I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
If I were the government and had a 1984-style telescreen (and who is to say that, after four more years of Obama, we won’t?), I’m sure I would see many dour conservative faces out there. And that’s okay. Given Tuesday’s election results, it’s perfectly normal for conservatives to feel as if our heads have been sliced open with a Ginsu Knife and the contents fed into a Veg-O-Matic. So don’t hold back the tears. Let it all out and cry if you want to.
But don't succumb to complete despair. There is a bright side to Obama’s reelection, you know; several, in fact. For example:
-- Have you been meaning to read Atlas Shrugged, but haven’t gotten around to it? Well, you needn’t bother now, as you’ll be experiencing it in real life.
-- Has that full-time job (assuming you have one) got you too busy? Obamacare’s 30-hour work rule practically guarantees that many of those jobs “created or saved” (singlehandedly!) by President Obama will be of the part-time variety very soon. Who’s to say that the next full time worker to have his hours cut won’t be you? Just consider the extra 'me time' a gift from Washington.
-- Any of you younger folks jealous of your parents 'tales of derring-do during long hours spent waiting to gas up the ol’ jalopy during the Carter years? Then prepare yourself for a real treat as you stand in line to exercise your “right” to health care insurance. Though they both contain the word health, having health insurance is not the same thing as having health care. Don't worry, you'll understand the difference soon. And when you do, you are in for a real treat. Take it from me, whose internist accepts no insurance, of any kind -- you haven’t lived until you’ve had to scrape together $2,500 for a colonoscopy.
-- Speaking of health care, do you really trust yourself to make your own decisions in that department? For example, if you’re a senior citizen, are you really fit to weigh the costs and benefits of a medical treatment that could save your life? No, better to leave such decisions to an objective third party, such as a gaggle of unelected bureaucrats in Washington who don’t know you from a hole in the ground – a hole in the ground not unlike the one in which you could soon find yourself, thanks to the Independent Payment Advisory Board (don't worry, it won't necessarily be that bad -- cremation is also an option). I, for one, welcome our new IPAB overlords.
-- Are you ashamed of the U.S. dollar because, even after years of Bernanke money-printing, the darn stuff still retains just too much purchasing power? If you are, you’ll be happy to learn that the printing presses have continued to operate through the election cycle and now, with Obama around for another four years, appear unlikely to stop anytime soon. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
-- Journalists longing for the days of Richard Nixon and Watergate can look forward to Benghazi-gate. As former president Bill Clinton once said, “The truth will come out.” And as someone who was temporarily disbarred for lying to a federal judge, he should know. So, all you Woodward and Bernstein wannabes out there, fire up those laptops, hit the pavement, and remember: No one died in Watergate.
-- Are you embarrassed by your bad habit of taking on only as much debt as you can handle and paying it back on time? Do would-be friends shun you for your thriftiness? Do people shake their heads and sigh when you inadvertently reveal your strong credit rating? Just remind them that S&P has already downgraded the credit rating for the entire nation. And if that doesn’t do the trick, inform them that Fitch is threatening a second downgrade. So in fact, you are in debt. We all are.
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Jun '10
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
Yup. Poverty is fun. It's like going camping all the time.
Edited on November 8, 2012 at 6:50pmMar '11
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
This was fantastic. Thank you for cheering me up, in a gallows humor kind of way.
Jun '10
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
All true. And if you happen to be obese, you'll be pleased to know that shivering in the dark burns more calories than jogging.
Jul '12
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
At least we won't have to work in any underground sugar caves.
Edit: I just want to say that I commented before going to your Kent Brockman link. Recognized it from the post title.
Edited on November 8, 2012 at 7:02pmSep '12
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
If we've experienced the "Social Darwinism" of price rationing in the past, then what we'll experience in future is the Social Darwinism of scarcity rationing, which is to say that a broke government who prints more money than it takes in tax revenues from wealth producers can't pay for the doctors, nurses, and drug companies who would labor to keep you alive if they were being paid to do so, but aren't.
If you understand the foregoing, welcome to your future: We know you won't like it. If you don't understand, then take this shovel and go dig a trench over there, 6 feet by three feet by six feet, then kneel down beside it and wait for me to come along; I'll be along shortly.
Edited on November 8, 2012 at 8:13pmAug '12
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
Thanks for the cheery words. We all seem to be predicting doom-and-gloom for the next few years. I suppose we're frustrated with an electorate that keeps asking for and getting Breads and Circuses. I'm tired of these clowns myself. I just hate that they're making me pay for everybody's health care.
I saw yesterday that there is a version of "Atlas Shrugged" on Netflix. I haven't read the book, but maybe I'll watch the show to see how we'll be living.
One other thing - it's a not so dirty little secret that the national debt would be significantly higher if the interest rates had not been kept down to near-zero by the Fed. Any guesses to interest costs on $16T would be if the rate goes up by 2%? Bueller, Bueller...
Oct '10
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
(Heard in San Francisco):
"IPAD overlords? Yes, please!"
Aug '10
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
If you are picking up Atlas Shrugged, or already did but can't get past the writing style, or read it back in college and liked it... also pick up The Auctioneer, a less fantastical take on similar themes of man's tyranny. It's one of those books that makes your blood boil and your spine crawl, because the incremental disaster is all too plausible.
(Ignore that weird cover art on the reprint, it's a seriously good read.)
Aug '11
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
Gene, what you say appeals to me. I think the post is good. But I'd put money on this: whatever goes wrong with Obamacare will be because "Republicans fought the good parts of the bills" and "we didn't fund it enough" and here's the kicker-- "things would be worse without it! (After all, only rich people had coverage before Obama.)
What about the stimulus? They say the same thing-- "we should've spent 1.5 trillion." (No one ever says we should've spent 2 trillion.)
Sep '12
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
Both the 2008 and 2012 Obama campaigns call to mind another Simpsons line: "The politics of failure have failed. We need to make them work again!"
Apr '12
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
IPAB Overlords can be fun too
Jul '11
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
It is easy to see when the winners and losers are picked. I greatly fear the end of medicine outside the reach of the overlords. I'm not too old to reinvent myself but I'd rather not.
For society, many of your concerns will come true. We rejected a skillful financial manager in favor of Robin Hood. Atlas Shrugged indeed.
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
Thanks, I hadn't thought of that! And did you know, laboratory rats fed starvation diets, live longer?
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
RightinChicago
At least we won't have to work in any underground sugar caves.
Edit: I just want to say that I commented before going to your Kent Brockman link. Recognized it from the post title. · 4 hours ago
Edited 4 hours ago
Here, where I live, NYC, sugar caves not an issue - or it won't be, if Nanny Bloomberg achieves his dream of banning sugar.
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
You've put your finger on one of the most worrisome problems. Interest rates cannot stay this low forever; eventually, they must rise. Another credit downgrade? An especially disastrous Treasury auction? All it takes is one major creditor - or an enormous aggregation of minor ones - to demand a higher rate and the whole house of cards collapses so fast, our heads will spin. 1987... 2000... 2008... when a bubble bursts, the ensuing avalanche comes fast.
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
Goldgeller: Gene, what you say appeals to me. I think the post is good. But I'd put money on this: whatever goes wrong with Obamacare will be because "Republicans fought thegood parts of the bills" and "we didn't fund it enough" and here's the kicker-- "things would be worse without it! (After all, only rich people had coverage before Obama.)
What about the stimulus? They say the same thing-- "we should've spent 1.5 trillion." (No one ever says we should've spent 2 trillion.) · 58 minutes ago
That's why we need to hold Boehner's feet to the fire. Refuse any offer to "improve" Obamacare. Demand repeal; if the Democrats won't, then let them (and, sadly, us) live with the results of the bill they shoved down our throats, until it collapses under its own weight.
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
I want the blonde babe in the "Wink of an Eye" episode from the original Star Trek:
Edited on November 9, 2012 at 12:11amAug '11
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
Gene, I totally agree with you on Boehner. Please add McConnell to the mix as well. We need to hold them to the fire. I wonder how long it will be before he caves on repealing Obamacare? I wonder how long it will be until great conservative writers say "take the compromise here so that we can have the important fight later on." That's what happened last year with the Continuing Resolution battle. The real important thing was the debt ceiling! (My mistake!) And what did we get from the debt ceiling? A "compromise" where Obama get's what he wanted. Mitch McConnell's gambit that the Democrats would "pay" for owning the national debt really paid off.
Here's to hoping!
May '11
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
Gene Schwimmer, Guest Contributor
Goldgeller: Gene, what you say appeals to me. I think the post is good. But I'd put money on this: whatever goes wrong with Obamacare will be because "Republicans fought thegood parts of the bills" and "we didn't fund it enough" and here's the kicker-- "things would be worse without it! (After all, only rich people had coverage before Obama.)
What about the stimulus? They say the same thing-- "we should've spent 1.5 trillion." (No one ever says we should've spent 2 trillion.) · 58 minutes ago
That's why we need to hold Boehner's feet to the fire. Refuse any offer to "improve" Obamacare. Demand repeal; if the Democrats won't, then let them (and, sadly, us) live with the results of the bill they shoved down our throats, until it collapses under its own weight. · 1 hour ago
I agree with you about not compromising on repeal. I am almost willing to drive over the fiscal cliff to show what Obama's policies result in, but Obamacare fundamentally transforms the relationship of a citizen with a no-longer free society.
May '11
Re: I, For One, Welcome Our New IPAB Overlords
I didn't say exactly what I mean. I know that is a surprise. There is no resonable path to repeal. Improving Obamacare is not possible without repeal so we are going to have to live with the horrible consequences until it collapses. Make sure you have a physician who knows your name and will return your call when you need him or her.