Before he became Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers told me a story about helping his daughter study for her Advanced Placement exam in American history. While doing so, Mr. Summers realized that the federal government had not passed major social legislation in decades. There was the frenzy of the New Deal, followed by the G.I. Bill, the Interstate Highway System, civil rights and Medicare — and then nothing worth its own section in the history books.
Now there is.
David Leonhardt, “In Health Care Bill, Obama Attacks Wealth Inequality”, New York Times, 24 March 2010.
The health care legislation, defective as it is, is an important move from health care as a privilege – available to those able and willing to pay for it – to health care as a right, available to everyone. US social policy is now closer to that of other wealthy nations.
Tags: Larry Summers
