The Whitehouse Calculator Needs a New Battery

As expected, the healthcare summit was nothing more than a pacifier for the GOP. Nothing was accomplished. One can hardly even call it a debate.

The attitude of Obama and the DEMs was deplorable. At one point, the DEMs were taking up twice as much time, for which the GOP challenged Obama who responded with "because I am the President". Their self-admiration is narcissistic and has blinded them to the will of the people. This is despite the fact that the GOP reminded them that the GOP talking points were that of the governed not that of the GOP. It is supposed to be about we the people, but they forget that. The townhalls, protests, tea parties, and rallies nationwide for the last year are a clear indication that the current bills are not what the people want, but it has fallen on deaf ears.

As the summit proceeded, the GOP held their own, but they were completely disregarded. Paul Ryan discussed the fact that the bill will cost 2.3 TRILLION dollars over 10 years. Obama responded that he didn't want to get "bogged down with numbers". Oh well, excuse me, but this is the people's money, not your own. Spending 2.3 TRILLION dollars of the people's money is not beneath you for discussion. Refusing to discuss it does not make the issue disappear. Furthermore, refusal also establishes the administration's clear intent to accomplish nothing in the summit and that the summit was all for show to make it look like he was doing something.

Now if we do look at the numbers, Obama seems to have his own special whitehouse calculator. Somehow, the whitehouse calculator projects a result of savings, when an additional 2.3 TRILLION dollars is spent on top of the 3 TRILLION dollar budget he plans for each year, yet still claims to cut costs and the deficit. This must be the same calculator he used for the 95% of Americans not paying any tax. (See my "Fuzzy Math" post).

To add insult to injury, certain provisions won't even take effect for 6 years. In essence, this means that taxpayers will pay these costs for 6 years before receiving benefits. Talk about a layover plan. I don't think the American people will gladly pay for healthcare today that they can't use for 6 years.

The whitehouse calculator is a bit tricky. The DEMs allege that there is 30 million people that need health insurance and can't afford it. So, if we spend 2.3 TRILLION dollars, that results in about 77,000 dollars per person. Really? That is some health insurance. Does it come with a golden parachute too?

If we further dissect it, there are 300 million people in this nation. That means the other 270 million of us that have health insurance get to pay the 77,000 dollars for the 30 million that don't. This would be on top of paying for health insurance for ourselves. Check your pockets folks. You've just been robbed in broad daylight.

This general analysis demonstrates one thing. There are no savings. There are only costs, and they are exorbitant. Perhaps the whitehouse calculator is dyslexic, and has confused costs for savings. Or perhaps the whitehouse calculator needs a new battery.