Page 29 - Robert Samuelson News Today

democracy whether it would be better served with term limits. [laughter] >> well i dont think we need term limits and i think they are a bad@@@@@@@@x@ @ rrkb@ @ @ @ @ >> if you go back 12 years or more ago, it is pretty small. it may not appear that there is much but there actually is. my view is always that if voters are dissatisfied, they can vote out people they do not like. i think it is a mistake to arbitrarily, and i do not think it will do anything to change that polarize asi...

Health care. now we sort of are there. thats what makes it salariaris. but theres a lot of cost control in there as well, those things have go together. its what history tells us. its what the international experience tells us. theres big reforms which will be slow to take effect about the way we pay for health care, about how we decide whether treatments should be applied, but all of that wrapped inside a package that finally gives more or less universal access to health insurance. >> robert sa...

Spending and do it by casting those people into the outer darkness. now we cant do that so we will be forced to deal with costs. >> robert samuelson, youre pretty sure that congress is going to repeal a number of these unpopular measures based on its history. >> im not sure of anything. but all i would say is that these deficits were on the record while this debate was proceeding, and they didnt restrain congress from enacting a program that would increase spending over the next decade by roughl...

Joining me now on my left, "new york times" columnist, paul krugman, on the right, news wk w "newsweek" columnist, robert samuelson. paul, you have been urging for the passage of this bill. now that its passed, do you see it fundamentally about economics or fundamentally about morality? by which i mean is this really a bill about widening access or is this really a bill about reforming what i think most people regard as a dysfunctional system? >> its a little bit of both. i mean, the selling poi...

Which are very good, and provide high benefits for the public. by not controlling health spending, we are allowing this sort of leviathan to squeeze out all these other public goods. i think to our detriment. we are also -- we are putting enormous pressure, upward pressure on taxes, squeezing private incomes. so a decision is being made by the failure to control health costs, but you need to find some mechanism, reeeither tighter government control, to actually force the structure of the industr...

Can fail. the thing about health care is every single one of those market failure arguments applies with a vengeance in health care. this is just not a case where the market can -- does a very good job. we have actually seen that the proof of the pudding is the united states still has got -- we have the most privatized, most market-based health care system in the world. we also have the most expensive health care system in the world. thats -- in a way, the data are trying to tell you something. ...

Great heads, probably the two most articulate commentators in the health care debate who happen to disagree on the bill. paul krugman of princeton and the "new york times," and robert samuelson of "newsweek" and the "washington post." but first, a rare opportunity. i travelled to mexico city to speak with the president of that country, felipe calderon, on the violent drug war that is enveloping the whole country, sparking civilian death rates that rival even iraq and afghanistan. you wont want t...

Care is not part of the free enterprise system as we usually conceive it. after the spending in the health sector is already by the government, medicare, medicaid, veterans, local support for clinics. so spending is already heavily public sector, almost every part of the system is regulated. nursing homes, drug approvals, on down the line. so, the question is not whether or not were going to have government controlled or a free market system. the question is what kind of system is going to help ...

In the score, but clearly the notion of fiscal constraints did play a big role in this legislation. so, its -- theres a point, im all for being as cynical as possible, but theres a point where you get to be too cynical. the fact of the matter is, you know, this is by the standards of how legislation has been done in the united states the past 30 years, this is a fairly responsible piece of legislation. >> paul krugman, robert samuelson, well be right back. >> the proof in the pudding is we have ...

barbara starr, thank you. kate baldwin telling us today whats going on at the white house. we obviously dont always know because we thought president obama now in kabul was actually in afghanistan. so the fact of the matter is we will continue to watch this, but we want to thank you for watching "state of the union." im candy crowley in washington. for our domestic viewers, fareed zakaria gps starts right now. this is "gps" the global public square. welcome to all of you in the unite...