Sunday, October 07, 2007

Robb From the Middle Class



Robert Robb screwed up his job and actually let a sliver of truth sneak into one of his pestilential newspaper columns.

"Well, in a May report, the Congressional Budget Office said this: "CBO concludes that the reduction in private coverage among children is most probably between a quarter and a half of the increase in public coverage resulting from SCHIP."

CBO estimated that the specific bill Bush vetoed would result in 2 million fewer children having private insurance. "


There's the rub. The idea is to take care of corporations, not children. Why should people demand from their government a service that should rightly provide profits to corporations?

The answer is: Because we are not fascists. It says so right there in The Preamble. The Founders actually believed in that stuff, you know. "We the people" and all that.

"Only lay down true principles, and adhere to them inflexibly. Do not be frightened into their surrender by the alarms of the timid, or the croakings of wealth against the ascendency of the people." Thom Jefferson again.

Back to Robb who sternly claims:

"It's regrettable when politicians won't honestly address the consequences of their proposals. Not surprising or unusual, mind you. Just regrettable."

It's even more regrettable and of much greater consequence when powerful corporations and their poltical and media whores similarly do not honestly address the true nature of their own proposals.

Middle class people who can afford private health insurance are not to be allowed government assistance. So say the rightwing waterboys for the rich. They have decided who can afford what. That's their idea of a "free market."

I presume that if Robb were to personally benefit from a program that would allow him to divert some of his own income away from private insurance and towards other things, like the purchase of a new brain maybe, that instead he would opt to send his money along to profit corporate class warriors.

Good boy. Have a biscuit.

But Robb inadvertantly let the secret out. His pimps think that the expansion of SCHIP was a bad idea because it might eat into corporate profits. He wasn't supposed to come right out and put that into print.

Bad boy. No biscuit.

One last little thing: it's not really a doggie-bone. It's a bar of soap. He should wash out his mouth with it.

5 comments:

Dirk Gently said...

"affordable" health care is such an interesting concept. because everyone knows that a budget involves choices - so what things are we willing to sacrifice for good health? which things are more important?

when the chimp bemoans the fact that increasing schip will result in people dropping their private plans to get on to a government program, he is not taking into account what a burden those private accounts are. he acts as though everyone who does so doesn't even need the schip - i mean, they were paying for insurance before, right?

i guess he expects them all to pocket the savings and go to disneyland.

because god forbid that poor children have a day in the magic kingdom. or a decent place to live. or three meals a day. or whatever it was that their families had to do without in order to afford health insurance.

Anonymous said...

If private insurance is so great, presumably it can defeat rasty ol' government insurance in the marketplace... right?

--Charles of MercuryRising
www.phoenixwoman.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Yes, I'm sure people go on assistance programs because it's so much better than their private insurance.

Sheesh.

My OB/GYN was spewing this crap yesterday at my annual appointment, how the rich folks of Rancho Santa Fe would be abusing SCHIP to get health care for their kids. If I hadn't been half-naked at the time, I would have walked out on her.

I doubt I'll be back to that office.

Anonymous said...

shrimplate i love you as much as a i loathe robb. what do you think of the healthy az initiative?
nadine

Becca said...

Who's giving biscuits to Mr. Robb? That smacks of welfare, IMO. ;-)

"No [soup|biscuit] for you!"