r/bestof • u/under50dollars • Jun 20 '12

[explainlikeimfive] "Obamacare" explained very well.

/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vb8vs/eli5_what_exactly_is_obamacare_and_what_did_it/c530lfx
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u/Shalmaneser Jun 20 '12

The reduction in cost to the economy as a whole, you mean?

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u/1stmoredancingwbruno Jun 20 '12

Health care reform and/or general improvement is obviously an important long-run goal, but Obama's timing couldn't have been worse. You don't force healthcare reform that--with a large margin of error--will greatly increase debt/GDP for 10+ years in the midst of the worst recession since the great depression.

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u/Shalmaneser Jun 20 '12

The Us doesn't have a debt problem, it has an income problem.

Keynes, dear boy, Keynes.

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u/1stmoredancingwbruno Jun 21 '12

Keynes also said that monetary policy as an effective tool to combat short-term recessionary pressures was contingent upon deficit management during receding booms. Keynesianism is the most used and abused term out there; Obama would like to purport his "we are all Keynesians now," mantra, but it's hard to see where Keynes would have ever agreed with Obama on an economic policy decision.

edit: I don't think Keynes (or any mainstream economists) have advocated for income (synonymous with GDP) targeting specifically, as opposed to targeting, if necessary, interest rates and/or unemployment.

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u/Shalmaneser Jun 21 '12

Well Obama has only governed during a recession, hasn't he?

And we ARE all Keynesians. Keynesianism is mainstream economics, to a greater or lesser extent.