Wow. It appears Colin took my advice and as run away from his own stupidity.

Colin: “But wait, I thought government regulation was supposed to prevent that?

Or maybe the corporations outsourced their risk management to the government and just decided to follow regulation instead of thinking critically about their safety needs.”

So what you are saying is that with government regulations, corporations will do the absolute minimum.

But without government regulations, corporations will be more concerned with safety.

You are too fucking stupid to talk to.

Please fuck off.

So the solution, of course is:

ABOLISH LAWS!!!!!111!!11one!1

This is fun.

the problem goes away. How’s that working with drugs?

You tell me, I’m in favor of legalizing pot.

Just answer this: If there is no crisis then why do we need a tax increase? If everything is just ducky then why do we need to take more money from taxpayers?

Because new technologies and drugs are expensive? But hey, we can just have priests exorcize demons from sick patients, would expand Bush’s Faith-based initiatives more.

Zython was wrong about being wrong.

Didn’t say I was wrong, just that I was being too vindictive.

Instead of addressing the solution in his own citation, “Colin” decides to assert “the answer being offered is yet a higher percentage of our income.”

WHOSE INCOME, “Colin”?

The medical-corporation executives whose predatory overcharging has created the problem?

Yes, if medical-corporations minimized or were prohibited from predatory overcharging, then, yes, medical-corporation executives income would be reduced.

And American Citizens would be HEALTHIER for it.

And HEALTHCARE COSTS WOULD BE LOWER.

Ultimately, “Colin” is a perfect example of the right wing’s pathological indifference to America and Americans, even American’s health.

Right wing/libertarian/Republican/conservative/shapeshifters work for predatory corporation’s interests.

Left wing/Democratic/liberals work for American Citizen’s interests.

I’ll chose American Citizen’s every time.

But I’m patriotic that way.

So you acknowledge that a problem exists, which is the whole point.

My understanding is that Medicare has a projected crisis, but is not currently in crisis.

In my original post — which you have to scroll way up for — I said that Medicare was headed for a reckoning. So yes, the crisis is coming — and more rapidly than first thought:

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/05/11/daily48.html

Trust funds that support Medicare and Social Security have eroded due to the recession and will run out of money earlier than expected, government officials say.

Of course the answer being offered is yet a higher percentage of our income.

Eliminate the PRIVATE medical-corporation’s predatory overcharging and much of the problem with Medicare is alleviated, possibly even eliminated.</i.

*head explodes*

They knew the risk. They chose not to care.

Pr[Ta<1,Tb<1]=ø2(ø-1(Fa(1)), ø-1(Fb(1)),y

Crisis: a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger

My understanding is that Medicare has a projected crisis, but is not currently in crisis.

Just like a driver of the car can apply the brakes to keep their car from running a red light, taxes can be raised to avoid a crisis in Medicare.

As for why we should make sure Medicare doesn’t go into crisis, I won’t bother going into, because I’m pretty sure you’ll just say that elderly without incomes beyond social security would be better off paying for private insurance.

Robert Reich: “Social Security is a tiny problem. Medicare is a terrible one, but the problem is not really Medicare; it’s quickly rising health-care costs. Look more closely and the real problem isn’t even health-care costs; it’s a system that pushes up costs by rewarding inefficiency, causing unbelievable waste, pushing over-medication, providing inadequate prevention, over-using emergency rooms because many uninsured people can’t afford regular doctor checkups, and spending billions on advertising and marketing seeking to enroll healthy people and avoid sick ones.”

Robert Reich is talking about PRIVATE medical-corporation’s predatory overcharging.

Eliminate the PRIVATE medical-corporation’s predatory overcharging and much of the problem with Medicare is alleviated, possibly even eliminated.

Private medical-corporation’s predatory overcharging will always happen unless there is an alternative of government offering a general health care plan.

That doesn’t eliminate private medical insurance.

But it does force the predatory overcharging of medical corporations to compete with a health care provider who has the interest of the American Citizens as it’s first responsibility and not the predatory objective of making a quick ‘buck.’

That’s what the private, predatory medical-corporations are afraid of: Competition from the American’s Citizen Government that has the best, long term interests of the American Citizens in mind and isn’t beholden to corporate predators trying to make a quick “buck”.

And for the record, there has never been a prohibition from buying private medical insurance in any of the health care plans offered by the left.

Yes, right winger “Colin”, the “Medicare’s fiscal crisis” is an invention of right wing propagandists serving the interests of predatory corporations.

This makes no sense and is not at all analogous.

Just answer this: If there is no crisis then why do we need a tax increase? If everything is just ducky then why do we need to take more money from taxpayers?

That’s the right wing’s magical belief system in a nutshell.

Right wingers:

‘Close down the Fire Departments because my house isn’t on fire.’

Right wingers:

‘Close down the Police Departments because I’m not being robbed.’

Right wingers:

‘Close down the Ambulance Services because I’m not having a medical emergency.’

Right wingers:

‘Eliminate the Pure Food and Drug Act because I’m not being poisoned by poisoned food or impure drug prescriptions.’

Right wingers:

‘Eliminate the airplane regulations because my home isn’t being hit by large, fiery planes cratering into my home.’

Right wingers:

‘Eliminate the mine safety laws because I didn’t die from a mine accident.’

Right wingers:

‘Eliminate the banking regulation laws because, because, well because, ME, ME, ME…‘

Right wing: Regurgitate, Rinse, Repeat.

This is an incredibly dumb analogy. If your roof leaks then it has a problem. But Medicare’s problems, we have been assured, are a myth and right-wing lie. There are no problems!

Of course, someone better tell that to Robert Reich who calls Medicare a “monster” and a “terrible [problem]“.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/robert_reich/2009/05/the-truth-behind-the-social-se.php

The liberal government regulations prohibiting banks from becoming reckless gamblers was deregulated by the right wing and the liberals who predicted that it would have disastrous national financial consequences for America and Americans were ridiculed.

Liberals were right. Right wingers were wrong.

Now, with the clear evidence that the right wing deregulation of banks was directly part of the Greatest Financial Crisis since the Great Depression, right wingers are still selling the same CON that FUBAR’d America.

Maybe it’s wrong to call those right wingers predators and sociopaths but it’s hard to believe that anyone could be so stupid and fanatical to ignore the unremitting evidence of the failure of the right wing’s ideology.

In the end it’s just as bad for America and Americans to have stupid right wing fanatics in charge of our American government as predatory right wing sociopaths.

The result of right wing rule is always the same: Crises and Disasters.

My roof leaks. But only when it’s raining. When it isn’t raining, it doesn’t leak. So I don’t have to fix it.
Unless it rains.
But I don’t want to fix it when it’s raining. So I’ll wait ’til it stops.

And then it fixes itself.

Good plan.

Which is a clear difference between the right wing and the left wing:

The right wing will wait until a crisis before they do anything.

The left wing will solve a problem so it never becomes a crisis in the first place.

It’s why, as a conservative independent who’s conservative belief system includes trying to proactively avoid crises, I currently support the left wing.

When the right wing is in charge of government eventually there isn’t just one crisis there are multiple crises.

THE RIGHT WING’S PLAN IS HAVING CRISES.

That’s insane.

When the right wing stop being insane I’ll give them another look.

By that standard, every time a car approaches a red light it’s a crisis.

The only thing that the right wing has is a disastrous magical belief system, the pathological willingness to ignore the mountains of facts and evidence that repudiate their disastrous magical belief system, and the willingness to keep repeating the falsehoods of their disastrous right wing magical belief system.

It’s the Republicon Marketing Party.

Right winger “Colin”: The “Medicare’s fiscal crisis” is an invention of right wing propagandists.

It could be immediately solved by raising taxes.

Um, if there is no crisis then you shouldn’t have to do anything. If it’s a right-wing myth then we should be able to continue on the current path with no problems.