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Warning Label for Pelosicare | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Millions who are satisfied with their current, low-cost health plans would have to switch to more expensive plans, solely because Congress decided they weren't buying enough coverage.
The legislation would increase premiums even further over time, as drug companies, chiropractors, acupuncturists, fertility specialists and other special interests lobby Congress to force you to purchase coverage for their services too."
"Medicare — by far the largest purchaser of medical services in the world — actually penalizes doctors and hospitals that reduce medical errors. The House bill would cement those deficiencies in place with yet another massive government program, and create new quality problems, like insurers skimping on care and customer service for the sickest patients."
"The bill purports to cut Medicare spending, but those cuts are not likely to happen. Want proof? At the same time House Democrats promise future spending cuts, they are gutting $210 billion of spending cuts promised by past Congresses.
And like most government health care programs, this bill's actual costs will exceed current projections. In 1967, Congress predicted that Medicare would cost $12 billion in 1990. Medicare's actual cost that year was $110 billion. Oops."
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Copenhagen Climate Conference to Create 'Huge' Carbon Footprint - United Nations - FOXNews.com
Copenhagen Climate Conference to Create 'Huge' Carbon Footprint - United Nations - FOXNews.com: "The U.N. estimates the 12-day conference will create 40,584 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, roughly the same amount as the carbon emissions of Morocco in 2006."
With the internet and teleconferencing, why can't this be done better?
With the internet and teleconferencing, why can't this be done better?
Official Gmail Blog: Spread some holiday cheer, one card at a time
Official Gmail Blog: Spread some holiday cheer, one card at a time: "This holiday season, as a token of our appreciation to our most enthusiastic fans, we'll snail-mail a free holiday postcard on your behalf."
Of the 6 card designs, only one is religious, and it is for Hanukkah. While they certainly have the right to do that, and it is very nice of them to provide this service, it does seem weird to not have at least one Christmas card.
Of the 6 card designs, only one is religious, and it is for Hanukkah. While they certainly have the right to do that, and it is very nice of them to provide this service, it does seem weird to not have at least one Christmas card.
Campaign For Liberty — An Answer to Bernanke | by Ron Paul
Campaign For Liberty — An Answer to Bernanke | by Ron Paul: "Today's dollar is now worth four cents compared to the dollar entrusted to the Federal Reserve in 1913.
Ninety-six years should have been plenty of time for the Fed to come up with a plan for preventing economic crises."
"The Fed has clearly failed on its mandate to maintain full employment and price stability. It's time to find out what's going on. Instead of assuming responsibility for the Fed's role in the crisis, Bernanke brags about 'arresting' the crisis. I would suggest to Mr. Bernanke that it's too early to brag.
Bernanke decries any effort to gain transparency of the Fed's actions to find out just who gets bailed out and who is left to fail. Instead, he proposes giving even more power to the Fed to regulate the entire financial system. What he does not recognize, or does not want to admit, is that he is talking about symptoms and ignoring the source of the crisis -- the Federal Reserve itself. "
Ninety-six years should have been plenty of time for the Fed to come up with a plan for preventing economic crises."
"The Fed has clearly failed on its mandate to maintain full employment and price stability. It's time to find out what's going on. Instead of assuming responsibility for the Fed's role in the crisis, Bernanke brags about 'arresting' the crisis. I would suggest to Mr. Bernanke that it's too early to brag.
Bernanke decries any effort to gain transparency of the Fed's actions to find out just who gets bailed out and who is left to fail. Instead, he proposes giving even more power to the Fed to regulate the entire financial system. What he does not recognize, or does not want to admit, is that he is talking about symptoms and ignoring the source of the crisis -- the Federal Reserve itself. "
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
A Fed Takeover by Any Other Name... | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary
A Fed Takeover by Any Other Name... | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "resident Obama has gone to great pains to deny that his proposed health-care reform is a government takeover of the health-care system.
'Nothing could be further from the truth,' he has said.
Yet it's hard to see the 1,994-page bill that the House passed last night as anything else. After all, the bill uses the command 'shall' -- as in 'you shall do this,' 'businesses shall do that' and 'government shall do some other thing' -- 3,345 times.
Not a great deal of choice or options there.
To make sure that we obey these 'shalls,' the bill would create 111 government agencies, boards, commissions and other bureaucracies -- all overseen by a new health-care czar bearing the Orwellian title 'commissioner of health choices.'"
"That means every time a doctor decides on a treatment, he or she would have to ask: 'Does the government think I'm doing this too much? Will I be penalized if I order this test?'
The government would also undertake comparative- and cost-effectiveness research and use the results to impose practice guidelines on providers."
"Given that the government has mismanaged everything from "cash for clunkers" to the swine-flu vaccine (not to mention the Iraq war and the response to Hurricane Katrina), how much of our health-care system do we really want it to control?"
'Nothing could be further from the truth,' he has said.
Yet it's hard to see the 1,994-page bill that the House passed last night as anything else. After all, the bill uses the command 'shall' -- as in 'you shall do this,' 'businesses shall do that' and 'government shall do some other thing' -- 3,345 times.
Not a great deal of choice or options there.
To make sure that we obey these 'shalls,' the bill would create 111 government agencies, boards, commissions and other bureaucracies -- all overseen by a new health-care czar bearing the Orwellian title 'commissioner of health choices.'"
"That means every time a doctor decides on a treatment, he or she would have to ask: 'Does the government think I'm doing this too much? Will I be penalized if I order this test?'
The government would also undertake comparative- and cost-effectiveness research and use the results to impose practice guidelines on providers."
"Given that the government has mismanaged everything from "cash for clunkers" to the swine-flu vaccine (not to mention the Iraq war and the response to Hurricane Katrina), how much of our health-care system do we really want it to control?"
Should We Believe the GDP? - Doug French - Mises Institute
Should We Believe the GDP? - Doug French - Mises Institute: "Murray Rothbard always made the point in his class lectures that GDP figures were suspect because government outputs are included. Of course, government doesn't produce anything that consumers will pay for willingly, thus it must take from the productive economy to provide these services. So there is at least double counting of the outputs."
Currency That Kills | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary
Currency That Kills | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "It has been well-known for decades that paper currency is a major source of disease transmission. During the life of the average dollar bill, it will be handled by hundreds, if not thousands, of people. It is hard to think of any physical object that is handled by more different people than paper currency."
Krugman's Magic Solution to Budgetary Woes - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Institute
Krugman's Magic Solution to Budgetary Woes - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Institute: "The real problem with my household finances wasn't that we were underearning or overspending. No, the real problem was that our superstitious bank decided to peg its unit of account rigidly to the dollar at 1:1."
"I informed [the managers of my local bank] — in case the boobs didn't already know — that Dr. Krugman not only teaches at Princeton, but is a Nobel (Memorial) laureate, for goodness' sake. Taking his advice, I henceforth want to devalue my checking account, so that when I write a check for 500 units, the bank only transfers $250 to the person whose goods I am purchasing."
" Immediately, my household's budget crisis is solved, for I now have double the effective reserves as I previously did. Making my mortgage payment is no longer a struggle!
But this isn't just about me. With my depreciated bank currency, I can spend more freely on local merchants, thus boosting business in my community. Before removing the absurd 1:1 dollar peg, my wife and I would have had to sharply curtail our consumption. This is no longer a concern, thanks to the magic of modern monetary analysis."
"I informed [the managers of my local bank] — in case the boobs didn't already know — that Dr. Krugman not only teaches at Princeton, but is a Nobel (Memorial) laureate, for goodness' sake. Taking his advice, I henceforth want to devalue my checking account, so that when I write a check for 500 units, the bank only transfers $250 to the person whose goods I am purchasing."
" Immediately, my household's budget crisis is solved, for I now have double the effective reserves as I previously did. Making my mortgage payment is no longer a struggle!
But this isn't just about me. With my depreciated bank currency, I can spend more freely on local merchants, thus boosting business in my community. Before removing the absurd 1:1 dollar peg, my wife and I would have had to sharply curtail our consumption. This is no longer a concern, thanks to the magic of modern monetary analysis."
If You Believe in IP, How Do You Teach Others? - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Institute
If You Believe in IP, How Do You Teach Others? - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Institute: "Another approach is the one taken by Harvard and, most explicitly, by the University of Texas, which has suggested that professors make the following contract with students:
My lectures are protected by state common law and federal copyright law. They are my own original expression and I record them at the same time that I deliver them in order to secure protection. Whereas you are authorized to take notes in class thereby creating a derivative work from my lecture, the authorization extends only to making one set of notes for your own personal use and no other use. You are not authorized to record my lectures, to provide your notes to anyone else or to make any commercial use of them without express prior permission from me.
You can make 'no other use' of what you learn? Really? That sort of smashes the whole point of education, doesn't it?
The goal of the university is to spread knowledge, not to grant a one-time use for what you learn in the classroom. The aim of an individual student is to gain knowledge that is used in every possible way for a lifetime — and to pass the ideas on to others.
In fact, what the contract requires is impossible. It is not as if our bodies are equipped with hard drives that can be wiped clean after the semester is over. In any case, even if we were so equipped, that would defeat the whole point of taking classes and paying universities for offering them."
My lectures are protected by state common law and federal copyright law. They are my own original expression and I record them at the same time that I deliver them in order to secure protection. Whereas you are authorized to take notes in class thereby creating a derivative work from my lecture, the authorization extends only to making one set of notes for your own personal use and no other use. You are not authorized to record my lectures, to provide your notes to anyone else or to make any commercial use of them without express prior permission from me.
You can make 'no other use' of what you learn? Really? That sort of smashes the whole point of education, doesn't it?
The goal of the university is to spread knowledge, not to grant a one-time use for what you learn in the classroom. The aim of an individual student is to gain knowledge that is used in every possible way for a lifetime — and to pass the ideas on to others.
In fact, what the contract requires is impossible. It is not as if our bodies are equipped with hard drives that can be wiped clean after the semester is over. In any case, even if we were so equipped, that would defeat the whole point of taking classes and paying universities for offering them."
Delayed Economic Reform Killed 14.5 Million Children | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary
Delayed Economic Reform Killed 14.5 Million Children | Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar | Cato Institute: Commentary: "This shows that the delay in reforms led to an additional 14.5 million infant deaths, an additional 261 million illiterates, and an additional 109 million poor people. Indian socialism delivered a monumental tragedy, lacking both growth and social justice."
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