The prospect of health care reform brings up many issues. It will need to cover several blog posts to keep matters clear. Today we shall look at the basic assumptions involved. In future posts we will look at the economic forces on the rest of the economy and the constitutional issues.
It seems apparent that many of the people who voted for Obama thought they were going to get something for nothing. In their magical thinking, the health care system was going to be just like it is now, but FREE. Those of us who have grown up understand the first rule of reality: THERE AIN'T NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH!! (TANSTAAFL)
Medical care, in all its manifestations is a good in economic terms. Someone has to go to school for a long time, work, invest, take chances to create medical care. So, if we are not going to physically enslave all the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians and steal all the capitol equipment used for health care, someone has to pay for it.
Shall the user of the medical service pay for it or shall the government use its guns to make someone else pay for it? That is the stark reality of the situation. Which is the moral and ethical choice?
Now, let's say that you decided for the use of government guns and you still want your "free" health care. How might this work? The government has to collect taxes from everyone under some rule or another. Maybe you will be in a less taxed group, maybe not but, in any case, the government will take a pile of money from us and then pay for our health care-right?
Well, they have a budget. For any given year they have a sum allotted to health care. There is, after all, a limit to what you can steal from a productive person before he decides to stop producing. What if the demand for services exceeds that budget amount? They have to deny services to someone. By what standards do people get denied and who decides? AYY-there is the rub. Your money has been taken from you. You no longer have it available to pay for care. Some government functionary decides who gets care and who doesn't.
In Canada, it is just waiting lists. Let's see if you survive with your 90% occluded coronary arteries until your name comes up on the list. Or maybe it will be something like they are already doing with Medicare patients. How many of the government's dollars is it worth to extend your life? Notice that money became their dollars now-not yours any longer. Is there anything more foolish than giving up control of your very life?
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Friday, November 28, 2008
The Economic Crisis
People, please stop falling for all the excuses that the government and its subservient media is handing you. This is not a matter of too little regulation, greed, stupid homeowners or whatever.
Those are consequences of the root cause-excessive money and credit creation by the Federal Reserve Bank. They did this to keep interest rates artificially low in the face of massive government deficits and borrowing.
Normally, the borrowing, being so huge to finance both the welfare state and two nonsensical wars, would have driven interest rates very high. By creating new money, they bought back much of that debt and pushed interest rates back down.
The consequence of all that is a rapidly increasing money supply and higher prices for everything. Now how could an ordinary person not notice how the prices of real estate kept going up and interest rates stayed low. It was like manna from heaven and people took advantage of the situation to make money on a "sure thing". Tell me that you did not think that real estate only goes up in price.
This is the classical bubble described in text books for hundreds of years. It is an old game played by government that ALWAYS bursts giving drastically lower prices and bad debts.
The best solution is drastically reduce government spending so no new borrowing is needed, lower taxes and get out of the way. The economy will recover in a year or so.
But instead, our brilliant leadership (both the R and D kind) think that the hair of the dog is the solution. Let's spend even more and inflate the money supply even more to get things back where they used to be, Let's try to reinflate the bubble.
That can't work and never has though it has been tried. The 1930s was an example of further money creation (and they even raised taxes and tariffs) causing the economy to stay bad for a decade. That is right folks, the New Deal did not work. The New New deal will fail just the same.
If you don't learn from history, you get to repeat it!
Those are consequences of the root cause-excessive money and credit creation by the Federal Reserve Bank. They did this to keep interest rates artificially low in the face of massive government deficits and borrowing.
Normally, the borrowing, being so huge to finance both the welfare state and two nonsensical wars, would have driven interest rates very high. By creating new money, they bought back much of that debt and pushed interest rates back down.
The consequence of all that is a rapidly increasing money supply and higher prices for everything. Now how could an ordinary person not notice how the prices of real estate kept going up and interest rates stayed low. It was like manna from heaven and people took advantage of the situation to make money on a "sure thing". Tell me that you did not think that real estate only goes up in price.
This is the classical bubble described in text books for hundreds of years. It is an old game played by government that ALWAYS bursts giving drastically lower prices and bad debts.
The best solution is drastically reduce government spending so no new borrowing is needed, lower taxes and get out of the way. The economy will recover in a year or so.
But instead, our brilliant leadership (both the R and D kind) think that the hair of the dog is the solution. Let's spend even more and inflate the money supply even more to get things back where they used to be, Let's try to reinflate the bubble.
That can't work and never has though it has been tried. The 1930s was an example of further money creation (and they even raised taxes and tariffs) causing the economy to stay bad for a decade. That is right folks, the New Deal did not work. The New New deal will fail just the same.
If you don't learn from history, you get to repeat it!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Meaning of Words
Words like liberal, conservative, progressive, change over time. Parties like Democrats and Republicans change their principles over time, sometimes by takeover by stealth, sometimes by natural evolution. The main lesson for us plain folks is to never get married to the name of a philosophy or a party, blindly following it after it has abandoned the principles that brought us to it in the first place.
I decided that I was a conservative in 1964 when Barry Goldwater ran for president. I recognized that, despite what I was told during my upbringing in New York City, it was not a good idea for poor folks to be Democrats and liberals. What was best for everyone was a small, unobtrusive government that let you keep the fruits of your labor. I registered Republican at the first opportunity (age 21 at that time). Today, I have noted that the Republican Party that nominated Barry Goldwater does not exist any longer. It has drifted into something very different.
A lot of folks who spent their lives saying they were conservative apparently did not notice when a group that called themselves neoconservatives took over their movement and changed it drastically. Today, when you say you are conservative, people don’t think of a freedom lover. Today, to be recognized as a conservative, you need to support the Iraq war and future wars that the neo-cons think is right and proper. You must stand silent to the violations of due process that are everyday doings of the Bush administration. You must be in favor of government interference in interpersonal relationships. Today, if you are against the war, you must be a liberal. If you think that the government should not tell people whom to love, you must be a liberal. And you certainly cannot be a conservative, if you think that sick people can use that devil weed, marijuana to ease their suffering.
Well, I am against the war and I am not a liberal (as currently defined). I believe that the most important value of this nation is its tradition of individual freedom. We have a constitution that protects that freedom. I will support a candidate who supports individual freedom and is obedient to the constitution, no matter what his party label. I will not support a candidate who thinks that obeying the constitution is optional, no matter what his party label.
I am a Libertarian now, because it is the only party that actually takes individual freedom seriously. To prevent long term drift of the party away from this basic principle, We require a simple pledge of new members-
I certify that I do not advocate the initiation of force to achieve political or social goals.
We also have a statement of principles that requires a 7/8 vote at convention to change. We are well aware of the danger of drift and infiltration and have taken steps to slow or prevent it. Apparently the Republicans did not.
I supported Ron Paul for president and I have joined The Hope for America Coalition because these actions help to further my desire for a restoration of the individual freedom that used to by the primary feature of this nation. I care about this because I want my kids to spend their lives in freedom, not in tyranny.
I urge you all who are conservative, to ask yourselves if the Republican Party deserves your support any longer. Please don't answer that the Democrats are worse. Choosing the lesser evil, election after election, gets you the evil that is happening today. Open your mind to the Libertarian Party and its principles.
I decided that I was a conservative in 1964 when Barry Goldwater ran for president. I recognized that, despite what I was told during my upbringing in New York City, it was not a good idea for poor folks to be Democrats and liberals. What was best for everyone was a small, unobtrusive government that let you keep the fruits of your labor. I registered Republican at the first opportunity (age 21 at that time). Today, I have noted that the Republican Party that nominated Barry Goldwater does not exist any longer. It has drifted into something very different.
A lot of folks who spent their lives saying they were conservative apparently did not notice when a group that called themselves neoconservatives took over their movement and changed it drastically. Today, when you say you are conservative, people don’t think of a freedom lover. Today, to be recognized as a conservative, you need to support the Iraq war and future wars that the neo-cons think is right and proper. You must stand silent to the violations of due process that are everyday doings of the Bush administration. You must be in favor of government interference in interpersonal relationships. Today, if you are against the war, you must be a liberal. If you think that the government should not tell people whom to love, you must be a liberal. And you certainly cannot be a conservative, if you think that sick people can use that devil weed, marijuana to ease their suffering.
Well, I am against the war and I am not a liberal (as currently defined). I believe that the most important value of this nation is its tradition of individual freedom. We have a constitution that protects that freedom. I will support a candidate who supports individual freedom and is obedient to the constitution, no matter what his party label. I will not support a candidate who thinks that obeying the constitution is optional, no matter what his party label.
I am a Libertarian now, because it is the only party that actually takes individual freedom seriously. To prevent long term drift of the party away from this basic principle, We require a simple pledge of new members-
I certify that I do not advocate the initiation of force to achieve political or social goals.
We also have a statement of principles that requires a 7/8 vote at convention to change. We are well aware of the danger of drift and infiltration and have taken steps to slow or prevent it. Apparently the Republicans did not.
I supported Ron Paul for president and I have joined The Hope for America Coalition because these actions help to further my desire for a restoration of the individual freedom that used to by the primary feature of this nation. I care about this because I want my kids to spend their lives in freedom, not in tyranny.
I urge you all who are conservative, to ask yourselves if the Republican Party deserves your support any longer. Please don't answer that the Democrats are worse. Choosing the lesser evil, election after election, gets you the evil that is happening today. Open your mind to the Libertarian Party and its principles.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Group Guilt
In the last few weeks I have met two different people with the same fantastic opinion. They both stated proudly and loudly, with no shame, that it is right and proper for us (the United States) to kill millions of Muslims. They believe that the attacks of 9-11 and all the insurgent activity in Iraq and Afghanistan are caused by religious zealots and that this justifies our killing them by the millions.
In their opinion, it doesn't matter that only a few hundred crazies were responsible for the 9-11 attacks and the prior attacks on the WTC, the USS Cole and the various embassy bombings. It doesn't matter that the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan are merely getting revenge for the deaths of their relatives at the hands of our military invasion and occupation forces.
Mass murder based on group guilt spread liberally without cause to all Muslims is just fine by them. This is mass murder, no different in kind from what Hitler had the German army do to the Jews and Gypsies during WW2. Again there, a whole religion or ethnic group was judged guilty for the crimes of a few.
How can this happen? How can Americans go along with this. It is massively evil and shameful! Yet they do not see this.
So, the next time you are thinking about the Holocaust and wondering how it happened, how the German people let it happen, you will know the answer. With sufficient propaganda and a sufficiently dumbed down populace, you can sell anything. You can convince a strong and powerful nation that they are in mortal danger from a few hundred crazies with minor weapons. You can attack a nation without cause and thereby create new enemies and use their revenge tactics as a causus belli for the next advance in your war plans and get away with it.
I just want to remind those advocates of mass murder that Germany was defeated and was forced to admit their horrible and evil wrongs and pay massive reparations. The world looks upon that period of history with horror and disbelief. Do you really want to try it again? This time against a target religion not of a few million like the Jews but a few hundred million Muslims.
In their opinion, it doesn't matter that only a few hundred crazies were responsible for the 9-11 attacks and the prior attacks on the WTC, the USS Cole and the various embassy bombings. It doesn't matter that the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan are merely getting revenge for the deaths of their relatives at the hands of our military invasion and occupation forces.
Mass murder based on group guilt spread liberally without cause to all Muslims is just fine by them. This is mass murder, no different in kind from what Hitler had the German army do to the Jews and Gypsies during WW2. Again there, a whole religion or ethnic group was judged guilty for the crimes of a few.
How can this happen? How can Americans go along with this. It is massively evil and shameful! Yet they do not see this.
So, the next time you are thinking about the Holocaust and wondering how it happened, how the German people let it happen, you will know the answer. With sufficient propaganda and a sufficiently dumbed down populace, you can sell anything. You can convince a strong and powerful nation that they are in mortal danger from a few hundred crazies with minor weapons. You can attack a nation without cause and thereby create new enemies and use their revenge tactics as a causus belli for the next advance in your war plans and get away with it.
I just want to remind those advocates of mass murder that Germany was defeated and was forced to admit their horrible and evil wrongs and pay massive reparations. The world looks upon that period of history with horror and disbelief. Do you really want to try it again? This time against a target religion not of a few million like the Jews but a few hundred million Muslims.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Sound Money
Dr Ron Paul has been advocating a return to sound money. If you don't want to be paying a continuous inflation tax, you should want sound money as well. Historically, the only way to prevent inflation is to strictly limit the amount of money in circulation. How do you do that? Why you make the money warehouse receipts for some commodity. That way, there can be no money printed that is not matched by stocks of the monetary commodity available at all times for redemption of the paper money.
Again, history teaches us that gold or silver have been the best commodity to use as a medium of exchange. They each have intrinsic value because of their usefulness (jewelry, electronics, chemistry) and can easily be made into coins and subdivided endlessly. The key to sound money is the concept of a commodity that is interchangeable with the paper money. It is less important what the commodity is, so long as there is a limit on the issuance of paper money (or its electronic equivalent).
Today, the Federal Reserve Bank can create new money at whim to lower interest rates, bail out defaulting financial institutions, buy votes or finance wars. The result of this money creation is exactly the same as when Uncle Vinnie down the block prints up his really good counterfeit $50s. The money supply goes up and all the money becomes worth less. Did you get that? There is no difference to you whether the Fed issues the money or Uncle Vinnie issues the money. The effect on the economy is the same.
It only makes a difference to the guy who gets to spend the money the first time. Either Uncle Vinnie gets to buy his new car or the political cronies of the Fed get the money. Either way, after that first spend, it is just more money in circulation.
So now let's look at some evidence to back this up. Oil has gotten very expensive lately. It is running between $90 and $100 per barrel. But that is when you measure it in terms of dollars. If you measure it in terms of gold, it is still about 1/10 ounce of gold per barrel-mostly unchanged. So the price increase you see is really the lower value of the dollar caused by all that counterfeit money, mostly from Uncle Fed.
So next time you hear some media expert laughing at Dr Paul for advocating the gold standard, you give him a good laugh. He is the idiot!
Again, history teaches us that gold or silver have been the best commodity to use as a medium of exchange. They each have intrinsic value because of their usefulness (jewelry, electronics, chemistry) and can easily be made into coins and subdivided endlessly. The key to sound money is the concept of a commodity that is interchangeable with the paper money. It is less important what the commodity is, so long as there is a limit on the issuance of paper money (or its electronic equivalent).
Today, the Federal Reserve Bank can create new money at whim to lower interest rates, bail out defaulting financial institutions, buy votes or finance wars. The result of this money creation is exactly the same as when Uncle Vinnie down the block prints up his really good counterfeit $50s. The money supply goes up and all the money becomes worth less. Did you get that? There is no difference to you whether the Fed issues the money or Uncle Vinnie issues the money. The effect on the economy is the same.
It only makes a difference to the guy who gets to spend the money the first time. Either Uncle Vinnie gets to buy his new car or the political cronies of the Fed get the money. Either way, after that first spend, it is just more money in circulation.
So now let's look at some evidence to back this up. Oil has gotten very expensive lately. It is running between $90 and $100 per barrel. But that is when you measure it in terms of dollars. If you measure it in terms of gold, it is still about 1/10 ounce of gold per barrel-mostly unchanged. So the price increase you see is really the lower value of the dollar caused by all that counterfeit money, mostly from Uncle Fed.
So next time you hear some media expert laughing at Dr Paul for advocating the gold standard, you give him a good laugh. He is the idiot!
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