[quote=Casca]Why bandy with the intentionally obtuse? If you think government spending is a GDP multiplier, then you are an economic simpleton. Detroit is the reductio ad absurdum of government spending.
One wonders what kind of education leads one to believe, that geographic demarcations between California Counties somehow bind regional economies.[/quote]
Govt spending is more far reaching that we could ever imagine. Besides direct payment for 100% of programs for defense, Medicare, Medical, Social Security, Govt subsidizes MOST researh in this country esp in medical field. I’m not even going to mention the real estate and accounting industries that would turn in to Detroitesque casualties without handout. To do the right thing would turn USA unemployment closer to Detroit’s UR in the short term, so it will never happen.
Every day we find that Government subsidies pay for some program we never imagined. Just guess who pays for the medical residencies in the USA. If you guessed the HMO’s would be paying a share to increase MD supply and lower overall costs, you would be WRONG.
“Medicare, the federal insurance plan for those 65 and over and the disabled, pays about $100,000 a year for each residency, at a total cost to the program of about $9 billion, according to a report filed by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission in June. Medicare reimbursements for service also take into account the number of residencies each institution maintains.
The funding mechanism was set up in 1965 when the U.S. was about to extend government health coverage to 19 million elderly Americans. As Medicare’s ranks grew — to 45 million people as of the end of last year, according to the advisory commission — the number of residencies was limited to contain spending.”
