PrintAugust 20, 2009
Trumka Keeps Talking
Yesterday we quoted AFL CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka in the Huffington Post accidently swerving into the thought process behind supply side tax policy by stating his opposition to paying for Obama Care by taxing existing health care benefits: "It's actually a stupid concept because if you tax those that have it to pay for those that don't, eventually those that have [benefits] won't. Then who do you ultimately tax?"
Well -- much like Obama's UPS and Fed Ex analogy -- Trumka's off teleprompter remarks are the gift that keeps on giving. His eight minute interview this morning on CNBC's Squawk Box is a treasure trove of the tortured logic of liberals as they flail away at the health care debate trying to regain control of the conversation. He really delivers in his final statement at the 7:33 point of the video as he repeats and expands on his supply side tax theory and closes with the question: "then who do you tax?" Good point Richard!
Below are the time stamps of the key segments with loose excerpts:
:57 - 1:35 Introduces the new talking point that "insurance companies have a stranglehold" and the "only way to break the stranglehold is a public option." Really. You ain't seen a stranglehold until you see it run by the government.
2:05 - 2:48 Trumka insists that the vast majority of Americans want reform, that they have told us (the union) that they know only way to drive costs down is to have the public option. He repeats the stranglehold talking point and introduces another one -- the "1000 per cent increase in insurance companies profits." Trumka fails to denote any time in history when a government program drove down the cost of anything.
3:03 - 3:41 Tumka's point here is that 94% of insurance markets in this country are highly concentrated -- meaning that just a few insurance companies control the prices and the markets. He adds that only one way to break that stranglehold is the public option where you can "walk away from that stranglehold." Now Mr. Trumka does not mention that government regulations and mandates are why the insurance markets are concentrated, nor does it dawn on him that a government plan is the ultimate in market concentration.
3:47 - 4:33 Trumka refuses admit that polls show Americans are against Obama Care He also accuses the opposition of doing what the AFL CIO has done for years. He also says the unions are now there to "set the record straight."
4:49 -5:20 Trumka mentions that no mis-information is coming from the White House, and claims the town halls are nothing but a "concentrated effort by the insurance industry that likes the system--profits have risen a thousand percent in the last five years...they like it this way and they'll do anything and say anything to keep it this way." He does not mention that some insurers are ponying up something like 200 million to run ads in FAVOR of Obama Care.
5:33 - 7:24 Trumka continues to accuse others of his own tactics saying that "when its orchestrated and lies and some of the same people at more than one of these things...its more than coincidence" CNBC's Becky Quick and Joe Kernan interrupt a few times and the give and take is stunning. Also, note the "grin" on Trumka's face at 6:36 and ask yourself: do you trust this man?
It could turn out that the best spokespersons for the conservative side of this argument are some of the unscripted liberals themselves. Obama's analogy and Trumka's understanding of tax policy (though he seems to believe it only holds for taxes on health benefits) are eloquent statements in favor of the private sector and low taxes.
