"Niall Ferguson Publishes Embarrassing Defense Of Newsweek Article" at Business Insider

[applegrove]

Niall Ferguson Publishes Embarrassing Defense Of Newsweek Article

by Joe Weisenthal at Business Insider


http://www.businessinsider.com/niall-fergusons-embarrassing-response-to-paul-krugman-2012-8#ixzz246ZNL38q

"SNIP..............................................

So Ferguson's response was: Well, the spending/insurance portion of the Affordable Care Act did increase the deficit, and I was only referring to the spending side. I wasn't referring to the whole thing.

If you read the whole CBO report where that quote is taken fron, it makes it pretty clear that no, the ACA did not add to the deficit (at least based on their math):

The provisions related to health insurance coverage—which affect both outlays and revenues—were projected to have a net cost of $1,042 billion over the 2012–2021 period; that amount represents a gross cost to the federal government of $1,390 bil- lion, offset in part by $349 billion in receipts and savings (primarily revenues from penalties and other sources). The other provisions related to health care and revenues will reduce budget deficits by an estimated $1,252 billion over that 10-year period— including $520 billion in revenues, mostly from new taxes and fees, and $732 billion in outlay savings for Medicare and other federal health care programs (see Figure 1). Those outlay savings reflect the net effect of some provisions that will reduce direct spending—such as lower payment rates in Medicare—and others that will increase direct spending, such as the expansion of Part D benefits and mandatory funding for a number of grant, research, and other programs.

So yes, one narrow part of the ACA increases the deficit. But the whole law, according to the CBO does not.

..............................................SNIP"

[Cha]

1. IOW...Niall's is a dumb hack who

got on the cover of newsweak anyway.

Thank you, Joe Weisenthal & applegrove!

[applegrove]

2. I'm really getting to like business insider.