Ezra Klein, a writer and blogger at the Washington Post is a liberal guy and a supporter of the ObamaCare health law, but he’s independent-minded enough to state the truth, even when it hurts. That is why this piece from Klein detailing the myriad and deep difficulties with the law is so important. Of course, as an opponent of the law, my belief is that the law’s flaws boil down to basic economics, but Klein’s analysis details the very real issues facing the Obama Administration’s failure to successfully implement the systems upon which ObamaCare depends.
Klein’s final line sums up the situation nicely, “Obamacare isn’t a political abstraction any longer. Its success doesn’t depend on spin or solidarity. What matters for the law — and for the people who are depending on it — is how well it actually works. So far, it’s not working well at all. If and when that changes, our coverage of the health-care law will change, too.”
HT: Michael Cannon
One would think after the twentieth century’s experiments with socialism and central planning that programs like Obamacare would not be taken seriously by anyone. But that is not the case.
Ayn Rand identified an underlying problem here — people don’t want the wealth producing practicality of capitalism because it seems greedy and wrong. Better to have a system that cares for people. Intentions are everything. And if we just hold our breath and wish hard enough, maybe it will work. But reality struck hard this week.
But the fact that socialism doesn’t work is not the best argument against socialism and central planning — although it should be a sufficient one. The proper role of government does not include Obamacare or any of the other government programs of this kind. At the end of “Atlas Shrugged” is a new proposed constitutional amendment by Judge Narragansett: “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of production and trade.”