Voice From the Past

It was two years ago on January 11, 2009 that the former head of the CEA told the world what their plan would do. As we tracked it during her time in office never once did it ever get close. So why would one ever listen to her again, just go back and teach and educate some more economists who have no idea what they are doing.

But no, today she blurts out in the NY Times what should be done:

One important provision of the law was the creation of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which must propose reforms if Medicare spending exceeds the target rate of growth. But the legislation exempted some providers and much government health spending from the board’s purview. The president should work to give the board a broader mandate for cost control. 

The fiscal commission recommended that military spending — which has risen by more than 50 percent in real terms since 2001 — grow much more slowly in the future. It also proposed thoughtful ways to slow the growth of Social Security spending while protecting the disabled and the poor. And it recommended caps on nonmilitary, non-entitlement spending. 

President Obama needs to explain that while these cuts will be painful, there is no way to solve our budget problem without shared sacrifice. At the same time, he should give a ringing endorsement of government investment in infrastructure, research and education, which increases productivity and thus improves both our standard of living and the budget situation over time. And, following the fiscal commission, he should ensure that spending cuts not fall on the disadvantaged. 

Finally, the president has to be frank about the need for more tax revenue. 

Now after her performance why does she not just go home and fix California!

Now the Medicare Board as we have discussed at length is the rationing board that everyone has been worried about. They way they do it is via CER, the comparative effectiveness ploy, telling physicians what procedures are approved. She seems clueless as regards to the impending threat from China, we have been following that closely. What do we think China will do, South China Sea hegemony, threaten Thailand and Malaysia, threaten Japan and South Korea, and then feed the North Koreans with more nuclear weapons!

As for more infrastructure spending, look at the mess last time, it just fed state workers till they blubbered up, and finally, well just tax everyone.

She seems ignorant of the entrepreneur, the core of creativity in this country. She seems to feed at the trough of the taxpayer in California and Washington, perhaps she should find a real job!