As you my faithful listeners know it is not ACTUALLY the distractions of a corporate parrot like “Fleckenstein” that I have been concerned about.  Not that the real or engineered Fleckenstein’s of the world don’t exacerbate America’s real problems.  Fleckenstein’s are like the Wraith’s of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Unreal spirits caught in bad magic!  The REAL bad guys are of course the corporate undead that like the newly enlightened ex-CIGNA executive Wendell Potter either honestly (or cynically) believe, their commitment to profits at any cost (that somehow forces the suffering to develop character by proximity to near-death insurance decisions) is good for average Americans.  They call that kind of thinking “conservative”.  I call it (at least) selfish and self-absorbed.

Observe: The Health Insurers Have Already Won

The carriers have succeeded in redefining the terms of the reform debate to such a degree that no matter what specifics emerge in the voluminous bill Congress may send to President Obama this fall, the insurance industry will emerge more profitable.

More than anything I have predicted on air it is about this sort of outcome I most wish I would be (and maybe still can be) wrong?