Posted on 11/13/2014 5:16:58 AM PST by Kaslin
"Stupid is as stupid does" -- Forrest Gump
Unless you regularly follow conservative media, you may not have heard what one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) thinks about you.
Jonathan Gruber is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology health economist who helped craft Obamacare. In a rare moment of unvarnished candor, Gruber told an audience last year at the University of Pennsylvania the law passed because of the "stupidity of the American voter."
In what can only be described as a smoking gun -- meaning there is no way to spin his remarks as "out of context" -- Gruber told his audience, "The bill was written in a tortured way to make sure the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. OK, so it's written to do that." Gruber added, "... if you had a law which said that healthy people are going to pay in -- you made explicit that healthy people pay in and sick people get money -- it would not have passed."
Gruber continued digging his hole even deeper: "Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical for the thing to pass."
Recall the promise made by President Obama that his administration would be "the most transparent in history." In light of Gruber's revelation and many other examples of the secrecy of this administration, that is objectively untrue.
Not surprisingly, the video of Gruber's comments, which began to draw mainstream media attention this week, 13 months after the comments were made, has been removed from YouTube without explanation, but do we need one? On Tuesday, Gruber said he "spoke inappropriately," which falls short of a genuine apology or explanation.
This is what a lot of politicians think of voters. Citizens are to serve them, not the other way around. Government officials and their big-media toadies can lie, obfuscate and cover up, and if people complain they are denounced as partisan, bigoted or whatever other label serves to protect the politician, or other government official, from public scrutiny and accountability.
It isn't that information about the negatives of Obamacare was unavailable. People should have paid more attention to sources other than those that promoted this monstrosity. The problem is too many voters tune in and read only those people who tend to reinforce views they already hold. It isn't that voters are "stupid." Rather, too many aren't paying attention, and that's how politicians are able to pick their pockets. They sell their programs based on feelings and "fairness," instead of substance and facts.
After the administration argued that Obamacare was not a tax, the Supreme Court narrowly ruled that it is and that because Congress has a constitutional right to impose taxes the law is constitutional. The court now has a chance to redeem itself and help people whose insurance is being canceled, or premiums raised, or coverage reduced.
The Supreme Court has accepted a case challenging a provision of the law that prohibits people from receiving federal subsidies to buy insurance unless they live in states that run their own markets and offer coverage. Just 14 states and the District of Columbia handle their own enrollments, with the rest leaving it to consumers to access an exchange run by the federal government. The court will decide whether insurance subsidies can be granted in states that do not have their own markets. If the decision eliminates subsidies in those states, Obamacare could be gutted. That is, the people now receiving those federal subsidies outside the state exchanges likely would no longer be able to afford health care coverage -- the basis of the Affordable Care Act. Although individual states could still provide subsidies, the overwhelming number of Republican governors and GOP-majority state legislatures are unlikely to do so.
Republicans should save the clip of Jonathan Gruber and run it over and over again in the run-up to the 2016 election. This attitude that government is better at making decisions than you are because you are too stupid to know what is good for you is a hallmark of patronizing, arrogant and condescending liberalism.
ping
It worked.
"First, we kill the stupid people ... after we take their money."
Gruber was paid $400,000 to spin his web of lies, and he even lied about being paid for his lies.
Also, he visited the White House a dozen times, which was more often than the head of the CIA, so President Obola will not be able to disconnect himself from the scandal.
Refusing FOIA Requests is "Openness"
Medical Records Held and Disseminated by the State is "Transparency"
Rationing Healthcare Creates Jobs
War is Peace (*)
Freedom is Slavery (*)
Ignorance is Strength (*)
[ * from 1984, Orwell; rest instituted by the undocumented pRes_ _ent Obama ]
Isn't that synonymous with "stupid"?
Must be the Democrats are the ones Gruber is calling the “Stupid Voters” since no Republicans voted for obamacare! We all knew they were Stupid Voters!
If Americans would have bee bright enough they would not have voted for all those socialist scoundrels including the anointed one, not only once but over and over. So it begs and invites the conclusion that there is an over abundance of fools which are easily deceived and lied to and will swallow hook line and sinker what ever is fed to them.
So if you happen to have an unethical leadership the temptation for them is just too great not to take this route of dceit and lies. And apparently it worked.
As most folks with triple-digit IQs have figured out, it is only those who voted for the Kenyan anti-Christ who Gruber is calling stupid, as they were the ones who were fooled by the lies of the anti-Christ and its minions, like Gruber. But we already knew that, too.
Just a bit of critique:
GOP needs to explain what a “CBO Score” means (AKA: How much the public pays to enact and perpetuate the law).
LIVs see/hear “CBO Score” and (by design) don’t realize that it means they give their money to the government.
Yet, this “brilliant genius” allows himself to be videotaped MULTIPLE times, insulting the American people and telling the truth about how his party rooked the Country, regarding his master’s signature legislation...
So... who’s stupid now???
Even more pertinent is the huge billion dollar slush fund Gruber hid from "stupid" Americans in Obamacare.
<><> Where is all that money going?
<><> Was cashing-in the incentive in getting the thing passed?
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The Untraceable $8 Billion ObamaCare PR Budget---truly govt fraud at its finest. Egged on by Pelosi, Democrats slavishly voted for Obamacare by an historic straignt-party line vote. But not one Democrat told Americans about Obamacare's Section 4002---which mandates an $8B untraceable fund to "promote" Obamacare (apparently b/c Boobamba had so little confidence in his signature legislation).
THE PAYOFF--WHO GETS THE MONEY? In 2010 Taxpayers are extorted $500 million, in 2011, $750 million, 2012, $1 billion, 2013, $1.25 billion, 2014, $1.5 billion, and, in 2015 and on, $2 billion
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Taxpayers demand to know ---- why Gruber/Obama/Pelosi didnt reveal that Obamacare contains a multi-billion dollar slush fund? Exactly who is cashing in?
As Travis posted: Gruber visited the White House a dozen times (more than the head of the CIA). President Obola cannot spin himself out of the scandal.
The sound of wire-transfers to offshore banks is almost palbable.
I’m from the Gruberment, and I’m here to help.
(1) throwing Americans off affordable health plans,
(2) nationalizing 1/6 of the US economy,
3) installing IPAB's (healthcare rationing---death panels),
(4) decimating intergenerational transfers of wealth (grandma/pa's holdings go to the govt---not to Americans),
(5) pulling $750 billion out of Medicare,
(6) drug-rationing---death panels,
(8) abandoning seniors and the chronically ill,
(9) forcing healthy young Americans to subsidize healthcare for the elderly.
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REMINDER When Dummycrats had the chance to help Americans hang onto affordable care, they voted AGAINST Sen Mike Enzi's 2010 bill which helped Americans keep their existing plans.
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Ooops, there goes another dozen Democrats down the drain.
Contact Information
Jonathan Gruber
MIT Department of Economics
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Bldg E17-220
Cambridge MA 02139
Phone: (617) 253-8892
Fax: (617) 253-1330
Email: gruberj@mit.edu
Support Staff:
John Arditi
Phone: (617) 253-8887
Email: arditi@mit.edu
From: http://economics.mit.edu/faculty/gruberj
Residence of Jonathan Andrea Gruber, 3 children and 8 parrots
12 Skipper Way
Gloucester, MA
(purchased for $750,000 in 2008.
Professor Whitney Newey
MIT Dept of Economics Head
Phone: (617) 253-6420
Fax: (617) 253-1330
Email: wnewey@mit.edu
MIT Department of Economics
77 Massachusetts Avenue E19-760
Cambridge MA 02139
Headquarters Support Staff:
Kara Nemergut
Phone: (617) 253-3807
Email: nemergut@mit.edu
Academic Support Staff:
Emily Gallagher
Phone: (617) 253-8884
Email: emily@mit.edu
We call the “stupid” voters, low information voters. It is a difference of responsibility. The voters aren’t so much stupid as lazy.
Democrats like their voters both stupid and lazy. That’s why they are pushing the legalization of marijuana.
Good job Liz...
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