If you asked these Breitbart “free lunch” cultists what the real name of this legislation is, I doubt they’d have a clue. Morons are like that.

What are these people going to do when it turns out their lord and master died of a heart attack caused by years of cocaine abuse? Or when they realize that 99% of Americans don’t really want to canonize a sputtering sweaty rage monkey?

I just can’t blame Obama for this….

Bless their little hearts.

Legions of Breitbart Zombies have been unleashed! They are attacking this very website as we speak. Oh no, they are through the door….Ah Ahhhhhhh!

What could be cooler than an angry, bloated alcoholic 43-year old fighting for corporate rights and video mendacity?
Fat Elvis dropping dead on the toilet was cooler than Breitbart.

Andrew Brietbart is the new Horst Wessel of the American fascist movement otherwise known as the Tea Party evangelical movement.

Your post is hysterical and I really needed the laugh! Thanks, TBogg!!

…and their equally small minds…..

American fascists should be dealt with in the same manner in which German and Italian fascists were dealt with.

They said German fascists were “morons” in 1932. America’s right wing are not morons. They are fascists deserving of the same fate. Treat them as a “joke” and one day you may find them with a boot on your throat.

For some reason, I read ” Linda Dorr, Tea Party compostriot”

Not trying to start another fight on here, but I still don’t see the point of this health care plan. There is no public option, it’s basically a boondoggle for health insurance companies and I would think that the right would be embracing it and the left would be protesting it.

Maybe. But until that day, as long as they parade around waving pictures of Andrew Fucking Breitbart, take it from me: they’re morons.

To circumvent the impending flame war here, it’s not the best of all possible health care plans, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Even Social Security was modified over the years.

When is a Dorr not a Dorr?

When it’s a JAR (jive-ass Republican)

Oh relax. Just think of Breitbart as the conservative Che Guevara.

That’s what’s so ironic about it — its basic framework was likely lifted by WellPoint VP Liz Fowler from a 1990s Heritage Foundation plan. So why are the Cons whining?

As opposed to the conservative Ernst Röhm?

Indeed.

And I believe Raw Story only got the Ryan story half right. Anyone receiving SS survivor benefits (as I did from the age of 7), can continue receiving them until their 21st birthday if they stay in school (not by flunking high school four times, but by attend college). So Ryan probably continued milking that teet until he’d received his congressional internship. Hmmm, congressional intern . . . that raises more questions, IYAM.

Nah, not a flame war. Of course, it can be modified. That’s what a smart people would do, not burn it up.

In this cult of Breitbart is Breitbart Saint or Savior? Both? Is it Breitbartism or Andyanity? When can we expect the second coming of the Breitbart? Is cocaine a sacrament?

Also, you haz convinced me. now, where do I go to get some of these War bitchez of which you speak?

“He was so cool. Usually, conservatives are not cool.”
This just says it all. On so many levels…

No, no, the “health care” plan truly does suck, because it prioritizes corporate profits and the insuracrat parasites first, etc.

That said, the people waving Breitbart signs are idiots deserving of this ridicule. They’re a nouveau Flat Earth society.

It will be modified! To more fully favor the profits of the health insurance and pharmaceutical corporations!

(Obviously we wouldn’t expect the American political class to make this “health care” plan better if it was a massive fight just to make a plan as badly messed up and wrong as this one is – remember, this was what we got with the Congress *and* the White House controlled by Democrats.)

The only REAL answer is… Universal Health Care.

I am a lifelong liberal progressive and a former Democrat who re-registered as an Independent [not affiliated with any political party].

Obama’s fake health care bill is nothing but a giant giveaway to the Health Insurance Industry… in return for campaign contributions. It is one of the most corrupt pieces of legislation in American history.

This bill FORCES-MANDATES every American…for their ENTIRE LIVES… to buy [give their hard earned money to] something from private co’s that Americans do NOT want to do business with…it is a corrupt giveaway to the health insurance companies. These health insurance corporations dont give one wit about health… all they care about is MONEY. Obama and the rest of our corrupt government have handed the American people and their money over to a bunch of self serving scoundrels.

The Obama fake health care bill needs to be thrown out and we need to start over with REAL health care reform. It’s what the American people want… but our corrupt Democratic and Republican FAKE “leaders” dont want.

Both the Demmocrats and Republicans have been corrupted to the core. This bill is a total sham and an insult to the country.

Obamacare is indeed the Mitt Romney – Bob Dole Health Care Plan. It is not much about health care. It is health insurance reform.

If Republicans had “reformed Health Care” they would have “crafted”* the same shit sandwich that Obama and the Democrats built.

Look at Repub-crafted* Medicare Part D for example:

All Privatization, No cost controls, No drug reimportation, Benefits get eaten away by increased costs to end user. Increased Profits to PhRMA.

*Generated from their sphincters.

Orson Bean was his father in law?!

I blame Obama. Obviously.

And I think it’s about time to post this:

http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/

Holy Shit!

You know what guys, if Obama would have went with a single payer – no employer provided health care plan, that would have been a big give-away to the Corporations.

Think about how much more money would go to the corporate bottom line when they don’t have to provide their employees health care anymore.

That’s what single payer health insurance will be, a huge write off for corporate america.

Billions of dollars in accrued health care costs will come off the corporate balance sheets, just like 100′s of millions came off the corporate balance sheets when Bush expanded medicare.

The point is, damn near every time Obama does or doesn’t do something, somebody will be there making money off it. It is what a significant portion of our population engages in, making money.

The 3.2 million children who will now have coverage and their families may beg to differ. Having said that, best of luck to you and your symbolic gesture of becoming an “Independent”. I expect that by disengaging yourself from the corporate-owned duopoly you will be having a profound effect on the course of human history.

Let us know how your “real healthcare” crusade pans out. Send us a postcard or something.

Obviously, Breitbart and his father-in-law were like-minded dickheads. Though, the effect of daily pontifications of Orson Bean in person on a regular basis… Its enough to drive one to heavy drinking and cocaine use.

“Signed the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which provides health care to 11 million kids — 4 million of whom were previously uninsured.”

Do you honestly believe that the average American Right, Left or Independent is politically ready to accept Universal Healthcare?

That’s the main reason why the ACA benfits the Corporations more than it helps people. The O’bama Administration had to accept political compromises to get anything passed and the only compromises the Banana Republicans, the Corporate Dem.’s and Blue Dogs were willing to make were those that benefitted the Corporatists who are holding their leashes.

Because, in the best of times the average American voter can’t be bothered to punish Congress for being corrupt Asses. They certainly won’t rise up for Universal Healthcare given all the propaganda.

Coupla tings;

~ This post must make MalKKKin even more also really pissed off. Give me an ‘A’.

~ Hitler is supposedly dead too, is breitbart really too?

A thousand thanks for that link. It may come in very handy from time to time during the “two minute hate” that seems to happen every early morning.

;-)

May I ask a grammatical question? Is there supposed to be a comma after “slow” in the title? Does it matter? LOL

Oh, just stuff it.

I guess I don’t see how you are going to get from Plan A (the current plan being reviewed by the kangaroo Supreme Court) to Plan B (A normal universal health care plan like they have in almost every other industrialized nation). I think you have to scrap Plan A to get to Plan B, not modify it. That’s my point – the current plan blocks an actual single payer plan from ever happening, which is why if the country had consistent political opinions that aren’t based on hating Obama or supporting Obama, this would seem like a good plan for the right and a bad one for the left.

It’s pathetic how many so called “liberal-progressives” are willing to kick their supposed “beliefs” in the dirt in order to bow down to the corrupt political party they have chosen to blindly and dumbly worship.

Universal Health Care would cover all those you mentioned and EVERYONE ELSE as well. But you… accept the corrupt garbage given to you by the corrupt party you worship… and in doing so… kick the things you claim to believe in into the dirt.

I am a life long liberal progressive… I stand up for my beliefs. I refuse to accept corruption. I refuse to support or encourage either of the two totally corrupt political partys… and I refuse to vote for either of the two corrupt political partys fraudulent candidates. I will vote alright… but not for a corrupt Democrat or a corrupt Republican.

I can think for myself… I refuse the brainwashing and I rufuse to allow a corrupt political party to play me.

Already benefited in my household from the ACA aka Obamacare — Obama campaign has taken ownership of the pejorative — no-hassle retention of three offspring on company health plan; one with major pre-existing conditions who can’t be fucked over (at least not for that) in the future when he’s on his own. So, yeah, not perfect by a long shot, compromised, etc. etc. single-payer’s the answer boondoggle and it’s still better than before.

and you’ll get a free pony that poops candy and rainbows!

And I look forward to the day you become our duly elected king. Until then, should we try and get health care for children? Coverage for people with pre-existing conditions?

How many people have to go bankrupt or die before you decide that a partial solution might be better than nothing?

Just curious.

the corrupt party you worship

Bwahahahahahaha! Thanks boss, you funny!

I blame Obama for your ignorance.

Manichaeism can be very dangerous. For instance:

nothing but a giant giveaway — no. Obamacare is not enough but there are good aspects, such as insuring children and people with pre-existing conditions. “Nothing but” overstates it.

the current plan blocks an actual single payer plan from ever happening — that’s a political judgment not a statement of fact; reasonable people (like me) can disagree

I will vote alright… but not for a corrupt Democrat or a corrupt Republican — an understandable emotional reaction, but unfortunately likely to have the effect of hitting yourself in the face with a hammer.

Memories seem to be very short, or else some commenters are very, very young. The period from 2001 to 2008 was truly dreadful. We won’t have dug out of that political hole — not just in healthcare, not just in the economy, not just in the wars, but in attitudes to government and the community — for several years to come. We have to keep working. Things can be better.

Now back to making fun of the late unlamented Brightfart et al.

Ha ha. Yes, vote for that candidate or party that is free from corruption…

That’s quite a little world you live in. Don’t expect too many of us to join you in there, though.

I’m concerned.

You fed the troll and…

…nothing.

Yeah. We got the idea from our previous comment; you have achieved a rare and beautiful state of purity nirvana beyond the scope of mortal man.

I shall inform the people who will now be covered under ACA that they are just going to have to suck it up and wait until you get everything that you desire in health care reform,. Too bad… little Bobby was so looking forward to living until he was six. I’m sure he will look down from heaven and give you a thumbs up for doing God’s work…

“Breitbart lives! Breitbart lives!” she exclaimed.

How long before his resurrected body starts appearing to his followers?

and you’ll get a free pony that poops candy and rainbows and Tebow throws a perfect spiral and…!

zzzzzzz, gnom gnom gnom pony-candy….

Which raises the point. Will the Supreme Court and the states grease the skids to Medicare for All inadvertently.

There are a bunch of Republicans who have health insurance and who did not before because of pre-existing conditions and a bunch of kids of Republicans who you know jolly well are staying on dad’s insurance right up to the day of their 26th birthday.

Reckon how they’ll feel when the Supreme Court overturns ACA (if it does).

In other words, how long will it be before Max Baucus and his lobbyist bill-writer realize that they were too clever by half?

And how long will it be before there is a grassroots movement for Medicare for All?

It’s not an assertion of eleven-dimensional chess. There are beaucoup of unforced errors all along in this process. But 2014 is a Congressional election year.

On the contrary… any mortal can register as an Independent [not affiliated with any political party]… and 24 million of your fellow mortal Americans have had the common sense to do just that.

In some states like Massachusetts over 50% of the voters are now Independent.

Supporting the same corrupt politicians and voting [rewarding] them for their corruption is what has given us the totally corrupt government we have now. Do you think continuing to do that is a good idea?

Voting for the same corrupt politicians over and over and over… and then wondering why nothing ever changes and only gets worse… is just plain dumb.

I’ll vote for Peter DeFazio each and every time he runs….

Show me the corruption I’m voting for/rewarding when I vote for Pete.

Thanks for proving my point.

I blame Obama for your ignorance.

And guns@45 is a thread winner!

Get elected, get re-elected. Those are the only rules, for politics. All else is lies, graft, half-truths and statistics. I’m also curious to see how many ‘indepent’candidates get elected- in MA or elsewhere. I remember John Anderson- nice rock ‘n’ roll fundraisers- still lost- bad.
As to the recently departed conservative Horst Wessel, yeah, he really is cool, now. Like corpse-cold. I guess you could say he was so cool, he froze to death! Cocaine a helluva drug!

Comparing the ACA to the beginnings of Social Security is nonsense.

I’m pretty sure I saw his face on a piece of toast this morning.

So you hate someone looking out for your best interests. Duly noted.

Obviously you’re too lazy to actually look at someone’s record.

TBogg nailed the subtitle: “Slow poster children ahead” indeed.

I think you have to scrap Plan A to get to Plan B, not modify it.

Good luck with that one. The most likely reform model for the US was always likely to look like Switzerland’s, because you can’t wish very very hard or jump in a time machine and take away the last half-century of American healthcare.

Unfortunately, there’s no evidence to suggest that Republicans will assign any credit to the Obama Administration for benefits they receive from the ACA. It is, after all, inconceivable that the Government could benefit them in any way (viz. “Government, get your hands off my Medicare”).

That said, there are some often overlooked gems in the ACA that already do a lot to “grease the skids” as you put it. The only help the Supreme Court cases will provide (so long as the Government prevails!) is to remove the number of roadblocks that opponents can put up in future.

Let’s see. Every time Congress votes themselves a pay raise DeFazio puts his pay increase into a scholarship fund to help laid off folks in his district get retrained for other work opportunities. He doesn’t give a shit if those peeps are D’s or R’s or I’s. Do you have any idea why he has been elected cycle after cycle by a big fucking percentage? I’ll give you a hint. Because D’s, R’s and I’s know he’s on their side. The hard core right (with help from out-of-state money) is the only vote against the man, well, except for ignorant fucks like you.

So, independentvoternews, go educate yourself.

Quit being a lazy fucking tool making comments like “thanks for proving my point” unless you want to try to whip out some facts to support that idiotic opinion.

I’m not specifically comparing ACA to SS, but not everything is fully formed at birth and nothing says that ACA is incapable of being modified incrementally over the years as people discover it is not the end of Freeedom and Liberty.

independentvoternews would rather let people who need help now suffer and die because the whole world is corrupt and must be cleansed with fire before the righteous and clean can save us.

How very selfish. How very smug.

Are you going to pay for my 23 year old kid’s hernia surgery? In the meantime, I’m damned glad I can keep him on my insurance.

Yeah no kidding! ACA actually includes women and minorities right from the start.

Most women and minorities were excluded from the benefits of unemployment insurance and old age pensions. Employment definitions reflected typical white male categories and patterns.[14] Job categories that were not covered by the act included workers in agricultural labor, domestic service, government employees, and many teachers, nurses, hospital employees, librarians, and social workers.[15] The act also denied coverage to individuals who worked intermittently.[16] These jobs were dominated by women and minorities. For example, women made up 90 percent of domestic labor in 1940 and two-thirds of all employed black women were in domestic service.[17] Exclusions exempted nearly half of the working population.[16] Nearly two-thirds of all African Americans in the labor force, 70 to 80 percent in some areas in the South, and just over half of all women employed were not covered by Social Security.[18][19] At the time, the NAACP protested the Social Security Act, describing it as “a sieve with holes just big enough for the majority of Negroes to fall through.”[19]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_%28United_States%29

As a political force of 24MM people…you’ve accomplished fuckall in our political history. You guys are great at talking, shitty at actually accomplishing anything. You’re a party that comes to life every 4 years to tell the rest of us how special you are for staying on the sidelines.

My theory is 1/2 of “independents” are Republican wanabees that are too embarrassed about wearing the label pin these days. The other half are naive political idealists that keep buying the “both sides bad” bullshit and then wonder why we never seem to make any progress in this society.

Why is it I only see “independents” trolling progressive blogs, but never conservative ones? I suppose if I’m a Republican today and my brand is shit, I’m going to try like hell to move Democratic votes to neutral. 1/2 point out of the loss column is better than no points at all.

It always amazes me that someone would come to any political site and not know even the most basic information about politics.

Independents belong to NO political party. Get it? We are not a party and we dont want to belong to any party. NO PARTY… get it? We can think for ourselves… and we dont need fake actors leading us around by the nose and playing us for fools. We refuse the brainwashing.

Stay on the sidelines… bunk. I have voted in every election and will continue to do so. But I will not be voting for any Corrupt Democrats or Corrupt Republicans… ever again. As in the last election I will vote for Independent candidates, Green Party and Reform Party candidates and in the races where I have no choice I will write in a candidate. You see I stand up for what I believe in. I refuse to be played by the corrupt political partys… and I refuse to participate in electing corrupt politicians. I take my vote seriously and I vote for what I believe in. I dont kick my beliefs into the dirt come election time.

As for where I post… again you are clueless. I post the EXACT same comments on conservative sites… and you know whats amazing… I get the exact same ignorant responses. The EXACT same responses…the same wording everything… the same fear of change and the same blind worship of the corrupt political partys and fake politicians of their choice. It is astounding the similarity of Republican worshipers and Democratic partys worshipers. They think exactly alike. They all place the party they worship above the good of the American people. They all point fingers at the other partys followers and then excuse their own when they do the exact same things. It’s absurd… and would be funny if it wernt destroying the country. Blind allegiance is a weakness… not a virtue.

Ahh… the glorification of corrupt, fake politicians… typical.

Nothing else matters? How about the American people? How about our future and our childrens future? How about the future of our country?

Oh yeah right… none of that matters… only getting corrupt fake politicians elected no matter what the cost or no matter what lies deciet or betrayal they use in that self serving pursuit.

Jeez…

I will vote alright… but not for a corrupt Democrat or a corrupt Republican.

So Nader/Kucinich 2012? Go Purity Party! o_O

And when you ask where the sun rises and sets and how many seasons there are in a year, you get the same answers, over and over. And no matter how many times you ask for the results of the McCarthy, Ted Kennedy, and Nader purist campaigns, the answers will be Nixon, Reagan, and Bush. But, we’ve gotten used to it. Every time there’s a post providing an opening for the comparative adjective arguments (good, better, best), you people come speeding through with your red-flagged purity trains and rouse the few sad, never-learn wretches to stand in the snow, raise an arm, and yell, “Strelnikov!” I hope you enjoy it, because the sanctimony is your only reward.

“Breitbart lives! Breitbart lives!” she exclaimed.

Yeah, baby! I think I saw him this morning at the local mini-mart buying beers alongside-a fat Elvis!!!!11!! Resurrection blues, baby.

Sometimes, when I eat too much cabbage or beans, I too get the feeling breitbrat is all around me. Others who stumble into my general area are none too pleased. Vinegar mixed with death. Yup. breitbrat lives….

I think you meant that for our purity troll. While I’d prefer single payer I think the ACA is a good start, and about as much as we could have gotten..

“…Independents belong to NO political party…”

I don’t know where you live, but here in California, people who wish to belong to NO party register “Decline to State”. If you came here and wanted to register “Independent” you would, indeed, belong to a party who has candidates listed on the ballot identified as being from that party.

“It always amazes me that someone would come to any political site and not know even the most basic information about politics.”

Yeah. Me, too.

Independent is synonymous with “decline to state”… “not affiliated with any political party”… and on and on… the wording is slightly different in all states on voter registration forms.

You confuse Independent [not affiliated with any political party, decline to state etc] with the Independence Party… they are not the same thing at all. Wake up.

Kucinich is a corrupt Democrat… and a classic example of a sellout.

Hey, you take what you can get – and under ACA people will get care who would not have received it otherwise. It will save lives. Given that fact, your insistence on purity is fully as absurd – and for that matter immoral – as wingnut insistence that people who don’t have jobs providing good insurance should a) go bankrupt or b) go ahead and die.

I don’t blindly worship anyone or anything, and sure as hell not a political party. I do view the world as it is rather than the way I’d like it to be, because the world as it is is the world in which I have to live. Do I have issues with Obama? Sure, lots, in lots of areas. Do I think he’s a better alternative than Marquis du Mittens? Absolutely, given Romney’s Republican/Mormon background and the kind of commitments he’s made and will have to live up to to gain even a shred of wingnut support. Al Gore might have been a corrupt trimmer, but I’d rather have had him from 2001-2008 than the Boy Emperor. How could he have done worse?

You might bear in mind that the difference between bad and worse is a whole shitload bigger than the difference between good and better, which is a concept even an ever so precious “livelong liberal progressive” should grasp. (Were you pulling for Nader at age 4 or what?) If my recognition of that difference makes me a compromising cynic by your lights, well, I reckon I’ll just have to bear up under that burden, difficult though it may be.

Shorter version (with h/t to our host): Grow the fuck up.

I provided the link to the American Independent Party (not “Independence Party”) for your convenience. Just because I think you’re wrong about some things (many things, actually) doesn’t mean I’m confused.

Do you remember the Election in 2000?

Do you remember Why the Greens (one of the Parties you claim to support with your serious vote) ran Nader?

It wasn’t because of ideology of that they actually believed they had a chance in hell of winning, they did it because they hoped to get enough votes during that election to qualify for public campaign financing.

Isn’t that an excellent example of Political Corruption?

Just so I’m clear.

You say you’re a lifelong progressive liberal and you’re telling me that I should not vote for Representative DeFazio even though he’s one of the leading progressive liberal voices in Congress?

No, I don’t support that over-riding political philosophy/law/credo of ‘Get elected-Get re-elected, that is all!’ That’s just the reality of money-driven political processes, in America. Every politician may start out all starry-eyed and compassionate, but when the power & the money start stacking up, all that altruistic nonsense gets turned into slick campaign slogans. The ‘independents’ just believe their own bullshit to a greater degree. Thus, the money & the power don’t really aggregate for them. An honest politician? A rare bird, indeed. As noted elsewhere, most, if not all are found wanting in the integrity department. Am I cynical? Not so much as realistic. And I’ve been around the levers of power and the political process since I was a kid. All of my political heroes’ shimmering got darkened a long time ago. It’s just a matter of picking the least obtrusive asshole, and pulling the lever (or hanging the chad).

And, it is so much fun whipping that dead horse formerly known as Andy Breitbart, Clown Prince of all the Reich-tard Clowns. His legacy is lies, deceit, thievery and a throng of simpletons, holding his memory dear.

Independents do NOT belong to ANY political party. We do not belong to the Independence Party or the American Independent Party or the All You Can Eat Spagetti Party… NO PARTY. How anyone can be so uninformed is beyond me.

Of course what you really dont get is that 24 million of your fellow Americans can think for themselves. We dont need “daddy” corrupt political party and their corrupt fake politicians to brainwash us and play us for fools. We can think for ourselves. We refuse the brainwashing. THATS the thing you dont get.

Like David Koresh and Jim Jones followers… all you brainwashed Democratic and Republican party worshipers will blindly follow your fake, self serving, corrupt “leaders” to your doom. I can think for myself… I have no intentions of doing that.

Oh, snap!

So how do you avoid brainwashing? Does your tim foil hat really work that well?

How do the 24 Million Independents recognize each other? Is there a secret handshake?

If none of you are organized into a political party/secret society/special club/whatever how are you sure that the other 24,999,999 Independents really agree with You?

Based on what you claim above, for all you know, you may be all alone in your exalted state of political purity.

Are you the Bodhisattva?

…. tin foil ….

I stand with you, independentvoternews! We should not allow the unavailability, nonexistence, and/or impossibility of a wonderful thing – like the perfect crystal, or perfectly prepared meal, or the perfect politician – prevent us from using our resources to seek it out. In the meantime, we should accept nothing less. To do otherwise is to refuse to follow our dreams! Indeed, it is the stuff of any number of TED talks (via; and suck it, Ehrenreich!).

Go get em, tiger!

So how do you avoid brainwashing?

By not having a brain?

WAR. Brains. Get some.

We dont need “daddy” corrupt political party and their corrupt fake politicians to brainwash us and play us for fools. We can think for do it to ourselves.

Independentvoternews writes: As in the last election I will vote for Independent candidates, Green Party and Reform Party candidates and in the races where I have no choice I will write in a candidate. You see I stand up for what I believe in. I refuse to be played by the corrupt political partys… and I refuse to participate in electing corrupt politicians. I take my vote seriously and I vote for what I believe in. I dont kick my beliefs into the dirt come election time.

And then you bask in the warm glow of your righteous self-image as George W Bush wins the presidency. I didn’t vote for him you primly remind yourself as the country goes into the dumpster.

And you’re right; you didn’t vote for him. But, you see, you didn’t vote for anybody, really. You abdicate a responsibility that the rest of us take seriously.

Please take the time and effort to cast a vote for the good of the country, not to stroke your self-esteem. It’s not about you; it’s about the greater good.

First, certain trolls, who will go unreferenced, seem to have no idea what Universal Healthcare actually is. The highly touted German model, which was suggested as a template for the ACA by Democrats with a death wish, operates this way: Persons with incomes under approximately 45,000 Euros per year are expected to choose from several “packages” of insurance benefits, which are affordable because the prices are scaled to correspond with various salary ranges. The packages are provided by well-known private insurers. Persons making above the threshold 45,000 Euros per year have the option of choosing a private health care plan; BUT once you choose the private plan, you cannot qualify for the public plans unless your yearly income falls below the threshold of approximately 45,000 Euros. Most of the private health care providers also supply the approved plans for the public plans.

Compare that with the Social Security Act, which expects workers of all ages to fork over a percentage of the first approximately $70,000 per year they make–which automatically means that it operates as a regressive tax on those Americans who can least afford it: The people who make too much money to qualify for any sort of public aid, but not enough to afford health care if their employers don’t provide it. And by the time Gen Y gets to be 70–or whatever the “officially mandated retirement age” will be by then, the trust will have been sucked dry by current crop of old farts who had to have their free scooters!

Screw the protesters–and the scooters they rode in on!