Johnathan Gruber Is A Fascist

Leo McNeil ^ | November 19, 2014 | Leo McNeil

[LeoMcNeil]

Johnathan Gruber is a fascist. He’s willing to put up with a little bit of private ownership but only if the government dictates private transactions. He’s more than willing to help Congress manipulate laws in order to achieve government control. Much of the hubbub over Gruber’s comments on Obamacare manipulations put the blame on him. Make no mistake, calling the American people stupid is on Gruber. However, Gruber isn’t a politician and it’s hardly surprising when an academic with no political experience doesn’t know how to play the game. Academics aren’t nearly as smart as they or the left think they are. All Gruber did was explain how he manipulated Obamacare’s numbers so that Congress could lie to the American voters. Congress did the lying, Gruber wanted the fascist Obamacare law to pass.

Gruber’s support of fascism extends over to Medicare. Make no mistake, Medicare itself is a massive socialist program that has cost taxpayers a fortune in waste. Nevertheless, there are parts of it that are private. Seniors have to buy a Medicare Part D plan to cover that which the government does not cover. There are seemingly endless plans to choose from, seniors can buy tailored plans for whatever their needs are. Gruber has decided that seniors aren’t buying the right plans and believes they should be limited to only three choices. In writing a paper against senior choice, Gruber reveals his fascist beliefs.

Who is Gruber to determine whether others have made the right purchase of supplemental health insurance? People have all sorts of reasons for choosing one policy over another. Some value up front cost certainty over deductible or co-pay costs. Others like the opposite. Other people buy plans tailored towards their specific ailments. Other people still choose a policy based on the company providing it. It is true, some people have no idea what they’re buying. However, that’s no reason to restrict all seniors. Frankly, you could sell any product and there will be a certain segment of the population has no idea what they’re buying. People make choices that satisfy them and their needs and really matters not whether those choices appear rational to a MIT economist or not.

The problem with Gruber is that he starts from a place where he assumes that all people act irrationally, are stupid and need to be told what to do. Government must swoop in to tell the irrational and stupid what to do. He will allow for private businesses to sell seniors supplemental insurance but it is government that decides what those policies will be. Gruber wishes to limit choices to only three, presumably the three he believes make the most sense. In other words, his preferences matter more than consumer preferences. Sound familiar? It’s Obamacare, with its limited policy choices applied to senior supplemental health policies. Government decides what is best for the little people and the little people’s choices are severely restricted as a result. Private companies are welcome to sell policies but only the policies government allows them to sell. This is the hallmark of fascism.

Johnathan Gruber has done a good job reminding voters why they opposed Obamacare in the first place. The public isn’t nearly as stupid as he thought we were. Opposition to Obamacare has hovered around 60% since 2009. We knew it was going to restrict our choices, we knew it was going to cost more and we knew the government was too incompetent to write insurance policies that meet individual needs. No one believed Obamacare would cut costs, no one believed we would be able to keep our doctor. While Gruber believes the public is full of irrational nimrods, the fact is we’re brighter than he is. Each of us is capable of making healthcare choices without the aid of government. Our choices don’t have to appear economically rational to Gruber, if they satisfy the individual, if he is pleased with his purchase, then the choice was rational. Admittedly not everyone makes the best choice but that’s no reason for government to sweep aside capitalism for fascism. Individuals are responsible for their own decisions, individuals are more than capable of learning from their mistakes. It is not the job of government to protect us from ourselves.

[ripley]

He may be a fascist, but there are lots in the electorate who love what he and the progressives are saying and doing; they absolutely love it.

IMHO

[Lee'sGhost]

“Who is Gruber to determine whether others have made the right purchase of supplemental health insurance?”

In a nutshell, THIS is the sickness that is the liberal mind. What is it about these special pukes that allows them to believe THEY have all the right answers and that THEY know better than every body else? And most important, in this context, why is it they believe that simply because they think “correctly” they will forever dwell on the side that makes decisions for all the rest of us?

It’s sort of the embodiment of “too smart by half.” These people are so full of themselves it somehow never occurs to them that there are other liberals out there who believe they are smarter or entitled to rule than the Grubers of the world. And by the same sanctimonious, elitist-think that Gruber used to put “stupid Americans” on the other side of his “who gets to rule?” equation, Gruber could be sitting on the outside looking in.

These people are sick, Obamunist scum whose only talent is to take from the producers to create wealth for themselves while tossing a few coins to the poor whom they claim to champion.

This must stop now. Now is the time for the new champions of liberty to rise up, reclaim the torch lit by Washington, Jefferson, Madison, et al. and defeat these evil, liberal tyrants.

[Liz]

Clearly---Gruber was handed the Marxist dream plan FIRST. Then Obama bribed money-hungry Gruber w/ $400,000 hefty tax dollars to invent a healthcare model so that he, and lock-stepping Dems, could sell it to gullible Americans.

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THE GOVT CONSPIRACY UP-CLOSE:

<><> At a July 23, 2009 town hall, Obama described the healthcare conspiracy thusly----he explained that the "Cadillac tax" (invented by Gruber) was intended to target health plans that spend unnecessarily and excessively, thus driving up health care costs (such as the $25,000 healthcare union benefit).... "that's a lot more expensive and a lot fancier than the one that even members of Congress get, " Marxist Obama griped.....rushing to the defense of Big Govt.

<><> By 2018, the colluders had decided to switch gears----lock-stepper Gruber was saying just the opposite. That those who object to the Cadillac tax (those dratted Republicans) will be obligated to figure out how to come up with the trillion dollars that repealing the tax will take from the U.S. Treasury, or risk significantly adding to the national debt....exactly what Obama told voters in 2009 he had "taken off the table."....

================================================

REALITY CHECK: The Cadillac tax was part of the Obama/Gruber/Big Govt conspiracy designed: (1) to destroy insurance companies......targets of Progressive unending hatred, and, (2) to deny end-of-life care to the elderly......deplored by Progressive Marxists.

===========================================

Progressive Democrat Gruber achieved every single one of the odious Marxist dicta. The preening, duplicitous Gruber---the embodiment of cockamamie far-left thinking---believed it was his moral duty to lie, deceive and collude w/ the US govt......so that these revolting ideas could be imposed on "sub-mental defectives' taking up valuable space in their Utopian America.

Loyal foot-soldier Gruber, in obeisance to the Marxist dream, invented mechanisms to serve Obama's Marxist obsession w/ wealth transfer---as candidate Obama told Joe the Plumber---his plan was to redistribute the wealth:

(1) throwing Americans off affordable health plans
while assuring them they could "keep their plans,"

(2) nationalizing 1/6 of the US economy,

3) installing IPAB's (healthcare rationing),

(4) decimating intergenerational transfers of wealth a longtime Progressive bugaboo;
via Obamacare, grandma/pa's holdings go to the govt---not to you,

(5) pulling $750 billion out of Medicare (another Progressive irritant---giving the elderly healthcare),

(6) drug-rationing---death panels,

(8) outright abandoning seniors and the chronically ill,

(9) transferring wealth from healthy young Americans to subsidize healthcare for others.

Obama organized Democrats into a lock-stepping cheerleading squad to force the Progressive Poison down the throats of recalcitrant Americans.

=============================================

Vladimir Lenin / 1945 pamphlet

“Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.”

[LeoMcNeil]

I think that part of the problem with someone like Gruber is that he’s an economist addicted to numbers. Thus he decides, based on the numbers from models he creates, that people are making irrational or wrong choices. The problem with that is that he doesn’t take into account human factors, such as personal satisfaction, that play into every purchase people make.

Back in the day the Soviets couldn’t figure out why Americans needed to choose from so many dishwashers. The communists made one dishwasher (or name your appliance) for everyone to buy. Presumably this was the “best” dishwasher, the most economical and the best made or at least that’s what the government would have said. However, there are human factors that go into buying a dishwasher. Some women want a certain color. Some dishwashers offer certain features that individual buyers prefer. Some dishwashers simply work better than others and sometimes people buy the cheapest because that’s all they can afford.

Health insurance is no different than a dishwasher, a car or any other purchase. Individuals have preferences and they apply those preferences to their purchase of health insurance. In a capitalist system, there’s an insurer willing to meet just about any demand a consumer makes. If the consumer is happy and if the seller makes a profit, the transaction was a good one. In the fascist world of Gruber, the government decides what everyone needs and limits their choices based on what government has decided. Private companies may sell policies but they may only sell what government allows them to sell.

[LeoMcNeil]

There are a significant number of Americans who desire socialism whether it’s in the form of fascism (which is most of them, though they detest the name) or communism. However the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014 suggest there are still a significant number of Americans who oppose big fascist programs like Obamacare. The Obama electorate was unique, it seems unlikely 2016 will see the same voters as 2012.

[Erik Latranyi]

There are a significant number of Americans who desire socialism whether it’s in the form of fascism (which is most of them, though they detest the name) or communism.

No, I think there are a significant number of Americans who like the illusion of simplicity that comes from socialism. Single payer, auto deducted from your payroll sounds easy, convenient and wonderful compared to shopping and comparing plans, comparing details, etc.

Of course, we know that the simplicity is always an illusion and the delivery is substandard.

[outinyellowdogcountry]

He is a fascist that is happy to sit at the top of the pile of money and ruling the little people. I bet he never had many friends growing up.

[TBP]

Yes, he is — so are Obama and most of his party.

[Vendome]

Maybe Obama will get even less votes in the next “Present” elections....

[ripley]

“However, the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014 suggest there are still a significant number of Americans who oppose big fascist programs like Obamacare.”

One hopes you’re right although the strident support of Democrats by most union members is disheartening and disturbing.

If the Democrats demand fascist action it will be by hulking, no-nonsense “union men” who will claim that food is being taken from their children’s mouths and if you vote incorrectly they’ll kick your a**.

IMHO

[Chewbarkah]

Socialists always believe that the “little people” cannot manage their own lives, because they are too weak, stupid, or capital-deficient to compete with powerful, intelligent, successful people. Some collective entity must live their lives for them; inevitably this is an intrusive State that brooks no rivals. That goal is understood by Obama, et al, but they want to hide it from the stupid and middling people, while co-opting helpful fools. Of course Gruber is within this tradition. His deviation was spilling tHe beans.

Reinforcing your fascist interpretation are recent news stories about how the giant health insurance companies are so in bed with ObamaCare that they will strongly resist attempts to reform or eliminate it. Obama’s plan is to use Big Business as the handmaid of State power. Conventional wisdom holds that the Nazis took power in Germany in no small part because of the support of Big Business. This dynamic needs to be better understood by the “stupid people”. In acts of hubris, Gruber has fired warning shots and howled like a wolf. It’s time for the herd to wake up and stampede.

[JimSEA]

The Soviet Union had massive public support as did Mao’s China and initially Mussolini, Pol Pot, and the other bloody dictators of the last century. Even Baby Doc enjoyed majority support in Haiti. It wasn’t until later they needed their secret police or student mobs.

We are just turning into the phase here where increasing numbers are realizing just how much freedom they are losing and how much worse their lives have become. One proof of this is found in the increasing support for Republican candidates from working Hispanic and Asian minorities.

[LeoMcNeil]

Actually, if you look at the union vote it’s shifted to the Republicans over the last 20 years. Union leadership remains solidly behind the Democrats. However the rank and file have shifted sharply the other direction. In any event, unions don’t matter like they used to. Less than 10% of the private sector workforce is in a union and overall the percentage of people in a union is only 17-18%.

[LeoMcNeil]

I’m not sure the Soviets ever really had massive public support. No doubt 99.9% of Russians would have told a pollster they supported the regime but we all know that’s because they feared the consequences of not supporting it.

[JimSEA]

They certainly used the Gulags didn’t they. Perhaps the rest used vodka to self medicate?

[LeoMcNeil]

The National Socialists in Germany didn’t have the full backing of the public when they took over power. They had only received 43% of the vote in the most recent Reichstag election. They had some big business support, that increased substantially once it became clear that working with the National Socialists was good for business.

The National Socialists dictated everything to business. One of the problems with Nazi government is that it hired to many bureaucrats and became woefully inefficient. Businesses had to jump through all sorts of red tape to do anything. Big business had the money to jump through the hoops and they were rewarded for it. Small and medium size business lost market share and eventually went out of business because they couldn’t afford the red tape.

This is what Obama and the Democrats are bringing to the US.

[ripley]

“...percentage of people in a union is only 17-18%.”

That may be true, but there are many not in a umion who get personal satisfaction from considering themselves part of the “brilliant, enlightened, intellectuals” of “society” who are elite and far above any of those “flyover morons”.

They’re lurking and will be ready to turn the moment the Democrat leadership comes up with a tried and tested premise that has legs.

IMHO

[Dqban22]

Not a single Republican senator or Congressman voted in favor of that monstrosity called Obamacare. It must be make perfectly clear that democrat Phd com man Gruber, called stupid not all the American voters, but just the democrat voters that put the “Liar in Chief” in the White House, in spite of his Marxist anti-American back ground, and all the Democrats legislators co-conspirators with the president and the MSM in the greatest deception against the American people in the history of the United States.

According to Obama, the MTI professor, a frequent visitor to the White House, was just an adviser. For his “invaluable advise and services” to the Obama administration professor Gruber received over 5.9 million dollars... Stupidity and corruption to the to nth power.

[LeoMcNeil]

My numbers were old, apparently it’s around 11% of the workforce that is in a union. Union voters broke for Democrats 60-40, which is substantially less than it was 20 years ago. The Republicans have basically doubled their share of union votes over the last 20 years despite being aggressively anti-union. This suggests that the union rank and file isn’t on board with their leadership’s radical left-wing views.