The Escape and Subsequent Round Up Of The Sheep

Of all of the stupid things we do, changing our clocks each spring and fall, has to rank near the top. The anarchists of Arizona don't recognize the spring forward, fall back national stupidity that occurs twice a year at 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

In fact, Arizona seems to do just fine without that bi-annual disruption. Odd.

The question I have isn't whether or not the time change is useful- clearly it is not. The real fun occurs when we ask ourselves, "How do we get rid of it?"

Society clings to useless ideas- ideas that have lost their utility or didn't really have any utility to begin with. Nobody wants to say, "that whole time change thing was bullshit." Because if we do that, somebody's feelings might get hurt. Or we might have to actually admit we were idiots for trying it in the first place. So instead, 300 million of us- minus those heartless heathens in Arizona- dutifully disrupt our lives because we are sheep. That's what sheep do. We can't even get rid of some make believe energy saving practice that hasn't saved any energy at all. This has been going on for 40 years. Some dip shit named Hudson started all of this, thus I blame him and in all fairness- back in the 1800's it might have been useful. Now rather than argue about it anymore- we just do the sheep thing twice a year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time

So probably, we will never get rid of this piece of national insanity despite Arizona's trailblazing. The point of this blog will have you scratching your head, I hope, when I beam down the real reason I showcase this sheep-like behavior.

As a nation, we are absolutely outstanding when it comes to implementing ideas. We are true professionals. We will try any lame brained shit based on an outlier, a glimmer of potential success. But where this nation really falls flat on it's face, where we really suck- is our inability to measure the success of something and get rid of it... if it doesn't work. We never make plans to measure the success of a new program or law and if it's not working- have some plan in place to get rid of it. Definable and measurable results. Did the plan achieve measurable results? What a novel idea!

More often than not- our shitty ideas languish like antiquated liquor laws- forever wasting time, taking up space, and irritating folks who are forced to comply with some foolishness generated in the 30's.

Sometimes, bad ideas just make me feel stupid. Near my house and less than a mile away, is a red light that should never have gone up in the first place. It just isn't needed. But rather than get rid of the light in this fully developed area with no potential for future growth- the light will undoubtedly remain in place for eternity. I feel stupid when I am stopped at this light with absolutely no traffic for miles. It is on a two minute timer. I am on a 30 second timer. Sometimes I look both ways and then I run it.

I cannot tell you the amount of joy and exhilaration I get when I run this thing. I do not feel shame or remorse. It is my middle finger to a world where everything must be regulated and where nobody ever questions the need or usefulness of some government intrusion that has no utility or purpose other than it's mere existence.

In 2008, while the world was collapsing and hemorrhaging jobs left and right, it was my contention that  healthy people who had lost jobs would simply drop their health coverage. It was too expensive. The first people to get cut or laid off were always the most junior. The younger, healthier people. So as the healthy people did in fact that very thing- opt out of health care coverage- the old and unhealthy felt the pain. They could not opt out. The insurers, with their shrinking pools of healthy people and thus shrinking pools of available dollars, ratcheted premiums through the roof. This brought health care costs to absolute stratospheric heights as the greed of insurers, malpractice lawyers, administrators, fraud, government waste, patent protection and drug and device company gouging- were all put on full display.

The only way to recapture those healthy minions and their money- was to pass a law which forces the healthy all back in and then call it something else to really hide your true intentions. The affordable care act is bullshit and it most certainly is not affordable unless you live on the poverty line. Then it might be a good deal. More welfare.

Occam's razor. The simplest assumption is often the most accurate. Occam's razor (also written as Ockham's razorLatin lex parsimoniae) is a principle of parsimony, economy, or succinctness used in logic and problem-solving. It states that among competing hypotheses, the one that makes the fewest assumptions should be selected. The healthy minions escaped and that was the collateral damage that occurred in 2008. The health care lobbyists and government want you back. They need your free and unencumbered money to redeploy to unhealthy people and keep their profits and margins intact.

It was always that simple.

The roundup begins later this year. Of course, people are absolutely going to shit bricks when they see just how bad all of this Obamacare really is. Expensive and terrible coverage. Most of us will just opt out and pay the penalty. The penalty is cheap the first year. It is only 95 dollars in 2014. Where else can you get less for more? That is real economy.

We are a long way from measuring the effects of Obamacare. Like daylight savings time and shitty stoplights- Obamacare might have been done with good intentions but the results will be disastrous.

Where did they screw up? Where they always screw up. They forgot to measure and address all of the failing components in the system. Outrageous litigation costs and awards, outrageous malpractice insurance costs. Ridiculous patent protection for drug makers and devices. Price gouging. Ballooning  administrative costs overpaid administrators. Fraud. Medicare and disability fraud. Non profit and tax exempt status.

They didn't lift one finger to fix our broken system. They don't care about fixing it. These aren't public servants- they are employees of the crony capitalists. Anything having to do with cost containment or regulation was simply ignored because those are the elite areas. Lawyers, lobbyists, big pharma, public companies, even bankers. Those people were left untouched because they write the re-election checks, they give the politicians' kids nice jobs.

Government doesn't care as long as they get the healthy minions and their money back.

And they will gouge and tweak Obamacare until such a point that we will all get tired and just "stfu." And it will be around forever. It will never be measured for effectiveness. Like daylight savings time or that light at Shoshone and Overland. It is here to stay.







         

Comments

Anonymous said…
(0$ of the South American population does not have health insurance. Their life expectancy is only slightly lower than that of North Americans.
Anonymous said…
Here in Indiana we did not have the stupid daylight savings time thing for years, but then our previous governor decided it was a good idea and implemented it, along with dividing the state into two time zones. Dumb a$$!

A famous person once said that Daylight Savings Time makes about as much sense as cutting one foot off one end of a blanket, sewing it on the other end, and then claiming you have a longer blanket. It's ludicrous. The amount of daylight hours is the same. If it doesn't match your waking hours and workflow, then change them. It's a helluva lot easier than changing everyone's clocks.
Brian said…
That is a great story. That is how one shitty idea gains traction- and how one guy with a little power gets it done. I especially loved the metaphor with the blanket. Perfect. Thanks for commenting.
Anonymous said…
I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.

Robert A. Heinlein

Brian said…
That is an excellent quote- kind oF encapsulates this blog.
Heinlein said a number of intelligent things as I recall. Thanks for posting this.
Wabano said…
Flying in the Arctic, we did not bother with daylight saving time since every hour we crossed a time zone, going often through five or six, from Greenland to Alaska...it being daylight all day or all night time all the time, depending
on the season...the worse off being the Newfoundlanders calling home, having to deal with a half hour odd one way or the other
Brian said…
I want to go north this summer. Maybe. Thanks for stopping by...

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