The Cato Institute's David Boaz wrote a great piece on Friedman several years before his passing that wonderfully outlined his life.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Happy Birthday, Milton Friedman!!
The Cato Institute's David Boaz wrote a great piece on Friedman several years before his passing that wonderfully outlined his life.
Halo and the financial mess explained
A funny take on the financial crisis with Halo characters. Peak bees! LOL!!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Forced to become an expatriate. Now where to go?
Since our government seems driven to devalue the American dollar while continuing to implement massive wealth distribution schemes, some of us may sadly have to live out our retirement abroad where our dollars may have more purchasing power. Here are some lovely places for about $500 a month.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sorry, But Organic Food Isn't Healthier...
So say scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine . So put down those expensive bananas because they're not worth it.
Your Fridge Tells a Story
Interesting snapshots of refrigerators and those that use them. I ran to see what my fridge looked like after viewing this. I need more veggies.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Words of economic wisdom from Nancy Pelosi
From the WSJ:
Blue Dogs who are dragged into Speaker Pelosi’s office should be aware of just how she is selling the health care bill. Yesterday, she told supporters it represented “real change,” because it meant “a cap on your [health care] costs, but no cap on your benefit.”
Yup. This is the kind of ass-backwards economics that is driving health care "reform" by Democrats. Doesn't Pelosi understand that what she is proposing is simply economically untenable? Apparently not. Here's a video of Ms. Pelosi selling her brand of economics.
Blue Dogs who are dragged into Speaker Pelosi’s office should be aware of just how she is selling the health care bill. Yesterday, she told supporters it represented “real change,” because it meant “a cap on your [health care] costs, but no cap on your benefit.”
Yup. This is the kind of ass-backwards economics that is driving health care "reform" by Democrats. Doesn't Pelosi understand that what she is proposing is simply economically untenable? Apparently not. Here's a video of Ms. Pelosi selling her brand of economics.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Health Care - Canadian Style
Yes, I know that Democrats and the White House are not proposing universal health care like in Canada. But the Canadian system started small and it eventually crowded out any semblance of the free market.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Obama The Bully
The CBO has been publishing unflattering stats on the overly optimistic budget numbers coming from the White House. Is the Obama administration now starting to bully the Congressional Budget Office?
A Bill To Force Congress To Sign Up For ObamaCare
It really is telling when Senate Democrats voted against requiring all members and their staffs to enroll in any new government-run health plan. That's right. It's not good enough for them but fine for the great unwashed. Even Mr. Socialist, Bernie Sanders, wouldn't sign himself up for the government-run health plan. Only brain addled liberals would support this ponzi scheme.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
President Obamas Dishonest Demagoguery on So-Called Tax Havens
The new video debunking the outlandish and mendacious rhetoric that President Obama has used to attack low-tax jurisdictions.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Libertarians Discuss Health Care On National T.V.
Penn Jillete, John Stossel, and Glenn Beck discuss health care reform. Good stuff.
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Coming Storm
This video is a Ron Paul political advertisement but I think that it is still relevant. Baby boomers will start to retire in great numbers, they will begin to tap into Social Security and Medicare. Bottom line--The U.S. can not afford these liabilities AND all of the ponzi schemes Obama and the Democrats are proposing for our economy.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The Case Against College Entitlements
Reason TV examines Obama's plan to increase subsidies for higher education. The more you subsidize something the more of it you will get. Is that a good thing when it comes to college degrees? At what point does a surfeit of B.A. degrees water down its value?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Single Payer health care Does Not Mean less Bankruptcies
E. Frank Stephenson over at Division of Labor notes the following: Single payer health care advocates have been claiming for some time now that a single payer health care system prevents bankruptcies due to medical expenses. A new study by the Fraser Institute (A Canadian think tank) finds that this claim is false. Bankruptcy rates are higher in Canada even though Canadians don't have to fret over medical expenses.
Capitalism and Surgical Technology
20 Scary Old School Surgical Tools. Without incentives to innovate, surgery would truly be barbaric.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Unintended Consequences
From the WSJ:
This story begins with Congress's 2005 highway bill. It included a subsidy to encourage businesses to power their motor vehicles with "alternative fuels" such as ethanol, rather than fossil fuels such as diesel. Congress said businesses could receive a 50-cent tax credit for every gallon of gasoline if they used a blend of a traditional fossil fuel and an alternative fuel.
Then in 2007, Congress extended this largesse beyond highway vehicles to a wider range of alternative fuel users. Enter "black liquor," a carbon-rich substance the paper industry has used for decades to power its mills. It also qualifies as an alternative fuel. All the paper industry had to do was blend some fossil fuel in with their alternative fuel and -- voila! -- billions of dollars in federal subsidies were within reach. So they did.
Once again we have a clear example of the law of unintended consequences; Politicians attempting to “do something” about climate change end up creating a conflict of interest and a mess.
This story begins with Congress's 2005 highway bill. It included a subsidy to encourage businesses to power their motor vehicles with "alternative fuels" such as ethanol, rather than fossil fuels such as diesel. Congress said businesses could receive a 50-cent tax credit for every gallon of gasoline if they used a blend of a traditional fossil fuel and an alternative fuel.
Then in 2007, Congress extended this largesse beyond highway vehicles to a wider range of alternative fuel users. Enter "black liquor," a carbon-rich substance the paper industry has used for decades to power its mills. It also qualifies as an alternative fuel. All the paper industry had to do was blend some fossil fuel in with their alternative fuel and -- voila! -- billions of dollars in federal subsidies were within reach. So they did.
Once again we have a clear example of the law of unintended consequences; Politicians attempting to “do something” about climate change end up creating a conflict of interest and a mess.
Michael Moore Is A Big Fat Liar
Michael Moore will subject the American public to more of his myth making Marxist propaganda when he releases his new documentary October 2, 2009. Yup, the guy who idolizes "free" Cuban health care and who does not understand a shred of economics is going to make a movie about capitalism. Hilarious.
HT: Carpe Diem
HT: Carpe Diem
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Walmart and The Noose Of National Health Care
If you haven't heard the news about Walmart and it's surrender to a national health care scheme, here it is. The best analysis of this whole sorry business comes from Megan McArdle at the Atlantic:
I find it hard to believe that none of the liberal commentators breathlessly celebrating Wal-Mart's "capitulation" on national health care have even entertained the most parsimonious explanation: that Wal-Mart is in favor of this because it raises the barriers to entry in the retail market, and hammers Wal-Mart's competition. Yet somehow, this appears nowhere in any of the analysis...
On the other side, there is regulatory capture. Wal-Mart is always going to have a seat at the table when employer mandates are discussed, because Wal-Mart is the nation's largest private employer. Target and Macy's probably won't have a seat at the table. So Wal-Mart can influence the rules in ways that benefit Wal-Mart at the expense of the competition. This is partly because the regulators often cycle into jobs at the firms they regulate, but also simply because the regulator's attention is finite, so being consistently at the table allows you to shape their views over time. Again, this isn't some kind of crazy right-wing analysis; regulatory capture was first diagnosed by a Marxist historian named Gabriel Kolko.
Walmart has pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book and it has positioned itself rather nicely to beat down competitors with nary a liberal backlash. Once again we see how a government scheme tilts the playing field in favor of big business. I don't fault Walmart for their tactic. In fact, I think that its the most rational approach to a federal government that is threatening to create a frightful business environment.
I find it hard to believe that none of the liberal commentators breathlessly celebrating Wal-Mart's "capitulation" on national health care have even entertained the most parsimonious explanation: that Wal-Mart is in favor of this because it raises the barriers to entry in the retail market, and hammers Wal-Mart's competition. Yet somehow, this appears nowhere in any of the analysis...
On the other side, there is regulatory capture. Wal-Mart is always going to have a seat at the table when employer mandates are discussed, because Wal-Mart is the nation's largest private employer. Target and Macy's probably won't have a seat at the table. So Wal-Mart can influence the rules in ways that benefit Wal-Mart at the expense of the competition. This is partly because the regulators often cycle into jobs at the firms they regulate, but also simply because the regulator's attention is finite, so being consistently at the table allows you to shape their views over time. Again, this isn't some kind of crazy right-wing analysis; regulatory capture was first diagnosed by a Marxist historian named Gabriel Kolko.
Walmart has pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book and it has positioned itself rather nicely to beat down competitors with nary a liberal backlash. Once again we see how a government scheme tilts the playing field in favor of big business. I don't fault Walmart for their tactic. In fact, I think that its the most rational approach to a federal government that is threatening to create a frightful business environment.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Milton Friedman - Rising Cost of Health Care
I'm back! Here is Uncle Milton on health care. This video is from the late 1970's and the same free market arguments against government mandated health care still apply aptly.
HT: Liberty Pen
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Killing Capitalism - Cap and Trade
If you haven't seen Glenn Beck comment on Cap and Trade, here is a video.
HT: Liberty Pen
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Massachusetts State Sponsored Health Care is a FLOP!
You won't find this story readily available in the mainstream media:
Only 26 percent of likely voters in Massachusetts believe health care reform has been a success and just 21 percent believe reform has made health care more affordable, according to newly released poll results. The Rasmussen Reports poll of 500 likely Massachusetts voters, taken in April, also found only 10 percent said the quality of health care is getting better under the reform law rules here.
For more read Rasmussen Reports.
Only 26 percent of likely voters in Massachusetts believe health care reform has been a success and just 21 percent believe reform has made health care more affordable, according to newly released poll results. The Rasmussen Reports poll of 500 likely Massachusetts voters, taken in April, also found only 10 percent said the quality of health care is getting better under the reform law rules here.
For more read Rasmussen Reports.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Fairy Tale That is Universal Health Care
Thomas Sowell on the costs of medical care:
Just as medical care, houses and cars were all cheaper when they lacked things that they have today, so medical care in other countries is cheaper when they lack many things that are more readily available in the United States.
There are more than four times as many Magnetic Resonance Imaging units (MRIs) per capita in the United States as in Britain or Canada, where there are government-run medical systems. There are more than twice as many CT scanners per capita in the United States as in Canada and more than four times as many per capita as in Britain.
Is it surprising that such things cost money?
Just as medical care, houses and cars were all cheaper when they lacked things that they have today, so medical care in other countries is cheaper when they lack many things that are more readily available in the United States.
There are more than four times as many Magnetic Resonance Imaging units (MRIs) per capita in the United States as in Britain or Canada, where there are government-run medical systems. There are more than twice as many CT scanners per capita in the United States as in Canada and more than four times as many per capita as in Britain.
Is it surprising that such things cost money?
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