Paul Krugman

[Wneglia]

Paul Krugman on the reality of Middle Class tax increases and Death Panels

I thought he was a liberal?

[Wneglia]

I'm curious, did you bother to seek out the transcript, audio, video or neutral reporting of the Krugman interview, which IBD conveniently chose not to link, to see whether IBD, which has a well known history of partisan dishonesty and sheer wingnuttery, is accurately presenting Krugman's thoughts in context? It would be foolish of anyone to attack or defend Krugman words here without doing so.

From the Horse's mouth to God's ears

He must like that line, as he uses it repeatedly

[rstrong]

Paul Krugman on the reality of Middle Class tax increases and Death Panels

Does anyone have a link to what Krugman said?

Other than the "truncated version", truncated by Liarbart?

[Wneglia]

Okay, IBD shaded it, a lot.

Do you disagree that healthcare is already rationed here and will be in the future no matter what we do, do you know of any realistic deficit plan that does not involve taxes - answering "yes" means even more healthcare rationing - and why do you believe that either position is un-liberal?

I agree that REVENUES will need to be raised and think the bipartisan committee's suggestions that Obama rejected made a lot of sense.

I am not against Death Panels, but it is going to be a tough sell to the public that wants something done, even if relatively unsuccessful. For example, I saw a psychiatric nurse this morning who just had a brain surgery to debulk a glioblastoma (Ted Kennedy tumor). He will now get 6 weeks of radiation along with chemotherapy. The reality of the situation is that patients with this tumor and this type of treatment live 12-15 months on average, although over the years I have seen a handful survive more than 5 years. Should we deny this treatment since the odds of long term survival is akin to winning the lottery? The money spent could be used on higher priority healthcare issues, and this treatment is on the government's hit-list. Oregon, which already has a rationing program in place puts this type of treatment near the bottom of the priority list, and patients are basically told tough luck. At least with insurance company denials, I have the opportunity to appeal a decision and act as the patient's advocate, often successfully. The government will simply not pay for it.