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by firenze Sun Apr 10, 2011 Original Article
We can't afford universal health care for our people. We can't afford to provide the basic level health care for our poor and our elderly that we've been doing until now. We can't afford to guarantee decent retirement benefits for our elderly. But it's imperative to continue cutting taxes for our wealthiest citizens. Because it would ruin economic incentives if we returned to the top marginal tax rates in place during most of the Clinton administration -- even though during that time we turned a budget deficit into a surplus.
We weren't worried about the deficit through 8 years of the Bush administration turning that small budget surplus into a mountain of debt, thanks to launching a needless war of choice in Iraq. But now we all really really need to worry about the deficit -- at a time when stimulus spending has been critical to maintain the fragile signs of a possible economic recovery.
It is too expensive for either governments or corporations to provide full retirement benefits to their workers -- despite the immense resources available to governments and companies, as well as their ability to spread risk over a large population size. However, individuals would be able to do so with their own resources as long as they get tax incentives, despite the enormous actuarial risks of doing so for a population size of one or two (married couple).
It is too expensive for the US government to provide basic health care for all -- or even continue providing basic health care for the elderly, despite the government's immense resources and ability to spread risk over a huge population. However, it would work out just fine for us to figure out how to do so ourselves, despite the enormous actuarial risks of doing so for a population size of nucelar family. Even though the new plan adds in corporate profits by shifting insurance to the for-profit sector.
Union workers' pensions have apparently gotten "too expensive" now that the financial meltdown has reduced the value of pension funds. But we don't want to blame those who oversaw the pension funds, those who caused the financial meltdowns, or executives making multi-million-dollar salaries at for-profit healthcare and insurance firms. No, we'll blame workers earning 50 grand a year for needing health services and hoping to retire when they're old. Because even though governments and corporations haven't been able to figure out how to afford their retirement and health insurance, middle-class and blue-collar workers clearly should be able to do so on their own.
How exactly does this make sense to anyone?
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