Biden’s State of the Union misfires, Medicaid mess and other commentary
NY Post
Elex beat: Biden’s State-of-the-Union Misfire
President “Biden started his speech with these words: ‘If I were smart, I’d go home now,’” quips USA Today’s Ingrid Jacques: “He should take his own advice.” Why? Well, “rather than take responsibility for the border, Biden once again pointed blame to Trump and Republicans in Congress for holding up legislation related to immigration.” Consider also “Biden’s misplaced priorities” on student debt and “big-government and spending initiatives.” Also, his attempts to goad GOPers “didn’t work and called into question Biden’s calls for unity.” Sure, “Biden got through his hour-long speech, with a few stumbles and mumbles.” But “one speech is not enough to ease the very real concerns voters have about President Biden’s age and his ability to govern for four more years.”
Libertarian: Joe’s Shrinkflation Band-Aid
Reason’s Eric Boehm admits that President Biden’s railing against shrinkflation, “the annoying corporate practice of shrinking the size of products rather than raising prices,” may be “a politically savvy move.” But his “economically illiterate attempts to pin shrinkflation on greedy corporations aren’t telling even half of the story.” First, “shrinkflation is just inflation,” and nothing new. And “Biden’s proposed solution to shrinkflation would automatically cause prices to rise” (if it works): “Assume every company in America decides to immediately undo any reductions in the size or quantity of products. What would happen to prices?” They’d go up! This “would make Americans even more aware of how inflation is affecting them. The White House should be careful what it wishes for.”
Eye on Albany: NY’s Medicaid Cost Spiral
Despite “three years of double-digit growth” in the state’s $36 billion share of Medicaid spending, “hospitals, nursing homes and other provider groups are clamoring for further increases,” reports the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond. Medicaid spending “has outpaced school aid to become the state’s costliest spending item.” This spending growth has accelerated post-pandemic — “a period when the pressure on Medicaid ought to have been easing.” In New York, Medicaid long ago “expanded well beyond its original mission of covering the poor and disabled.” Recent pay hikes will cause minimum wage-related costs “to jump 49 percent from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2025.” And the Legislature weakened the “global cap on Medicaid spending” so that the share of exempted expenditures will rise from 26% in 2020 to 33% in 2024.
