The persistence of Orszagism

In connection with the resignation of Obama administration OMB director Peter Orszag, Ira Stoll recalls Orszagism:

Mickey Kaus, the blogger-turned-California Senate candidate-turned-blogger-again (he never really stopped being a blogger, actually), has been one of Mr. Orszag’s most persistent critics, coining the term Orszagism for the budget director’s approach of selling ObamaCare to Congress and the public as a way of reducing the federal budget deficit by bending the health care cost curve downward. The public had a hard time believing that you could provide health care to tens of millions more people without spending more money, and Mr. Kaus still doesn’t buy it, remarking that Mr. Orszag is “leaving before the curve hits the fan,” i.e., before it becomes clear that ObamaCare won’t actually save the federal government money, but will instead increase the size of the federal deficit.

Orszag’s departure from the Obama administration is an appropriate occasion on which to recall the deliberate misrepresentations on which Obamacare was sold.

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