Great editorial from Betsy McCaughey in today’s opinion section. She is the Chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Lots of good points but the best one is this: 40%. In fiscal 2009 total government spending (fed, state and local) exceeded 40% of GDP. It is the first time that has happened since WWII. You can’t get economic growth if government is confiscating that much of the economy’s production. “Americans don’t want to solve every social problem at the expense of their freedom to choose how to spend their own money.”
Posts Tagged ‘budget deficits’
“Just Say No To Health-Care Summitt” WSJ 2/17/10
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010Health care on CNBC this morning
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010Today David M. Walker from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation was on Squawk Box on CNBC this morning. The foundation is a leading entity in the fight to maintain fiscal sustainability of the United States. Walker rightly pointed out that our success, if not our very survival, will be based on our ability to continue to grow our economy. A large piece of the puzzle is health care. The U.S. spends 17% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health care while the rest of the industrialized world spends about 9% of GDP. That is a huge disadvantage in our global competitiveness and in our ability to attract capital to this country. Our challenge is to contain costs without restricting access or rationing care.