I remember being in Rome more than ten years ago and developing a nice camaraderie with the hotel clerk. As we talked about our respective countries, he told me that he was beside himself, to the point of endangering his health, about what he perceived to be the casual corruption and mendacity of his government. I found it hard to relate, even though I opposed the U.S. Administration of the time. I couldn’t imagine becoming so distraught about my own government that it could potentially affect my health.
I am still not that distraught, but I increasingly understand his feelings when I read how casually Speaker Pelosi’s office pretends that her increasingly bloated version of Obamacare is economically prudent. From the story:
The health care bill headed for a vote in the House this week costs $1.2 trillion or more over a decade, according to numerous Democratic officials and figures contained in an analysis by congressional budget experts, far higher than the $900 billion cited by President Barack Obama as a price tag for his reform plan. While the Congressional Budget Office has put the cost of expanding coverage in the legislation at roughly $1 trillion, Democrats added billions more on higher spending for public health, a reinsurance program to hold down retiree health costs, payments for preventive services and more.
Even that is understating what the actual cost would be. These things always do. But Pelosi’s office shamefully pretends that the proposal is economically prudent:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has referred repeatedly to the bill’s net cost of $894 billion over a decade for coverage. Asked about the higher estimate, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said the measure not only insures 36 million more Americans, it provides critical health insurance reform in a way that is fiscally sound. “It will not add one dime to the deficit. In fact, the CBO said last week that it will reduce the deficit both in the first 10 years and in the second 10 years,” Daly said.
Right. Politicians like Nancy Pelosi make it easy to relate to my intensely frustrated Italian friend from those many years ago.
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