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The Truth About SwedenCareLink to The Ludwig von Mises Institute

07/10/13 - Klaus Bernpaintner [edited]

Free healthcare in Sweden was intended only for the poor and supposedly would not affect the practices of existing providers.

When government offered a free alternative, many left their private doctor in favor of the free services. The public system had to be expanded, and private doctors lost patients. Private doctors were forced to take employment within the public system or leave

the profession. The result is a public healthcare monolith.

Are there economies of scale? If so, they are dwarfed by the inefficiencies of the bureaucracy that grew to manage the system.

Very few private practices remain. Most of those are part of the national insurance system. A huge bureaucracy has been erected to take on all the necessary central planning of public and pseudo-private healthcare.

 

Company Paid Health Insurance is Part of Your SalaryMore at EasyOpinions

People are already personally paying for their "employer-paid" insurance. They don't buy it directly so (1) it doesn't attach to them when they change jobs, (2) and they can't shop for the insurance they might want.

Healthcare is now tax-free when purchased indirectly as an employment benefit, but mostly taxable through personal insurance or when purchased directly.

Untangle the tax mess, remove employers from the middle, and salaries would go up in the amount of the "free" healthcare benefit through employers. Then people would have enough take-home pay to buy their own health insurance. That is what healthcare reform should be all about.

Most people already pay for their health insurance, but currently have little choice about what they buy. True reform could put that money and choice into their hands. (M)08/26/12 - AdamSmith.org
If your employer provides to you $6,000 of health care insurance, then you don't get $6,000 of wages. No free lunch.

Quip

Government is the ideal director of medicine. Politicians are thoughtful, caring, and altruistic. They devote their lives to helping others.

Contrast this to physicians, who spend half their lives learning diagnosis and complex, delicate procedures, with the intent of charging sick people for these services.

------------
Romney/Obama CareLink to Cato at Liberty

Democrat Timothy Cahill was Massachusett's State Treasurer:

[edited] Implementing the MA health insurance reform nationwide will threaten to wipe out the American economy within four years.

Our experiment has nearly bankrupted MA. Only federal aid is sustaining our law. We’re being propped up so that Obama can drive a similar plan through Congress.

 

Regulatory ExplosionLink. Professor Cochrane is on the faculty at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

John Cochrane - 11/07/12 [edited]

New regulation will be the big story. ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank (financial) are not specific, but are mostly authorizations such as "the secretary shall write rules governing xyz" with a timetable that starts today. A metastatic expansion of regulation is already mandated and pending.

New EPA regulations will cost hundreds of billions per year. I'm all for clean air, but there is a question of just how clean and at what cost. A funny (for non-farmers) example is limits on Farm Methane Emissions (cow farts). [See the list]

Obamacare unfolds in the next four years: Medicaid expansion, Exchanges, the insurance mandate, preexisting conditions, and "accountable care organizations”.

Dodd-Frank requires hundreds of rules. Just the three days Dec 31 - Jan 2 requires nine final rules to be published.

Who knows what this means? Certainly, hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake. Industries, lawyers, and lobbyists are furiously helping to write all these rules.

We are sitting on a debt bomb. A few warned in 2004 that the huge mortgage debt could default, damaging the banks. Remember how that worked out?

That is our situation now with government debt. Who is now holding 10-30 year treasuries at slightly negative real rates of interest, bearing the risk of increased inflation and interest rates? Not me.

I really, really hope I'm wrong.

 

Under AttackLink to DiploMad

09/17/12 - DiploMad [edited]

The Obamistas are caught in a web of lies. Yes, lies. There is no other word.

If the attack in Benghazi were just a "spontaneous" eruption in response to a 14-minute video clip, then what is it exactly that we are investigating? Why are we apparently going to dispatch the FBI and drones?

What are we looking for? Do we need high-tech spies in the sky to find just "folks" who were outraged? Will our intel and counter-terror efforts now be focused on finding anything that could lead to a "spontaneous" outburst by the "folks" in the Middle East?

Are we going to be dispatching cops to haul in, say, movie makers who do something "offensive" to the "folks" in the Middle East? Nah, that's too extreme . . . we would never do that.

The Obamistas know the attack was planned; that our security in Benghazi was deplorable; that our security procedures, such as they were, were compromised; that the consulate in Benghazi should not have been open on 9/11; and that Ambassador Stevens should not have been there, especially on 9/11, especially after what was happening in Cairo.

In other words, State and NSC screwed up big time. The heads of both of those agencies should be on the chopping block, along with a host of other heads up and down the command chain at State and the NSC.

 

Fair Distribution of Life-YearsLink to Mises.org

Yuri N. Maltsev - 06/22/12 [edited]

Ezekiel Emanuel is director of the Clinical Bioethics Department at the US National Institutes of Health and an architect of ObamaCare. His brother is Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former Chief of staff.

Ezekiel Emanuel wrote in The Lancet medical journal Jan 2009 [edited]:

Allocation of healthcare by age is fair, unlike allocation by sex or race. Even if people aged 25 receive priority over those aged 65, everyone who is now 65 was previously 25.

It would be ageist to treat 65-year-olds differently because of stereotypes or falsehoods. It is fair to treat them differently because they have already received more life-years.

 

‘True Science’ vs ‘Cargo-Cult Science’Link to PajamasMedia

Professor Frank J. Tipler - 07/27/10  [edited]

The great Nobel Prize particle physicist Richard Feynman defined science in bold type, in his article “What is Science?”

Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

Feynman: “When someone says, ‘Science teaches such and such,’ he is using the word incorrectly. Science doesn’t teach anything; experience teaches it. If they say to you, ‘Science has shown such and such,’ you should ask, ‘How does science show it?

How did the scientists find out? How? What? Where?’ It should not be ‘science has shown.’ And, you have as much right as anyone else, upon hearing about the experiments and after hearing all the evidence, to judge whether a sensible conclusion has been arrived at.”

Feynman also observedFrom his 1974 commencement address at The California Institute of Technology, CalTech. that real science was a method for discovering facts about our world, and required bending over backwards not to fool others, and especially not to fool oneself. He said it was particularly easy to fool oneself, and so required the greatest dilligence and openness to criticism and disproof to avoid being that fool.

 

Daily MailLink to this British newspaper:  [edited] £30 million are available to NHS trusts (National Health Service) which put patients on the Liverpool Care Pathway. The goal is 66% of deaths on the LCP. These financial incentives could influence doctors.

The LCP withdraws life-saving treatment. Patients are sedated, and most are denied nutrition and fluids by tube. The average LCP patient dies within 29 hours.

The NHS is a model for the implementation of ObamaCare.

See InsureBlogMore about the British National Health Service for more.

 


Quote Box ArchiveGo to Past Quote Boxes

Sep 1, 2008

Contents

Current through 12/29/08 for most major posts.

Go To  The Political Manual
Go To  Computers / Technical
Go To  Economics
Go To  Education
Go To  Energy
Go To  Great Moments in Politics
Go To  Healthcare
Go To  Law
Go To  Obama
Go To  Politics
Go To  Scams
Go To  Political Speeches - Satire
Go To  Taxes
Go To  Politics of the Day
 

Computers / Technical

View  Page Tracking a Blog Using Google Analytics
11/30/08 - Google Analytics is a free blog tracking service that I use for Easy Opinions. I explain:

  • How GA determines page view time
  • Installing the GA Tracking Code
  • Setting a filter and cookie to exclude your own page views
  • Time on Page with "/endpage" checkpoints
  • Top Content Report - Time on Page
  • Tracking outbound links
  • Sources

View  Expanding Posts in Blogger
12/16/08 - This is how I have implemented Expanding Posts. These are posts which have an introduction on the mainpage of the blog, linked to the entire presentation at an individual post page.

Economics

View  Keynes, Digger of Holes
12/29/08 - No one should trust a theory that predicts greater prosperity from digging holes. Yet, this is the theory by Keynes that Obama is following, and many past presidents have followed, to forcibly change our society.

View  A Short Argument Against Stimulus
11/23/08 - The economist Henry Hazlitt explains in three paragraphs why increasing spending on broken windows does not produce prosperity. This is a small example of stimulus, the central myth of our times, taking taxes from some people so that other people can spend. The net result reduces production and kills jobs.

View  We Can Learn From The Savings And Loan Crisis
11/19/08 - An economic recovery is based on confidence, which follows from profits earned from a new analysis. The Savings and Loan bank crisis in the 1980's is an instructive example.

View  Stimulus Does Not Cure a Recession
11/08/08 - Jobs change when people change what they want to buy or can afford. Stimulus is like throwing a party after losing your job. It interferes with looking for the next job, and it uses up savings. Worse, it is more of the borrow and spend policy that helped cause our problems.

View  Government Action Delays Recovery
10/27/08 - WSJ.com Opinion. Enacting one arbitrary policy after another, moving this way and that, "solving" problems by directive, keeps private investment and productivity from making things better.

View  The Tax Cut You May Have to Send Back
10/28/08 - Sen. Obama promises a tax cut for everyone, even people who don't pay tax. If you earn $30,000 you wont get it all. If you make more, you will send some of that tax cut back. Feel what it is like to be rich, paying $350 out of the next $1000 you earn.

View  The Supply Side Robin Hood
10/15/08 - Robin Hood from a different angle. Why high tax rates make everyone poorer, including the poor.

View  We Guarantee It
A Government Guarantee Is a Blank Check On Your Account
10/08/08 - An "implicit" Government guarantee,  doing good with other people's money,  buying votes for political power,  and creating patronage jobs. These are at the center of the current failure of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, brokers, investment banks, and the sinking stock market.

View  Strong Preferences
09/27/08 - Ironically, people who don't know or can't tell the difference have the strongest loyalty to a brand.

View  Public Tax Meeting
09/19/08 - Obama's tax policy is translated into the personal lives of small town America (satire)

View  Econ 201: The Myth of the Economic Multiplier
08/02/08 - Spending public money is a banquet, not a stimulus.

View  No Price Gouging Here
07/04/08 - Restricting profit reduces disaster planning.

Education

View  My Book List
10/24/08 - My worldview is shaped by the books I have read. Here are some of the most important to me, ones that made a difference.

View  College is an Expensive IQ Test
07/11/08 - Employers are prevented by law from directly evaluating people. They use a college degree as a substitute.

View  Teaching the Math Analogy
06/14/08 - Teaching an analogy does not provide useable knowledge.

View  Raising Grades
05/30/08 - Why schools want to give higher grades.

Energy

View  Magic Power
07/01/08 - Energy may be magic, but it doesn't appear magically.

View  The CFL Advertising Account
04/19/08 - There are some problems with Compact Fluorescent Lights.

Great Moments in Politics

View  Regulation of Fannie and Freddie

Healthcare

View  Company Paid Health Insurance is Part of Your Salary
12/05/08 - You may think that your health insurance is a "benefit" from a good employer. Actually, you are paying for all of it. You should take control of this part of your salary to get the insurance that you want. Convince the government to do the right thing.

View  Never Events
10/02/08 - Medicare says some events should "never" happen. When they do happen, you will probably pay for them.
Via WhiteCoatRants.

View  ER Medicine and Bureaucracy
09/11/08 - A board certified physician in Emergency Medicine posts at blog "M.D.O.D". I have listed a few of his posts and excerpts.
He is leaving emergency medicine because of the waste and bureaucracy imposed on him by intrusive regulation and arbitrary quality measures.
09/16/08 - Discharge Instructions. Another Emergency Medicine physician reports mind numbing bureaucracy and ignorance about the realities of practice.
10/09/08 - M.D.O.D physician sees into the future of healthcare.

Law

View  Confused Liability Produces Bad Policy
04/26/08 - Liability laws make us less safe, and sometimes unemployed.

Obama

View  The Tax Cut You May Have to Send Back
10/28/08 - Sen. Obama promises a tax cut for everyone, even people who don't pay tax. If you earn $30,000 you wont get it all. If you make more, you will send some of that tax cut back. Feel what it is like to be rich, paying $350 out of the next $1000 you earn.

View  Public Tax Meeting
09/19/08 - Obama's tax policy is translated into the personal lives of small town America (satire)

View  Is Obama Guilty by Association?
We are allowed to judge politicians by who they hang out with.

View  Why Doesn't Obama Renounce His Bigoted Church?
Obama's church is his political base.

Politics

View  The Political Dictionary
11/04/08 - Politics has its own language. Know the definitions. Satire. A work in progress. Contribute if you wish.

View  McCain's Health Proposal is Misunderstood
10/30/08 - You can keep your company plan, and companies have no reason to drop your coverage. You will owe some extra tax, more than covered by the $5,000 refundable tax credit. Private plans and price competition would be encouraged.

View   The Biggest Promises Win
10/17/08 - Contractors make promises. Politicians make promises. They promise even more when they aren't serious. They tell us later how we misunderstood what they said today. Obama and McCain promise different futures. Obama's marginal tax rates.

View  Tell Me About The Past
10/10/08 - Life is complicated. I don't want to hear about all the things "we need", or about glorious new plans for the future. I want to know what the politician has accomplished, what has already worked, and why it will work in the future to make life better. In detail.

View  We Guarantee It
A Government Guarantee Is a Blank Check On Your Account
10/08/08 - An "implicit" Government guarantee,  doing good with other people's money,  buying votes for political power,  and creating patronage jobs. These are at the center of the current failure of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, brokers, investment banks, and the sinking stock market.

View  Poll - Politician IQ
10/03/08 - Should politicians take an IQ test?

View  Strong Preferences
09/27/08 - Ironically, people who don't know or can't tell the difference have the strongest loyalty to a brand.

View More Jokes in Politics
09/25/08 - Since we can't trust what politicians say, at least they could be funny.

View  Top Ten Negative Stories About Governor Sarah Palin (satire)
Can she stand the heat?

View  I Heard the Rumor
Be skeptical about news until you know where the facts come from. About rumors, libraries, banning books, and candidate VP Sarah Palin.

View  Leading The People
Some leaders will force you to be a better person.

View  1 President + 1 Vice President = 1 President
The Vice President shows only the judgment of the President

View  Seduction and Politics
How a politician acts on a first date.

View  Should the U.S. Be Talking to Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Al-Qaeda? The US is already talking.

View  A New Kind of Politics
Elect me and tomorrow will be different.

The Political Manual

The secrets of politics are revealed

View  Secret Political Manual Discovered
A trucker finds The Political Manual.

View  TPM: Introduction
Welcome to BOPA services.

View  TPM: Taking Positions
Your political positions should please everyone.

View  TPM: Talk At Your Own Risk
Be careful what you say, to anyone.

View  TPM: Adequate Compensation
How to get paid in politics.

Scams

View  How To Predict the Future Without Knowing Anything
Four guesses and you are an oracle.

Political Speeches - Satire

View  My Policies
Here are the detailed reasons for electing me.

View  Coming Together
We will all agree under my leadership.

View  Troubling Times
Together we can fix life's problems.

Taxes

View  Undocumented Employee Benefit
The government does not care about cost and complexity when it wants money.

View  The Deadweight Loss of Taxes
12/29/08 - Production and employment is reduced by increasing taxes, despite increased government spending. It is ironic that taxing the rich makes everyone poorer, the same effect as taxing the middle class.

Politics of the Day

View  09/10/08 - Lipstick on a Pig
Obama makes a poetic political insult.

By Andrew_M_Garland - 9/01/2008
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