Opting Out

Do you send in for rebates?  You have to gather your receipt and often cut a piece off the packaging, fill out a form, stick all the above in an envelope and see if you can dig a stamp up from the junk drawer.  If you're lucky you can put it out in the mailbox at the end of the driveway. Otherwise you may have to drive somewhere to find a mailbox.  How much of a rebate makes this all worthwhile?    Manufacturers count on most of us to skip it.  But they can still advertise and attract us with the "after rebate" price.  We have to Opt In to take advantage of the rebate.

Many other things are Opt-Out for that same reason.  Employer 401k plans have been moving in the direction toward signing new employees up automatically when they start, forcing them to "Opt-Out" if they don't want it.  Again, they do this on the belief that the majority of people are likely to skip it and let it happen.

Credit card companies are likewise putting terms changes out to their customers on an Opt Out method that forces them to affirmatively choose to skip the change, and often have to cancel their card.

Opting out/in is a form of manipulation to get people to behave in a favorable way toward some institution or policy.  It depends heavily on the belief that most people will just skip the step because they are already busy enough just living their normal lives.

Now the liberals in Washington are using this same manipulative method of forcing states to Opt Out of participating in the Public option.  The Federal gov't will force the states to pay for the program but will leave it up to each individual state to decide if their citizens can participate.  This is a cowardly approach. (Who is surprised here.) Instead of passing or not passing a bill for the Public Option honestly and openly they are sneaking around through the back door and putting the pressure on each state.  Whether a state opts in or out its citizens will still be on the hook for the taxes and borrowing necessary to fund the program everywhere else.

Don't be manipulated.  Tell your representatives that they need to do the honest thing.