Government Bureaucracy Sometimes Sucks; Corporate Culture Much Worse

This story over at Pandagon says many of the things I've been thinking about the health care debate recently. She talks about recently proposed legislation that would legally limit the amount of time that an airline can force you to sit on a tarmac waiting for your flight to be able to leave. This legislation has been proposed before. The airlines killed it. What's interesting about this story is just how clearly it illustrates corporate culture: they're willing to allow their customers to suffer a lot if it will squeeze just a little bit more profit out.

Take this lesson to the health care debate. All the fictional horror stories that health care opponents are making up about the public option are in fact happening now. They're happening because the corporations that bring you health care care more about their bottom line than they do about you. Government can be annoying and inefficient, but at least their stated goal is not "maximize profit no matter the cost in human misery." A corporation's only responsibility is to the bottom line, and we hardly ever comment on how evil this system is.