"Health-care reform is entitlement reform" has become a mantra of the Obama administration. The idea is that Congress can add a massive health-care program this year -- covering the uninsured -- and use the same measures that pay for the health reform to fix the broader budget problems. If that sounds too good to be true, there's a reason.
On two separate issues -- health-care and the budget -- the president
has promised savings of $2 trillion. A total of $4 trillion dollars --
now that's real money. Unfortunately, the claims are completely
exaggerated.
Now is clearly not the time to balance the budget--even the
most adamant deficit hawk knows that. But economic recovery will not be as
simple as merely running up the government's credit card and calling it a day.
Certainly, the U.S.
economy is in very bad shape--but so too is the fiscal health of the country.
