Joe Lieberman says he will vote no on any health care bill containing any form of public option:
Rather, his objection is based on fiscal risk: "Once the government creates an insurance company or plan, the government or the taxpayers are liable for any deficit that government plan runs, really without limit," he says. "With our debt heading over $21 trillion within the next 10 years...we've got to start saying no to some things like this."He's got a point. It was the implicit government guarantee of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that let them get away with the financial shenanigans that helped lead to last year's financial crisis. Everybody knew that the taxpayer was ultimately on the hook, which let Fannie and Freddie borrow cheaply and take risks that a private actor wouldn't take. Just so, the taxpayer de facto will be on the hook for any losses suffered by a public option plan, no matter what the law purports to say de jure.
