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I wish we had seen this more progressive, pro-active Obama 6 years ago. Squandered his political capital on a shitty health care reform bill, got shell shocked

I wish we had seen this more progressive, pro-active Obama 6 years ago. Squandered his political capital on a shitty health care reform bill, got shell shocked by Republican opposition and crawled up his own ass for a couple of years. Now that he doesn't give a shit about elections anymore he's actually doing something.

cubano 12y ago
I wish we had seen this more progressive, pro-active Obama 6 years ago. More progressive and pro-active then basically socializing 1/7th of the US economy with the ACA? Wow. [edit] I used the wrong term "socializing" when I meant "intervening in"
- metaphorm 12y ago
  are you serious? you can't be serious. i usually assume that hacker news has a bit more sophistication than this. i would actively celebrate a legitimate socialized health care system in the U.S. but that's not what we got. ACA is basically a huge middle class tax with the proceeds paid almost entirely to health insurance companies. its a massive expansion of a deeply entrenched private industry.
  - cubano 12y ago
    I, personally, would not celebrate that outcome. I believe in the power in markets and price signaling, ala Hayek, and there is nothing unsophisticated about that. We agree on more then you may be aware...the HI industry is a giant problem, and must be fundamentally altered for the market-based solutions I prefer to do their magic.
    - metaphorm 12y ago
      so if you really do read a lot of Austrian economics and really do have a sophisticated view of political economy then why did you label ACA as "socialist"? at best that's ignorant, and at worst it's an actively deceptive slander of both ACA and real socialism.
      - djrogers 12y ago
        People often (mistakenly) use the term socialism as shorthand for 'massive wealth redistribution', which is what he appears to be doing here. You are correct, this does seem to contraindicate the claims of a sophisticated view of economics.
      - mason240 12y ago
        >i would actively celebrate a legitimate socialized health care system Based on your other comment, it appears that neither of you know what socialism is.
    - remarkEon 12y ago
      How does profiting off of statistically rare yet catastrophic illness qualify as "magic"?
    - CamperBob2 12y ago
      It's not a market if you're forced to participate... and for that, you have to blame your $DEITY of choice or Nature as a whole, not Obama. We're all going to need expensive health care at some point. That also means that insurance is the wrong model. So what's left?
- ceejayoz 12y ago
  > More progressive and pro-active then basically socializing 1/7th of the US economy with the ACA? What's socialist about a fine for not purchasing insurance from private corporations?! http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/dec/16/lie-year-government-takeover-health-care/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/dec/16/...
grecy 12y ago
> Squandered his political capital on a shitty health care reform bill I suspect he thought health care for all was more important than fast internet for all.
- heywood33 12y ago
  Yeah, too bad we voted for health care and got nothing but lousy high deductible insurance. I'll never spend more than $6000 a year on a doctor to make use of it, but that fat ass shoving cheeseburgers in his face can get his third triple bypass on my dime.

cubano 12y ago

I wish we had seen this more progressive, pro-active Obama 6 years ago. More progressive and pro-active then basically socializing 1/7th of the US economy with the ACA? Wow. [edit] I used the wrong term "socializing" when I meant "intervening in"

metaphorm 12y ago
are you serious? you can't be serious. i usually assume that hacker news has a bit more sophistication than this. i would actively celebrate a legitimate socialized health care system in the U.S. but that's not what we got. ACA is basically a huge middle class tax with the proceeds paid almost entirely to health insurance companies. its a massive expansion of a deeply entrenched private industry.
- cubano 12y ago
  I, personally, would not celebrate that outcome. I believe in the power in markets and price signaling, ala Hayek, and there is nothing unsophisticated about that. We agree on more then you may be aware...the HI industry is a giant problem, and must be fundamentally altered for the market-based solutions I prefer to do their magic.
  - metaphorm 12y ago
    so if you really do read a lot of Austrian economics and really do have a sophisticated view of political economy then why did you label ACA as "socialist"? at best that's ignorant, and at worst it's an actively deceptive slander of both ACA and real socialism.
    - djrogers 12y ago
      People often (mistakenly) use the term socialism as shorthand for 'massive wealth redistribution', which is what he appears to be doing here. You are correct, this does seem to contraindicate the claims of a sophisticated view of economics.
    - mason240 12y ago
      >i would actively celebrate a legitimate socialized health care system Based on your other comment, it appears that neither of you know what socialism is.
  - remarkEon 12y ago
    How does profiting off of statistically rare yet catastrophic illness qualify as "magic"?
  - CamperBob2 12y ago
    It's not a market if you're forced to participate... and for that, you have to blame your $DEITY of choice or Nature as a whole, not Obama. We're all going to need expensive health care at some point. That also means that insurance is the wrong model. So what's left?
ceejayoz 12y ago
> More progressive and pro-active then basically socializing 1/7th of the US economy with the ACA? What's socialist about a fine for not purchasing insurance from private corporations?! http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/dec/16/lie-year-government-takeover-health-care/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/dec/16/...

grecy 12y ago

> Squandered his political capital on a shitty health care reform bill I suspect he thought health care for all was more important than fast internet for all.

heywood33 12y ago
Yeah, too bad we voted for health care and got nothing but lousy high deductible insurance. I'll never spend more than $6000 a year on a doctor to make use of it, but that fat ass shoving cheeseburgers in his face can get his third triple bypass on my dime.