Demand curves slope downward

Check out Paul Krugman mentions in the blogosphere. 

Addendum: His column today on the Medicare drug bill is excellent, and I otherwise would have linked to it.  Here is one partial version.

Second addendum: Gary Karr, Medicare's chief spokesman, sent me the following in an email:

A fact or two which Krugman leaves out about the Medicare drug coverage: -- If you don't want a doughnut hole, you don't have to have it. > In every area, there are plans which cover drugs in that coverage > gap. > > -- There are also plans offering no deductible. > > -- The original estimate of premium was $37. Then it went down to > $32. In every state but Alaska, you can get coverage for less than > $20. And in many states, there are plans for less than $10 month. > > -- When the Medicare bill became law, people said no companies would compete for the Medicare drug coverage. That has turned out not to be true, and the competitive marketplace has helped drive down costs for taxpayers and those in Medicare.