Differing only in degree and implementation

Ry stopped by my office today and after we completed the work discussion I mentioned that I had lunch with a friend who is in the health insurance industry. I repeated part of the rant I heard at lunch. It went something like, “We spent years implementing Obamacare and we had to get information from the Whitehouse blog because they did rule-making via the blog. Then last week it was from the President’s speech. And today they came up with a letter we will be ‘required’ to send our customers?”

Ry replied, “I hope they like discounts on Samsung products.”

I thought about that for about five seconds without being able to make any sense of it. I was a little behind in the news. Venezuela is nationalizing businesses and selling things at “fair prices”. Samsung is the most recent to enter into a “joint venture” with the government.

“So you think he will take over the insurance industry with the stroke of a pen?”, I asked. Paraphrasing just a bit; Ry replied, “Just like in The Matrix where there was no spoon, here, there is no pen. He is playing 3-D chess and we are trying to play checkers against him. We are concerned about the rule of law and he has changed the legal landscape and moved on. What is happening here only differs in degree and implementation from Venezuela.”

I have no counter to his assertion.

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9 thoughts on “Differing only in degree and implementation

  1. I hope Ry is wrong. I don’t think Captain Zero is that smart, or the Dems that organized. But one way or another, I expect we will be in for some “clarifying moments” in the next year or so, as various things blow up or fall apart, and large numbers of people have absolutely no idea where they stand on the legality of their choices. And when people get afraid, afraid that no matter what they do they are screwed, then they get desperate. And I think a lot of pols, businesses, and individuals are going to start getting very scared soon.

    • Rolf,
      I hope I’m wrong, too, but the realization “there is no pen” struck me out of nowhere and really snapped into place. If Obama ideates something, it’s law because he says so. He’s moved beyond ramming laws through because he doesn’t need to any more. We talk about seeking redress in the courts because we’re insane.

      The worst part is, of course, theory is now practice. I’m sure lots of people had a “sure, it may be possible” idea about everything that’s happened in the last year WRT the IRS and NSA, but now anyone truly diabolical and plotting knows they get to hold those levers if they can get on top of the throne. When that happens, we’re in for a world of hurt.

      It was part of a larger conversation, but Joe boiled down the insights just fine. I’m still pretty pissed off but what can you do?

      • What can you do? Tell the libs, politely, that you hope they like choking down that crap sandwich they voted in favor of, elections have consequences. They should consider what happens when the next Republican prez tries to ram something through the libs don’t like (goose, gander, all that).

        Of course the other thing you can do it point out just what you did – if he can do this, what CAN’T he do? The next six weeks look to be very informative. I hope it’s not to big an inflection point in history.

      • Unfortunatly I think you’re 100% right and the move yesterday by Big Daddy Warbucks Reid to eliminate the filibuster is just the next step.

        After Barry gets done packing the courts, there will be nothing but the illusion of a republic left, no different than when Augustus rolled all the power of the Roman state within himself.

    • And secondarily if I lived in DC and my last name was Thomas, Scalia, Alito or Kennedy, I’d watch my back to make sure I don’t suffer an “unfortunate” accident…

      • Kennedy? That disgusting waffler who wouldn’t know a constitutional principle if it fell on his head?

  2. Related thought. The website “Exchanges” to sign people up are, generally speaking, a mess. A huge mess. For uninterrupted coverage come the 1st of Jan, people will need to be signed up by December 15th, but they may not be able to do so. There may be a lot of people going to new year’s parties with a big cloud of uncertainty hanging over them. Traditionally the new year’s eve / day crash stats are pretty ugly, but showing up at the ER w/o current insurance could make it even worse. What happens (more crashes or less, etc), and how people and pols respond to that may provide some insight into what’s coming as things churn on.

  3. Pingback: Random thought of the day | The View From North Central Idaho

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