"The Economic Idiocy of Economists" by Mark Weisbrot

Also of interest to Caring Economists:  Mark Weisbrot's Op-Ed piece reporting on the American Economic Association's annual meeting in Chicago, January 5-8, 2012.  Dr. Weisbrot Co-Founded and Co-Directs, with Dean Baker, the Centre for Economic Policy and Research based in Washington, DC.

His article first appeared in The Guardian on January 10, with reprints in several national news outlets.  His position was perhaps summed up best as this: "The United States pays about twice as much per person for health care as other high-income countries -- and still leaves 50 million people uninsured.  This is a result of a dysfunctional health care system that has had health care prices rising much faster than those of other high-income countries for decades.  What the budget hawks are basically telling us is that we must assume that insurance and pharmaceutical companies will have a veto over the provisions of health care reform for decades to come.  And that therefore we must find other ways to make up for these excessive costs, including cutting Social Security and other government spending, and pushing us into higher rates of poverty and inequality than we already have."  Click here to access the full piece: The Economic Idiocy of Economists