It seems the beer summit was a huge success.
My only quibble. Obama drank a Bud Light. Some commentators have criticized that, saying that Budweiser is now owned by a foreign company. That's not my objection. My objection is Bud Light? Couldn't our president drink a real beer? A Yuengling, at the very least.
Bud Light? Please. That's not real beer.
Excellent Krugman column in today's New York Times.
It begins:
"At a recent town hall meeting, a man stood up and told Representative Bob Inglis to 'keep your government hands off my Medicare.' The congressman, a Republican from South Carolina, tried to explain that Medicare is already a government program -- but the voter, Mr. Inglis said, 'wasn't having any of it.'
"It's a funny story -- but it illustrates the extent to which health reform must climb a wall of misinformation. It's not just that many Americans don't understand what President Obama is proposing; many people don't understand the way American health care works right now. They don't understand, in particular, that getting the government involved in health care wouldn't be a radical step: the government is already deeply involved, even in private insurance.
"And that government involvement is the only reason our system works at all."
Read the whole thing here.
There's a lot of myth surrounding the health care debate right now. I've heard some of it myself. I got a call from an elderly woman who said she didn't like the idea of socialized medicine. I asked her whether she had Medicare. She said she did. I asked her, What do you think that is? She said, That's different.
No. It's not.
The myth that government health care would be burdened by a huge bureaucracy is simply that, a myth, perpetuated, apparently by people who have never had to deal with the red tape of getting a private insurer to pay a claim.
Right now, the health care debate in the country is being driven by politicians who represent big insurers. If the people were driving this debate, there'd be no question that a public option is necessary for reforming an out-of-control system.
On a personal note, when my father was sick, we had to deal with both his private insurance company and Medicare. Medicare was a dream to deal with. The private insurer, not so much. It gave us the run-around at every step of the way.
Now, tell me which bureaucracy was harder to deal with.
Pink Floyd jammed to the moon landing. Forty years ago, the band went into the BBC studio and played along as news footage of the moon landing played.
So pretty cool stuff.
