tonight i listened to c-span radio as i ran errands after class. i caught most of president bushs press conference this morning, and then almost all of the democratic response.
let me preface: both the 'republicans' and the 'democrats' do no honor -- no, in fact they shame -- their theoretical namesakes.
it was interesting, though. as i listened to bush i had my regular reactions, such as grimacing at stupid comments and awkward silences, giggling at idiotic generalizations and schoolboy tautology. i felt dirty just being associated with the guy by nationality.
but then came the democrats. and by them i was disgusted. absolutely. the shameless way that they lied. blatant disregard for not only truth, but for sincerity. there is no way on earth that the woman who i heard last could possibly believe anything she said to be true. she told the audience, for example, that social security was completely solvent (!), because 'we baby-boomers' have paid so much into the system that there is now a tremendous surplus of cash. she called it a 'trust fund'. she said that thanks to the incredible productivity of the generation, there had been put away enough money to pay 70-80% of benefits. That if the extra amount could not be raised, the effects would not be felt for 40-50 years. fucking. bull. shit.
i hope someone actually reads this thing, because this is important: there is no fucking money. the brilliant system set up by roosevelt allows all monies collected toward social security to be 'borrowed' for govt spending. there is NO MONEY. there is a vault, wherein one would fine billions of dollars worth of IOUs. there is no fucking trust fund. there is no fucking 'security'. you may not agree with private accounts, you may not agree with bush on any of his positions. but as much as i dislike him, at least he is acknowledging the tremendous problem that we will inevitably face. fuck you democrats for saying the system is solvent, simply because its the opposite of what the president says. fucking shame on you.
now lets talk about health care. this also came up during both programs. american health care is expensive for many reasons. the most obvious? BECAUSE WE HAVE THE BEST QUALITY MEDICINE IN THE WORLD. we spend more on medical innovation than any other country, and have the most succesful medical products anywhere.
it is also expensive here because PEOPLE ABUSE IT. this is partly because of the insurance systems in this country. name any other type of insurance, and youll notice that all have limits on pay-outs. only health insurance often has unlimited amounts that customers can call on for treatment. this raises prices. also, because people pay for health services indirectly (through insurance) they do not feel the 'pinch' each time they consume medical goods. because people pay a 'flat fee' for medicine, they tend to use as much of it as possible, in order to get the most for their money. statistically, however, medicine does not increase health. but as use (demand) rises for medical goods, prices will continue to rise. it is interesting that the price level for medicine plateaued during the 1990s (more specifically, during the HMO 'revolution'). even more interesting is why said revolution was such a tremendous failure: people didnt like HMOs. because HMOs wouldnt pay for everything, and they would pay any amount. so people abandoned them. and now prices are rising again, and we are fucking surprised.
[on medical accessibility: my brother in laws mother died awaiting treatment in denmark (a supposed miraculous success in socialist medicine). in canada, it takes an average of 158 days to get an MRI. i could probably get one tomorrow if i wanted. we arent perfect yet, but at least our medicine is available to anyone who can afford it, rather than making everyone have equal claim to limited resources. such practice disregards how severe your condition is, whether you can afford it, whether it is likely to help you, etc.]
anyway, ive got school work to do and no more time for ranting.
let me preface: both the 'republicans' and the 'democrats' do no honor -- no, in fact they shame -- their theoretical namesakes.
it was interesting, though. as i listened to bush i had my regular reactions, such as grimacing at stupid comments and awkward silences, giggling at idiotic generalizations and schoolboy tautology. i felt dirty just being associated with the guy by nationality.
but then came the democrats. and by them i was disgusted. absolutely. the shameless way that they lied. blatant disregard for not only truth, but for sincerity. there is no way on earth that the woman who i heard last could possibly believe anything she said to be true. she told the audience, for example, that social security was completely solvent (!), because 'we baby-boomers' have paid so much into the system that there is now a tremendous surplus of cash. she called it a 'trust fund'. she said that thanks to the incredible productivity of the generation, there had been put away enough money to pay 70-80% of benefits. That if the extra amount could not be raised, the effects would not be felt for 40-50 years. fucking. bull. shit.
i hope someone actually reads this thing, because this is important: there is no fucking money. the brilliant system set up by roosevelt allows all monies collected toward social security to be 'borrowed' for govt spending. there is NO MONEY. there is a vault, wherein one would fine billions of dollars worth of IOUs. there is no fucking trust fund. there is no fucking 'security'. you may not agree with private accounts, you may not agree with bush on any of his positions. but as much as i dislike him, at least he is acknowledging the tremendous problem that we will inevitably face. fuck you democrats for saying the system is solvent, simply because its the opposite of what the president says. fucking shame on you.
now lets talk about health care. this also came up during both programs. american health care is expensive for many reasons. the most obvious? BECAUSE WE HAVE THE BEST QUALITY MEDICINE IN THE WORLD. we spend more on medical innovation than any other country, and have the most succesful medical products anywhere.
it is also expensive here because PEOPLE ABUSE IT. this is partly because of the insurance systems in this country. name any other type of insurance, and youll notice that all have limits on pay-outs. only health insurance often has unlimited amounts that customers can call on for treatment. this raises prices. also, because people pay for health services indirectly (through insurance) they do not feel the 'pinch' each time they consume medical goods. because people pay a 'flat fee' for medicine, they tend to use as much of it as possible, in order to get the most for their money. statistically, however, medicine does not increase health. but as use (demand) rises for medical goods, prices will continue to rise. it is interesting that the price level for medicine plateaued during the 1990s (more specifically, during the HMO 'revolution'). even more interesting is why said revolution was such a tremendous failure: people didnt like HMOs. because HMOs wouldnt pay for everything, and they would pay any amount. so people abandoned them. and now prices are rising again, and we are fucking surprised.
[on medical accessibility: my brother in laws mother died awaiting treatment in denmark (a supposed miraculous success in socialist medicine). in canada, it takes an average of 158 days to get an MRI. i could probably get one tomorrow if i wanted. we arent perfect yet, but at least our medicine is available to anyone who can afford it, rather than making everyone have equal claim to limited resources. such practice disregards how severe your condition is, whether you can afford it, whether it is likely to help you, etc.]
anyway, ive got school work to do and no more time for ranting.