Death Panels, VAT Will Fix Debt Crisis - Krugman on with Amanpour

[Mira]

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says the only way the U.S. will get its debt crisis under control is by the use of "death panels" and a national sales tax.

The national sales tax, referred to as VAT (value-added tax) and widely used by governments across Europe, will help cut the U.S deficit, Krugman argues.

Krugman made his comments on ABC's “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” during a roundtable discussion about the economy and the recent findings of the U.S. Debt Reduction Commission.

Here's the key excerpt:
"Some years down the pike, we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes. It's going to be that we're actually going to take Medicare under control, and we're going to have to get some additional revenue, probably from a VAT. But it's not going to happen now."

The Obama healthcare plan passed by Congress in 2010 includes government-run healthcare committees with sweeping powers, including the power to engage in competitive pricing and cost analysis, a system used by Britain that has led to rationing of medical care for the elderly.http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/krugman-death-panels-vat/2010/11/14/id/377008?s=al&promo_code=B1AB-1

to finish reading the report go here:

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/krugman-death-panels-vat/2010/11/14/id/377008?s=al&promo_code=B1AB-1

[ProSense]

1. Newsmax is a wingnut site. Krugman:

Death Panels and Sales Taxes

I said something deliberately provocative on This Week, so I think I’d better clarify what I meant (which I did on the show, but it can’t hurt to say it again.)

So, what I said is that the eventual resolution of the deficit problem both will and should rely on “death panels and sales taxes”. What I meant is that

(a) 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

(b) we’ll need more revenue — several percent of GDP — which might most plausibly come from a value-added tax

And if we do those two things, we’re most of the way toward a sustainable budget.

By the way, I’ve said this before.

Now, you may declare that this is politically impossible. But medical costs must be controlled somehow, or nothing works. And is a modest VAT really so much more implausible than ending the mortgage interest deduction?

more

See how easy it is for the RW to spin?

[BzaDem]

2. He should have put "death panels" in air quotes every time to avoid being misquoted. n/t

[Edweird]

3. A more progressivr tax structure for the wealthiest 1%and singlepayer would clear things up as well.

[Kolesar]

4. Energy taxes, carbon taxes...eom

[Skink]

5. If a vat is just a national sales tax then I'm for it.

[applegrove]

6. We have a vat tax in Canada and it really helped us get ahold of our debt.

[Angry Dragon]

7. VAT = regressive tax ................. not for it