, and aggression, that they will get away with whatever they want.
Starting before WW2, the US government have privitized the banking system, instigated two world wars, formed an intelligence service out of Nazis, hunted antiwar intellects, shot protesters dead, started a war in Korea, displaced the Iranian government, assassinated a president, let the Israelis shoot the USS Liberty, Watergate, Panama, Gulf War, Banking Bailouts, Iraq, Afghanistan, lied about Russia, FISA, on and on…….
The American people will sadly do nothing when confronted with the next disaster the NeoCons from the Left and Right have in cooked up. It is a Bi-Partisan creation, even though many people think the Demos have the answers. You can see the laying down and rolling over in the last two years.
Convert your money to metals, pay back debts ASAP, get protection, store food, and dig in, or get the hell out of here before it is too late.
September 21st, 2008 at 9:19 amHow about we take the first step toward getting insurance companies out of the equation? The ones in Medicare have screwed their enrollees by reducing or refusing to make payouts and by dropping customers or ratcheting up their premiums. Now try, further, to imagine the enormous savings (as well as improved health care) with the elimination of the insurance middleman.
September 21st, 2008 at 11:46 amNow, has anyone realized that the issues with the financial institutions that have gone under recently was not because of deregulation, but because of the institutions’ own greed and the gullibility of the American public? I work for one of the other financial instituions that isn’t going under and the reason they aren’t is because they realized that to overextend their capabilities was not feasible. Also, people were placing all their money with these financial institutions without researching the policies and practices. All they saw was a really great return, or a loan that they couldn’t afford (as with the mortgage crisis). No one thought to ask what was the price of this great thing?
Now, I’m sure this is taken out of context, but he does have a point. When a person tries to buy caviar, they look only for the best, regardless of the price. Americans do the same with healthcare, they want the best and they don’t care about the price. Except that with healthcare, they want the price to be free.
I have lived with the government’s current form of healthcare for the non-elderly (Medicaid), and it was a joke. I felt that I was treated like a low-life because I was unable to afford anything else. Also the beuracrats that created the system decided that I had no freedom of choice and refused to cover certain areas. Do we really think that socialzed healthcare would be any different?
Are you willing to put your health in the hands of a guy who’s only concern is keeping his job and is willing to change the rules if a biased poll deems it necessary?
Also, are you willing to use the money that you could be using for food on taxes to pay for the government’s healthcare that will be abused because the masses learn how to work the system?
I don’t fully agree with McCain’s statement, and I think that it could prove detrimental to his campaign, but I have to wonder what’s so great about the alternative?
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:27 pmDeregulation of Wall Street is a reason we have a bail out of all these failed companies that my kids will have to pay for in the future, so of course McCan’t supports deregulation of health insurance. If it goes under he and his cronies will just make us pay for it, too.
September 24th, 2008 at 6:55 am