I’ve recorded for you the, at best, hypocrisy or, at worst, out right lying of Christan Romer.
Ms. Romer has been an economist for a number of years. Ms. Romer was selected by President Obama to be chair of the Economic Council of Advisers. In this later capacity, Ms. Romer was one of the co authors of that fondly remembered document that promised that if we spent a bunch of money on a stimulus package, the unemployment rate would not move above 8%. If you need a reminder, re look at this document.
Ms. Romer is also the person who as I pointed out here, argued on behalf of the administration, that stimulus spending would have a greater effect on the economy than tax cuts. Of course, as I pointed out in the same post, Ms. Romer’s own published research showed just the opposite was the truth!
Yesterday, Ms. Romer pontificated on the cost saving efficacy of Placebocare. As reported at Politico.com, Ms. Romer held a conference call that claimed:
health insurance reform legislation will lower health care spending in both the public and private sectors, reduce premiums, increase wages and provide substantial benefits to the economy. From a CEA report out today: “Reform will slow the growth rate of public sector health care spending and reduce the federal budget deficit over the long run: CEA estimates that by 2019, total Federal spending on the Medicare and Medicaid programs will be lower than it would have been absent reform. … CEA estimates that reform is also likely to reduce private-sector health care cost growth by approximately 1 percentage point per year.” (CEA = Council of Economic Advisers)
So, we have Ms. Romer and the Council of Economic Advisers, who were wrong about unemployment and wrong about the effectiveness of the stimulus, now telling us that they have the benefits of Placebocare all figured out. Not only that but they tell us not to believe the CBO. They tell us that not only will Placebocare reduce the deficit but it will actually substantially bend the curve on health care cost increases!
What? You’re having trouble believing that? Just trust them, they’re economists!
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
