Thursday, December 22, 2011
Prescription riots?
Listening to a highly intelligent discussion of the Arab Spring as it now stands. Both the experts and the callers generally understand the most important points: Popular consent is good. In that part of the world, popular sovereignty means Islamic sovereignty. Turning against Israel (and Israel's cute little slavebitch America) is necessary. Enforcing Islamic cultural restrictions is necessary.
One expert made the big point in a way that even cable TV viewers should be able to understand: "Israel is having a Bull Connor moment, while Egypt is having a Rosa Parks moment." Another fine phrase: "These countries are being inherited by the people who live there."
The usual response by American experts and media is weirdly confused. We still think the uprising is about "democracy", and we bizarrely misdefine "democracy" to mean "supporting Israel and supporting the same pro-feminist and pro-homosexual cultural destruction that has already ruined our own country." Even our alleged conservatives, who claim to dislike the latter ruination, get all bristly when Arabs actually free themselves from the ruination. Thus showing that our alleged conservatives are really just another brand of Commie.
= = = = =
Thinking about this, I'm still wondering what it would take for Americans to rise up against our secular puppet dictators.
In Egypt the igniting factor was food prices, as it always has been. Specifically, agri-speculation by Goldman Sachs drove up the prices in that part of the world to the point where something had to give.
In America, food prices couldn't be the trigger. Food production here is highly efficient, and food is such a small part of most household budgets that it could double without creating desperation.
What could be the trigger? Medical costs, especially prescriptions. Those costs have been rising wildly in the same way that food rose in Egypt, and everyone knows the rise is completely unjustified. Most importantly, the high prices are partly due to advantages given to foreigners. Our drug companies sell to foreign countries at low prices, and make up for it with confiscatory prices to Americans. Similarly, our hospitals give free care to large numbers of illegal immigrants, and make up for it with confiscatory rates to Americans.
Medical costs for Americans thus carry the same flavor as food prices in Egypt: A large proportion of household income, unsustainable rise, and attributable to foreign advantage. ¶ 9:43 AM
One expert made the big point in a way that even cable TV viewers should be able to understand: "Israel is having a Bull Connor moment, while Egypt is having a Rosa Parks moment." Another fine phrase: "These countries are being inherited by the people who live there."
The usual response by American experts and media is weirdly confused. We still think the uprising is about "democracy", and we bizarrely misdefine "democracy" to mean "supporting Israel and supporting the same pro-feminist and pro-homosexual cultural destruction that has already ruined our own country." Even our alleged conservatives, who claim to dislike the latter ruination, get all bristly when Arabs actually free themselves from the ruination. Thus showing that our alleged conservatives are really just another brand of Commie.
= = = = =
Thinking about this, I'm still wondering what it would take for Americans to rise up against our secular puppet dictators.
In Egypt the igniting factor was food prices, as it always has been. Specifically, agri-speculation by Goldman Sachs drove up the prices in that part of the world to the point where something had to give.
In America, food prices couldn't be the trigger. Food production here is highly efficient, and food is such a small part of most household budgets that it could double without creating desperation.
What could be the trigger? Medical costs, especially prescriptions. Those costs have been rising wildly in the same way that food rose in Egypt, and everyone knows the rise is completely unjustified. Most importantly, the high prices are partly due to advantages given to foreigners. Our drug companies sell to foreign countries at low prices, and make up for it with confiscatory prices to Americans. Similarly, our hospitals give free care to large numbers of illegal immigrants, and make up for it with confiscatory rates to Americans.
Medical costs for Americans thus carry the same flavor as food prices in Egypt: A large proportion of household income, unsustainable rise, and attributable to foreign advantage. ¶ 9:43 AM
