Junk by Design

The health care plan that is wending its way through Congress is junk. It will do nothing to stop the ungodly ascent of health care prices. In fact, it is likely to to accelerate this upward trend. The reason is simple. It contains virtually no incentives for exercising downward pressure on costs.

As soon as it passes, we will be showered with the predictable apologetics from the Obama camp and its generally mindless minions. "You've got to start somewhere" "Change is incremental, we can make it better later", "There you go again, rigidly insisting on your own (read: wildly and out of touch and ultra- liberal) version of good in what is inevitably a messy legislative process". Every other democrat interviewed, will repeat some version of the phrase allegedly uttered by the now-departed Ted Kennedy "We must not let the perfect become the enemy of the possible".

This would all great except for one salient fact: the perfect (single payer) was never given the opportunity to be the enemy of the possible. It was taken off the table before the entire process of negotiation began. And this was done as a result of cold calculations taken at the very highest policy-making levels of the White House. They got into bed with the insurance industry and big Pharma way back in the late winter and assured them that the money machine they currently operate would not be substantially affected by Obama's "reform" plans. In return, the White House gained the tacit assurance that a) industry money would continue flowing to the Democrats and b) Harry and Louise would not be brought out of mothballs to frighten and befog the minds of the "low information" voters in the general populace.

Should you have any doubts about the ironclad, ""til death do us part" nature of the deal, consider the following. Until late last week the congressional version of the bill which passed on Saturday contained an amendment that would have shielded those states interested in setting up single-payer programs of their own from anti-trust lawsuits brought by insurance companies. The provision was stricken from the bill at the last moment after heavy lobbying pressure from .....none other than the White House itself.

When this White House makes pledges to big industry its word is truly its bond. That a bunch so evidently craven in its dedication to corporate interests is often successfully labeled as "socialist" speaks to the truly delusional nature of much of our public discourse.

This is not an isolated incident. Rather, this way of operating is deeply encoded in the D.N.A. of the post-Clinton Democratic party in general, and the Obama White House in particular. These are the Placebo Politics of a Placebo Presidency. The unquestioned master of all this is Rahm Emanuel. For Rahm and his proteges practicing what the media consistently, if wholly fallaciously, portrays as the school of "sharp-elbowed partisan politics", winning elections is the only thing that matters. Actually doing something substantial about the balance of social and economic powers that so heavily determine the rhythms and stark realities of day-to-day life for millions of Americans once in office is absolutely beside the point. Indeed, he and gang know quite well that actually doing so will threaten the pipeline of campaign donations they see, rightly or wrongly, as being the key to winning more elections.

This is why they give us legislative "Junk by Design". Why we accept it as readily as we do, I do not understand.