Like many Americans last week, I tuned in for the 30-minute Barack-o-mercial.
In between the anecdotal close-ups of struggling American families – a widow working two jobs and raising two kids; a husband and father worried about his job at the Ford plant – I noted that Obama’s megacommercial failed to present hard data on the cost of his proposed programs and said nothing about our huge federal deficit and the corresponding budget pressures he will face once in office.
Obam’s description of his health care plan – which “includes improving information technology, requires coverage for preventive care and pre-existing conditions, and lowers health care costs for the typical family by $2,500 a year” – sounds very nice, but there has been no independent economic analysis confirming that costs will really be reduced by that (or any) amount.
Obama simply Hopes that spending $50 billion on his proposed Changes over the next five years will save the system money. But even if his optimistic estimates prove out, Obama’s plan does not stipulate that the net savings by insurance and health care providers will result in lower premiums for consumers.
And then we have Obama’s promises to “cut taxes for every working family making less than $200,000 a year… Give businesses a tax credit for every new employee they hire… Eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas… Help homeowners by freezing foreclosures for 90 days… Provide low-cost loans to help small businesses pay their workers and keep their doors open…”
Independent analysts have estimated that combined with our current budget shortfalls, these and other of Obama’s proposals will likely result in a $1 trillion deficit next year. That being unthinkable, some purging will be necessary. But which of his programs will Obama cut, and why has he been promising all of them if he knows at least some must go?
Though much of his infomercial focused on the “hard realities” of life for select American families, Obama seems unwilling or unable to face reality himself. It seems he could stand to learn something from that widowed mother of two who has to settle for half instead of whole gallons of milk when the money runs short – and doesn’t promise her family otherwise on the way to the store.
