Nathan Newman wrote:
>A bunch of "centrist" Dem organizations,
>like the New America Foundation, coincidentally suddenly discovered a
>fervor
>for universal health care just as the anti-Wal-Mart health care campaigns
>moved forward.
-Your reasoning in the first paragraph is weird and baroque. What -seems to be happening is that a lot of liberals - TNR, NAF, Krugman - -are really coming around on an issue that used to appeal only to -those further left. ..For you to read that as a -cynical defense of Wal-Mart is itself cynical in Horkheimer's sense -of conforming with the status quo while knowing better.
I actually think of Krugman in a different class from TNR. TNR is tied directly to the DLC types that are mounting a massive flack job for Wal-Mart. I wrote about this coming PR offensive last October and knew this was coming. http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/29/85155/577
Some of the folks are saying it in good faith, but I have zero doubt where money is flowing to push the stories involved. You think I'm being cynical, but you are being naive and clueless in not covering this coming and the evidence has only mounted:
In the last few months we've seen:
The New York Times attack employer-provided health care responsibility with universal vouchers where "the well-to-do, meanwhile, could augment their vouchers with after-tax money. " http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/13/business/yourmoney/13cont.html (nov 13)
and even earlier, statements by the New America Foundation http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/business/businessspecial2/29health.html?ex=1288238400&en=143037b90a8d6229&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss "These are indications of the gaps in the health care system that are exposed by Wal-Mart," said Len Nichols, a health economist at the New America Foundation, an independent public policy group in Washington. "You can't blame Wal-Mart."
Doug-- you may live in the theoretical world but as someone involved day-to-day in the politics around health care, it's been clear that this whole upsurge in talk about single payer was hatched by consultants working to deflect pressure on Wal-Mart.
I'm sure most of the folks like Krugman are jumping on in good faith, but you are delusional if you think this is coincidental just as Wal-Mart is flooding money into various non-profits, hiring Andy Young as its top PR flack, and a whole host of other moves.
This all followed a leaked Wal-Mart memo that detailed that Wal-Mart needed to deflect the coming attack on its shitty benefits: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/26walmart.pdf "Healthcare is one of the most pressing reputation issues facing Wal-Mart. Survey work done last summer shows that people's perception of our wages and benefits is a key driver of Wal-Mart's overall reputation. Several groups are now mounting attacks against Wal-Mart focused on our healthcare offering. These increasingly well-organized and well-funded critics - especially the labor unions and related groups, such as Wal-Mart Watch - have selected healthcare as their main avenue of attack. Moreover, federal and state governments are increasingly concerned about healthcare costs, and many view Wal-Mart as part of the problem (a view due, in part, to the work of Wal-Mart's critics)."
Call me cyncial but with mass movements pushing employer accountability statutes in thirty states, it's kind of bizarre to see an upsurge in discussion of single payer right NOW. You may believe in coincidence but I don't. I watch the rightwing operate day-to-day and this fits the MO-- and we unusually have a memo from Wal-Mart just predating it stating that they had to mount a PR offensive to divert those attacking Wal-Mart. Bingo-- push single payer.
As I've said repeatedly, single payer in the abstract would be better. So fucking what. What evidence do you have that there is any chance of passage? There is a real chance of passing legislation across this country THIS YEAR to extend coverage to millions of people. I know it offends your policy wonk purity, but let's not make kids and working families wait for a plan that meets your purity test before the left can support it.
Nathan Newman