--Code Orange. "Scaremongering." High risk of economic attack. Congress tries to ram through legislation. But Americans begin to figure out that a public option means, in the long term, a mandated single-payer plan. Then political disaster strikes. Old folks figure out that Ivy League slicksters want to take something from them. They freak the heck out.
First Nazi accusation appears. Moral preening. Children dying. Town halls rocking. Nihilists rising. Wing nuts organizing. Jackboots marching. Members of Congress hiding. God Almighty says do it. Polls fall. Panic ensues. Change the subject. Bush is still evil.
--Code Red: severe risk of economic attack. Peter Orszag revises a forecast. He's only $2 trillion off his initial estimate. No rational human being ever trusts a White House forecast again. Nine trillion dollars in the red (maybe), U.S. national debt will nearly double over the next 10 years -- even without health care reform or cap and trade.
President unfazed. Nothing to see here.
--Code Pink. "Go it alone." Ignore public opinion. Reconciliation enacted. Reform is here. Unintended consequences, stifling bureaucracy, failed promises and more substandard care and rationing to the elderly. An unmitigated disaster. Cuba. No, worse: Canada.
Midterm election lost. Washington mired in debate. Nothing gets done. Hope.
And back to Code Green.