This article, from the WSJ, tells a precautionary tale that has been told many times in the past.It is a narrative with apparent deal-making,double cross ,doing what seemed expedient and the regrets of buying a pig in a poke.
The prominent business organization, the Business Roundtable, provided valuable support to the Obama administration in regard to the health care bill. Their support, according to this article, was based on the fear that the Obama administration would push forward with a tax on US corporations who have overseas operations. Now Mr. Orszag tells the group that the administration will go ahead with the tax anyway but by the way thanks for your help with the health care bill.
The folks at BR are now realizing what they "gained" from their earlier support .
"Roundtable President John Castellani, ... We stuck with that majority "through trying circumstances," even "alienating many of our traditional colleagues," and what did we get? They keep "vilifying" the private sector! And taxing it, and empowering unions, and ignoring trade. "The time has come for a new course," declared Mr. Castellani, a mere 18 months after Democrats announced plans to tax companies, empower unions and ignore trade."
Several professional medical organizations, including the AMA and the ACP, also supported the health care bill. Both have been rightly critical of the tardiness exhibited by Congress to fix the SGR but ,so far, I have heard no denunciation of the many provisions of Obama care that delegated unprecedented power to the HHS and other government entities and will exert increasing hegemony over the practice of medicine. Rather we have heard self congratulatory comments about furthering social justice which along with having a "seat at the table" may have been all organized medicine received for their support.
h/t to Wolf Files:12% Pure Hope for the link to the WSJ article.See here for his comments which close with this:
"It was the perfect execution of manipulative divide and conquer by a power-hungry government that sees the private sector as its adversary. And the proverbial man who sat idly by as the king ran over all others because it didn't affect him directly is now left without friends to defend him as the king comes knocking on his door."
2 comments:
Ah, but the Business Roundtable seems to be one of the chief proponents of corporatism, or corpocracy. They speak for top hired management, not shareholders, not other employees, and surely not the people at large.
See Robert AG Monks, Corpocracy
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470145099.html
On Health Care Renewal, (http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com) we show how bad leadership by top hired managers of health care organizations is a major reason for the current health care crisis.
I agree.Some times the cahoots arrangements would OK and are apparently good for the corporatists and sometimes not so much.
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