Stockholm Syndrome.
Noun.Feelings of trust
or affection felt
in many cases
of kidnapping
or hostage-taking
by a victim or a captor.
by a victim or a captor.
<i.>
Everything, finally, seemed to roll Joe Biden's way this weekend. After several less than stellar showings, he finally got the primary win that he needed Saturday in South Carolina, with 256,047 votes, or 48.4%, to 105.197 (19.9%) for his insurgent rival, Bernie Sanders. He definitely got the delegates he needed (35, to 13 for Sanders, with zero for the remaining also rans), plus the endorsements, notably longtime Congressman Jim Clyburn, that arch avatar of Democratic and black political establishment thinking, which seemed enough to seal the deal for voters -- particularly the over-45 crowd, who have kept Biden's flagging campaign afloat.
Fellow also-rans Tom Steyer and Pete Buttigeig, who finished third and fourth, with 11.2% and 8.7%, respectively, got the message, dropping out within a day of each other. Steyer left his Presdential vanity project after burning through $253 million, with no delegates and no wins. (Jeb Bush can rest easy now, after lighting up $130 million during his equally calamitous binge and purge campaign for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016: "See? I'm not the only guy who tanked in three states.")
The bell also tolled today for Plucky Amy Klobuchar, as I've called her, who ended her campaign, after called off her off quixotic run, after finishing sixth in South Carolina, with 3.2% of the vote. When your bronze medal finish is your high point -- as it played out in New Hampshire -- there's not much to say, is there? She never polled well anywhere, but that didn't stop the establishment and its pundit allies from constantly trotting her out as a more "adult" alternative to its rumpled Antichrist, Bernie Sanders.
Buttigeig, of course, never really got off the ground after his Iowa showing, where he held Bernie Sanders to a draw. As I've been pointing out for awhile now, Mayor Pete's currying of Democratic establishment favor -- starting with the 40 billionaires and spouses funding him -- puts him slightly at odds with younger, more progressive voters hungering for something beyond minor incremental changes to a society that's never seemed more unequal and one-sided.
There's a silver lining, though. I won't have to dedicate an entry in this series to Mayor Pete. He triangulates more than my high school math teacher ever did, which is enough to keep him off my shortlist...but we haven't heard the last of him, I suspect. Ditto for Plucky Amy, who's expected to join Mayor Pete in endorsing Biden. Surprise, surprise. For a moment there, I thought they'd do something original, like form the Third Way Party, or something along those lines. But that's way too creative for them, isn't it?
Billionaire Mike (or maybe we'll call him Mega Mike) -- Bloomberg, that is -- will probably stick around a bit longer, since he can spend way more on his Presidential vanity project. And, given all the resources -- monetary, and material -- that he muster, I suspect he won't step aside because someone asks. He'll do that on his own time, and his own terms, I'm sure.
The bell also tolled today for Plucky Amy Klobuchar, as I've called her, who ended her campaign, after called off her off quixotic run, after finishing sixth in South Carolina, with 3.2% of the vote. When your bronze medal finish is your high point -- as it played out in New Hampshire -- there's not much to say, is there? She never polled well anywhere, but that didn't stop the establishment and its pundit allies from constantly trotting her out as a more "adult" alternative to its rumpled Antichrist, Bernie Sanders.
Buttigeig, of course, never really got off the ground after his Iowa showing, where he held Bernie Sanders to a draw. As I've been pointing out for awhile now, Mayor Pete's currying of Democratic establishment favor -- starting with the 40 billionaires and spouses funding him -- puts him slightly at odds with younger, more progressive voters hungering for something beyond minor incremental changes to a society that's never seemed more unequal and one-sided.
There's a silver lining, though. I won't have to dedicate an entry in this series to Mayor Pete. He triangulates more than my high school math teacher ever did, which is enough to keep him off my shortlist...but we haven't heard the last of him, I suspect. Ditto for Plucky Amy, who's expected to join Mayor Pete in endorsing Biden. Surprise, surprise. For a moment there, I thought they'd do something original, like form the Third Way Party, or something along those lines. But that's way too creative for them, isn't it?
Billionaire Mike (or maybe we'll call him Mega Mike) -- Bloomberg, that is -- will probably stick around a bit longer, since he can spend way more on his Presidential vanity project. And, given all the resources -- monetary, and material -- that he muster, I suspect he won't step aside because someone asks. He'll do that on his own time, and his own terms, I'm sure.
<ii.>
But there's an even stranger takeaway from South Carolina, one that the commentariat seems to have missed or ducked entirely. South Carolina boasts the nation's second highest medical debt ratio, at 38.2%, with a median amount of $787 per resident, according to a story on Yahoo News. That figure, in turn, comes from a 2017 report by the Urban Institute, which is worth a quick skim, at least.
If you do skim the report, you'll find that eight of the 10 states with the highest medical debt ratios are in the South (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and West Virginia). Two are in the Midwest (Indiana, Missouri). "Overall, state past-due medical debt rates correlate strongly with state uninsured rates," the report notes. Man bites dog stuff, right?
Yet residents have little recourse, short of electing a more responsive state legislature, or sympathetic Governor, which are both scarce commodities in South Carolina. Nor does the Palmetto State allow the referendums that have worked in idaho, Nebraska, and Utah -- states that have expanded Medicaid, versus those that spitefully refused...like, ahem, South Carolina.
This quote in the Yahoo News story, from a business owner who pays $800 a month for her insurance, and planned to vote for Sanders, gives a vivid glimpse of the desperation and frustration that's often on display with our healthcare system:
"I just went to the doctor yesterday for a checkup and had to pay $100 just to be seen, and I still have to pay for the labs. When I go in, it's always at least $350, and it's that much for my kids. At a certain point, it's like, 'Why am I paying for this?'"
Yet residents have little recourse, short of electing a more responsive state legislature, or sympathetic Governor, which are both scarce commodities in South Carolina. Nor does the Palmetto State allow the referendums that have worked in idaho, Nebraska, and Utah -- states that have expanded Medicaid, versus those that spitefully refused...like, ahem, South Carolina.
This quote in the Yahoo News story, from a business owner who pays $800 a month for her insurance, and planned to vote for Sanders, gives a vivid glimpse of the desperation and frustration that's often on display with our healthcare system:
"I just went to the doctor yesterday for a checkup and had to pay $100 just to be seen, and I still have to pay for the labs. When I go in, it's always at least $350, and it's that much for my kids. At a certain point, it's like, 'Why am I paying for this?'"
"Yer wallet's lookin' a tad battered lately..."
<Photo, wallet & tape: The Reckoner>
<iii.>
Apparently, such factors didn't prevent African-Americans, in particular, from turning out big time for Biden -- who played a key role, let's not forget, in ramming through The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention And Consumer Protection Act in 2005, which made it harder to file, and harder still, to get out of debt. Biden took an active role in passing it.
Like most legislative concoctions of its type, BAPCPA is cruelly misnamed, since medical debit is the biggest driver of bankruptcy in America. The law also makes no provision for student loan debt, something Biden also worked to keep out of the final bill -- which marked the first time he butted heads with fellow candidate Elizabeth Warren, whose own warnings went unheeded, and unheard (though they've largely played out).
It's not a stretch, then, to say that Joe Biden played some major part in making life worse for millions. Yet that didn't prevent people from handing him the victory, and leaving Warren in fifth place (7.1%). It all looks like a case of Stockholm Syndrome, at its most extreme -- but anything to exorcise the demon of Trump, right?
The guy who did the big interests' bidding can fight another day for the promotion he so desperately craves, while the woman who opposed him is slowly being chased out of the race. Never mind the Yahoo News headline. Evidently, South Carolina voters weren't swayed enough. This is our system, in all its grubby, banal, awful glory.
What does this say about us, and where does it leave us? Two thoughts spring to mind, one from the Grateful Dead ("One way or another, this darkness got to give"), and the other from Crass: "They'll use you as a target for demands and for advice/When you don't want to hear it, they'll say you're full of vice" ("Do They Owe Us A Living"). Either way, we're hardly in a great place. --The Reckoner
Like most legislative concoctions of its type, BAPCPA is cruelly misnamed, since medical debit is the biggest driver of bankruptcy in America. The law also makes no provision for student loan debt, something Biden also worked to keep out of the final bill -- which marked the first time he butted heads with fellow candidate Elizabeth Warren, whose own warnings went unheeded, and unheard (though they've largely played out).
It's not a stretch, then, to say that Joe Biden played some major part in making life worse for millions. Yet that didn't prevent people from handing him the victory, and leaving Warren in fifth place (7.1%). It all looks like a case of Stockholm Syndrome, at its most extreme -- but anything to exorcise the demon of Trump, right?
The guy who did the big interests' bidding can fight another day for the promotion he so desperately craves, while the woman who opposed him is slowly being chased out of the race. Never mind the Yahoo News headline. Evidently, South Carolina voters weren't swayed enough. This is our system, in all its grubby, banal, awful glory.
What does this say about us, and where does it leave us? Two thoughts spring to mind, one from the Grateful Dead ("One way or another, this darkness got to give"), and the other from Crass: "They'll use you as a target for demands and for advice/When you don't want to hear it, they'll say you're full of vice" ("Do They Owe Us A Living"). Either way, we're hardly in a great place. --The Reckoner
Links To Go:
Forbes: Billionaire Backers:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2019/12/21/here-are-the-billionaires-backing-pete-buttigiegs-presidential-campaign/#2d6d84ad5fc6
The Checkup: 2019 Medical Debt Statistics:
https://www.singlecare.com/blog/medical-debt-statistics/
The Urban Institute:
Past-Due Medical Debt
Forbes: Billionaire Backers:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2019/12/21/here-are-the-billionaires-backing-pete-buttigiegs-presidential-campaign/#2d6d84ad5fc6
The Checkup: 2019 Medical Debt Statistics:
https://www.singlecare.com/blog/medical-debt-statistics/
The Urban Institute:
Past-Due Medical Debt
Among Non-Elderly Adults, 2012-15:
https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/88586/past_due_medical_debt.pdf
https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/88586/past_due_medical_debt.pdf
Yahoo News:
With No Insurance And Deep Medical Debt,
With No Insurance And Deep Medical Debt,
South Carolina Voters Swayed By Health Care:
