Each day I travel to work on a stretch of road that brings me past a rock quarry where a nonstop parade of large trucks rumble throughout my midst. On occasion one of these behemoths lands in front of me with a similar destination or route in mind. This morning was just that scenario. I happened to notice a sign on the back of this particular truck that read something like this…CAUTION. Stay away 200ft. Not responsible for flying objects. It was easy to read as I had to be driving no more than 25 mph – the truck’s choice, not mine. This message is by no means an unfamiliar one to see on a truck carrying some sort of rock substance. However, the message struck me a little funny on this day. “Not responsible for flying objects” – really? Well…who is? As I drove a little further (this time reaching speeds of nearly 35 mph as bicyclists motored by on the shoulder waving enthusiastically to signify the beginning of a new day), I couldn’t help but notice the showering of black pebbles onto my wind shield and the grinding sound coming from the undercarriage as the same pebbles raked across all that is important beneath the car. No major damage, but it wouldn’t matter if there was right? Because it is either my fault the truck was spewing its contents OR no one’s fault. Maybe I’ll try posting a similar sign, then opening the trunk of my car and shoving out a mess of hair band cassettes that I have accumulated since the mid 80’s. That would be much easier than dropping them off at the Goodwill.
I know that is a silly scenario, but as I drove I made the parallel with the same lack of commitment to responsibility we see everywhere in our society today I try not to be overly dull in my blogs, but sometimes you need to be a little seriously. There are many examples of the growing irresponsibility in our society, but the current event example that comes to my mind is the healthcare debate crisscrossing our country these days. I won’t weigh in on the entire debate now, rather I just want to touch on a couple of aspects of it tonight. If the amount we are going to spend on this thing is truly one trillion dollars and no suit in Washington can actually come up with a plan on how to pay for it without stealing some of it from Medicare or borrowing it from our pimp (China)…then what is the debate about again? Shouldn’t we try to figure that out FIRST before we start writing and voting on bills?
To me it is unbelievably irresponsible to go fourth with a project where the only way to fund it is by going further into debt. As I’ve said it before, our pimp will at some point want their money back and the only common sense way for us to repay them is to…yep you guessed it…raise everyone’s taxes. Wait…I thought the campaign promise was for only the top 5% of money earners to have their blah blah blah blah blah blah. It is completely irresponsible to make a promise that many of your constitutes were counting on you keeping when they voted for you. I hope I’m wrong about this promise, but if I’m not…shame, shame.
To me it is unbelievably irresponsible to initially rush this thing to a vote (which failed miserably) when even the commander-in-chief either refuses to or cannot articulate any specific details of the plan. No details! Do you know how much the public option premium will be? Do you know what the deductible will be? What about the out-of-pocket max? Will there be a dental package? And these are the basic/easy questions, let alone some tougher ones like…How will we increase the number of medical professionals in our country to meet the needs, when they are scarce to begin with? Has the government factored in the notion that individuals will inevitably sue the government (as the provider) for various reasons, just like many do their HMOs now – does that raise the cost? Medicare and Medicaid are both going broke – so we add a third robust government healthcare plan to a list that is already a challenge to fund – how will these healthcare entities remain solvent? Will the government have enough money to pay for Joan Rivers 14th nose job operation?
The way the situation is being presented and handled is entirely irresponsible. But the thing that really defines the theme of this entry is the idea of ‘what happens if the public option goes through and does significant damage to our healthcare/financial systems’. If this occurs someone tell me who will step up and take credit for the failure? When it comes to politics the answer is of course easy to identify…someone else. It will always be the other persons fault. You see I could be 500ft behind that dump truck and have my windshield demolished, but something tells me “no one is responsible for flying objects”. It will be the same for healthcare if it flops.
I have a passion for healthcare, because it is what I do for a living. I tend to ramble and make this topic rather boring when I discuss it, but there is a lot to talk about with what is taking place right now in this debate. For me the bottom line is…don’t tell me we have to have it, if you can’t tell me the specifics of what it is we have to have.
There is so much to say and it has only just begun…
1 comments:
Very awesome Steve....I love it that "China is our pimp" Man, our county is in a mess.
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