A Novel Solution

We have too many people and not enough money, energy or space to deal with a world of nearly seven billion people. What is needed is a cheap, efficient way to deal with the strain on our resources. Here in America we have to share in the solution to cut costs and return some balance to the economy.

We can start by eliminating the sick, handicapped and elderly. They contribute nothing to the economy, they take up space and energy. The elderly spend their time in idle retirement draining Social Security. Raise the retirement age to seventy. Anyone above that-eliminate. The handicapped are obviously a waste of money. Do you know how much it cost to keep this man alone alive? We’re talking serious liability here. The cost to extend the lives of the sick and terminal ill is staggering- and for what? It’s just an ugly dilemma when the pesky notion of ethics meets the realities of commerce.

Paul Krugman asked in a recent column: “How did it become normal- or for that matter acceptable - to refer to medical patients as ‘consumers’ and doctors as ‘care providers’ ?” Because Mr. Wimpy liberal, health care is a business. It’s a product to be consumed and the cost efficiency must be contained if it is to remain profitable. It’s not just some essential need to keep people healthy.

Why stop there? Let’s bring back eugenics. The state can’t afford to pay for the lazy poor, pregnant single women, and illegal immigrants. It puts a strain on those who contribute to society; you know, people who work for a living. This solution has many advantages. It opens up more housing and resources thus improving profitability.

Forget all the abstract talk of ethics and such, this is about practicality.
Instead of sitting around pondering the morality of every goddamn problem let’s just do something for a change and worry about the consequences later. Humanity never could come to an agreement on such weighty matters anyway. Regarding problems as black or white has a certain elegant simplicity to it.

Either you are a contributing member of a capitalistic, consumer driven economy or you are a loafing socialist who’s thinks you are entitled to a free handout from the government. Only the fit and productive are allowed to live and prosper.

If you are nodding your head in agreement at any of this Swiftian satire, then you need to reconsider your values. It’s a shameful world when we look on each other as commodities or liabilities. We are human beings not products to be thrown away carelessly like a cheap plastic toy. What each of us contributes to the world can not be measured on a ledger sheet. Oscar Wilde remarked that “Americans know the price of everything but the value of nothing.”

Economics has ruined everything. There is no room for such things as kindness where profits are the only measure or worth. Our society is so desperate and money driven that we have lost sight of the social values we esteem. Discussion of ethics has become an abstract we praise without practicing. Mr. Krugman- an economist- sees the danger of this kind of thinking and we need to stop it.

The Honeybadger don't give a shit

Warning! This video is graphic and funny as hell. I think I found my new catch phrase.

Quote of the Day

“Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

-Herman Goering at the Nuremburg Trials

The Real Threat

Poor Tracy Morgan has fallen for the current Threat du Jour to society. In his blundering rant he declared if his son were gay he would stab him.

Funny, thirty years ago a white guy could say if his son dated his white daughter he would stab him too. And the people would nod in agreement. A portion of in this country still view interracial marriages as immoral.

It’s easy to demonize a small minority as a threat to our children and the moral fiber of our society. Like the bully at school we find a easy target of our fear in the defenseless. People want so hard to believe in a clearly identifiable cause of our problems and solutions that are just as clear.

If we liquidate all the money grubbing Jews, Germany will be great again. If we drive out the commies lurking among the liberal intellectuals- then democracy will be safe. If we stop those uppity blacks who need to know their place then everything will be fine.

It’s common for us to point the finger at those who are truly guiltless as the real danger. With a large dose of hyperbole and fear they become immense and frightening. Why do we do this? Because the real source of our unease is change but that’s subtle, inevitable and hard to pin down, blaming -fill in the blank - is far easier.

Healthcare is big business because. . . .

As pointed out on Andrew Sullivan's blog site one of the reasons why healthcare cost so much in America is that Americans want to see specialists ( thanks to the promotion by the AMA) and they cost so much because people think that medicine has to be expensive to work. Good cheap doctors- which a lot of patients in other countries get without too much compliant -are hard to come by in the profit driven healthcare business here.