J.D. Prose – 3/10/13

This page was last updated on March 24, 2013.

Corbett’s twisting logic to reject Medicaid expansion; J.D. Prose; Beaver County Times; March 10, 2013.

According to his Twitter page, Mr. Prose is a self-described “Surly progressive.” As you read this opinion column and his Twitter “tweets,” keep in mind Mr. Prose wears at least one other hat for the BCT. In addition to being an entertainer/pundit, Mr. Prose is a part-time reporter covering political stories. Ask yourself this. When a pundit gives his political opinions in one part of the paper, can he be trusted to report politics objectively elsewhere in the paper? After all, would a person whose opinion is 1+1 equals 3 report 1+1 really equals 2? Does he have a “Chinese wall” in his head to keep his opinions from bleeding into his reporting? (You may recall NPR claimed it fired Juan Williams for doing exactly what Mr. Prose does.) If it can get worse than that, Mr. Prose has made name-calling and personal attacks a foundation of his columns. If pushed, I’d be willing to bet Mr. Prose would try to excuse his writing by claiming he’s paid to be controversial and stir debate. The problem is, you don’t need to get into name-calling and personal attacks to accomplish those goals.

You can find the archive of my Prose column critiques here.

Below is a critique of portions of this column.

“Gov. Tom Corbett isn’t letting anything stand in his way of keeping more Pennsylvanians from having medical coverage. Nothing will sway him, not even common sense.

“Yep, Corbett is refusing to budge even as other Republican governors around the nation, including that noted socialist hugger Gov. Chris Christie in New Jersey, fall like dominoes and agree to Medicaid expansion in their states.

“You know one GOP-led state that’s dragging it’s [sic] heels like Pennsylvania? Florida, where reason goes to die a sweltering death. Great company. Sunshine State legislative conservatives rejected the expansion after GOP Gov. Rick Scott had a momentary lapse of Teapublicanism and signed off on it.”

[RWC] As of March 13, 2013, 14 states are not participating and another three are leaning in that direction. As for Gov. Scott, Mr. Prose’s representation is off a bit. Though still the wrong move, Mr. Scott said he would go along only for the first three years when federal taxpayers pay 100% of the price.

“Corbett, though, won’t even do that, claiming the state can not [sic] afford the program even though the federal government will cover 100 percent — that’s ALL — expenses for three years and then 90 percent — that’s ALMOST ALL — after that.”

[RWC] This is a tactic common to drug pushers and government. That is, give the potential addict a free or cheap sample then jack up the price once the addict is hooked.

I’m sure it was an honest oversight, but Mr. Prose didn’t mention from where the feds will get the money to “cover 100 percent — that’s ALL — expenses for three years and then 90 percent — that’s ALMOST ALL — after that.” As a reminder, government doesn’t have any money to spend it did not confiscate from us in the form of taxes.

“Over and over, the governor argues that Pennsylvania would have to foot an alleged $4 billion bill after the first three years expire. What he doesn’t say, as Lawrence County state Rep. Chris Sainato told John Finnerty of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., is that the state could use that period to test the program and provide coverage for those who need it the most.

“‘We have three years to see if it is working,’ Sainato told Finnerty. ‘Our decision should not be made for three years.’

“Talk like that, Chris, won’t please the Teapublicans, who are hounding Corbett to stand his shaky ground, with their potential 2014 GOP primary challenger, Bruce Castor, peering over his shoulder.”

[RWC] In another honest oversight, Mr. Prose didn’t remind his readers Rep. Sainato is a Democrat. When was the last time Democrats turned down spending on a “social” program? To the best of my knowledge, there is not one social program (Medicaid, Medicare, Socialist Security, etc.) that works yet none of them got axed. Messrs. Prose and Sainato know once a social program gets started and people become dependent on it, like an addiction, the program is in place for life.

“One other thing usually not mentioned by the anti-Medicaid expansion crowd, the state would receive $43 BILLION in federal aid under the program.”

[RWC] Once again, folks, from whom does the “$43 BILLION in federal aid under the program” come?

“Hmmm. So, we can invest $1.65 BILLION into tax credits for Shell to build a cracker plant with lots of pie-in-the-sky job numbers, but an alleged $4 billion to receive $43 billion AND provide medical coverage for 700,000 additional Pennsylvanians is out of the question?

“Ah, we forgot. Struggling families and the working poor don’t make campaign donations. Silly us.”

[RWC] Are we’re supposed to believe Mr. Prose and his fellow “surly progressives” care about “Struggling families and the working poor” beyond garnering their votes?

“BILL BOARD

“GOP U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus has been in office for two months so we checked to see what legislation he’s backing when he’s not voting against hurricane relief or domestic abuse programs.”

[RWC] Please read my critiques of the Prose columns entitled “Voting for anti-violence bill before voting against it” and “Rothfus’ Sandy relief votes aren’t a good start.”

“So far, Keith’s co-sponsored nine bills, including two about abortion and one calling for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation. How many jobs created under those?”

[RWC] How many jobs were generated as a result of the so-called “jobs” programs passed during the last several years?

“And, then there’s the Sugar Reform Act. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard that if there’s one thing the 12th Congressional District cries out for, it’s sugar reform.”

[RWC] I mentioned the sugar issue in my paper entitled “Economics.” In that paper, I wrote, “Did you know just about every Coca-Cola bottler in the world uses sugar to make Coca-Cola, except for U.S. bottlers? According to a recent episode of Ultimate Factories on the National Geographic Channel, U.S. bottlers use high-fructose corn syrup as the sweetener because corn subsidies and sugar import tariffs make using sugar too expensive in the U.S. When using high-fructose corn syrup isn’t an option, the sugar tariff also places other U.S. food manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage with foreign food manufacturers because the U.S. manufacturers must pay above-market prices for sugar.”

As far as I can tell, the Sugar Reform Act of 2013 (There are House and Senate versions.) is supposed to address our current protectionist policies. That said, as nearly all legislation, the actual bill text is tedious to read and I haven’t found a synopsis by anyone in whom I have confidence.