The problem now with the ACA is that we're in too deep. There isn't any escape route that doesn't lead to catastrophe.

The ACA (aka Obamacare) tore down an old system and tried to erect a new system to replace it. The new system doesn't work (and indeed, it's looking increasingly like it cannot work) but the old system is already gone. If, for instance, Congress were to repeal the law and by some miracle get Obama to sign it, or override a veto, that wouldn't help.

I'm not just talking about the web site. It's looking increasingly like the entire concept doesn't work in actuarial terms.

Millions of people are going to lose their insurance starting January 1. At this time, it's impossible for them to get new insurance as a replacement. They have to sign new contracts and make payments by December 15, and the new system doesn't work yet well enough to permit that, and there isn't any alternative way for them to do it.

But the old policies they had can't magically be resurrected. The insurance companies, following the law as they understood it, have already torn that part of their own systems down and they can't turn it back on again.

So far the reaction has been a lot of people angry, and a lot of people afraid. But come January, it's going to be a lot of people dead, and a lot of people bankrupt.

And when the Employer Mandate turns on, it's going to go from millions affected to tens of millions affected. We're looking at a "man caused disaster" of unprecedented proportions.

And at this point I don't see how Obama can revive his reputation. Seems to me that there are only a few explanations:

• He's incompetent
• He's evil
• He's derelict in his duty
• He's a fool
• All of the above

And for someone with the kind of ego he's got, none of those are acceptable legacies.

If this administration has a theme song, seems to me it would have to be this one: "It's hard to be humble"

But they -- HE -- better learn some humility, fast! Because he's presiding over what may turn out to be the greatest trainwreck in domestic politics in the history of this nation. (It's looking like it may be even worse than Prohibition, the previous record holder.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 01:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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