Bachmann ‘government takeover’ talking points refuted by CBS

March 29, 2010

As the Minnesota Independent reports, Tea Party Congresswoman Michele Bachmann appeared on Face the Nation and railed against the “government takeover” of the economy i the past year. CBS sharply criticized Bachmann for the bogus numbers she threw around on the show– numbers and assertions familiar to anyone reading the right blogosphere and debunked by mainstream organizations for weeks.

At issue were Bachmann’s claims that prior to 2008, “100 percent of the private economy was private” and that “30 percent of American physicians would leave the profession if the government took over health care.” CBS News said evidence directly contradicts Bachmann’s statements.

“[N]ow we have the federal government taking over ownership or control of 51 percent of the American economy. This is stunning. Prior to September of 2008, 100 percent of the private economy was private,” Bachmann said on the long-running national news show.

CBS News:

Ms. Bachmann offered no facts to back up her assertion that the government owns or controls 51 percent of the U.S. economy.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis data since 1929, the highest percentage of government spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product was during World War II when government spending was 47.9 percent (in 1944). The lowest level of government spending as a percent of GDP was 9 percent in 1929 at the outset of the Great Depression.

At no time during this period was the United States’ GDP 100 percent private.

The 2009 level of federal government spending was 20.6 percent.

In October, Bachmann put the figure at 30 percent, although her apparent source for the figure said it was an estimate.

Bachmann also cited a phony New England Journal of Medicine report pushed by a doctor-placement agency earlier this month.

“The New England Journal of Medicine released a survey the week that President Obama signed Obamacare stating that over 30 percent of American physicians would leave the profession if the government took over health care. That’s very serious going forward.”

CBS News: “The New England Journal of Medicine has denied it conducted or published the survey cited by Ms. Bachmann.”

Tea Party favorite Marco Rubio, who is running to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate tweeted the phony New England Journal of Medicine report last week.