Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Tea Party Is Not "Wrong"
The Market Ticker ^ | October 17, 2013 | Karl Denninger

Posted on 10/23/2013 1:57:40 PM PDT by kiryandil

There comes a time when one doesn't care why someone has a correct position, even if the foundation from which they proceed is faulty, only that they have the correct position.

The Tea Party, led by Ted Cruz, focused on Obamacare, as did a handful of House Republicans.

Despite the criticism leveled against them they were exactly correct to do so, even if they came at it and arrived at their conclusions due to an incorrect starting premise or analysis.

Here's why.

As I have written about for the last six years we have a fundamental mismatch between what our government takes in via taxes and what it spends.  This mismatch has gotten worse, not better, over the intermediate and longer period and unless it is fixed it is mathematically certain that it will become disastrously worse than it is now in the coming years and decades.

The drivers of this are named entitlements but in point of fact there is exactly one problem that must be resolved along the long list of entitlement (welfare) programs -- the medical situation.

And despite the screaming from both the left and right there is no answer found in "tweaking" either how we pay for medical care or through "mandates."

The problem is that the industry has managed to carve itself out an exemption from black letter anti-trust law that applies to essentially every other good and service sold in the economy.  It has then intentionally exploited that exemption to siphon off an ever-increasing amount of our economic activity, currently standing at about 19% or so of GDP -- and growing.

This gross abuse of our legal system and citizens threatens to destroy our federal government and our economy, just as it has already destroyed Detroit's budget and a handful of others in California.  

There is no government entity exempt from this.

Obamacare is an attempt to use the guns of the government to force the payment of monopolist pricing to health care and insurance companies.  It takes what was a monopoly maintained by desire to obtain health care (at almost any expense) and has turned it into a literal compulsion backed by force.

You are, as a result, paying anywhere from five to ten times (not 5-10%, 500-1,000%!) more than you should be for medical care.  To put this in perspective: Your deductible for a given procedure should be -- and would be, absent these monopolies -- the cash price for that procedure without any insurance having to be bought at all.

The media is finally talking about what I have been writing on for the last six years and change and talking about since the 1990s  -- that there is no free debt lunch.  Today, I found this:

However, every time we are forced to print money, which occurs as we raise our debt ceiling, it devalues the U.S. dollar. This in turn makes the items that you spend your after-tax money on more expensive.

When Americans wake up and realize that the reason they have less money to spend is in large part due to our huge and ever-increasing debt, that will be the time that we will see changes from both sides of the aisle.

This is why you have seen the destruction of the middle class in this country. It is why you are going backwards in your purchasing power and ability to live your life in reasonable comfort.  It is why we have record numbers of people on food stamps, why there has been no economic recovery in the labor market and why despite the stock market being at record highs you are getting increasing screwed by the day.

Driving the stock market higher by issuing more and more debt does not make you wealthier, even if you "invest" in the stock market!  Realize that government taxes you on gross gains, so if the market rise tracks this monetary emission you lose by anywhere from 20 - 40%.  To at least break even you must take on debt yourself, that is, use leverage -- and in doing so you risk going bankrupt when, not if, the inevitable market crash comes if you do not have inside information and thus do not know of it in advance.

For those who think that the US Government can get away with this forever, please listen to the following:

That's someone that most people consider the smartest banker in the world -- Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan.  If this is not a pointed warning to the US Congress, the President and everyone in this country -- what is? 

And note well -- he's not saying 10 years, 20 years or 30 years (as Ryan says) -- he's putting a 2 or five year (outside!) window on this.  How long does it take to make sausage in the US again?

No, folks, the Tea Party is not wrong.  Senator Cruz is not wrong.

You're wrong.  You're wrong because you believe there is such a thing as a free lunch and that you can have it -- or at least, that you can force someone other than you to pay for it.

That's not only not how it's going to work out it's not how it has worked out thus far.

Wake up folks -- while there's still time.


TOPICS: Government; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: obamdoesntcare; teaparty
ObamaDoesntCare - about anything except for separating you from your paycheck, ESPECIALLY if you're one of the yutes of scAmerica.
1 posted on 10/23/2013 1:57:40 PM PDT by kiryandil
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: kiryandil

Aren’t Racists always wrong ?

/s

.......the death of the message begins with the messenger.....


2 posted on 10/23/2013 2:09:12 PM PDT by Zeneta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kiryandil

The sheeple reply:

*crickets*


3 posted on 10/23/2013 2:10:46 PM PDT by dynachrome (Vertrou in God en die Mauser)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dynachrome

Five to one, baby

One in five

No one here gets out alive, now
You get yours, baby

I’ll get mine

Gonna make it, baby
If we try


4 posted on 10/23/2013 2:15:26 PM PDT by Zeneta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: kiryandil
He was interviewed by Greg Hunter Yesterday. Really good interview.
5 posted on 10/23/2013 2:19:07 PM PDT by ParityErr (It's impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ParityErr
Direct link to video.
6 posted on 10/23/2013 2:20:28 PM PDT by ParityErr (It's impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: kiryandil
The problem is that the industry has managed to carve itself out an exemption from black letter anti-trust law that applies to essentially every other good and service sold in the economy. It has then intentionally exploited that exemption to siphon off an ever-increasing amount of our economic activity, currently standing at about 19% or so of GDP -- and growing.

Sorry, but any article that purports to lay all the blame on the Medical Industry is just factually wrong.

HMO's, started by Hillary, increased the cost, and regulation of Medicine dramatically.

Until the Government is removed out of the equation of "Managing" medicine, we will continue to see the costs sky-rocket and the quality of care decrease.
7 posted on 10/23/2013 2:27:53 PM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie
Sorry, but any article that purports to lay all the blame on the Medical Industry is just factually wrong.

Yeah, whatever. "Their lips say No! No! No!, but their eyes say Yes! Yes! Yes!"

.Gov isn't raping a willing health care industry.

8 posted on 10/23/2013 3:36:21 PM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: dynachrome
*crickets*

Yes. I'm afraid the vast majority of Americans still think that prices go up because capitalists are greedy. The term "quantitative easing" and fifty years of Fed inflation sail right over their heads.

Heck, I've had FReepers who understand what inflation is argue with me that it's absolutely necessary to create prosperity. They just quibble over how high it should be.

Sigh.

9 posted on 10/23/2013 4:02:23 PM PDT by BfloGuy (The final outcome of the credit expansion is general impoverishment. [Ludwig Von Mises])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Zeneta

Jim, is that you back from Paris?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DfG1SNydnc


10 posted on 10/23/2013 4:45:03 PM PDT by newfreep (Breitbart sent me...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: newfreep

“Your ballroom days are over”

“The night is drawing near”


11 posted on 10/23/2013 4:50:25 PM PDT by Zeneta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: newfreep

For what it is worth.

IMHO. Jim Morrison was a Genius.


12 posted on 10/23/2013 5:16:55 PM PDT by Zeneta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Zeneta

I’m a BIG Doors fan but those lines escape me.

btw, I have a CDR of their first album and LA Woman that was burned direct from the studio master tapes - incredible sound quality.


13 posted on 10/23/2013 5:18:17 PM PDT by newfreep (Breitbart sent me...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: newfreep

If you listen to him, over time he quickly acquired the realization that his fans/audience were stupid.

Stupid for following him, believing he held the answers to their problems.

He milked this false worship to the end.

It takes some time, but actually listening to his words provides the insight I am suggesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCS_aVuuPdg

And then there is “An American Prayer”


14 posted on 10/23/2013 5:41:00 PM PDT by Zeneta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson