Healthcare Reform Thread II

[KrazyHorse]

Seriously, your posts so far on this topic are absolutely laughable.

The British lost out to the US and Germany because they were wasting their resources playing colonial lord?

What a load of bunk. The simple fact is that the Brits had ~30 million people in the latter half of the 19th century. The Germans had 45 million, the US had (50-80 mill?)

What the **** do you think was going to happen?

[KrazyHorse]

Europe is a major international player.

[Drake Tungsten]

The British lost out to the US and Germany because they were wasting their resources playing colonial lord?

That and prioritizing the maintenance and expansion of the Empire over the industrial innovation that had allowed them to gain a dominant global position in the first place and would have allowed them to keep pace with the US and Germany. This is a pretty widespread interpretation among those who know something about the relevant literature.

[KrazyHorse]

Perhaps among mindless didacts.

[Drake Tungsten]

I'm honored that you took time away from rent-seeking to regale me with poor revisionist history.

[KrazyHorse]

a) I'm taking time off from a much less rewarding activity than rent-seeking

b) This isn't revisionist history. It's common sense from somebody who doesn't think that every episode contains some sort of simplistic moral lesson.

Only an economic idiot would think that the Brits could have maintained even an approximation of their position relative to others as it stood in 1850, or that the story of their economic decline is anything more than marginally related to the Empire.

[Drake Tungsten]

A small glimmer of hope...

House Dems: We won't roll over

House Democrats insisted Tuesday they have no plans to roll over for the Senate in upcoming negotiations on a health reform bill, even as they acknowledged it would be all but impossible to reinsert a public insurance option or force the so-called millionaire's tax on the Senate.

Either move would disrupt Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s no-margin-for-error 60-vote majority. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team seem to have their sights set on lower-profile - but no-less important differences, like boosting affordability credits in the final bill and starting the insurance exchange a year earlier, which they did in the House.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30916.html

Obama plans for health care delay, new jobs bill

The White House privately anticipates health care talks to slip into February — past President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address — and then plans to make a “very hard pivot” to a new jobs bill, according to senior administration officials.

Obama has been told that disputes over abortion and the tight schedule are highly likely to delay a final deal, a blow to the president, who had hoped to trumpet a health care victory in his big speech to the nation. But he has also been told that House Democratic leaders seem inclined, at least for now, to largely accept the compromise worked out in the Senate, virtually ensuring he will eventually get a deal.

Internally, White House aides are plunging into a 2010 plan calling for an early focus on creating jobs, especially in the energy sector, along with starting a conversation about deficit reduction measures, the administration officials said.

Both will be major themes for his first State of the Union speech, which will most likely take place on Jan. 26 or Feb. 2. White House aides are in the early stages of planning for the national address, but Obama will not only trumpet what he has described as his “B-plus” performance in 2009 but also set the stage for the 2010 congressional campaigns.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30925.html

[Ming]

along with starting a conversation about deficit reduction

Yeah, let's "start a conversation" about it while they continue to come up with ways to spend even more money.

[Kuciwalker]

KH: the gist of Drake's argument, if he weren't trolling, would be that the UK could have devoted far more resources towards maintaining its edge in (industrialization | gdp/capita) had it not been hooked on empire-building. The unsustainable situation would have lasted longer.

[Drake Tungsten]

Kuci demonstrates his intellectual superiority to KH once again.

[KrazyHorse]

KH: the gist of Drake's argument, if he weren't trolling, would be that the UK could have devoted far more resources towards maintaining its edge in (industrialization | gdp/capita) had it not been hooked on empire-building. The unsustainable situation would have lasted longer.

And my point is that the scales of capital wasted on maintaining an empire (which was NOT a total drain) and what would have been required to maintain the situation for any significant length of time are so laughably different that only a moron would attribute the decline of the British dominance in industrial production to "suicide".

I already knew what Drake was saying, and it's ridiculous.

[KrazyHorse]

Kuci demonstrates his intellectual superiority to KH once again.

[Drake Tungsten]

Nebraska governor to Ben Nelson: Keep the money

Nebraska’s Republican governor has a stern message for Ben Nelson, the senior Democratic senator from his state: we don’t want Washington to cover all the costs of the proposed expansion of Medicaid under health care legislation.

“The last few days have made Nebraskans so angry that now it’s a matter of principle,” Gov. David Heineman told POLITICO. “The federal government can keep that money.”

Told about the governor’s comments, Nelson said: “If he wants to subject Nebraska to future liability – it’s his call.” And he called it “foolish” since the money wouldn’t be available until several years down the road, when other states would almost certainly lobby to get increased federal aid.

Nelson is engaged in a tense war of words with his home-state governor over his health care vote and the Medicaid deal he helped secure for their state, a signal that Nelson’s political opponents plan to bloody him up for his health-care stand – and that could impact his standing ahead of his 2012 reelection.

“The reason he’s in hot water right now is that he’s not listening to Nebraskans – it’s very unusual for him,” Heineman said. “I am shocked.”

Asked about the governor’s direct aim at him, Nelson said it’s just “partisan politics.”

The back-and-forth exchanges are somewhat unusual, Nebraska political analysts say, because the state’s governor and senators have historically stayed out of each others’ affairs.

“I think that’s what’s been the courtesy,” said Nelson, who was governor of Nebraska from 1991-98. “But if he chooses not to recognize that courtesy and continue it – there’s not much I can do about it.”

Some see that this battle could presage a potential Nelson-Heineman 2012 matchup for the Senate seat, but Heineman said being governor is “the one job I love doing” and that he’s expressed no interest in the seat – though he wouldn’t rule it out.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30947.html

[Drake Tungsten]

Ben Nelson's Medicaid Deal Approved By Only 17% Of Nebraskans

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb,) doesn't seem to be getting any favors from his local constituents for bringing home the health care pork.

Just 17 percent of Nebraska voters said they support the deal their senator cut in the last round of health care negotiations, in which the federal government will pick up the tab for Medicaid expansion in the state.

The number comes from a new Rasmussen Reports survey, which, considering the long-standing quibbles with the firm's polling methods, means it should be taken with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, 17 percent is strikingly low, especially when one considers how much Nebraska will benefit financially from the deal struck by Nelson -- the Congressional Budget Office pegged the amount at $100 million.

The survey also highlights intense disapproval of Nelson within his home state. If Republican Governor Dave Heineman challenges Nelson in the 2012 Senate election, he would currently get 61 percent of the vote to Nelson's 30 percent, according to the survey.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/29/ben-nelsons-medicaid-deal_n_406061.html

[Kidlicious]

Good on Nebraska, cept 17%