Saturday, November 16, 2013

BloggeRhythms 11/16/2013

I‘ve little doubt that Charles Krauthammer’s a brilliant guy. But, like the politician’s he dissects every day, he spends almost his entire life inside the beltway and thus usually sees only the political aspects of most issues.

On Thursday’s “Special Report with Bret Baier” Krauthammer said “President Obama’s proposed fix -- telling health insurers that they don’t have to cancel plans next year because of ObamaCare -- is a “sham.” 

Krauthammer further said that “the move is designed to shift blame to insurers and provide a way out for embattled Democrats in Congress. He pretended to want to restore the plans to people who lost them, because it is a sham, it was only intended to shift the blame. His intent is for these plans not to be renewed.”

But, what Krauthammer, and countless others in politics and the media,  are missing is that it no longer matters what the incumbent says, or to whom or when. He’s exposed himself as a flat-out liar which from now will override and discount every single word he utters. In fact, when insurers are unable or unwilling to implement his temporary heath-tax fix, he’s going to look far, far worse than he does right now which will serve to compound the untruths he pledged in the first place.

But, aside from the deceptions, the administration’s ineptitude, and the destruction caused to health care, 18% of the economy, I keep coming back to my basic question: Why would anyone, for political reasons or otherwise, ruin a perfectly good system like health care that works well for 285 million people, to provide coverage for 30 million others? It would be far more economically feasible to leave the system alone and mail the needy a check.

However, using their heads and adequately analyzing the economic effects of this unworkable tax in advance wasn’t considered, only the politics was. And the unequivocal fiasco that resulted reminded me of what the administration might have done if it had an iota of business sense, or really cared if the their program could survive financially.

Some of the most successful business decisions have been made by ones who apply their genius in the simplest ways, using common sense as well as considerable acumen and expertise.

I found the example I was looking for on a site called; “Innovate Mississippi” in an article by Mike Lorence, who writes that: “When Lee Iacocca took over Chrysler, the company was basically bankrupt and the government wanted to take over the business. (sound familiar?).  He was walking around the shop floor one day when two young, blue-collar men approached him and said something to the effect of, “Mr. Iacocca, we have an idea.  We think you should consider making a convertible. 
 
After thinking about it for a few minutes, Iacocca said, “Before you go home today, get a blow torch, cut the roof off of that car and drive it around town.  If girls look at you while you’re driving it, we’re gonna make it.”  Within six months, they had the first convertible rolling off the production line.
 
It was a smash hit.”
 
However, the difference here is that Mr.Iacocca realized that product popularity is the most critical thing of all  And when folks like what you’re trying to sell, they buy it and look for more.
 
But when you shove something unpopular down their throats, it’s only a matter of time till you ultimately fail and likely go broke. And that’s the problem with the health care tax. Because as each day goes by, another flaw will arise. There are just too many unhappy customers to control. who are being forced to pay for something they neither need nor want. Thus, the tax is doomed to implode almost no matter.
 
From the outset, though, the government ignored testing simple customer reaction before investing millions in a product doomed to fail for myriad reasons. And unfortunately for them, they couldn’t take the Iacocca approach to predetermining product viability, because for that you need some brains and marketplace acumen.
 
That's it for today folks.
 
Adios

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