a glimpse of what a Trump win really looks like
I almost called this “confusing a win with simply checking a box on a to-do list.”
This is about yesterday’s American House of Representatives vote to repeal & replace Obamacare <albeit it doesn’t really repeal nor replace but rather try and fix in an absurdly negatively way>.
Anyway.
How you play the game is most likely in my top 3 important things in Life.
Anyone who reads enlightened conflict has most likely discerned this.
Yesterday we were able to gain a glimpse behind the curtain of what winning looks like in Donald J Trump’s eyes.
Do whatever it takes.
The only winner that counts is me.
As long as I can stand on the pedestal and say ‘I won’ <adding a bemused “I am president”> it is a win.
The American Healthcare system did not win yesterday.
The American citizen seeking good health and a good healthcare support system did not win yesterday.
The people who voted for a seriously flawed option did not win yesterday.
The Republicans did not win yesterday <although they may have breathed a sigh of relief in the moment for ‘having met a promise’>.
The Democrats did not win yesterday <although they may feel in some self serving way that they did>.
The only one who won was Donald J Trump <okay … health insurance companies won today … they are back on the path to returning to doing business the way they had been doing business which, as I may remind everyone, we didn’t particularly enjoy back then and they made a shitload of money>.
Back to Trump.
He gave the appearance of ‘fulfilling a promise’ by making a transaction … okay … it wasn’t a transaction because nothing was exchanged between two parties.
Let’s say he won by “checking a box.”
Yeah.
We all need to remember this moving forward with regard to Trump wins.
Winning to Trump is like checking a box on a to do list.
Came in to oval office today and had picture taken. Check. <win>
Mentioned on news today. Check. <win>
Cut some regulation <which I really have no clue of the impact> so it appears like I am “freeing up business”. check. <win>
A yes vote on something I have no clue what the impact is on people who I am responsible for. Check. <win>
I can guarantee you that he has no idea of the possible consequences of this vote <a> to Republicans in the House or <b> to people. The only consequence that matters to him is the illusion of a win.
He is the NASCAR driver who has caused 3 crashes in a race he ends up winning and claims he is the best driver … because he won.
I am constantly amazed that there were so many people on a variety of level who were resentful, angry, and unhappy enough to vote for someone who almost everyone recognized on some level is not really competent to be president as well as … well … just seems fundamentally “not quite right.”
I am constantly amazed by how easily so many people are accepting of “a hollow win” and a “hollow winner” with a seeming disregard for the fact that ‘blowing shit up’ <the country, institutions, other countries, healthcare, government> doesn’t have some consequences – some intended and some unintended.
I am constantly amazed that so many people have forgotten that how you win is significantly more important than the win in and of itself.
I am constantly amazed that there are so many people who have forgotten how rotten our healthcare system was before The Affordable Healthcare Act and how many people are blindly guiding us backwards toward what we know and hated.
I do not believe the country and the citizens are hollow but we have a president who is doing his absolute best to use his own hollowness to hollow us out.
Sigh.
As for healthcare.
I will pound away on this day in and day out until some politicians understands the economic & business view of a good healthcare system.
Maybe it would help them if they would think about what a “win” looks like.
It isn’t “accessible & affordable” <healthcare’s version of efficacy> it is a National non-Absenteeism day.
<whew … imagine if we actually had one day where everyone in America showed up for work, for class, in daycare, for whatever> and saw how productive Life, and America, could be>
A successful healthcare system from an economic point of view would be to have one day which every single worker in America showed up at work, on time, healthy and did a full day of work.
No one out sick.
No one out because someone in their family was sick and they needed to take care of them.
No parent out because they had to take care of a sick child … or maybe even take care of their child because the daycare center supervisors were sick.
No child, our future generation of workers, misses school and class.
No one out because senior dependents, or independently living seniors related to you, are healthy and receiving services they deserve.
No one out because the additional services , which far too often are described as ‘luxuries’ or entitlements, provide a support system which not only keeps someone working but healthy and less tired <rested: which translates into higher productivity when working>.
The consistency with regard to the way we miss the importance of health to a productive, happy economic powerhouse as a country is mind numbing to me. I do not disregard the moral imperative aspects but for all we talk about, over & over, the importance of freeing up businesses and economic growth and free market … the most powerful machine, invention and tool the American economy has is the people.
Shame on everyone for not discussing this.
While I love bashing Trump for his lack of understanding of what it takes to run a business let alone a country … this is a politician issue. I have never heard one, just one, politician ever make this point. This is basic ‘running a business 101.’
Stop talking about insuring healthcare to citizens of a country as a moral imperative <although it is> and start talking about the real tangible benefits of an effective healthcare system.
I can partially excuse Donald J Trump because he has never really run a business. His only business hands on experience was construction. In his mind, and experience, when 5 construction workers didn’t show up one day he didn’t pay them and went to Home Depot and found 5 more workers. He had no additional expense and lost no productivity.
For the rest of us in the business world when we run a 300 person company and 5 people do not show up we still pay them and we have to decide whether we invest in bringing someone in and absorb the lost productivity of ‘lost labor’, less efficient labor and the machinations of dealing with an empty resource space. We lose productivity. We lose profit. We lose every time an employee is absent in a cascading way of consequences.
Sigh.
And, to be clear about a ‘free market’ concept, in general consumers do not win within the health insurance system. To point that out I will not take the lazy route of pointing out their hefty profits and ‘making money’ but rather point out HOW they make their money. Health insurance companies make their money by selling policies combined with filling as few claims as possible <and limiting the highest of those they are required to fulfill>. This translate into selling people things they don’t need or will never use, trying to avoid offering things they don’t particularly want to fulfill claim wise and charging a premium to someone who they believe will actually file a claim <this can either be a healthy person with a profile which indicates they are a ‘claim filer’ or a less-than-healthy person who will actually have needs>.
I point that out because health insurance companies are only in the “encourage attendance in Life” business as much as it encourages the non-filing of claims … not for any real economic productivity objective.
And … I point that out so small government people can get their head out of their asses on how government involvement can actually benefit people.
It is lazy to suggest the government shouldn’t be involved in health insurance for its citizens just as it is lazy to simply say the issue with health insurance companies is their profit motivation <it is more how they make their profits>.
Regardless.
If this is winning the Trump way, I am already tired of winning.
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