What's next with the healthcare fiasco? Court battles loom, many are talking of repeal, and some states are moving toward the notion of resisting implementation. Other than the new taxes and fees, very little of the healthcare bill takes effect for the next four years. Seems like the perfect setup for the Republicans to take advantage of, if they have the guts.
Me, I'm pinning my hopes on the sentimate that animates the Tea Parties: disgust with our entire current political class, whatever party they happen to be a member of. The underlying thing that got us into the situation is very simple: we elected these politicians.
Now we need to unelect them (by electing different people). And that's what the Tea Parties are all about. If we elect Tea Party candidates, I have little doubt that the healthcare abomination will be repealed. If we elect conventional candidates, I have little doubt that it will be expanded (it's a bureaucratic law, you know)...
Since they will be collecting money for 4 years before any benefits are paid out, you can bet this cash bonanza won't be going into any Al Gore "lock box" any more than the decades of Social Security surpluses did. Politicians can't leave any money un-spent.
ReplyDeleteIn all likely-hood this money will be used for other things immediately and probably as slight of hand to make the deficits look better just as Social Security was. And if it is used on long-term obligations as was done with the windfall during the dot-com boom, we will still be stuck with those additional expenditures along with the cost of health care in 4 years.
So if this doesn't get repealed, and repealed quickly, this will be just doubling-down on the debt.
Larry