With healthcare reform, economic zombies shuffle toward bankruptcy
Zombies Take Over US Health Care!
鈥�Obama assures his place in history,鈥� says the editorial in today鈥檚 Financial Times.
Poor fellow. He鈥檒l be remembered as the guy who let the zombies loose on the US health care industry. It wasn鈥檛 a very good industry even before passage of the reform bill. Not because of the doctors and nurses; they鈥檙e as competent as other professions. But they鈥檙e forced to work under appalling conditions 鈥� with lawyers, lobbyists and regulators on their backs!
This new reform measure just increases the weight. Now, there鈥檒l be more parasites than ever. Health care is about to turn into a zombie industry鈥un by brain-dead bureaucrats and kept alive by infusions of blood from the taxpayer.
鈥淥bama should veto the bill,鈥� says an American friend. 鈥淗e should go on TV and tell people that he wants real reform of the health care business鈥ot a 1,000 page document full of bribes and boondoggles. That would really assure him a place in history.鈥�
But that鈥檚 not going to happen. Instead, the president will sign the bill, smile in triumph, and the health care sector will come under US government control. One by one, step by step, deficit by deficit鈥he feds take over the economy.
Banks鈥ortgage finance鈥nsurance鈥utomobiles鈥assenger trains鈥nd now health care.
Stock market investors seem to like zombies. The Dow rose 43 points. Gold fell to under $1,100.
What鈥檚 wrong with investors? What do they think? Maybe each investor looks around and judges his fellow investors fools. He figures the fools will think health care 鈥榬eform鈥� is a good thing. So he figures they鈥檒l buy stocks. Anticipating a rise, he buys too.
Or, maybe he figures that the health care act will be such a disaster it will turn voters against the democrats鈥� And maybe the republicans will come back into office鈥� Who knows what he is thinking鈥� Or if he is thinking at all鈥�
鈥淯S starts to fall in line with other nations,鈥� is a headline in today鈥檚 Financial Times.
That is certainly true. The zombies are taking over everywhere. The US held out against them longer then most nations. But now it too is letting government employees run the health care business.
George Wallace once compared the Democrats to the Republicans: 鈥淭here鈥檚 not a dime鈥檚 worth of difference between them,鈥� he said. Now, there鈥檚 not a dime鈥檚 worth of difference between the world鈥檚 feds. Whether they speak French or Polish or English they鈥檙e all taking more and more control of their respective economies. And almost all are going broke.
The latest figures from the IMF tell us that debt in the G7 nations will exceed 100% of GDP by 2014. Yes, they鈥檙e all shuffling along together鈥owards bankruptcy.
Taking over vital industries helps move them down the road. It turns the industries from sources of tax revenue into expense items. The US has spent $177 billion since it decided to take over Fannie Mae鈥檚 mortgage finance business, for example.
And how many billions has the US spent since it took over the nation鈥檚 passenger rail system in 鈥�71? We couldn鈥檛 find a figure鈥ut it must be around $50 billion.
Amtrak was sold to the public in 鈥�71 as an investment opportunity. With a monopoly on rail traffic between America鈥檚 most populous cities鈥hroughout the biggest economic boom in history鈥ou鈥檇 think Amtrak couldn鈥檛 help but make money. It was supposed to turn a profit in 1974. It didn鈥檛. Nor did it make a profit in 1975鈥r 1976鈥r 1977鈥�1978鈥�1979鈥�1980鈥tc鈥� All the way up to today. It never made a profit. It just lowered service levels and kept chugging along. And now the feds are still pumping more than $2 billion per year into the zombie railroad.
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