Liberal Talk Radio

As I should have expected, my go-to guy on moral relativism comes down on the correct side of the slant w.r.t. our little abortion debate:

And if you look at it that way, you can say: should the government be in the business of regulating tragedy? Or should government make an effort, as we do in the cases of other tragedies, ie, hurricaines, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc, to reduce the risks/damages associated with a tragedy when it inevitably occurs.

Agreed. Matski and I can BOTH agree that harm reduction (or risk reduction) is the preferred option when it comes to things like abortion, crime, and drugs.

In other news, Ryan wades in to the health care debate, asking why it isn’t a good thing that 60 companies have come together to offer low-cost health insurance for part-time workers, filling a void that Matski argues ought to be filled by the government.

I think the answer is provided by Daniel Gross, here. Lack of universal health care is putting American companies at a disadvantage. The actions of these 60 companies, though admirable, are a last-ditch desparate attempt to deal with lost productivity associated with uninsured employees. The Times article says as much:

The 60 employers are supporting this program because they say they ultimately pay for the uninsured as hospitals pass on their costs for nonpaying patients. They expect the program to help reduce employee turnover and increase productivity among part-timers.

I applaud these companies for taking matters into their own hands, but it still fails to address the larger problem, and in fact reminds us of how acute the problem has become.