To The Editor:
I wrote earlier this year regarding the governor's lack of transparency and his violation of the Act 48 requirement that the method of funding single-payer health care be released in 2013. ... Well the chickens have come home to roost. How embarrassing that a highly paid MIT economist was found on video to be demeaning the intelligence of the citizens of our nation and that this same person was currently under contract to provide a financial report on the viability of Vermont's single-payer health care program.
What I found suspect was the announcement a few weeks ago that Gruber would continue his work at no charge once this became known. Currently, Gruber has yet to comply with a request by state auditor Doug Hoffer to provide payment information on the research assistants that were working for him. Perhaps it was Gruber's report that put the last nail in the coffin? Also, the governor was taken to court to force the release of the funding plan by a fellow Democrat, Representative Cynthia Browning, without success.
It didn't take an economics degree to see how costly this attempt at socialized medicine would be. It's pretty hard not to draw the conclusion that this funding plan was withheld until after the elections. Here in the Socialist Republic of Vermont we love to talk about sustainability; the problem is these perpetual increases in taxation are unsustainable. If the state cannot control educational spending, how could it possibly manage our health care costs? The failed attempt at single-payer health care is another example of the liberal/socialist attempt at the redistribution of wealth. As Margaret Thatcher so famously stated, "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
Steve Allen
Waitsfield
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