'The cost of doing nothing'

From Charles Lemos at MyDD here.

I managed to catch part of the President's Town Hall in Cleveland. I have couple of observations to share. I was struck by the caliber of the questions that were more detailed, nuanced and sophisticated than those asked by some professional journalists at last night's press conference. I was also pleased to hear the President make the connection between rising health costs and flatlining real wages.

Christina D. Romer, the Chair of Council of Economic Advisers, in a prepared statement (pdf) to Committee on the Budget of the U.S. House of Representatives this past June noted that "if we can genuinely restrain the growth rate of health care costs significantly, while assuring quality, affordable health care for all Americans, living standards would rise, the budget deficit would be much smaller, unemployment could fall, and labor markets would likely function more efficiently." The reality of the matter is that we can not afford to do nothing.