Dean Baker's Blog, page 468

Another Effort to Impose Philosophy on the Health Care Debate

There should be an automatic fine of $10,000 for anyone who claims that a dispute between politicians is about philosophy. It should double the second time they say it and go up to $100,000 the third time.

Come on folks, this political science 101. The people that we see in Congress, the White House and elsewhere on the political stage did not get there because of their great philosophical works. They got there by appealing to powerful interest groups. And they stay there by appealing to powe...

The Washington Post Still Can't Talk Honestly About Mexico's Economy

The Washington Post is heavily invested in NAFTA. At the time of the debate it abandoned any pretext of being an objective newspaper, allowing both its opinion and news pages to be overwhelmingly dominated by proponents of the agreement. Since its passage the Post has refused to acknowledge that the agreement has had the intended effect in the United States of lowering the wages of manufacturing workers. (This is textbook economics. By putting U.S. manufacturing workers into more direct compe...

The Old "Solidarity vs. Rugged Individualism" Diversion on Health Care

The elites continually try to give us phony political frames to divert the public from the real issues in politics. We have an excellent example of such an effort in the NYT's Economix blog where Uwe Reinhardt tells us that the health care debate is about "Solidarity vs. Rugged Individualism."

Reinhardt's story is that we have the solidaristic liberal types who think that everyone should be put in a single pool. If someone ends up getting really sick, then the healthy among us will pick up th...

Politicians Do Not Always Say What They Mean: Romney on Health Care Costs

A NYT article on Mitt Romney's approach to health care told readers:

"Mr. Romney’s plan, like those being proposed by Republicans in Congress, would put more emphasis on controlling health costs and less on reducing the ranks of the uninsured, the primary goal of the Obama plan."

This should say that "Mr. Romney claims his plan would put more emphasis on controlling health costs." It certainly is not clear that it will actually do anything to control costs.

He does not propose any of the obvi...

Will the ACA Hurt Employers: Morning Edition Says It Depends on How They Feel -- see Addendum

Reporters at NPR have the time to look up the requirements of the Affordable Care Act and calculate their impact on employers. Its listeners do not. For that reason, it is incredibly irresponsible to simply report the views of one small business owner saying the bill will be a big burden and then another who says it will guarantee him and his wife insurance.

Morning Edition could have taken 30 second to give listeners an idea of the size of the burden that the ACA imposes. For firms that empl...

Will the ACA Hurt Employers: Morning Edition Says It Depends on How They Feel

Reporters at NPR have the time to look up the requirements of the Affordable Care Act and calculate their impact on employers. Its listeners do not. For that reason, it is incredibly irresponsible to simply report the views of one small business owner saying the bill will be a big burden and then another who says it will guarantee him and his wife insurance.

Morning Edition could have taken 30 second to give listeners an idea of the size of the burden that the ACA imposes. For firms that empl...

David Brooks Never Heard of Prescription Drugs

That is what readers of his column today on the Supreme Court's health care ruling would learn. Brooks sort of praised the restraint the court exercised in not overturning the ACA. He then went on to list the inefficiencies in the health care system that the ACA did not fix. Brooks mentions the malpractice system, fee for service care, and the government subsidy for employer provided care.

Brooks probably does not know anything about the ACA, since it is likely to substantially reduce employe...

Medical Trade: The Ultimate Check on U.S. Health Care Costs

The NYT had an article on the surge in the number of people who are traveling to Mexico for medical care. This is hardly ideal, but since our political system is too corrupted by the insurers, the doctors, the drug companies and others who benefit from the waste in the health care system, this is likely to be the way in which the system is eventually reformed. People will vote with their feet and take advantage of the more efficient health care systems in other countries.

It's too bad that th...

Conflicts of Interest at the Federal Reserve Board

Very good piece by Simon Johnson. It would be good to hear someone try to provide answers to the questions he raises.

Transportation Spending: How About Some Context?

The Washington Post ran a classic pointless killing of trees piece on plans for transportation spending in a bill being debated in Congress. The piece told readers, among other things:

"A group co-chaired by former transportation secretaries Samuel K. Skinner and Norman Y. Mineta has estimated that an additional $134 billion to $262billion must be spent per year through 2035 to rebuild and improve roads, rail systems and air transportation."

Let's see, $134 billion to $262 billion per year ov...