Talk about shooting straight with the public and being totally transparent, it is difficult to understand President Obama’s recurring theme that the costs of health care in the United States are causing a bankruptcy to be filed every 30 seconds.

Various fact-checking services have said this figure is wrong. When senior White House officials or Obama appointees were asked about this figure and whether it was true, one said, “It really doesn’t matter if it is one bankruptcy every six seconds, 30 seconds or whatever. It’s merely to give the public an idea of the seriousness of the situation.”

There’s no question that Obama is using every means, if not to panic or scare the general citizenry, at least to get the public to approve his massive fiscal aid programs and put government in greater control of our lives.

But in light of his pledge to be open, transparent and honest with the public, Obama ought to tell the public where he gets the figures to support his claim that health care in the United States is causing a bankruptcy every 30 seconds. He’s said it often enough in prepared texts that he must have had someone check the figure. Otherwise why use such a frightening, scary figure?