Waste cleanup will pay the way

Reuters is reporting on an article today stating that Medicare wastes up to $800 billion a year. $800 billion a year. While the Congress frets over health care reform that could cost $1 trillion over 10 years, we could be tossing away 8 times that amount over the same period in Medicare waste. Wow. Imagine what could be done if you could cut that waste to $100 billion a year. $700 billion a year to play with. You could actually do Medicare for all (single payer). You could reduce the deficit. You could fix Social Security.

60 Minutes even ran a story on how easy it is to do fraud in Medicare.

Of course, this is proof that government can't be trusted to run these programs because look at the waste! Also, any cuts to Medicare either by cutting funding or trying to implement programs that would reduce waste will be interpreted by Republicans as rationing care. It's all bunk. I would agree with you if we were funding the fraud divisions of Medicare properly and they weren't catching this stuff. But the fact is, fraud detection is not funded properly and the teams are very small.

FIX THIS NOW!!!

Rich people are human, too

Which means that rich people have idiots and smart people. Anyone who disputes that is one of the former, not latter types. So they next time you hear someone say "The markets are effcient. It will fetter out the fraud and waste on it's own." is one of the former too. Alan Greenspan used to say this, but after last fall, he wised up. Wall Street is full of idiots. Why our elected officials are listening to some of these people must put them in the former group too.

Matt Taibbi has a great rant that sorta relates to this. Elizabeth Warren for President!

Inside the auto bailout and why drug companies will win

Steven Rattner gives an inside look at the restructuring of GM and Chrysler in this month's issue of Forbes.

Time has an article on the drug companies and their efforts in Washington.

Slash and Tax

So we are going after the paychecks of big firms that received tax payer assistance. I think that is addressing the symptom, not the cause. We should have busted up these firms, not bail them out then come at them later. This is populist pandering. This is a move that the banks will scream about, but they know that in the long run this is a sign that things won't change, that they can keep betting like they did to get in this mess and get bailed out when their bets go bad in the future. Of course, since Goldman already paid back it's assistance, it won't get pay cuts. The firms that are getting the paycuts have no real hope of recovery. This is a bait and switch move by the Administration. The real players (Goldman) have already left the coop. Forbes.com has some thoughts on how to address the crazy pay.

Mr. Volker is advocating the breaking up of the big banks.

I'm a new fan of Bruce Bartlett. You should be too.

Frontline on the Economy

Last night's Frontline. Watch it now.

This American Life looks at Healthcare, plus links

So the past 2 weeks of This American Life take a look at healthcare. Both episodes are terrific and worth a listen.

October 9

October 16

Extra: Senator Ron Wyden (D) of Oregon is trying to get choice into the current health care bills. Go Wyden!

Here's a dumb senator that sounds, only sounds smart. So how do you not give a 25% pay cut and reform the system? Anyone? Anyone?

Ezra Kelin explains the Cadillac plan excise tax and how the tax will make money when no one pays it.

Bruce Bartlett is trying to kill supply-side economics.

Salon has a great article on why the government needs to start creating jobs NOW.

If we can bail out the employees of Wall Street, we can bail out the unemployed on Main Street. And we had better do so quickly, if we don't want that rotting sound to be followed by a sudden snap.

Heads they win, tails we lose

Does anything really matter? Does worrying about what amount a health care reform bill will cost over 10 years matter?

How about the proposal to give $250 checks to seniors this year since Social Security won't increase because cost of living has not increased. I am starting to really dislike Social Security. I never thought I would say that. I don't blame the current group of seniors. These folks are the Greatest Generation, and do deserve our support. But does the next generation, the Baby Boomers really deserve to receive these benefits? They have done so much harm to this country. Why should they collect? Baby Boomers don't set good examples for others to follow. That's a blanket statement, and unfair to some, but if you look at who our current leadership is at local, state, and national levels, what do you see? Do you see great leadership making hard choices, willing to put things on the line? No, you see bickering, deceit, mud slinging, pandering. It's all a thinly disguised lie. Where is the responsibility?

If you are in government, and you can give money to people willy-nilly because you are worried about how they vote, then why get all worked up over what a bill will cost over 10 years? It's not like that 10-year projection is set in stone. Not when you can (and will) change it whenever it's most politically convenient. Obama sucks. Democrats suck. Republicans suck. I think the only path we are going down is one of ruin. Typical. This is 'uniquely American.' Do nothing until people die and and things are so bad that you have to make changes. Then we will pick up the pieces, try to make a change, and limp along until the next disaster. That's America.

So now that I'm all depressed, more than I was when I started this post let's move on to links.

Robert Reich has a great post on the fact that Obama should renege on his deal with health care industry players, since the costs are going way up and the fact that the people (middle class) who were supposed to be helped by the reform will get screwed instead. I agree, but I bet you real money Obama won't do a thing.

Paul Krugman discusses why Citi and BofA are reporting losses in Q3 after making profit in Q1 and Q2. Now Larry Summers is denouncing the big trading banks since they are reporting record bonuses. He quotes Mr. Summers with this nugget.

“There is no financial institution that exists today that is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of trillions of dollars of taxpayer support for the financial system.”

So if someone tells me that it is not my business to question how much someone in this industry makes, I say yes it is. It's my money they are gambling with. It's my money that saved their reckless ass when their bets went bad. Don't tell me to shut up. We should shut these bastards down. I don't have much hope from the Obama Administration to supply leadership on real reform in the financial industry. The casino will remain open. These people in these companies are thieves and gamblers and do not deserve our respect or tolerance.

Here is a bizarre article at Minyanville on how another recession is going to come in the next few years because of the Obama policies. It's a weirdly compelling read, in that it supports trickle-down theory (when won't this idea die?!?!) and how deficiets are going to harm America. This seems to me like old-school thinking being applied to a reality that doesn't fit the old-school model.

Daniel Gross with an excellent article on the current losses reported by GM, Citi, and BofA.

Government ownership doesn't cause catastrophic losses; catastrophic losses cause government ownership

Economist quotes from a gathering in New York. I don't have hope. These are hollow words.

John Maynard Keynes still has good ideas.

How Moody's sold out.

Barry Ritholtz wonders if the White House is finally taking financial regulation seriously.