CARPE DIEM
Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
Sunday, November 28, 2010
About Me
- Name: Mark J. Perry
- Location: Washington, D.C., United States
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
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12 Comments:
11 out of 12. I guess the smart phone is smarter than I am.
Before I even take the test...
Given that this comes from Pew, the results will only reflect how much I "know" of what the Left want me to "know".
In the words of Ronald Reagan:
"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so."
Now...
I'm off to see how much I "know" that just ain't so.
Economics Quiz: Deregulation and competition or taxes and rationing?:
Real death panels coming our way
November 28, 2010
Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winner in economics and an influential New York Times columnist, also has a blog, "The Conscience of a Liberal." During a discussion on balancing the federal budget against alarming deficits, he proclaimed the way to solve this problem:
"Some years down the pike," he said, "we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes."
Swiftly, on his blog, Krugman admitted he had indeed said those dreaded words, but:
"What I meant is that health care costs will have to be controlled, which will surely require having Medicare and Medicaid decide what they're willing to pay for -- not really death panels, of course, but consideration of medical effectiveness and, at some point, how much we're willing to spend for extreme care."
Eleven of twelve. I lost track of British politics -- too much to deal with at home.
Here is a perfect example of what I referred to in my previous comment. Rather than singling out Medicare, I would have grouped the big three entitlements together (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) and compared that to defense spending.
Even the Washington Post admits that the big three alone amount to 170% of defense spending.
Virtually all “mandatory” spending is made up of one form of entitlement or another. Mandatory spending accounts for 57% of all Federal spending and amounts to 242% of defense spending.
Worse still, we are now dealing with a fourth big entitlement.
For more, see “Deficit Spending - Cause and Cure”.
"...not really death panels, of course, but consideration of medical effectiveness and, at some point, how much we're willing to spend for extreme care."
You're quoting that former economist and current political hack Krugman? Oh Please!
Just think. If government weren't involved in medical care, what should be essentially a private enterprise like any other service, none of these problems due to unintended consequences would exist, or be under constant discussion.
Before you say "We must care for those who are unable to care for themselves", ask yourself how "we" did it before government was involved.
11 of 12 also, I don't believe that over half of TARP has been paid back regardless of what this administration says...
"Before you say "We must care for those who are unable to care for themselves", ask yourself how "we" did it before government was involved"...
Ahhh, the mult-trillion dollar question today, eh Ron H?
Then again how would people be able to rip off billions from the taxpayers if there wasn't something like medicare?
"I don't believe that over half of TARP has been paid back regardless of what this administration says..."
juandos, It doesn't matter what you actually know or believe, the answers are based on what media wants you to know.
As SBVOR said:
"Given that this comes from Pew, the results will only reflect how much I "know" of what the Left want me to "know".
12/12
I always find these depressing because of the things at the end that tell you how ignorant most of the people who take the quiz are.
Juandos is correct when you run the numbers provided by the GAO and using their forecast data. Of the $700 billion authorized, $447 billion was spent. What I found amazing is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have $5.1 trillion under their control (over 1/3 of the U.S. GDP!), they are bankrupt, they have zero exit strategy (that’s what they mean below by “differ”), and the taxpayers are on the hook for every single dime.
The “Enterprises” are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“While FHFA and Treasury are monitoring the Enterprises’ financial performance and mission achievement through a variety of means, exit strategies for the Enterprises differ from those for the other companies that have also received substantial government assistance. Given the ongoing and significant financial deterioration of the Enterprises—the Congressional Budget Office projected that the operations of the Enterprises would have a total budgetary cost of $389 billion over the next 10 years.” (Source GAO-10-719)
"juandos, It doesn't matter what you actually know or believe, the answers are based on what media wants you to know"...
Oh Ron H such cynicism!...:-)
I wonder why the Pew people didn't have this question in their collection?
Why is Admiral Nelson spinning in his grave?
"...exit strategies for the Enterprises differ from those for the other companies that have also received substantial government assistance."
That is a true gem. I must remember it. I'm sure there will be countless times in the future when it will come in handy.
"Hello, mortgage holder? As I've not been employed for the last 3 months, my plans for making my regular monthly patyment may differ from those of your other customers."
I never even been to the US.... what does my score tell us about the general public!!
"You correctly answered 10 out of the 12 possible questions, which means you did better on the quiz than 94% of the general public."
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