This Week’s Health Policy News Roundup Curated by Jane M. Orient, M.D.
The developing White House economic narrative touts “the strongest economic growth in a decade.” But according to econometrician John Williams of ShadowStats.com, we are not looking at an economic miracle but at a “a smoke-and-mirrors illusion of economic data dishonestly calculated.” One fallacy is to use a falsely low rate of inflation. The reality: a new downturn. http://www.wnd.com/2014/12/expert-obama-economy-based-on-doctored-data/print/
How did the economy appear to “grow” by $140 billion while Americans became $80 billion poorer? The short answer: “Today the market is euphoric and hitting all time highs because Americans dug into their savings and spent billions on the ‘Affordable’ Care Act,” writes Tyler Durden. He calls it “fabricated fudging.” http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-23/exposing-deception-how-us-economy-grew-140-billion-q3-due-data-revisions
As ordinary Americans become poorer, they are carrying an ever-heavier burden of federal spending. On a per capita, constant dollar basis, the burden tripled between 1962 and 2009. The difference–that is, the growth since 1962–is around $8,000 per person, or $32,000 for a family of four. One could calculate, crudely, that for the one-half of American households that pay federal income taxes, the increased burden of federal spending since 1962 was at least $64,000 annually for a family of four. Most of the increase is in entitlement spending.
“I don’t see how anyone can look at the numbers without concluding that the number one fiscal imperative for the federal government is to reduce spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” writes John Hinderaker. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/12/per-capita-federal-spending-shows-40-year-trends.php
Amazingly, in 1993, 100 congressional Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, proposed a law to repeal Medicare. A CBO report calculates that repealing Medicare would have saved $1.8 trillion from 1997 to 2003; repealing Medicaid would have saved another $1.2 trillion. But the Democrats’ bill would have wiped out those savings by spending $7.1 trillion on a new set of health insurance subsidies in a single-payer system, notes Avik Roy. http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/12/27/democrats-including-nancy-pelosi-proposed-repealing-medicare-in-1993/
Seen on Social Media:
Obamacare-Created Insurer Goes Under, Is Taken Over By The State http://t.co/tWxxap2oWB #tcot #UniteBlue #p2
— Conservative News (@ConNewsNow) December 24, 2014
6 Reasons Why Vermont's Single-Payer Health Plan Was Doomed From The Start: http://t.co/F4voOiXG8H @forbesopinion
— Avik Roy (@Avik) December 22, 2014
Billionaire Warns Of Massive Crash That Will Wipe Out America’s Colleges: “You’re Going To See A Repeat Of What W … http://t.co/V8IFGdh56q
— Tabitha Bliss (@BlissTabitha) December 27, 2014
