Fred Hiatt employs fuzzy math to claim House health bill would bring ‘America a step closer to bankruptcy.’
Fred Hiatt employs fuzzy math to claim House health bill would bring ‘America a step closer to bankruptcy.’
In this morning’s Washington Post, editorial page editor Fred Hiatt argues that the House health care bill “could take America a step closer to bankruptcy” and harm “the poor and vulnerable.” But since the CBO’s analysis of the House health care bill doesn’t support Hiatt’s contention that it would bring America to the brink of bankruptcy, Hiatt relies on the CBO’s analysis of the President’s entire budget and implies that it’s Obama’s health “plan”:
The root difficulty is Obama’s insistence that the nation can afford a large new social program without raising taxes on anyone who earns less than $250,000 per year. Under his plan, according to a CBO analysis, the government will be spending 24.5 percent of gross domestic product — the total value of the national economy — by 2019 while raising only 19 percent in revenue: a huge, unsustainable gap.
The 24.5% of GDP isn’t a measure of government spending as a result of the House/Obama health care bill. It’s a measure of the outlays of all of the President’s policies in his 2010 budget in 2019 and does not capture the deficit-reducing effects of health care reform or the House bill. The Wonk Room has more.
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I guess “fuzzy math” is a polite way of saying “budget math as done by morons”.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:12 pmRethugs are dishonest as well as stoooopid.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:13 pmYeah, and I’m sure never-ending funds for the occupation of Iraq and billions and billions more for the escalation in Afghanistan won’t contribute anything at all towards bankrupting America.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:14 pmWould you buy a used lie from this man?
November 9th, 2009 at 6:18 pmHe’s from The Washington Post. A yellow journalism rag and only useful for wrapping fish.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:23 pmIgor,
It’s not “fuzzy math,” it’s an outright lie.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:23 pmFred Hiatt employs fuzzy math to claim House health bill would bring ‘America a step closer to bankruptcy.’
– - Hiatt jettisoned Dan Froomkin. ‘Nuff said.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:24 pmcaption…
“My name is Fred, and this is really hard for me to say…
November 9th, 2009 at 6:26 pm…because it’s the truth…
I really don’t care about the poor and vulnerable…“
Fred must have the best health insurance money can buy.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:28 pmfuzzy math = “about ‘x’, give or take ‘n’”
The post headline should be:
Fred Hiatt Lies about CBO Health Care Plan Analysis to Help Republicans continue to Kill 122 People a day through Criminal Negligence.
.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:32 pmOr:
November 9th, 2009 at 6:36 pmEditorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt Edits-out Facts of CBO Report to Lie for Republicans.
I thought we were already bankrupt.
Sept 2008.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:38 pmFred’s right. The USA is such a poor backward nation. How could it even afford health care for all it’s citizens?
What do you think it is?
France or something?
November 9th, 2009 at 6:41 pmDo you have to go to a special school to learn to lie like this? It seems to be rampant–Oh, maybe they all went to the Professor Frank Luntz school of manipulation, started by Karl Rove.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:56 pmOkay, so Fred Hiatt’s mathematical skills are bit off.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:03 pmWell, a lot off.
But he was extremely funny in The 40 Year Old Virgin!!!
(another) caption…
“Trust me”
November 9th, 2009 at 7:15 pmI have totally given up on the WaPo.
It has become as biased and white-wing as CroxNews.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:24 pmHiatt: Obama hasn’t come up with a plan to pay for Bush’s unfunded, and failed, programs, therefore he cannot create any programs of his own. Ergo, ipso something or another, Obama has failed.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:30 pmFred Hiatt is a Neocon whose, like Lieberman’s, first interest is Israel.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:59 pmThe party of NO knows if health care reform happens, this will be a huge win for the dems… for many years to come.
More physicians are for reform than against it… and I question the sincerity of the oath physicians take if not for reform.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:06 pmYeah his math is fuzzy allright. Give me a break. It is amazing how those who support this bill think this entitlement program is going to be the one that doesn’t bankrupt the country. Those other entitlement programs, you know, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security that are rapidly becoming insolvent? Let us ignore them. Let us ignore the fact that Medicare will be broke in 2019 and Social Security will be totally broke in 2041. The trillions of dollars that will be required to keep them afloat? Why, that kind of debt is actually good for the country. So are the exorbitant taxes that will be needed to keep them afloat.
But who cares about that right? Because the same thing could never happen if the government starts subzidizing the insurance of tens of millions of people. Heck, giving thousands to millions of people will actually save money. And eating a whole lot will make you thin, and running your car into a brickwall at full speed is actually good for you and the car.
Anyone insulting this guy over fuzzy math given the track record of every single entitlement program in the United States is either a bald-faced hypocrite, a pathological liar, a naive moron or a combination of all three.
And what would a thread on a leftwing site about someone who is Jewish or has a Jewish sounding name be without naked anti-semitism or anti-Israel vitriol. Seriously some of the stuff here looks like it was ghostwritten by Jeremiah Wright. The people mentioning Israel and its foreign policy and cutting off aid because of the stance of a Jewish representative are bigots, plain and simple.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:11 pm“The party of NO knows if health care reform happens, this will be a huge win for the dems… for many years to come.”
Yeah, well thankfully people are lining up to filibuster this terrible bill into the ground as we speak. The House bill has about as much chance of being law as this site has of posting something about Lieberman without someone else bringing Israel into it. Lieberman is already a definite on the filibuster front, and Ben Nelson implied strongly that he would filibuster as well if the Stupak Amendment is stripped, which the Dems are vowing to do already. The public option has no chance of becoming law.
As for this being a win, kind of hard to win something when you pass a bill the majority of Americans oppose. And the part about more doctors supporting this than opposing it is pure bunk. I am an oral surgeon and I know of no one who supports this, and I challenge you to cite a poll demonstrating otherwise.
http://www.pollster.com/polls/us/healthplan.php
PS How is that pending 11% unemployment working out for you Dems? Face it, the Dems are toast in 2010.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:17 pmmasanf @ 22
I would ask, is there a problem with the American Health Care system?
When you are publishing financial qualifiers, what sense does it make to inflate the numbers?
Why does a conservative run government have so many governance problems?
On this point, Government can’t do anything efficiently, to prove the point just put the Republicans in control! Historically, who is responsible for the deficits? The previous Administration started with a surplus and programs fully funded, and the size of government was significantly smaller than presently. We ended up with major tax cuts, wars started on two fronts and a government in chaos.
The health care reform is an attempt to give the middle class some relief form the skyrocketing health care costs. This present financial crisis and recession will not be alleviated unless these health care costs are brought under control. You have to understand the country needs a healthy middle class, financially and medically.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:02 pmmasanf,
November 9th, 2009 at 9:07 pmJust a reminder, you conservatives swore up and down health care reform would get this far.
Too soon to gloat, my friend.
Here is a novel concept. Pay for your own health care.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:17 pmconservative guy @ 25,
I just want to inform you I do pay for my health care!I also pay for the health of two or three other people.
It was your party that let 15 million undocumented people into this country, who picks up the medical tab for them, the US chamber of Commerce?
November 9th, 2009 at 9:28 pmconservative guy says:
Here is a novel concept. Pay for your own health care.
wow. Are they all as bright as you?
November 9th, 2009 at 9:30 pmHere is a novel idea conservative. Step outside of your mothers dimly lit basement that you live in 23 hours a day. Fox as your only input limits your scope on reality
November 9th, 2009 at 9:33 pmFuzzy math is a branch of mathematics highly useful for areas lacking precision.
Repub Math is nowhere close.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:37 pmMapleStreet,
Lets be far, the problem with Republican math dates back to the Regan, oh excuse me, St. Regan days.
We have to remember they only have 10 fingers and 10 toes to count with, but don’t tell them, it will be the Progressives’ little secret.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:43 pmFred Hiatt gives the world Charles Krauthammer every day. His idea of a centrist is Broder, who was great friends with Karl Rove. His “liberal” is Richard Cohen, who supported GW Bush against Al Gore.
That’s the kind of editor Fred Hiatt is.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:20 pmConservaTROLL
Here is a novel concept why dont you do the decent thing for the fist time in your life. Just go kill yourself
November 9th, 2009 at 11:13 pmblue53 says:
Do you have to go to a special school to learn to lie like this? It seems to be rampant–
I call it inbreeding.
have you noticed they all have the memory of Dick Cheney and Gonzo.
They can’t recall how we got in this mess.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:46 pmFunny, Fred wasn’t worried that Smirky the Chimp’s tax cuts and off-the-books wars would bring America closer to bankruptcy.
Why is Fred so concerned now?
Does he oppose America actually getting something for her money for a change?
November 9th, 2009 at 11:58 pm.
Proof that to these people, 1+1/=2!
.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:51 amInteresting. They didn’t give a rat’s doopa when Bush made huge deficit spending but suddenly, the national budget is an issue. It’s always like this with Republicans. They blame everyone else and they never look in the mirror at themselves. If they did, they would be scared poopless at seeing their own image.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:08 am“EugeneDebs says:
ConservaTROLL
Here is a novel concept why dont you do the decent thing for the fist time in your life. Just go kill yourself”
Really? Is that what this has come to? I think the hard part is that we haven’t had really great leadership in decades. I don’t think Obama’s policies or ideas or plans will accomplish what his words say. But at the end of the day we are all so divided that it makes me think of the old, “A house divided against itself, cannot stand.”
It’s true GWB’s moves hurt… badly. We had/have no business in Iraq. I don’t suppose that the world isn’t a nicer place, in theory, without Saddam, but we had no business going there.
It seems though that to further print money along the lines with which it is being done by the fed and encouraged by the administration will ultimately bankrupt the country. geithner, emmanuel, and the likes have demonstrated that their interest isn’t truly in restoring America. Rather they are content to turn over sovereignty and devalue the currency and the country.
But we are so polarized that we either think that the “left” or the “right” are so far off that we don’t see that at the end of the day we the people all want the same thing.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:13 pmThe total destruction of the U.S. dollar is just a matter of time. Since the advent of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. dollar has lost 94% of its value. As the Fed continues to print more and more paper money, flooding the world with greenbacks, the dollar continues it eventual move to extinction.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/33709379
November 10th, 2009 at 2:21 pmconservative guy says:
Here is a novel concept. Pay for your own health care.
Sorry, you are too logical. On this website, Uncle Sammy needs to take care of all your needs and desires. For you are too helpless/hopeless to handle your own life. The welfare/nanny state rules here.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:38 pm“conservative guy says:
Here is a novel concept. Pay for your own health care.”
So in other words, “Don’t get sick. Die quickly”
Does your job come with health insurance? They you’re not paying for your own health care.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:08 pmHealth Insurance? A true capitalist doesn’t bother with Insurance. That’s what Credit Cards and Daddy’s Money is made for.
November 10th, 2009 at 4:13 pm