The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us
and we see nothing but sand;
the angels come to visit us,
and we only know them
when they are gone.
George Elliot
Worst Magazine Ad Ever:
Uncle Ronald Likes Ayn Rand, Too
Uncle Ronald also knows that he can buy his nephews and nieces subscriptions to Reason for nearly a third of the cost of subscribing to a mediocre "progressive" publication.
John Goodman, "None Dare Call It Fascism": Thumbs UP!
Actually, I would, John, especially after I read DiLorenzo's essay on economic fascism. In yesterday's post I cited Goodman in busting the "progressive" bugaboo of healthcare policy rescission. This is a splendid little rant where Goodman points out that the health insurers have refused to defend themselves as the whipping boys of the megalomaniac demagogues in the White House and the Jackass Party Congressional caucuses. As Don Boudreaux might say, here's a little slice from the post:
Anyway, back to the most recent charge, which is that under the pre-Obama system insurers cancelled policies after people got sick. Really? So says the president. And Axelrod. And Emanuel.
Hmmm. I remember when one insurer got hit with one of the biggest judgments ever because the insurer would not approve a bone marrow transplant to treat breast cancer (a procedure we all now know doesn't work). Are we supposed to believe that these same companies routinely cancel policies and refuse to pay medical bills just because someone gets sick?Do I need to spell out what Goodman is saying here? The legal system incompetently cracked down on an insurer for rejecting an unconventional treatment. Not that the woman wasn't getting treatment for cancer--but not the type of treatment the patient wanted. The insurer didn't cancel her policy after getting cancer; the insurer did not reject more conventional treatments for breast cancer. Goodman is saying wouldn't we hear far worse horror stories and judgments/settlements if the same insurer had simply dropped her long before the denied preferred treatment? I read a recent account where Obama was discussing during a weekly address a mere handful of exceptions to the preponderance of cases in his aggressive bashing of insurers. There's not a scintilla of integrity in this man; he will knowingly hype outlying cases just to make a misleading political point. There's no regard for the truth.
A Man Among Men
Via the Libertarian Republic:
Sir Nicholas Winton was invited to a special gathering to honor his work in saving the lives of hundreds of Jewish Czechoslovakian children he saved from Nazi death camps. Right before World War 2 broke out, Winton arranged their escape from certain death. In this video from 1988, the survivors gathered to give him a great surprise.
Facebook Corner
(LFC). I am writing a paper and honestly I am ignorant to the types of capitalism, does China fall under state capitalism or laissez fair?
If you check any index of economic freedom, you will find China ranks in the bottom half with poor recognition of property rights, few financial rights, and middling business freedom. I've seen one World Bank estimate that state-owned enterprises control about 30-40% of assets. Chinese manipulated monetary policy is at the expense of Chinese consumers. Technically state-owned/controlled production is indicative of socialism/communism, not capitalism. The middle ground is a state/government-dominated economy, sometimes referred to as economic fascism. The fact that China is in its twelfth 5-year plan by itself tells you all you need to know.
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| Via LFC |
Cato Institute is joining with the Institute for Justice in trying to reverse a New Hampshire decision which implies tax-advantaged contributions to scholarship funds available to private school applicants (including parochial schools) violate the Blaine Amendment, basically an anti-Catholic measure which doesn't allow money to Catholic schools, even though Catholic parents who send their kids to Catholic schools basically have to pay twice for their kids' education.
What about overturning anti-competitive Blaine Amendments?
A couple of minor threads:
school choice does not make sense. most schools are funded by local property taxes. the people who have children already use those property taxes to subsidize their local education. why should a parent with a child get to withdraw $10-15k per year out of a local system into which they likely only pay $2-5k in taxes just to move it to another geographically located school? the person with no children who pays into such a system benefits, at least theoretically, from a strong school system because that school system's value should be reflected in local property values. if parents from "outside" do not have to pay the same taxes as the locals or pay the same housing costs as the locals, they are getting a huge subsidy.
Competition in education doesn't make sense? Let's end the hypocrisy of "free" education!
The only thing to which school choice will ultimately lead is the government takeover of private schools ("he who has the gold, makes the rules"). The only step left will be to outlaw home schooling (when FedGov provides more "free" federal funding in exchange for states outlawing the practice).
First, school choice includes publicly funded alternatives, like charter schools. Second, some of us believe that education should be privatized. Third, bans would be unconstitutional and/or unenforceable. Fourth, we already see federal loans available to religious-affiliated university students, without compromising university operations.
Political Humor
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| Via Patriot Post |
[No kidding: punting a massive debt and unfunded entitlements to the next generations, executive orders and drone strikes that are illegal procedures, encroachment on traditional state responsibilities and individual liberties...]
According to a report released yesterday, over a million people in California are losing their health insurance due to Obamacare. I can't believe that. There's not a million people in California who have car insurance. - Jay Leno
[Not since Obama also decided to reform auto insurance...]
* See here for a related spoof: the Affordable Car Act
So far, only 106,000 people have signed up for Obamacare. Even more disappointing is that it turned out to be one man who accidentally signed up 106,000 times. - David Letterman
[And it turns out that Barack Obama already has healthcare insurance...]
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Gary Varvel and Townhall |
Dido, "White Flag". A few years back I had griped in an email to my best Indian friend that modern pop music had become mostly a wasteland, and he responded by mentioning how much he liked Dido's then new single "White Flag". I knew who Dido is; I had previously downloaded a licensed copy of her first big hit "Thank You". Sure enough, the new single proved equally worthy, and I downloaded it as well.
Heroic Dog
