Either Obama's a liar or he sucks at math

fossten

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Can Obama do math?
posted at 10:50 am on September 12, 2009 by Ed Morrissey


I’m not asking this to be snarky, or at least not entirely. Barack Obama twice this week made an argument that he can squeeze $4 trillion in deficit reduction “over the long term” from an industry that generates a total of $2.3 trillion a year — by slowing the rate of cost inflation through his overhaul prescription. Put aside for the moment whether ObamaCare will slow the rate of growth at all, and how Obama plans to make that happen without rationing. How can he claim to get $4 trillion out of a $2.3 trillion stone, especially since the government’s portion in that is only somewhere between a third and a half?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqOZE4rLn48&feature

And as I have said over and over again, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – period. This plan will be paid for. The middle-class will realize greater security, not higher taxes. And if we can successfully slow the growth of health care costs by just one-tenth of one percent each year, it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term.


According to Pacific Research Institute, Medicare and Medicaid cost slightly over $800 billion in 2008, or just about 35% of the entire gross product of the US health-care industry. PRI also notes that government costs have risen faster than the health-care system as a whole, which calls into question whether government programs are the actual cause of the rate of growth in health-care costs. Those numbers appear to correlate with the latest figures of the Census Bureau, which puts the government coverage of the American people at around 34% of the insured population.

But the problem goes further than that. How can Obama claim that he can get $4 trillion in deficit reduction from reducing the growth rate in health-care costs? I posed this question to King Banaian, everyone’s favorite economist, who produced a spreadsheet using data from the HHS on the entire industry, outlining the entirety of cost savings to the industry as a whole (and not just the deficit) by slowing down the cost curve:

In a ten-year window, even if Obama delivered what he promised twice this week, it would save a grand total of $33 billion dollars — and that’s for the whole industry. If the government covered a third of the costs, the total deficit reduction over ten years drops to a mere $11 billion dollars over 10 years. At that rate, how long will the “long run” need to be to save $4 trillion dollars in deficit spending? It would have to be 3,634 years.

Either Obama needs a remedial math lesson, or he’s lying through his teeth.

Addendum: I reserve the right to use this as an OOTD later this week.

Update: Actually, I made a math error here. The $11 billion was over ten years, not one year, which makes the actual time 3,634 years — or about the same period from Moses to now. One reader says that I’m not considering compounding, and he puts the overall savings at $220 billion over ten years and the government savings at less than $80 billion, but that still makes the payoff to $4 trillion hundreds of years off.
 
He's lying through his teeth, and apparently he still thinks he can get away with it. He's going to have to try a LOT harder than that now, he's in a lot of angry people's sights. Before long, he won't be able to breathe without being questioned, he'll be trapped like the rat he is.
 
He's lying through his teeth, and apparently he still thinks he can get away with it. He's going to have to try a LOT harder than that now, he's in a lot of angry people's sights. Before long, he won't be able to breathe without being questioned, he'll be trapped like the rat he is.

don't you mean "Long Legged Mack Daddy"
 
Is there anyone out there that actually likes this guy? I would like to hear from them.
 
Obama: " if we could only slow the growth of health care costs by 1/10th of 1% each year...blah, blah blah "

How does slowing the 'rate of growth' reduce anything Number 1....

and number two, he proposes to slow it down by 1/10th of one percent....

F'in idiot

If health care cost are growing 30% a year....

O'idiot proposes to slow the growth....

One percent of 30% is .3% and...

1/10 of that would .03%.

So he is going to slow down the rate of growth of the hypothetical 30% by a staggering 3 hundredths of 1%..

The guy is a genius.

And I still don't understand how slowing the growth reduces the deficit...:rolleyes:
 
Chirp, chirp from the libs on this site. As usual, Obama's actions and statements are indefensible.
 
Chirp, chirp from the libs on this site. As usual, Obama's actions and statements are indefensible.

All of these topics go without response.
Another one that is painfully silent is the one I've repeatedly bumped regarding Mark Loyd the "Diversity Czar" with the FCC, or the NEA propaganda, or the earlier stuff about Van Jones.

Unless there's some good spin or bull:q:q:q:q to be used to at least confuse things, the threads sit silent. Does that mean we're all in agreement or that it's better for the cause to just not draw attention to it?
 
Perhaps it means the sheer overload of right wing posting means that there is no way that the left can keep up.

There will be a lot of 'chirp chirp' at this rate. Remember foss said that threads that I started should be ignored... that is fine - I will ignore in kind... Being the Tiarna of Trolls isn't his decree law?

This thread doesn't bear answering until the stalwart socialist from Denver answers every single thread already posted on a similar subject - for example, the Van Jones or Ezekiel Emanuel threads.

So, have fun talking among yourselves...
 
How was the car show Fox, I was at National Jewish for an Allied health Conf and couldnt afford to drive back up the next day, sorry I missed it.
 
Perhaps it means the sheer overload of right wing posting means that there is no way that the left can keep up.
Or perhaps not.....
Perhaps, when you have the time, we could discuss Mark Loyd, or any of the other topics that are more interesting.

So, have fun talking among yourselves...
Had a rough week?
 
Perhaps it means the sheer overload of right wing posting means that there is no way that the left can keep up.

There will be a lot of 'chirp chirp' at this rate. Remember foss said that threads that I started should be ignored... that is fine - I will ignore in kind... Being the Tiarna of Trolls isn't his decree law?



So, have fun talking among yourselves...
Funny how you call me a troll while you yourself troll in my thread.

These threads are merely reflecting the sheer overload of Obama's stupid, tyrannical actions and statements. The fact that you are afraid to comment on these actions speaks volumes. I invited you to comment on the substance of the thread but you come in here all weaselly.

Oh, and nice job of misquoting me. I can't decide whether you're a LIAR, you have poor reading comprehension skills, or you're just INCOMPETENT.
 
Funny how you call me a troll while you yourself troll in my thread.
Foss - I was trying to answer this specific question... I won't bother next time...
Chirp, chirp from the libs on this site. As usual, Obama's actions and statements are indefensible.
Oh, and nice job of misquoting me. I can't decide whether you're a LIAR, you have poor reading comprehension skills, or you're just INCOMPETENT.
And I certainly didn't misquote you - that is an exact quote... anyone can click through - even you...
 
Foss - I was trying to answer this specific question... I won't bother next time...


And I certainly didn't misquote you - that is an exact quote... anyone can click through - even you...
You misquoted me saying to ignore your threads. You took that out of context. Show me where I said threads you start should be ignored, and do it IN CONTEXT.

You FAIL.
 
There are millions, sir.

You should have seen them all in Mpls.
Standing on the side of the highway just to see him drive by.
See the plane land.
It made my 10 min trip to home depot a one hour gridlock of Obama gawkers.
 
You should have seen them all in Mpls.
Standing on the side of the highway just to see him drive by.
See the plane land.
It made my 10 min trip to home depot a one hour gridlock of Obama gawkers.

In honesty, you don't have to be a fan to want to watch that.
It's kind of exciting to see the President arrive or watch the motorcade go by. It's kind of breathtaking to watch.
 
In honesty, you don't have to be a fan to want to watch that.
It's kind of exciting to see the President arrive or watch the motorcade go by. It's kind of breathtaking to watch.
I prefer the scene where the President of Zumunda landed and motorcaded to the Waldorf.
 

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