Democrats lost their super majority and then some, Obama may very well be out the door in two years, and so on, but what really matters is that US has some major structural problems that the later it addresses the poorer it will become relative to the world.
It is because of such structural problems that the unemployment rate is so high, now higher than many European countries, something that would have been unthinkable just 15 years ago. The reason is that the Europeans have been strongly adopting the US style economic principles of free markets just as China has been, and the US itself has actually been regressing away from these principles.
Number 1 structural problem is healthcare. It is slowly but surely bankrupting the US. US is spending over 17% of its GDP on healthcare 50% higher than the next developed nation and US actually has one of the youngest populations among the developed nations. And the results are bad. Healthcare cost is absolutely a huge barrier to hiring and labor mobility in the US. Obama had a chance to address the issue, even if partially, but he truly blew it, too clueless, too much of a coward, and too interested in deal making with the entrenched welfare recipients. His bill, does essentially nothing in curbing healthcare cost. And that is the structural issue, not lack of coverage. People would be covered if it cost less.
The Republicans are even worse. Their bottom line interest in the healthcare debate is to protect the interest of the healthcare welfare recipients even more. Do not believe me, just examine Bush's healthcare bill. It is the single biggest government welfare handout of the past 50 years. It is a $200B government spending bill and it explicitly states, that government cannot then negotiate prices on drugs with the drug companies. Now that is a neat trick! Lets give $200B to buy drugs but lets stipulate that we cannot negotiate on prices. And then, one year later, something that I am willing to bet that not 1 in a 1000 Americans noticed, Bush moved to crack down on the illegal import of drugs under the banner of "protecting the Americans from unsafe foreign drugs."
Are you then surprised that drugs cost 3 times more in the US than any other country in the world?
Now at over 17% of GDP-no longer small enough to just digest, and the cost gap over other countries even greater, if healthcare is not addressed, unemployment will remain chronically high in the US. For now, get used to 10% average unemployment moving towards 12%.
And that is just the number 1 structural problem.
It is because of such structural problems that the unemployment rate is so high, now higher than many European countries, something that would have been unthinkable just 15 years ago. The reason is that the Europeans have been strongly adopting the US style economic principles of free markets just as China has been, and the US itself has actually been regressing away from these principles.
Number 1 structural problem is healthcare. It is slowly but surely bankrupting the US. US is spending over 17% of its GDP on healthcare 50% higher than the next developed nation and US actually has one of the youngest populations among the developed nations. And the results are bad. Healthcare cost is absolutely a huge barrier to hiring and labor mobility in the US. Obama had a chance to address the issue, even if partially, but he truly blew it, too clueless, too much of a coward, and too interested in deal making with the entrenched welfare recipients. His bill, does essentially nothing in curbing healthcare cost. And that is the structural issue, not lack of coverage. People would be covered if it cost less.
The Republicans are even worse. Their bottom line interest in the healthcare debate is to protect the interest of the healthcare welfare recipients even more. Do not believe me, just examine Bush's healthcare bill. It is the single biggest government welfare handout of the past 50 years. It is a $200B government spending bill and it explicitly states, that government cannot then negotiate prices on drugs with the drug companies. Now that is a neat trick! Lets give $200B to buy drugs but lets stipulate that we cannot negotiate on prices. And then, one year later, something that I am willing to bet that not 1 in a 1000 Americans noticed, Bush moved to crack down on the illegal import of drugs under the banner of "protecting the Americans from unsafe foreign drugs."
Are you then surprised that drugs cost 3 times more in the US than any other country in the world?
Now at over 17% of GDP-no longer small enough to just digest, and the cost gap over other countries even greater, if healthcare is not addressed, unemployment will remain chronically high in the US. For now, get used to 10% average unemployment moving towards 12%.
And that is just the number 1 structural problem.