Tuesday, August 4, 2009

This nails it...

A good column by Howard Kurtz on Clunkers for Cash and health care reform...

I may be in the minority, but how can the administration declare the clunkers program a success when a billion-dollar effort that was supposed to last till November ran out of money in five days? Isn't that a pretty spectacular miscalculation?

Also, isn't it apparent that the $4,500 payments for older gas-guzzlers was extremely generous? That's a huge chunk of change to spur people who probably would have bought a new car eventually anyway. It's a nice short-term boost for the auto industry, and a small boost for fuel efficiency, but is it worth the additional $2 billion that the Senate seems inclined to join the House in approving? Does it further the impression that the administration is just shoveling money out the door?

There was no single day when the Gang of 500 got together and declared health care to be in trouble, but the White House is clearly on the defensive as Congress decamps for August. In retrospect, Obama failed to focus sufficient attention on the what's-in-it-for-me question for the majority of Americans with insurance. Given the sweep and complexity of the proposals, many folks are skeptical of Obama's assurances that their coverage will remain unchanged. And with a 1,000-page bill that the Democrats haven't figured out how to pay for, the whole thing is vulnerable to attacks and distortions, on lots of sections and sub-sections.

I predict that Obamacare will end up the same as Hillarycare: DOA. And I hope the other result, bye-bye Democratic Congress, will happen, too.

And it's not a quite what's in it for me, phenomenon, either. It's a this is completely stupid to be throwing away so much money and go further into debt and then eventually raise taxes, thing.

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