QOTD: Jeff Bryant
by digby
I think this defines the problem for us:
Both Obamacare and Common Core are policies driven by good intentions but flawed in their implementation because of neoliberal execution that relies too much on private enterprises acting with the same good intentions — healthcare insurers for the former and education testing and publishing companies for the latter. And now the Democratic party and “big government” are taking the blame.
And the conservatives are laughing gleefully at the prospect of rewarding these same entities even more with a scheme to “privatize” everything because it will be more “efficient.” It’s a beautiful scam.
Update: Robert Kuttner has the same message in this scathing analysis of the Obamacare rollout:
At the time the law was passed, administration leaders and many commentators compared the Affordable Care Act to Social Security and Medicare. The analogy was never apt. These great achievements are public public programs, efficient to administer and testament to the fact that government can serve social objectives far more effectively than the private sector.
Obamacare, by contrast, is the inefficiency of “public-private partnerships” at its worst. It is a public subsidy for the private insurance industry. No fewer than 55 separate contractors were hired to design the software. Yet though it is not a true public program worthy of the name, Obamacare is being used to discredit government.
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