"Yesterday Mr. Obama again invoked the 'nonpartisan, independent' authority of CBO*, which misses the reality that if you feed the agency phony premises, you are going to get phony results at the other end."
- WSJ 03.04.10
"Hiding spending doesn't reduce spending."
- Rep. Paul Ryan (R - Wisconsin)
In case you were wondering, I am still opposed to Obama's bill...although it has yet to be drafted. The abortion language is a major hiccup, especially for a large group in the House, and a MAJOR hiccup is the cost.
The Wall Street Journal published an Op Ed Thursday discussing the blatant falsehoods with which Obama touts this bill. The commentary is based on Rep. Paul Ryan's comments from the Health Care Summit, which Democrats and the President himself have yet to refute...because they can't. Ryan has this thing sorted out.
BACKGROUND: I used to work at Boeing. In a nutshell my job required meeting with Engineers and Project Managers charged with developing new products to create a business case estimating total costs of production, how to amortize and allocate costs, and developing a pricing scheme based on a profit margin target. It was extensive work...loads and loads of Excel spreadsheets...*sigh*...sometimes I miss it.
It didn't take long to learn the most important aspect of my job and my estimates:
ASSUMPTIONS
The assumptions, which act as the foundation for an estimate, will make or break the outcome, final numbers and subsequent "Go - No Go" decisions.
Obama claims his bill is "fully paid for" and "cuts the deficit" and brings the "largest tax cuts to middle class families in history". But his claims are based on half-truths and deceptive assumptions. Here are a few:
- Obama has accounted for 10 years worth of taxes but only 6 years of spending.
- Obama claims the bill will only cost $100 billion/year, but forgets to take into account how the cost will increase every year the program is in existence.
- Obama says cost offsets will come from cuts in Medicare, but everyone knows they will postpone these reductions (they always do); thus the touted savings will evaporate. And even if they allow the cuts to pass, "Using Medicare as a piggy bank...raids a half trillion dollars from retirees health coverage to fund the creation of another open-ended health care entitlement." Our government cannot run Medicare profitably, what makes you think they can run health care for the entire country?
- Some of the savings is claimed from increased Social Security payroll revenue. This is an obvious double-dip...and a reason Social Security is upside-down...those funds should be saved/invested for OUR Social Security.
- Obama claims additional savings from CLASS Act long-term care insurance. "These so-called savings are not offsets, but rather premiums collected to pay for future benefits."
Paul Ryan says, "When you strip [this] away...the deficit increases by $460 billion over first ten years and $1.4 trillion over second ten years." And some aspects of Paul Ryan's estimate is pretty conservative.
So despite our disagreements about Health Care reform and this plan's provisions, when it comes to the nitty gritty, the plan is expensive...and your grandchildren are already on the hook to pay for it. Now that doesn't seem right now does it?
*CBO = The Congressional Budget Office, which aids the legislative body in analyzing bills and providing data to assist in making budgetary decisions. AKA...they run the numbers.
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You are rockin' the blog lately! Keep it up!
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