Atlas Shrugged: The Mocking

Friday, October 9, 2009

Bullet Points

Megan McArdle has given us a handy list of her reasons why America cannot do what every other major nation manages to achieve: provide health care for its citizens. Let's take a look!
More wage inequality means doctors need to make more.
Because when society is unequal, we need to give the elite more money to make up for it. In other words, we're selfish, greedy and heartless, not to mention un-Judeo-Christian.
The American political system is especially easy to lobby
We're crooked too.
American public services culture is, in general, less effective than the Nordic countries, and no, this is not simply an artifact of Republicans criticizing government bureaucrats; the government bureaucrats do a great deal that is worthy of criticism

Our lower class is inferior to Nordic countries' lower class. It must be their ethnic-osity.
Path dependence: it's a lot easier not to give people a new drug or treatment than to take one away.
We're indolent and greedy.
Intolerance of tradeoffs: we do not even do the very obvious things to control costs in the system, like rethinking extraordinary measures at the end of life. The harder tradeoffs are simply non-starters.

We're really greedy.
American attitudes toward government: when told they can't have something they want, Americans do not say, oh, okay. They go on the news and call their congressman.
We're incredibly greedy.
Federalist and non-parliamentary democracy: in most other systems, the head of the government tells the government what to do. In our system, you need 220 congressmen and 50-60 senators. There's no way to implement the sort of technocratic change that reformers envision; the politicians will keep sticking their fingers in the pie.
We elect greedy representatives.
Conservatism: the American public is considerably to the right of any European electorate, and no, this isn't just an artifact of Republicans lying to them. They have different attitudes about how much they want the government to do, and how much they are willing to pay to do it. Many of the reforms that hold costs down in Europe are simply non-starters because they smack too much of socialism.
We're also stupid.

Well, that's quite the list. We're too greedy, stupid and "ethnic" to have national health care. And by "we" McArdle obviously means people without elite jobs and Cadillac health care plans. I can understand now why McArdle called herself Jane Galt. When you're surrounded by greedy, lazy, crooked non-Nordic people, you have to protect yourself at all times from everyone's attempts to take advantage of you.

9 comments:

Ken Houghton said...

"in most other systems, the head of the government tells the government what to do."

Really? The Queen (or Gordon Brown) tells Parliament what to do and they just roll over and play dead? The French are so thrilled their Prime Minister can score with Carla Bruni that they let him have anything?? The Germans...well, let's not go there, but suffice to say, I doubt it currently.

And don't tell me the Canadians roll over and believe everything Stephen Harper says; spent too much time there last year to believe that.

Pulling sh*t out of your arse is one thing; when it's flowing from your alleged brain, the best case scenario is that you need an editor.

Downpuppy said...

Megan assumes that everybody is as greedy & inept as she is.

Nobody has heard of the VHA.

Her fans get dumber every day.

Downpuppy said...

We don't mix business and advertising.

Beyond parody.

Anonymous said...

Wow.

Does she even read or comprehend what she writes? Can anyone as (nominally) well-educated as she is be so shallow & stupid?

(I don't know much about the woman at all, but this is the work of a very selfish B-minus 15 year old.)

Also, I keep on reading everywhere that the American public veers to the right. I know the American government does but not its population. The braying yahoos who are worked up by rightwing blowhards are actually a fraction of our population, though they certainly do make a lot of noise.

clever pseudonym said...

Ken already said what I was going to. This is beyond needing an editor. What she needs is a pink slip. How can somebody write stuff this stupid every damn day and still get paid?

tigris said...

Didn't someone here say a while back that what one most deplores in others are one's own faults? Color me shocked that Megan condemns the selfishness, sense of entitlement, greed and laziness of Americans. She only left out how much she also hates their crappy debating skills and fallacious thinking.

clever pseudonym said...

"She only left out how much she also hates their crappy debating skills and fallacious thinking."

She covered that ground when she called Matt Taibbi "the Sarah Palin of journalism."

bulbul said...

tigris,

I was yelling "Projection!" over at FMM when she started spouting off her bullshit about how fat people can't help it, they're controlled by their appetite which is as strong as thirst etc. etc. etc.
Crooked, greedy, stupid - yep, projection.

Susan of Texas said...

Crooked, greedy, stupid - yep, projection.

Yes, it's strange how she assumes everyone is lazy and greedy.