| Fannie Med and Freddie Quack... |
| Mankiw speaks out on public health care: In practice...if a public option is available, it will probably enjoy taxpayer subsidies. Indeed, even if the initial legislation rejected them, such subsidies would be hard to avoid in the long run. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants created by federal law, were once private companies. Yet many investors believed -- correctly, as it turned out -- that the federal government would stand behind Fannie's and Freddie's debts, and this perception gave these companies access to cheap credit. Similarly, a public health insurance plan would enjoy the presumption of a government backstop. UPDATE: And don't forget to read Atlas Shrugged to get a handle on what's going on right now! UPDATE II: And via Instapundit we have this. |
| Link posted by Steve Antler : 9:51 AM |
Thursday, June 25, 2009
| Greenback movement revisited? |
| California will issue IOUs instead of checks. Will they circulate? At what discount? Don't you just adore new and exotic forms of money? |
| Link posted by Steve Antler : 12:56 PM |
| Culture of Anglosphere rules again? |
| I know this is totally off-the-wall and insensitive to all the specifics of Iranian politics and society, but do current behind-the-scenes events amount to early stages of a bicameral system modeled on England (with a powerful but still-appointed and yet-advisory upper House of Lords)? Just a thought. Anyway, here's the article: According to unconfirmed reports Rafsanjani is currently lobbying and meeting with members of the Assembly of Experts to gain support for the removal of Khamenei and for replacing the position of Supreme Leader with a form of collective leadership. Those last words are where I skidded to a stop. "A form of collective leadership"? Yes, just like the House of Lords! |
| Link posted by Steve Antler : 7:26 AM |
| Anglosphere in early stages of recovery? |
| Australia rescuing itself from global warming cultism? Perhaps: [T]here are a large number of punters [Australian for "customers" or "gamblers"—in this case, skeptical customers who may or may not buy what the government's selling] who object to being treated dismissively as stupid, who do not like being told what to think, who value independence, who resile from personal attacks and have life experiences very different from the urban environmental atheists attempting to impose a new fundamentalist religion. Green politics have taken the place of failed socialism and Western Christianity and impose fear, guilt, penance, and indulgences onto a society with little scientific literacy. |
| Link posted by Steve Antler : 7:14 AM |
Thursday, June 18, 2009
| Fairmodel, all others on hold... |
| Whenever any numbers (e.g. money supply) move outside reasonable historical limits the equations making up large models must be judged unreliable predictors. The models can be used, but the results can't be trusted. More and more it appears we're outside the realm of reliable modeling, at least during the forseeable future. This amazing story underlines the point vividly. UPDATE: They're fake. Whew! UPDATE II: Via Instapundit, the story continues... |
| Link posted by Steve Antler : 8:41 AM |
Saturday, June 13, 2009
| Less necessary? Less? |
| Medicare disproportionate share payments compensate certain hospitals for higher operating costs incured in treating their larger share of low-income, uninsured patients. The administration has only now discovered they can save about $106B in health care costs under their new plan because, as Peter Orzag says, "(a)s the ranks of uninsured decline under health reform, those payments become less necessary..." Well, duh, glad you finally noticed! And by the way, what's with this "less" necessary? How about "un"? |
| Link posted by Steve Antler : 8:26 AM |
Friday, June 12, 2009
| Robert Reich Reveals Reality... |
| You decide how to read this: Whatever it's called -- public option or chopped liver -- it has to be able to squeeze Pharma, Insurance, and the rest of the medical-industrial complex. And the more likely it is to squeeze them, the more they'll fight it. And the greater the opposition from Republicans, and from Dems who either believe any bill has to have some Republican support or who have sold themselves out to the medical biggies. To me, the operative word is "squeeze." In the ideal Reich universe (as in Canada) medical care becomes a zero sum game for all: your treatment means doctors or drug companies earn less, or, alterately, other patients wait longer. That's it. That's the secret of the single payer solution. |
| Link posted by Steve Antler : 10:04 AM |
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