Tag: health care

–Republicans fall into Obama trap

An alternative to popular faith

04/01/10: (AP) “GOP wary of health law repeal push in fall races”

You read it here, “Republicans are on the wrong side of history.” (Sabotaging health care, March 24, 2010).

As I’ve told you, historically I’ve voted for Republicans, because I’ve felt they better understood the economy. Though they never have been leaders for social improvements, whether Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare or human rights, they traditionally have been strong for business, which benefits everyone. Though they always have had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into anything that smacks of human benefits for the less fortunate, at least a strong minority of Republicans did participate in passing these major intitiatives.

Not this time. An astounding 100% toed the party line. As if that weren’t bad enough, after the vote they all picked up the right-wing mantra, “repeal and replace.” What a horrible, self-destructive plan.

First, repeal isn’t going to happen. As more people see what they receive from the program, they will be less likely to want to give it up. And many of these perks are quite attractive: Millions more people covered, restrictions on dropping people from coverage, no pre-existing health declinations, ability to change jobs without losing your insurance. Even the insurance industry will begin to like it, because they won’t have to spend millions evaluating for pre-existing conditions.

Second, because repeal isn’t going to happen, those voters calling for repeal will become disillusioned with the Republican party for failing to fulfill its pledge. In short, the Republicans will disappoint everyone.

Make no mistake. That 100% vote was an unmitigated disaster, compounded by the failure of Republican leadership to understand what has happened. If each Republican had voted his/her conscience and beliefs, some could have voted for the program “with misgivings,” and the party would have been able to claim it “participated” in one of the great movements in American history.

Instead, for many years and many elections, well into the future, Democrats will be able to throw this in Republican faces — “the party that voted against health care.” The Republican party, by pandering to the extreme right, has positioned itself as a fringe party, left behind in the social march to the future.

And this I regret most. We need the Republican support of business. The Democrats, left to their own whims, will tax, tax, tax, especially business and wealthier Americans, the very ones who supply employment for all and make our economy grow. A one-party Congress will hurt America.

I curse the Republican leaders, who have fallen into Obama’s trap. (As I write this, here arrives yet another “repeal and replace” letter from John McCain.) This Grand Old Party has been McCained, Palined and Fox Newsed into believed and following the strident voices of the religious right.

Remember this Republicans: Those voices may be loud, but they each carry only one vote, just like the more numerous moderate voices. It’s too late to undo that shameful 100% vote, but now is the time to move away from “the party of ‘No.” to the party of progress.

First step: Disavow the McCains, the Palins and the Fox News right-wing panderers. Go to your strength, which is business and jobs. Teach voters that strong business means employment, and employment means wealth. Teach America you know the path to the American dream.

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

–Debt “unsustainable” no longer.

An alternative to popular faith

        Just when I thought the Chicago Tribune was starting to get it, they ruined everything. For years, the Tribune has told its readers the federal deficits and debt are unsustainable, that China and the other nations would refuse to lend to us, that the government would be unable to service its debts and that federal taxes needed to be increased or spending reduced.
        And because the federal debt is unsustainable, the government is not able to support Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid and universal health care without significant tax increases or benefit cuts.
        Then I saw this in the March 30, 2010 editorial titled, “Debt Dangers”:“But the U.S. is not about to run out of money, even if it keeps overspending. Why not? First it can appropriate more of its citizens earnings through the tax system. Second and most important, it can print money to pay its bills.”
        Wow, is the staid, old Tribune finally starting to understand? Do they realize the government can support Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid and universal health care, even if taxes are reduced? Do they understand we don’t need China and the other nations to lend to us, because we can create money without borrowing?
         Sadly we were not to be so fortunate, for a few sentences later, the editorial said, “The danger is that (the government) would create money to make those debts payable, a course that would lead to much higher inflation.”
        Never mind that today, following the most massive deficits in our history, the government’s chief worry is deflation, not inflation. Never mind that for the past forty years, there has been zero relationship between deficits and inflation, and in fact, the largest deficits have corresponded with inflation reductions. (See the graph, below).

Debt vs inflation

        And never mind that deficits repeatedly have proved stimulative, while reduced deficits are depressive. Intuition and popular faith trump facts every time.
        Then the Tribune editors compounded the crime by stating, “The economy would also suffer as businesses and households scrambled to cope with the disruptive effects of soaring prices. It would suffer again if and when the government decided to curb inflation by driving up interest rates — a step that virtually guarantees a sharp downturn.”
        Never mind that high interest rates have not slowed GDP, nor have low rates stimulated, which is why the Fed’s twenty rate cuts failed to prevent or cure the recession. (See the next graph. If high interest rates slowed GDP, the peaks of the blue line would have to correspond with the troughs of the red line.)

InterestratesvsGDP

         But at least, the Tribune has taken the first step, and perhaps we never again shall see that ridiculous sentence, “The federal debt is unsustainable.”

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

–Sabotaging health care

An alternative to popular faith

It has been a disgrace that the world’s leading, industrial nation, the proudest, most powerful nation in world history, has not provided health care for all its citizens.

Yes, I have voted more often for Republicans than for Democrats, because I felt they were better economists. But today I must give the Democrats credit for doing what is morally right, while taking the big political risk to start the ball rolling.

My Republicans, left to their own devices, would have done nothing. They never have been leaders for social improvements, whether Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare or human rights. While Republicans traditionally have been strong for business, they always have had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into anything that smacks of human benefits for the less fortunate.

That said, the health care plan is far from ideal. Way too many questions to be answered. Consider it only a start, a prototype; you can expect hundreds of changes. My only hope is that the nay-sayers will not try to gut the bill for political advantage.

The question is, and always has been, who will pay for it? I believe the federal government should, and there exists massive evidence on this blog and elsewhere, to prove the government can afford huge deficit increases that will stimulate the economy, and without inflation.

But what if, despite all the evidence, taxes are increased? Economically, a bad idea, no matter what taxes they are. But, which Americans are willing to say, “I’ve got mine and I’m not willing to help those less fortunate than me?” If that’s your attitude, you’re not really an American, although ironically, it seems those who boast loudest about their patriotism often are least likely to extend a hand.

Now we need to see how the program can be improved for the benefit of all. We’ve taken two hundred years to get this far, because that first step always is the hardest. My Republicans, by trying to do everything to sabotage the plan, are on the wrong side of history.

I say now is the time to work with the plan, not against it. Our best minds, cooperating toward on goal, can make the improvements that will protect Americans for decades.

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

–Health care: The tragic misunderstanding

An alternative to popular faith

On March 20, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial, “The ObamaCare Crosswords” said, “The Congressional Budget Office estimates ObamaCare will cost taxpayers $200 billion per year when fully implemented and grow annually at 8% . . . Soon the public will reach its taxing limit . . . medicine will be rationed by politics. . . “

On March 22nd, the Chicago Tribune editorialized, “The health care reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits by $562 billion . . .(there is time) to craft a more sensible compromise that extends health care coverage to more people without breaking the bank.”

Which bank? Do you mean the federal government, which has increased its debt in the past 30 years an astounding 1,400%, from $800 billion to $12 trillion, yet never has had, and never will have, any difficulty whatsoever in servicing its debt? Or do you mean the taxpayers, already suffering, but whom debt hawks will require to send additional money to a federal government that neither uses nor needs the money?

The Tribune’s solution: “Our choice would require insurers to take all comers but give them a big new customer base: American who now don’t have health coverage but who don’t need an overhaul this expensive in order to get it.” And who are these Americans? They fall into two main categories: Lower income people who can’t afford health insurance and people who have pre-existing health problems.

To assist the former would require insurers to lower rates, thus increasing premiums for everyone else. To cover the later would require insurers to accept greater risk and provide greater payouts, thus again increasing premiums for everyone else.

The strange belief that a federal government, which repeatedly demonstrates it has the unlimited ability to create money without inflation, suddenly would have difficulty servicing additional debt, has caused otherwise intelligent people to lose their ability to reason. Though our government continuously has proved it can service a debt of any size, taxpayers are limited in what they can service. So, why do respected media editors prefer tax increases to federal debt increases, especially when increasing federal debt stimulates the economy?

Contrary to media demagoguery and popular faith, taxpayers do not pay for federal spending. When the government spends, it merely reaches out and credits the bank accounts of its creditors. There is no limit to the government’s ability to activate these credits, which are not in any way affected by tax receipts. If all federal taxes were eliminated today, the federal government’s future ability to spend would not change by even one penny.

The confusion comes because the federal government is unlike you, me, companies and state, county and local governments. We all must obtain money to spend money, and we are limited in our ability to obtain money. By contrast, the federal government creates money out of thin air, with no limits. Taxpayers are not involved in the process.

Astute politicians are aware of the disconnect between taxes and spending, which is why Vice President Cheney, in an unguarded moment, famously said, “Deficits don’t matter.” But politicians, knowing the public believes taxes pay for spending, and not wanting to appear imprudent, go along with the myth.

We could have a health care program in which doctors, nurses and hospitals are well paid, pharmaceutical companies are incented to create new drugs, and all Americans receive optimum health care. Instead, wrong-headed budget concerns have taken precedence over human health concerns, leaving us with a crazy-quilt, inadequate health care bill.

The current plan is to take money from Medicare, from doctors, nurses and hospitals, from employers and from those who currently pay for health insurance. What a terrible, unnecessary human tragedy we have created, all because of ignorance about federal budgets.

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