Trigger Happy
by digby
"Triggers" seem to be the Goldilocks "compromise" de jour, something that can please everybody. I would like to introduce all these Democrats to a man named Gray Davis, who once ruled the Golden Land of California. He has a little story to tell about triggers:
California's vehicle license fees, which are based on the value of the car or truck, tripled Friday as state officials allowed a controversial provision of a law which had been gradually lowering them to kick in.
That provision sends the fees up to previous levels in times of state budget difficulties.
[...]
The trigger for the increase had been a political hot potato as Gov. Gray Davis and some other elected officials tried to find a way to increase the fees without opening themselves up to voter backlash.
But state Sen. Tom McClintock, an opponent of the fee increase, on Friday filed paperwork with the state attorney general to collect signatures on two measures to lower or eliminate the fee.
McClintock and the rest of the California Republicans rode that horse all the way through the recall. And now we have a fiscal disaster of epic proportions because the whole government is paralyzed.
Granted, this particular trigger translated into increased fees for individuals, which can obviously cause a popular uprising. But if anyone thinks that the Republicans and the insurance companies are going to let the Democrats pull a Public Option Health Care trigger without having a world class hissy fit, they are living in an alternate universe.
The lesson is that triggers are bullshit, designed to make everyone feel ok about doing the irresponsible thing today by pretending that if it doesn't work out they can always "fix it" later. (The corollary are tax breaks that are supposed to "sunset" but never do.) They won't ever actually do it because the mechanism will depend on a bunch of complicated formulas that nobody can agree upon, the Republicans and the industry will claim it's a socialistic plot to destroy the world and the fiscal scolds will come out of the woodwork to proclaim that the government will have to disband the armed forces if they hope to pay for it. Just like now.
It's not going to get any easier to sell a public plan. The only thing the other side will ever go for is tax breaks and incentives to pay ever higher insurance company CEO bonusus. (That's so they'll keep being productive and make us all live forever.)
Putting off that argument isn't going to buy the Democrats anything when the whole plan falls apart because the insurance companies (surprise) failed to behave like decent corporate citizens. The Dems will just look like jackasses who failed to properly reform health care. Then we'll hear all about how we need to trust the free market do its magic and roll back all these onerous regulations so the insurance companies can truly "compete."
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