The health care debate is generating a lot more heat than light these days, and I’m somewhat puzzled as to why. Only somewhat puzzled, though, because much of what is going on was accurately predicted long before this issue even came up, and in fact has been the norm for years. What we are seeing… Continue reading Health care: are people just too far apart?
Category: Politics
Supreme Court idiocy
Like most pundits of the DC class, Howard Fineman is a tool. However, even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and again, and this column is something I can agree with: the recent Senate Judiciary hearings on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor were completely pointless, and moreover, seemed to demonstrate the fact that most… Continue reading Supreme Court idiocy
The free market works…except when it doesn’t
Ten years ago, I bought a standard glass tube TV with a single coax input. Today, I have an LCD flat-screen TV with more inputs than I can use. Ten years ago, my car didn’t even have airbags. Today, cars come with all sorts of safety devices. Ten years ago, my computer had 32 MB… Continue reading The free market works…except when it doesn’t
Health care: Beware of compromise
In recent days, there seems to be a crescendo in the commentary from people warning the Obama administration and Congress about being too quick to compromise to get some kind of grand “bipartisan” health care reform that will attract Republican votes. This view is dead-on. While there are some things that must be compromised on,… Continue reading Health care: Beware of compromise
Health care: reform requires a public option
In my last post, I talked about how health care is not a free market. In this post, I get into the “public option” in the health care reform debate: the government health insurance plan that will exist alongside current private insurance products, giving people another option when getting insurance. It is no exaggeration to… Continue reading Health care: reform requires a public option
Health care: it’s not a free market
Health care reform is one of the hottest topics around Washington these days, because it is such a critical issue. That the health care system in the U.S. is broken few people doubt. There are around 50 million uninsured people in this country, we pay far, far more per capita than any other industrialized country… Continue reading Health care: it’s not a free market
The real problem with earmarks
Trashing earmarks is a popular pastime on both sides of the political spectrum. Earmarks, or “pork projects” as they are often referred to, are decried as wasteful spending, bribes, slush money, and everything else that is wrong with the democratic process. I am always puzzled by these complaints: there is something wrong with earmarks, but… Continue reading The real problem with earmarks
Where the money goes
So Governor Pawlenty is going to have to cut the budget himself to balance it. The question is how? He’s asked for public input at budgetideas@state.mn.us, and a lot of people have been sending him suggestions. We have little idea what those suggestions are because they haven’t been released in their entirety, but the ones… Continue reading Where the money goes
Two Graphs
Well, three actually, but two concepts: Price of Government and Tax Incidence. They are pretty important in understanding Minnesota’s budget and tax issues.
Even a stopped clock…
Jesse Ventura is pretty out there these days, even more so than he used to be. I certainly never voted for him, and I find his whole conspiracy-theory stuff pretty off-putting. Nevertheless, I have to admit that I am hard-pressed to find much to disagree with in regards to his latest comments: Norm Coleman is… Continue reading Even a stopped clock…