Today, the N&R gives the additional words of a "counterpoint" column to Steve Gordon of Kernersville. In it, Gordon writes:
"First, the United States has had to borrow money from practically every major nation on the planet, mainly to cover the trillions of dollars of deficits run up by incompetence in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs..."
Gordon repeats an unfortunate but increasingly common theme among the popular right as of late, asserting myth as reality by unteathering an argument from the facts. Gordon mimicks a sound argument, he strings together comprehensible words and seemingly founds his point on things that, by the strong conviction of their assertion, sound a lot like facts, but they are not. His opinion is a house of cards, built on fantasy; built on crap he either made up or does not know to be untrue.
The FACT is that Medicare and Social Security face future unfunded liabilities, but they currently pay for themselves by taxes and trust fund assets. The government does not borrow "mainly" to cover incompetence in Medicare and Social Security. In inescapable reality, the government does not borrow for these programs at all. Gordon is just flat wrong and the News & Record says "Here is something worth additional space." Geez. How embarrassing.
It is one thing if people opposed to helath care reform want to oppose it on an emotional level. Pretending that they can explain their opposition rationally by making things up is absurd. Ayn Rand would find the complete dismisal of objective reality despicable.
That's kind of a shell game analysis, Roch. Because those funds are paid for by taxes, there is less money for other government needs. Hence, the government borrows money.
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