Posts
Why Gun Sales Soar; Why Support for Gun Ownership Skyrockets: "The obvious in this case is that are no bad guns, any more than there are inherently bad swimming pools, lakes, ponds, or streams. Water is dangerous, though; it rusts and sinks ships, it drowns people. In drowning cases, just how often is water involved? In the case of people injured by fires, how often is flame involved? The government hasn’t found a good way to regulate possession of water, a boat, canoe, or swimming pool. At least not yet, that is. Government also has failed to find a way to control the use of fire. Government has not yet quite taken full control of the automobile industry, although though they are far down that road as I write these words.
Yet, a pack of matches or a Volvo is both far more potentially lethal than firearms. Do you have your “Bic Lighter Safety ID Card” in your wallet? If not, should you prepare to be arrested? As long as we are on Bic lighters, do you have a government issued card that permits the concealed carry of your Bic lighter? Can you carry one into a National Park, or can take it with you to church? Despite the inherent danger of fire and water, responsible people seem able to use both quite responsibly."
Monday, September 21, 2009
Ignoring Kim | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary
Ignoring Kim | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The Obama administration needs to realistically assess the conundrum that is North Korea. So far Kim has outlasted two presidents; his father was confronting his ninth American president when he died. The likelihood of President Obama making a deal missed by everyone else is low. That doesn't mean negotiations are not worth pursuing. But it does suggest the value of downplaying any expectations of changing North Korea, which reflect the triumph of hope over experience."
"Only South Korea is within reach of the North's army—a good reason for the United States to withdraw its troops, since they have not been needed to safeguard the Republic of Korea (ROK) for years. (Seoul enjoys a vast economic, technological, population and diplomatic edge over the North.) Japan, along with the ROK, is vulnerable to North Korean missiles. China and the South both fear a violent DPRK collapse and flood of desperate, starving refugees. Beijing also suffers from the nightmare of spreading nuclear proliferation which could result in Japan developing nuclear weapons."
"Only South Korea is within reach of the North's army—a good reason for the United States to withdraw its troops, since they have not been needed to safeguard the Republic of Korea (ROK) for years. (Seoul enjoys a vast economic, technological, population and diplomatic edge over the North.) Japan, along with the ROK, is vulnerable to North Korean missiles. China and the South both fear a violent DPRK collapse and flood of desperate, starving refugees. Beijing also suffers from the nightmare of spreading nuclear proliferation which could result in Japan developing nuclear weapons."
Introducing A Tiger by the Tail - Joseph T. Salerno - Mises Institute
Introducing A Tiger by the Tail - Joseph T. Salerno - Mises Institute: "Keynes wrongly assumed that unemployment typically involves the idleness of resources of all kinds in all stages of production. In this sense, Keynesian economics left out the vital element of the scarcity of real resources, the pons asinorum of undergraduate economic-principles courses. In Keynes's illusory world of superabundance, an increase in total money expenditure will indeed increase employment and real income, because all the resources needed for any production process will be available in the correct proportions at current prices. However, in the real world of scarcity, as Hayek shows, unemployed resources will be of specific kinds and in specific industries, for example unionized labor in mining or steel fabrication."
The Fake History of the Depression - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Institute
The Fake History of the Depression - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Institute: "Contrary to what you have heard and read over the last year, Hoover behaved as a textbook Keynesian after the stock-market crash. He immediately cut income tax rates by one percentage point (applicable to the 1929 tax year) and began ratcheting up federal spending, increasing it 42 percent from fiscal year (FY) 1930 to FY 1932."
Afghanistan's Democratic Debacle | Patrick Basham | Cato Institute: Commentary
Afghanistan's Democratic Debacle | Patrick Basham | Cato Institute: Commentary: "American neo-conservatives have spent the past decade proclaiming the universal freedoms that democracies around the world enjoy. The problem is that Afghani political culture doesn't celebrate such freedoms at all. It's an illiberal culture that rewards warlords with political office, requires quotas to ensure female representation in parliament, and tolerates almost indescribably widespread corruption.
President Karzai presides over the fifth most corrupt government in the world, according to a Brookings Institution study. Last year, his government managed to 'lose' a staggering 60 percent of its annual revenue.
What's occurring today in Afghanistan is an affront to supporters of freedom and liberty. But it isn't an affront to most Afghans. For centuries, Afghan politics has been — and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, no matter how many 'free' elections are held — about ethnic identity and strict adherence to Islam. Tribal loyalties and religious conservatism trump all other values."
President Karzai presides over the fifth most corrupt government in the world, according to a Brookings Institution study. Last year, his government managed to 'lose' a staggering 60 percent of its annual revenue.
What's occurring today in Afghanistan is an affront to supporters of freedom and liberty. But it isn't an affront to most Afghans. For centuries, Afghan politics has been — and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, no matter how many 'free' elections are held — about ethnic identity and strict adherence to Islam. Tribal loyalties and religious conservatism trump all other values."
Manufactured Objections | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Commentary
Manufactured Objections | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Meyerson makes a few claims that cannot be allowed to stand. For example, he asserts: 'We don't [make things] any more — at least, not like we used to. Since 1987, manufacturing as a share of our gross domestic product has declined 30 percent.'
First of all, note that Meyerson's second sentence does nothing to support his first. A decline in the manufacturing sector's share of the total economy can result from growth in other sectors, rather than from a decline in total manufacturing output, and that's what's happening in the U.S.
According to data from the 2009 Economic Report of the President, as gathered and reported recently by George Mason University economics professor Don Boudreaux, since 1987, real U.S. manufacturing output has increased by 81 percent. And as reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, American real manufacturing value-added — the market value of manufactured goods, over and above the costs that went into their production — reached a record-high level in 2007 (the last year for which final data are available), breaking the record set in 2006, which broke the record set in 2005, which broke the record set in 2004. Notwithstanding the recent recession that has affected all sectors of the economy, U.S. manufacturing has been thriving in recent years.
If Meyerson isn't intentionally misleading Washington Post readers, he is simply unqualified to be rendering conclusions about the state of manufacturing. A basic look at the history of the statistic he used shows its uselessness to the point he wants to make. Manufacturing as a share of gross domestic product peaked in 1953 at about 28 percent of the economy — well before the period of U.S. industrial prowess Meyerson yearns for — and has been trending downward ever since. Today manufacturing accounts for about 12 percent of our services-dominated economy, but manufacturing output and value-added are higher than ever in real terms.
Second, if the United States doesn't "make things anymore," nobody does. According to data from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, U.S. factories are the world's most productive, accounting for 25 percent of global manufacturing value-added. By comparison, Chinese factories account for 10.6 percent.
That may be hard to fathom, given that U.S. factories tend not to produce the sporting goods, toys, tools, and clothing found in Wal-Mart and other retail outlets nowadays. But U.S. factories make pharmaceuticals, chemicals, technical textiles, sophisticated components, airplane parts, and other products. American factories have moved up the value chain."
"Economists at the U.S. International Trade Commission estimate that only about 50 percent of the value of U.S. imports from China is actually Chinese value-added; the rest is value added in other countries and embedded in the components, design, engineering, and labor."
First of all, note that Meyerson's second sentence does nothing to support his first. A decline in the manufacturing sector's share of the total economy can result from growth in other sectors, rather than from a decline in total manufacturing output, and that's what's happening in the U.S.
According to data from the 2009 Economic Report of the President, as gathered and reported recently by George Mason University economics professor Don Boudreaux, since 1987, real U.S. manufacturing output has increased by 81 percent. And as reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, American real manufacturing value-added — the market value of manufactured goods, over and above the costs that went into their production — reached a record-high level in 2007 (the last year for which final data are available), breaking the record set in 2006, which broke the record set in 2005, which broke the record set in 2004. Notwithstanding the recent recession that has affected all sectors of the economy, U.S. manufacturing has been thriving in recent years.
If Meyerson isn't intentionally misleading Washington Post readers, he is simply unqualified to be rendering conclusions about the state of manufacturing. A basic look at the history of the statistic he used shows its uselessness to the point he wants to make. Manufacturing as a share of gross domestic product peaked in 1953 at about 28 percent of the economy — well before the period of U.S. industrial prowess Meyerson yearns for — and has been trending downward ever since. Today manufacturing accounts for about 12 percent of our services-dominated economy, but manufacturing output and value-added are higher than ever in real terms.
Second, if the United States doesn't "make things anymore," nobody does. According to data from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, U.S. factories are the world's most productive, accounting for 25 percent of global manufacturing value-added. By comparison, Chinese factories account for 10.6 percent.
That may be hard to fathom, given that U.S. factories tend not to produce the sporting goods, toys, tools, and clothing found in Wal-Mart and other retail outlets nowadays. But U.S. factories make pharmaceuticals, chemicals, technical textiles, sophisticated components, airplane parts, and other products. American factories have moved up the value chain."
"Economists at the U.S. International Trade Commission estimate that only about 50 percent of the value of U.S. imports from China is actually Chinese value-added; the rest is value added in other countries and embedded in the components, design, engineering, and labor."
History's Painful Lessons | David A. Hyman | Cato Institute: Commentary
History's Painful Lessons | David A. Hyman | Cato Institute: Commentary: "health care is personal. If you mess with people's health coverage, they won't just write a nasty letter to the editor. They will show up at demonstrations with home-made signs, scream at you, chase you down the street, and maybe vote you out of office. So you'd better have a good reason for doing what you're doing, and a compelling explanation of how your plan would personally benefit your constituents."
" don't assume that people who disagree with you are stupid, misinformed, greedy, or evil. They may just have different preferences about health insurance, taxes, income redistribution, or the role of government in health care. If preferences differ, telling people they can't understand the complexities won't help matters. Such condescension just makes aggrieved citizens angrier."
"The administration of a former teacher of constitutional law complains about Americans exercising their constitutional right to petition the government for redress of grievances. A party that elected a community organizer president complains about organized communities. One of the architects of the Democrats' current health-care strategy (Rep. Jan Schakowsky) is the very community organizer responsible for the horde of seniors that surrounded Rostenkowski's car. Last year, dissent was the highest form of patriotism. Now, dissent is un-American, and reporting dissent is suddenly patriotic."
" don't assume that people who disagree with you are stupid, misinformed, greedy, or evil. They may just have different preferences about health insurance, taxes, income redistribution, or the role of government in health care. If preferences differ, telling people they can't understand the complexities won't help matters. Such condescension just makes aggrieved citizens angrier."
"The administration of a former teacher of constitutional law complains about Americans exercising their constitutional right to petition the government for redress of grievances. A party that elected a community organizer president complains about organized communities. One of the architects of the Democrats' current health-care strategy (Rep. Jan Schakowsky) is the very community organizer responsible for the horde of seniors that surrounded Rostenkowski's car. Last year, dissent was the highest form of patriotism. Now, dissent is un-American, and reporting dissent is suddenly patriotic."
Campaign For Liberty — Legalize same-sex marriage
Campaign For Liberty — Legalize same-sex marriage: "A tenth argument is that allowing same-sex marriage will lead to plural marriages or marriages of incest being allowed. But this is, like the fifth argument, a slippery slope fallacy and red herring fallacy. Besides, this argument also argues for no marriage being legal, even opposite-sex marriage, because this can lead people to want other forms of marriage to be legalized."
How is gender significantly different from quantity?
"The issue of whether the state should be involved in the institution of marriage and grant benefits to people based on their marital status or the number of children they are raising is beyond the scope of this article."
Actually if the government didn't get involved then it would completely address your argumument.
How is gender significantly different from quantity?
"The issue of whether the state should be involved in the institution of marriage and grant benefits to people based on their marital status or the number of children they are raising is beyond the scope of this article."
Actually if the government didn't get involved then it would completely address your argumument.
What Soviet Medicine Teaches Us - Yuri N. Maltsev - Mises Institute
What Soviet Medicine Teaches Us - Yuri N. Maltsev - Mises Institute: "To improve the statistics concerning the numbers of people dying within the system, patients were routinely shoved out the door before taking their last breath."
"Instead, the doctor treated the teenager with a heat compress, which killed her almost instantly. There was no legal remedy for the girl's parents and grandparents. By definition, a single-payer system cannot allow any such remedy."
"I should make it clear that the United States has one of the highest rates of the industrialized world only because it counts all dead infants, including premature babies, which is where most of the fatalities occur.
Most countries do not count premature-infant deaths. Some don't count any deaths that occur in the first 72 hours. Some countries don't even count any deaths from the first two weeks of life. In Cuba, which boasts a very low infant-mortality rate, infants are only registered when they are several months old, thereby leaving out of the official statistics all infant deaths that take place within the first several months of life."
"After seventy years of socialism, 57 percent of all Russian hospitals did not have running hot water, and 36 percent of hospitals located in rural areas of Russia did not have water or sewage at all. Isn't it amazing that socialist government, while developing space exploration and sophisticated weapons, would completely ignore the basic human needs of its citizens?"
"In "civilized" England, for example, the waiting list for surgeries is nearly 800,000 out of a population of 55 million. State-of-the-art equipment is nonexistent in most British hospitals. In England, only 10 percent of the healthcare spending is derived from private sources.
Britain pioneered in developing kidney-dialysis technology, and yet the country has one of the lowest dialysis rates in the world. The Brookings Institution (hardly a supporter of free markets) found that every year 7,000 Britons in need of hip replacements, between 4,000 and 20,000 in need of coronary bypass surgery, and some 10,000 to 15,000 in need of cancer chemotherapy are denied medical attention in Britain.
Age discrimination is particularly apparent in all government-run or heavily regulated systems of healthcare. In Russia, patients over 60 are considered worthless parasites and those over 70 are often denied even elementary forms of healthcare.
In the United Kingdom, in the treatment of chronic kidney failure, those who are 55 years old are refused treatment at 35 percent of dialysis centers. Forty-five percent of 65-year-old patients at the centers are denied treatment, while patients 75 or older rarely receive any medical attention at these centers.
In Canada, the population is divided into three age groups in terms of their access to healthcare: those below 45, those 45–65, and those over 65. Needless to say, the first group, who could be called the "active taxpayers," enjoys priority treatment."
"In his movie, Sicko, he unfairly and unfavorably compares health care for older patients in the United States with complex and incurable diseases to healthcare in France and Canada for young women having routine babies. Had he done the reverse — i.e., compared healthcare for young women in the United States having babies to older patients with complex and incurable diseases in socialized healthcare systems — the movie would have been the same, except that the US healthcare system would look ideal, and the UK, Canada, and France would look barbaric."
"Ezekiel Emanuel is director of the Clinical Bioethics Department at the US National Institutes of Health and an architect of Obama's healthcare-reform plan. He is also the brother of Rahm Emanuel, Obama's White House chief of staff. Foster Friess reports that Ezekiel Emanuel has written that health services should not be guaranteed to
individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens. An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.[3]
An equally troubling article, coauthored by Emanuel, appeared in the medical journal The Lancet in January 2009. The authors write that
unlike allocation [of healthcare] by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years. Treating 65-year-olds differently because of stereotypes or falsehoods would be ageist; treating them differently because they have already had more life-years is not.[4]"
"Real "savings" in a socialized healthcare system could be achieved only by squeezing providers and denying care — there is no other way to save. The same arguments were used to defend the cotton farming in the South prior to the Civil War. Slavery certainly "reduced costs" of labor, "eliminated the waste" of bargaining for wages, and avoided "unnecessary duplication and parallelism.""
"Socialized medical systems have not served to raise general health or living standards anywhere. In fact, both analytical reasoning and empirical evidence point to the opposite conclusion. But the dismal failure of socialized medicine to raise people's health and longevity has not affected its appeal for politicians, administrators, and their intellectual servants in search of absolute power and total control."
"Instead, the doctor treated the teenager with a heat compress, which killed her almost instantly. There was no legal remedy for the girl's parents and grandparents. By definition, a single-payer system cannot allow any such remedy."
"I should make it clear that the United States has one of the highest rates of the industrialized world only because it counts all dead infants, including premature babies, which is where most of the fatalities occur.
Most countries do not count premature-infant deaths. Some don't count any deaths that occur in the first 72 hours. Some countries don't even count any deaths from the first two weeks of life. In Cuba, which boasts a very low infant-mortality rate, infants are only registered when they are several months old, thereby leaving out of the official statistics all infant deaths that take place within the first several months of life."
"After seventy years of socialism, 57 percent of all Russian hospitals did not have running hot water, and 36 percent of hospitals located in rural areas of Russia did not have water or sewage at all. Isn't it amazing that socialist government, while developing space exploration and sophisticated weapons, would completely ignore the basic human needs of its citizens?"
"In "civilized" England, for example, the waiting list for surgeries is nearly 800,000 out of a population of 55 million. State-of-the-art equipment is nonexistent in most British hospitals. In England, only 10 percent of the healthcare spending is derived from private sources.
Britain pioneered in developing kidney-dialysis technology, and yet the country has one of the lowest dialysis rates in the world. The Brookings Institution (hardly a supporter of free markets) found that every year 7,000 Britons in need of hip replacements, between 4,000 and 20,000 in need of coronary bypass surgery, and some 10,000 to 15,000 in need of cancer chemotherapy are denied medical attention in Britain.
Age discrimination is particularly apparent in all government-run or heavily regulated systems of healthcare. In Russia, patients over 60 are considered worthless parasites and those over 70 are often denied even elementary forms of healthcare.
In the United Kingdom, in the treatment of chronic kidney failure, those who are 55 years old are refused treatment at 35 percent of dialysis centers. Forty-five percent of 65-year-old patients at the centers are denied treatment, while patients 75 or older rarely receive any medical attention at these centers.
In Canada, the population is divided into three age groups in terms of their access to healthcare: those below 45, those 45–65, and those over 65. Needless to say, the first group, who could be called the "active taxpayers," enjoys priority treatment."
"In his movie, Sicko, he unfairly and unfavorably compares health care for older patients in the United States with complex and incurable diseases to healthcare in France and Canada for young women having routine babies. Had he done the reverse — i.e., compared healthcare for young women in the United States having babies to older patients with complex and incurable diseases in socialized healthcare systems — the movie would have been the same, except that the US healthcare system would look ideal, and the UK, Canada, and France would look barbaric."
"Ezekiel Emanuel is director of the Clinical Bioethics Department at the US National Institutes of Health and an architect of Obama's healthcare-reform plan. He is also the brother of Rahm Emanuel, Obama's White House chief of staff. Foster Friess reports that Ezekiel Emanuel has written that health services should not be guaranteed to
individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens. An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.[3]
An equally troubling article, coauthored by Emanuel, appeared in the medical journal The Lancet in January 2009. The authors write that
unlike allocation [of healthcare] by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years. Treating 65-year-olds differently because of stereotypes or falsehoods would be ageist; treating them differently because they have already had more life-years is not.[4]"
"Real "savings" in a socialized healthcare system could be achieved only by squeezing providers and denying care — there is no other way to save. The same arguments were used to defend the cotton farming in the South prior to the Civil War. Slavery certainly "reduced costs" of labor, "eliminated the waste" of bargaining for wages, and avoided "unnecessary duplication and parallelism.""
"Socialized medical systems have not served to raise general health or living standards anywhere. In fact, both analytical reasoning and empirical evidence point to the opposite conclusion. But the dismal failure of socialized medicine to raise people's health and longevity has not affected its appeal for politicians, administrators, and their intellectual servants in search of absolute power and total control."
Big Government, Big Recession | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary
Big Government, Big Recession | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Proponents of Big Government can't say we avoided the next Great Depression due to hypothetical stimulus money that is mostly unspent. So they argue it's more important that the federal government merely continued spending and didn't 'slash' spending as in the early 1930s. But the federal government didn't slash spending in the early '30s. Federal spending rose by 6.2% in 1930, 7.7% in 1931 and 30.2% in 1932. Since prices were falling, real increases in federal spending were huge during the Hoover years.
President Obama clearly believes Big Government is the antidote to this and perhaps all recessions. At his first news conference in February, the president said, 'The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life.' Yet that raises a key question: If the U.S. economy could not recover without a big 'jolt' of deficit spending, then how did the economy recover from recessions in the distant past, when the federal government was very small?"
"A 1999 study in The Journal of Economic Perspectives by Christina Romer (now head of the Council of Economic Advisers) found that "real macroeconomic indicators have not become dramatically more stable between the pre-World War I and post-World War II eras, and recessions have become only slightly less severe." Ms. Romer also noted that "recessions have not become noticeably shorter" in the era of Big Government. In fact, she found the average length of recessions from 1887 to 1929 was 10.3 months. If the current recession ended in August, then the average postwar recession lasted one month longer — 11.3 months. The longest recession from 1887 to 1929 lasted 16 months. But there have been three recessions since 1973 that lasted at least that long.
The relative brevity of recessions before the New Deal is particularly surprising since the U.S. economy was then dominated by farming and manufacturing — industries far more prone to nasty cyclical surprises than today's service-based economy."
"Yet recessions after the Fed was created soon turned out to be much deeper than before (1920-21, 1929-33, 1937-38) and often more persistent.
It's clear that U.S. history does not support the theory that Big Government means shorter and milder recessions. In reality, recessions always ended without government prodding, long before anyone heard of Keynes and long before the Fed existed. What's more, recessions ended more quickly before the New Deal's push for Big Government than they have in the past three decades. The economy's natural recuperative powers before the 1930s proved superior to recent tinkering by Big Government economists, politicians and central bankers."
President Obama clearly believes Big Government is the antidote to this and perhaps all recessions. At his first news conference in February, the president said, 'The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life.' Yet that raises a key question: If the U.S. economy could not recover without a big 'jolt' of deficit spending, then how did the economy recover from recessions in the distant past, when the federal government was very small?"
"A 1999 study in The Journal of Economic Perspectives by Christina Romer (now head of the Council of Economic Advisers) found that "real macroeconomic indicators have not become dramatically more stable between the pre-World War I and post-World War II eras, and recessions have become only slightly less severe." Ms. Romer also noted that "recessions have not become noticeably shorter" in the era of Big Government. In fact, she found the average length of recessions from 1887 to 1929 was 10.3 months. If the current recession ended in August, then the average postwar recession lasted one month longer — 11.3 months. The longest recession from 1887 to 1929 lasted 16 months. But there have been three recessions since 1973 that lasted at least that long.
The relative brevity of recessions before the New Deal is particularly surprising since the U.S. economy was then dominated by farming and manufacturing — industries far more prone to nasty cyclical surprises than today's service-based economy."
"Yet recessions after the Fed was created soon turned out to be much deeper than before (1920-21, 1929-33, 1937-38) and often more persistent.
It's clear that U.S. history does not support the theory that Big Government means shorter and milder recessions. In reality, recessions always ended without government prodding, long before anyone heard of Keynes and long before the Fed existed. What's more, recessions ended more quickly before the New Deal's push for Big Government than they have in the past three decades. The economy's natural recuperative powers before the 1930s proved superior to recent tinkering by Big Government economists, politicians and central bankers."
Frank Says House Will Likely Approve Audit of Federal Reserve - Political News - FOXNews.com
Frank Says House Will Likely Approve Audit of Federal Reserve - Political News - FOXNews.com: "Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has endorsed a bill calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve.�
The support from the powerful Massachusetts Democrat comes after the measure, introduced in late February by Rep. Ron Paul, has won hundreds of co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle.�"
The support from the powerful Massachusetts Democrat comes after the measure, introduced in late February by Rep. Ron Paul, has won hundreds of co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle.�"
Medical-imaging procedures always worth the risk? | Health Tech - CNET News
Medical-imaging procedures always worth the risk? | Health Tech - CNET News: "CT scans alone are up four-fold, according to the study. These 'worrisome' radiation doses--as many as 2 percent of cancers could be attributed to radiation during CT scans alone--justify more rigorous scientific scrutiny, according to lead investigator Dr. Reza Fazel at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta:
Unlike the exposure of workers in health care and the nuclear industry, which can be regulated, the exposure of patients cannot be restricted, largely because of the inherent difficulty in balancing the immediate clinical need for these procedures, which is frequently substantial, against the stochastic risks of cancer that would not be evident for years, if at all."
Unlike the exposure of workers in health care and the nuclear industry, which can be regulated, the exposure of patients cannot be restricted, largely because of the inherent difficulty in balancing the immediate clinical need for these procedures, which is frequently substantial, against the stochastic risks of cancer that would not be evident for years, if at all."
Gun Owners' Next Victory in D.C. | Robert A. Levy | Cato Institute: Commentary
Gun Owners' Next Victory in D.C. | Robert A. Levy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Does the Constitution mandate that the nation's capital allow firearms to be carried outside the home? The right to bear arms, the court said in Heller, is an 'individual right unconnected to militia service.' To 'bear' means to 'carry.' More specifically, when used with 'arms,' the opinion said, 'bear' means 'carrying for a particular purpose — confrontation.' Nothing in that formulation implies a right that can be exercised only within one's home.
Indeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, although she dissented in Heller, cited Black's Law Dictionary to suggest in a prior opinion that the Second Amendment entails a right to 'wear, bear, or carry ..... upon the person or in the clothing or in a pocket, ..... armed and ready ..... in a case of conflict with another person.' That language, says Michael O'Shea in the West Virginia Law Review, 'reads like a literal description of the practice of lawful concealed carry, as engaged in by millions of Americans in the forty-eight states that authorize the carrying of concealed handguns.'"
Indeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, although she dissented in Heller, cited Black's Law Dictionary to suggest in a prior opinion that the Second Amendment entails a right to 'wear, bear, or carry ..... upon the person or in the clothing or in a pocket, ..... armed and ready ..... in a case of conflict with another person.' That language, says Michael O'Shea in the West Virginia Law Review, 'reads like a literal description of the practice of lawful concealed carry, as engaged in by millions of Americans in the forty-eight states that authorize the carrying of concealed handguns.'"
My Summer Reading: Hyper-Inflation in Weimar Germany - Ralph Fucetola - Mises Institute
My Summer Reading: Hyper-Inflation in Weimar Germany - Ralph Fucetola - Mises Institute: "The historical setting for Graham's study tale begins with the end of the First World War. The armistice was engendered by the complete exhaustion of the warring parties. Then came the peace treaty with its assignment of 'guilt' for the war to the Central Powers, and the imposition of heavy reparations. The Allies seized nearly the entire German merchant marine and nearly all the railroad rolling stock. Gold-mark reparations were also imposed."
How to Deal With North Korea | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary
How to Deal With North Korea | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The North has now formally invited the U.S. to send an envoy for negotiations. How to respond? Seven steps would help the U.S. promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
1. Keep expectations low.
4. Treat North Korean provocations with bored contempt. The U.S. needs to reward the North when it acts responsibly and punish or ignore it when it acts badly. Reprogramming the DPRK won't be easy, but the regime has been on markedly better behavior over the last month than previously. For that Washington and other nations should respond favorably.
5. Let other countries, which have the most at stake, take the lead. The DPRK is primarily a problem for its neighbors, not the U.S. The North's antiquated military has only limited reach. A messy DPRK regime collapse would loose refugees on South Korea and China, not America."
1. Keep expectations low.
4. Treat North Korean provocations with bored contempt. The U.S. needs to reward the North when it acts responsibly and punish or ignore it when it acts badly. Reprogramming the DPRK won't be easy, but the regime has been on markedly better behavior over the last month than previously. For that Washington and other nations should respond favorably.
5. Let other countries, which have the most at stake, take the lead. The DPRK is primarily a problem for its neighbors, not the U.S. The North's antiquated military has only limited reach. A messy DPRK regime collapse would loose refugees on South Korea and China, not America."
Free the Mails | Chris Edwards and Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary
Free the Mails | Chris Edwards and Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Yet another giant company has plunging sales, soaring debt, and is weighed down by massive labor costs. Will taxpayers have to pay for another federal bailout? Alas, it's already in the cards because this company is the U.S. Postal Service, which has estimated losses of $7 billion this year."
Massachusetts' Obama-like Reforms Increase Health Costs, Wait Times | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary
Massachusetts' Obama-like Reforms Increase Health Costs, Wait Times | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary: "If you are curious about how President Barack Obama's health plan would affect your health care, look no farther than Massachusetts. In 2006, the Bay State enacted a slate of reforms that almost perfectly mirror the plan of Obama and congressional Democrats.
Those reforms reveal that the Obama plan would mean higher health insurance premiums for millions, would reduce choice by eliminating both low-cost and comprehensive health plans, would encourage insurers to avoid the sick and would reduce the quality of care."
"The most sweeping provision in the Massachusetts reforms — and the legislation before Congress — is an "individual mandate" that makes health insurance compulsory. Massachusetts shows that such a mandate would oust millions from their low-cost health plans and force them to pay higher premiums.
The necessity of specifying what satisfies the mandate gives politicians enormous power to dictate the content of every American's health plan — a power that health care providers inevitably capture and use to increase the required level of insurance.
In the three years since Massachusetts enacted its individual mandate, providers successfully lobbied to require 16 specific types of coverage under the mandate: prescription drugs, preventive care, diabetes self-management, drug-abuse treatment, early intervention for autism, hospice care, hormone replacement therapy, non-in-vitro fertility services, orthotics, prosthetics, telemedicine, testicular cancer, lay midwives, nurses, nurse practitioners and pediatric specialists.
The Massachusetts Legislature is considering more than 70 additional requirements.
Those requirements can increase premiums by 14 percent or more. Officials further increased premiums by imposing new limits on cost-sharing."
"One way insurers can avoid the $50,000 patients is to drop benefits those customers find attractive. Shelby Rogers is a 12-year-old girl with spinal muscular atrophy, whose parents chose an Aetna plan through the price-controlled health insurance exchange for federal workers. Last year, Aetna announced it would drop coverage for Shelby's 12-hour-a-day nurse, who, among other things, helps Shelby avoid bedsores by turning her over at night. An Aetna spokesman explained the reason was to avoid offering a benefit that causes the sickest patients to flock to the plan.
Over time, as mandates eliminate low-cost options and price controls eliminate comprehensive options, both the Massachusetts and Obama reforms will march consumers into a narrow range of health plans.
As goes choice, so goes quality. Statistics on waiting times for specialist care in Massachusetts read like a dispatch from Canada. In 2004, Boston already had the longest waits among metropolitan areas. By 2009, waits had generally shortened in other metro areas (average wait: less than three weeks) but lengthened in Boston (average wait: seven weeks), according to the Merritt Hawkins survey."
"Massachusetts has reduced the share of its population that lacks coverage from an estimated 8.3 percent in 2006 to an estimated 2.6 percent by June 2008. Former Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican who signed the Massachusetts reforms into law, boasts that "no other state has made as much progress in covering their uninsured."
Yet that achievement carries an exorbitant price tag: at least $2.1 billion this year, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a figure that doesn't even include the cost of the additional coverage discussed above. Since Massachusetts has covered just 432,000 previously uninsured residents, the cost of covering a previously uninsured family of four — at least $20,000 — is well above the average cost of an employer-sponsored family policy (about $13,000)."
Those reforms reveal that the Obama plan would mean higher health insurance premiums for millions, would reduce choice by eliminating both low-cost and comprehensive health plans, would encourage insurers to avoid the sick and would reduce the quality of care."
"The most sweeping provision in the Massachusetts reforms — and the legislation before Congress — is an "individual mandate" that makes health insurance compulsory. Massachusetts shows that such a mandate would oust millions from their low-cost health plans and force them to pay higher premiums.
The necessity of specifying what satisfies the mandate gives politicians enormous power to dictate the content of every American's health plan — a power that health care providers inevitably capture and use to increase the required level of insurance.
In the three years since Massachusetts enacted its individual mandate, providers successfully lobbied to require 16 specific types of coverage under the mandate: prescription drugs, preventive care, diabetes self-management, drug-abuse treatment, early intervention for autism, hospice care, hormone replacement therapy, non-in-vitro fertility services, orthotics, prosthetics, telemedicine, testicular cancer, lay midwives, nurses, nurse practitioners and pediatric specialists.
The Massachusetts Legislature is considering more than 70 additional requirements.
Those requirements can increase premiums by 14 percent or more. Officials further increased premiums by imposing new limits on cost-sharing."
"One way insurers can avoid the $50,000 patients is to drop benefits those customers find attractive. Shelby Rogers is a 12-year-old girl with spinal muscular atrophy, whose parents chose an Aetna plan through the price-controlled health insurance exchange for federal workers. Last year, Aetna announced it would drop coverage for Shelby's 12-hour-a-day nurse, who, among other things, helps Shelby avoid bedsores by turning her over at night. An Aetna spokesman explained the reason was to avoid offering a benefit that causes the sickest patients to flock to the plan.
Over time, as mandates eliminate low-cost options and price controls eliminate comprehensive options, both the Massachusetts and Obama reforms will march consumers into a narrow range of health plans.
As goes choice, so goes quality. Statistics on waiting times for specialist care in Massachusetts read like a dispatch from Canada. In 2004, Boston already had the longest waits among metropolitan areas. By 2009, waits had generally shortened in other metro areas (average wait: less than three weeks) but lengthened in Boston (average wait: seven weeks), according to the Merritt Hawkins survey."
"Massachusetts has reduced the share of its population that lacks coverage from an estimated 8.3 percent in 2006 to an estimated 2.6 percent by June 2008. Former Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican who signed the Massachusetts reforms into law, boasts that "no other state has made as much progress in covering their uninsured."
Yet that achievement carries an exorbitant price tag: at least $2.1 billion this year, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a figure that doesn't even include the cost of the additional coverage discussed above. Since Massachusetts has covered just 432,000 previously uninsured residents, the cost of covering a previously uninsured family of four — at least $20,000 — is well above the average cost of an employer-sponsored family policy (about $13,000)."
Voting until They Get It Right in the European Union | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary
Voting until They Get It Right in the European Union | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "When it comes to the European Union, any vote to increase authority in Brussels is viewed as final. Any vote against consolidating power is treated as merely temporary.
The Lisbon Treaty is the perfect example of such a power grab. Among other things, it shifts responsibilities from national parliaments to European parliament, reduces the number of areas where unanimity is required (eliminating national vetoes), creates a president as a person (as opposed to rotating presidencies for nations) and creates a foreign minister to push a continental foreign policy.
In June 2008, Ireland voted against the treaty. Since the agreement requires unanimous support, the referendum theoretically killed the attempt. However, the European elite insisted that Ireland vote again. Dublin will hold a revote Oct. 2."
"Spanish EU Commissioner Joaquin Almunia claimed that it's not "very democratic" to hold a referendum on complicated issues like the Lisbon Treaty. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble declared, "A few million Irish cannot decide on behalf of 495 million Europeans.""
The Lisbon Treaty is the perfect example of such a power grab. Among other things, it shifts responsibilities from national parliaments to European parliament, reduces the number of areas where unanimity is required (eliminating national vetoes), creates a president as a person (as opposed to rotating presidencies for nations) and creates a foreign minister to push a continental foreign policy.
In June 2008, Ireland voted against the treaty. Since the agreement requires unanimous support, the referendum theoretically killed the attempt. However, the European elite insisted that Ireland vote again. Dublin will hold a revote Oct. 2."
"Spanish EU Commissioner Joaquin Almunia claimed that it's not "very democratic" to hold a referendum on complicated issues like the Lisbon Treaty. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble declared, "A few million Irish cannot decide on behalf of 495 million Europeans.""
The Second American Revolution | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary
The Second American Revolution | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "'For generations, we doctors have promised our patients that medical advances will allow us all to live longer, more comfortable lives. Now that these results are finally arriving, 'health-care reform' — or 'insurance reform' (as our would-be health czar now calls it) — could snatch the rug out from under us.'
If the president succeeds in having Congress enact into law a national federal council to decide the most cost-effective medical care, those national standards will necessarily override which specific care can be most effective for each individual patient. Is expressing that concern, even loudly — about being lost in the abstract whole — what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls 'un-American' as she scorns these citizen eruptions by latter-day sons and daughters of liberty?"
If the president succeeds in having Congress enact into law a national federal council to decide the most cost-effective medical care, those national standards will necessarily override which specific care can be most effective for each individual patient. Is expressing that concern, even loudly — about being lost in the abstract whole — what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls 'un-American' as she scorns these citizen eruptions by latter-day sons and daughters of liberty?"
The Misery Index: A Reality Check | Steve H. Hanke | Cato Institute: Commentary
The Misery Index: A Reality Check | Steve H. Hanke | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The data in the misery index chart speak loudly. Contrary to left-wing dogma, the Reagan 'free-market years,' were very good ones. And the Clinton years of Victorian fiscal virtues – when President Clinton proclaimed in his January 1996 State of the Union address: 'the era of big government is over' – were also very good ones."
Like Your Health Plan? Read This | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary
Like Your Health Plan? Read This | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "If your current health insurance doesn't meet all those requirements, you won't be immediately forced to drop your current insurance for a government-specified plan. But you would be required to switch if you lose your current insurance or 'if significant changes are made to the existing health insurance plan.'
More critically, for the 70 percent of us who get our insurance through work, those plans would all have to satisfy the government's benefit requirements within five years.
More likely, your employer will simply find that the increased cost and administrative burden is not worth it, and will dump you into the government-run 'public option.'"
More critically, for the 70 percent of us who get our insurance through work, those plans would all have to satisfy the government's benefit requirements within five years.
More likely, your employer will simply find that the increased cost and administrative burden is not worth it, and will dump you into the government-run 'public option.'"
Campaign For Liberty — Tim Nerenz Health Care Town Hall Speech
Campaign For Liberty — Tim Nerenz Health Care Town Hall Speech: "Here are two changes that Congress could write in one page and pass in a day that would cut out most of that wasted 40%. 1) Indemnify providers against lawsuits in which there is no criminal negligence alleged, and 2) eliminate 3rd party payer by using Health Savings Accounts to pay providers directly. That takes two of the biggest snouts out of the trough."
"President Obama promised my employees they could still choose private insurance if we had a public option. Sadly it won't be up to either of them. The House Bill levies a payroll tax of 8% on employers who don't provide health care benefits. That is less than half of the cost of a decent insurance premium; it is a simple business decision to drop coverage and pay the tax.
Businesses don't have the luxury of dealing with the government that is promised, we must confront the one that is practiced. Don't blame the players when the refs change the rules.
We all know what improves quality, reduces cost, and expands selection - choice and competition. Markets don't work perfectly, but they work - we can't say the same for government interventions. What keeps the small town auto mechanic honest? It's not the policeman or the priest - it's the second auto mechanic."
"President Obama promised my employees they could still choose private insurance if we had a public option. Sadly it won't be up to either of them. The House Bill levies a payroll tax of 8% on employers who don't provide health care benefits. That is less than half of the cost of a decent insurance premium; it is a simple business decision to drop coverage and pay the tax.
Businesses don't have the luxury of dealing with the government that is promised, we must confront the one that is practiced. Don't blame the players when the refs change the rules.
We all know what improves quality, reduces cost, and expands selection - choice and competition. Markets don't work perfectly, but they work - we can't say the same for government interventions. What keeps the small town auto mechanic honest? It's not the policeman or the priest - it's the second auto mechanic."
The Government's Cooked Books - Jacob Shreffler - Mises Institute
The Government's Cooked Books - Jacob Shreffler - Mises Institute: "For example, if I write myself a signed and sealed letter saying that I owe myself $1,000,000 by next year, that letter does not constitute a contract, a credit instrument, or any legal claim whatsoever. I cannot reasonably claim that I'm managing a million-dollar asset. It cannot properly be placed on my balance sheet as an asset or a liability. Yet the United States handles its accounts in just this way."
Hey, Mr. President, Leave Those Kids Alone | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary
Hey, Mr. President, Leave Those Kids Alone | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "One of the plans envisioned teachers making kindergartners write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. After parents rightly recoiled from that recommendation, the DOE tried to throw it down the memory hole, deleting it from their Web site.
Given some of the cultish questions that survived DOE's hasty revision, however, concerned parents can be pardoned a few overheated references to Kim Il-Sung:
How will [President Obama] inspire us?'
What is President Obama inspiring you to do?
Why is it important that we listen to the president and other elected officials?
These are question-begging questions, especially if you're one of those sensible Americans of all ages who aren't particularly inspired by President Obama, and who aren't convinced that listening raptly to elected officials is the best possible use of your time."
Given some of the cultish questions that survived DOE's hasty revision, however, concerned parents can be pardoned a few overheated references to Kim Il-Sung:
How will [President Obama] inspire us?'
What is President Obama inspiring you to do?
Why is it important that we listen to the president and other elected officials?
These are question-begging questions, especially if you're one of those sensible Americans of all ages who aren't particularly inspired by President Obama, and who aren't convinced that listening raptly to elected officials is the best possible use of your time."
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