Healthcare Reform Threatened by Simmering Bailout Regret

It seems that we Americans are starting not to appreciate the fact that the economy was rescued from the brink of disaster. With the furor over fiscal discipline becoming a soundpiece on every conservative media outlet, many are forgetting that the collapse of the financial system and the economy would have ruined all of us. But, as the recession wears on, it is getting harder to accept that the massive infusion of taxpayer funds barely made a dent in the survival of the average American.

Unemployment continues to rise and is on track to top 10% and now there is talk of a "jobless recovery." Clearly this is a bitter pill to swallow for the nearly 3,000,000 unemployed since the beginning of this year. The housing market is still in shambles and Americans already deeply in debt are being slapped with increasingly egregious penalties for carrying this debt. Finally, the cost of healthcare and health insurance has hit the tipping point where it is completely unaffordable for those who have lost their jobs and some 50,000,000 Americans are completely without it.

From the standpoint of the rich, they have been saved. From the standpoint of the poor, nothing has changed, they essentially receive the same assistance. The people who stand to lose the most are the middle class. These are the people losing their jobs, losing their homes, losing their healthcare and losing their minds. These will be the people who will have to shoulder a greater tax burden to pay the national debt and to prop up all the local governments and taxing authorities that are also suffering from revenue shortfalls. These are the people who are slowly being convinced that the government debt and deficit is too high to make any more changes to save the economy like funding a vital overhaul of healthcare and health insurance that will ultimately reduce costs and provide access to all.

When the average American is feeling so much financial pain, the collateral damage stemming from the bailouts - the skyrocketing national debt and the tripling of the annual deficit, already inflated under George Bush - does not seem worth it. Let's hope our weariness does not derail healthcare reform, at the very least.