from James Pethokoukis:
Are Obama’s healthcare troubles actually a good thing?
Mickey Kaus gives his theory:
It’s easy to forget that, even if Obama’s health care effort is bogging down, the effort itself still serves his presidency as a crucial time-waster, tying up Congress and giving him a reason to postpone (or the public a reason to ignore) those other divisive, presidency-killers. Obama needs some excuse for putting off unpopular Democratic demands; health care’s a good one. If he keeps failing to pass health care until spring, that might not be such a bad outcome. In fact, even quick passage was maybe never in his interest. There are things more unpopular than struggling. ... Cap and trade, immigration legalization, “card check”—these are not what you’d call confidence building appetizers leading up to the main course of Obama’s presidency.
Me: None of it works when Americans have less and less confidence in Obama. And that number will continue to work against him as long as unemployment stays high.
from James Pethokoukis:
A healthcare plan to save Obama’s presidency
President Barack Obama has told Americans to be skeptical of reports of an end to the recession, saying the downturn has "many more months" to run. Given the recent retail sales data, Americans seem to be listening to their economist-in-chief.
Obama may well be right in his dour forecast. Whatever the next quarter or two of GDP numbers say, continuing high unemployment and depleted personal wealth should keep the vibe more recessionary than expansionary. It's tough to be cheerleader-in-chief, after all, when people's pocketbooks are telling them a starkly different story.
But another issue is exacerbating Americans' sour attitudes and raising doubts about the president's competence: healthcare reform. Indeed, a recent Gallup poll shows identical pluralities of 49 percent disapproving of both Obama's handling of the overall economy and his handling of healthcare policy.
Healthcare reform poses three problems for Obama. First, it seems to cost way too much in an era of trillion-dollar budget deficits. Americans are now as obsessed with budget deficits as they were in 1992, when fiscal concerns helped make Ross Perot a presidential contender. Second, many Americans are skittish about increased government involvement in the sector. Third, an inability to push healthcare reform through a Democrat-dominated Congress makes both the president and his Congressional allies appear ineffectual (as does the dithering over whether a public option needs to be part of any reform plan).
Now, political historians will note that a healthcare reform fiasco helped sink Democrats in the 1994 midterm elections -- despite a fairly strong economy -- and forced President Bill Clinton to shift to the right and work with congressional Republicans. Together, Clinton and the Republicans balanced budgets, cut taxes and reformed welfare.
But why wait for a political disaster to change course? If Obama wants to deliver meaningful change to the nation's healthcare system, why not a grand compromise with Republicans that would also bring along centrist Democrats.
Call it the Purple Plan, one that brings red and blue together. Make health insurance mandatory and subsidize those who can't afford it. (That's the blue part.) But at the same time dismantle employer-based health plans, which prevent consumers from understanding the true costs of their healthcare decisions. In any case, employer plans are just an accident of history. (That's the red part.)
Tubal reversal is process through which women can go for the option of re-pregnancy. As we know that Every woman has right to dream of having a baby. Tubal reversal allows a woman the ability to conceive naturally without any harm. Although tubal ligation is considered a permanent method of birth control,
from James Pethokoukis:
Oh, about that U.S. economic recovery …
What might stand in the way of a robust economic turnaround. Gary Becker outlines the following factors:
The federal government is creating many programs, such as reducing student loan repayments and mortgage payments for persons with low incomes, which discourage the unemployed from finding jobs, and encourage the employed to become unemployed. The proposed caps of various kinds on executive pay, especially in the financial sector, the large government debt being created due to huge fiscal deficits that will put upward pressure on interest rates, the European style reorientation of anti-trust policies toward protecting competitors rather than consumers, the enormous excess reserves that have a considerable inflation potential, the federal government's likely incompetent management of two of the three American auto companies and a major insurance company, and the planned creation of a consumer czar that will interfere with the goods and services offered consumers are examples of policies that are likely to discourage business investment and risk taking.
Me: It is not about aggregate demand, gang, it's about confidence.
I recently read your article I thought i would share it as it has some very interesting facts and insights on the crisis and expected recovery.
http://studentsblog2.blogspot.com/2009/1 0/great-ways-to-student-debt-recovery.ht ml
from James Pethokoukis:
5 reasons why Obama will hike middle-class taxes
C’mon, how about some Walter Mondalesque candor from the Obama White House on taxes? Yes, yes, it was 25 years ago this summer that the Democratic presidential candidate self-immolated on the issue at his party’s convention in San Francisco. But surely Americans have become more urbane and sophisticated since then as to what makes for sound economic policy, oui?
[Find out five ways to boost the economy and create jobs]
Nope. If you had any doubt that higher taxes are still poisonous policy in center-right America, all you had to do was listen to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs yesterday. He briskly and precisely walked back the White House from the ambiguous statements made by Tim Geithner and Larry Summers on the Sunday chat shows. “I am reiterating the president's clear commitment in the clearest terms possible that he's not raising taxes on those who make less than $250,000 a year," Gibbs said.
But what’s so clear, Mr. Gibbs? “Commitment” in this context is a schemer’s word, the much-weaker-yet-more-conniving sibling of “guarantee.” Did Broadway Joe express a mushy “clear commitment” to winning the 1969 Super Bowl? Clearly not. In any event, feel free to ignore Gibbs or any other White Housespinmeister who gives the impression that President Obama raising middle-class taxes would be the equivalent of playing himself in a Hollywood biopic -- so unlikely as to be fanciful. It’s not and here’s why it will happen eventually:
1) Obama knows the budget math doesn't work. Put aside today’s budget mess. It’s gospel among center-left wonks (the kind of folks who give Obama economic advice) that structural government spending as a percentage of GDP is headed sharply higher over the long term because of entitlements -- and there’s little that can be done about it. The ratio has been around 20 percent or so the past few decades, and number crunchers forecast a sharp rise to 25 percent (best case scenario) to 30 percent (worst case) of GDP over the next few decades. Tax revenues typically hover around 18 percent of GDP. That gap -- representing $500 billion to $1 trillion a year -- will need to be closed or else cause economic chaos. The possible answers: a) less spending, b) higher tax revenues from higher growth, or c) higher tax revenues from higher rates on the non-wealthy. Oh, and the wonks are convinced “a” is a political impossibility and “b” an economic one. They're wrong, but that's what they think.
[See if Obama's big economic gamble is paying off]
2) Obama seems to prefer tax hikes to spending cuts. Reduced future healthcare spending needs to be a huge part of the budget solution, and ObamaCare doesn't make the grade at this point. Right now the various Obamacrat plans actually make things worse by failing to "bend the curve." What’s more, Obama has proposed nothing as president to make Social Security solvent. And during the campaign, his preferred fix was higher payroll taxes rather than commonsense measures like extending the retirement age or changing how benefits are calculated. Of course, Obama has also proposed raising income, investment, corporate and energy taxes. Cut spending or raise taxes – forObama it’s an easy pick, unfortunately.
Democrapic policies – from illegal amnesty, to card check, to “the fairness doctrine”, to health care, to affirmative action quotas, to lawyers for terrorists, to tax hikes – are all disasters for the US and unpopular.
It just goes to show that the health and happiness of America is not their primary concern – buying votes from special interest groups is.