Gregg Easterbrook asks about community rating and then goes on a very intelligent tangent: what would happen if medical service providers were required to offer their services to everyone at the same cost? health care proposals now in the Senate are so utterly fixated on handouts and giveaways that they don’t even address a core [...]
Archive for October, 2009
MFN for Patients
Posted in Health Care on October 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Pour Encourager Les Autres
Posted in Health Care, Joe Lieberman, Russia on October 29, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I doubt Joe Lieberman needed any outside encouragement to demonstrate his particular brand of weasel on health care reform. However, Harry Reid might need some help seeing the golden opportunity staring him in the face, so here is some free advice for Harry: slap Lieberman in the face. Publicly. I think most people can understand [...]
Currency Thoughts
Posted in Meltdown on October 28, 2009 | 6 Comments »
David Einhorn made an excellent speech to the Value Investors Conference: On the anniversary of Lehman’s failure, President Obama gave a terrific speech. He said, “Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for the consequences, and expect that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break the fall.” Later he advocated [...]
Traffic
Posted in Architecture, Transportation Policy on October 26, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Traffic. The ultimate local issue. Mayoral campaigns are supposed to hinge on it. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars building roads to deal with it. The stimulus bill is predicated on the idea that there is a near-infinite need for construction at ever-increasing prices, despite environmental and neighborhood concerns that make it more difficult [...]
Good Allies, Just Too Few
Posted in Finance, George W. Bush, Meltdown, Obama, Tim Geithner on October 23, 2009 | 8 Comments »
Not many people like the idea of breaking up financial institutions, but if I have to be part of a tiny minority, I’ll take this one: “People say I’m old-fashioned and banks can no longer be separated from nonbank activity,” Mr. Volcker said, acknowledging criticism that he is nostalgic for an earlier era. “That argument,” [...]
The Roof Is on Fire
Posted in Energy Policy, Foreign Policy, Foreigners on October 21, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Apparently I’m a bit late to the latest academic kerfluffle: Superfreakanomics‘ curious decision to wade into the global warming debate on the Neanderthal side. Well, not exactly Neanderthal. More incoherent.
Spare the Rod
Posted in Domestic Policy, George W. Bush, Housing Crisis, Housing Policy, Industrial Policy, Labor Policy, Obama on October 20, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Two Russians, Ivan and Peter, struggle to survive in farm country. Eventually Ivan gets a goat. His life improves; he has milk and help with the grasses. A genie comes to Peter and says “I can grant you your deepest wish.” Peter is shocked. “You’re going to kill Ivan’s goat?” That was always the gallows [...]
Home Court Advantage
Posted in China, Corruption, Dick Cheney, Energy Policy, Foreigners, France, Labor Policy, Meltdown, Middle East, Military, Obama, Russia on October 16, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Once upon a time, there was a hedge fund named Hermitage Capital. Its head was Bill Browder, and it had the clever idea, back during the Yeltsin Administration, of investing Western capital in Russia. It worked spectacularly well, until it didn’t: Browder is a smart guy. He made a lot of money and managed to [...]
College and Debt
Posted in Education, Finance, Football, Foreigners, Housing Policy, Labor Policy, Transportation Policy on October 15, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Mike Konczal has an interesting post that is popping up all over the place (here, here, and here, and probably somewhere else by now) analyzing a throwaway human interest piece on a woman named Karen King from the Wall Street Journal: Her biggest chunk of debt, $26,000, stems from student loans to pay for her [...]
Market v Business
Posted in Ben Bernanke, Corruption, George W. Bush, Labor Policy, Meltdown, Obama, Tim Geithner on October 14, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Luigi Zingales has an excellent article for National Affairs that tries to place what has been so special about the American economic system…and why it is particularly vulnerable today: Capitalism has long enjoyed exceptionally strong public support in the United States because America’s form of capitalism has long been distinct from those found elsewhere in [...]
