Since When Are Government Subsidies to Insurance and Drug Companies "Free Market Orthodoxy?"

The New York Times continues the media effort to discuss policy debates in ideological clothing that does not fit. When discussing President Obama's budget, the NYT tells readers that: "departing from the free market orthodoxy of his predecessor, George W. Bush, Mr. Obama would use the government’s powers of spending and taxation to push the private market in new directions." George W. Bush put in a Medicare program that gave private insurers subsidies of approximately 11 percent per beneficiary to make them better able to compete with the publicly run program. He also created a prescription drug program within Medicare that allowed the pharmaceutical industry to further benefit from government patent monopolies by prohibiting Medicare from taking advantage of its market power to negotiate lower prices. These policy moves, along with many others taken by President Bush, were not consistent with free market orthodoxy. They were consistent with an agenda of helping powerful corporate lobbies. It is understandable that President Bush might justify policies intended to help powerful special interests by an appeal to "free market" ideology, but reporters should not tell readers that this is the actual motivation for his actions, especially when his claim does not appear to be supported by the evidence.

--Dean Baker