http://www.youtube.com/v/cM50wY3JRYc
by Frank James
Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore was in Washington today hyping his new movie “Sicko” about the problems with the U.S. health-care system. He appeared at the liberal Take Back America conference and on Capitol Hill surrounded by members of Congress at a press event.
Moore’s thumbnail take on the problem is that the high cost of health care and lack of access are caused by profit-driven health-care executives who jettison the sick from insurance plans in order to keep corporate profits high.
According to Moore, they don’t do it because they’re greedy necessarily. They do it because corporate governance laws force them to maximize profits; they could wind up in jail if they didn’t.
That’s what he actually said; I’m not making this up. It’s a simple yet intriguing plot line that doesn’t capture all the complexity of what’s actually happening. And the business about executives having to maximize profits or being put in jail isn’t even true.
But then Moore is a movie maker, not an economist.