Here's the truth about the Deficit Commission from Dean Baker, who is a personal hero of mine, and among the finest economists we have.
It also would have pointed out that the huge long-term projected deficits are entirely attributable to the broken health care system. If the United States paid the same amount per person for health care as countries with longer life expectancies we would be facing huge budget surpluses, not deficits. However, because it editorial position dominates its news section, almost no readers of the Post would know this simple and important fact.
[emphasis added]
Baker was warning about the dangers of the overheated housing market long before almost anyone else. He told us to beware of the bubble when Alan Greenspan was shamelessly telling Americans to go out and get a liar loan. Once again, we can listen to Baker or ignore the truth.
Baker explains the overriding reason for our deficit is our broken, pay or die healthcare system. We pay more and get less, than any other industrialized nation.
Here's the Washington Post article, Baker is responding to about the report. As the Washington charade begins to play out in earnest, you'd be well advised to engrave what Baker says on your brain.
Here's a link to the full report.
Had people listened to Baker--if anyone in Washington had paid attention to the repeated warnings of this intelligent and practical economist, (Paul Krugman) and a few others, they would have known there was an unsustainable and toxic credit bubble, which we all know led to the collapse of the U.S. housing market and economies around the world.
As usual, never forget, if it comes from Washington, you can pretty much count on it being fabricated. And, this time, to make the assault on truth that much worse, this incredible Deficit Commission document is called " The Moment of Truth".
Returning to Baker for a moment, this is from a statement by Baker's Center for Economic and Policy Research which was issued on November 10th, when the Deficit Commission proposals were originally made public. Again, it's all about our broken healthcare system.
"Over the longer term, the country is projected to face a deficit problem but this is almost entirely attributable to the projection that private sector health care costs grow at an explosive rate. This projected growth rate of health care costs would eventually lead to serious budget problems in addition to leading to enormous problems for the private sector. However, the underlying problem is the broken health care system, not public sector health care programs. For some reason, though, Simpson-Bowles never directly addresses these of the health care system."
When you juxtapose what Baker is saying to the recently enacted PPACA, you can understand why so many see this legislation for exactly what it is, a shameless transfer of wealth from the middle class to the insurance corporations.
No public option=no cost controls. No age 55 Medicare buy-in=no cost controls.
You don't want to believe Dean Baker, how about the Commonwealth Fund?
From a just released Commonwealth Fund report. The United States is failing on every metric.
How Health Insurance Design Affects Access to Care and Costs, by Income, in Eleven Countries
An 11-country survey focusing on health care access, cost, and insurance coverage found that adults in the United States are by far the most likely to go without care because of costs, have trouble paying medical bills, encounter high medical bills even when insured, and have disputes with insurers or payments denied.
And more on what you need to know about healthcare costs in the United States and how they correlate to life expectancy.
Remember the backroom deals with big pharma during the run up to the PPACA vote?
Check out what we Americans suckers pay and what the rest of the world pays.
And here dear friends, is the TRUTH the CATFOOD COMMISSION dare not speak about.
[h/t for chart DrSteveB]
And as Baker writes today, the media largely ignored the housing bubble as it devoured vast swathes of our nation from 2002-2007. Don't expect you'll get the truth from them on what needs to happen to restore fiscal sanity to our nation.
Our healthcare system remains on life support. It is broken beyond repair.
And last week, after HHS announced the medical loss ratio rules, the stocks of manged care companies soared.
Very, very tragically, the political class wants to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable, senior citizens, the sick, the poor, the out-of-work.
All in a day's work in Washington D.C.