A few weeks ago the debt passed 21 TRILLION DOLLARS, but I was out to lunch with the rest of America.  Pollsters say that hardly anybody cares about the debt any more.  Deficits stimulate the economy, right?  Doesn’t that mean jobs? Ummm, that sort of “stimulus” is a dubious way to try … [read more]

The United States spends as much government money on health care as do the socialized health care systems of Europe.  States and our federal government now spend nearly two trillion dollars a year on health care.  That’s more, as a % of GDP, than Canada and the U.K. spend on … [read more]

The rising cost of health care is driving more and more citizens into Medicaid, the program for the poor. Medicaid, in turn, drives up the cost of health care by under-paying doctors. HealthAffairs.org says that it doesn’t even pay half of the discount price that your insurance company would pay. A survey of thousands of physicians, by CNN, reveals that Medicaid only covers 50% – 70% of their costs of providing care. … [read more]

The federal debt is now larger than Twenty Trillion Dollars.  That’s $124,000 per American, if you’re counting just the younger half of the population. The older half of the population has benefited from the growth of the debt—we paid lower taxes and got more services, for decades—and we won’t have to pay it back.  So it’s younger Americans who will bear the brunt, and they’re beginning to notice. … [read more]

In the upper left corner of this page you’ll see a pretty little girl wearing a sign saying that she’s $38,375 in debt.  That number is now $57,764, if you’re willing to use the Enron accounting standards of the federal government, which don’t acknowledge that she’s carrying liability for Social Security promises that we can’t pay.  Medicare is actually much worse, but this year the Social Security Administration is sending out benefit statements—estimates of how much you’ll get per month when you retire—that say: … [read more]

Populism sounds like such a friendly and democratic word.  Only the grumpiest blogger would complain about politicians doing things that make them popular ….  Unhappily, the word “populist” has come to mean a politician who promises cash, services, or benefits to voters.  He doesn’t offer to pay for these things with cash from his own pockets—that would be outrageous!—but instead offers to pay with borrowed money, or with cash taken from taxpayers. … [read more]