Krugman: Solution to Medicare Spending is Death Panels and a VAT Tax
Paul Krugman on ABC’s “This Week with Christiane Amanpour”:
Some years down the pike, we’re going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes. It’s going to be that we’re actually going to take Medicare under control, and we’re going to have to get some additional revenue, probably from a VAT. But it’s not going to happen now.
Retraction at Krugman’s blog: He’s for death panels by another name.
When you consider how Krugman delights in attacking conservatives for being hard hearted, this is actually quite funny.
Ken, “funny” is not the right word. “Hypocritical” would be more appropirate.
It is interesting how pragmatic Krugman is here. He admits the current system is not sustainable yet does not consider solutions that are not heavy-handed.
The inevitably of death and taxes takes on a whole new meaning when Paul Krugman is in charge of the real final solutions.
I think krugman does not consider a death panel to be heavy-handed if it applies to everyone. I would bet he would argue it as the whole “veil of ignorance” with regard to Medicare spending.
I hate to say it, but I think death panels are inevitable. Especially as technology improves, we will spend more and more sustaining life when there isn’t much hope of recovery (or even decent quality of life). I have heard it put it this way: if we could put cancer patients on a space ship and rocket them to the moon, thereby curing their cancer (I hear moon dust works wonders for cancer patients) we would do it. And when that got unsustainable, we would call all of the people who voted to stop the rocket ships murderers. It sounds silly, but that is what is done.
I’m glad that Paul Krugman said this, and I hope ABC lets him says it as often as he wants.
Paul Krugman mocks conservatives for claiming both (1) that we’re going to send seniors to death panels; and (2) that it won’t save any money:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aogCaGv9i78
Making both claims simultaneously is preposterous, Krugman says. But he also points out that death panels will save lots and lots of money.
I happened to be watching when he made the comment. I have a feeling I’ll be seeing that sound bite for years to come.
Juan, thanks for the link.
And all you guys didn’t think that Krugman believes in God!
This proves that he is a true believer in GOD, as in Government Ordained Death!
When my father-in-law was dying it reached a point where palliative care specialists stepped in to convince my wife and I that treatment would no longer help and we should take him home. We did, he died soon after.
Was that a death panel? They convinced us to stop treatment.
If so, I would recommend a death panel for all family members going through the end of life process. After all, every single one of us is going to die. The question becomes, how do you die with dignity?
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