Olbermann marvels at "just how stupid" the opponents of high taxes and Obamacare are
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On his Countdown program Thursday, Keith Olbermann demonstrated once again that because of his boiling hatred for anyone whose ideology differs from his own, he is entirely incapable of engaging in linear thought or reasoned debate. In this particular episode, Olbermann designated former Reagan economic advisor Arthur Laffer as the day’s “Worst Person in the World,†disparaging Laffer as “the pusher of the discredited notion that tax cuts for the rich stimulated the economy, and the creator of the farcical Laffer Curve.†The Laffer Curve is a concept which contends that at a given point of increased taxation, business activity will diminish because of the reduced economic incentives that accompany higher taxes, thereby causing the government to receive less tax revenue rather than more. Olbermann is particularly annoyed with Laffer these days, because of the latter’s opposition to the Obama/Democrat plan for government-run health care.
Sneering that Laffer’s name befits his purportedly clownish economic theories, Olbermann contemptuously marveled at “just how stupid†Laffer and “other critics of health care reform … are about this topic.†He then quoted Laffer saying:
“If you like the Post Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they’re run well, just wait until you see Medicare, Medicaid, and Healthcare done by the government.â€
Olbermann then looked directly at the camera and mocked Laffer by addressing these comments to him directly:
“Medicare and Medicaid are already done by the government. They’re government programs. This also just in, Dr. Laffer: Lindburgh has landed safely in Paris.â€
As usual, Olbermann succeeded in providing his viewers with everything they needed to know — except the actual context and the actual meaning of the quotes and the events which he was discussing. You see, Olbermann was so busy trying to be impressively clever, that he neglected to show his viewers the statement Laffer had made in his very next breath: “I mean the single provider, I think, is a real problem …â€
Laffer’s point, in other words, was that under Obama’s plan all of healthcare, including Medicare and Medicaid, would now be under a single government umbrella. But poor, pathetic Keith Olbermann couldn’t help himself. His hateful intolerance getting the best of him yet again, he pretended to believe that Laffer was unaware of something as elemental as the fact that Medicare and Medicaid are government programs. The subtext of Olbermann’s message: Anyone who opposes government-run healthcare is a veritable imbecile, on par with someone who doesn’t realize that the Atlantic Ocean has been crossed by manned aircraft.
Such a depiction of one’s ideological adversaries is standard fare for the Left. Al Gore, for instance, has characterized those who dispute the notion that “global warming†is caused by human industry, as the intellectual equivalents of people “who still believe that the Moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and … who believe the world is flat.â€
On a substantive level, it bears mention that Olbermann’s casual dismissal of “the discredited notion that tax cuts for the rich stimulated the economy,†has been well rebutted by Thomas Sowell, who writes:
The angry left has no time to spend even considering the argument that what they call “tax cuts for the rich†are in fact tax cuts for the economy.
Nor is the idea new that tax cuts can sometimes spur economic growth, resulting in more jobs for workers and higher earnings for business, leading to more tax revenue for the government.
A highly regarded economist once observed that “taxation may be so high as to defeat its object,†so that sometimes “a reduction of taxation will run a better chance, than an increase, of balancing the Budget.â€
Who said that? Milton Friedman? Arthur Laffer? No. It was said in 1933 by John Maynard Keynes, a liberal icon.
Lower tax rates have led to higher tax revenues many times, both before and since Keynes’s statement — the Kennedy tax cuts in the 1960s, the Reagan tax cuts in the 1980s, and the recent Bush tax cuts that … led to record high tax revenues …
Budget deficits have often resulted from runaway spending but seldom from reduced tax rates.
It is also remarkable to hear Olbermann speak as if Medicare and Medicaid are living testaments to the glories of government healthcare. At this moment in time, the unfunded liabilities of Medicare Parts A, B, and D amount to $85 trillion; both Medicare and Medicaid waste at least one out of every three dollars they spend.
I think both sides have taken essentially the same tactics. Labeling each other with invectives, giving their supporters a ‘playbook’, and attempting to use the media to their advantage. All of this is okay. It is okay because in America we have the right to freedom of speech, assembly and freedom of the press. These are rights that thousands have given their lives to protect.
The debate on health care which consumes nearly a fifth of the national economy and involves everyone is something that we should openly debate and understand the intended and unintended consequences of before we change an entire system.
It is important to provide better access, bend the cost curve so that health care is affordable (and not just through shifting costs by taxing), and improving the quality of the care delivered.
We are a country that leads the world in health care innovation. We have to zealously protect that aspect. No other country in the world is positioned to take our place if we take our eye off this important work.
Follow many aspects of the health care debate and information about health care delivery at http://www.ilovebenefits.wordpress.com
If Keith wants to keep his job he has to maintain the ideology of those he works for. Obviously, Imus didn’t fit in under the new management’s tilted programing guidelines.
One only has to observe the governments handling of the VA health program to realize something is wrong with it. If it weren’t for all these non-profit organizations helping our veterans, a returning soldier would have absolutely no hope what-so-ever.
I am sorry to say this but it is about time that someone pointed this out to the editors of Frontpage Magazine and the News Real Blog. Keith Olbermann is a washed up blowhard of a sports reporter anchoring a news program that has no ratings on a network that is dead last in viewership among it’s peers. His program is so awful that even people who largely agree with his views can’t stand to watch. In fact it may very well be true that more people may know about Olbermann’s comments by reading this blog then his program has in the way of viewers. If enough people ignore this troll, or better yet send a letter to his sponsors informing them that you will ignore their product if they don’t stop advertising on his show, then the sooner he will join the ranks of Connie Chung and Dan Rather in broadcasting oblivion.
Diaper boy Keith Olbermann along with Brian William’s and Chris Matthews along with and the rest of MSM leading the slaughter by blurring the facts.
When is enough enough these people fear choice \\\\ Legislature branch ////
Misconduct and ethics violations seems to be standard operating procedure Senate Ethics Committee.cleared Democratic Sens. Christopher J. Dodd and Kent Conrad of wrongdoing lack of judgment.Ethics
The 111th Congress Legislature these are the defenders of the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. Two of the greatest documents ever written. Very clear documents written so plane you only need to read it or here it to understand it. These two documents are the keepers of choice.
CHOICE and everything about its definition seem not to matter much since February 12th 1999 our fine Senator’s had credible evidence Article 1, the charge of perjury, 55 senators, including 10 Republicans and all 45 Democrats voted not guilty. On Article 3, obstruction of justice, the Senate split evenly,
50 for and 50 against President Clinton who got the free pass 1999 this Senate failure to convict will make the statement that lying under oath is okay if you work for the people
President Obama \\\\ Executive branch //// You dont do this. dismissal of federal Inspector General Gerald Walpin next message Mr. President you and your nine finger enforcer Rahm Emanuel and your race card master David Axlerod your A.G. Eric Holder in check. I fine thugs in may way I will be forced to open a can of CHOICE.
Olbermann is an horses patoot. Why do those of us who know right from wrong torture oueselves by letting this ignoramus get under our skin? He’s about as qualified to expound on the intelligence of those who oppose his ideology as an average 10-year old. Olbermann is an obamaroid through and through, and will continue to mindlessly support dear leader’s plans for remaking Amerika.