ObamaCare Supporter Thinks You’re Stupid

Did you ever wonder what statist policy wonks and big-government liberal academics really think of you?

If so, I offer you the following assessment by the now-infamous MIT Economics Professor Jonathan Gruber, and that assessment is simply that you’re “stupid.”

Gruber has been called the “architect” of ObamaCare for his role in helping create the program. Interestingly, Gruber also was one of the architects of the big-government health system in Massachusetts known as “Romneycare,” named so after then-Governor Mitt Romney.

I think the better way to describe Gruber is a man paid, and paid handsomely, to use his ability to torture and twist economic numbers in order to dupe and deceive the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the American people into thinking that ObamaCare wouldn’t cost us a dime.

In what is now at least seven recently surfaced videos, Gruber has been caught discussing the way ObamaCare was “written in a tortured way” with an intentional “lack of transparency,” which he says is “a huge political advantage.”

Here’s Gruber in November 2013 at his insultingly finest: “…call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that [the lack of transparency] was really, really critical to get the thing [ObamaCare] to pass.”

Other comments Gruber made include a discussion of ObamaCare tax credits and costs, where he said, “American voters are too stupid to understand the difference.” On a separate occasion, Gruber described the essence of what he did, saying, “It’s a very clever, you know, basic exploitation of the lack of economic understanding of the American voter.”

Unfortunately, it’s not “a lack of economic understanding” that plagues the American people, because real economics isn’t the profession of Professor Gruber.

What Gruber and other academics that think like him are being paid to do is shill for the Obama administration and the long-term collectivist goal of putting big government in charge of the healthcare system.

To Gruber and economists who torture the data to justify passage of a law; or to make it seem like there’s no inflation; or to claim that economic growth is improving or that the job market is coming back, the ends justify the means. Who cares if truth falls victim, as long as the result is more government control — and of course, fat paychecks and cushy jobs at prestigious institutes of higher learning?

After all, those stupid Americans won’t care — or will they?

The revelations from Gruber, and the recent comments from President Obama and Rep. Nancy Pelosi attempting to distance themselves from Gruber and his role in the passing of ObamaCare, mean, at the very least, that these politicos know that when your friend’s hand is caught in the cookie jar, you better run for cover fast.

Yet the bigger lesson here for all of us should be to never, and I mean never, trust government statistics, especially when they involve schemes that are concocted by elitist academics that spend their lives in the comforts and isolation of the ivory tower.

Reality, real economics and your freedom to choose are not their concern. And, as Gruber has told us, they will manipulate, obfuscate and deliberately torture any data they need to justify their ends.

It’s time we all recognize the deceit merchants for what they are — and it’s time to tell them how truly smart we are by calling out their actions as perpetrators of fraud.

Jim Woods

Jim Woods is a 20-plus-year veteran of the markets with varied experience as a broker, hedge fund trader, financial writer, author and newsletter editor. Jim is the editor of Intelligence Report, Successful Investing, the Bullseye Stock Trader, and The Deep Woods (formerly the Weekly ETF Report). His books include co-authoring, “Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution,” and “The Wealth Shield: How to Invest and Protect Your Money from Another Stock Market Crash, Financial Crisis or Global Economic Collapse.” He’s also ghostwritten many books and articles, as well as edited content for some of the investment industry’s biggest luminaries. His articles have appeared on many leading financial websites, including StockInvestor.com, InvestorPlace.com, Main Street Investor, MarketWatch, Street Authority, Human Events and many others. Jim formerly worked with Investor’s Business Daily founder William J. O’Neil, helping to author training courses in the CANSLIM stock-picking methodology. The independent firm TipRanks rates Jim the No. 3 financial blogger in the world (out of more than 6,000). TipRanks calculates that, since 2012, he's made 361 successful recommendations out of 499 total, earning a success rate of 72% and a +15.3% average return per recommendation. He is known in professional and personal circles as “The Renaissance Man,” because his expertise includes such varied fields as composing and performing music; Western horsemanship, combat marksmanship, martial arts, auto racing and bodybuilding. Jim holds a BA in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a former U.S. Army paratrooper. A self-described “radical for capitalism,” he celebrates the virtue of making money from his Southern California horse ranch.

Recent Posts

ETF Talk: Being Prepared for Anything with an Insurance ETF

There is a famous saying that has been floating around the internet regarding the “Five…

16 hours ago

May Day, Reimagined

Today is May 1, a day that’s also known as “May Day” in many countries…

16 hours ago

10 Reasons to Day-Trade with Mentors in a Virtual Room

Ten reasons to day-trade with mentors in a virtual room highlight why now is a…

1 day ago

Rising Commodity Inflation Will Pressure Fed to Keep Rate Cuts on Hold

Last year’s fourth-quarter downtrend for inflation looks to have bottomed out at just under the…

3 days ago

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Value – Options Trading

The intrinsic and extrinsic value of an option make up the total value of the…

3 days ago

The Retirement Tax Bomb: How to Defuse It Before It’s Too Late

Picture this: You've diligently saved for retirement your whole career, dutifully contributing to your 401(k),…

3 days ago