Saturday, October 24, 2009

Crunch Time

Attempting to meld together the impossible, Senator Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are trying to bring a "compromise" "health care reform" package before the Congress. Given the enormous differences between House and Senate, this is no small task.

The bottom line is cost. The Democrats don't mind eliminating choice from health care. After all, that's pretty much what medicare and medicaid are all about. That doesn't bother them. They don't mind blowing away the free market either. After all, that is what the GM and Chrysler (and other) bailouts, the Pay Czarr, etc., are all about. The problem for the Democrats is simply one of cost. The US fiscal situation is completely out of control and the passage of the Obama health care plan (any version) simply nails the coffin shut. It is hard to see how the US avoids bankruptcy as a nation, if this bill passes and is signed into law.

That is the heart of the Democrats problem. Why does cost matter when it never mattered before? Because this time, something will have to be done if the country is to survive. There is no alternative but ridiculously high taxes (and even that won't work), absurdly high inflation (which will only work for a little while), and massive cuts in actual health care provision. Everyone will eventually be insured, they just won't get any medical care.

More and more Americans and more and more Democrats can see clearly where this is headed.

Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi are in a pickle, but the real loser (besides the American public) is Obama. Obama is in big trouble if this passes. His presidency will never recover because the public will feel the damage that this "reform" produces very quickly. Certainly in time for the next election.