The Ebola Blame Game

The political dogs were frothing recently. They blamed George W. Bush for the Ebola outbreak. One TV ad proclaimed that “Republican Cuts Kill.” It claimed big health-care cuts slowed down development of an Ebola vaccine.

A top doc at our National Institutes of Health (NIH) claimed we likely would have had a vaccine. But NIH lacked the money. The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said something similar.

Meanwhile, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee lamented the deep health-care cuts. He assured us they have held back our response to the Ebola outbreak.

There are just a few problems with this. One is that the CDC budget today is 25 percent higher than in 2008. It is 188 percent higher than it was in 2000. As for the NIH budget, it is double what it was 14 years ago. NIH is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Its budget is up 9-fold since 1970. Does this sound like a starvation diet to you?

Besides, if the Republicans are so horrible, how did the NIH budget this year get to be $1 billion more than the president asked for? The CDC budget this year is also higher than the president requested.

Getting back to the flat-lining of the NIH budget. Before the flat-lining began, its budget soared 58 percent in four years.

Over the last 10 years, HHS asked for and received billions for an outbreak of this type. It got funds for a new office devoted to this and this alone. Two other big bills gave the agency billions to handle situations like Ebola. So what happened to that money?

Meanwhile, was Ebola really so important to the NIH? Over the last few years it has granted $400,000 to research diseases among male sex workers in Peru. 

Also, $600,000 to study why chimps fling feces. Also, $1 million to study sexual attraction among fruit flies.

Then there was $700,000 to study the impact of TV and gas generators on villages in Vietnam. And $175,000 granted to a university to study how cocaine affects the sex drive of Japanese quail. And $500,000 for a study that will send text messages in “gay lingo” to meth addicts. Do you suppose some of this might have better gone to Ebola research?

The CDC spent $106 million for a swanky visitors’ center — duplicating one it already had. It spent $10 million for new furnishings for its lavish headquarters. 

And $1.7 million to advise Hollywood on medical plots. Also, the CDC has a multi-billion-dollar slush fund. Much of it spent on other whacky projects.

All of this certainly shows that George W. Bush’s screw-ups brought on the Ebola crisis. 

So what is the truth in this Ebola mess? With such conflicting claims, who can tell? The following is strictly a guess — based on human nature. The part of human nature that causes guilty people, backed into a corner, to come out fighting.

My guess is that the NIH and CDC guys know that their agencies have screwed up. Their first reaction: Blame Congress. Blame the Republicans. Blame the cleaning ladies. Blame the Koch brothers. Blame … Hey, let’s blame Bush!

From Tom...as in Morgan.                   

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows and TV show. For more information about him, visit his website at www.tomasinmorgan.com