The Debate Over Any Willing Provider Laws May Return

Nobel Laureate and economist Paul Krugman has used many of his allotted New York Times columns of late to lament that repeatedly disproven economic doctrines do not seem to fade away, despite the fact that when implemented, serious and unnecessary harm comes to many people. Instead, these discredited policy ideas – e.g., inflation-phobia and spending cut “austerity” in response to financial crises (e.g., the Great Depression or the recent Great Recession), the “trickle down” theory of tax cuts for the rich while balancing balance the budget with spending cuts for social programs BB beat tactical retreats only to resurface at a later time. Discredited ideas resurface because powerful interests are well-served by keeping them alive. And freedom of speech (for corporations and for (citizens) allows advocates for powerful interests to re-package their ideas for the public without regard to facts over and over again.