My family is on vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Last night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe.  As usual, it was fun.  Decent food, cool stuff on the walls, classic rock videos blasting (which of course, only the adults remembered…the kids might as well have been watching Lawrence Welk).

Aspens...from Hard Rock Cafe?

Aspens...from Hard Rock Cafe?

As we left, I saw that the children had received little ‘save the Earth’ packets with three Aspen tree seeds inside.  Wow.  We’re all better off now!  And I thought for a bit.  Even if we plant those trees, are famous musicians and their fans really that Earth friendly?  I mean, is a concert venue with tens of thousands, or even 100’s of thousands of people, really an Earth-friendly event?  Concessions, trash, electricity, traffic.  Not to mention noise!  And the fuel to bring concert-goers, as well as the transportation of truck-loads of concert equipment and the lavish transportation of the ‘talent.’  Talk about your footprint!

The same is true of all those accusing large families and SUV’s of destroying the planet.  No mention of all-night restaurants and clubs in large cities; no mention of casinos in Las Vegas, or the endless use of computers and other electronics for entertainment among the childless urban population!  What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, you know.

But the inconsistencies go on.  Physicians who are hot for health-care reform, who greatly desire to pass the current Obama-backed reforms for the good of the poor, are not people anxious to cut their salaries in half to help the poor.  I think they hope the plan will prop up their incomes, rather than diminish them.  I know some who really want the legislation to pass, but who also rail against the increased taxes it will cost them to buy a new luxury vehicle.

I mean, we can fix the whole problem.  We can cut health-care costs dramatically.  All we need to do is pay every physician $50,000 and every nurse $25,000.  Every hospital can cut services and support staff.  We can go back to wards and we can accept a certain inevitability of bad outcomes.  In a generation or two, we’ll get used to it! I doubt if anyone in medicine, nursing, administration or even the patient population will be keen on that.

Further inconsistencies abound.  People in other professions, people with non-health related jobs, want a cut in costs.  I understand. But do they want to cut their own charges?  I mean, if I make a whole bunch less, will I get my car fixed for less?  Will my children get their educations for less? Of course not, I’m a doctor, I can pay for it, right?  Well, not if I’m making less.  So, if I give up my income, what will other people give up?  Will my tax burden go down?  Will my home-repairs be less?

There are inconsistencies here.  And nowhere more obvious than in the health-care debate.

And as Opus the Penguin said, ‘Sneaky inconsistency keeps me up at night!’

Opus

Opus

Edwin

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