News: A Kinder, Gentler Apocalypse

Okay, so most of the libertarian and conservative bloggers out there are lamenting the end of the Republic, but in truth, the health care reform bill is just the latest in a series of unfunded entitlements:



Reason's Matt Welch:

The sky won't fall. It almost never does. Some might argue that's part of the problem.

Those on my exceedingly narrow ledge of this debate -- against both "Obamacare" and George W. Bush's huge 2003 Medicare expansion, in favor of individual choice in all human endeavors, and genuinely alarmed at the lousy long-term consequences of Bush/Obama bailout economics -- are indulging in a bit of "RIP USA" rhetoric after this monumentally expensive lurch still further in the direction of Washington centrism.

But the perhaps less satisfying reality is that we will continue muddling along, doubling the wager while decreasing the odds that private sector innovation will keep on producing enough surplus cash to pay for public sector mistakes.

The subsidization of health care for the poor is a noble goal. Even a dyed-in-the-wool libertarian like me can accept that the majority of folks would be for it. Hell, I'd even be okay, if not exactly enthused, living in an America with universal health care...if we could pay for it. But given that the CBO scored Obamacare based on several things which have absolutely no chance in hell of ever happening (cuts to Medicare, lack of a doc fix, and a new tax on high-end plans that won't take effect for 8 years), I think we may be in trouble.

So, here's a soundtrack for the kinder, gentler apocalypse - Park Vista High School's Striking Cobra Marching Band's "Last Days of Atlantis":