A sad lesson, from Michael Jordan. Upon his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the man considered by many to be the greatest NBA player of all time just seemed petty. He used the speech as a chance to put down his rivals, from his high school coach to opposing players and coaches throughout his career.
It is so sad to see when people are driven, not to excel - but to beat others. To prove (to themselves) that they are better than others. It must come from a deep insecurity.
"Jordan revealed himself to be strangely bitter. You won, Michael. You won it all. Yet he keeps chasing something that he’ll never catch, and sometimes, well, it all seems so hollow for him."
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Brought to you by the same people...
...who brought you Social Security and Medicare.
According to President Obama, that is the reason to not fear that his health care proposal will be "socialism" or a "government takeover" of health care.
Hardly reassuring to me, when I consider that Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid currently account for one third of the US government Federal budget, are leading to larger and larger budget deficits, and no one has a proposal on how to prevent them from going bankrupt as the population ages in the next 30 years.
As I understand it, the main point of the health care proposal is for tax payers to pay for medical insurance of the 30% of people who cannot afford it. So then they can go to the doctor more often, because it is already paid for by insurance. And the process is managed by the government. And somehow this will lower the cost of health care for everyone...
President Obama says we will pay for the cost of this increased coverage by eliminating all the current waste and inefficiency in the health care that is already managed by the government. Then with this expanded coverage, government will get more efficient and less wasteful.
From the opinion piece on President Obama's speech in the LA Times:
"The challenge for those who want a comprehensive bill is more in the politics -- in particular, the allegation that "Obama-care" is a government takeover of the healthcare system, burdening taxpayers with a ruinously expensive new obligation. The president offered a persuasive response to part of that critique, making the case that the flaws in the current system threaten all Americans. He soft-pedaled the controversial"public option" plan, and portrayed his plan as a melding of Republican and Democratic ideas with the same moral underpinning as Social Security and Medicare. Those initiatives were also branded "socialism" or a "government takeover," Obama noted, subtly warning opponents that they risk being on the wrong side of history."
According to President Obama, that is the reason to not fear that his health care proposal will be "socialism" or a "government takeover" of health care.
Hardly reassuring to me, when I consider that Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid currently account for one third of the US government Federal budget, are leading to larger and larger budget deficits, and no one has a proposal on how to prevent them from going bankrupt as the population ages in the next 30 years.
As I understand it, the main point of the health care proposal is for tax payers to pay for medical insurance of the 30% of people who cannot afford it. So then they can go to the doctor more often, because it is already paid for by insurance. And the process is managed by the government. And somehow this will lower the cost of health care for everyone...
President Obama says we will pay for the cost of this increased coverage by eliminating all the current waste and inefficiency in the health care that is already managed by the government. Then with this expanded coverage, government will get more efficient and less wasteful.
From the opinion piece on President Obama's speech in the LA Times:
"The challenge for those who want a comprehensive bill is more in the politics -- in particular, the allegation that "Obama-care" is a government takeover of the healthcare system, burdening taxpayers with a ruinously expensive new obligation. The president offered a persuasive response to part of that critique, making the case that the flaws in the current system threaten all Americans. He soft-pedaled the controversial"public option" plan, and portrayed his plan as a melding of Republican and Democratic ideas with the same moral underpinning as Social Security and Medicare. Those initiatives were also branded "socialism" or a "government takeover," Obama noted, subtly warning opponents that they risk being on the wrong side of history."
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