If the economy were a person, here's how I'd describe his travails in recent years.
For far too long, he binged on junk food, with no regard for the impact of such dietary habits on his system. He gorged on sub-prime cuts of real estate and paid for it with cheap credit whose price failed to reflect the damage he was doing to his internal organs.
He visited his doctor, a guy named Greenspan who'd studied medicine with Ayn Rand herself, but the doctor just slapped him on the back and told him he must be fine because he wasn't sick... yet.
Then, on September 15, 2008, he collapsed. He was rushed into intensive care, where eventually, his case was taken over by the medical teams of Obama and Bernanke. Dr. Obama, a cardiologist, applied stimulus to get his heart beating again, while Dr. Bernanke used angioplasty to clear the junk out of his veins so the credit blood could start circulating again.
His recovery was slow -- he'd really messed up his insides. But he was getting better. Then, in the 2010 midterms, the hospital elected a new board that was strongly against such medical interventions as those benefiting our client. They yanked out the stimulus tubes and discharged him.
He was out of the woods, but he wasn't better. His blood is circulating, but not that smoothly, and his heart beat is still below normal. If you watch him even today you see the symptoms of his incomplete treatment: every time he starts to climb the stairs or break into a run, he has to pull himself back and rest for awhile.
The hospital board remains intractable -- if anything, they're busy convincing themselves that it's all the Drs fault, especially that Obama guy (who they claim got his M.D. in Kenya). Dr. Bernanke, who has an independent practice, still sneaks in to see the patient now and again, but there's only so much he can do. It's hard to get the blood circulating if the heart's still beating too slowly.
Eventually, he'll get better, but at this rate it's going to take years. We could reform the health care system, but to do that, we'll need to replace the hospital board.
This post originally appeared at Jared Bernstein's On The Economy blog.
Follow Jared Bernstein on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@econjared
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for every employee that is laid off due to "government regulations", about 130 are laid off due to "lack of demand".
Basically a big, fat lie by Republicans. If demand is adequate, businesses will hire, basically regardless of the regulatory burden. Blaming the slow recovery on regulations (let alone the new regulations from Obama above and beyond what existed previously) just shows how little you really understand about what's going on here. May I suggest you tap a source other than FoxNews for your information?
What we don't need is more emergency medical intervention, create "crest and crash" cycles in the patient's metabolism. We need to get the patient on a healthy regime of good nutrition (broccoli, cooked at home, no more dining out), mental activity to improve cognition and attitude, and physical activity, along with regular medical checkups.
The physicians need to withdraw their instruments and nostrums and pass this task to the therapists and counselors.
The alternative is to keep the patient episodically on life support for the foreseeable future.
And who paid the bill for all of that? Take a good, long look in the bathroom mirror dear reader.
Vote Libertarian.
Taking today's situation and multiplying it out ignores the kind of inflation that Medicare introduced to healthcare.
I absolutely disagree. Nothing in a physician's background prepares her for setting economics and access driven policy. Healthcare, yes. Healthcare administration, absolutely not. When physicians design a healthcare system, it's designed first for the convenience and security of the physicians, second for the staff, third for the patients, and lastly for those who have to pay.
There's an old saying in my industry, "Never let a Captain run the steamship company".
Physicians are technical professionals who are hired for their particular expertise, which isn't management or financial expertise. Spend some time talking to physicians, you'll be amazed at how naive most of them are, outside their field.
Democrats who voted against the health care bill included the following Congressmen and Congresswomen:
Rep. John Adler (N.J.)
Rep. Jason Altmire (Pa.)
Rep. Michael Arcuri (N.Y.)
Rep. John Barrow (Ga.)
Rep. Marion Berry (Ark.)
Rep. Dan Boren (Okla.)
Rep. Rick Boucher (Va.)
Rep. Bobby Bright (Ala.)
Rep. Ben Chandler (Ky.)
Rep. Travis Childers (Miss.)
Rep. Artur Davis (Ala.)
Rep. Lincoln Davis (Tenn.)
Rep. Chet Edwards (Texas)
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (S.D.)
Rep. Tim Holden (Pa.)
Rep. Larry Kissell (N.C.)
Rep. Frank Kratovil (Md.)
Rep. Dan Lipinski (Ill.)
Rep. Stephen Lynch (Mass.)
Rep. Jim Marshall (Ga.)
Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah)
Rep. Mike McIntyre (N.C.)
Rep. Mike McMahon (N.Y.)
Rep. Charlie Melancon (La.)
Rep. Walt Minnick (Idaho)
Rep. Glenn Nye (Va.)
Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Rep. Mike Ross (Ark.)
Rep. Heath Shuler (N.C.)
Rep. Ike Skelton (Mo.)
Rep. Zack Space (Ohio)
Rep. John Tanner (Tenn.)
Rep. Gene Taylor (Miss.)
Rep. Harry Teague (N.M.)
Now what?
Take the time and trouble to find out why they voted as they did,
before one goes off half cocked.
Among the reasons:
--total lack of support and promotion by the president for blue dogs in purple and red states,
--serious flaws in the bill admitted even by opponents
--lack of reliable controls that would make the bill financially viable,
--projected costs are known to be always over-optimistc and are proving so now--premiums may be impossible to afford by the time the program is fully implemented.
-- and always approach a complex subject with humility.
And ever since 2010 we've seen job growth right?
How much has the budget been cut the last 2 years?
Answer, none, it's increased.