Washington Post Columnists Attack Jonathan Gruber

I don't know if the Washington Post has taken an official position on the veracity of Jonathan Gruber, but its columnists are having a field day attacking President Obama and the entire Obamacare structure,  They rely on Gruber's straightforward, cynical explanations of what the administration was doing to get the bill passed.  Yesterday's newspaper (November 17) contain an interesting column by Marc Theissen, entitled "Thanks to Jonathan Gruber for Revealing Obamacare Deception."   He suggests that "The reason Democrats are running from Gruber is the same reason conservatives should be thanking him: Gruber has exposed what liberals really think of the American people".   Last week, Charles Krauthammer wrote on "The Gruber Confession."  His view was that"Gruber's admission that, in order to get it passed, the bill was made deliberately obscure and deceptive constitutes the ultimate vindication of the charge that Obama care was sold on a pack of lies".

On the other hand, the New York Times in an editorial yesterday entitled "The Impolitic Jonathan Gruber" laments the ammunition he has provided opponents of Obamacare, and claims that he really wasn't that important, and his frank statements are "largely wrong".  Its basic point is don't believe him, even if what he says was correct.  However, it is very difficult for it to show that we shouldn't believe our "lying eyes."

The Gift that Keeps on Giving: Gruber tells the truth about the Cadillac Tax

For the last couple of weeks, debate about Obama care has been inflamed by revelations about comments by Professor Jonathan Gruber of MIT, an architect of the Affordable Care Act, who gave several speeches disclosing details about the creation of Obama care.  The latest information that has come out involve the "Cadillac" tax that will start in 2017 upon more expensive healthcare plans. This is well covered in an article today on the opinion pages the Wall Street Journal – Another Obamacare Deception, by Tevi Troy, president of the American Health Policy Institute and a former deputy secretary of Health and Human Services.  I will let you read it, rather than summarize it myself.

Obama Proposes Regulation of the Internet to Achieve Net Neutrality

On November 10, President Obama called on the FCC to adopt regulations that would require net neutrality, or non-discrimination, in the operation of the Internet.  The Wall Street Journal today has an interesting column by Andy Kessler suggesting that this proposal would result in full-scale traditional utility-style regulation of the entire Internet.  According to Kessler, the President's call to regulate under Title II of the Federal Communications Act would give the FCC the power to regulate all aspects of Internet service, including prices.

My initial reaction was that this was an exaggeration –  in order to achieve net neutrality, all that is  required are anti-discrimination regulations.  For example, when airlines were deregulated in 1978, the statute eliminated pricing regulation for domestic air transportation, but retained the statute permitting discrimination in air transportation.  I would suggest that this is probably the goal of the administration – not full-scale regulation of the Internet.

However, it seems clear that regulation under Title II would encompass much broader forms of regulation than those required to achieve net neutrality.  This was explained in an excellent brief summary of the issue in Time Magazine.  Mr. Kessler may have a point.

The Blog Resumes

For several reasons, I have done nothing with this blog for almost two years.  I have no great excuses – I just was busy on a lot of other things and it not see much benefit from publishing a blog that had few readers.  However, things have slowed down a bit, which is to be expected at my age, and I have decided to resume publishing.

This time around, I will limit the areas I cover, both to give me a focus, and to perhaps attract readers who are particularly interested in those areas.  For now, those areas will be regulation of the Internet, and the medical regulatory issues enveloped in Obamacare.  President Obama announced yesterday that he fully supports "net neutrality", and this week's news reports that the actual sign-ups for Obamacare are far less than reported.  I am certain there will always be something of interest to post, and I hope readers will find Regulatory Follies a useful resource.