We're number 42!!!!

McDonald's and Exxon-Mobil exist for exactly the same purpose. Yes, one of them sells billions of hamburgers, while the other pumps billions of barrels of oil, but grease is not the common interest they share. It's money.

McDonald's Corporation exists to make money, not McRibs. If the corporation thinks it can make more money by making high quality burgers at a high price, it will do that. If it can make more money by making low quality burgers at a low price, it will do that. And if they can get away with making low quality burgers at a high price, they will do that -- with great joy.

Not matter what corporate motto is stamped on the side of products or what words hang on the boardroom wall, corporations are simply money machines. That's true of McDonald's or Exxon-Mobil. It's also true of Aetna, and HealthSouth, and Cigna, and Kaiser, and the other private health insurers. They exist to make money. If they can make money by providing health services, they will do so. If they can make more money by denying services, then they will do that. They will provide exactly as much care as maximizes their profits.

And not a penny more.

That's how we came by what politicians are so often prone to proclaim is the best health care system in the world.

For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles.

Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.

For the last twelve years, Republicans have bemoaned every "intrusion" of government services into the realm of private health insurance, and every "advance" has centered on ensuring that services were provided by the same private insurers. That's why we're doing so well.

"Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.

This plummet from 11th to 42nd hasn't been a complete failure, of course. Private health insurers are still raking in 31% overhead, compared to the 2% overhead in Medicare, and making record profits. And there's hardly a plan being put forward by any candidate at any level that's still not intended to provide health insurance. No one talks of providing health care, thanks goodness, just health insurance, through these same private insurers that have done so well getting us to this point. So buck up, there are winners in this game. Besides, there are 192 members of the U.N. and 194 nations by most counts. 42 is not really so bad, is it?

Capitalism is indeed the most successful economic model yet developed, and the avarice that lies at its core among the most powerful motivators known. But the system is designed to make private money, not public good. When it comes to health care, capitalism is working just as designed.