Economic data supporting the need of health care reform
Just taking quick notes related to the health care debate. I find that most of the assumptions of those opposing health care reform are misinformed at best and disingenuous at worst. I am not talking about honest common folk who formed an opinion based on incorrect information, I am talking about those feeding the incorrect information.
To make this apolitical and objective I’ve chosen data from 1980 to 2008, that encompasses both Republican and Democratic administrations.
What I did here was to analyze the official Price Indexes for Gross Domestic Product to detect which indexes grew the most between 1980 and 2008. That will provide us with a measure of inflationary factors and deflationary factors (i.e., which sectors of the economy grew faster, which of them shrank).
I don’t care here about the reasons for the growth or shrinkage, only about the numbers.
To give a clear example so it’s easier to understand, the main deflationary sector (the one the shrank the most) is Computers and peripheral equipment. If you remember, back in 1980 computers were very expensive and today they are relatively cheap. The amount of money we spend in computers therefore is less today than it was in 1980. The growth factor of computers is -5060.4.
So, now to the numbers:
And the winner is (roll drums). No. Not health care, but Gasoline and other energy goods, with a growth factor of 94.65.
Non residential structures follow with a GF of 87.79 and Health care follows third, with a growth factor of 83.71.
So basically, over the past 28 years the 3 main inflationary forces are Gas, Commercial Real State and Health Care.
If we discount the Oil price bubble and the Real State bubble, the main inflationary force is Health Care.
Now, for the big bad government. Where it ranks? In a sad 20 place (and that’s with 2 wars, national security overhaul and the 2008 bailout), 10 places below Financial services and insurance.
For those worried about the government putting their hands in your pockets, I must tell you that you have been taken by one of the oldest methods in pickpocketing: Distracting your attention to the wrong pocket.
Now, here is my question to those who think that the problem is big government.
If they think that Taxes are outrageous why aren’t they 20% more outraged about the
Health Care industry? Because that’s how much more the Health Care Industry took from us than the Government. And actually, that’s not even true, because (as our national deficit shows) the government did not even take money from us.
Even if big bad government increased taxes by 20% tomorrow they would be just even with the Health Care Industry.
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September 11th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Great post. I’m glad you’re writing like you write. Everybody else just keeps on writing, with bad spelling and punctuation… but you manage to it very good. You also explain things very good, but they don’t. To be honest, your blog is one of the most interesting blogs I’ve read in a long while… and oh, whatever you do, don’t you dare stop blogging!
September 11th, 2009 at 11:40 am
In my humble opinion Oil, Gas, and other energy goods deposit in our world is quite limited. Like there are only few countries were producing it and a lot of countries are like US, Europe countries, japan and china are trying to buy and stored it for their current and future use. Computers and other latest technology gets cheaper because something always come better and cheaper because of competition of globally. On behalf of Health Care Industry, I certainly agree that it really needs a reform so that disease like A-H1N1 could be solved efficiently. Government should not increase tax because it really affect all aspect of every Health Care Industries not only here but worldwide.
October 1st, 2009 at 1:40 pm
As a business owner I can tell you that health care costs have nearly doubled for us over the last 5 years. That is not a sustainable rate increase.
March 29th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
A nice job. You encompassed your post with various topics & from various point of view. You deserve appreciation. Keep going.