It’s from a 2006 article by David Sirota.
Mr. Obama Goes to Washington | The Nation
The quotation in context
Obama has a remarkable ability to convince you that his positions are motivated purely by principles, not tactical considerations. This skill is so subtle and impressive, it resembles Luke Skywalker’s mastery of the Force. It’s a powerful tool for a Democratic Party that often emanates calculation rather than conviction. “I don’t think in ideological terms. I never have,” Obama said, continuing on the healthcare theme. “Everybody who supports single-payer healthcare says, ‘Look at all this money we would be saving from insurance and paperwork.’ That represents 1 million, 2 million, 3 million jobs of people who are working at Blue Cross Blue Shield or Kaiser or other places. What are we doing with them? Where are we employing them?”
Even if you took that as factual concern it’s obviously a bullshit defence because;
A) if you require that many make work jobs then it’s more productive to have them work in some other administrative department or even just sweep the streets than in a role that only destroys wealth, keeps people sick (and unworking if you only care about employment stats), or kills them
B) the fucking companies outsourced most of those jobs first and now use AI anyway, so you didn’t save shit
Whenever anybody tries to scold over jobs lost, I ask them if there is anything in their city ir county that they see that needs improvement. Every problem and desire is a potential job if we simply prioritize it
Yeah as Sirota implies though Obama likely doesn’t see things this way, it’s just a rhetorical device to justify his devotion to the status quo
I mean, I agree. It’s just so shallow and intellectually lazy - really shows how little work they feel they had to put in to defend it.
Its just crazy to see people defend paper-pushing jobs one minute, then whining about how we have a nursing shortage the next.
What are we going to do with those 3 million people? Well most of them will probably start working for the single payer system that is going to require a lot of people to run as smooth as possible.
Don’t be ridiculous the government can’t just make jobs!
I forgor 💀
IT WOULD BE MORE ECONOMICALLY BENEFICIAL TO PAY THEM TO DO NOTHING THAN FOR THEM TO CONTINUE IN INSURANCE
oooh we can’t switch to solar, what about all the JOBS in coal and petrol???
PAY THEM TO NOT WORK IN COAL OR PETROL
like fuck you have the money printer for the global standard currency, don’t act like it’s somehow impossible when it’s a pittance compared to billions the pentagon looses when the wallet they all share goes through the washing machine. You can even do your precious means testing to make sure it’s actually going to someone who’s worked in insurance or coal mining or whatever for more than a year
Right. They’d miss the income, not the job.
Every single public outcry for social progress is treated like some childish, naive demand for an undeserved treat. I wonder if he bothered to consider that a one time event of a million or so people losing their jobs is a much smaller catastrophe than the cumulative immiseration and murder perpetuated by allowing the health insurance industry to continue existing.
Where are we going to put the people working for the baby killing machine???! Won’t ANYONE think of baby killing machine industry employment??V
I think it was
who said “Medicare for all who want it” that’s my generations version of this line I feel.When he found out most people wanted it he dropped it from his platform.
It was. One of us (collectively) mentioned it and I was 95% sure it was a joke. But I googled it anyway and then I couldn’t believe he actually said it. I had to laugh at him and myself too. Of course he’d come up with that kind of shit.
“Look I know I promised you lasagna but you can’t expect me to make that. I’d have to go out and harvest grain, mill it into flour, create the dough, press the noodles, cook them, and all that before we even get to the cheese and meat! Anyway, here’s some ketchup and raw spaghetti, you’re welcome.”
3 million jobs of people who are working at Blue Cross Blue Shield or Kaiser or other places. What are we doing with them?
How about the
?all I ever wanted to do in this life was push paperwork for a capital formation so it could accumulate more wealth by denying people coverage they paid for.
and Obama sees me and cares about me, the little guy in a bureaucratic, kafka-esque nightmare fueled by death and pain.
I gotta wonder what happens, in another five or ten years, when all those mid-level claims denial jobs are just done by the big Insurance AI that spits out a thousand pages of legalese under the heading “No Coverage For You”.
those are just efficiencies being found.
when jobs are lost to increase investor profit, that’s the unfathomable mystery of sector efficiency improving itself and it is a sacrifice the working class must accept for a better world.
when jobs are lost due to restructuring institutions to improve everyone’s lives, that is an unstoppable catastrophe that requires infinite circumspection so it can be avoided.
this is totally not ideological. you can tell because Obama says it isn’t.
i mean that was always his pitch for the rich i guess, like a reagan that didn’t need a hand up its ass the whole time
How come we don’t have
:obama-drink
Name a greater top 10 anime betrayal than that
Put them to work building public housing, fixing streets, public transit drivers, post office always has only one or two overworked people at the counter, installing road calming devices to prevent child death/ encourage biking/
Shit have em read to seniors at the old folks home or kiddos in the PICU
ANYTHING ELSE BUT GIVING INSURANCE A WORK FORCE
But what about the employees of the baby crushing machine, huh? Ever think about them?
Oh sure, NOW make-work jobs are important!
How about let’s continue that attitude and make sure porky is required to make a whole bunch of entry-level jobs. Sure, it’s inefficient but these are people’s JOBS!
Looking forward to my new job as elevator attendant.
