If you want to know what a man is really like,
take notice how he acts when he loses money.
New England Proverb
Senate Passes Ryan-Murray Taxpayer Betrayal 64-36: Thumbs DOWN!
Legislators are shameless in the way they try to engage in gimmicks, e.g., trying to portray naturally declining expenditures in Iraq spending as "cuts"--which is sort of like treating paying off car or mortgage loans as "spending cuts". If I've paid off a car loan with $450/monthly payments, it's true my cash flow has improved, but if I've actually increased my spending $300/month, I haven't "cut" spending $150 month. The car purchase is a sunk cost--I'm just spreading the cost over the life of ownership, which is an accounting consideration. The government doesn't really pay market cost for health care in government programs; basically it sets prices. The real question is equilibrium prices; if above market price, health providers have an incentive to maximize consumption, otherwise to minimize. Providers may try to make up the difference from other private-sector consumers. Cuts only work if prices are above equilibrium; when government is only paying 70-80% on the dollar, providers have a fiduciary responsibility to stop the bleeding--which among other things means holding down the numbers (if any) of government program patients.
In the funding of, say, 10 years of ObamaCare, the government may impose "temporary" surcharges or unilateral reimbursement costs. Of course, say, if we are talking about the funding of another program like ObamaCare, assuming an ongoing program of subsidies, if we have expiring taxes or price cuts, you either have to extend them or replace with other difficult/unpopular taxes or program savings. So keep that if mind: it's typical DC politics to backload most of the pain in the outer years of a 10-year funding schedule. Obama won't be President during those outer years, so he doesn't really care; Congressmen may also plan to retire before the shit hits the fan. We sometimes call this punting the costs to a future Congress or future generations.
This sets up the context for describing the gimmickry behind Ryan-Murray:
The $1.01 trillion budget deal passed 64-36 today eases $63 billion in automatic spending cuts, raises user fees and lowers the U.S. deficit over 10 years. The plan keeps in place about half of the spending reductions known as sequestration for next year, and about three-quarters of the planned cuts for 2015.The deal sets discretionary spending at $1.01 trillion for this fiscal year, higher than the $967 billion in the 2011 budget plan, leading some Republicans to vote against it. Much of the deficit reduction will come in later years, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The plan would lower the deficit by $3.1 billion in 2014 and $3.4 billion in 2015 and exceed $20 billion a year in 2022 and 2023, the CBO said. A big portion of the savings is tied to extending the cuts in Medicare provider payments into 2022 and 2023, rather than letting them expire in 2021 as under current law.Do Police Have a Constitutional Right to Smear the Reputations of Innocent Civilians? No...
Brief Clips on Sen. Coburn's Wastebook
Political Correctness Run Amok: The Phil Robertson Kerfuffle
It seems while we're still waiting for the paint to dry on the Paula Deen and Alec Baldwin controversies, the chief star of A&E's biggest cable show (which I've never seen) has been indefinitely suspended over comments on homosexual behavior/lifestyle offensive to gay activist groups that were published in a men's magazine.
(Personally, I'm far more offended by this piece of judgmental swill from a gay activist: "Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe". In America and Christianity, we do not go around judging other Christians, judging them to be hypocrites or pretending to define what "true" Christians think. Christianity generally has promoted the appropriate expression of exclusive sexuality within the context of permanent marriage between a man and woman, and their sexuality should be open to God's blessing of children. Faithful Christians should be chaste outside of marriage, period (which also applies to single men such as myself). What we also teach is God is merciful and can be forgiving of our sins. I agree that homosexual behavior is often, if not typically, a natural phenomena for a minority of people, and I expect that God would take that into consideration. When I read Phil's statements, I winced; I thought what he said was unduly provocative--anything suggesting a comparison with bestiality or implying that gays are condemned to damnation was going to be met with an equally strident and intolerant response. However, I thought Robertson's public statement on the kerfuffle was actually well-done.)
A&E's reaction seemed to be worried more about offending the self-anointed political correctness police than their viewers. Robertson's born-again religious beliefs and opinions are part of the persona attracting viewers, a wider, more diverse audience than "progressive" elitists. A&E owns the show and could shoot itself in the foot (obviously not watching its own hit show) by turning off its hard-won viewership--over something not even on the show.
Facebook Corner
 |
| Courtesy of Illinois Policy Institute |
[Discussant] is exhibiting what psychologists call a 'spoonerism'. They confuse political spin/propaganda as "the truth"--and personally attack purveyors of the truth, e.g., conservative critics.
(Learn Liberty). What are your thoughts on laws that ban texting while driving?
Driving is a potential risk to lives and property. People must be held responsible for the harmful consequences of their actions or negligence thereof. I consider driving in an impaired state (tired or ill, distracted, under the influence) a violation of the aggression principle. Of course, it's all but impossible to list all distractions. For example, I've been hit from behind at least twice several seconds stopped at the red light of an intersection, once by a mother obviously preoccupied by her baby in a carseat.
 |
| Via the Independent Institute |
This is why art education is the most important class and most shunned by the Govt.
Bob Barr Very good Mr. [discussant]! As a student and teacher I've been in school every year since 1959, and I tell you , the humanities are the best way to start the revolution we need so badly.
Yeah, right. That's just what we need: more unemployed artists, musicians and writers (didn't Hitler start out as an artist? Not exactly an endorsement..) I have found creativity often results from hard work and broad exposure to ideas and disciplines. Kids often go through anti-authoritarian phases. There are knowledge and skills relevant in any discipline, including the humanities. I do have process concerns in applying economies of scale in the context of an education factory. But I think it's wrong to focus on a single field or discipline; curiosity should be fostered and encouraged across the board.
 |
| Citizens Against Government Waste |
And people thought Lance Armstrong was at the center of a bicycling scandal...
Entertainment Potpourri
Christmas with Holly. Think of a twist on "Three Men and a Baby" and "The Neverending Story".
As a doctoral student on a tight budget--I once worked registration at UH with less than $100 to my name. For my precious few entertainment dollars, I ventured to a small strip shopping mall on Westheimer with a dollar theater, running movies after their general first-run release period. Add a tub of popcorn and a large soft drink for a total under $5, it was a way to get away from the stress of academia. And that's how I stumbled across "Neverending Story". For the few whom haven't seen the film, it's a story of a bullied young boy Bastian whom loves books and happens upon a unique book after sidestepping the bullies--and there's an Escher-like element where the boy literally finds himself in the storyline. The nameless child empress tells Bastian to save her crumbling world, he has to give her a name--not just any name. The general impression is that he must bring himself to give her the name of his late beloved mother. (What he screams in the clip below is "Moon Child", and it turns out to be a matter of controversy with movie fans, some saying that the original book gives another name to the mother; however, the mother's name link has been mentioned by many fans and explains Bastian's difficulty in bringing himself to say her name.) I also include Limahl's unforgettable soundtrack single, one of my favorite tunes from the 1980's.
Holly is orphaned when her single mother Victoria dies in Seattle, having previously asked her coffee shop manager brother Mark to serve as guardian. Six-year-old Holly is traumatized by her mother's death and has stopped talking; after Holly's teachers decide to demote Holly a grade level. Mark and Holly move back to the island where they live in a house with Mark's two older brothers, a construction worker (Scott) and a doctoral candidate working on marine biology. On the ferry, they meet Maggie, a former toy company employee whom had recently been a victim of a runaway groom. Maggie bought and has revamped a local toystore. This is a typical slow-build romance; Mark has a girlfriend, but she's unhappy that Holly outranks her on Mark's priorities; Maggie of course, her broken heart just beginning to heal, isn't looking for a relationship. Holly is entranced by a dollhouse in Maggie's store. Maggie tells Holly that there's a fairy that lives in the dollhouse/store, but Maggie is afraid that the fairy will fly away unless someone gives her a name...
There are certain endearing scenes, as any uncle with 9 beautiful nieces can relate to. I don't want to totally give away the plot, but there are a couple of teary moments after Holly resumes talking: in one case she tells Mark she loves him when he carries his drowsy niece to bed and when she asks Mark if he will be her Dad (after she names an ebullient nerdy Alex her favorite uncle). The other two uncles have their own poignant moments with Holly. The little girl is absolutely adorable; she could melt a heart of stone.
Christmas Greetings from UMinn
HT Carpe Diem. There's a particular reason I'm interested in pushing this video. The University of Minnesota is where the MIS academic discipline was born, and Professor Gordon Davis authored the first classic textbook. A former UH (my alma mater) professor Jim Wetherbe took over directing their research center (for a relevant history, see here), although we never met (he left before I started my MBA as a part-time night student). Minnesota publishes a key journal in the discipline, MIS Quarterly; I did serve as an MISQ reviewer, although I never submitted there.
I worked with one of their graduates, Bob Leitheiser, while I was on the UWM faculty; he was still ABD and teaching the MBA graduate service course; I think he went to the Whitewater campus (he still has a webpage there, although it lists a fall 2009 teaching schedule). (Whitewater probably had the strongest undergraduate program in the system while I was at UWM.) Probably the most widely known alumnus was Blake Ives, whom ironically made his way to UH sometime after I left academia in the early 1990's in a bad job market. We've briefly met at a cocktail party; it may have been at the ICIS hosted in Dallas, when I believe Ives was on the SMU faculty. I remember when we chatted (my initiative), he didn't seem to know any of the UH faculty until I name-dropped Maryam Alavi (later in Maryland and I think currently at Emory). It's hard not to notice Blake because he's almost a foot taller; I used to joke with my colleagues over one of his notable papers where he mentioned unobtrusively observing IT manager activities: how are you not aware of a big tree in your office?
I never visited the Minnesota school, but it hosted ICIS my last year (I think) at UWM. I remember driving to the conference hotel in freezing weather; as I went to check in, the Minnesota Viking cheerleaders were in the middle of an appearance in the hotel lobby. It was the most awesome hotel check-in ever.
Political Cartoon
 |
| Courtesy of Glenn McCoy and Townhall |
The Carpenters, "Merry Christmas, Darling"
