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» Health Care: Ryan Instructs Obama Fred:  I'm making my own lunch to save money and pay off my credit card.
Mike:  But, you buy lunch every day?
Fred:  That is a separate issue.
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02/25/10 - Powerline
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin spoke to President Obama at the health care summit [edited excerpts].
  We have a law that automatically cuts Medicare payments to doctors. The cut would be 21% next year. We have stopped those cuts every year for the last seven years, now called the "Doc Fix".
  [ The Doc Fix is rated as costing money, by continuing to pay doctors enough so they can treat Medicare patients. The cost of Medicare continues to be accounted ("scored") as if these pay cuts will be implemented. After all, the cuts are in the law that is accounted by the Congressional Budget Office. ]
  According to your numbers, the doc fix costs $371 billion. It was in the first legislation, but was removed and put into separate legislation because it increased the deficit and made the score look bad. This is the most cynical gimmick in this bill.
  Ignoring these costs does not remove them from the backs of taxpayers. Hiding spending does not reduce spending. It just doesn't add up.
  There really is a basic difference between us. We don't think the government should be in control of all of this. We want people to be in control. That is the big difference at the end of the day. Health Care, Health Summit

» Off Budget, Out of Mind Wife:  I've been looking at our savings.
Husband:  We have $80,000.
Wife:  But, what is this note at the bottom "Aces Casino gambling debt: $105,000"? Do we owe that in addition?
Husband:  Yes, but don't worry, that is off budget.
- -
Put Housing GSEs in the Budget and then Privatize
02/25/10 - Cato@Liberty by Tad DeHaven
  [edited] The Congressional Budget Office accounts for the cost of subsidizing new loans and loan guarantees by Fannie and Freddie at $370 billion through 2020. The CBO concludes that these institutions are effectively government entities whose operations should be included in the federal budget.
  Treasury Secretary Geithner dismissed this idea: “It is not necessary to consolidate the full obligations of those entities onto the balance sheet of the federal government at this stage.” [It is not counted into any deficit projections.]

+ Prosecuted For Being "Bad" Prosecutor:  I don't like you, or what you do, or how you structure your life, or anything about you. You are going to jail, my friend.
Mike:  What law have I broken, exactly?
Prosecutor:  You must have disappointed someone at some time. That is enough, in my view.
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02/23/10 - Minding the Campus - Reforming Our Universities by Harvey A. Silverglate
  [edited] "George Orwell wrote his critique 'Politics and the English Language' in 1946: 'One must let meaning choose the word, not the other way around.'   Administrators and legislators ignore this truth. They have crafted imprecise regulations which give campus disciplinary staff and federal government prosecutors enormous and grotesquely unfair power."
  "It did not matter that no particular law was transgressed. A federal prosecutor might feel in his gut and in his sole discretion, that a defendant had somehow deprived someone of 'honest services' that were due. The defendant could end up serving a decades-long prison sentence. It was rather like prosecuting a citizen for being 'a bad person', with the government defining badness." Law, Federal Regulations (v)Via Instapundit

» Validation by Sacrifice Mike:  What is the Marxist/Elitist theory of value?
Jim:  When it costs more, it's better.
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02/23/10 - Ed Driscoll
The New Criterion by Theodore Dalrymple [edited]:
  These books give compelling evidence of the horrors of the Soviet Union in the 20's and 30's, all of them now accepted as true.
  The Soviet Union was valued by contemporary intellectuals not for the omelette, but for the broken eggs. They thought that if nothing great could be built without sacrifice, then so great a sacrifice must be building something great.
  The Soviets had the courage of their abstractions, which are often so much more important to intellectuals than living, breathing human beings. Soviet Union

» Free Trade Makes Us Richer Fred:  I do most of my cooking from scratch.
Mike:  Do you grind your own flour?
- -
02/18/10 - Cafe Hayek by Don Boudreaux
  Free trade makes us better off, especially if the other country is underpricing its goods, either directly or through an undervalued currency.
  They are selling us things for less than we would spend to make them ourselves. Free Trade

» Free Speech, No Heckling Fred:  My voice will not be silenced!
Mike:  Would you mind not standing on my coffee table?
- -
02/18/10 - Los Angeles Times by Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC Irvine School of Law
  "Those who yelled to keep the ambassador from being heard were not engaged in constitutionally protected behavior. Freedom of speech, on campuses and elsewhere, is rendered meaningless if speakers can be shouted down by those who disagree."
  "The law is well established that the government can act to prevent a heckler's veto -- to prevent the reaction of the audience from silencing the speaker. There is simply no 1st Amendment right to go into an auditorium and prevent a speaker from being heard, no matter who the speaker is or how strongly one disagrees with his or her message." Free Speech, Heckling (v)Via Advice Goddess by Amy Alkon

» Obama <---> Acorn:  Distant and Close Fred:  How can Obama completely contradict himself?
Mike:  A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of tiny Republican minds.
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02/20/10 - Stop the ACLU
  Obama speaks calmly and firmly in two short videos. First, he reports only a distant contact with Acorn 13 years ago. Second, he tells an Acorn crowd that he wants their input, and will call them about his campaign if they fail to call him.
  Article and embedded video 2 min. Obama, Acorn, Lies (v)Via Don Surber (M)The video at YouTube 2 min

» What Defensive Medicine? Fred:  You must make money from all of that testing.
Doc:  No, we get to keep our salary when we don't get sued.
Fred:  What tests does the patient need?
Doc:  Whatever tests that the lawyers say we could have done.
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02/19/10 - Throckmorton's Other Signs
  "Did the doc order the tests to make money? No, we aren't paid by the test. Was the second CT scan ordered as defensive medicine? The patient was intubated, spent time in the ICU, and suffered a heart attack from the injected contrast medium of the more sensitive second scan." Defensive Medicine, Medical Testing

» Healthcare Review Fred:  We need better medical care for everyone.
Mike:  We'll sue the doctors, pay them less, regulate them more, and tell them how much we need them. No more nursing homes; adult day care will do.
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02/18/10 - White Coat's Call Room
  A review of recent stories about medical care. Do you think the government is helping or hurting? Do you feel secure letting your politicians arrange and pay for your medical care? Are lawsuits maintaining the high quality of care?
  "California county supervisors have reduced reimbursement from 27% to 18% of estimated fees at private hospitals, for care by emergency physicians and on-call specialists."
  Who needs private hospitals, anyway? Medical Care, Lawsuits

» Failed Policies of Obama/Bush Fred:  We can't have the same failed policies of the Bush years.
Mike:  We have more of them, and bigger.
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02/16/10 - Bankrupting America
  [edited] President Obama’s economic policies are strikingly the same as the failed policies under Bush.
  AMG: Remarkable, given Obama's repeated rhetoric that we can't have more of the failed policies of the Bush years. Increased spending on defense and social programs, stimulus packages, bailouts, and much more regulation. Obama, Bush, Economic Policy

•  Do Smart People Run The Market? Fred:  Government is the best planner because it has the best, altruistic, educated people.
Mike:  Yeah, the best people who will work for the government.
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02/16/10 - Econlog by Shikha Dalmia
  Dalmia [edited]: The market rewards brilliant ideas, not brilliant people. Markets care only about the idea and its value to others, not its source. Markets are inherently anti-elitist.
  Smart, educated, credentialed people may lose in market competition, even to someone or some product they consider inferior. They regard this as a symptom of market failure and demand corrective government regulations. Free Market, Market Failure, Success

» In pain? Too bad. Fred:  Pain medications are dangerous. 435 people in severe pain died from acetominophen last year.
Mike:  Well, 698 people drowned in swimming pools.
Fred:  We'll keep the pools. We can't take all the fun out of life.
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02/16/10 - Advice Goddess
  The US Government wants to remove valuable pain medications from the market. Their attitude is "grin and bear it", for your own good.
  Instead, allow people the freedom to take the medications that improve their lives. Pain, Addiction

» Poetic Call to Battle Fred:  Are they all parasitic, bloodsucking, heartless, liars?
Mike:  No, that's an exaggeration, but funny.
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02/08/10 - Walt at Verse-Afire.com
The Vampires Of The Left   [excerpt]:

They lay in darkness, waiting dusk
They cannot stand the light
They smell of rotting flesh and musk
They hate us of the Right Poem, Leftists

» World's Smallest Political Quiz Fred:  I didn't know that I was Authoritarian until I took the quiz.
Mike:  I knew.
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02/08/10 - Advocates for Self-Government
  Answer 11 questions of political opinion. See where you are on a graph of Liberal vs Conservative, Authoritarian vs Libertarian, and Centrist. Political Survey, Liberal, Conservative, Authoritarian, Libertarian, Centrist (v)Via Classical Values

+ Canadians Wait for Treatment Fred:  I have to wait four months for surgery.
Mike:  Beggars can't be choosers.
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02/07/10 - 10/15/07  CBC News (Canada)
  The average wait time for a Canadian awaiting surgery or other medical treatment is now 18.3 weeks, a new high, and an increase of 97% over 14 years, despite recent increases in spending.
  AMG: There is no competition to the government, so the patients and population have no way to pressure the system to do better. No way other than ending the government monopoly on health care delivery in Canada. Canada, Universal Health Care, Waiting

» Self Reliance Under Socialism Fred:  We all work for each other under Socialism.
Mike:  I had a job once. Didn't like it much.
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02/05/10 - National Review by Victor Davis Hanson
  Hanson [edited]:  I knew a small hotelier at a seaside resort in Greece. He checked you in, cooked, did maintenance during the day, and landscaped at night. Why didn't he hire some help?
  He replied about the cost and filling out forms to hire an unmotivated, permanent worker in Greece, and the difficulty of ever firing him if he proved worthless. Almost everyone was on pension, disability, or government benefit, and were unwilling to work, leaving only illegal immigrants or broke foreign students.
  He blasted socialism and hated the government. He had to be an expert tax dodger and bartered whenever he could.
  He lamented that the people in Greece spend their time trying to get government money or avoiding the tax collectors, or preferably both. Socialism, Greece (M)Victor Davis Hanson describes more about socialism, with a section (4) on the Greek version.
  [edited] "The Greeks cheat in every way imaginable on their taxes. On an average day, a shopkeeper, repairman, or business person would offer a 30% discount for cash, off the books. Tax-dodging was a national pastime, practiced by dyed-in-the-wool socialists."

+ Medicare Admin Costs are Higher PP Fred:  Order wine at a restaurant to save money.
Mike:  How so?
Fred:  The food cost drops from 90% to 66% of the bill.
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02/06/10 - Heritage by Robert A. Book, Ph.D.
  Medicare's administrative costs per person are actually higher than those of private insurance. Higher, despite that private companies incur costs that do not apply to Medicare. Recent history predicts that switching 200 million Americans to a public plan will increase administrative costs by several billion dollars. Medicare, Administrative Cost

» Is Waterboarding Torture? CIA Operative:  How are you feeling?
Reporter:  (coughs, spits) Ghaaah! That was horrible. It took all of two minutes, and I would have told you anything. (pause) Can I try that again? I'm sure I could go longer the next time.
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02/03/10 - Pajamas TV (Video 16 min)
  Marc Thiessen wrote speeches for George W. Bush, and a new book "Courting Disaster". He explains how the CIA has used enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, to gain information which has prevented 9/11 style attacks.
  Obama now has tied the CIA's hands, and we are moving into dangerous waters.
  Topics:  How the CIA Kept America Safe;  Enhanced Interrogation is Not Torture;  Interrogation Debate;  The Real Jack Bauers;  Is Obama Inviting Attacks?;  CIA vs Obama;  Gitmo Back in Favor;  Future Terror Threats. Waterboarding, Torture

+ Why is Recovery So Slow? Fred:  In past recessions, we would be bouncing back by now.
Mike:  We aren't bouncing. We are adapting to a new theory of government.
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02/03/10 - Cato at Liberty by David Boaz
  Employers, investors, and entrepreneurs are discouraged by higher taxes, more regulation, uncertainty, a larger share of GDP shifted to government, and expected Fed monetization and inflation of the soaring debt. They don't know what Obama will do next. Economic Crisis, Obama

•  Myth of the Clinton Surplus Fred:  Honey, I paid down the credit card.
Jane:  Did you get a raise?
Fred:  Nah, I used the kids' college fund.
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02/01/10 - 10/2007 at CraigSteiner.us
  It is a myth that President Bill Clinton created a surplus, which G.W.Bush promptly squandered. Clinton ran deficits, but Social Security receipts were even larger. Borrowing from Social Security covered the deficits, rather than borrowing directly from the public.
  Bush ran deficits also, but he wasn't a sinner following a saint. Clinton, Surplus

» IPCC Shamed by Bogus Rainforest Claim
Fred:  Climate Change. The rainforest could become drier, and would be more likely to burn, maybe all of it.
Mike:  Let's shut down civilization to be safe.
- -
01/31/10 - Times Online UK by Jonathan Leake
  [edited] IPCC in 2007 by Rowell and Moore: Up to 40% of the Amazonian forests could react drastically to even a slight reduction in rainfall. The tropical vegetation, hydrology, and climate system in South America could change rapidly to another steady state. They would probably be replaced by tropical savannas, which have more resistance to temperature increases, droughts, and fires.
  Times: The IPCC is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. WWF is the World Wildlife Fund, an environmental pressure group. The source for IPCC was a WWF report, based on a paper in the science journal Nature which assessed logging and burning, not rainfall. That paper reported that drier forests were more likely to catch fire.
  Simon Lewis is a Royal Society research fellow specialist in tropical forest ecology: The IPCC report is a mess. The Nature paper is about the interactions of logging damage, fire, and periodic droughts, not the vulnerability of these forests to reductions in rainfall. Climate Change, Rainforests

» Tax on Clunkers You didn't know there was tax on that? There is always lots of tax on that.
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01/30/10 - 08/25/09 - Government and Car Dealers Hose You Again
  [edited] You pay tax on the price of your new car above the trade-in you present to the dealer. This is an intentional favor to dealers over private sales. In private sales, the buyer pays sales tax, but you do not get the tax-offset on your next car purchase.
  The $4,500 "cash for clunkers" is not a trade-in, but a check from the government. You pay sales tax on the full vehicle price including the $4,500, and the $4,500 is also taxed by your state as additional income.
  Dealers made customers so giddy over the "free cash" that they often sold cars at the full sticker price. Sales Tax, Cash for Clunkers

+ Disgusted Patient Nurses Others Your care is provided free by the National Health Service of Britian. For the greatest satisfaction, we suggest caring for the patients around you, if you have the strength.
- -
01/30/10 - DailyMail.co.uk
  Janet Halsall, 74, stayed three days for a liver scan. Staff ignored pleas for help and left fellow elderly patients to ‘fend for themselves’.
  Halsall bathed, washed, and tucked in fellow frail, elderly patients. They were left without water and blankets. She washed one lady and took another pensioner to the toilet after staff repeatedly said they were ‘too busy’. National Health Care, Britian

» The Real State of the Union Show me the list. What is the next socio-economic faction to bring under rational, political management?
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01/28/10 - Chicago Boyz by David Foster
  Michael Ledeen: This fear is not limited to social class or domestic or foreign policies. Banks are not lending and companies are not hiring because they are afraid of what Obama will do next.
  Foster: Obama/Pelosi/Reid view America as a struggle of group against group. The winning and losing groups are determined by Progressive thought, by social prejudices, and by the political needs of the moment.
  Obama/Pelosi/Reid are creating a society in which the attitude of the federal government determines the success of every individual and business. Politics

» Corporations Must Have Free Speech Fred:  My friends and I support Jenkins for senator.
Mike:  OK, as long as you guys aren't incorporated.
Fred:  No way! We're union local 328.
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01/22/10 - Cato @ Liberty by Julian Sanchez
  The Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United is a clear and needed support for free speech. It strikes down restrictions on corporations, allowing them now to contribute money toward political speech. Many liberal voices denounce the influence that a corporation, a legal construct, can now have in politics. Their opposition ignores the reality of an organized society.
  Sanchez [edited]: "What happens if politicians can limit freedoms because they are expressed through a corporation? Journalists would enjoy full freedom of the press as long as they don’t use the resources of the New York Times, Random House, or Comcast. Those corporations could be barred from using their property to circulate ideas."
  "You are free to practice your religion without interference. But, if it’s an unpopular one, you could be hindered from sending your kids to a religious school or building a church, because those tend to involve incorporating." Free Speech, Corporations, Politics (M)Speech For Me, But Not for Thee
  01/22/10 - Cato @ Liberty by Roger Pilon
  [edited] "The Citizens United decision will probably alter politics for the good. Corporations, unions, and their officers will no longer fear criminal prosecution under prohibitions that even FEC commissioners don't understand. There will be more political speech and more perspectives on the issues of the day."
  "The complex federal campaign finance system is only a way station to exclusive public campaign financing. At that end point, political speech in the form of campaign contributions would rest safely in incorruptible [hah] public hands. Except, of course, for contributions that take the form of editorials by such corporate giants as The New York Times, which the First Amendment would continue to protect.

•  Political Distribution of Wheat Fred:  What does wheat have to do with health care?
Mike:  It is easier to understand.
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01/17/10 - The amount of wheat falls further. The politician explains that the wheat farmers are at fault for not growing enough and charging too much, that the warehouse operators are causing shortages by not stocking enough wheat, and the rich must be cheating by continuing to buy too much wheat.
  More political control is clearly needed. Health Care, Analogy, Political Allocation

•  Europeans Are Less Wealthy Johan:  Our welfare state gives a wealthy life to us all.
Fred:  But, not a comfortable car.
Johan:  Please, have half of my lunch sandwich. I made it myself.
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01/17/10 - The chart shows US consumption at 152, Western Europe at 105, compared to a benchmark of 100 for the OECD. That is 44% more goods and services enjoyed in the US as compared to Western Europe. The biggest policy difference is the burden of government.
  An office worker in New York may go to a deli for lunch. In Norway, the home sandwich is ubiquitous, from classroom to boardroom.
  The most likely explanation for the larger volume of motorcycle traffic is that Parisians are less wealthy than Americans. Comparitave Wealth, Norway, OECD, Europe

» How a Community Organizer Became President Lesson 1: Rental housing complaints.
Lesson 2: Community Improvement Grants.
Lesson 3: Becoming President.
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01/14/10 - TCU Nation by dwood
  L. David Alinsky is the son of the famous Chicago radical, the late Saul D. Alinsky. The Boston Globe published his letter on 08/31/08 boasting that Barack Obama had made enormously effective use of his training in Saul Alinsky's methods.
  David Alinsky [edited]: "I am proud to see that my father's organizing model is being applied to affect the 2008 Democratic campaign. It is a fine tribute to my father as we approach his 100th birthday. My father produced a powerful strategy for initiating change and making it really happen, when executed meticulously and thoughtfully. Obama learned his lesson well."
  dwood: Obama's most significant education was not at Columbia or Harvard Law, but the years he spent training in the Saul Alinsky system for community organizing, and teaching workshops on Alinsky's methods. Obama, Saul Alinsky, Community Organizer (v) Via Amused Cynic

+ Why is Law School So Expensive? Mike:  Many more people could be lawyers if becoming one was less expensive.
Jack:  Well, I don't need the competition. Do you?
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01/15/10 - Easy Opinions -> IdeoBlog
  The current system forces everybody who wants to practice any kind of law into three-year, high-priced law schools. Law School

» How to Predict Anything About Climate Change John:  Northern Hemisphere temperatures have been rising rapidly for 4 months!
Mike:  You need to get out more often. It's Summer.
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01/14/10 - WattsUpWithThat by Roy Spencer, PhD.
  Spencer [edited]: We are uncertain about what is causing current warming, so researchers may tune their models to produce almost any amount of future global warming. It is difficult to prove them wrong, because there is no certain interpretation of the satellite data. When they assume that there are no natural causes of climate change, they conclude that our climate system is balanced on a knife edge.
  AMG: An analogy. You are having dinner at a friend's home when you suddenly feel warm and uncomfortable. You are happy to find out that your friend's child has set the thermostat up by 5 degrees. You thought you were sick when you assumed that there was no external cause for your personal warming.
  Warming data is uncertain and any cause is uncertain. Climate scientists should not be saying that "the science is settled" in the face of these uncertainties. That is not science, but only alarmist charting and extrapolation. We are not upset by the rapid warming during Summer because we know what causes Summer, and that Winter will follow. Global Warming, Climate Change, Models

» Vanishing Doctors I studied to be a doctor, not to be a slave to the government.
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01/14/10 - Vanishing Doctors
  What do doctors think about government control of health care?
  Doctors comment on what health care reform means to them. Many of them say they will quit, to do something more pleasant and less bureaucratic.
  [edited] " 'Healthcare Reform' only makes the states, hospitals, and doctors responsible for your health care costs. The waste of defensive medicine will continue until there is Malpractice Reform. We have had 20 years of paying patients for anything that goes wrong in their lives."
  [edited] "Physicians are beginning to leave Medicare in droves. We are no longer taking new Medicare patients. The Mayo clinic, the example of efficiency touted by the administration, is no longer participating in the Medicare program, citing low payments."

•  The Good Side of Dictatorship I will just tell them what to do, for the good of us all. No wasteful objections. Just do it. Eventually, they will all agree with me. I will put my statue over there. My history will be glorious.
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01/13/10 - Easy Opinions
  Totalitarian governments past and present are receiving some praise from liberal sources. This alarms me.
  What possible purpose is there in understanding the good parts of a dictatorship? I don't care if a much stronger government can do some good things, because the risk of harm is greater also. It is fine if you can isolate a policy that had a good effect and doesn't need dictatorial power to be implemented. In that case, why mention the dictatorship at all, except as a curiosity? Dictatorship, Totalitarian, Oliver Stone, Progressives, Nazis

•  Saying "Negro" Does Not Make Harry Reid a Racist He may be offensive, but his remarks weren't. Or, have it another way. His remarks were offensive, but he isn't. Is that better?
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01/11/10 - Easy Opinions -> Powerline Blog by Paul Mirengoff
  Democratic Senator Harry Reid described candidate Barack Obama as "light skinned and speaking without a Negro dialect". That does not make him a racist. If you oppose the restrictions and illogic of political correctness, then don't use confused political correctness against Harry Reid. Offer sweet reason, not more politics as usual.

» Gatekeeping for the Climate Allowing questions would confuse the issues.
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12/22/09 - TWAWKI
  [edited] Gatekeeping is the preferred practice of climate alarmists, who censor and manipulate the data that doesn’t suit their cause, to manipulate public opinion.
  Liarpedia: William Connelly at Wikipedia has adjusted over 5000 articles on Global Warming, to write off inconvenient facts and opinions that expose his alarmist push as fraud. Wikipedia has done nothing in response.
  Googlegate: Google adjusted auto-suggest to minimise references to Climategate.
  Climategate: UNIPCC scientists manipulated temperature data and limited access to it. (v)Via Climate Audit

•  Exchanging Gifts Cooperatively :) Jim:  What do you want for Christmas?
Jane:  I want to be surprised.
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12/21/09 - EasyOpinions
  A couple gives each other the Christmas gift that each really wants. What can go wrong? With compliments to The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. O. Henry, Gifts, Christmas, Humor

» Who's Meaner - Corporate or Government Bureaucrats? John:  We are heartless if we deny claims, and wasting public funds if we grant them.
Mike:  That's why we have civil service job protection. And, we're the Government. Who will they complain to?
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12/20/09 - 12/20/09 - Powerline Blog
  The American Medical Association has reported on national health insurers for 2008. Medicare denied medical claims at 1.77 times the rate of the average private insurer.
  Claims denied: Medicare 6.85%, Aetna 6.8%, Anthem Blue Cross 3.44%, Average of private insurers 3.88% . (M) 08/06/09 - ObamaCare and the Doctor by Zane F. Pollard MD
  Dr. Pollard describes the frightening current reality of Medicaid, and by extension the future of ObamaCare.
  Medicaid pays for medical services to the poor, and in this case to poor children who face vision impairment or blindness. Regardless, Medicaid denies and delays their care. Medicare and Medicaid are intentionally underpaying for the medical care that they mandate.

» Tiger Woods, Barack Obama, and Image Mary:  Oh no! They see us and know who you are.
John:  Don't worry. It's only some reporters, and my guys will handle them.
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12/08/09 - American Thinker by Lisa Schiffren
  [edited] Schiffren: "We liked Tiger personally for an image that we now see is a fraud. We liked his low-key demeanor, manners, sweet smile, magazine covers, political analogies, and product endorsements. We feel betrayed. Even more, we see how much sustained, deliberate deception goes into the construction of a public image, when there is profit to be made or power to be had."
  AG: Surprise is discovering the real Tiger Woods. Shock is understanding that we were fooled by techniques used by both athletes and politicians. (v)Via Ed Driscoll
  How On Earth Did We Miss It?
  [edited] Howard Kurtz: This exposes the dark secret of the celebrity beat: It’s a shared illusion, perpetrated by the media-industrial complex. We don’t really know these people, who are cloaked in the mantle of fame, despite their ubiquity on our front pages, television screens, and laptops.

» Spending Hurts, Not Just Deficits John:  You will love the $20,000 boat I bought.
Mary:  You spent the college fund?
John:  Relax, it's on the credit card.
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12/15/09 - Cato at Liberty by Daniel J. Mitchell (video 6 min)
  Politicians fixate on the deficit to pull a bait and switch. They claim that they can raise taxes to solve the problem. That only replaces debt-financed spending with tax-financed spending. The likely result is that the required tax increases will weaken the economy and make us all poorer. (M)01/13/09 - EasyOpinions
  The Real Tax Burden is everything that the government spends. It is your money, now or in the future. Borrowing delays taxes while paying interest, just like a credit card.

» Not Always Better to Have Health Insurance Yes, our care is only $15. Fill out these forms, mail us two referrals, and we can see you two weeks after that. Apply pressure in the meantime; maybe the bleeding will stop.
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12/14/09 - BigGovernment by Dr. Jane Orient
  Insurance is good. But, the bureaucratic hoops of government supplied and managed health insurance stand in the way of timely care.
  The saying is: Good, Fast, Low cost - You can have any two. Medicare is low cost to the recipient, partly by delaying or denying care. You can't always wait.
  The current healthcare "reform" will make all medical care into Medicare.

•  Healthcare Price Controls Exec:  Your shift is 8+ continuous hours as needed, treating the critially ill and injured, and the chronic drug-seekers. Plus paperwork and bureaucratic smoothing. Many will die, but no mistakes or bad outcomes. Being sued is a challenging hobby in your off-hours. Follow all 130 rules. $170/hour.
Doc:  I'm outta here.
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12/14/09 - EasyOpinions
  911Doc practices Emergency Medicine. He writes about what happens to doctors and patients when a bureaucracy sets prices and rewards. Medical, Healthcare, EMTALA

» Motive for ClimateGate Terry (Marlon Brando) in "On the Waterfront": You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it.
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12/12/09 - ChicagoBoyz comment by VeryRetired
  For years, you’re just some guy who answers arcane questions about weather systems or historical climate trends. Nobody notices you at conventions, clamors for interviews, or gives you money or office space.
  Suddenly, you are the chief interpreter of the unknown. You are the expert in complex interpretations of obscure data that are predicting imminent, global catastrophe.
  Give all that up, just because some tree rings don’t fit, because some doubter somewhere might argue with your predictions? (M)Quotes from "On the Waterfront"

•  Congressional Sports Team It is painful to think of Barney Frank coaching pro-basketball, or running U.S. business.
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12/10/09 - ChicagoBoys by David Foster
  The politically connected will do well. This is not now the country for you if you want to build a better mousetrap. The American dream is dying. Congress, Business, Recession

•  Not Just One Rotten Climate Apple Fred: I would like to check the latest paper from the CRU.
Mike: Just use the results. We have our own work to publish.
- -
12/07/09 - ChicagoBoyz by James R. Rummel
  The work of most other climate centers is also suspect. They claimed to have reviewed and reproduced the CRU’s work, and they defended those results against scrutiny.
  Link to a review of the emails and controversies.
  How government politics and funding distorts science. Science, Global Warming, ClimateGate, Government Programs

» Chinchillas and Climate Science Joe: Frank died.
Jim: Bummer! He was the only one who understood the experiment results database.
- -
12/04/09 - ChicagoBoyz by Shannon Love
  It is important to double-check scientific software. You might want to use the results for some important purpose.
  For example, critical software for the chinchilla study was assigned to a grad student who worked without oversight. The researchers didn't realize that one minor error in that software would invalidate the whole experiment.
  A year later, a completely independent team examined the code “with a fine-toothed comb” and caught the error. They reviewed more than the data the software generated.
  This was not done for the CRU climate software until a whistle-blower exposed it to the world.
  Commenter: When climate models are tested on “new” data, they have failed to predict temperature levels. "New" data is data not used to first build the model.

•  Sarah Palin in Wasilla What's the story on her, anyway?
- -
11/29/09 - Op-ed at the Appeal-Democrat
  Wasilla gave her vital experience and showed her independence. Sarah Palin

•  Peer Review Is Not What You Think Jim: Congrats. I see your paper has been published.
Joe: Thanks. John and Mike told me they were the reviewers.
Jim: Weren't they your roommates in grad school?
- -
11/30/09 - ChicagoBoyz by Shannon Love
  [edited]: "Peer Review" says nothing about conclusions. Most such scientific papers will be proven completely wrong.
  Peer review protects a journal’s reputation. The journal hires experts to check for basic errors in math or methodology, along with grammar and spelling. This offloads responsibility for publishing bad papers onto anonymous scientists. It is a form of blame-passing that everyone would like to use. It does not confirm or refute experimental or theoretical conclusions.
  It is insane to base policy on scientific studies, claiming merely that have been peer reviewed. Peer Review, Science, Global Warming, ClimateGate

» Pilgrim's Progress Jim: Gack! This soup is terrible. You must put more effort into it.
Joe: I didn't much study cooking in Slave School.
- -
11/26/09 - Cafe Hayek by Don Boudreaux
  Plymouth Plantation in 1620 had communal property rights, holding food and supplies in common. Plantation officials distributed them based on equality and need. Residents received equal rations whether or not they produced food, and they were forbidden from producing their own food.
  The Pilgrims were starving under their communal system, and changed it to survive.
  This may remind you a bit of congress's healthcare plans. Let's learn from the Pilgrims and be thankful for their effort. (M) 11/27/09 - powerlineblog by Prof. Paul Rahe
America's First Socialist Republic
  [edited] We can learn from the history of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation. They conducted an experiment in social engineering akin to what is now contemplated.
  They cultivated the land in common, with dismal results. Their experience can instruct us today.

•  Biased Reporting Jim: The senator replied "no comment" to my question.
Joe: Our headline is "Senator Does Not Deny Ethics Violation". Biases, Humor

•  Anti-Capitalist Policies Are Anti-Job Jim: Come with me to protest Capitalism!
Joe: How much does that pay?
- -
11/25/09 - BigGovernment by Thomas Del Beccaro
  The Left’s political policies destroy the economic process that encourages savings, rewards investment, and creates jobs. Taxes, Capitalism, Jobs

» Diplomas ≠ Human Capital Isn't the Renaissance like being Born Again? I once took a course on that.
- -
11/18/09 - Cato by Neal McCluskey
  President Obama hopes to make the United States into a diploma mill, and public university leaders shamelessly demand more taxpayer money. But, more college degrees don't mean greater human capital.
  "Passing a college course does not show more knowledge, just as going to a gym does not itself improve physical fitness."
  "Many college students do not improve at reading, writing, math, and logic. The priority at many colleges is not educational excellence or even modest progress, but collecting tuition from as many students as possible."

» TriCare Military Medical Care The government thanks you for your service.
- -
11/11/09 - Throckmorton's Other Signs
  Tricare is the medical coverage for military families. It pays 60% of Medicare, so low that they often travel out of state to find a hospital or doctor who will accept it. Tricare requires pre-approved appointments for all specialists and outpatient visits.
  Those fighting for our country are the first ones to get government run, single payer healthcare.

» Fort Hood Parallel Universe It is shocking when a Christian commits violence.
- -
11/06/09 - DocsOnTheWeb by 911Doc
  "Bobby Lee Smith, in a rage fueled by his fundamentalist Christian beliefs, went on a murder spree at Fort X today, killing 13 and wounding thirty. The FBI has arrested all known acquaintances of Mr. Smith, and has taken his family in for questioning." (satire) (M)Will The Truth Be Hasan's Last Victim?
11/09/09 - LegalInsurrection by William A. Jacobson
  The facts about Nidal Hasan's killing spree at Fort Hood.

+ Democratic Trickle-Down 2 Mike: We were supposed to create jobs. Instead, we've enriched the bankers.
Ike: Well, let's be proud of that.
- -
11/06/09 - Megan McArdle
  Democrats: "Our agenda has kick-started a recovery on Wall Street, even if it hasn't yet trickled down to the job market."

+ Illinois Wellfare Promises They will just have to eat less for a while. We aren't reducing staff here.
- -
The state is not a good social insurance company. It sets aside no investments to support its future promises. Instead, it spends whatever is available on whatever serves politicians at the moment. Illinois is out of money. (v)Via Don Surber

» CBO Rates Republican Health Plan Right: Let's do the obvious and uncomplicated things first.
Left: You have no regulatory vision.
- -
11/05/09 - Washington Examiner
  The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the Republican health care plan. It would reduce insurance premiums and cut the ten-year deficit by $68 billion.
  It would create high-risk insurance pools, allow purchase of insurance policies from any state, and reform malpractice rules. It is not a government insurance plan. (v)Via Instapundit (M)We have millions of administrators in government, with more on the way
- -
July 09 - EasyOpinions
Medicare Myth: Low Administrative Cost
  Medicare claims 3% administrative overhead, compared to 12% for private insurance. But, Medicare doesn't count all of its expenses, and private insurance is burdened with taxes that are part of its "overhead". Medicare overhead per patient is actually 25% more than for private insurance.

•  We Can't Stop Government Growth Jim: We will rise up to limit the government and restore our freedom.
Joe: Yes comrade. May I ask, do you intend to finish your soup?
- -
11/02/09 - Independent.org by Robert Higgs
  [edited] "Every genuine solution must be implemented by enough people and money, through ideological conversions on a substantial scale, if such conversions are possible at all."
  "The troubling fact remains, that if any truly effective measures are approved to limit the government, the rulers would likely resort to whatever legal or illegal violence proved necessary to prevent those measures from taking effect." Taxes, Government (v)Via Cafe Hayek

•  Top Ten Political Statements1   There is nothing strange about my policies. The incompetent former occupant of this office did many of the same things I have, but for selfish and stupid reasons. (satire)
- -
10   A short speech by President Obama that satirizes itself. Deficit, Obama, Politics, Satire

» Kids's Halloween Candy Economy I'll give you three skittles for a tootsie pop.
- -
10/31/09 - Mises.org by Jeffrey A. Tucker
  Kids collect candy, making it their own through work. Afterwards, they happily exchange candy to get more of what they really want. They create their own trading organization and money as they go.

» Republican Health Care Plan It's too simple. If you can understand it, it can't be real. And, there are no cost control laws or government commissions.
- -
10/31/09 - YouTube video 3:32
  Republican Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner's health care plan.
  Let insurance companies sell in any state. Allow individuals and businesses to form insurance buying groups. Free the states from restrictive federal regulation. End the lawsuit lottery. (v)Via Don Surber

» Two Page Rebuttal of Global Warming Claims Jim: CO₂ isn't harming anything. It was 8,000 ppm for the dinosaurs, and only 380 ppm today.
Mike: Oh yeah? The dinosaurs are dead.
- -
10/29/09 - Mises.org: Howard C. Hayden Professor Emeritus of Physics at U.Connecticut
  [edited] "Some say that the "science is settled" about CO₂ and climate. I ask, which one of the twenty or more models settled the science? Then we can discard the rest, along with the research funds that have kept those models alive."
  "We are nowhere near a tipping point to catastrophic climate. The earth has seen CO₂ concentrations up to 8,000 ppm with no tipping point. After all, we are here talking about it. The CO₂ concentration during recent ice ages (200 ppm) and warm periods (300-400 ppm) is lower than it has been for the last 300 million years."
  "Cause has to come before effect. The historical record shows that climate change preceded CO₂ changes. How can we conclude that CO₂ is responsible for the current warming?"

» Rules For Radicals They have money and principles; we have neither. Which do you want to take from them?
- -
08/04/2000 - OrangeJuiceBlog
  A version of Saul Alinsky's political handbook "Rules For Radicals". Machiavelli wrote "The Prince" in 1505 as a guide to getting and maintaining power from the top down. Alinsky presents ruthless tactics for gaining power from the bottom up, aimed at the underbelly of the tolerant modern state.
  This is a key to understanding current politics. (v)10/23/09 - Wall Street Journal by James Tarranto
  Rules for Presidents (M)10/24/09 - Vancouver Community Network
  A simpler version of Rules For Radicals. (M)"The Prince" by Nicolò Machiavelli, free online. (M)05/03/10 - RightWingNews - Best quotes from Rules For Radicals.

» Expensive German "Green Jobs" We are proud to raise taxes and electricity prices to employ all of the people in "green jobs".
- -
10/19/09 - PowerlineBlog
  An economic report on German "green jobs".
  Job growth in renewable energy seems impressive, but doesn't count associated costs (impacts). These include at least:  jobs lost by not generating cheaper conventional energy;  indirect costs on upstream industries;  jobs lost in other industries from higher electric prices;  loss of private purchasing power due to higher electric prices;  and diverting funds from more productive investment.
  Proponents of renewable energy like the requirement for more workers to produce a given amount of energy. But, this lowers the productivity of the economy. Initial employment benefits from renewable energy turn negative as additional costs are incurred.
  Subsidies (extra costs) in solar-energy are as high as €175,000 (US $240,000) per worker.

» British Healthworkers Get Private Care These people are especially important to Britain, not like the rest.
- -
10/18/09 - Times On Line UK
  The British National Health Service has spent $2.5 million over 3 years, to pay for 3,000 of its doctors, nurses, and other staff to have private health treatment.
  The NHS said that early treatment of sickness enables staff to return more quickly to work. Their own waiting lists for medical care were too long.
  (Link is stale.)

» Don't Reinflate the Housing Bubble If we stoppped pushing houses, the voters might suspect it was wrong to do it last time.
- -
10/17/09 - Washington Examiner by Michael Barone
  [edited] "Our financial system broke down because government policies created a housing bubble of more construction and increasing prices. The bubble broke. Democratic policymakers are responding by trying to recreate the housing bubble. (v)Via Instapundit (M)10/16/09 - WSJ by Peter Walliston
"Barney Frank, Predatory Lender"
  Mortgage brokers are supposed to be the villians. But, they could only produce what bigger lenders wanted to buy. They could only respond to demand, not create it themselves.
  The principal buyers were government insured banks, government enterprises such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, federal housing agencies, and private companies forced to comply with government mandates about mortgage lending. (M)10/18/09 - Washington Post by Charles Lane
"Doubling Down On the Wrong Housing Policy"
  The government encouraged a teacher to put her retirement savings into a new house.

» Advice on Afghanistan Prestige is not a fanfare at a diplomatic reception. It is what makes enemies think better than to attack.
- -
10/16/09 - Powerline by Paul Rahe
  [edited quote] "Prestige" is the respect earned by world powers, that they will help their friends and harm their enemies, which keeps the wolf at bay.
  We should follow the counter-insurgency strategy of General Stanley McChrystal. If pursued vigorously, it will renew our reputation and prestige in and beyond Afghanistan.
  If we withdraw now, it will be as it was in Vietnam, with our tail between our legs. Our timidity will support audacity in our enemies and panic in our erstwhile friends, especially in the Islamic world. This could easily have disastrous consequences in Pakistan, a nuclear power teetering on the edge of civil war.

•  Blunting Costs of Healthcare Reform Healthcare reform is going to be great and less expensive. That is why we senators are excluding ourselves, federal workers, unions, and the people and political players in our own states.
- -
10/09/09 - WSJ Opinion by Kimberley A. Strassel
  Powerful senators want "reform" for the nation, so long as it doesn't disadvantage the people who support or vote for them. Healthcare, Spending, Politics (M)10/14/09 - PJTV: Medically Incorrect (video 3m)
Baucus Bill Bull: Hypocrite senators Want To Pass a Doozy

» Remembering What Didn't Happen Think about the wedding, the punchbowl, and spilling it all on your parents.
- -
10/06/09 - Advice Goddess (video clip 4m)
  Elizabeth Loftus is Prof. of Psychology and Law at U.Cal Irvine. She explains how 1/4 of study participants were given false memories of their childhood. A good reason to believe the evidence, not the story. (M)Prof. Elizabeth Loftus: What's the Matter With Memory (video lecture 71m)

» Diplomacy, Game Theory, Tit-For-Tat I've been fooled 5 times so far, but soon he will see that I am sincere, and he will cooperate.
- -
10/05/09 - PJTV by Bill Whittle (9:30 Video)
  Be nice, Retaliate, Forgive, and Don't begrudge them their success. These are the elements of a winning, long term strategy in an uncertain world. You will always lose if you always offer cooperation. Is that why nice guys finish last?

•  Better Through Creative Statistics Rework those statistics; I have a speech tomorrow.
- -
Politicians redefine statistics to make themselves look good or to push an agenda. Unemployment, healthcare, and consumer prices are examples. Statistics, Unemployment, Consumer Price Index

•  The Stimulus Resort Town It will be tough, but I'm ready to spend the stimulus money for the good of us all.
- -
  People start in gridlock. A stimulus loan breaks the gridlock. They resume working and trading, and end up happy. The money involved is a true stimulus; it unlocks the local economy and is paid back.
  This is a vivid and amazing example. But, it is contrived and unreal, like finding five dominoes ready to fall by pushing just the first one. Money, Inflation, Economics, Economic Crisis, Stimulus

•  TV Commercial For Healthcare Reform Do they know they will be paying for this?
Nah, they think someone else will pay.
- -
Healthcare reform is available now for the very affordable price of an $81 billion reduction in the U.S. debt! No need to call in; We already have your credit card number. (Some restriction and fees may apply.) Satire. Senate, Healthcare, Satire

•  More Healthcare Spending - More Taxes Reduced deficit. Yay!   By increasing taxes. Boo!   And $829 billion more spending. Bummer!
- -
The Senate healthcare bill promises to reduce the deficit by $81 billion while spending $829 billion more. How? By raising taxes and fees by $910 billion. Healthcare, Deficit, Spending, Tax

» What Is Defensive Medicine? I love that rush of fear when I don't test for something.
- -
Engineering motto: If the tolerance for error is zero, then the cost has to be infinite.
- -
09/29/09 - 09/08/09 - Happy Hospitalist
  A four part chart shows why doctors order lots of tests, and patients like this. This is expensive. So what? (v)Via OverLawyered

» About Sociopaths I wonder. Does a fly feel pain when I tear off its legs?
- -
09/28/09 - NeoNeocon - Artfldgr comments
  "Imagine 1 in 25 having no conscience at all, no guilt or remorse, no sense of concern for the well-being even of family members. Imagine no struggle with shame, no matter what kind of selfish or immoral action you take."

» Who Sets the Price? I love your house, but not $100,000 more than that other one.
- -
09/24/09 - EconLib by Russell Roberts
  A readable explanation of how freely set prices work. Prices are the incentives that make goods of all types available. They are more complicated than having one person say "this is the price for everyone", and they work much better.

+ The Dog Ate My Global Warming Data Data? I lost the original data. I am subject to confidentiality agreements. I don't have to show you no stinkin' data.
- -
09/23/09 - National Review by Patrick J. Michaels
  The data needed to verify forecasts of global warming have disappeared. Maybe they were lost or deleted from some discarded computer. A few people know what happened, they aren’t talking much, and what they say makes no sense.
  The responsible scientist complained: Why should I give you the data? You will try to find something wrong with it.

+ Flawed Statistics Show "bad"  U.S. Healthcare We give your superior healthcare a low rank for being expensive and not government run. Ironically, you now have a low rank despite spending more. Ha Ha, this is another failure of the free market. :)
- -
Three statistics seem to imply that U.S. healthcare is bad. Lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, and a low WHO rank for "quality".
  These statistics are flawed. U.S. healthcare is first when you adjust for confusing factors. But, why adjust when you have a political goal?

» Secretary Nanny of Energy We need just a few small changes. The 800 page legislation expresses them nicely.
- -
09/22/09 - Cafe Hayek by Russ Roberts
  U.S. Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu [edited]: "Average folks don't have the know-how or will to change their behavior to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. They are like teenagers, not acting as they should. They have to really understand how important this is."
  Chu said the public would not throw the same political temper tantrum over climate legislation as in the healthcare debate. "We only need to make a few small changes."

•  Memo - Health Plan Deficit Reduction We are going to rearrange it all, anyway. Just make it look good now.
- -
An internal memo about removing any deficit from the health plan. (satire) Healthcare, Deficit, Satire (M) 09/17/09 - OpenMarket by Hans Bader
 Cap-and-Trade legislation would cost middle class taxpayers hundreds of billions. Household taxes could rise $1761 per year, a 15% increase. Jobs in steel, paper, aluminum, chemical, and cement manufacturing would migrate to countries with lower environmental costs than the U.S.
  Taxes on business would be directly passed on to consumers.

» A Tale of Two Shortages: Coffee and Healthcare Our Dear Leader has given us these plantations for direct operation by the People's Cooperative. Comrades, who of you knows Excel?
- -
09/15/09 - Mises Daily by Doug French
  Hugo Chavez of Venezuela benefitted peasant cooperatives by giving them the land of the coffee families. This redistribution produced uncertainty and reduced investment.
  Coffee shortages raised the price to consumers. Chavez benefitted them by legally limiting the price.
  Coffee became even more scarce. Chavez nationalized the coffee roasters to prevent speculating and hoarding. Chavez: "We will continue to nationalize monopolies and turn them into productive businesses in the hands of the workers, the people, and the revolution."
  Future news: In 2009, Obama distributed healthcare to the people, capped its costs, and proceeded to root out abuse among the monopolist companies and physician groups."

» Obama's Speech On Healthcare We need quality healthcare, at low cost, with no restrictions, by friendly and unhurried doctors, and ... a chicken in every pot. That is my plan. Really. We should do it.
- -
09/09/09 - PowerLineBlog by John Hinderaker
  A review of the main quotes and distortions.
  Obama: "This insurance exchange will take effect in four years, which gives us time to do it right." But wait! Obama says this is an emergency, without a moment to lose. With four years to spare, he could stop cramming the bill down Americans' throats. (M) You will all be rich and happy
(When we get this darned bureaucracy working)
- -
09/09/09 - Cato by Michael F. Cannon
Quotes from Obama's speech translated to ordinary language. (v)Via Instapundit (M)09/12/09 - Ed Driscoll
Analysis from Mark Steyn, Thomas Sowell, and especially Shikha Dalmia:
  [edited] Obama The Bipartisan embraced every bad, big-government idea from both sides. If he prevails, the American public won’t get 'choice and competition', but will get a one-size-fits-all, government-prescribed health care plan that it can't refuse or challenge.” (M)09/09/09 - The Atlantic by Arnold Kling
Obama: "Reducing waste and inefficiency in Medicare/Medicaid will pay for most of this plan."
Kling: "If we don't pass this plan, does Obama intend to keep the waste and inefficiency, out of spite?" (v) Arnold Kling blogs at Econlog.Econlib.org (M)07/26/09 - EasyOpinions by Andrew Garland
I have that analysis somewhere. Here it is. No, that's my grocery list.
- -
Where is the policy paper, Obama's careful plan and research on healthcare reform?

» Canada: Lower Malpractice Rates I gave my tearjearker pleas to the Canadian judge. He applauded my performance.
- -
Maybe the outcomes for Canadian medicine aren't expected to be very good.
- -
09/08/09 - OverLawyered
  Neurosurgeons in Miami pay $237,000 for malpractice insurance. In Toronto, $29,200. Due to better laws and a cap on pain and suffering.

•  Leading the People I love the well intentioned little people. They need a strong ruler to show them the way.
- -
Brad's Friends want to be elected, then use that power to make your life better, and you better, whether you agree or not. They want a grand experiment to make a better world. Eventually, they will make you agree with them.

» Why There Are No New Jobs Marx revealed that business owners are leeches on society, draining away the wealth that rightfully belongs to the workers. At least, the ones who have jobs.
- -
09/05/09 - Commentary Magazine by Jennifer Rubin
  Obama has utterly ignored or rejected proposals to promote private-sector job growth. The threatening environment of higher taxes and deficits causes companies to make only critical investments and slow down job creation. Obama cannot have a recovery by attacking private businesses while expanding government.
  It turns out we need those private-sector employers. (v)Via Instapundit

» Czars in America My Czars have my full support, but you can't hold me responsible for what they do. It is silly to think that I can watch every action of 31 people.
- -
09/05/09 - Hot Air by Ed Morrissey
  Barack Obama’s 31 czars are a dramatic executive overreach. This is far more imperial than any action by President Bush. (v)Via Instapundit

•  Van Jones: What's New? Nasty conservatives have discovered bad things about my administration. Reluctantly, it seems that I must act to correct this.
- -
Van Jones is the Green Jobs Czar. What part of recent news about Jones is new information to Obama? Scandal, Obama, Opinion

•  Obama's Green Jobs Snake Oil We're lucky that we have global warming. Fighting for our lives is going to make us rich.
- -
Consider this to see the fallacy: If Obama could snap his fingers and make global warming disappear, should he do it? By his logic, no, because then we'd lose all those wonderful green jobs that will help pull us out of the recession. Obama, Global Warming, Green, Jobs

» Find Something to Hospitalize the Patient Good news. Your heart surgery went well, and you are going home today. This instruction sheet tells how to change the bandages. Remove the drain in about a week.
- -
09/05/09 - Throckmorton's Other Signs
  "We cure the acute illness, but there is a long recovery. The patient is too sick to go home, but Medicare won't pay for more hospital days or a nursing home. We must find a reason to keep the patient, so we run all the tests."
  You see here the Medicare cat-and-mouse game. They pass rules to save money by shifting costs onto the hospital. Medicare plays a game to be "efficient" while going broke from the incentives of the program.

» JFK, Nixon, Khrushchev, Castro, Cuba Communist leaders have more guts and freedom to act.
- -
09/03/09 - American Thinker By Humberto Fontova
  Castro was glad that JFK won. Nixon seriously supported the Bay of Pigs invasion. Nikita Khrushchev solidified Castro and got missiles removed from Turkey. JFK agreed to use US naval power to prevent further interference with Castro by Cuban freedom fighters. Khrushchev later wrote that war over Cuba was a bluff.

» Death Panels in Britain We don't kill them. They choose to die when we stop feeding them.
- -
09/02/09 - PowerLineBlog
  Under NHS guidance, patients are diagnosed as close to death without allowing that the diagnosis could be wrong. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where food and fluids are denied until sedated patients die. Nationwide discontent is building up, as family and friends witness this denial of care. (M)Monty Python on Death Panels (humor, video 2:00)

•  Obamacare Bails Out Medicare We will all be in the same boat. Some have signed on, and others will be "persuaded".
- -
The promises of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security cannot be paid. Democrats want to put everyone in the same plan so that seniors don't feel as strongly about denial of care, and the young can be made to pay much more. Medicaid, Healthcare, Medicare

•  Google Analytics for the Last Few Days An HTML page which holds links to Google Analytics, for showing data from the last few days. JavaScript constructs the links. JavaScript, Blog Technical

» Prevention Costs 8x As Much This pill saves lives, 1/100th of the time.
- -
09/01/09 - Fox Business by John Stossel
  Sally Pipes of the Pacific Research Institute: Suppose we enact measures to control heart disease and diabetes with complete success. The cost would be $8.5 trillion over 30 years, but would save only $1 trillion treating those diseases. Prevention improves health, but doesn't save money. (M)Sally Pipes in the Washington Examiner

•  US Healthcare is 1st and 37th We've subtracted another 10 points because you're not government run.
- -
The writer Mark Twain said "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
- -
08/31/09 - WSJ Opinion by Drs. Groopman and Hartzband
  The World Health Organization ranks U.S. healthcare as 1st in dignity, confidentiality, choice of care, choice of provider, prompt attention, access to social support during care, and basic amenities.
  The U.S. ranks 37th overall from lack of universal coverage and higher cost.

» Interrogation Policy and Results C 'mon Khalid. Who did you work with? What were your plans and methods? Pretty please?
- -
08/27/09 - PowerLineBlog by Paul Mirengoff
  Summary of a WSJ editorial about the CIA Inspector General's report on interrogations conducted on terrorists.
  "Interrogations were carefully limited, briefed on Capitol Hill, and yielded information that saved innocent lives."

» British Health Care Scandal On the bright side, we have low administrative costs, and we cut staff.
- -
08/26/09 - Legal Insurrection by William A. Jacobson
  The Patients Association in Britian reports hundreds of thousands in the past six years received nursing care that was often neglectful, demeaning, painful, and sometimes cruel.
  Elderly people were left in pain, in soiled bed clothes, denied adequate food and drink, and suffered from repeatedly cancelled operations, missed diagnoses, and dismissive staff.

+ British Maternity Care We find do-it-yourself is much cheaper.
- -
08/25/09 - blogs.DailyMail by Don Surber
Almost 4,000 women gave birth outside maternity wards lacking midwives and hospital beds, instead in places like elevators, toilets, and mobile homes. Maternity units shut their doors to an additional 553 women in labor last year. (v)Via Don Surber

» Free To Choose The most important single fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.
- -
Governments never learn. Only people learn.
- -
Videos of the 1980, 1990 TV series about economics and freedom by the late Nobel economist Milton Friedman.
  A presentation about freedom, markets, capitalism, and prosperity. Friedman is clear and direct. It is a first course in free markets and free minds, and was a popular success on network television. (v)Via ChicagoBoyz

» MSNBC and The Great Liberal Narrative:
The Truth About Political Correctness A great story. We'll publish the parts that support our cause. Be sure to snip the video.
- -
08/24/09 - Pajamas TV by Bill Whittle (video 12:56)
  A "politically correct narrative" is literally a story that supports your ideology, facts be damned. The spinning of these stories has been an intentional strategy for those who want a better world, or at least a world that they direct for the common good.
  Search YouTube for "The History of Political Correctness" for more about The Frankfurt School. (The Institute for Marxism Social Research, founded 1924 in Frankfurt, Germany)

» What Work Means in Life You say you are happy doing that?
- -
08/18/09 - Mike Rowe of the TV series "Dirty Jobs" (Video 20:34)
  What he has learned from surprising and dangerous jobs. He describes his personal anagnorisis, the point, especially in a tragedy, at which the hero recognizes his true identity or situation, and peripeteia, a sudden change in fortune from learning the truth.
  15:55  The war on work. We have forgotten the benefits and satisfaction of doing a trade and learning from others the practical nature of what life demands. (v)Via Docs On The Web

» Canadian Healthcare Is Sick Canada needs change. Maybe private healthcare?
- -
08/15/09 - Google News by Jennifer Graham (CP)
  Dr. Anne Doig is president of the Canadian Medical Association. We all agree, the system is imploding and more precarious than Canadians realize. We are all running flat out, trying to stay ahead of day-to-day demands. The current system is not sustainable. (v)Via Docs On the Web (M)National Post Editorial: Canadian health care is no model. (M)08/15/09 - Docs On the Web
  The health care bill is the worst abomination since MTV stopped playing music videos.
  Taking from specialty care to fund primary care will produce savings because more people will die. Here is the theory and the reality of preventive care.

•  Legislative Language The law is a giant puzzle filled with goodies. We make the puzzle, then we solve the puzzle. Sarcasm, Law

» Electricity Situation in Britain Honey, no lights, no TV, no internet, and the food is warming up. Are we still environmentalists?
- -
08/12/09 - ChicagoBoyz by Carl from Chicago
  Electricity has to be generated from somewhere, and traditional sources are Coal, Gas, Nuclear, Hydroelectric, and Insignificant.
  Britain’s electricity demand peaked at 59 GW (billion watts) in 2009. 45% from North Sea gas, 35% coal, 15% nuclear, and 5% other. By 2015, modest growth will require 64 GW. From where? Our generation plants are aging, and there is nothing planned to replace them. (M)Problems with Green Energy

» Obamacare Cycle of Life Out with the old and in with the new.
- -
08/11/09 - InsureBlog by Henry Stern
  "The doctor shall provide an ‘advance care planning consultation’ at least every five years." The welfare of everyone in the program depends on affordable choices.
- -
 I comment that the carbon footprint should be part of the discussion. (sarcasm) Healthcare, Rationing

» Progressive Redistribution -> Low growth I gave up half my income for the good of .. something. That's what LBJ did in 1970.
- -
08/11/09 - ChicagoBoyz
  President Lyndon Johnson publicly admitted that his “Great Society” was a redistributionist scheme. He gloated that future generations would just have to live with it. This policy choked off growth during the 1970’s by doubling the Capital Gains Tax.
  So what have we lost? Long term U.S. economic growth was 4.5% from 1780 to 1970. Recessions were followed by high growth recoveries. The per capita growth rate was 3.5%. In 1970 that growth rate dropped to 1.5% and stayed there.
  GDP would have increased by 4x from 1969 to 2009 at the 3.5% rate. GDP has actually increased by 1.8x at the 1.5% rate. Without LBJ and “Limits to Growth”, our per capita economy would now be 2.2x larger. (M)Stimulus Shrinks the Economy.
The money is nice; the taxes and inflation are a killer.

+ Vibrating Wind Farms Look at the twirling blades. Any nausea?
- -
08/10/09 - American Thinker by Thomas Lifson
  Neighbors of wind farms have discovered that they are far from the benign, clean, efficient ways of harnessing energy to our needs. "Wind Turbine Syndrome".

» Government Medicaid Rx Don't look, government healthcare and sausages are being made here.
- -
08/10/09 - The Independence Institute (Video 1:30)
  Oregon provides Medicaid through government rules drawn up by political lobbying each year.
  Government raises costs; it requires that many services be covered by regulated healthcare insurance, the services that provide income for influential provider groups.
  Emergency services don't have a lobby, so forget about them. Priorities: (High) Stop Smoking, (Low) Head Injury. (v)Via Cafe Hayek by Don Boudreaux (M)08/25/09 - Insureblog by Henry Stern
Mandates increase insurance costs for Shelley Roche in Maryland. (Video 2:21)

•  Cuban Health and Economic News Which of these things is not like the other?
- -
Cuba must replace tractors with oxen.
Cuba is running out of toilet paper.
Cuba is a model for a US health plan. Healthcare, Cuba

» Advertising for Healthcare Dollars "We are the most open and honest administration in history."   Gentlemen, how much advertising will it take to sell that to the American people?
- -
08/09/09 - PowerLine Blog by John Hinderaker
  Lobbyists are thriving as never before during the Obama administration. Everyone wants to get their hands on your tax dollars (or your children's, since pretty much all the money in question will be borrowed).
  The Obama administration claims that Americans who oppose socialized medicine must be in the pay of "moneyed interests." This is a sick joke to anyone who understands today's actual political dynamics

» Economic Reality for Ashley Let's redistribute other people's money.
They are all coupon-clippers.
- -
08/09/09 - Roger Kimball
Whether a real letter or a parable, it presents the realities of redistribution.
  "I received your request for assistance. Ashley, you know I love you dearly and I’m sympathetic to your financial plight. Unfortunately, times have changed. With the election of President Obama, your grandmother and I have had to set forth a bold new economic plan of our own, The Ashley Economic Empowerment Plan."

» Obama - A Face in the Crowd Promise them anything, but give them - whatever.
- -
08/09/09 - PowerLine by Scott Johnson
Scroll down to the video clip (6:07). General Haynesworth advises presidential candidate Fuller that he needs a slogan like "Time for a change", "The mess in Washington", or "More bang for a buck." Lonesome Rhodes advises Fuller to act as one of the people. A hilarious and timely scene.

» Testing National Healthcare Don't worry. You go first.
- -
08/07/09 - Insure Blog by Henry Stern - video 3:30
  Nationalized healthcare is a big step. How do we know it will work? Shouldn't we test it first? The world is a complicated place. We would not want it to seem good, then find out it works badly.

•  ObamaCare and the Doctor Maybe we should ask the doctors.
- -
08/06/09 - American Thinker By Zane F. Pollard, MD
  I have practiced for 35 years in Atlanta, Georgia, in the only group there offering pediatric ophthalmology services to Medicaid patients.
  The government has involved very few of us physicians in the healthcare debate. The American Medical Association favors Obama's plan, but remember the AMA represents just 17% of American physicians.

  Also, Charles Krauthammer proposes two actions to eliminate current inefficiencies in the healthcare market before redesigning the whole thing. Healthcare, Medicare, Obama

» Spot the Astroturfers They're fanatics. They made their own signs.
- -
08/06/09 - Looking at the Left by El Marco
  A picture essay with commentary about political demonstrators at a health clinic for-and-against healthcare reform. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi visited that clinic. Which are the concerned citizens, and which are the hired demonstrators?
  El Marco: This is the first time in my life that I can recall a government in North America organizing protests of one group of citizens against another. This is standard operating procedure in countries with left-wing governments.
  Pelosi said recently, about critics at town hall events: "I think they’re AstroTurf. You be the judge. They’re carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care." (v)Via Ed Driscoll

» Is the Science Debate Over for Climate Change? We have our own consensus here in government. The debate is over.
- -
08/05/09 - OpenMarket by Marlo Lewis
  There are three basic issues in the climate change debate: How much has the world warmed? How much from greenhouse gases? What will more greenhouse gases do? These issues are not settled, not even close, and here is why.
  One of many points. The U.S. surface temperature record is supposed to be the best in the world. But, it is riddled with false warming biases. "We found stations located next to exhaust fans of air conditioning units, surrounded by asphalt parking lots, on blistering-hot rooftops, and near structures that absorb and radiate heat. We found 68 stations at wastewater plants, where waste digestion raises the air temperature."
  Nice graphs with medium scientific detail. Readable, or watch the video. (M)Dispelling the Global Warming Myth

» Nomenklatura It isn't what you know, it's who you know.
The little people don't know anyone.
- -
08/05/09 - ChicagoBoyz by Carl from Chicago
  Nomenklatura - A bureaucratic élite that enjoys special privileges. Example: Soviet Union.
  These new government institutions will not be transparent or fair. A parallel system of privileges and favors will replace our current, largely cash based system. As the government controls more of society, the friendship and favor of the Nomenklatura will control access to opportunities and prestigious posts.

» Medicare Example For Higher Costs Government motto: We must spend money to save money.
- -
08/04/09 - PowerlineBlog by Scott Johnson
  The government is already the largest health care insurer through Medicare. From 1968-2007 Medicare costs increased by a factor of 85.5, from $5.1 to $436 billion.
  In 1965, the government projected that costs would be $10 billion in 25 years. Instead, 1990 costs were $107 billion, 10.7 times the estimate! Plus, about the same amount is spent by the states due to federal mandates, unreimbursed by federal payments.
  We are now told ObamaCare will save money.

+ Obama on Single PayerOur unbiased opinion here in Government is that single payer is the way to go. A single option is more equal.
- -
A 2 minute video of President Obama's remarks past and present, about a goverment option for healthcare

» Chronic Pain and Health Insurance Rest assured that your care is free. We just don't have an approved protocol for treating your illness, if it is a real illness.
- -
[edited] My injuries propelled me online over ten years ago, to guide my decisions and to read about others who suffered similar problems. Patients in Canada and Britain deeply affected me. They didn't worry about insurance, but they were the most miserable of all the chronic pain patients.
  They waited forever for tests. They often could not choose their doctors. Often, few specialists in-country knew anything about their injuries. Their medical systems generally saw their problems as unimportant and they were given low priority.
  I was always horrified of not having medical choices. I paid extra for the freedom to go to other states and not be bound by the recommendations and restrictions of a primary care physician. This supported my nine year search.

» Ten Questions For Your Congressman Do you expect me to have answers for everything?
- -
08/03/09 - Washington Examiner by Hugh Hewitt
Ten questions and honest answers about current healthcare reform. Ask your Congressman or Senator. Question 4: "If seniors will be allowed the expensive, most effective treatments, how will costs be controlled?" (v)Instapundit

+ Minimum Wage Equals Minimum Jobs Fire them if you have to, but don't underpay.
- -
07/30/09 - Reason.com by John Stossel
  Why not set the minimum wage at $100/hour? That would send funds to poor people while lifting the economy, right? (M)The ones who are still working will thank us for the raise.
- -
07/03/2009 - WSJ Opinion - The Young and the Jobless
  Economist David Neumark wrote here that the $.70 /hour increase in the minimum wage would remove 300,000 jobs. Sure enough, it increased to $7.25 in July, and the August and September numbers show jobs disappearing for teenagers.

» Medicaid Not Sensitive to Waste It's just Graham again. Pick him up and send the bill to the Feds.
- -
Graham doesn't have a job, insurance, or car. He calls 911 to have an ambulance drive him to the hospital, 603 times in 3.5 years. Medicaid seemed more interested in how we found out, rather than how much it cost taxpayers. Fraud and abuse costs $60 billion per year.

•  Plants Make Their Own Pesticides It seems that they don't want to be eaten.
But, their resistance is futile.
- -
Our plant foods contain carcinogens, natural pesticides that cause cancer in rats. These occur at enormously higher levels than the amounts of man-made pesticides remaining on the plants. The good news is that the risk of cancer is negligible, even at these levels. Organic, Food, Pesticides

+ Expensive German Wind Power We will pay 2.5 times more. Is that too much for a good cause?
- -
The wholesale price will be US 21¢ per KWH, plus retail markup to pay for distribution and billing costs. Compare this to the average US retail price of 11.28¢ (v)Via Instapundit

» Creative Job Creation We can create 1000's of new jobs. Fire everyone on Friday, and hire them back on Monday.
- -
07/27/09 - IHateTheMedia
 In Oregon, Democrats claim that its $176 million stimulus has already created 3,256 jobs. Those jobs each lasted about a week.
 By the state’s accounting, a job is a job, whether it lasts three hours, three days, three months, or a lifetime. “Sometimes some work for an individual is better than no work,” said Oregon’s Senate president, Peter Courtney. (v)Via Don Surber

» Medical Malpractice Affects Access to Medical Care Doctor, help me! Be perfect or I'll sue you.
- -
The American Hospital Association reports 50% of hospitals have trouble recruiting physicians in medical liability crisis (MLC) states. 40% say MLC causes less physician coverage for their emergency departments.
 MLC forced closing trauma centers in Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, at various times in recent years.
 Specialties including neurosurgery, orthopaedics, and general surgery have incurred particularly high premium increases. Emergency patients most frequently require those services.

» Screening for Terrorists My shrimp catcher is 99% accurate. So, why are there so many snails?
- -
If your test is wrong 1/100, and you are looking for 1 in 10,000, then 99% of your detained people are going to be innocent. (v)Via Schneier on Security

•  Not Just Words Words are powerful. Numbers are cold.
- -
Obama doesn't respect numbers. Obama, Opinion

•  A Few Words About Policy It's good for the country. What else do you need to know?
- -
Obama should have already released a detailed "white paper" describing his summary and justification for his health care proposals. We need proposed results, methods, justifications, comparative studies, past successes, funding sources, the works.
 The absence of these policy papers is appalling. Healthcare, Government, Law

» Health Care Reform Removes 5 Freedoms We are all in this together, so you will pay for us.
- -
07/24/09 - Fortune at Money.CNN by Shawn Tully
The fine print in the Congressional plans removes many freedoms of the current system:   To choose your doctors,  To keep your existing plan,  To choose what's in your plan,  To choose high-deductible coverage,  To pay your real costs and be rewarded for healthy living. (v)Instapundit

» Hidden Victims of Health Reform Somebody is going to pay, but I don't think it will be me. Right?
- -
07/24/09 - WSJ by John Fund
 Health reform will require some people to sacrifice. Democrats have kept that knowledge from those who would bear the brunt. They convinced healthcare industry groups not to run the “Harry and Louise” style ads that opposed HillaryCare in 1993.
 Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.): "The pressure has bordered on extortion." Newt Gingrich: "Groups were told that they would give up their seat at the table if they ran ads. They weren’t told that they would be the lunch."
 Losers: Young people, Small businesses, Health savings accounts, Medicare Advantage. (v)Via Instapundit

•  Minimum Wage Prosperity Fire them if you have to, but don't underpay.
- -
Why not set the minimum wage at $50/hour. That would send funds to poor people while lifting the economy, right? Economics, Minimum Wage, Jobs

» Government Funds Distort Climate Science We don't fund studies critical of our policies.
- -
07/22/09 - Science and Technology News
The US Government has spent $79 billion since 1989 on research and support for climate change studies. Yet, scientific review and criticism is left to unpaid volunteers, who have repeatedly exposed major errors.
 Dedicated, uncoordinated scientists around the globe test the integrity of global warming theory. They compete with a lavishly-funded, highly-organized, centralized purchaser of climate research.
 The government pours money into a single, scientifically baseless agenda. It has created a self-fulfilling prophecy, not an unbiased investigation. Sound science cannot easily survive this grip of politics and finance.

» Congress Is the Health Care Problem We make laws. We don't repeal them.
- -
7/23/09 - Throckmorton's Other Signs
The President's news conference had more confabulation than I get from a gang banger explaining how he got shot minding his own business.
 Congressmen say with a straight face that they are going to fix health care, without admitting that they caused all the problems!

» Health Bill 1000 Page Monstrosity 1000 pages of cost reduction. With more time, it could have been longer.
- -
7/23/09 Rep. Dr. Tom Price (R-GA) criticizes Obama's healthcare bill. (video 5:30). "You should be ashamed of what you want to do to healthcare and a free people".

» Why Doesn't Obama Get to Work? I was happy to be an inspiration to you all.
- -
3/11/09 - Small Dead Animals by Kate
Carol Platt Liebau was managing editor of the Harvard Law Review (from audio):
 "Tom Pirelli is the one who did most of the day to day work. Barack Obama was nowhere to be seen. Occasionally he would drop in, talk to people, and then leave, as though his arrival had been a benediction in itself. But, not very much got done.
 You see that and think, gosh, maybe that's the way the guy operates. He had his eye on bigger things. But, now he's President; there isn't a bigger or better thing." (v)Via Ed Driscoll

» Healthcare, Social Justice, and Thugs A strange buffet of crackers and peanut butter, with a 3 hour line for a roast beef sandwich or two shrimp.
- -
7/23/09 - American Thinker by John Dale Dunn MD JD
A doctor presents his long experience with medicine.
 My experience with Medicaid was scary. It was intended as Medicare for the poor. I went to the Nebraska capital, desperate, and pleaded my case to Medicaid officials to hurry up their payments for my mostly Medicaid practice. I wasted my time.

» Will Doctors Just Say No? I majored in administration before becoming a doctor.
- -
7/23/09 - Open Market by Wayne Crews
What kind of doctors would Obama's system create? Who will go into medicine?

A fictional doctor from "Atlas Shrugged":
 "I wonder at the smugness with which people assert their right to enslave me, to control my work, to force my will, and to stifle my mind. What will they expect when they lie on an operating table under my hands?
  Let them discover the doctors that their system will produce. It is not safe to entrust their lives to a man whose life they have throttled. It is not safe if he is a man who resents it, and still less safe if he is the sort who doesn’t.

» Doctors On Strike The best men will not be made slaves.
- -
A serious site with great cartoons and jokes, mostly black humor as befits the current situation.
  "It’s not a good idea to make the lives of medical professionals a living hell. Who do politicians think they are, really? I mean, honestly?" - Wayne Crews at OpenMarket

» 20 Questions for Obama I can restate my policy goals, but I'm not a detail man. (chuckle, smile)
- -
7/22/09 Economist Keith Hennessey
  5. You proposed spending money from the TARP to prevent foreclosures, help small businesses, and to buy toxic assets from banks. In June, CBO found no evidence that any money has been spent for any of these programs. How many foreclosures have been prevented, how many small businesses have received loans, and how many toxic assets have been purchased? (M)11/3/08 National Review
All of Obama's promises have expiration Dates.

» The Good Intentions of Welfare I miss having responsibility for my life.
- -
Economist Walter Williams, 1983 (video 27 mins)
Influence and Access to Good Schools
Minimum Wage, Licensing, and Labor Laws
The Welfare System and Conclusions
  The government offers help, but in a way that leads people to a life of dependence and broken families. (v)7/22/09 Cafe Hayek by economist Don Boudreaux

» Doctors Will Quit Obama-care He's an excellent doctor. Top of his class in data entry and billing codes.
- -
Many physicians will quit if Obama-care forces us to take orders about treatments, procedures, and medicines, by phone, from people hundreds of miles away.
  They want a perfect record keeper. I would rather take care of patients. I am not a data entry operator who dresses in scrubs.

•  Borrowing Costs Per Legislator We'll pay you to put away the national credit card. Financial Crisis, Government

» EMP Attack Honey, the TV is on the blink. And, everything else.
- -
Consider a nuclear explosion 200 miles up. It emits a powerful wave of radiation which causes a huge electrical wave. You won't feel much, but it will fry all the electrical systems and digital electronics that we depend on to run everything. How will we survive? (v)Via Instapundit

+ Public Option Taxes Employees 8 %We'll tell them that we are taxing the employer. They won't figure it out.
- -
The costs of employment come out of an employee's gross wages. Payments on behalf of employees reduce cash wages. The employee pays any 8% fine supposedly placed on the employer.

+ The Chavez Playbook Elections are less stressful when you know how they will turn out.
- -
Honduran authorities seized computers belonging to deposed president Mel Zelaya. They contain false referendum results favoring Zelaya, for the illegal referendum that was not held.

» States Give Themselves Phony Ed Grades Higher scores build confidence.
- -
The Illinois Standards Achievement Test was altered in 2006 to comply with No Child Left Behind. School officials knew that the new test was made easier and produced higher scores. This accounted for almost all of the "improvement" since then.

» Obama is Jimmy Carter Reborn Make no mistake, no one can fix our problems. Don't blame me.
- -
Six months as President, Barack Obama is driving south into the political speed trap known as Carter Country. It is a sad-sack landscape in which every major initiative meets with failure and scorn from political allies and foes alike. (v)Via AdviceGoddess

•  Regulations are Too Complex and Dangerous Here are the 274 rules. We'll tell you what they mean as we go along.
- -
The financial crisis was caused by the complex, constantly growing web of regulations designed to constrain and redirect modern capitalism. As a practical matter, it was impossible to predict the disastrous outcome of these interacting regulations. Financial Crisis, Regulation

» Cloward-Piven Plan for Socialism Cloward: The ruling classes use welfare to weaken the poor. Poor people can advance only when the rest of society is afraid of them.
- -
 Columbia University political scientists Richard Cloward and Frances Piven proposed to bankrupt the welfare system and produce radical change. This is called the "crisis strategy" or the "bankrupt-the-cities" strategy.
  They proposed flooding the welfare rolls with new applicants, more than the system could bear. They hoped that the resulting economic collapse would lead to political turmoil and socialism.
  The National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) used the Cloward-Piven strategy to produce the welfare crisis that bankrupted New York City in 1975.
  Veterans of NWRO went on to found the Living Wage Movement and the Voting Rights Movement. Both use Cloward-Piven and are spear-headed by ACORN. (M)Liberally Conservative: Cloward-Piven as it is being applied now to US politics.

» Hospital Sues Mass Medicaid When the state won't pay, we raise prices on the sick.
- -
Boston Medical Center is suing Massachusetts for not paying $100 million if its bills. That expense increased the cost of everyone else’s health care.
  Elaine Ullian is CEO of Boston Medical: We believe in health care reform, but it was never, ever supposed to be financed on the backs of the poor, as has happened in Massachusetts. (M)More: Political Contributions required for Medicare Reimbursement in Illinois.

» Personal Tour of Canadian Health Care If you are tired of waiting, you can come back and wait tomorrow. Or pay at the private clinic.
- -
7/13/09 - PJTV (video 21m) by Steven Crowder
The wait times are cruel. A sick baby is sent home by one hospital after a quick look. Her parents try again at a 2nd one, and the baby needed a week of treatment.
  That is what the world is like when you are a cost rather than a customer. When you want care under socialized medicine, you are a pure cost. (M)More: Begging for Medical Care

» Expensive Medical Screening I was tested for years, then died anyway.
- -
The absolute risk of a woman aged 60 dying from breast cancer by age 70 is 9/1000. Early detection by doing 10,000 yearly mammograms saves 3/1000 people over 10 years.
  Health-care "systems" are supposedly critical to health. So, why is there so small a difference in outcomes? Life expectancy in the European Union is 78.7 years, in Libya, 76.88 years.
  Universal health care may save lives, but it won't save money, and you will pay for it whether you want this testing or not.

» Global Warming Best Predictions May Be Wrong It is sad when you can't predict the past.
- -
Gerald Dickens is Professor of Earth science at Rice University. "There appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the way climate models link temperature and carbon. They do not explain what appears in the geological record." (v)Via Riehl World View (M)More: Dispelling the Global Warming Myth

•  FDR Prolonged the Great Depression We didn't intend to cause the problem. Now we intend to fix the problem.
- -
"Why the Great Depression lasted so long had been a mystery. We worried about what conditions might produce another 10-15 year economic slump. We found that a relapse isn't likely, unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies."

» 'Cap And Tax' Dead EndEnergy will cost more. We will just do less.
- -
Sarah Palin 7/14/09: [edited] Job losses are so certain under this new cap-and-tax plan that it includes a provision for newly unemployed workers from the resulting dried-up energy sector, to the tune of $4.2 billion over eight years. So much for creating jobs.
  American jobs are threatened by the rising cost of doing business under the cap-and-tax plan.

» A Government Failure, Not of the Market Our policy: we can't go broke building more houses.
- -
We are told this was a systemic market failure, violating Capitalism's promise that self-correcting mechanisms would not allow this. So, we are told Capitalism is unworkable after all.
  But, the housing bubble only burst after government subsidies pushed house prices up so fast that buyers could no longer afford to chase prices even higher. A bubble created by government rigged financial markets and a government-sponsored obsession with home ownership is not a result of market failure. It is a result of bad government policy.

» Federal Reserve Failures The government bankers will save us! They probably caused the problem in the first place.
- -
[edited] In about 1927, the Federal Reserve started buying large quantities of U.S. stocks on the open market. This produced an unprecedented stock bubble. The Fed only managed to reverse this in late 1929 by choking-off normal business credit.
  The Fed stood by, pleading impotence during the following panic. The U.S. money stock lost one-third of its pre-crash value. This "great contraction" was the worst credit-crunch in U.S. history, producing the "national bank holiday" of March 6-12, 1933.
  Regardless of this and later mismanagement, Congress rewards the Fed for its failures by giving it more powers. (v)Via Cafe Hayek

» Sotomayor Condones Discrimination Judge Andrew Napolitano: [edited] When you elect a liberal Democrat as President, you get Sonia Sotomayor, a judicial nominee with strange ideas.
  Like, if you take a test, and you pass the test and you’re supposed to get promoted, well, you won't get promoted because not enough people from another race passed the test. A lot of Americans will reject that attitude which she embraced. (M)Sotomayor Snubs the Senate's Questions
07/28/09 - American Thinker by Rick Moran
  She repeated her bizarrely brief opinion that the statue outlaws racially disparate voting qualifications: "A law disqualifying felons from voting constitutes a voting qualification."

» Despair Among Business Owners Let them drop their pretenses and join the workers.
- -
Business is down 10-20% or more. They have laid off staff or have 4-day weeks to keep staff. They see nothing that will benefit sales, cost reductions, or efficiency.

What is happening is an outrage. We will all be casualties of being controlled by bureaucrats and politicians who never, ever, ran a business or created a job. Job losses, cost increases, and inflation will get worse. (v)Via Riehl World View

•  Why Doctors Refuse Medicare We in government are efficient. Why do you spend so much on administration?
- -
Medicare claims very low administrative expenses, but doesn't count the administrative burden imposed on doctors. Even fines should be included. Doctors must charge more to cover these expenses, refuse Medicare patients, or close their practices.

» Obama's Climate of Fear That's a nice small business you got there, buddy.
- -
Obama utters soothing words as he acts against business: He is not really trying to stifle small business, not really trying to take over the banks, the auto companies, or whatever. He is just reacting to the crisis, reluctantly doing what must be done. That’s what he says. Business people don't believe him.

•  A Hidden Cost of National Health Care You have a great drug, but it doesn't fit our plans.
- -
A bureaucratized healthcare system will squash medical innovation. Healthcare, Government, Spending

•  The Actual Role of Government Psst! The back room is more fun if you can pay.
- -
Everyone is greedy, it is how you organize things that matters. Government, Politics

» How a Bill Becomes Law - Health Care (1) How the sausage is made. Don't look.
- -
Here is my tactical analysis of the legislative action. I was in the health care legislative fights 1995-2008. I'm a retired player, now serving as a color commentator.

•  Government Healthcare by Experts We're smart. We all went to school. We can do it better than those capitalists, doctors, HMO's, and insurance companies.
- -
The bills in Congress contain very little that reflects payment for value. Government bureaucrats claim they will do things they’ve never once demonstrated an ability to do. Healthcare, Obama

» John Holdren is Obama's Science Czar.
Be afraid. You have to break some eggs to make a world omelette.
- -
In 1977 he proposed forced abortions, sterilizations through drinking water, babies seized from teen/single mothers, sterilization of undesirables, and a global government through an international police force. In writing. No kidding. (v)Via Ed Driscoll (M)More at OpenMarket

•  Overselling Science I'm a Phrenologist. I will diagnose you by feeling the bumps on your head. Then, we'll try some leeches.
- -
The problem with polling “scientists” is that there is a wide range in the predictive power of the studies that we lump together as “science”. Some science does not predict well at all.

» Health Care Bill - Truth in Labeling Yeah, a medical golf course, next to the medical Farmers' Market
- -
The bill provides billions for walking paths, streetlights, jungle gyms, and farmers' markets, characterized as improving the nation's health infrastructure.
  Advocates include Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (MA). They say this spending is needed to promote healthier lives and cut medical costs in the long run. "These are not public works grants; they are community transformation grants".

•  Obama Can Win The Chicago Way We strongly recommend that you play ball with Mr. Capone.
- -
Soros, Axelrod, and Obama intend to win the next election, despite 15-20% unemployment and inflation in 18 months. They intend to do it the Chicago way, to buy it with your money. Election, Obama, Politics

» Competition for Cheaper Healthcare Doc, I can get it for less.
- -
I told the office manager that my wife got an MRI for $575, not $1,500. Within 30 seconds, I was scheduled to have an MRI at my Doctor for $575.

» I Still Hate You, Sarah Palin Advice to Republicans: Don't bring a knife to a gunfight.
- -
And so the word went out: Eviscerate Sarah Palin like one of her field-dressed moose. Turn her life upside down. Attack her politics, her background, her educational history, her husband, and her family.
  You know what? It worked!

» When Politicians Go Bad -- The Government We Don't Deserve Hey, it's only money.
- -
California has spent all its money, and it is spending more. It's politicians think criticism is terrorism. Obama thinks CA is a model for us all. Bill Whittle at Pajamas Media. Video 5:30. (v)Via Instapundit

•  Newspaper Influence Peddling Come on over for a nice talk, and bring a gift.
- -
Newspapers influence public opinion, and that influence is quite valuable. It seems that some newspapers are selling that influence. Do you still trust your newspaper? Politics, Media

» The Price of Shrimp Hold it right there. Is that a shrimp? Now then, you weren't thinking of selling that shrimp, were you?

» CAFE is killing GM Small cars are just cuter!
- -
General Motors specializes profitably in big vehicles, the best in the category. But CAFE penalizes them for not selling enough small cars to tip the averages. This statistical insanity is killing US manufacturing jobs.

» Obama: A Man of Principle See the picture of Obama beside a US Flag. Other people have placed their hands over their hearts, it seems for the Pledge Of Allegiance. Obama supports his own principles by not participating.

» A GM Bustout By Government I am shocked, shocked to see politicized decisions at a government owned company. We have subsidies. No profit needed.

» A hack-door bust-out Howie Carr: The public-sector unions are busting out the commonwealth of Massachusetts. You don’t have to be a gangster to bust out a joint, just crooked and greedy. Shady parties worm their way into a legitimate enterprise and then slowly strip it of all assets, reducing it to a hollow shell, driving it into bankruptcy, busting it out." (v)Via Instapundit

» Smallest Political Quiz Are you Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian, or Statist? (v)Via Econlog: Personality Profile of a Free-Marketeer

•  Obama Explains Millionaire Grants The government will make everyone rich. Next year. Or maybe a bit after that. Obama, Sarcasm, Future News

» Washington State - Liquor Shortage Last call at 9PM?
- -
They aren't out of booze, they just can't deliver it. They fouled up something that makes them money. How will they treat health care, which loses them money?

•  Gaining Power Through Public Policy Why regulate? Because we make money at it. Economics, Politics

» Saddam Lied About Nuclear Weapons Saddam convinced everyone that Iraq had the Bomb. He was bluffing Iran. Bush didn't lie, he acted on available information.

» Massachusetts Limits Health Services Commonwealth Care is three years old. Estimated at $245 million, it will cost taxpayers $1,300 million this year and require rationing of benefits.

» Brace yourself for higher taxes Catch me, I'm slipping.

» Waiting for the jobs Obama is building a new society. I'll wait until he is done.
- -
Small business owners are standing by the fence and watching, paralyzed by regulatory uncertainty. They aren’t hiring precisely because of government intervention in the economy. So-called stimulus won't change that.

•  Racist EyesHe was black, or white, or something. I'm not saying which.
- -
When you are identifying someone, it is not racist to describe what he looks like, even the color of his skin. Racist

•  Medicare Myth: Low Administrative Cost We have millions of administrators in government, with more on the way
- -
Medicare claims 3% administrative overhead, compared to 12% for private insurance. But, Medicare doesn't count all of its expenses, and private insurance is burdened with taxes that are part of its "overhead". Medicare overhead per patient is actually 25% more than for private insurance. Insurance, Healthcare, Medicare, Efficiency (M)Government employment is community service, not overhead.
- -
09/30/09 - OpenMarket by Hans Bader
  Federal government employment may grow between 200,000 to 600,000 over the course of the Obama administration.

•  Healthcare Reform Myths #1 The government will be more efficient Healthcare, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Public Option

•  Who's the Materialist? You are a materialist. Give me some of your money.
- -
All the great champions of economic freedom ultimately justify capitalism because only it affords true dignity to individuals. Capitalism, Freedom

•  Be Skeptical About Scientists and Polls Let's quote a poll. That will convince them. Use the parts that support us.
- -
The poll interviewed "scientists", but they were selected as members of the AAAS, excluding grade school and high school teachers, and including administrators. Science, Global Warming, Polls

•  The Present Tells Us About the Depression Take the money. We'll spend it more wisely than the little people Carbon, Economic Crisis, Tariffs

•  The Department of Work and Production Government management will make you efficient :-). It has a long track record and new principles. Government, Economic Crisis, Stimulus, Satire, Jobs

•  They Are Profiting From My Needs I hate it when they sell me things Business, Profit, Free Market

» Health Care - Do Procedures in the Courtroom Plaintiff's counsel will make the opening incision.

•  Obama: Honduras Should Accept Tyranny One man - One vote - Once Coup, Democracy

•  Introduction to Medical Billing Doctor, how are my billing codes doing? Medicare

•  Predicting No Climate Change The crystal ball is cloudy. Give me $1 trillion. Global Warming

•  Better Bank Robbery I didn't mind. It was for a good cause. AG Opinion, Global Warming, Sarcasm

•  EPA Supresses Climate Study That Gallileo fellow wouldn't toe the line either. Global Warming

•  "Do The Right Thing" Bill Why read legislation? It is complicated, and we will do what we want to, anyway. Congress, Sarcasm

•  Windmill jobs are expensive We're creating jobs here. Don't look over there. Energy, Jobs

•  The Medicare Tomato Market We used to buy great tomatoes when you were little. Healthcare, Medicare

•  Military Healthcare is Not a Shining Example We're looking at the big picture. We'll fix the failures later. Healthcare, Military

•  No progress on nuclear energy The lights are on. What energy problem? Nuclear, Energy

•  Medicaid and Its Children You can have all the care you want. We'll find the money later. Medicaid, Healthcare

•  Lack of Competition in Health Care Insurance You are a caring doctor. Treat the poor for free.
- -
06/11/09 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch by David C. Rose
  Medicare is a good deal partly because the government drives a hard bargain with health care providers. Medicare offers artificially low payments. No one insurer could do this in a competitive market of many insurers.
  Medicare payments don't cover the cost of procedures, so providers shift costs to everyone else. In other words, the lack of competition in today's market leads to higher insurance costs for people who aren't old enough to qualify for Medicare. Extending Medicare-like insurance to everyone won't work, because no one will remain to pay the shifted costs. Insurance, Healthcare, Obama

•  Changing Oil Prices Are Not a Conspiracy We can't eat it, or save it, so we sell it. Supply Demand, Prices, Oil

•  Universal Health Care in Italy A delay? But, I have already paid. Healthcare

•  Phony Jobs Claims I'm not lowering your salary, so that is a raise. Economic Crisis, Stimulus, Jobs

•  Economists Surprised That People Read the Paper Don't read that! Do you want to ruin the economy? Financial Crisis, Economics, Stimulus

•  The Climate Change That Isn't How dare you criticise our consensus of government researchers? Global Warming

•  A Liberal Judge My personal history tells me what the law means. Supreme Court, Sotomayor, Liberal, Law

•  My Fantasy Beats Your Reality Follow me, my plan is on this cocktail napkin. Energy, Economic Crisis, Politics, Solutions

•  Efficiency Breakthrough:
Small Cars With Small Engines Better yet, just stay home CAFE, Autos

•  A Budget to Infinity - and Beyond We'll have fun, fun, fun 'til daddy takes the T-Bird away Deficit, Obama, Debt

•  2006 Tax Comparisons What is that rich or poor guy paying? Tax

•  Stimulus Shrinks Economy Look at the pretty money. Ignore the taxes and inflation. Economic Crisis, Stimulus

•  Access vs Honest Reporting If we tell the truth, we can't report at all. Reporting, Media

•  Obama and Sotomayor Are Anti-Gun The Constitution protects your gun rights, just not in any State. Huh? Supreme Court, Guns, Obama

•  First, Let's Pay All the Lawyers Sue the wealthy person who is responsible. Law

•  Homeopathic Waterboarding Talk to us Hamid, or we will do Homeopathy upon you. Torture, Funny

•  Medical Rationing Details Take two aspirin and don't call back. Healthcare

•  Did You Love "Life After People"? If only we didn't litter so much. Environment

•  The Will to Have Efficient Cars I say do it, and it shall be done. Obama, Autos, Economics

•  Good Guns Don't Make News Prevented deaths are hard to count. Guns, Biases

•  Treasury Recalls All Dollars   :) We'll take the money now. You can earn it back later. Economic Crisis, Humor

•  Freedom Supports Our Humanity Freedom is more than money. Free Market

•  Bombing Japan Was Not a War Crime War is life vs life. Killing some saved more. War Criminals

•  Personal Experience of Terrorism Life is wonderful and fragile. It must be defended. Terrorism

•  We Must Spend or We Are Going to DIE! We are taking action. Who are you to criticize us? Economic Crisis, Stimulus, Satire

•  Contact Congressmen, Senators, and the President Who are you going to contact when you are a concerned citizen? Government

•  Richard Epstein Discusses Barack Obama Obama is in complete control of himself, and believes wealth is manna from heaven. Obama

•  A Trillion Dollars On Display A massive amount. Want to pay it back? Economic Crisis

•  Together, We All Pay More For Healthcare Waiter, bring me two of everything. Healthcare

•  Fact Check on Obama Obama's facts don't hold up. Obama

•  Why Test? You Are Already in the Hospital Sorry, no CT Scan. We already know you are sick. Healthcare

•  A Quick Explanation for the Recession Will you believe it, if it is not complicated? Economic Crisis, Recession

•  We Can't Stop Carbon Emissions Only the rich dream about reducing carbon output. Global Warming

•  The Fake History of the Depression The government faked the numbers. World War II spending didn't end the Great Depression. Depression, Economic Crisis

•  An Artwork Thought to Have Merit You never know what will please the critics. Art, Funny

•  Organic Pesticides Fail Safety Review That organic carrot doesn't look as good any more.
- -
03/30/09 - OpenMarket by Greg Conko
  The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has rejected 13 of 27 commonly used "organic" pesticides. Organic foods are thought to be "grown without pesticides." But, organic farmers use a variety of chemicals, including potentially dangerous substances such as copper sulfate, rotenone, and pyrethrum. Organic, Pesticides

•  Is There a Future for Business Schools? It took only one month to convert a doctor into a business consultant Business, Economics

•  Dispelling the Global Warming Myth The atmosphere warms and cools because of solar output, not carbon dioxide Global Warming

•  Cause of the Financial Crisis: Left vs Right A discussion about the financial crisis, choose your side Economic Crisis

•  Cargo Cult Economics The government sees spending and prosperity, and decides wrongly that spending causes prosperity
 I get it. People use umbrellas when it rains, so using umbrellas causes it to rain. Obama, Government, Economic Crisis, Stimulus, Best

•  Obama and God Obama has an ongoing conversation with God Obama

•  The Revolutionaries Ayers, Dohrn, and Rudd Together, they set bombs for a better world. Bill Ayers

•  Energy Can't Get Here From There No coal or nuclear plants, no transmission lines, just turn down your thermostat. Energy

•  Begging for Socialized Medical Care Does your socialized hospital have enough budget to care for you? Canada, Healthcare

•  The Policies of Bush -- I mean Obama Does not a rose by any other name still smell as sweet? Obama, Sarcasm

•  Obama Thanks Himself Reading Teleprompter Retraction: Obama made a sophisticated joke, not a gaffe. Obama, Politics, Funny

•  The Godfather's White House Is Obama basing his administration on 'The Godfather'? Obama

•  Regulatory Costs 4,000 new regulations each year cost $trillions. Government, Regulation

•  A Close Look at the Business Bailouts John Stossel of 20/20 examines the bailouts (video). Financial Crisis, Stimulus

•  The Bank's Mistake was Trusting the Government Banks trusted the work of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Thus, the financial crisis. Financial Crisis

•  Using Inflation to Fool People Ha ha. Keynesian economists hope that inflation will fool people into working harder. Economics, Keynes

•  Publicly Challenge Politicians Talk to politicians publicly, not one-on-one. Global Warming, Politics

•  Obama Team: No Nuclear Energy Current waste storage sites are cancelled. Obama, Energy

•  The Government Bailout IS the Problem The government is scaring the market into a freeze. Business won't invest in an unknown regulatory environment. Economics, Stimulus

•  Housing Crisis in a Nutshell Easy loans and old analysis fueled the market. Financial Crisis, Stimulus

•  Obama is a Gifted Talker Obama's words impress people. Reality is not persuaded. Obama

•  Government vs The Market Government intervention is causing the pain, not the market. Government, Free Market

•  Tolerance, Muslim-Style The Islamic republic of Chechnya, Russia, encourages honor killings. Islam, Russia

•  A Revolutionary States the Essence of Law Thomas Jefferson proposes the limits to written law Government, Law

•  The Department of GDP The government spends your money so that you don't have to GDP, Stimulus, Satire, Best

•  No Need For Earmarks Congress doesn't need to include earmarks when they can make phone calls Earmarks, Stimulus

•  SEC Workers Explain Failure They say that they don't have the resources to find fraud Scam, Government, Regulation

•  They're Throwing a Party What financial crisis? Congress is throwing a party Stimulus

•  Political Truth in Labelling Three Democrats call themselves Republicans Politics, Stimulus

•  A Tested Stimulus Plan The financial crisis is the result of the last stimulus plan Obama, Stimulus

•  Rewarding Bank Management for Failure They are corrupt, self-serving, and incompetent. Rather than firing them, we are cutting their salaries to $500K plus stock options Economic Crisis, Stimulus

•  Selling Burned-Out Lightbulbs The market finds a way to distribute light bulbs in Russia Free Market

•  Let's Counterfeit Our Way to Wealth If you believe the Obama team, then counterfeiting would make us rich Obama, Economics, Stimulus, Best

•  Keynes Likes Totalitarians Econimist John Keynes said his economic theory would work best under totalitarian government. Economics, Keynes

•  Why Should I Believe You? Trust seems to be tribal, not intellectual. Belief, Psychology

•  The Hamas - Israel War What each side does when fighting. Middle East, Israel, Hamas

•  You will pay, along with the Rich You will pay for big government with unemployment and high prices. Taxes, Stimulus

•  I Won't Do the Paying The Rich have options. They won't work hard to pay high taxes. Taxes, Stimulus

•  Politicians Like Thoreau They like his quiet observations and ignore his tax protests. Obama, Government

•  Obama Challenges Us He challenges us to follow his plans and requirements. Obama, Government

•  Iran Might Stop Killing Brits We'll stop killing you if you let us develop nuclear weapons. Diplomacy, Iran

•  The Solution Is Simple Many people think they could solve all the problems if they were in charge. Obama, Government, Solutions

•  Where Did Barbers Go? They were regulated and trained out of business. Regulation

•  Nurse Practitioners They are inexpensive, friendly, and can't help you much. Healthcare

•  Elevator Lawsuit Safety We don't unlock the escape door because you might sue us. Law, Funny

•  Medicare Witch Hunt They will eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse by eliminating doctors. Healthcare

•  Delayed Medical Tests Your doctor isn't allowed to do his own lab tests. Will three days be OK? Healthcare

•  AGW Scientists Can't Predict When you understand, you can predict. Global Warming scientists can't predict. Science, Global Warming

•  No Sports Economic Multiplier Government subsidy of commercial sports teams does not benefit their towns. Stimulus, Economic Multiplier

•  Teleprompter President Obama is a fine orator, with a teleprompter and an ear bug. Obama

•  Stimulus and Terpentine Stimulus spending will make us rich. If we are becoming poorer, we are obviously not spending enough. Stimulus

•  No Effect On Unemployment Spending during the Great Depression did not produce lasting employment. Stimulus

•  Obama Praises Lincoln He thanks Lincoln for making Obama possible. Obama

•  Charming the Barbarians They won't want to harm us when they know how friendly we are. Diplomacy, Obama, Freedom

•  Trusted Public Bicycles Paris supplied bicycles on the honor system. Transportation, Utopia, Government Programs

•  Audacity to Do Nothing Who built the economy? Not politicians. They should get out of the way. Government, Economics, Stimulus

•  Non-Union Businesses Grow Faster Union activities slow the growth of businesses and jobs. Unions, Jobs

•  Survive "Obama Care" How to survive medical problems under socialized health care. Healthcare, Obama, Stimulus

•  Failure of the New Deal A planner of the New Deal testified that it didn't work. New Deal, Stimulus

•  Friedman On Greed Government is less greedy than business. Really? Milton Friedman, Capitalism

•  Obama's Feet of Clay We are quickly finding out about his feet. Obama, Spending

•  Spending Did Not Help Japan They spent a huge amount. It didn't help. Instead, it hurt. Economics, Stimulus

•  Will You Bet On Your Opinion? If you want to direct the economy, why won't you bet on it? Economics, Stimulus

•  We Don't Have Free Markets Government is and has been directing many things. Then, they blame the bad results on weak regulation. Financial Crisis, Regulation, Free Market

•  Leftist Arguments: A or B It depends on who they are talking to. Taxes, Politics

•  Democratic Trickle-Down Economics Democrats help the little guy by giving money to their connected friends. Obama, Stimulus

•  Che Guevara's Message He wanted youth to conform and individualism to disappear. Che Guevara

•  Benefits of Health Savings Accounts They benefit everyone, not just the rich.

•  Macroeconomics is Astrology, Not Science Frank J. Tipler is Professor of Mathematical Physics at Tulane University.
  [edited excerpt] "Our leaders are being advised by macroeconomists who haven’t got a clue where they are leading us. Their actions may lead us out of the current recession, or they may lead us into a depression as bad as the Great Depression."
  "Science is about prediction and precise explanation. It is not enough to construct a different explanation about each past event. Science must produce a consistent, precise explanation for all of the relevant past events."
  AMG: The economists advising our government can't predict anything. They might as well be plumbers. Macro Economics, Stimulus, Recession, Depression

•  Interrogation, Torture, and Rendition The possibility of torture saves lives in war. Interrogation, Rendition, Torture

•  Embarrassing Claims About Global Warming James Hansen has embarrassed NASA with his unsupported claims. Global Warming

•  Man Made Global Warming Science Fraud Global Warming 'scientists' do not meet scientific standards for being open, careful, and honest. Global Warming

•  Global Warming in 1000 Years Scientist: Global temperature has risen. It won't fall for 1000 years. Or go up. Global Warming

•  Too Many Federal Laws Five years and a $5000 fine for everything. Law

•  UV Radiation from Compact Fluorescent Lights 01/23/09 - EasyOpinions CFL

•  Modern Law Makes Us Powerless If it is new, it is probably illegal. Law

•  An Hystoricle Day Government will help us through the recession by making it longer. That is hysterical, not historical. Government, Stimulus

•  Fake Cashier's Checks They are just like a bad personal check. You will have to give back the money two weeks later. Scam

•  Child care loopholes for easy money I'll watch your kids and you'll watch mine. The state will pay us. Scam

•  Safe, But Also Sorry Children should not fear adults in an emergency. Security

•  Interrogation Rules Interrogation is limited to the techniques allowed to the footsoldier. "Pretty please will you tell us where the bomb is?" Interrogation, Obama

•  Obama: Responsible Talk, Irresponsible Walk The era of responsibility starts with making it up as he goes along. Obama, Stimulus

•  Good/Bad News on Parenting Children grow up to be themselves, no matter what you do. Parenting

•  Geithner and SE Tax He was informed in writing to pay his tax, but didn't. Government, Stimulus

•  Predicting Doom is Illegal Being too negative in S.Korea is a crime. Speech

•  We Don't Raise Our Hands With Obama Obama doesn't like the wrong questions from the press. Obama

•  The Economy is Not a Machine Want to fix the economy? It isn't in any one place. Stimulus

•  Pelosi-Obama-Reid Economy Productive people will not work for corrupt politicians. Stimulus

•  War Between the Sexes I want to be liked for my personality. Sexes, Humor

•  Stimulus Boondoggle Enjoy the view of the new roads and bridges. And, that is the good part. Stimulus

•  Job Creation - Elevators We could have 500,000 new elevator operators. Stimulus

•  People Versus Politicians Loopholes for sale. Politics

•  Islamic Cultural Identity Firing rockets is in their blood. Terrorism

•  Civil Disobedience via CFL Bring compact fluorescent lights to your legislator. They are otherwise hard to get rid of. CFL

•  Pelosi to Silence the Republicans They can't stop her legislation, so why should she listen to them? Politics

•  Carbon Dioxide Does Not Drive Climate Even if there is more, it can't absorb much more heat. Global Warming

•  Crisis Hysteria Markets will adapt, but they need some time. Free Market

•  Stop the Death from Quilts and Food Thousands of small businesses that sell children's items are now regulated out of business. If this is good, then we should regulate home kitchens as causing even more death and disease Government, Regulation, Satire

•  Musical Chairs - Stimulus Style When the economic music of the stimulus stops, all the chairs will be removed at once Stimulus

•  Global Warming Caused by Humans is a Scam The proponents of Global Warming don't mind lying for the good of us all Scam, Science, Global Warming

•  Have Wages Been Flat? Wages have gone up, but mostly in untaxed fringe benefits Healthcare, Economics, Salary

•  Jefferson Warns about Debt: Discussion Debt can ruin the country: a discussion Debt, Discussion

•  Thomas Jefferson Warns Us About Debt Thomas Jefferson warned that debt can ruin a country Debt, Tax

•  The Real Tax Burden The real tax burden is what government spends, not just the deficit Deficit, Obama, Spending, Tax

•  USA Healthcare is First - Infant Mortality is Low US healthcare is best in the world. The bad statistics are carefully chosen to contradict this for political reasons Infant Mortality, Healthcare

•  Scam: Telemarketers with No Number or Location How to fight the robot-call scam artists Scam

•  Write the Rating Agencies Out of Our Law The financial ratings agencies misled investors. They should not be supported and promoted by government Economic Crisis

•  Ponzi Schemes Like Social Security Social security is a Ponzi scheme. Current withdrawals are funded by current contributions. There are no investments to pay off the current investors Social Security, Ponzi

•  They pretend to pay - We pretend to treat The government is cutting the cost of healthcare by refusing to pay hospitals. Healthcare

•  I Pledge to Obama Obama inspires celebrities to work for a better world (satire). Obama, Funny

•  Censored medical records The law protects your privacy. Your doctor can't see all of your medical history. Healthcare

•  No one can make a pencil It is the result of 100 years of practical research and cooperation. Free Market

•  Tennessee Sludge Spill, Government Disaster Government ignored safety to save money. Government

•  Self defense and security Her parents died because she couldn't carry her gun into the restaurant. Guns

•  Dirty Secrets of College Admissions Admissions are arbitrary at top schools. There are so many applicants. College

•  Diplomacy and Terrorism Talk doesn't work. Either they win or we win. Terrorism

» The Deadweight Loss of Taxes Politician:  Let's have higher taxes.
Worker:  I hope it's for something important.
- -
12/29/08 - EasyOpinions
  Raising taxes on anyone, especially the rich, lowers production in the U.S., and so lowers the number and pay levels of jobs. It is ironic that taxing the rich has the same effect as taxing the middle class. It makes everyone poorer, a lot poorer. TheBest, Tax

» The Bernie Madoff I Knew Bernie was called "the Jewish T-bill" because he always returned 10%, rain or shine.
- -
12/26/08 - EasyOpinions
  "Bernie was very charming and low key. He grudgingly admitted using a split conversion strategy of put and call options. I was puzzled by his opacity, and uncomfortable when he said that I was lucky he allowed me to invest with him." It was all a scam. Scam, Bernie Madoff

•  The Law is Going from Bad to Worse Defense:  The law is on my side.
Prosecution:  No, the law is on my side.
Judge:  Actually, the law is on my side.
- -
12/26/08 - EasyOpinions -> Econlog.Econlib by Bryan Caplan
  Caplan: The law is a shockingly phony discipline. Virtually everyone imagines that the law agrees with what they favor on non-legal grounds. Almost no one admits that many or most laws are so vague that there is no "fact of the matter" about what they mean. Law

•  Obama's Secretary of Earmarks 12/26/08 - EasyOpinions Earmarks, Government, Obama

•  The UAW Reneges 12/26/08 - EasyOpinions Autos, Bailout

•  What Caused Unemployment in the Great Depression? 12/25/08 - EasyOpinions Economic Crisis, Great Depression, Jobs, Stimulus

» Government Efficiency - Subway We'll make it work, somehow.
- -
12/24/08 - Failblog
  The Japanese make efficient use of transportation resources in this video clip. Efficiency, Humor, Video

•  Why College Is A Waste Of Money 12/24/08 - EasyOpinions College, Education

•  NYT Won't Run Op-Ed Criticising Bill Ayers 12/23/08 - EasyOpinions Bill Ayers, Obama, Politics

» Don't Believe Pundits When you step on an ant hill, the ants aren't better off because they have been put to work.
- -
12/22/08 - EasyOpinions
  People propose policies without thought of the consequences or any examination of likely causes. When the government applies some policy that interferes with people's lives and businesses, officials point proudly at all of the increased activity. They ignore the damage that this activity is aimed at correcting. Economics, Jobs

» The Brains of TSA Executive:  I was always a big picture guy, better at management than field work.
- -
12/21/08 - EasyOpinions
  A story about a barbeque event, responding to customers, and a panicked request by a high-level manager at a logistics firm. That manager went on to run the Transportation Security Administration for the US Government. Funny, Government

» Bailing Out Auto Makers Without Conditions Govt:  Just a little something to tide you over?
GM:  Uh, yeah. We have union employees. They contribute and vote.
Govt:  OK. Here's $15 billion. Tell us if you need more.
- -
12/20/08 - EasyOpinions
  President Bush is lending the last $15 billion of the $350 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) [the first one] to keep GM and Chrysler afloat through Obama's inauguration. Bailing out nonfinancial companies is a bad precedent. Democrats will use it to give the next $350 billion to mortgage holders, states, cities, and anyone with political clout. [it happened] Autos, Bailout

» Five Holiday Health Myths Debunked The holidays are great, if you survive.
- -
12/19/08 - EasyOpinions
  The British Medical Journal cites five fears that can officially be crossed off the holiday worry list.
- Sugar makes kids hyperactive.
- Suicides increase over the holidays.
- Poinsettias are toxic.
- You lose most of your body heat through your head.
- Eating at night makes you fat. Health Myths

•  The Psychology of Investment Bubbles Jim:  I bought XZyme because you recommended it.
John:  I bought some too, because I thought you recommended it.
- -
12/18/08 - EasyOpinions -> The Atlantic by Virginia Postrel
  A rise in price above a reasonable value (a price bubble), followed by a fall back to that value (a crash), seems to be a part of psychology rather than bad mathematics. Maybe you can avoid losing in the next bubble. Economics, Psychology

» Expanding Posts in Blogger CSS for Blogger
- -
12/16/08 - EasyOpinions
  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.
  My approach allows for individual preferences. You can have anything on the mainpage, followed by anything on the postpage. Blog Technical

•  Low Productivity Sinks Detroit Auto Makers The work rules don't say that I actually have to work.
- -
12/16/08 - EasyOpinions -> PajamasMedia by Rand Simberg
  Simberg [edited]: Work rules are the biggest reason that General Motors is uncompetitive, more so than high wages. These agreements determine employee classification, how many breaks, how much time off, who can do which jobs, enforcement of discipline, etc. The goal is not more productivity or quality, but to increase the number of (overpaid) jobs for union workers, and to minimize actual work.
  It is possible that the industry could make money even at current wages, if it had production flexibility.
  Lori Roman [edited]: To put it bluntly, the UAW takes the hard-earned money of the best workers and spends it defending the very worst workers. It ties up the industry with thousands of pages of work rules that make it impossible to be competitive. Spineless management often makes short-sighted decisions to satisfy the union and maximize immediate benefits, instead of long-term sustainability. Autos

» Bad Statistics From the UK Jim:  I need some statistics for my presentation. John:  I'll find something that supports you, somewhere.
- -
12/14/08 - EasyOpinions
  Britain released “premature, irregular, and selective” statistics on knife crime. Questions to ask of a government defending its actions and expenditures. Do the statistics mean anything? Government, Statistics

•  Political Contributions for Medicare Reimbursement... 12/14/08 - EasyOpinions Healthcare, Politics

•  Investing with Bernie Madoff I can't tell you what we're doing. Frankly, it is just a bit illegal. I promise you will make a lot of money from your investment.
- -
12/12/08 - EasyOpinions
How Madoff fooled his sophisticated investors.
  People see that their associate is hiding information and telling each group something different. They assume that the associate is crooked in some way, but not toward themselves. They don't worry about consistency or transparency, because they accept that the crooked part requires secrecy. They assume that the crook is smarter than everyone else because he hasn't been caught, and so they trust him even more, and admire him for his willingness to take risks.
  This crazy thinking is widespread in business and politics. Regulation, Scam

•  More Text Entry Than Medical Care 12/12/08 - EasyOpinions Healthcare

•  Support the Big Three and Lose Something Else 12/09/08 - EasyOpinions Autos, Bailout, Economics

» Canada's Healthcare Has Hidden Costs If you can last long enough, healthcare is free. Next, we will work on lowering taxes.
- -
12/07/08 - EasyOpinions
  1993: Canadians waited 9.3 weeks for treatment by a specialist. 2006: 17.8 weeks, almost twice what is clinically reasonable.
  Canada's Supreme Court wrote in 2005: "Access to a waiting list is not the same thing as access to health care", striking down single-payer healthcare in one Canadian province. Healthcare

•  Politicians Are Not Business Experts 12/06/08 - EasyOpinions Bailout, Economics, Politics

•  Government Does Not Create Jobs Small Business:  I can't get a loan to expand.
Government:  That's strange. I just borrowed $100 billion.
- -
12/05/08 - EasyOpinions -> Cato Institute by Daniel J. Mitchell
  Stimulus spending only seems to create jobs, until you consider the jobs that are destroyed by collecting the tax or borrowing the resources that private businesses could have used. Plus, great comments. (M) Create a million jobs? Ban automatic elevators. :) Economics, Government

•  Government Sets Up the Next Bust It is such a cute giant bank, it's paw is hurt, and it needs our help.
- -
12/03/08 - EasyOpinions -> TownHall by John Stossel
  Why are we bailing out Citibank? Why are 300 million Americans paying for Citibank's mistakes?
  Consider how the the system is supposed to work. People fail, competent people take over assets from the failed people, and then they start again with a new stronger base. Economics, Government

•  Freedom or Required Community Service "Other people are free when they can do things that you don't approve of, and you are free only when you can do things that others don't approve of."
- -
12/02/08 - EasyOpinions -> HumanEvents by Thomas Sowell
  "One of the most innocent-sounding visions of the Left is that students do "community service". You cannot graduate from some high schools or be accepted at some colleges, unless you have done activities arbitrarily defined as "community service."
  Schools arrogantly commandeer young people, not leaving them and their parents free to best use their time. They see your notions as arrogant, as to what is or is not a service to the community. Community Service, Politics

•  Less Free than 40 Years Ago Government:  We are increasing regulation and taxes only on businesses. You remain free and untaxed.
Citizen:  And, without a job.
- -
12/02/08 - EasyOpinions -> ChicagoBoyz by Shannon Love
  Restricting the freedom of economically creative people ultimately restricts the freedoms of everyone. If the State controls your access to food, shelter, medical care, transportation, and information, then the State controls you. All modern tyrannies began with economic control, then used that power to suppress other freedoms. Economics, Government

•  One Eye Fixed and Dilated 12/02/08 - EasyOpinions Funny, Medical

•  State Pensions are Way Underfunded 12/02/08 - EasyOpinions Government, Pensions

•  The AIG Junket Fable When the government owns the operation, they will blame you for winning sales awards Bailout

•  Keynes, Digger of Holes Government loves the economic theories of John Manard Keynes. He recommended becoming rich by digging and filling holes Obama, Economic Crisis, Stimulus, Keynes

•  H.L.Mencken on politicians He didn't give them compliments. Government

•  Effect of torture on morale It decreases US effectiveness. Terrorism

•  Page Tracking a Blog Using Google Analytics 11/30/08 - EasyOpinions Blog Technical

•  Politicians and CEO Pay 11/29/08 - EasyOpinions Economics, Politics

•  Reject Medicare and Lose Social Security 11/29/08 - EasyOpinions Healthcare

•  Men with Flu Get Five Minutes of Sympathy 11/27/08 - EasyOpinions Marriage, Psychology

» A Car Wreck Made in Washington This is a union shop. Employment, not profit.
- -
11/26/08 - EasyOpinions
  Ford and GM run profitable auto businesses all over the world, but not in the U.S., because the United Auto Workers union (UAW) is present only here.
  Congress's CAFE fuel-economy rules, not labor law, have been the biggest factor in preserving the UAW's power. CAFE effectively requires the Big Three automakers to lose tens of billions making small cars in UAW organized factories. CAFE prevents the Big Three from importing small cars or saving money by moving some production overseas. Autos, Government, Unions

•  A Short Argument Against Stimulus 11/23/08 - EasyOpinions Economics, Stimulus

» Brussels, The Cucumber, and Deregulation We in government use our regulatory power wisely for the benefit of the people.
- -
11/22/08 - EasyOpinions
  Mariann Fischer Boel is the European Union Commissioner for agriculture and rural development. She says "It's a new dawn" in Brussels. Next July, the EU will lift regulations dictating the size and shape of 26 fruits and vegetables. Curvy cucumbers will become legal. Bureaucracy, Funny

•  The U.S. Needs Modern Nuclear Weapons 11/21/08 - EasyOpinions Military

•  Stock Market Rules Do the Unexpected 11/20/08 - EasyOpinions Bureaucracy, Government

» Economics in One Lesson: The Lesson Economic planning should consider the effects of policy on all groups, not just some groups, and what those effects will be in the long run, not just the short run. That's it. That's the lesson.
- -
11/19/08 - EasyOpinions
  So, you don't know anything about economics? That is why you let politicians ruin the economy and steal from your future. No excuse -- Henry Hazlitt's plain, short, and important book is free online. Short chapters cover all the details. Economics

•  Priorities in Healthcare per Healthcare CEOs 11/19/08 - EasyOpinions Healthcare

•  We Can Learn From The Savings And Loan Crisis 11/19/08 - EasyOpinions Bailout, Economics

•  Woohoo! Free Hamburgers! With Bacteria 11/18/08 - EasyOpinions Healthcare

•  Franken Sues Again For Votes Of course I'm registered. I do that at each polling place before I vote.
- -
11/17/08 - EasyOpinions -> PowerLineBlog by John Hinderaker
  "The real problem in our elections is not the tiny handful of ballots that might be incorrectly rejected, it is the much larger number that are cast illegally. This year, around 25 percent of all the ballots cast in Hennepin County, where Minneapolis is located, were by voters who registered at the polls." Politics

•  The Sperm-Supply Problem 11/17/08 - EasyOpinions Economics, Funny

•  How dare they limit their patients clients! Doctor:  I saw 50 patients today.
Admin:  You met your quota. The really sick ones will probably come back again tomorrow, if they can get an appointment.
- -
11/16/08 - EasyOpinions -> OhioSurgery by Jeffrey Parks MD
  Public defenders are suing to limit the number of cases they take on. The quality of their legal representation is compromised by the current, overwhelming workload. They provide a necessary and free service to the community. They want to deliver that service on their own terms.
  Does that remind you of doctors? If public defenders and primary care doctors were better paid, the quality of work they provide might be better and overall cheaper. Healthcare

•  Health Insurance is Not Health Care Fred:  Why is healthcare so expensive?
Insurance:  I'm glad you asked ...
Government:  Remember, we regulate you.
Insurance:  Uh, we don't know. We just pay for it.
- -
11/15/08 - EasyOpinions -> InsureBlog by Mike Feehan
  The cost of health insurance is rising to cover the rising costs of health care that is the deeper problem. Government increases healthcare costs by including the services of politically influential providers like accupuncture and chiropracty, and by shifting the costs of its promises onto the insured as a hidden tax. Healthcare, Insurance

•  Why Spending Stimulus Plans Fail 11/14/08 - EasyOpinions Economics, Stimulus

•  The Historical Lessons of Lower Tax Rates Gov't:  We'll raise taxes on The Rich until it hurts.
Common Man:  Ouch! What was that?
- -
11/13/08 - EasyOpinions -> Heritage Foundation by Daniel J. Mitchell, Ph.D.
  Lower taxes increase economic growth, living standards, tax revenues, and the portion of taxes paid by the rich.
  Higher taxes accompany lower economic growth and stagnant tax revenues.
  Class-warfare politicians pragmatically should support lower tax rates. When politicians “soak the rich,” the rest of us take a bath. Economics, Tax

•  Sponsoring Recklessness at Fannie Mae 11/13/08 - EasyOpinions Bailout, Government

» Cameron's UK Tax Con Jim:  A tax break for those who vote for me.
Mike:  At least that is direct and efficient.
- -
11/11/08 - EasyOpinions
  Politicians want credit for creating jobs, and will waste resources to claim that credit, especially when the waste is hidden. It doesn't matter if jobs are actually created.
  The Tories (British conservatives) propose a tax credit for hiring a worker who has been unemployed for three months. They claim this will create 350,000 new jobs, and will pay for itself by saving unemployment benefits.
  This ignores the enormous deadweight costs. Hundred-thousands of jobs are created every year even in declining industries or in recessions. The tax breaks would mostly go for hiring that would be done anyway. Tax

•  Warren Buffett and the Estate Tax 11/11/08 - EasyOpinions Tax

» Children's Volunteer Community Service So, volunteering is now a requirement?
- -
11/10/08 - EasyOpinions
  Parents are working two jobs to put food on the table, and don't even have time to help with homework, but now they will be required to transport their kids to additional commitments.
  Community service is integral to our society. Go ahead and enourage community service, provide information about opportunities, but don't require it. Community Service, Education

» Disaster Resistant Energy Pundit:  I envision a world of clean, cheap wind power supplying most of our needs.
Citizen:  What if the wind doesn't blow?
- -
11/10/08 - EasyOpinions
  The Texas wind stopped blowing on 02/26/08. The loss of wind generated electricity forced operators to cut off power to businesses who had their own generators. Private, diesel powered backup generators started all across the state to take up the slack.
  In the future, will even small businesses and households need fossil fuel backup generators to handle such outages? If 10% or more of electric generation is from wind, will such backup even be possible? Energy

•  Specially Built Autos 11/10/08 - EasyOpinions Autos, Bailout

•  Monty Python: Mr. Creosote 11/09/08 - EasyOpinions TheBest, Humor, Video

•  Nonprofit Eatery Doesn't Bring Home Bacon 11/09/08 - EasyOpinions Business

•  The Radiology of Competitive Speed Eating 11/09/08 - EasyOpinions Life, Medicine

•  Stimulus Does Not Cure a Recession 11/08/08 - EasyOpinions Economics, Recession, Stimulus

•  Universal Care Run Amok 11/08/08 - EasyOpinions Healthcare

» UK Applies Anti-Terror Law Government is serious and moderate. It can be trusted with power. :-)
- -
11/07/08 - Schneier on Security
  Half of town halls in Britain use anti-terror laws to spy on families. They put surveilance cameras in tin cans, on lamp posts, and in the homes of 'friendly' residents, to catch households who put their rubbish out a day early. Funny, Bureaucracy, Security

•  The Political Dictionary 11/07/08 - EasyOpinions TheBest, Humor, Political Dictionary, Politics

•  Three Good Things About the 2008 Election 11/05/08 - EasyOpinions Politics

•  Why McCain Lost 11/05/08 - EasyOpinions McCain, Politics

•  Technology Reduces College Costs, But Tuition Goes... 11/01/08 - EasyOpinions College

•  What Do Obama's Statements Mean? 11/01/08 - EasyOpinions Obama

•  A British Political Arrest The British government bends the law to arrest a critic. Speech

» Don't Just Do Something. Stand There If we don't do something big, the public might think that we are useless.
- -
10/31/08 - EasyOpinions -> WSJ.com by Russell Roberts
  The current financial crisis is similar to the government panic of 1932. The economy was weakening, and Herbert Hoover was doing everything and anything to change the situation, with disastrous results. What should the government do today? Economic Crisis

» Don't want higher taxes? Obama thinks you're selfish. We in government are professionals.
Leave the spending to us.
- -
10/31/08 - Jim Treacher
  Treacher: Seriously. Obama is saying that you should be ashamed of yourself if you want to spend your own money. (M)10/31/08 - Hot Air by Ed Morrissey
  Morrissey (summary):  The Left believes that charity is only possible through the government, by redirecting private funds. People who don’t want higher taxes are somehow selfish.
  Obama gives his economic and social philosophy in one paragraph (summary):  When everyone can afford college, has decent health care, and more money at the end of the month, then they can buy products, and everybody is better off. All boats rise. We need to restore what happened in the 1990's. That’s what I’m gonna do as President.
  AMG: The flaw? Obama will take that money from others, who don't get to spend or invest it. Obama, Tax

•  Otto the octopus wreaks havoc 10/31/08 - EasyOpinions Humor, Life

•  Government Action Delays Recovery Business:  We don't know what you are going to do.
Government:  Don't worry. We'll tell you as soon as we know ourselves.
- -
10/30/08 - EasyOpinions -> WSJ Opinion
  The power of government delays recovery. Enacting one arbitrary policy after another, moving this way and that, "solving" problems by directives, keeps private investment and productivity from making things better. Economics, Government

•  McCain's Health Proposal is Misunderstood 10/30/08 - EasyOpinions Healthcare, Politics

» Credit Rating Agencies Misled Investors Fred:  How should we rate these risky mortgage bonds, that Fannie Mae is buying?
Politician:  Fannie Mae buys only the best. Rate them AAA.
- -
10/29/08 - EasyOpinions
  Banks bought AAA rated (rock-solid) mortgage securities. The ratings were given by government-approved agencies. The actual risk was possibly 10 times higher.
  A part of EasyOpinions: We Guarantee It Economic Crisis

•  What Caused The Mortgage Crisis 10/29/08 - EasyOpinions Economic Crisis, Economics

•  The Tax Cut You May Have to Send Back 10/28/08 - EasyOpinions Economics, Tax

•  GMIP Regulation of Fannie and Freddie Make sure we print "Brought to you by Democrats" at the bottom of the loan documents.
- -
10/26/08 - EasyOpinions
  Great Moments in Politics. Creation of the policy that produced the housing crisis. Fictional but true. Politics

•  Pennsylvania Is Driving Its Doctors Away 10/25/08 - EasyOpinions Healthcare

•  More medical "never event" absurdity 10/24/08 - EasyOpinions Healthcare

•  My Book List 10/24/08 - EasyOpinions TheBest, Knowledge

•  Obama and the Tax Tipping Point 10/22/08 - EasyOpinions Obama, Tax

» The Best Promises Win Contractor:  You are going to be very happy with everything, a better job for half the cost. If you are unhappy for any reason, I'll come back and make it right.
Politician:  Don't kid a kidder. I'm in that sort of business myself.
- -
10/16/08 - EasyOpinions
  I learned my lesson about contractors. Ask for evaluations and find out why the bids are different. I wouldn't go for the low bid, or any bid, until I understood how they came to their number. Just talking to them helps a lot. If they won't talk, I won't buy -- low bid, high bid, or whatever.
  I want the same from politicians about their promises. Obama, Politics, Tax, Promises

•  Never Talk to the Police 10/15/08 - EasyOpinions TheBest, Law, Police, Video

•  The Supply Side Robin Hood 10/15/08 - EasyOpinions Economics, Tax

•  Obama's 95% Depends On the Meaning of Tax Cut 10/13/08 - EasyOpinions Obama, Tax

•  Tell Me About The Past 10/10/08 - EasyOpinions Politics

•  We Guarantee It 10/08/08 - EasyOpinions TheBest, Economic Crisis, Economics, Politics

» Does no insurance cause trauma? The dear departed drank, smoked, drove fast, gambled, and thoroughly enjoyed life. Sadly, he died from lack of insurance.
- -
10/06/08 - EasyOpinions
  A statistical review of medical records shows uninsured patients are more likely than insured patients to die in the hospital from trauma. That is interesting, but doesn't tell us what is going on. Two things may be related, but which causes which? Healthcare, Insurance

•  Poll - Politician IQ 10/04/08 - EasyOpinions Humor, Politics, Poll

•  Never Events 10/02/08 - EasyOpinions Healthcare

•  Strong Preferences 09/27/08 - EasyOpinions TheBest, Psychology

•  More Jokes in Politics 09/25/08 - EasyOpinions Politics

•  Public Tax Meeting 09/19/08 - EasyOpinions TheBest, Economics, Humor, Obama, Politics

•  Zero or Less Tax 09/19/08 - EasyOpinions Tax

» ER Medicine and Bureaucracy "Fill out yet another form; 'accredit' yourself to wipe shit on a card and see if it changes color; answer to clipboard carrying nurses if you don't fulfill your core measures; and on and on."
- -
09/11/08 - EasyOpinions -> M.D.O.D by 911Doc
  "EMTALA has killed the best medical system in the world, and why? Because some douchebag legislators thought that it would buy them votes (and they were right). I also know how to fix our mess, but, since I major in plain-talk, I will never be elected, nor will anyone who says this, and here it is." Healthcare, Obama

•  Politics of the Day 09/10/08 - EasyOpinions Politics

•  Gov. Palin: Top Ten Negative Stories Phone call to Wassila library interrupted operations. "Palin talked for half an hour", says librarian.
- -
09/08/08 - EasyOpinions
  Every negative about Sarah Palin's life is exposed, however humorous. Humor, Sarah Palin

•  I Heard the Rumor Jane:  I believe the TV. If they were lying, someone would sue them.
Jill:  You haven't sued your ex. Should I believe him?
- -
09/07/08 - EasyOpinions
  Where you found your "facts" is much more important than your opinion derived from the facts. Laugh at anyone who reports a juicy story without telling you where it came from.
  Only believe a fact that is "common knowledge" if you personally know it to be true. Ask yourself where you learned it. What is the citation for your own knowledge and belief? Politics, Sarah Palin

» 1 President + 1 Vice President = 1 President John Nance Garner IV ("Cactus Jack") was Speaker of the US House of Representatives (1931-33). He famously said the Vice President's job was "not worth a bucket of warm piss."
- -
08/25/08 - EasyOpinions
  The VP seems to matter because the public likes the idea of a "team" running the country. Two people in agreement are thought to be more stable than one person. In fact, the President jealously runs the show and makes all decisions. McCain, Obama, Politics, Vice President

» Econ 201: The Myth of the Economic Multiplier I paid $10 to have my lawn mowed. Thus, I created $40 in multiplied wealth. I just don't know where.
- -
08/02/08 - EasyOpinions
  Politicians and business owners often want to develop businesses using taxpayer money. The politicians may subsidize loans, give tax breaks, sell public land cheaply, buy private land for the project, build utility services and roads, and provide subsidies.
  They need justification for the public expense. A claimed economic multiplier helps them get the money.
  But, there is no multiplier. Their mistake: "When I give you $10, and you receive $10, that is $20 right there". I wish I were kidding. TheBest, Economics, Politics, Stimulus

•  College Is An Expensive IQ Test College has a monopoly on testing for intelligence. There is no proof that it efficiently trains for success.

•  Seduction and Politics 07/08/08 - EasyOpinions TheBest, Humor, Politics

•  No Price Gouging Here 07/04/08 - EasyOpinions Economics, Prices

•  Magic Power Mike:  We will run our cars on french fry oil.
Fred:  OK. I'll have 500 orders of french fries please, and the fry oil on the side.
- -
07/01/08 - EasyOpinions
  It is amazing that people trust the announcements of politicians more than the system of free investigation and discovery that has produced our technological world. Political strategies written on cocktail napkins are supposed to replace practical scientific knowledge and careful investment in productive energy technology.
  It all seems easy after it is done, but our technology and energy is the result of continuing effort by millions of people serving hundreds of millions of people. It has taken a long time and immense investment to create and combine all of the pieces to get the current results. TheBest, Green Energy

•  Teaching the Math Analogy 06/14/08 - EasyOpinions Education

•  Should the U.S. Be Talking to Iran, Syria, Hamas 06/10/08 - EasyOpinions Foreign Policy, Politics

•  Raising Grades 05/30/08 - EasyOpinions Education

•  How To Predict the Future Without Knowing Anything 05/27/08 - EasyOpinions TheBest, Scam, Stocks

•  A New Kind of Politics 05/19/08 - EasyOpinions Politics

•  A Political Speech: Troubling Times 05/05/08 - EasyOpinions Humor, Political Speeches, Politics

» Confused Liability Produces Bad Policy We are all glad that you aren't hurt. Our lawyers advise us to fire you.
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04/26/08 - EasyOpinions
  A pizza delivery man for Pizza Hut recently used his own gun to defend himself. He was not charged. The police confirmed that he was defending himself. He was later fired by Pizza Hut for carrying a gun against company policy. Pizza Hut was not heartless and stupid, just following incentives created by the courts. Law

•  Is Obama Guilty by Association? I'm not a crook because I associate with crooks. I'm a politician.
- -
04/26/08 - EasyOpinions
  Mr. Obama presents himself as a man of ideas and belief. Shall we understand that he cares nothing about the history, ideas, and beliefs of his close associates? I do not think that he, Pastor Wright, self proclaimed bomber Bill Ayers, and terrorist fund-raiser Dr. Hatem El-Hady form a personal debating society where Mr. Obama argues one position and they argue the other side. Obama, Politics

•  Undocumented Employee Benefit 04/22/08 - EasyOpinions Tax

» The CFL Advertising Account Mike:  Buy 10 CFL's and save $750. Get rich!
Techno:  Yeah, if you don't turn them off.
- -
04/19/08 - EasyOpinions
  The good and bad about compact fluorescent lights. Why the ads are both true and false. How to save and waste money on CFL's TheBest, CFL, Energy

•  Why Doesn't Obama Renounce His Bigoted Church? 03/29/08 - EasyOpinions Obama, Politics

•  A Political Speech: Coming Together 03/28/08 - EasyOpinions Humor, Political Speeches, Politics

•  A Political Speech: My Policies 03/28/08 - EasyOpinions Humor, Political Speeches, Politics

•  TPM: Secret Political Manual Discovered 03/01/08 - EasyOpinions TheBest, Political Manual, Politics

•  TPM: Adequate Compensation 03/01/08 - EasyOpinions Political Manual, Politics

•  TPM: Introduction 03/01/08 - EasyOpinions Political Manual, Politics

•  TPM: Taking Positions 03/01/08 - EasyOpinions Political Manual, Politics

•  TPM: Talk At Your Own Risk 03/01/08 - EasyOpinions Political Manual, Politics

•  Terms of Use and Disclaimer 02/28/08 - EasyOpinions Terms of Use

•  Post List Details 02/28/02 - EasyOpinions Blog Post List Details

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Leading The People

If You Don't Agree Now, You Will Later

The University of Chicago was an intellectual school in 1967 (probably still is), and it had a diversity of students, I among them. Most students were liberal or very liberal; some were aspiring revolutionaries. I had read a little and liked limited government, freedom to start a business, and personal freedom. I doubted that a more powerful government was going to change the world in any good way. This made me a "conservative" in most discussions.

I have a clear memory of the end of one discussion. I was talking to one of the radical guys in my dormitory, call him Brad. He argued that only a radical change in government would bring about a better society. I disagreed. He said that I should join the demonstrations against the University to end the Vietnam war. I thought a sit-in demonstration against the University was misdirected. I suggested the he should demonstrate against the government; the University was not at war.

Read more ...

He said that his movement would become stronger, and eventually I would agree with him. I asked, what if I didn't agree with him, even later? He flashed anger and told me that if I didn't agree on my own, he would make me agree. I saw that as the end of the discussion.

I thought of this conversation when I saw Jonah Goldberg's post of 08/26/08 at National Review (via Instapundit) about the radical bombers Ayers & Dohrn. Goldberg wrote:

[edited]  I am amazed, simply amazed, at the amazement of many liberals that Ayers and Dohrn should matter to anyone. Well, it seems puzzlement over the inability of others to get over this stuff extended to Dohrn herself. Fast-forward to 1993. In a predictably sympathetic profile in the New York Times, Dohrn said: "I was shocked at the anger toward me."

People like Brad, Ayers, and Dohrn won't take No for an answer. Their self confidence and superior intellect (smile) tell them that they have the right answer for whatever problem they are interested in. They are better than the people who don't agree with them, and they don't mind using force when they can't get agreement.

Brad admitted that he would eventually force me to do things his way. Ayers and Dohrn knew that their cause justified blowing up their opponents. Dohrn does not understand what all the fuss is about; she only followed the path that she thought was right as a soldier for the good.

Jonah Goldberg referred to some liberals who sympathized with Ayers and Dohrn. Those liberals understand that a vision of change may require coercion. They sympathize that Ayers and Dohrn were admirable in their goals and their willingness to take risks. Bombing was just a bit enthusiastic.

People like Brad propose solutions with the same general theme:

• They have a solution that will work if we would only stop arguing and agree with them.
• They may need to omit some information about the new arrangements and what these will cost. They observe that ordinary people do not think well enough to make decisions in their own long-term best interest. Dissenters are either uninformed or selfish.
• There is no need to argue about the specific meanings of words. The good of the society justifies telling some lies, if it comes to that.
• They do not limit themselves to offering another possibility. They reorganize everything into a comprehensive new system, breaking the existing relationships between people and defining a new set of relationships described by charts, graphs, committees, and regulations. It is an awesome task that keeps many of them at work in the bureaucracy.
• They are best qualified by superior education and intellect to implement the solution.
• The solution requires that we all pitch in and not be greedy. The people with the most resources will put their extra income or property into the pot.
• There must be complete cooperation. Alternate solutions go against the community spirit, and these are elitist and illegal.
• There will be severe penalties for non-compliance. All good people will want to comply.
• If there are not enough resources to pay people for their work according to the solution, then those people with the appropriate knowledge and experience will contribute some of their effort for free. Whatever it takes for success.
• They will modify or replace the solution if it doesn't work. They will design a new solution the same way they designed the first solution, through thought, research, and discussion among themselves. Further solutions may require more resources.
• Providers within the solution will be monitored, measured, and adjusted to achieve best practice and efficiency. Daily records and monthly reports will assure that providers are in compliance and are delivering the highest quality services. Payment will be based on written quality measures.

This may seem exaggerated, but it has happened in many areas of American life. It is halfway accomplished in healthcareBy board certified Emergency Medicine Physician 911DOC, with disastrous results.

Brad's Friends want to be elected, then use that power to make your life better, and you better, whether you agree or not. Brad's Friends are not motivated by respect for their fellow citizens or a regard for the truth. They want to produce a grand experiment to make a better world. Eventually, they will make you agree with them.

The Man of System

Adam SmithBiograph.com  (1723-1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher. His book The Wealth of Nations details the first system of political economy and is considered the bible of capitalism.

Smith’s  The Theory of Moral SentimentsLibertarianism.org  includes this observation of two ways of seeing the world. Smith appreciated the natural and harmonious view of spontaneous order. But, the “man of system” sees society as something he can manipulate “easy as the hand arranges pieces upon a chess-board.”

[edited to modern usage]:  The man whose public spirit is prompted altogether by humanity and benevolence will respect the established powers and privileges of individuals. He will respect even more the great orders and societies into which the state is divided.

He may consider some of those privileges as partly abusive. But, he will be content to moderate what he cannot eliminate without great violence. When he cannot conquer the prejudices of the people by reason and persuasion, he will not attempt to subdue them by force. He will observe the advice of Plato never to use violence to his country no more than to his parents.

He will accommodate his public arrangements to the confirmed habits and prejudices of the people, as well as he can. When he cannot establish what is right, he will not disdain to reduce the wrong. When he cannot establish the best system of laws, he will work to establish the best that the people can bear.

The man of system, to the contrary, is apt to be very wise in his own conceit. He is often so in love with the supposed beauty of his plan that he cannot allow the smallest deviation. He establishes it completely and in detail without any regard to the interests and prejudices which may oppose it. He seems to imagine that he can arrange the members of a great society with as much ease as he could arrange pieces on a chess-board.

He does not consider that chess pieces have no will of their own. But, in the great game of human society, every piece has its own will, possibly opposed to what the legislature wants. If those two wills act in the same direction, the game of human society will go on harmoniously and is likely to be happy and successful. If those wills are opposite or different, the game will go on miserably and society will always be in disorder.

Links

Lying is Moral When Your God is Electing Democrats
08/29/08 by Jon Sanders at TownHall.com

Conservatives believe lying is wrong. Numerous studies have shown that conservatives are far more honest than political "liberals" As author Bruce Walker pointed out, 60 percent of Americans consistently identify themselves as conservative; in short, "Conservatives are not just a majority of Americans, but an utterly overwhelming majority of all Americans."

So yes, leftists don't have the "luxury" of being able to tell voters, who believe lying is wrong, that they think it's OK to lie to get elected. You see, getting elected is the god of the Left from which all morality flows.

Democrats Offer Stealth Liberalism
08/29/08 Wall Street Journal - Potomac Watch by Kimberley A. Strassel

If today's liberal storyline were correct, a proud "progressive" candidate should win voter acclaim with promises of higher taxes, government regulation, an encompassing health-care entitlement, protectionism and corporate-bashing. We can't know if that's the case, since the "progressive" Mr. Obama is doing such an excellent job of hiding those policies behind the conservative rhetoric of "choice," "tax cuts," "free trade" and "freedom."

How to be Annoying and Useless:
An Introduction to JCAHO and Press-Ganey
04/06/08 by EtoTheIpi at DocsOnTheWeb
A doctor complains about bureaucracy imposed for no real improvement:

Now, Press-Ganey. This is a survey company that asks patients to respond to questions about the quality of care they received. Really it is the PERCEIVED quality of care measured, often from non-paying "customers", who demand perfection and know very little about medicine (a hospital, by the way, is not a hotel. Sorry.) A 'mean nurse' can [ruin] your Press-Ganey scores relative to other hospitals. A doc who will say "no, I know better" to the annoying patient will drop you to the bottom of the list.

Control has been handed to the paper pushers and taken away from the doers. I weep for our profession.

Councils Recruit Unpaid Volunteers To Spy On Their Neighbours
08/30/08 by ThisIsLondon.co.uk (via Instapundit)

Neighborhood Councils in Britain are recruiting 'citizen snoopers' to report litter louts, dog foulers, and even people who fail to sort out their rubbish properly.

The 'environment volunteers' will also be responsible for encouraging neighbours to cut down on waste.

The move comes as local authorities dish out £100 fines ($180) to householders who leave out too much rubbish or fail to follow recycling rules.

'With council tax so high, the last thing people want to pay for is an army of busybodies peering through their net curtains at their neighbours as they put out their rubbish.'

Obama and Ayers Pushed Radicalism On Schools
09/23/08 - WSJ.com by Stanley Kurtz

(edited) Bill Ayers founded the Weather Underground in the 1960's. Ayers and his cohorts bombed the Pentagon, and he has never expressed regret for his actions. Barack Obama's first run for the Illinois State Senate was launched at a 1995 gathering at Mr. Ayers's home.

Ayers founded the CAC in 1995, ostensibly to improve Chicago's public schools. The CAC's agenda flowed from Mr. Ayers's educational philosophy, to infuse students and parents with a radical political commitment, downplaying achievement tests in favor of activism. Mr. Ayers wrote in "City Kids, City Teachers" and "Teaching the Personal and the Political," that teachers should be community organizers dedicated to provoking resistance to American racism and oppression.

Obama and Ayers - 09/23/08 at JustOneMinute (via Instapundit)
Obama explains his relationship with Bill Ayers, in an interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News on 04/27/08.

(edited) OBAMA: Now, Mr. Ayres is a 60 plus year old individual who lives in my neighborhood, who did something that I deplore 40 years ago when I was six or seven years old. We served on a board together that had Republicans, bankers, lawyers, focused on education, who worked for Mayor Daley. The same Mayor Daley probably who when he was a state attorney prosecuted Mr. Ayres’s wife for those activities. I (inaudible) the point is that to somehow suggest that in any way I endorse his deplorable acts 40 years ago, because I serve on a board with him.

Obama, Ayers and the Annenberg Challenge
09/22/08 at GlobalLabor by Stephen F. Diamond

(edited) The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was far more than a chance for Ayers to engage in "radical" efforts to raise the political consciousness of young students. It was a front in a battle for control of the Chicago Public School system. The Challenge represented an authoritarian and bureaucratic agenda - a desperate attempt to foist upon troubled classrooms a "politically correct" curriculum, and to use parents as canon fodder to control teachers and administrators.

The Authoritarian Radicals - Diamond's complete paper is at The Social Science Research Network.

Stephen F. Diamond, Santa Clara University - School of Law (09/1/08)

Abstract: The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was a $160 million dollar reform effort in the Chicago public school system led by Barack Obama and Bill Ayers among others. An analysis of the Challenge suggests that an authoritarian form of politics shared by Ayers and Obama was a critical part of the reform effort. This form of authoritarian radicalism has its roots in the American New Left and Black Power movements. The paper contrasts the authoritarian and anti-union approach of the Challenge with a democratic alternative.

Ayers-Dohrn-Obama Tie Shouldn’t Be Dismissed
10/06/08 - PajamasMedia by Bob Owens

[edited] Obama's campaign manager David Axelrod tried to explain Obama’s involvement with Ayers, “Bill Ayers lives in his neighborhood. Their kids attend the same school. They’re certainly friendly, they know each other, as anyone whose kids go to school together.” This is obvious fiction. Obama's children are in elementary school; Ayers’ children are adults.

Ayers’ wife Bernardine Dohrn has largely escaped recent scrutiny. She was either a leader or the leader of the Weathermen, with ties now to both Barack and Michelle Obama.

Dohrn was a principal signatory of a Declaration of War against “AmeriKKKa”, now a standard spelling among radicals. Dohrn participated in multiple bombings and was accused of planting a bomb at a San Francisco police station that killed an officer and maimed others, according to an FBI informant.

Ayers and Dohrn infamously played host and hostess to Barack Obama’s political “coming out” with a meeting at their home, where outgoing State Senator Alice Palmer tapped Barack Obama to be her handpicked successor.

Other direct connections between the Obamas and the Ayers are much harder to discern and have never been thoroughly investigated.

Daley reins in radicals the Chicago Way
10/11/08 - Chicago Tribune by John Kass

[edited] Obama and Ayers are neighbors and they worked together on school issues with the same foundation. Obama's political coming-out party was held in Ayers' living room when Obama was running for his first political office. The boss of Chicago is Mayor Richard Daley. Mayor Shortshanks has thrown his protective embrace around both men. These are facts.

The reason Ayers is not a big deal in Chicago has to do with the Chicago Way, and the left fork of that road that has been bought and paid for by the Daley machine, subsidized by taxpayers who foot the bill for public relations contracts from City Hall.

University-educated consultants get city contracts to spin the news, shape symbolism, and tell out-of-town reporters that Ayers is no big deal. They won't bite the hand that feeds them. For an examination of the Daley spin machine—and its cost to taxpayers—please see Tribune reporter Dan Mihalopoulos' story in the Sunday editions.

NYT Won't Run Op-Ed Criticising Bill Ayers
12/23/08 - PajamasMedia by Bob Owens

The New York Times published an Op-Ed article by Bill Ayers on 12/5/08. They declined to publish a rebuttal by Larry Grathwohl. Grathwohl is the only informant to penetrate the Weather Underground for the FBI, and lived the history Ayers wants to rewrite. Here is an excerpt of Grathwohl's reply.

[edited] Billy goes on about how the Weather Underground came into existence because “peaceful protests had failed” and “after an accidental explosion killed three comrades.”

The explosion of the townhouse in Greenwich Village was the result of a bomb factory which was preparing bombs containing roofing nails for use at a Fort Dix enlisted club. The inclusion of roofing nails can have but one purpose and that’s to injure or kill people.

Prior to this event Bill’s wife, Bernardine Dorhn, placed a bomb of the same design at the Park Police Station in San Francisco and killed Officer McDonnell. Additionally, I was still inside the Weather Underground when the townhouse blew up and the commitment to sabotage and terrorism had already been established and the purpose was the overthrow of the United States government.

1 President + 1 Vice President = 1 President

The Vice President Doesn't Matter Much

John Nance Garner IV nicknamed "Cactus Jack" was the 44th Speaker of the US House of Representatives (1931-33) and the 32nd Vice President of the United States (1933-41). He served as Representative from Texas between 1902 and 1933. He was an experienced and successful politician.

He is famous for his evaluation of the Vice Presidency as "not worth a bucket of warm piss."

Read more ...

US Senator Barack Obama has chosen US Senator Joseph Biden to run for election as his Vice President. There is much discussion about how this will help or hurt Obama's chances for election.

The theme is that Biden brings much needed experience in Senate politics and in foreign policy. Sen. Biden has served in the Senate and on the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees since 1973, has been chairman of both committees at times, and is the current Chairman of the Foreign Relations committee.

The VP should be able to be President in his own right, and a person who we would trust. We should care about the political positions and character of the VP because the choice reflects Obama's judgment. It doesn't matter a bit what experience he brings to the Obama presidency.

The President doesn't need the VP to agree with him, and usually doesn't ask, for fear that he will seem weak, ignorant, or indecisive. The President has access to the best intelligence and advice in the country, anyone he wants. The VP does not provide a special resource. The VP serves in the President's cabinet only to the extent that the President directs or allows him.

The VP seems to matter because the public thinks that he matters. The public likes the idea of a "team" running the country. It is natural to consider two people in agreement as more stable than one person. In fact, the President jealously runs the show.

The VP is most useful during the election because he gets more publicity than other supporting politicians. He can attack the opposition without making his candidate President look mean. He can advertise the President's policy after election.

A VP can build support for his own run for President, and he can give his supporters more influence.

Albert Gore was VP for eight years under President Bill Clinton. He has acquired $100 million by being chief lobbyist for green causes while in office, and an investor and partner in green companies enabled by public policy and legislation that he influenced.

The VP does not add to the skills of the President or provide balance in governing. He becomes President in Waiting, Lobbyist in Chief, gives aid to his factional political supporters, and can use his influence to become rich.

The VP is a distraction from the central question of the election, which is what worldview and judgment does the candidate for President bring to the job?

--------
08/31/08 - Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin is McCain's choice for Vice President.

This supports Palin's political career by pleasing Palin's political supporters, and some people will support or oppose McCain because he has picked her. She has the political identity of a strong, independent, religious, pro-life, woman and mother.

There is debate about her political experience. Weak because she was mayor of a small town, and is governor of a small state. Strong because she has been a successful reformer, removing corruption and negotiating for lower taxes and efficient government.

McCain reveals his judgment by choosing her as a person who could be president. Actuarial tables tell us that McCain's chance of dying within 4 years is 16%, 1 in 6. Obama's chance of dying within four years is 2%, 1 in 50.

From the Social Security Period Life Table, Expectations for life as of 2004. Of 67,016 males age 72 in 2004, 57,395 are expected to be alive 4 years later. That is a 14.4% expectation of death. I simplify that to 1 chance in 6 that Palin will need to serve as President, including some chance that McCain could be disabled.

The question remains. Is McCain or Obama the better choice for President as an individual, regardless of VP? How is the judgment of McCain or Obama revealed by his choice of person he believes would be a good President in his place?

Econ 201: The Myth of the Economic Multiplier

$1000 Business Sales x 4 Economic Multiplier = $4000 Economic Benefit. No.

PBO's (politicians and business owners) often want to develop businesses using taxpayer money. The politicians may subsidize loans, give tax breaks, sell public land cheaply, buy private land for the project, build utility services and roads, and provide subsidies. The PBO's need justification for the public expense. A claimed economic multiplier helps them get the money.

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I usually suspect the motivations of the PBO's. The politicians or their family members may own part of the business, be its suppliers, or sell the land used. The politicians may get contributions from the business owners and/or the unions that supply workers to the business. The business may receive contracts from the town at favored prices.

PBO's gain public support by giving an inflated "Economic Value" or "impact" for the project. This sounds good but has no meaning. Call the project X-Corp. The Economic Value of X-Corp is supposed to be its spending increased by an Economic Multiplier of about 4. If X-Corp spends $1 million per year, it is supposed to have an Economic Value of $4 million to the people of its town and state.

The Economic Multiplier comes from counting transactions. X-Corp pays dollars to its employees and to other businesses. Then these people and businesses re-spend the dollars to more employees and businesses, and so on, in a spreading wave of re-spending that makes everyone happier. The Economic Multiplier is supposed to estimate how much additional value is generated from this re-spending.

The PBO's might say that a 5% sales tax on the $1 million in X-Corp's sales, plus a 5% income tax on the $4 million in increased Economic Value, produces $.25 million ($250,000) in additional tax revenue, each year.

This looks like a big win for the public. The tax revenue over 10 years is worth up to $1,755,000 in public expense up front to get X-Corp going and produce that $4 million in economic benefit each year.

That would justify the public investment, if it were true.

Note that a single payment of $1,755,000 today is worth 10 yearly payments of $250,000, if similar investments earn 7% interest.

Two nagging thoughts.

• When X-Corp sells $1 million in goods, does it really produce $4 million in benefits to the community? X-Corp collects the first million; who is getting the other $3 million? (They aren't)
• If Bob pays his neighbor's son Jim $10 to mow his lawn, does this send $40 in value into the community? (No) Is Bob's situation different from X-Corp? (It isn't)

Transactions Overcount Benefits

Economic Value and the Economic Multiplier count transactions, which overcounts value.

Passing dinner rolls around a table shows what is going on. Don't laugh. The first person accepts 6 rolls from the waiter. He takes one roll and passes five to the next person, who passes 4 to the next, and so on.

The appearance of 6 rolls at the table is new value appearing in the dinner table economy. The wave of spending and re-spending sends value around the table. The Economic Value approach sees 6 rolls of spending, followed by a wave of 5+4+3+2+1 of re-spending, for a total of 21 rolls of Economic Value, and a 3.5 Economic Multiplier (3.5 x 6 = 21). But there are only 6 rolls. The re-spending distributes the rolls; it doesn't create more rolls. The real value of 6 rolls is overcounted by looking at the roll-passing transactions.

In the same way, X-Corp pays its employees and suppliers for the value they provide to X-Corp. The X-Corp employees and suppliers pay others for goods and services. The others pay still others for the goods and services received from them. And so on. The money, like the dinner rolls, distributes the value created by X-Corp to all of the people who are directly or indirectly providing goods and services to X-Corp and its employees. Money moves away from X-Corp in exchange for the resources (value) moving to X-Corp and finally to X-Corp's customers.

Many layers of suppliers do not increase the value created by X-Corp. That value is set by X-Corp's sales. That value does not increase as it is distributed among all of the people who somehow contribute to X-Corp's products. The Economic Multiplier is 1. In other words, there is no Economic Multiplier when we look at value rather than the many transactions that distribute value.

The True Value of X-Corp

Say X-Corp sells $1 million in goods each year. A 5% sales tax on the $1 million in sales, plus a 5% income tax on the $1 million in value that X-Corp distributes to its employees, suppliers, and owners (however indirectly) produces $.10 million ($100,000) in additional tax revenue, each year.

Note that $100,000 tax revenue per year for 10 years is worth $702,000 in public expense up front to get X-Corp going, and $1 million in benefit is distributed to X-Corp's workers and suppliers each year.

It sounds great when a PBO says: "Spending $1 million in public funds today to support X-Corp will generate $250,000 per year in increased tax revenues over the next 10 years (worth $1,755,000 today). There may be some continuing subsidies, which are well worth giving to X-Corp for the $4 million in economic benefits (4X multiplier) generated each year by the $1 million yearly sales by X-Corp."

The reality is not so good: "Spending $1 million in public funds today will generate $100,000 per year in increased tax revenues over the next 10 years (worth $702,000 today). There may be some continuing public subsidies, which we hope are worth the $1 million in income produced each year by the $1 million yearly sales of X-Corp."

More bad news. Any spending by X-Corp for supplies and services produced out of town does not give income to people in the town and it is not taxed by the town government. Any sales by X-Corp out of town do not contribute sales taxes to the town. This reduces the benefits coming back to the town from starting X-Corp, and reduces the amount of investment by the town that makes sense.

The Government is a Bad Investor

It is probably not good for the community when a government spends taxes to start up and subsidize X-Corp, regardless of the amount.

• The PBO's are happy to overstate the economic value by 4 or 5 times to get the deal done. The PBO's must expect benefits for themselves that don't depend on any widely distributed public ones. Why should the PBO's look too deeply into the math? Why trust PBO's who are willing to fool us?
• The town usually invests more into X-Corp than the increased tax receipts are worth. It is not an investment in the usual sense; the town does not own any part of X-Corp, although the town is providing resources to start it up and maybe keep it going.
• There is no guarantee that X-Corp will last 10 years, but the town provides its support up-front. The PBO's may receive enough value that they don't suffer if the business fails in a few years.
• Businesses started or operated with a government subsidy are not likely to be the most efficient. So, they are more likely to be driven out of business by competition, making the return in taxes worth less than expected.

Worse, subsidized and favored X-Corp may compete successfully with other unsubsidized businesses. The inefficient, tax supported X-Corp can replace another efficient, completely private, tax-paying company. This makes everyone worse off, other than the X-Corp PBO's.

New businesses should pay for the infrastructure improvements they need. This assures that the business is beneficial to the town. It rewards businessmen who organize all costs into their business plan without draining resources from the government. Government only has the money contributed by its citizens. Tax revenue shouldn't be distributed to businesses in the hope of making "everyone" wealthier.

Not Priming the Pump

An economy that uses money is vast, complicated, and wonderful. It is easy to think of it as magical, as if we can "tweak" the system to get more stuff from somewhere. In fact, work produces things of value, and the economy is a system for organizing work and distributing those things, using money as a placeholder in transactions.

That is all. No magic and no multipliers. The rules of the system are simple. People exchange goods and services as they wish. The complexity comes from the number of people involved, and the detailed organization of work that they create.

People use analogies to understand complex systems. False analogies are "Priming the pump" and "Jump-starting the economy." The idea is to add some money to an economy to get the transactions flowing and increase wealth more than the amount of money added. These are both closely related to the false idea of the Economic Multiplier.

Some water pumps cannot pump air when starting up if their valves are dry. They need a wet internal seal to pull the air out of the supply hose. Pouring in some water to "prime the pump" solves the problem. The pump moves the air, then moves the water it was designed for. The priming water is a stimulus that helps the pump to start up when there is air in the line.

A car battery can be too weak to start a car, but the car can run and recharge the battery (using its electric generator) if the car can somehow be started. The power from a good second battery "jump-starts" the car for driving, and provides a power stimulus only needed briefly at the start.

These are weird and false analogies when applied to an economy. An economy is a group of people exchanging goods and organizing work. There is no central pump. People don't forget how to transact business or spend money. They do not get out of the habit of working or become sluggish. Money does not create wealth by "flowing around". Money is a placeholder in transactions for the exchange of goods and services between people. A transaction recognizes something of value but does not create that value.

A PBO relies on the Multiplier when he talks about "stimulus" or such. He says that taxpayers will benefit when the government gives people public money, because the long term improvement in the economy will repay any expense. As usual, this is very convenient for the PBO, and wrong. The economy is not like a pump, engine, or thick syrup that needs to start flowing. There is no long-term improvement in the economy from the "priming", only a one time increase in work to create the goods in exchange for the new money.

Taxing Peter to Pay Paul

Government is supposed to collect and spend taxes for public goods, such as roads, police, education, and parks, that have some relation to benefiting the general public. PBO's use the Multiplier and glib analogies to ask for government subsidies as a public good. We would all now be rich from government spending if this were true.

Government "investments" and subsidies are actually transfers of money from taxpayers to PBO's. It makes taxpayers poorer to the same extent that it transfers goods to the PBO's and the public. This does not create wealth overall, and usually destroys wealth as bad deals and failed projects eat the real value of collected taxes or government borrowing.

Personal Experience Of Transactions

People like receiving money, and they usually like spending money. Transactions produce pleasure on both sides. These feelings make it seem like the Economic Multiplier should be true. It is hard to argue against feelings, and it may take more than the above analysis to convince you that the Economic Multiplier is hot air.

Jim is an employee. He keeps almost all of his pay for his benefit. This supports Jim's feeling that transactions create value. Transactions deliver opportunities to him when he is paid, and he receives value personally when he pays others.

Jim has some expenses that support his job and cannot be avoided, such as for commuting, more expensive lunches, and office clothing. He enjoys these, except for the small expense of commuting.

Bob sells office supplies to X-Corp. He buys the supplies from manufacturers, then packages and delivers them. When X-Corp pays Bob $1000, he keeps about $80 as his pay (8% profit), and transfers $920 to others. Bob divides the money among the people who produced $1000 of value: he, his employees, and his suppliers. Almost all of the money and goods that Bob receives and spends is distributed to others.

Bob pays income tax on the $80 that he earns, and the others pay income tax on the portion of the $920 that each one earns. So, the total tax paid to the government is based on $1000, once.

Economic Benefit/Impact and the Multiplier counts transactions as being value. This is almost correct for Jim, who collects almost all of the value of his transactions. It is wildly incorrect for Bob, who organizes the work of others. Most people are like Jim, so they tend to believe the Multiplier without thinking much about it.

Looking For The Multiplier

The presentation above gives a direct explanation. But, you might think that I missed something or used bad logic. We can examine the Multiplier in other ways.

The Spending Goes On And On

PBO's claim that when X-Corp spends $1000 it produces $4000 of Economic Benefit/Impact. If true, then this good effect is not limited to X-Corp. There is nothing that distinguishes between corporate and personal spending. Every amount spent would have the Multiplier effect.

So, when Bob's employer gives him $1000 it goes on to create $4000 in Economic Benefit. When Bob spends the $1000 for rent, it creates $4000 in Economic Benefit. Also, when his landlord re-spends the $1000 on mortgage and heat. You would have to believe that every dollar in circulation is going to produce $4 in Economic Benefit, every time it is spent. This is a dreamworld.

In the real world, Bob receives money in exchange for his work (the value he creates), and he spends that money to acquire goods (value that others create). Once. No Multiplier. There are no additional Economic Benefits lying around.

Trading Vegetables

Some examples at a small scale show the details of what happens in transactions, the use and effect of money, and how value is created and distributed. The complexity of an economy is produced by linking together millions of such chains of transactions.

1. Barter

Bob grows beans in his spare time. Tom grows tomatoes. They tire of eating just their own produce, so they meet to exchange 5 pounds of beans for 5 pounds of tomatoes. The Multiplier cannot apply here. The magic of money is not involved. Only Bob and Tom are affected by this trade. They are happier because of the trade, but no one else is happier. Bob and Tom get the benefit of this trade once, not 4 times.

2. Olive Oil

Bob's beans are not ready; he brings a bottle of olive oil. Tom gives tomatoes to Bob and takes the oil. Bob will come back in a few days with the beans in exchange for the oil. Tom can keep the oil if Bob doesn't deliver the beans. Bob brings the beans two days later and takes back the oil. The oil gave Tom some value to hold so that the exchange could be done in two parts. The value of the oil assured Tom that he wouldn't lose value on the trade.

3. Money

Bob's beans are not ready; he brings $10 instead of olive oil. We can say that Tom sells tomatoes to Bob for $10. Later, Bob sells beans to Tom for $10. Money is changing hands. Still, there is no Multiplier.

4. Three People

Pam joins the group, selling peppers.

                      Tom     Bob    Pam       
Bob buys tomatoes    $ 10    $-10   $
Tom buys peppers      - 5              5
Tom buys beans        - 5       5
Pam buys beans                  5    - 5
                     ----    ----   ----
                     $  0    $  0   $  0

Three people exchange vegetables. Money provides value for trades that are separated by time and divided into smaller amounts. It is confusing to describe these exchanges entirely in words. The table shows where the money went in exchange for the vegetables traded.

For example, Bob buys tomatoes from Tom for $10. The table shows that Bob spent $10 and Tom received $10.

The money balances each trade, so the people are even in value at each moment. Olive oil might be used instead of money, but it is less convenient, and not everyone would agree to holding olive oil in exchange.

Three people sell their vegetables, buy what they want, and end with the same cash they started with. This would be impractical without money as a way of completing individual transactions. They have a more interesting dinner as a result.

These exchanges traded $25 worth of vegetables. That value was created by growing the vegetables. The money revealed value, and helped to exchange value, but it did not create value. There is clearly no multiplier in this closed system.

5. Economy

Mike appears and buys vegetables for sale in town. He buys $60 of vegetables and sells them in town for $100.

Mike produces $100 of value for his customers, the value of his sales. The vegetables were worth $60 in the country; Mike added $40 in value by transporting them to willing customers.

Customers provided $100 in value (money) to Mike. Here is where the value went or is going to go:

1 Mike       34   Mike's profit (his pay)
2 ABC Gas     5   Mike's Delayed expense 
                   for gas, 25 mile trip
3 ABC Garage  1   Mike's Delayed expense
                   for tune-ups
4 Tom        20   Tomatoes
5 Bob        20   Beans
6 Pam        20   Peppers
            ---
           $100   Mike's sales to customers

The $100 in sales to customers is the total value available. The other transactions distribute it to all of the people who support Mike's efforts. Mike receives $40 and Tom, Bob, and Pam receive $60. Soon, Mike pays $5 for gas used on his trip. Later, this trip costs another $1 in related car maintenance.

A PBO talking about Economic Benefit would count $100 paid to Mike, plus $60 paid to the growers as $160 in economic benefit. This counts the $60 transfer payment twice. In a typical Economic Benefit analysis, transfer payments are counted many times to get the Multiplier of 4. This overcounts value and gives an inflated result.

This shows some of the complexity in an economy. The ABC Garage contributes a little value to Mike's business without knowing it. The growers know that Mike is selling their vegetables, but don't know or care much about the details. Mike saw that he could make some money when he compared the price for vegetables in the country to the sale price he expected in the city.

Discounted Value (optional reading)

Discounted Value is the value today of payments to be received in the future. I said above that 10 yearly payments of $100,000 is worth $702,000 today, at a 7% interest rate. The exact math is complicated, but the idea is easier.

What amount would you loan X-Corp in order to get back 10 payments of $100,000 over 10 years? $1 million is too much. You would just get back your money over time, without earning anything from the loan.

This is like calculating a home loan, except we want to know the loan amount that produces a payment of $100,000, rather than starting with a loan amount and calculating the payment.

We will start by being generous and then correct ourselves. Say we loan the full $1 million, and want to earn 7% interest. X-Corp has roughly one-half of the money on average during the 10 years of the loan. X-Corp starts with $1 million during the first year. In the last year, after making 9 payments, X-Corp has about $100,000 in loan outstanding. We can estimate the total interest at 7% x 10 years x $500,000 (half the loan) = $350,000. Our rough estimate of principal plus interest is $1,350,000, so the rough payment is $135,000 for 10 years.

The detailed calculation (not shown) gives a payment of $142,400. So, a $1 million loan at 7% yearly interest is paid back by $142,400 per year for 10 years.

We need to loan less money if the repayment is only $100,000 per year. $100,000 is 70.2% of $142,400. A loan of (70.2% x $1 million) = $702,000 is repaid by $100,000 per year.

So, the government can spend up to $702,000 to get X-Corp started, if it wants at least a 7% return on this investment, and if it expects $100,000 per year in increased taxes in repayment.

Links

The Multiplier from The Concise Guide To Economics, by Jim Cox, 1997.

He sees the Multiplier as "theory run amok" and notes other mistakes in analyzing an economy. The description is direct and somewhat technical, but you can get the idea without understanding the mathematics.

-- --
With multiplier, poultry has $8-billion economic impact
from BNet, from The Mississippi Business Journal, by Becky Gillette, July 2, 2007,

It never hurts to puff up the importance of a business by using the Multiplier. Notice the word "impact" because no one is quite sure what the effect really is.

The farm gate value of poultry in Mississippi in round numbers is $2 billion," said Mississippi Farm Bureau president David Waide. "That is huge." Waide said the multiplier impact of the industry as dollars get turned over in the economy is approximately four times the farm gate value. That would give poultry an $8-billion impact on the state's economy.

-- --
Economic Multipliers and Local Economic Impact Analysis
by David Kay, Cornell Local Government Program, December 2002

This talks about the Multiplier with a scholarly tone. It says that the "direct effects" should be estimated carefully. Then, just Multiply to get the overall economic impact. That is it for explaining the Multiplier. Notice the use of "impact" again, because people don't know what the effect really is.

Headlines like these recent real-life examples are prized by project promoters and business boosters. They often appear when advocates for private sector projects are seeking public support. The dollar figures featured in the stories are large, even "huge". They signal to readers both economic importance and political significance.

An economic multiplier lies behind nearly all [dramatic development] headlines. Multipliers are typically used to turn large dollar impacts into even larger ones. They do this because they translate project-specific effects into economy-wide impacts.

The local spending impacts associated directly with a specific project or economic activity are the starting point of any impact analysis. Known or planned facility construction and operating expenditures are a typical example. Called "direct effects", they are nearly always the most important data to estimate well in any impact analysis. To estimate economy-wide impacts, numbers known as multipliers are literally multiplied by the direct effects.

-- --
The Tax Rebate Was a Flop.   Obama's Stimulus Plan Won't Work Either
August 6, 2008 - By Martin Feldstein
Mr. Feldstein is former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan, a professor at Harvard, and contributor to The Wall Street Journal.

My analysis of the Multiplier conflicts with Mr. Feldstein. The US Government recently distributed $100 Billion dollars to stimulate the economy by increasing spending (transactions). It failed miserably. Partly because people were not inclined to spend it all. Partly because there is no Multiplier. The Government believes that "confidence", and "impact" are somehow the same as value. The government relies on a Multiplier to create more benefit than the dollars spent.

"Those of us who supported this fiscal package reasoned that the program would boost consumer confidence as well as available cash. We hoped the combination would cause households to spend a substantial fraction of the rebate dollars, leading to more production and employment.

An optimistic and influential study by economists at the Brookings Institution projected that each dollar of revenue loss would increase real GDP by more than a dollar if households spent at least 50 cents of every rebate dollar."

-- --
Keynesian Economics Is Wrong
04/10/09 by Daniel Mitchel (video 7:29)

Politicians claim that more government spending can stimulate an economy, an economic theory by Keynes in 1935. The Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation produced this video which examines both the theory and evidence. Allowing politicians to spend more money does not produce better economic performance.

College is an Expensive IQ Test

They Let You Pay Them. It Doesn't Mean They Are Worth It.

The law says that a company cannot give an employment test unless it has been shown to be non-discriminatory in effect. That means it doesn't screen out people of color at a different effective rate than white people.

So, employers don't create their own tests or use standardized tests. Interviewers talk randomly about whatever they want, using personal judgment to decide if the candidate is "a good match". This is supposed to be less discriminatory!

Read more ...

If a new hire does not succeed, his degree from a "good school" provides protection for the manager who hired him.

Big Boss: I hear that Jim isn't working out. You hired him. How did that happen?
Little Boss: Jim had a degree from a good school. How could I know?

Disparate But Not Serious
05/18/07 - Wall St Journal by James Taranto

What most professional jobs require is basic intellectual aptitude. And what has changed since the 1970s is that the court has developed a body of law that prevents employers from directly screening for such aptitude.

The landmark case was Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971). A black coal miner claimed discrimination because his employer required a high-school diploma and an intelligence test as prerequisites for promotion to a more skilled position. The court ruled 8-0 in the miner's favor. "Good intent or absence of discriminatory intent does not redeem employment procedures or testing mechanisms that operate as 'built-in headwinds' for minority groups," Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote.

This became known as the "disparate impact" test, and it applies only in employment law. Colleges and universities remain free to use aptitude tests, and elite institutions in particular lean heavily on exams such as the SAT in deciding whom to admit. For a prospective employee, obtaining a college degree is a very expensive way of showing that he has, in effect, passed an IQ test.

Instead of facing an imperfect hiring exam, there is a court approved path through college that happens to cost $100,000 and 4 years of full-time study. Even then, the benefit for the applicant is unknown, except for a group of elite schools with even higher fees and great reputations.

In college at the University of Chicago, I talked to a graduate student in Physics. He had overheard some shocking comments between two professors.
Professor A: What is the quality of the new physics grad students?
Professor B: One or two look promising. The rest should find something that they are good at.

U.Chicago had a nationally recognized physics department. A student had to be dedicated to physics study and have high grades and recommendations to be admitted to the program. Yet, their professors thought most of them were in the wrong place and weren't good enough for careers in physics!

We would like to think that institutions within our society are valuable to us. I'm sad to report that they are in it for themselves. You can't assume that what you are getting is valuable and efficient just because you are buying their product.

A student thinks that his college degree is valuable to future employers. It is, but only as an indicator of his intelligence. His college professors don't train students for careers, and most businesses have the attitude "Forget what you learned in school. This is the real world."

Let's be smart enough to allow people and businesses to talk to each other using any criteria they want, especially for hiring. If a person meets discrimination at one employer, then there are other employers. If a person meets discrimination at ALL employers, then no court order is going to help. It certainly doesn't help to require paying $100,000 and 4 years to schools so the employers will not be sued for unintended discrimination. That is court-required discrimination against the non-rich.

How College Selection Affects Earnings
Stacy Dale - Mathematica Policy Research
Alan Kreuger - Princeton University - 02/16/11

Dale and Kreuger found a big boost to later earnings for students attending highly selective colleges in 1976 and 1989. They controlled for commonly observed factors such as high school GPA and SAT scores.

They further adjusted for student ability by considering the average SAT score of the colleges to which the students applied. This accounted for almost all of the variations in earnings. The remaining effect of college choice on earnings was close to zero.

Certain subgroups benefitted from a prestigious school. Dale and Kreuger considered black and Hispanic students, and those who had relatively less educated parents. Their boost to earnings remained large after the above adjustments.

This suggests to me that the value of highly selective schools is "signaling", as compared to attending less prestigious schools. The prestige of the school may remove some of the negative bias in hiring that affects minority students and those showing the cultural differences of being raised in a less educated household.

The College Scam
01/28/09 - TownHall.com by John Stossel

Do four years of college produce a wealthier life? Maybe the college is just there when people are reaching their potential. And what is the increase in earnings?

[edited] During the campaign, Barack Obama repeated the common statistic, "On average during your lifetime you will earn a million dollars more if you get a bachelor's degree."

Rachele Percel borrowed to pay $24,000 a year to attend Rivier College. "I was told to take out the loans and get a degree in Human Development because when you graduate you're going to be able to get that good job and pay them off, no problem," she told me.

She failed to find a decent job for three years. Now, she holds a low-level desk job doing work she could have done straight out of high school, and she is $85,000 in debt. She says, "I definitely feel like it was a scam."

A recent survey asked thousands of students: Would you go to your college again? About 40% said no.

Dr. Marty Nemko is an education consultant and career counselor:

The bachelor's degree is America's most overrated product. The million dollar increase in earnings is a misleading statistic. It includes billionaire super-earners who raise the average.

More importantly, many college kids would have been successful whether they went to college or not. You could take college-bound students and lock them in a closet for four years: they are going to earn more money. Those are the kids who already tend to be more intelligent, harder-working and more persistent.

Those in the bottom 40% of their high school class have a very small chance of graduating college. Colleges actively recruit those kids. Eight years later, many of them have no degree and lots of debt. They think of themselves as failures. It is immoral that the colleges do not disclose that!"

Universities still throw around that million dollar number. Arizona State recently used it to justify a tuition hike.

Charles Murray's recent book, "Real Education", argues that many students just aren't able to handle college work. Graduation statistics seem to bear him out.

For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time
8/13/08 - WSJ Opinion by Charles Murray, W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. This essay is adapted from his forthcoming book, "Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality" (Crown Forum).

Mr. Murray provides a plan to make colleges relevant again, because of these problems.

Advanced skills for people with brains really did get more valuable over the course of the 20th century, but the acquisition of those skills got conflated with the existing system of colleges, which had evolved the BA for completely different purposes.

Outside a handful of majors -- engineering and some of the sciences -- a bachelor's degree tells an employer nothing except that the applicant has a certain amount of intellectual ability and perseverance. Even a degree in a vocational major like business administration can mean anything from a solid base of knowledge to four years of barely remembered gut courses.

Aptitude Tests  vs  College

Fred:  My high grades and SAT scores got me into Big College. I'm on my way.

Mike:  After you pay $100,000 in tuition/expenses and lose four years of wages.

Fred:  There will be some studying, but also parties and girls.

Mike:  Too bad you couldn't present your grades and SATs to some company, earn while you learn, party in your own apartment, and buy a Ferrari with that $100,000.

11/13/11 - Carpe Diem by economist Mark J. Perry

George Will:  [edited]  There were 2,000+ personnel tests available to employers in 1964. But, an Illinois official ruled that these might be unfair to disadvantaged groups. Employers were burdened to prove that a test was a "business necessity" for a particular job if it had a "disparate impact" [ Black and White applicants did unequally on the test].

Many employers feared endless litigation. They switched to requiring college degrees as indicators of intelligence and diligence. This was one reason college attendance increased from 5.8 million in 1970 to 17.5 million in 2005.

Peter Thiel:  [edited]  Higher education is a giant selection mechanism. 10% of the value of a college degree comes from learning, 50% from getting into a selective university, and 40% from graduating from a selective college known to employers.

It might be much more efficient if employers could use intelligence tests instead of expensive four-year college degrees that add very little educational value.

Advice Goddess: Ever Heard Of Community College?
08/25/08 - Amy Alkon posts about the pressure of going to a name college, and selfishness. Many commenters report what college was worth to them.

Technology is reducing college costs. Why is tuition going up?
11/2008 Washington Monthly by Kevin Carey [edited]

The average price of attending a public university, adjusted for inflation, more than doubled over the last two decades. The steepest increases came in the last five years.

Colleges have become more efficient and productive through technology, and the cost of teaching is starting to decline. Almost none of those savings are passed along to students. Colleges are pocketing the difference, even as they raise tuition.

Virginia Tech is reputed to be a first-rate engineering school. Engineers need to learn math. But, budget cuts in the math department reduced the number of professors despite increasing numbers of math students. This kind of irrationality is typical in higher education, where departmental budgets often have little relationship to costs, revenues, and demand.

Colleges spend the money elsewhere. The Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs found that tuition and fee revenue per student at public research universities increased by 34 percent from 2000 to 2005, inflation adjusted. Spending per student declined on instruction and academic support.

This is not new; overcharging for introductory courses is standard in higher education. Colleges use the excess revenue from huge, inexpensive lecture hall classes to support other, money-losing activities. Freshmen have always been cash cows, and technology has made them more so.

Colleges are status-seeking institutions. Research and scholarship, Division I sports programs, new buildings, and high SATs are all components of status. Status seeking would be perfectly acceptable if a college’s reputation were based largely on teaching. Colleges would balance the competing interests of students, faculty, administrators, alumni, and the public. Self-interested institutions would prosper, and students would get a high-quality, reasonably priced education.

But status in higher education is not based on comparable measures of student learning, because such measures aren’t publicly available; lobbyists for colleges and universities have made sure the data is kept under wraps. It is effectively impossible to judge institutions by their outputs, by how much students learn. So, the pecking order is based on inputs like freshman SAT scores and tuition cost. Price has become a symbol of quality, instead of a component of quality. Colleges have many incentives to raise prices and none to lower them. Lower prices send a negative signal, often driving away students.

Rational comparison would still leave a niche for prestige universities, because there will always be rich people willing to pay for the status of elite colleges. Yale University now gives away complete sets of lecture course videos at open.yale.edu. Yet, more students than ever are ready to pay $50,000 per year for those same courses. Those students aren’t paying a premium for what they learn, they are paying for a piece of paper certifying that they learned it at Yale.

Down with the Four-Year College Degree!
12/03/08 - Cato-Unbound by Charles Murray (10/2008)
The link leads to more papers on the subject.

[edited] So what’s my beef with the current college system? Imagine that you have been asked to design America’s college education system from scratch. One of your colleagues submits the following proposal that is cruel and possibly insane, but it is the system that we have.

•  We will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught.
•  We will attach an economic reward that often has nothing to do with what has been learned.
•  We will urge large numbers of people to seek that goal, despite having insufficient ability, wait until they have spent a lot of time and money, and then deny it to them.
•  We will stigmatize everyone who doesn’t meet the goal.
•  We will call the goal a “BA.”

Why College Is A Waste Of Money
12/23/08 - EasyOpinions by Andrew Garland
(via Subprime Education by Mark Steyn)

A college student reports on the waste and dispair imposed by a college system that discards about half of the students who try for a degree.

[edited] My high school was a small charter school with the mission to send all of its students to college. Our course work supported an obsession for college preparation. Most kids had full-blown college fever by senior year.

I'm now a sophomore at UMass Amherst. At least a few of the people from high school have already dropped out -- after blowing tens of thousands of dollars on tuition and fees at expensive, but not especially good, private colleges. They were great, smart people, but I knew that they lacked the focus, drive and maturity they would need to graduate.

This money came from parents, from federal Pell Grants, from the colleges, and from student loans that these kids will have to pay back while working low-wage jobs.

Why is law school so expensive?
01/13/10 - IdeoBlog by Larry Ribstein.
Via Cafe Hayek.

[edited] The current system forces everybody who wants to practice any kind of law into three-year, high-priced law schools. This will never produce competition. The cartel forces practical/doctrinal training to coexist uneasily with lawyer-scholars, and results in training that compromises the needs of all kinds of lawyers.

Where is the argument as to why high-level training should be forced down the throats of everybody who wants to practice law?

Does U.S. News Make Law Schools More Expensive?
Frank J. Macchiarola and Michael C. Macchiarola

[edite] The accreditation process gives law schools a virtual monopoly on bar admission. The 200 ABA approved law schools exclude prospective attorneys who cannot afford the cost of a legal education as currently delivered.

This exludes lower cost alternatives like on-line education, credit for accelerated coursework, a two-year curriculum, or clerkships and internships. In fact, the position of law schools as the preferred vehicle for entry into the legal profession is little more than one hundred years old.

The framework of ABA rules has prevented law schools from pursuing radical innovations without jeopardizing accreditation, reputation, or standing.

College Aid Is Corporate Welfare
05/21/12 - The Atlantic by Andrew G. Biggs  (via Advice Goddess)

[edited]:  Recent research suggests that colleges capture a significant portion of federal aid rather than lowering costs to students. Simply put, much of federal student aid is corporate welfare for colleges.

Cellini and Goldin looked at for-profit colleges by eligibility for federal aid. Riegg and Goldin found that aid-eligible institutions charge 75% higher tuition across all states, samples, and specifications, even when controlling for the content and quality of courses. The higher tuition is about equal to average federal assistance. This suggests that institutions raise tuition to capture the maximum aid available.

Are for-profit colleges essentially different from non-profits? "For-profit" suggests greedy businessmen who raise tuition whenever possible. We might think that non-profit colleges would charge less out of altruism. But, they charge the same or more, offering more services over time to attract the best students with the best financial aid at ever higher prices.

Seduction and Politics

Is A First Date Too Soon For Love?

A woman waits at a table in a small Italian restaurant. A man arrives, gives her a questioning look, and approaches.

Jim: Hello, are you Pam?
Pam: Hi, you must be Jim.
Jim: [sits down] It is so nice to see you Pam. Sorry I'm a bit late.

Pam: It's been 30 minutes. What happened?
Jim: Various things. The details are not important. I'm just glad to be here now.

Read more ...

Pam: Well, OK. I see that you are a man of mystery.
Jim: [eyes flashing] I believe in living fully in the present, the past is gone.

Pam: You know, I do know something about your past. My friend Alice told me that you have dated a lot of women.
Jim: Pam, I don't know why she would say that. I have dated some, but I wouldn't say "a lot". Not much more than average. Anyway, the details are not important. I'm happy to be here with you now.

Pam: You are certainly handsome, and I like your direct and confident manner.
Jim: I'm not like other men. I have big plans for the future.

Pam: Oh, what are those?
Jim: I want a stable relationship, a loving wife, children, and I enjoy working hard to make my beloved happy. I would never argue. There really is no need for disagreement. I want a happy family and to bring us all together.

Pam: I like that as an ideal, but how can people avoid all disagreement?
Jim: I only want good things, so there is nothing to disagree with. The people who disagree with me are dumb. I see that you are smart. Don't worry. It will all work out after you are committed to me. You will see.

Pam: You are going a little fast here for a first date. I don't know much about you. I think we should date for a while before we talk about a glorious future. I would like to see who you really are.
Jim: I say these things because I really mean them. My words are sincere, and they are based on my plans and dreams. I really am who I seem to be. Don't insult me by asking who I "really am". I'm telling you all about me, and you are going to love me.

Pam: Alice told me more about you. Don't you remember her? She dated you a year ago, and was excited about your plans together for marriage and children. But, you left her for a prettier girl with social connections.
Jim: Of course I remember Alice. I hope she is well. I think she misinterpreted what I said. I haven't changed my position, but I needed to recognize some changing facts. I always intended to marry her and have a stable relationship, a loving wife, children, and to enjoy working hard to make her happy. Things just didn't work out. The details are not important, and they are in the past. I'm happy to be here with you now.

Pam: Yes, we are here now, and you are really cute and say such nice things. I want to believe you and know what our future might be together.
Jim: This is only our first of many times together, but I love thinking about the future. A future of a stable relationship, a loving wife, children, and working hard to make her, uh, you happy.

Pam: What will life be like for us?
Jim: I don't believe in disconnected lives. We will combine our dreams, efforts, and savings. Yours will be mine and mine will be yours. You will work hard with me to build a wonderful future. I will use our resources to show people how great we are, and they will look up to us as shining examples. I also think a powerboat and a basement bar would be fun. We'll have the best parties in the neighborhood.

Pam: That sounds like work. I'm not really a party girl.
Jim: You are going to love it. Believe me.

Pam: What is that paper?
Jim: It is an engagement letter. We can't be really engaged, it is too soon. First date and all. I don't want to rush things, but I need your support in writing.

It only says that if we spend time together, and if you marry me in November, our bank accounts will merge in happiness, and we won't disagree with each other about our plans after that. As an honest person, I think you will sign this. There is no obligation. I just need to know that I can effectively carry out our plans for real emotional change if we are married in November. This is only fair if we have an exclusive relationship. There are a few other things that aren't really important.

Pam: What is your profession?
Jim: I'm a politician. I'm on the way to a greatness that was always my destiny. Come along with me, my darling.

No Price Gouging Here

We're Honorable, So We Don't Have Any Stuff

It had been raining for three days. Jim went to Sam's Hardware Store in town. There were deep road puddles everywhere.

Jim: Hi Sam. I'm looking for a good water pump. My basement is drowning.
Sam: Hi Jim. I'm sorry to tell you that I had three WP-ABQ pumps in stock before this rain. A pretty good value at $140 too. But, they sold out.

Read more ...

Jim: I'm in trouble. There is 3" of water in my basement and it is rising slowly. I really need that pump.
Sam: I feel for you. My last pump sold to a guy who didn't need it now, but wanted to be safe. At the standard price of $140, he decided not to wait.

Jim: Have you ordered any more of them? When could I get one?
Sam: My usual re-stock is in two weeks.

Jim: Cripes! Can't I get one any faster? I'm willing to pay more.
Sam: Pay more. That reminds me of that big rain 4 years ago. I wanted to do some good, and make some extra money, so I rush ordered 8 of those pumps, and even paid a private trucker to ship them. I figured I could sell them for $280 each, and I'd be OK even if I had a few left over.

It worked out pretty good, until one of my customers (go figure!) complained to the Office of Consumer Protection. Said that I had "price gouged" him, because the usual price is $140. After the lawyer's fees and the fine, I was out $4,500. That sure taught me a lesson. Now, I only deal at the usual price. It isn't worth the trouble and risk to order ahead at that price.

Jim: How about a rush order now?
Sam: I could ask for a fast shipment and charge you $25 more. I even have a form from the Office of Consumer Protection. But, you would need to have it notarized at the bank, and it would still take 3 days for the pump to get here. Do you want to do that?

Jim: No Sam, it seems I'm stuck. I'll have to drive 20 miles to MillistonVille and see if they have any there.
Sam: Good luck on the roads. Be careful of some suppliers. Those pumps are great, but you don't know if they're used or broken until you hook them up.

Jim: Thanks Sam.

Feelings

Feelings about price gouging are emotional and wishful. They are something like  "The universe is against me, and my fellow man wants to charge me for help and supplies. I can't do anything about the universe, but I can prosecute those no-good businessmen."

We all wish that a guardian angel would help us in an emergency, but we are stuck with help from our fellow man. Some will volunteer. Some will pay higher costs to deliver goods at a higher price, possibly much higher. Some will have inventory that they parcel out at what the market will bear.

Should we investigate and prosecute the ones who are making a windfall profit? No.

People with the right skills, who own goods in sudden demand, or who have the connections and experience to acquire needed supplies, are just lucky. It may seem wrong that some people can profit from other's needs, but that is just the way the world works. The people in need cannot make their lives better by promising to investigate and punish those people who can help them. This promise to punish discourages all help: help from the good-willed as well as help from opportunists.

Planning Ahead

The idea of "price gouging" poses the question: In which situation are you better off?
(1)  The goods you want are sold-out and unavailable at the usual,
    lower price, or
(2)  The goods are available at a temporarily higher price.

In case (2) you can decide if the price is worth it.

When merchants are punished by laws against price gouging (as in New Jersey), they have no incentive to plan ahead by stocking up. So, if you individually have not purchased ahead, you are out of luck.

A good effect of free market pricing is to usefully ration limited supplies. At twice the price, many people will limit their purchases to just cover the emergency, rather than buy up everything they can. More people are able to get needed supplies.

Failures At Gas Stations

The worst effect of price gouging laws is to dissuade companies from planning ahead for emergencies. Existing companies are much more knowledgeable and better positioned to serve the public than emergency teams trying to set up infrastructure in one or two days.

Consider a gas station with no emergency electric generator. If public power fails, they can't pump gasoline. Why don't they all have a generator?

Generators are expensive to buy, install, and maintain. The station can't recover these costs in normal times, as they compete against stations that don't incur that expense. The responsible station must rely on much higher prices in emergencies, when they can pump gas and their competitors can't. But, they can't charge higher prices in emergencies, so they don't acquire emergency equipment.

The same goes for larger gasoline storage. The station doesn't need it in normal times. The costs of a larger storage tank could only be recovered by "price gouging" in emergencies.

Provide Choice

Our politicians should allow free trade at any price. This would not stop them from providing emergency services. It would merely allow an additional private choice in emergencies. Politicians can advise people that aid is on the way. People need not buy the goods they need at higher prices if they want to wait "just a bit" for government help. Let the people decide.

Politicians do not make things better by denying the public an option. That is the government monopoly at work. A cynic might say that politicians do not want to be compared to privately provided emergency services. It might make them seem less useful.

Links

Gas Prices: The Real Story
09/12/08 - Rich at Shots Across The Bow investigates why gas prices are spiking in Tennessee. Supply, not gouging.

But now Ike is headed for Galveston, and the pipelines are being shut down completely. When you're in a low stock condition, you are relying on a steady flow of gasoline to maintain smooth distribution. When that steady flow is disrupted, you're only hours away from shortages.

Consequences of Price Gouging Laws
06/01/09 - Knowledge Problem by Michael Giberson

[edited]:  West Virginia's price gouging law was triggered by the May 9 declaration of emergency for a flooded area. Marathon Oil temporarily halted sales to independent gasoline retailers lacking a current supply contract. Marathon said that it would lose money on sales made under the capped prices.

West Virginia's “anti-price-gouging laws allow businesses to increase prices to recoup costs if the increase is directly attributable to additional costs imposed on the business.” That is an unclear standard.

Georgia had higher prices due to supply disruptions last September. Fines for price gouging have ranged up to $20,000 plus restitution.

Marathon's wholesale gasoline costs have increased over the three weeks since the declaration of emergency in West Virginia. How much of that increase is “directly attributable to additional costs imposed on the business”? Marathon may have reasonably decided not to risk a lawsuit, and not pursue the opportunity to “recoup costs” under the law.

It is legal to not sell gasoline to new customers. So, why should it be legally risky to offer gasoline at some high price to those new customers?

Magic Power

Could They Do The Magic If They Wanted To?

A friend in college told me about his mother and what she knew about electricity. She regarded electricity as a type of magic and was resentful that she had to pay for it. She thought that it ran everywhere through the walls of the house. The reason that there were wall sockets was so the plugs on appliances would not damage the walls when plugged in. Otherwise, you could jam the plug anywhere and get the electricity. The plugs were designed so you could be charged for electricity when you used them. She was a good person, but didn't understand physics.

See more about what it really takes to provide energy ...

Electricity certainly is a type of magic supplied by a mysterious universe. It isn't free magic. Two wires run between a generator and an appliance. If you use the power of an engine or a waterfall to spin the generator, then you can absorb some of that energy in the appliance and force the appliance motor to spin, or let the energy escape into a resistance wire and get light or heat.

This only works if you build the generator, the appliance, make and install the wires, and power the system with other engines, using gas, coal, oil, nuclear, or water power. And dig up and refine the fuel for those chemical engines, or build the dams to control the waterfall. It has only taken about 180 years to get all of this developed. There is a bill for electricity because all of this work was and is done by people, and they want to be paid.

History 1821 First electric motor, 1837 Industrial electric motors, 1878-86 Commercial light and power stations, 1913 Electric refrigerator, 1953 345,000 volt transmission line.

+++

This history is generally true for all of our technology. It all seems easy after it is done, but it is the result of continuing effort by millions of people serving hundreds of millions of people. It has taken time and immense investment to create and combine all of the pieces to get the current results.

People with little engineering knowledge (most people) become suspicious that it is all easier than they have been told. They think: those engineering nerds could give us all this and more for less cost, if they would only think a bit harder and do the magic better. Why not get electricity from sunlight and 100 miles per gallon from gasoline? It has been done! Don't they understand that we need this? They are the keepers of the magic, and maybe they are releasing the secrets slowly so that they can be paid more.

Politicians are pushing exactly this position under the phrase "addicted to oil". Politicians are saying that a little push here, and a subsidy there, will show the way toward an energy future that was being hidden by the nerds. Favored "green" companies will be paid by the government along the way. That is what "subsidy" means. And those companies will pay the politicians. That is what "campaign contribution" means.

"Political" means "sneaky and lying" in normal usage. It is amazing that people trust the announcements of politicians more than the system of free investigation and discovery that has produced our technological world. Political strategies written on cocktail napkins are supposed to replace practical scientific knowledge and careful investment in productive technology.

Federal and state governments have acted to slow the development of oil and coal, to slow the construction of conventional power plants, and to stop nuclear power and refineries. These activities are legal, so politicians say that they haven't stopped them. These activities are highly regulated, and many were allowed to get to completion when the regulatory process prevented operation, after all the money had been invested and lost.

Imagine being an investor in one of those projects that was regulated away. It only takes one or two such cases to effectively stop development.

Politicians have also slowed the development of wind and solar (!) because these affect scenic views or use so much land. Ethanol production is highly subsidized because the subsidies benefit farmers, who have an outsized influence in rural states. Ethanol is useful as a costly additive to gasoline to reduce emissions of ozone and unburned fuel. Not enough ethanol can be produced or used at present to replace gasoline.

An "addiction" is short feelings of happiness combined with a long, painful decline in health and thinking. My personal relation to oil involves hot showers, driving to work and play, and being warm in the winter. This is a comfortable life, not an addiction. The true addiction is the false hope of the extreme green movement. Short periods of self-congratulation are combined with a long decline in what people will enjoy in their lives.

"Weaning ourselves off of oil", implies moving from infantile to adult behavior, from a simple food provided in complete care, to an adult menu of natural food.

There is little other "food" to eat. There is no established path from "easy" oil to "adult" (what)? "Weaning" implies we are just lazy, and should go use the adult energy. There is no "adult energy", and no analogy.

I'm not against green. Use french-fry oil for diesel engines, if you can stand the smell. Put up a wind turbine, if you can get a permit and no one can see it. Cover your roof in solar panels, if you are rich. Just don't expect these marginal actions to support everyone. Not yet.

It may help to think about recycling, another program pushed by green government. Did recycling lower the taxes in your town? What are the efficiencies of having two big trucks come by on Tuesday rather than one? How many miles per gallon do those trucks get? Does the town pay a subsidy to the recycling centers, or do the centers pay the town? Do the recycling companies contribute to the "campaigns" of your town officers?

Don't block development of oil, coal, gas, and nuclear power. If you do, then french-fry oil, wind turbines, and expensive roof panels are what you are going to get. Maybe. After many uncomfortable or expensive winters.

Links

Energy Matters presents an overview of types of energy production and some difficulties. See the section on Wind Turbines.

Ethanol Fantasy Fuels a Food-Price Nightmare
05/08/08 - John M. Berry at Bloomberg.com. About food prices, farm subsidies, and the futility and disruption of growing corn for ethanol fuel.

US halts solar energy projects over environment fears
06/2008 - The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is putting a two year hold on new solar energy projects on public land, to study the impact on plants and wildlife. "Solar plants may cover thousands of acres. We need to determine what the environmental consequences are. What does it mean when you spray the land with herbicides or remove vegetation?"

U.S. Lifts Moratorium on New Solar Projects
7/3/08 - The BLM announced that it was lifting the freeze, barely a month after it was put into effect. I suspect that the regulatory "hold" on the project was quite a thrill for the developers, and that this is welcome news. Do we live in a nation of stupid laws, or of political influence? The result for past proposed nuclear power plants was not so good.

Residential solar electric: still too expensive?
06/24/08 - A system that provides $420/year of electricity costs $40,000. This is a 1% return on investment, assuming no repairs or maintenance. Maintenance is conveniently up on the roof.

Alternate Energy - The 1% Test
7/18/08 - With some thoughts about engineering "magic".

Powering Down NY at The New York Post. From INSTAPUNDIT
8/04/08 A commision report approved the operation of the Indian Point nuclear power plant. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has a different view.

"It's no surprise that Entergy's panel of paid consultants has turned a blind eye to the unacceptable risks posed by Indian Point," Cuomo huffed.

Cuomo, of course, has been trying to get the plant closed for more than a year now - playing upon apocalyptic fears of environmental destruction or terrorist attack.

The Green Hornet
8/06/2008 - A Wall Street Journal opinion that questions Mr. Obama's energy policy. It nicely reviews the current energy structure of the US.

"On Monday, Mr. Obama said that the U.S. must "end the age of oil in our time," with "real results by the end of my first term in office." This, he said, will "take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy." Mark that one down as the understatement of the year. Maybe Mr. Obama really is the Green Hornet, or some other superhero of his current political myth."

Energy Policy for the Ignorant at Powerline
8/25/2008 - Comments about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. She believes that natural gas is a clean non-fossil fuel, is against drilling for anything, and is setting US energy policy.

PELOSI: I'm -- I'm investing in something I believe in. I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.

Wind Energy Bumps Into Power Grid’s Limits
08/27/08 - NY Times (via Instapundit)
Energy production is big and complex. We need a policy to empower knowledgeable people (businesses) to handle all of the details, not just a new idea here and there. Changing big things takes time.

[Increasing wind power] would require moving large amounts of power over long distances, from the windy, lightly populated plains in the middle of the country to the coasts where many people live. Builders are also contemplating immense solar-power stations in the nation’s deserts that would pose the same transmission problems.

Preparing 240 Miles of Power Lines for Winter’s Wrath
11/09/08 - NYTimes.com by Ken Belson (via Freakonomics)

[edited] Doug Wassil and Eric DeChent inspect the 1,600 towers that support high-voltage electrical lines in New York City, Westchester County and points farther north. They use binoculars, hoists and voltage meters to ensure that the towers’ concrete bases, steel beams, ceramic insulators and other hardware will withstand high winds, freezing cold, and heavy snow.

Consolidated Edison’s towers, some nearly 500 feet tall, carry much of the power New York City needs from upstate. If a falling tree, high wind, or ice downed a line carrying 500,000 volts of electricity, parts of the city and its suburbs could go dark.

Disaster Resistant Energy Sources
11/10/08 - ChicagoBoyz.net by Shannon Love [edited]

Advocates of alternative energy seem to work from an unconscious conception that energy is to some degree a luxury good. They believe that we can live safely, healthily, and well without it. They plan in a cavalier manner, assuming that conditions will always be ideal and predictable, and if not, well, we can do without luxuries if we have to.

Energy is the heart of our lives. Without it, most of us will die within days. Losing 50% of our energy during a northeastern blizzard would kill millions. Sustained shortages of energy would kill more slowly, but just as surely, as we reverted back to the horrific lives of our ancestors. We need to think about rare scenarios because we are so dependent on energy that it would take only one such scenario to destroy everything.

People who advocate alternative energy need to tear their eyes away from the marketing brochures and instead try think hard about how to keep an old woman in the slums of Detroit warm in the heart of a once-in-50-years blizzard. If they can’t do that, they need to shelve their plans.

Problems With Green Energy
12/26/08 - AmericanThinker by Thomas Lifson

Darn, there are always a few glitches.

[edited] Reliability and maintenance problems of green energy sources are highlighted in a strikingly honest report in today's New York Times by Kate Galbraith.

In winter, wind turbine blades ice up and may hurl chunks of ice as they rotate, biodiesel fuel congeals in the gas tanks of buses, and solar panels produce less power in the weaker sun, or no power when covered with snow.

Even in northern California, with mild winters and little snow, solar panels can generate about half as much as in the summer, depending on how much they are tilted.