"Now Don't You Let The Government Get A Hold Of My Medicare."

Arthur Laffer, Reagan economic advisor, co-author of Proposition 13, and creator of the Laffer Curve:

An elderly Louisiana woman, 1994 (cf. The System by Haynes Johnson and David Broder, page 558)

[Senator John Breaux] was walking through the New Orleans airport, returning home, when an elderly female constituent approached him. "Senator, Senator," she said, plucking emotionally at his sleeve. "Now don't you let the government get a hold of my Medicare." Breaux, ever the charmer, smiled and said reassuringly of this greatest of government entitlement programs, "Oh, no, we won't let the government touch your Medicare."

I don't believe I have to explain what this says about the Republican economic policy elite.

COMMENTS (4)

08/04/2009 - 3:03pm EDT |

I don't see anything wrong with that statement.  The government (as in Obama's gov't) is looking to gut Medicare and convert everyone to this idiotic national healthcare system.

While we're cherry-picking on the topic of nitwits - how about the leftist retard who criticized Cheney for giving to charity, cursing him for saving taxes with one of the many "loopholes" wealthy people have.  I don't think I need to explain the idiocy of that to any of you.  Or do I? I don't have a high opinion on the intelligence of poli-sci or other soft subject types.  Econ major rejects.  That's what they are.

08/04/2009 - 7:31pm EDT |

I don't see anything wrong with your statement either, jwl2672 (can I just call you jwl for short? I'm MoSo to my friends).

Glad you clarified that "the government" was Obama's government - not that other, righteous, government-in-exile that Cheney and co can lead, De Gaulle style, until the vile communist traitors are driven out.

I also don't see anything wrong with your agreeing with the statement, then making clear that it was made by a nitwit.

Don't see anything wrong at all.

08/04/2009 - 10:40pm EDT |

Did some old man stand up and say the same thing at some town hall meeting?  

08/05/2009 - 9:02am EDT |

Re: old man - yes, in South Carolina.

Re: Medicare - first, it's not going to gut Medicare, and second, Medicare is, in fact, a national healthcare program. It's just one that currently gives all those glorious, wonderful private insurers a dramatic incentive for withholding treatments that help people live healthier lives beyond age 65. After age 65, you're the government's problem, *not* the insurers - so insurers have zero incentive for providing you with longer-term treatments.

Econ flunkies, indeed.

get the magazine

Intellectual rigor. Honest reporting. Influential analysis. Don't miss another issue of the magazine considered "required reading" by the world's top decision-makers. Subscribe today.

Get our newsletters

Get Our Feed