Briefing: Dean Baker on Boosting the Economy by Saving Healthcare

566 views · Published 15 November 2010 · 8:29 · Indexed 26 October 2026

Channel: The Nation · 2010 · News & Politics

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Last week, a report by the leader's of Obama's deficit commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, recommended massive cuts across the budget, most significantly to Social Security and health care programs. But according to Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the report is "the wrong answer to not a problem." The report has now been roundly criticized by progressives for its seemingly-targeted cuts, but according to Dean, the real cause of the deficit remains hidden from most Americans: our ongoing healthcare crisis.

Baker joins The Nation on Grit TV via Skype from Washington, DC to talk about what can really be done to balance the budget and why we should be much more focused on creating jobs and really reforming healthcare than on slashing programs that benefit us all.

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