Tag: health care

–Will the party of “NO!” become the party of “I don’t know”?

The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology. Those, who do not understand monetary sovereignty, do not understand economics. Cutting the federal deficit is the most ignorant and damaging step the federal government could take. It ranks ahead of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
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This should be interesting. Will the party of “NO!” become the party of “I don’t know,” when asked how they plan to reduce federal spending without alienating all the people who receive federal spending, and without destroying the economy, too?

My hunch is all those “small government” types will begin to whine loudly when their favorite federal benefits begin to disappear. And then there is the presumed reduction in federal employees, “to save money” at just the time when we’re supposed to be creating jobs.

For a reminder about some of the things we voters will have to worry about, read: “14 ways to dismantle a monstrous government”.

And why cut federal spending? The debt hawks have no clue. They do not understand monetary sovereignty, and have no desire to learn.

Ignorance has its costs.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”

–Read how the debt-hawks threaten to destroy Medicare.

The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology. Those, who do not understand monetary sovereignty, do not understand economics. Cutting the federal deficit is the most ignorant and damaging step the federal government could take. It ranks ahead of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
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Read how the debt-hawks threaten to destroy Medicare.

Washington Post, 11/2/10:

“Physicians face painful decision on Medicare

“While most people are focused on the midterm elections Tuesday, the American Medical Association is gearing up for the lame-duck congressional session scheduled to start Nov. 15. Unless Congress intervenes, payments to doctors for treating Medicare patients will be cut by 23 percent on Dec. 1 and another 6.5 percent on Jan. 1.

“Cecil B. Wilson, an internist from Winter Park, Fla., who became AMA president in June, is pressing for a 13-month patch that would prevent the Medicare physician cuts. In April, the Congressional Budget Office said that blocking the cuts until January 2012 would cost about $15 billion. A long-term formula fix, through 2020, would cost about $276 billion, it said.

[…]
“Four hundred physicians across the country were involved in a webinar, in which we talked to them about their options. The reality is between now and the end of December physicians have to make a decision about their status related to Medicare. So we are trying to provide information to [them] so they can make a wise decision. Our concern, of course, is that if Congress in the lame-duck session does not address this problem, or they address it in ways that are disruptive to physicians’ practices, more physicians are going to say, “You know, I’m just out of here. I cannot keep my doors open and provide care for other patients.”
[…]

“This is not about the AMA; this is about senior citizens who need care. I can just tell you from my own [experience in] Winter Park, Fla., the conversation in the grocery store lines [or] at the shopping mart is, “Do you know any physician who is still taking new Medicare patients?” And the answer is no.”

Why are payments to doctors liable to be cut? Because of the absolutely false belief the federal debt is too high, and must be paid by future taxpayers. This just one more example, out of hundreds, of the inexcusable damage debt-hawk ignorance causes us. And they call this “fiscal prudence.”

Hello, all you supporters of federal debt reduction. Thanks for nothing.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”

–How the Republican strategy won

The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology. Those, who do not understand monetary sovereignty, do not understand economics. Cutting the federal deficit is the most ignorant and damaging step the federal government could take. It ranks ahead of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
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If the Democrats take a beating this coming election, as is predicted, they have only themselves to blame. The Republicans want the economy to stay weak, giving them the opportunity to remove the recession blame from President Bush and to hang it on President Obama. So they have directed their efforts toward reinforcing the myth that federal deficits are bad, the federal debt is worse, and anything that is not austerity is worst of all.

This wonderful, though cynical strategy guaranteed a weak recovery, hurting the Democrats, while hurting the American people, worse. But hey, who cares about that?

The Democrats, rather than educating the public about federal finance, allowed the Republicans to stigmatize any recovery effort that required deficit spending. Either through ignorance or spinelessness, they fell right into the Republicans’ trap, thereby guaranteeing not only a continuation of economic weakness, but a loss this coming Tuesday. They now suffer, and we the people, suffer, though most of the people don’t know why.

The only thing that can create a recovery is deficit spending, the more the better, but the Democrats never tried to get that message across. They even agreed with the Republicans about the evils of federal debt. Talk about slashing your own throat.

The Republicans have succeeded. Deficit spending has been too little, too late, as I predicted way back in Letter dated April, 2008. The Democrats struggled to spend while not spending, the Republicans threatened to filibuster everything that smacked of deficit, the Democrats cowered in terror, and the economy languished.

What should the Democrats have done? Simple. Tell the truth. Rather than believing the voting public is too stupid to understand facts, the Democrats should have instituted a two-year educational program, starting immediately after the Obama election. Yes, at first the public would have rejected the counter-intuitive ideas that deficit spending is absolutely necessary for growth, our children and grandchildren will not pay for federal spending, and inflation is not a serious threat. But over time, these fact-based ideas would seem less radical, more acceptable and ultimately, desirable, because well . . . they’re fact-based.

That would have allowed the Democrats to improve Social Security, enhance Medicare, provide universal health care, save the economy and win the election. Oh well, there’s another election in two years. Maybe the Democrats will smarten up or “courage-up” in time.

On second thought, doubtful.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”

–Here is the financial solution for your state, county and city

The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology.

Illinois is broke. Your state either is, or soon will be, broke, too. Illinois’s 13 million population owes $13 billion. Like all states, counties and cities, Illinois is not monetarily sovereign, so unlike the federal government, which is monetarily sovereign, states cannot create money to pay their bills. Illinois is far behind on payments to the many vendors who supply services to its citizens. The state has no hope of continuing its “borrow now, pay later” system.

Yes, Illinois may be the most dishonest state in America. Several of its recent governors have gone to jail, and the government is run by swindlers. Although the reprehensible head of the Democratic party in this traditionally Democratic state, Mike Madigan, can be blamed for much of the financial chaos, there is plenty of blame spread around.

We can begin with the voters, who inexplicably continue to vote solid Democratic, despite the astounding record for corruption this party has amassed. Not only is Illinois thoroughly crooked, but so is Cook County and Chicago, also Democratic strongholds. Chicago aldermen traditionally go to jail after a few years in office, and Mayor Daley is the classic Sgt. Schultz, the guy who repeatedly said, “I know nothing, I see nothing.”

Daley sold income-earning city assets, then spent the money, putting Chicago ever deeper in the hole. (Pity the next mayor). And don’t ask about Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, who was appointed by his father after his father died (really), and instituted a “friends and family” system of patronage hiring. With all this, voters march to the polls, like little automatons, pull the Democratic lever, and march back out to complain. (In all fairness, Illinois has had its share of venal Republican governors, too, though these guys were mere minnows in a sea of sharks.)

Nevertheless, though the state, its largest county and its largest city all are run by criminals, even a theoretically honest state cannot survive on tax receipts alone. Because monetarily non-sovereign governments cannot create money, inflation forces them all to obtain money from outside their borders.

“Outside” earnings can come exports of goods and services. Example: Salaries earned by Evanston, Illinois residents, paid by Chicago firms. Or outside earnings can come from government support. Example: Illinois pays some Chicago Transportation Authority expenses. And this later approach demonstrates the only way to save Illinois and all the other states.

If the U.S. federal government would give Illinois just $1,000 for each resident, the state debt would disappear. And if the federal government continued to give Illinois an ongoing $500 for each resident, Illinois could pay its cities and counties enough to achieve better schools, better roads, better transportation and other improvements in human benefits, while reducing the onerous property, income and sales taxes, that hurt Illinois’s economy.

Yes, Illinois’s crooked politicians will continue to steal, and Illinois voters will continue to elect them, but state poverty hasn’t stopped the politicians, anyway. And though Illinois politicians uniformly promise to reduce the debt, this requires self destructive taxes and spending cuts. Austerity is a path to disaster. So, the sole financial solution for Illinois and for all states, a solution that will improve the lives of its residents and of all America’s residents, a solution easily affordable by the federal government, is per capita support for all states.

Without increased support to states, America’s quality of life will decline, as schools, roads, health care, nursing homes, housing, courts, police and fire protection, parks and businesses all disintegrate. There is no other solution. Mathematically, America’s states, counties and cities cannot do it themselves. The federal government must do it.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”