Things Are Starting To Get Interesting

Let's not kid ourselves. The president is still a relatively popular guy. His numbers are about the same as those 6 months into Bush's first term.

But there is no mistaking that over the last 2 months, support for his policies have begun to drop significantly, as the independents who put him into office begin to side more and more with the Republicans on the economy and health care. The political landscape is becoming increasingly similar to the situation Bill Clinton faced during his first two years as his agenda centerpiece stalls in a Congress controlled by his own party while the Republicans sit back in unison, vote "no" on everything, and watch their popularity numbers surge back to life.

Let's also not kid ourselves about the fact that the American health care system is a mess and needs serious reforms. The main reason the system is in disarray, as I've previously argued, is that consumers aren't in control of their own dollars, so the market is not permitted to function. 60% of dollars spent in the health care sector are government dollars, and most of the rest are spent by insurance companies, not consumers. The trouble is that Obama wants to make the situation even worse.

The solution is abandoning the employer-based model, which we've had since the 1940's and receives tons of unnecessary tax incentives, in favor of individual plans with high deductibles, which are unnecessarily taxed and thus not properly incentivized. Cato's new website has more on this. I encourage y'all to check it out.