'President Joe Biden could have done a truly constructive thing by writing in Tuesday’s New York Times about the need to save the Medicare system from insolvency. Instead, he spread lies and took political cheap shots,' QuinHillyer writes.
Medicare’s finances are indeed precarious. That’s why some of us for two decades have been begging for bipartisan, cooperative, no-blame efforts to extend the system’s life span. And it’s why we all may need to swallow at least a few mildly unwanted policy changes to get everybody on the same page to save Medicare.On Tuesday, Biden could have extended an olive branch to Republicans and invited them to join such a reformist effort.
First, to say that most major Republican plans propose “benefit cuts” is a flat-out lie. Second, nobody of good faith invites someone to a table by describing them as evildoers intent on destroying the feast. What Biden offered here isn’t public-spirited leadership — it’s an escalation of a political knife fight.
Alas, this large but at least debatable tax hike proposal was only part of a broader, statistically dishonest attack on “the wealthy,” as if somehow government can take enough money just from the top 5% of income earners to cover every leftist fantasy. The next time Biden shows he understands arithmetic will be the first time.
But even apart from the diverging analyses, Biden is being intellectually dishonest here. He claimed that the limited “negotiations” in last year’s massive spending bonanza will “reduce the deficit by $159 billion.” But even when Biden’s analysts originally claimed savings twice that large from price “negotiations,” the Congressional Budget Office wrote: “That decrease [projected, but not yet realized] was almost entirely offset by increases in projected outlays for other programs.
Argentina Últimas Noticias, Argentina Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
President Biden Wants to Up Medicare Taxes on Income Over $400,000 in New Budget PlanPresident Joe Biden wants to up Medicare taxes on income over $400,000 in new budget plan. He also wants to expand Medicare's ability to negotiate lower costs for prescription drugs, according to advance details of his budget proposal.
Leer más »
Joe Biden says new taxes on the rich can help save MedicarePresident Joe Biden has started to unveil parts of his budget proposal being released later this week
Leer más »
Joe Biden plans new taxes on the rich to help save MedicarePresident Joe Biden has started to unveil parts of his budget proposal being released later this week
Leer más »
President Biden plans to tax the rich to save MedicareIn his plan, Biden is overtly declaring that the wealthy ought to shoulder a heavier tax burden. His budget would draw a direct line between those new taxes and the popular health insurance program…
Leer más »
Joe Biden plans new taxes on the rich to help save MedicareBiden said the plan would help to extend the insurance program’s solvency by 25 years and provide a degree of middle-class stability to millions of older adults.
Leer más »