Posted on 03/24/2010 10:25:18 AM PDT by Nachum
If you thought the health care bill was just about, well, health care, guess again! It's about income redistribution as much as anything:
For all the political and economic uncertainties about health reform, at least one thing seems clear: The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago.
Over most of that period, government policy and market forces have been moving in the same direction, both increasing inequality. The pretax incomes of the wealthy have soared since the late 1970s, while their tax rates have fallen more than rates for the middle class and poor.
Nearly every major aspect of the health bill pushes in the other direction. This fact helps explain why Mr. Obama was willing to spend so much political capital on the issue, even though it did not appear to be his top priority as a presidential candidate. Beyond the health reform’s effect on the medical system, it is the centerpiece of his deliberate effort to end what historians have called the age of Reagan.
Obviously, there's quite a bit of cant in how the Times' economic reporter is framing the tax and inequality issue. I would bother pointing out the counterarguments, but I think the New York Times' liberalism on such matters is widely accepted. (Cafe Hayek takes apart the claims on inequailty here.) But the broad point that the health care bill is really about income redistribution is revealing in and of itself.
Also, there's this admission from the Times:
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
In the end poor people will suffer the worst, and that is the truth.
The poor and middle class are always harmed the most.
The wealthy always find a way to outsmart the Govt, and the burden shifts to the middle class.
This just clearly shows how devoid of any reason these liberals are. Ronald Reagan won two elecetions, and the 2nd one by a 49-1 state margin, which was the RESULT of people feeling the huge benefits of his tax cuts. This Health Care Bill, and Obama in particular, have nowehere near such popularity. So to impugn Reagan is nothing more than Liberals talking to other Liberals.
The middle class will continue to shrink - then who do they rob?
ping
ping
It’s an exercise in the Power of Positive (Wishful) Thinking. America at large is not a captive cage of Rats.
What does a tax rate matter to a group that pays NO TAXES?
The poor in America are getting a free ride off the backs of working America.
It looks like the NYT’s has elevated Obama to dragon slayer status; he killed Reagan. Shoosh, within 10 months we will see if the dragon is actually dead. The NYTs is really creepy and so is Obama.
It does and it will.
This is a move to the DNA of the Dems.
Slavery, and the poor are always the enslaved.
How abotu the title,”My greatest con”?
RE: “The poor and middle class are always harmed the most.
The wealthy always find a way to outsmart the Govt, and the burden shifts to the middle class.”
**************
Yep, and I don’t begrudge the wealthy their wealth. They are the job creators — although that’s all changing now that more and more segments of the workforce are coming under federal ‘ownership.’
Helloooo SOCIALISM!
Next... open your veins and let them have your blood. My only question now is: ‘How soon do I have to go to the bank and demand my CASH... and can we all do it on the same day?”
Agree. I applaud the wealthy and root for them.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
— Abraham Lincoln
Looks like the NYT is finally admitting that Obamacare has less to do with healthcare and more to do with communism.
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.