Progressives
Does Anyone Know If the HCR Does Anything to Stop Hospital Price Gouging? The Coakley Report Edition
mikethemadbiologist | March 22, 2010Since the Congress passed Romneycare, it's worth looking at the major driver in Massachusetts of medical inflation--price gouging by hospitals and physicians groups that are able to set prices due to de facto monopoly power. From the MA Attorney General's office (italics mine; underscore original):
In a presentation at the hearing, Attorney General Coakley, with the assistance of staff from her Health Care Division and two expert witnesses, outlined seven key findings that have powerful implications for the health care marketplace in Massachusetts...
2) Price variations for hospitals and…
mikethemadbiologist | January 25, 2010In the battle of ideas, what things are called matters (e.g., the 'death tax' instead of the estate tax). So I'm utterly puzzled as to why Paul Krugman is calling the current state of play in healthcare centrist:
The fact is that the Senate bill is a centrist document, which moderate Republicans should find entirely acceptable. In fact, it's very similar to the plan Mitt Romney introduced in Massachusetts just a few years ago.
This is not a centrist bill. After one considers everything that those left-of-center bargained away, it's hard to see how this bill could be any farther to the right…
mikethemadbiologist | January 20, 2010These will have to be some quick hits, since I'm at a meeting; I'll try to revisit them later this week:
1) The absolute numbers indicate that Democrats lost this election:
In 2008, Obama received 1,904,097 votes; in 2009, Coakley received 1,058,682.
In 2008, McCain received 1,108,854 votes; in 2009, Brown received 1,168,107 votes.
This is a massive defection by Democrats--it's nearly a 50% drop for Democrats versus the Republicans holding steady in absolute numbers. 20% of Obama voters crossed over to Brown.
2) Following on #1, the entire active rank-and-file warned the Democratic '…
mikethemadbiologist | January 17, 2010By way of ScienceBlogling Sharon Astyk, I came across this piece that argues that much of political paralysis the U.S. suffers from is due to a dearth of effective community organizations:
The key to understanding the power of citizens' organizations is that representative democracy doesn't respond to the will of individuals; it responds to pressure exerted by groups. Those who organize to put pressure on the system generally get at least some of what they want, and the longer and harder they push, the more of it they get. Those who don't organize, by their lack of organization, make…
mikethemadbiologist | September 21, 2009And I don't mean that as a compliment. Leon Wieseltier has an excellent response to the NY Times Magazine editor Gerald Marzorati who described the magazine's ideology as:
Call it Urban Modern. That is, I think it reflects not a left-or-right POLITICAL ideology but a geographical one, the mentality of the place it is created: 21st Century Manhattan. So: the Magazine reflects a place where women have professional ambition, where immigrants are welcome, and where gays and lesbians can be themselves (if not marry, yet). The Magazine also reflects a place where being rich is not a bad thing,…
mikethemadbiologist | September 10, 2009Needless to say, I'm not happy with Obama's healthcare proposal. Before I get into this, I want to make something clear: my opposition is due to experience, not ideology. If it appeared (or better, if there were evidence) that putting on a pink mumu, whirling a rubber chicken around our heads, and singing the Star Spangled Banner would make a good healthcare system, then rubber chickens, mumus, and singing lessons all around.
But what Obama proposed is what we're living through in Massachusetts. And it's, at best, a modest improvement--it's more 'chang-iness' than significant change.…
mikethemadbiologist | April 14, 2009While I'm away on vacation, here's a blast from the past:
Once again, the science framing wars have flared up. While I'm not allergic to the concept of framing as some are, one of the major reasons why I'm not a big fan of dwelling on the topic is that obsessing over language reminds me of the late 80s and 90s when the Left won the battle of words, and the fundamentalist Uruk-hai took over the damn country.
I've been doing some thinking about the 'progressive' concern with media communication (including my own)--and it is important, no doubt about it. But, as the 2006 elections have shown,…
mikethemadbiologist | June 29, 2008Outsourced to The Sideshow:
I think I have to disagree with Digby here when she assures me that Obama is lots better than McCain. I mean, yes, I think Obama is lots better than McCain, if only because it's hard to imagine he'd be worse, but: I'm tired of having to make that assumption. I'm tired of just hearing it from his supporters or other Dems who want me to vote for him. Most of all, I'm tired of having to keep saying it to my readers when he keeps doing things that tell me I can't rely on his judgment. He had to be told that voting for Roberts was a bad idea? He actually says out…
mikethemadbiologist | June 8, 2008I've been very leary of all of the discussions of Obama as a transformative figure: I remember in Virginia when Doug Wilder was elected as the first black governor since Reconstruction and then...a few years later, a wave of conservatism washed over, well, everything. But, nonetheless, Obama's nomination does lend itself to some optimism:
Here is the fundamental tragedy of the backlash [against civil rights]: Voters like this empowered a party that decided they didn't need protection against predatory subprime mortgage fraud. Didn't need affordable, universal health insurance; made it…
mikethemadbiologist | May 12, 2008Over at Balloon Juice, Tim F. writes regarding skyrocketing gas prices:
I don't feel particularly smug when I stand next to my Honda Fit watching some SUV owner near tears as she puts more than $100 of gas into a car she doesn't need. It just feels sad to think about how long it's been since it became obvious to anyone who cared to look that we won't be able to scare off problems like fuel scarcity and climate change by closing our eyes and wishing.
That lead time was an opportunity to make changes. Some would have been painful and some merely sensible, but it would prevent huge numbers of…
mikethemadbiologist | April 22, 2008While I'm away on vacation, here's one from the wayback machine about how Democrats might actually want to try throwing money at people who support them, as opposed to those who hate them:
The Strangler has an thought-provoking editorial (and very, very long) "The Urban Archipelago" on why liberals should focus on state and local control. I'm not entirely sure that a city-first approach is feasible, but I think it's good that Democrats are beginning to realize that they should help themselves first and foremost (I excerpted my favorite part):
Let's see, what else are we for? How about…
mikethemadbiologist | April 13, 2008I've never understood why so many liberals and progressives think the Democratic field is strong. Yes, the candidates aren't insane, but neither of them are particularly good on economic issues. There is nothing in either Clinton's or Obama's records or speeches that suggests that they will do anything significant to reduce income inequality, other than perhaps letting the Bush tax cuts expire (and Obama has even been waffling on that).
And keep in mind, that income inequality isn't just a matter of economically integrating more people into society. That's not some gushy, "it's not fair"…
mikethemadbiologist | January 15, 2008John Aravosis demonstrates once again why I refuse to call myself a progressive (italics mine):
Seriously, any plan to bail these people out had better include a test to prove that they were hoodwinked by their mortgage broker. Otherwise, they gambled and they lost. Lots of people bought homes and did what it took to make their payments, and did make their payments, and others opted not to buy at all until the market settled down. We should not be bailing people out for being idiots, or for trying to make a fast buck, especially when it means the rest of us will now have to pay more for…
mikethemadbiologist | January 8, 2008Apparently, Matt Stoller, like the Mad Biologist, wants to hear a dog whistle from Obama too (italics mine):
74% of young caucus goers self-identified as Democrats, and 73% self-identified is liberals. Yeah, that's some post-partisan and post-ideological generation coming through the ranks.
This is actually one of my great frustrations with the Obama campaign and Obama supporters. Even when Obama wins a victory on the back of the liberal, creative class vote, both his campaign and his supporters--most of whom are liberals--repeat the mantra that the victory was some sort of post-partisan and…
mikethemadbiologist | December 17, 2007John Aravosis, in a burst of rage, demonstrates why I can't stand 'progressives' (italics mine):
I don't claim to be an expert on health care policy, and admit that my eyes gloss over when trying to understand the differences between Hillary's, Obama's, and Edwards' health care plan. But I have a gut feeling that none of those plans are meant to help people like me, people in the middle, people who are neither rich nor poor. Just like the sub-prime bail-out, where our politicians are helping to artificially inflate real estate prices so first-time home buyers like me can pay tens of thousands…
mikethemadbiologist | October 20, 2007maha had a very interesting post about the eroding support among Corporate America for the Republican Party:
I want to go back to the notion that the Bushies are agents of corporate America, verses the "lethal amateurishness of these loyal Bushies" apparent now even to CEOs. I think the Bushies saw themselves as agents of corporate America, people who would "run the government like a business," to recall a popular phrase of the 1990s. When the Bush Administration began the Bushies were full of the conceit that they were so much more disciplined and business-like than the Clintons they could…
mikethemadbiologist | October 16, 2007Once again, the science framing wars have flared up. While I'm not allergic to the concept of framing as some are, one of the major reasons why I'm not a big fan of dwelling on the topic is that obsessing over language reminds me of the late 80s and 90s when the Left won the battle of words, and the fundamentalist Uruk-hai took over the damn country.
I've been doing some thinking about the 'progressive' concern with media communication (including my own)--and it is important, no doubt about it. But, as the 2006 elections have shown, if words aren't turned into the exercise of power, there…
mikethemadbiologist | September 7, 2007...he is us. Over at Open Left, Chris Bowers relates the results of some polling. Democratic voters were asked the following question:
Now I'm going to read you a list of people, organizations. For each person or organization, please tell me which of the following four choices comes closest to what you think their view is on what the U.S. should do in Iraq?
The respondents had four choices:
1. Make no cutbacks in U.S. troops in Iraq.
2. Leave a substantial number of troops in Iraq, but have them concentrate on training Iraqis and targeting Al Qaeda leaders in Iraq.
3. Start withdrawing…
mikethemadbiologist | August 30, 2007No, "I think I'm pregnant" is a universal constant. The four words are "It can be better." Recently, maha and I have written some posts about conservatism. I've also finished reading Joe Bageant's Deer Hunting with Jesus which is an excellent natural history of Southern conservatives (note: I grew up about 60 miles from Bageant's hometown of Winchester). I'll have more to say about the book, but one part that crystallized something for me was this (italics mine):
Being a southerner, I have hated in my lifetime. I can remember schoolyard discussions of supposed "nigger knifing" of white…
mikethemadbiologist | August 2, 2007Well, Dobzhansky actually said, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution", but, as I've mentioned before, there's a lot to be learned from the sociopolitcal controversy surrounding evolutionary biology. Over at Pandagon, Amanda writes about Ross Douthat's ridiculous claim that those who favor legal and safe abortion are eugenicists (italics mine):
Anti-choicers who engage the "OHMIGOD EUGENICS" argument are advancing what might be the classic bad faith argument. They're not interested in stopping eugenics so much as creating a wedge issue that will cause liberals to…