Paul Krugman - They Dont Need No Information

[n2doc]

I’m as riveted by Trump/Russia as everyone else. But meanwhile Trumpcare — which really has very little to do with Trump, except that he’ll sign it — appears to be marching on despite the terrible CBO score on the House version and the near-certainty that if the Senate passes anything it will be barely if at all better.

This tells you a lot about the values of the modern GOP, which will happily trade off health care for ~20 million people for tax cuts that deliver almost half their benefits to people with incomes over $1 million — fewer than 800,000 tax units.

But aside from the priorities, think about the process. The AHCA was deliberately rushed through before CBO could weigh in; the Senate GOP is working completely in secret, with no hearings, and anything it passes will surely also try to preempt the CBO.

You might think that this in part reflects conservative analyses that reach a different conclusion. But there aren’t any such analyses. Remember, OMB works for Trump; it has offered nothing. Even the Heritage Foundation, which used to be the go-to source for conservative creative accounting, hasn’t produced some implausible account of how the magic of markets will make it all work.

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https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/06/11/they-dont-need-no-information/?_r=0

[Azathoth]

1. The GOP is a post-policymaking party

There is not even the pretense of engaging with the facts to craft laws that actually attempt to solve problems.

[Lindsay]

2. Oh, that's not fair.

They are solving the problem of how they can have theirs, take yours, and fuck everybody who's not a rich white male Republican.

[Azathoth]

3. But they don't even bother with evidence-based policies to achieve *that*

One of the biggest boons for rich US employers would be single-payer. Just think what it would do to corporate bottom lines if every company was suddenly relieved of its obligation to fund its own group health plan (the most inefficient way to pay for healthcare.) The savings would dwarf any corporate single-payer tax that replaced it. Pass single-payer and keep salaries where they are and profit margins would soar overnight.

But that requires evidence-based thinking and the GOP don't play that game.