Tag: health care

–The bottom line on health care insurance

An alternative to popular faith

Despite all the claims and counter-claims, here are the facts about the proposed universal health insurance plan, whatever the specifics:

1. It will cover more people than now are covered by health insurance

2. It will lower rates for people who now pay high rates because of pre-existing conditions.

3. Therefore, the plan will cost money. No sleight-of-hand, no accounting tricks, can change that.

4. Trying to reduce costs by cutting pay to doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies will reduce the number of doctors and hospitals and the amount of drug research – a self defeating idea.

5. Raising taxes also is a bad idea. History shows that higher taxes impede economic growth, while lower taxes stimulate it.

6. Put them all together – higher costs, no tax increases, no penalizing doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies – and what is left? Federal deficit spending.

7. Increased federal deficits (unlike state, county, city, corporate and personal deficits) are infinitely sustainable, because the government has the unlimited ability to create the money to pay its bills. Despite massive deficit growth, no federal check ever has, or ever will, bounce.

8. Federal money creation has not caused inflation. In the past 50 years, the three years of greatest deficit spending – 1976, 1983 and 2009 – resulted in reduced inflation. Data indicates inflation is the result of oil prices, not federal spending

In summary, we should worry more about coverage than cost. To improve the lives of Americans (Isn’t that what this is all about?), the federal government should pay for the best possible health care insurance, and not spend endless hours trying to use magic to balance an unbalanceable budget.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

— All you need to know about the Left and Right

An alternative to popular faith

Here is all you need to know about the political Right Wing:
1. The RW wants to put President Reagan’s picture on the $50 bill, because he is the “most admired and accomplished Republican president of recent decades.” (Chicago Tribune)
2. The RW is strongly against big government and large deficits
3. President Reagan greatly expanded the federal government and up ‘til now, had run the largest deficits in U.S. history.

Here is all you need to know about the political Left Wing:
1. The LW wants to make excellent health insurance available to everyone, especially poor people and people with pre-existing conditions.
2. Adding all those insureds will require adding many more doctors and hospitals
3. The LW wishes to pay for improved health insurance by cutting payments to doctors and hospitals, by fining poor people who don’t buy insurance, and by taxing the “Cadillac” plans owned by union workers (which cover pre-existing conditions).

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

–Jim Bunning and the populist health care position

An alternative to popular faith

In a March 4, 2010 editorial titled, “Bunning had a point,” the Chicago Tribune wrote: “Bunning had a very good point. Congress won’t pay for what it spends.” What the writer meant is, Congress doesn’t levy as much in taxes as it spends — the old balanced-budget theme. The editorial goes on to criticize President Obama: “‘Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar somewhere,” ‘President Obama proclaimed.’ But here Congress was spending $10 billion without saving a dime elsewhere.”

If there is one statement that is the uncontested bedrock of truth in economics, it’s this: A growing economy requires a growing supply of money. That statement actually is a tautology, for the very definitions of economic growth are measured in terms of money. Big economies have more money than do small economies, so for any economy to go from small to big, it has to increase its money supply, and for real growth, it has to increase its per capita money supply.

What is money? Every form of money is a form of debt. Bank accounts are bank debts. Credit card accounts are card-holder debts. Money market accounts are money market debts. Travelers’ checks are debts of the issuer. T-bills are federal debts. All are money and all are debt. There is no form of money that is not a debt. Even dollar bills (which have the words “Federal Reserve Note” printed on them) are debts of the U.S. government. ( “Bill” and “Note” are words signifying debt.)

So, to grow the economy, we must increase the money supply, i.e. increase the debt supply. But whose debts should we increase? We can select from personal, bank, business, state or local government and federal debts.

Shall we increase personal debts? That often is part of economic growth, though it can get to dangerous levels, at which time the frequency of bankruptcy increases and the economy suffers. So there is a limit to personal debt. Further, increases in personal debt usually are the result of economic growth, seldom the cause. And finally, what action could America’s politicians take to force increases in personal debt?

Shall we increase bank debt, also known as “savings accounts”? Increased saving sometimes is thought (wrongly) to be beneficial to the economy. Of late we have seen complaints that saving instead of spending slows the economy.

Shall we increase business or state and local government debt? Like personal debt, this can be dangerous debt. Many state and local governments already are over-borrowed, and are trying to reduce their debt.

That leaves the federal government as the safest source of increased debt/money. The federal government has the unlimited ability to create money; it cannot run out of money; it cannot go bankrupt; it has complete control over its debt-creation; it even can control the inflation some feel results from money creation. In short, the federal government is the ideal source of additional money to grow our economy

But the Chicago Tribune wants a balanced budget, meaning the federal money supply does not grow. Worse yet, in a balanced budget, the real money supply shrinks. Say in year 1 the money supply is $10 trillion and inflation is only 2% annually. By year 2, the real value of that $10 trillion has shrunk to $9.8 trillion. By year 10, with the same ongoing inflation, that balanced budget money supply has shrunk in real value to only $8.2 trillion. A balanced budget, with only 2% annual inflation, will cause our real (inflation adjusted) money supply to shrink almost 20% in ten years.

To achieve economic growth, the per capita money supply growth must exceed inflation, the trade deficit (which sends money overseas) and population growth, combined.

So yes, President Obama deserves criticism, but not for wanting to spend too much or tax too little. He deserves criticism for his populist, balanced-budget pronouncements, which by disparaging money growth, hurt America.

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

–How not to improve America

An alternative to popular faith

Much of the proposed cost to improve health care will be paid for by cuts in Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals. Clearly, that should improve health care.

Next, we can improve education by having our federal and local governments cut teachers’ salaries and support of schools.

Then, we can improve public safety by cutting police salaries.

And, we can strengthen our army by cutting military pay and investment in weapons research and production.

We can improve America’s brain power by deporting all those aliens, and not letting anyone new in.

And, we can increase medical drug research by restricting profits of those rich, greedy, pharmaceutical companies.

And, we can improve our infrastructure by spending less to repair roads and bridges, along with the electrical and communications grids.

And we can achieve energy independence if the government limits those rich, greedy, oil companies’ profits, while spending less on solar, wind, geothermal and atomic power.

Finally, we can increase economic and jobs growth by raising taxes, particularly on businesses and on the rich (people making more than $200,000 per year).

Taking all of the above steps will complete the anti-deficit, anti-government, xenophobic, Tea Party, class warfare, populist initiatives that seem so much in the news.

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