Think about his statements, that is, to examine their sensibility. I’m sure he thinks about them as tools for swaying public opinion.
The following letter from GMU economics professor Don Boudreaux to Obama has me wondering about that.
Dear Mr. Obama:
CBS radio news this morning ran a clip of one of your recent speeches. In it, you criticize insurance companies because they “ration coverage according to who can pay and who can’t.”My first thought was “not exactly; coverage is rationed according to who PAYS and who doesn’t.” Ability to pay isn’t the same thing as actually paying, and what insurers care about is the latter.
Many folks – especially young adults – have the ability to pay but
choose not to do so. They get no coverage.But further pondering of
your point leads me to look beyond such nit-picking to see fascinating
possibilities. Not only insurers, but all producers who greedily
refuse to supply persons who don’t pay should be set aright. Now I’m
sure that YOU don’t ration the supply of the books you write according
to any criteria as sordid as requiring people actually to pay for them.
But our society is full of people less enlightened than you. For
example, the typical worker rations his labor services according to who
pays and who doesn’t. That must stop. Oh, and supermarkets! Every
single one rations groceries according to who pays. Likewise with
restaurants, clothing stores, home-builders, furniture makers, even
lawyers! You name it, rationing is done according to who pays.
Indeed, my own county government has been corrupted by this greedy
attitude: if I don’t pay my taxes, the sheriff takes my house –
effectively booting me out of the county merely because I didn’t pay
for its services.Preposterous!
I look forward to your changing this selfish and unfair system of rationing that for too long now has kept Americans impoverished.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
George Mason University
