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July 16, 2009
Planned economic mayhem? (Can't say we weren't warned....)
While it's huge news right now, what Vice President Biden said to the AARP sounds exactly what President Obama said in May. Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.Embrace your destruction! I agree with people who are saying it sounds pretty loony. Because it is pretty loony. What I can't understand is why it's loony only when Biden says it. Here's what Obama said in May: ...we are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we've made on health care so far. This is a consequence of the crisis that we've seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.That Medicare will bankrupt the country is beyond dispute. As I explained in the previous post, right and left are in agreement on that point. There is no way to avoid it except getting rid of the entitlement system which never should have been there in the first place. Except, the Democrats do not consider that an option. So what Obama (and now Biden) are trying to do is use the future bankruptcy as an argument in favor of making things worse. Dramatically worse. And right now. I'll say this for Biden; even before the election he warned us. Even though at the time a lot of people as astute as Ann Althouse were wondering precisely what he meant when he made seemingly incomprehensible statements like these: ...."We're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."You'd almost think they planned things this way. (Things like the destruction of the economy. Revolutions have been fought over less.) AFTERTHOUGHT: I have to say that I always considered Biden to be your basic hack politician. The lame plagiarism, his proneness to gaffes, incomprehensible remarks -- all of these things had me completely fooled. Who would have ever thought that Joe Biden was actually a prophet of doom? MORE: From the Congressional Budget Office Director: Under current law, the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run. Although great uncertainty surrounds long-term fiscal projections, rising costs for health care and the aging of the population will cause federal spending to increase rapidly under any plausible scenario for current law. Unless revenues increase just as rapidly, the rise in spending will produce growing budget deficits.How about simply not spending the money? Apparently, that is not an option that anyone is taking seriously. Why not? What will inevitable happen has all been predicted for years: In CBO's estimates, the increase in spending for Medicare and Medicaid will account for 80 percent of spending increases for the three entitlement programs between now and 2035 and 90 percent of spending growth between now and 2080. Thus, reducing overall government spending relative to what would occur under current fiscal policy would require fundamental changes in the trajectory of federal health spending. Slowing the growth rate of outlays for Medicare and Medicaid is the central long-term challenge for fiscal policy.It is beyond dispute that spending on so-called "entitlements" will bankrupt the country. So, instead of raising basic questions about the nature of entitlements, the Obama administration wants to expand them to include everyone, thereby strangling what's left of the economy and permanently shackling the country with a socialist system. But what if people are willing to vote for that? What if Plato was right? posted by Eric on 07.16.09 at 06:53 PM |
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In 1957 (yes 52 years ago) an 11 year old boy got terribly sick in a small town in rural California. After spending most of the night tending to his nausea, his mother called the doctor that delivered him.
Within a short time that morning, the doctor showed up at the house. (yes, there was a time when doctors actually made house calls.)
After poking and prodding the little guy, he determined that the child probably had acute appendicitis.
He picked up the child in his arms, carried him down the stairs, out the door, and placed him in the back seat of his old sedan.
Within the hour, the old Doc had operated on the kid, saving his life.
The widowed mother did not have insurance. She was supporting herself and the little boy by working out of her home. She was an expert seamstress and alteration lady, but could not dream of health insurance.
The hospital (a for-profit institution at the time) and the doctor made arrangements with the widow. She could pay off the charges at so much a month -- which she did.
The doctor also volunteered his services at the county hospital each month, as did all the doctors, specialists and GP's alike.
I know this is true because I was the little boy.
How did we ever get to the position we are in now?