Parsing the Spendulus Speech, Part III

Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before -- White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual


Continuing our parsing of Tuesday's Spendulus Speech by Barry Obama:


It’s an investment that will create a new $2,500 annual tax credit to put the dream of a college degree within reach for middle class families and make college affordable for seven million students, helping more of our sons and daughters aim higher, reach farther, and fulfill their God-given potential.


A tax incentive will get more kids in school, but when you artificially increase demand for something, the prices go up. In all likelihood, the prices will go up a full 2500 dollars per family. Who wins this game? Only the schools. And since it does not discriminate between good schools and bad schools, the results are unintended consequences of rewarding poor teaching performance.


Because we know that spiraling health care costs are crushing families and businesses alike, we are taking the most meaningful steps in years towards modernizing our health care system. It’s an investment that will take the long overdue step of computerizing America’s medical records – to reduce the duplication and waste that costs billions of health care dollars and the medical errors that every year cost thousands of lives.

I fail to see the connection between economic stimulus and letting big brother consolidate my medical records.


Further, thanks to the action we have taken, seven million Americans who lost their health care along with their jobs will continue to get the coverage they need, and roughly 20 million more can breathe a little easier, knowing that their health care won’t be cut due to a state budget shortfall.


People who have lost jobs already have an option for health care. It's called COBRA, and the system seems to work pretty well.

And an historic commitment to wellness initiatives will keep millions of Americans from setting foot in the doctor’s office for purely preventable diseases.

They do that in Canada. Millions of Canadians are kept from setting foot in the doctor's office. They don't seem to like that system.

Taken together with the enactment earlier this month of a long-delayed law to extend health care to millions more children of working families, we have done more in 30 days to advance the cause of health reform than this country has done in a decade.

Health reform does not advance when you shuffle insurace from the private sector to the public. In fact, it is retarded. Government intermediation in the process is inefficient, and the costs and bureacracy accelerates. Meanwhile, the healthcare does not improve. The correct measure would be to make the process more transparent. Why not consider a rule requiring people to pay at least 20% out of pocket. That way, you would see a much more responsive health care sector emerge. With $10 deductible, the patient has no motivation to seek out the most efficient solution. With a straight percentage, everybody gets smarter.