"Voila! Problem Solved"
From the Dallas Morning News (via Josh Marshall):
High unemployment? Rubbish. People can always do housework or volunteer, right? So President McCain can just issue an executive order to the Bureau of Labor Statistics to start categorizing those people as employed. Voila! Problem solved.
And how about homelessness? Well, even people without homes of their own can usually find homeless shelters or boxes or some kind of makeshift structure to sleep in at night, right? So does it really make sense to classify them as "homeless"? An executive order to the Census Bureau should fix that. No more homeless people. Viola! Problem solved.
And how about underperforming schools? An executive order to the Department of Education should do the trick. Henceforth all schools will be graded by whether they successfully achieve a 1/1 student to desk ratio. Voila! Problem solved.
Global warming? Not a big deal. All we have to do is adjust the Fahrenheit temperature scale down by about 10 degrees. Viola! Problem solved.
Now that's leadership we can believe in.
But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)That's a brilliant solution. And it can be applied to so many other problems.
"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American - even illegal aliens - as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.
"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."
High unemployment? Rubbish. People can always do housework or volunteer, right? So President McCain can just issue an executive order to the Bureau of Labor Statistics to start categorizing those people as employed. Voila! Problem solved.
And how about homelessness? Well, even people without homes of their own can usually find homeless shelters or boxes or some kind of makeshift structure to sleep in at night, right? So does it really make sense to classify them as "homeless"? An executive order to the Census Bureau should fix that. No more homeless people. Viola! Problem solved.
And how about underperforming schools? An executive order to the Department of Education should do the trick. Henceforth all schools will be graded by whether they successfully achieve a 1/1 student to desk ratio. Voila! Problem solved.
Global warming? Not a big deal. All we have to do is adjust the Fahrenheit temperature scale down by about 10 degrees. Viola! Problem solved.
Now that's leadership we can believe in.
posted by A.L. at 11:28 AM
11 Comments:
Ever since Reagan made compassion passe', these jokers cannot approach any social problem seriously. Therefore "solutions" like this seem perfectly plausible. Or it could just be plain and simple ratfucking.
That's a dumb idea, but not nearly as dumb as socialized, government run, rationed health care.
All things in the world are "rationed" in some sense. Conservatives, who typically think they have a lot of money or will have a lot of money, are happy to have the rationing done by "the market" (meaning money.)
A.L. left out their solution to the projected Social Security shortfall: simply cook the books on cost of living, so that the real cost of living for the elderly is dramatically low-balled, and let inflation take care of the shortfall. Problem solved.
"All things in the world are "rationed" in some sense. "
Yeah, by the market which almost always does a better job than the government.
There is an unlimited demand for healthcare and a limited supply. The only way to make it "universal" is to lower the quality greatly.
VC,
Yes, the market is doing such a wonderful job at it that it's amazing that the huge majority of people aren't satisfied.
You deserve praise, though, for the unerring skill with which you cut and paste talking points. It's almost like you can do it without having to think.
VC,
Even if you think "socialized, government run, rationed health care" is a bad idea, I submit to you that simply defining the problem away is worse. It is emblematic of a level of deception that is Orwellian in its scope. We're talking Ministry of Truth, Calling Comrade Doctor Ogelvy level of lying, there.
David hunt I agree its really f@#$ing stupid what he said.
I think it is silly, though, to count as "uninsured" those people 1)so welathy they are able to pay out of pocket (yes, they exist) and 2)illegal aliens, though.
VC:
Those are the kinds of talking-point comments made by people who a) have never not had health care and/or b) have never actually lived in a state with state-run healthcare.
The WSJ's constant harping on about Canadian healthcare's problems aside, let me make this one anecdote: My 87 year old grandfather was diagnosed as needing bypass on a Friday. On Monday he went in for surgery.
In the US he'd now be bankrupt. He's not.
And the simple fact is, in terms of efficiency, administrative costs in Canada are some 2% of the total. In the US they're up into the 20% range. Why? Because of the need a) to make profits and b) to fight claims.
I hardly call that an example of private-sector delivery being more efficient.
Well in that "let em eat cake" comment you have the essence of Republican problem solving: " Fuck you I've got mine". It also assumes Americans are dumb enough not to see through this idiocy.
You cannot go to the ER for a colonoscopy or mammogram..you can going only when you bleeding from the rectum or have a palpable mass. So..your GOP health insurance has no provision for prevention as it only kicks in when you are dying.
You would think most folks smart enough not to say something so cruel and stupid.
...not nearly as dumb as socialized, government run, rationed health care...
...by the market which almost always does a better job than the government...
Health care for profit is the answer? How about health care for well-being?
Canadians LEAVE the beautiful sunshine state (that's Florida, for conservatives) in a "mass exodus" for the spring and summer in order to preserve their "socialized medicine" benefits (that's health care, for progressives). In order to maintain their health care, they must reside in Canada for at least 6 months of the year. Hey, now that the Canadian dollar is worth MORE than the American dollar, the Greedy Old Party ought to think about the fact that they take their money with them.
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