The political battle against Obamacare failed. Twice, actually – in the ’08 and ’12 elections. And it’s going to fail again; the Senate and the President will likely succeed in blocking any effort to defund it, if by no other means than calling in markers from their praetorian guard in the media to make sure any shutdown is catastrophic to the GOP.
Which will blink.
Dan Henninger says the time has come to exploit Obamacare’s key weakness; Obamacare:
As its Oct. 1 implementation date arrives, ObamaCare is the biggest bet that American liberalism has made in 80 years on its foundational beliefs. This thing called “ObamaCare” carries on its back all the justifications, hopes and dreams of the entitlement state. The chance is at hand to let its political underpinnings collapse, perhaps permanently.
If ObamaCare fails, or seriously falters, the entitlement state will suffer a historic loss of credibility with the American people. It will finally be vulnerable to challenge and fundamental change. But no mere congressional vote can achieve that. Only the American people can kill ObamaCare.
I just finished watching Ken Burns’ Prohibition – which is all about how big social engineering goes terribly awry when it runs into contact with social reality.
I don’t like indulging in historical parallels – they’re seductive drugs that convey little real knowledge. But Obamacare is one of the greatest social engineering measures ever attempted – and “great social engineering” is almost invariably a synonym for “failure”.
Obamacare hasn’t even been fully inflicted, and it’s already a disaster.
Maybe the best thing that can happen is to have the American people look all of that Hope and Change in the face, and take it.
They asked for it, after all.
@ TheFedSucks
Yes, I am a fan of “flat taxes” as well as a VAT (value added taxes).
As an aside, I notice you link to Zero Hedge quite often. Can you share whether you follow their investment advice as well?
I believe the site first appeared in 2009, meaning that (given Durden’s habit of taking a negative position on each and every positive data point), anyone listening to him from the beginning missed the entire 2000-2013 rally in the equities market. How does that square with your position?
What “FedSux” says. You could give an effective tax cut of hundreds of billions of dollars annually without a penny drop in revenues if we simplified the tax code.
And medical reform? Start by making the tax treatment of individual paid health care the same as that for company paid. Watch companies scramble to make all of their budding entrepreneurs happy, and watch millions finally be able to get decent insurance. Oh, and ya gotta repeal HIDA in full.
@Emery “missed the entire 2000-2013 rally”
The whole economy is precarious and phony due to Western central bank mistakes. There are different ways to cope with it and things aren’t over yet.
Easy money flows into stocks and bonds until they don’t anymore. The market level doesn’t reflect the economy obviously. Good luck trading because “we are all speculators now” to paraphrase Nixon.
I never think of Zerohedge in a aggregate way. Some of it is very good, that’s all.
FWIW, some people think we are going to have a “melt up” in equities when the Western bond markets implode.
Fun times.
LOL the Fed really does suck http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-the-fed-has-become-a-creature-of-politics/2013/09/27/69741ff4-2793-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html
I am not trying to be cynical here. This is a tragic and dangerous position for our country to be in. At some point, however, we have to acknowledge that the Federal Reserve cannot compensate for the leadership void in this country just because it is the only body that can actually make decisions. The duration of the Fed’s portfolio is not what is standing between us and economic prosperity. Get real, people.
You want to see what regulatory capture and immunity from political oversight looks like, just wait until Lizzy Warren’s CFPB gets rolling.
The Fed is the source of all of our problems. Easy money makes society collectively stupid and short-term thinking. Easy money allows the government to over spend.
The Fed should only back up banks that have good collateral and do it at a penalty rate.
On hundred years of stupidity, graft, speculation and suffering.
Join the political class or learn to speculate. Silver rounds, ammo, and dehydrated food.
Great market indicator about the Fed http://bit.ly/19d0SYO LOL
The Fed is the source of all of our problems. Easy money makes society collectively stupid and short-term thinking. Easy money allows the government to over spend.
TFS, it sounds like the collective stupidity of society is actually the source of all of our problems. Get rid of the fed, some other institution like it will pop up.
@Powhatan Mingo I think it’s like our founding fathers. We need wise, studied, non-venal leadership.
The problem is, once easy money starts doing it’s thing, that type of leadership and the conducting of an individuals life like that is dis-rewarded to a large extent.
This has been going on for a hundred years or since 1971 in particular. Greenspan put it on steroids.
Must read on Obamacare https://twitter.com/banaianshow/status/383994434532036608