The Myth of the Free-Market American Health Care System

This article expresses something that I have long known to be true. Funny how people think that we need government intervention in the health care market because the free market has failed. Really? No, we haven't even tried the free market!

Check out this article from The Atlantic:
"The Myth of the Free-Market American Health Care System"
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/the-myth-of-the-free-market-american-health-care-system/254210/

The article essentially points out that conservatives have been painted into the corner of defending the status quo. This is a strategic error. The correct play is to point out that we have suffered through government intervention for many years, and that is why costs keep rising! After all, in true free markets (think Lasik eye surgery) costs keep falling.

The article discusses Switzerland. If government is to be involved, better to give people subsidies (scaled by income) and let them make their decisions independently. Government support but free market incentives.

Singapore, too, has a good healthcare system. Singapore forces its citizens to have health saving accounts. I don't like that they are forced to have them, but I do think that health savings accounts are a very good idea (I have one).

From the article:
"Why does this system work so well? Because it incorporates the central idea behind free-market health care: that health-care spending is most efficient when that spending is executed by individual patients, rather than third parties. It's easy to waste other people's money. But if that money is your own, you are going to try your best to spend it wisely."

Amen to that.

Condom or Android?

 This is funny. Not sure if this is a coincidence or if there are similarities between condoms and phones! Or maybe it says something about the fact that similar types of people name both products.

From The Intercom Blog:
"What’s in a Name? | The Intercom Blog
http://blog.intercom.io/whats-in-a-name/

Google Self-Driving Car Test

Did you see the latest Google video posted to YouTube? The one about their self-driving car?

"Self-Driving Car Test: Steve Mahan"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgQpa1pUUE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

"This is some of the best driving I've ever done!"

Watch closely, there's an interesting twist. It's a touching commercial.

April Fools, 2012 Edition

Yes, Google once again kicked ass on April Fools Day.

Here is a summary from Thenextweb.com:
"A Round Up of ALL of Google’s April Fools Jokes. Fair play, they really make an effort…"
http://thenextweb.com/google/2012/04/01/googles-april-fools-jokes-continue-meet-really-advanced-search-and-multiple-cursors-for-chrome/


My favorites? Here are several.

Google Weather Control (limited locations)
"Google Weather Control for Sydney NSW, Australia"
https://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&q=sydney+nsw+weather

Jargon Bot
"Communicate without the jargon"
http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/jargon.html#utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-entblog-na-us-jargon_4_1&utm_medium=blog

Google Nascar Racing
"Google Racing"
http://www.google.com/racing/
Also shown at the Nascar site:
"Google Announces Google Racing"
http://www.nascar.com/video/none/none/120331/cup-mar-google/index.html

I think this one is my second favorite. You can watch YouTube without an Internet connection!
"The YouTube Collection"
http://www.youtube.com/TheYouTubeCollection
Watch the infomercial. Click through and order your collection! Seriously, click through, it's funny!


And my favorite is...
Google Voice for Pets!
"Google Voice expands to new markets"
http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.ca/2012/04/google-voice-expands-to-new-markets.html

You need to click through to enlarge the embedded images, to get an idea of what your pets may be telling you.

Desktop Google Voice view (if you click only one link in this blog post, click THIS ONE):
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgEdyU8kVnvtTH9JgwtjrATA8epXLrL-hsl5n03v7nCg-1nCZe03Ul984Ec_YZtiwNVFq-0fQ59-XSQuKvFV0sWbeAfGy4FLJbkPxHZf7RnZAakJSFIPjtWuDM3aEUHB2_s8win8-dUIQ/s1600/kona_fullsize.png

Android Google Voice app view:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfkt4Bsmsi5PBZP3k3rtZEv08IBe4RL5pLl3BcZZVGSO6IkiQnek79MuHht_fOAsLRPryO4qY_md6PiZR1xmdaIpfm6SwJV6s_ZoL_k1fO3xmUvdpqEmYs1xwpWL-LinV1tCaBot8Awlw/s1600/cats.png

Obamacare at the Supreme Court

Did you hear the arguments about Obamacare at the Supreme Court recently? You need to. You really do. Check it out here, from Oyez:

"THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT CASES"
http://www.oyez.org/cases/2010-2019/2011/2011_11_400#argument2'target=


My first impression: Elena Kagan is an airhead. What if money were free? As if the Federal Government got all that money from thin air. Yeah, that ought to be the basis for all our decisions.

Paul Clement, arguing against Obamacare, on the other hand, knows his shit. Listen to his summary at the end of the first section, Oral Argument No. 11-400.


I also enjoyed the part where Donald Verrilli expressed how great Obamacare is (lots of free money from the Feds). And then Chief Justice John Roberts said, essentially, "If it's so great, why do you need the club?" That is, why force the states to take the deal when, if it's so great, they would want to? Verrilli couldn't answer coherently.

Donald B. Verrilli Jr: Yes, it was reasonable for Congress to predict in this circumstance that the States were going to -- to take this money, because -- because it is an extremely generous offer of funds: 90-plus percent of the funding.
States can -- can expand their Medicaid coverage to more than 20 percent of their population for an increase of only 1 percent--
Chief Justice John G. Roberts: If it's such a good deal--
Donald B. Verrilli Jr: of their funding.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts: --why do you care?
If it's such a good deal, why do you need the club?
Donald B. Verrilli Jr: --Well, the -- the--
Chief Justice John G. Roberts: It's a good deal, take it.
We're not going to -- if you don't take it, you're just hurting yourself.

It was also telling that the Obamacare supporters could not articulate any limits to government power. That is, if the government can to A, what would stop them from doing B? Nothing, they couldn't identify a guiding principle that allow this but stops short of unlimited power. Such is the all-powerful state that the left wants, freedom be damned.


Oyez also put together a page to summarize the issues surrounding this case:
"The Court and Healthcare Reform"
http://www.oyeztoday.org/healthcare/

Song of the Day: Lost Lander - Cold Feet

Lost Lander "Cold Feet" OFFICIAL VIDEO from the upcoming album DRRT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja3f7lG1phY

From the lyrics of this song: "Gotta turn it off for a while..."

Due to a personal situation I haven't been able to post here recently, and might not be able to resume posting for quite a while. For now, enjoy this song.

I wish there were a song to fully capture what I'm feeling, but I have failed to find one. Which is not a bad thing, I suppose. I'd hate for others to be feeling what I am right now.

How to Get a Corrupt Government - Lessons From India

This article is ostensibly about political corruption in India. But there are a lot of hidden gems in it. From the Washington Post:

"Criminals flourish in Indian elections" by Simon Denyer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/criminals-flourish-in-indian-elections/2012/03/03/gIQA1E1JsR_story.html

"...of the 2,000 candidates from the main parties contesting here, more than a third are facing criminal charges, including murder, rape, kidnapping and extortion, according to figures compiled by the advocacy group Association for Democratic Reforms. And many of them will win."

Wow.

"'They are popular with voters,' lamented Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi. 'I call it the Robin Hood syndrome. They take care to use their corrupt money, money that they get through illegal means, to give to the poor.'"

Sound familiar? It should. Except nowadays, here in the U.S., we give the money to executives of failing companies, if those executives support certain politicians. Solyndra and Obama ring a bell?

"Democracy is the glue that has held India together — and kept it largely peaceful — since independence from Britain in 1947. The power of free speech and free elections has helped this huge, diverse country emerge as a global power in the 21st century. But democracy here is still a 'work in progress,' said Anil Bairwal of the Association for Democratic Reforms."

This next paragraph is very important. Pay attention! :)

"Although many Americans complain about the role of big business in funding political campaigns in the United States, the roots of the corruption and criminalization of Indian politics, ironically, lie in the outlawing of corporate contributions by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1967, in an attempt to cripple a right-wing opposition movement by depriving it of funds."

"'The ban on company donations closed the only honest, open and transparent avenue of raising funds to fight elections,' commentator Prem Shankar Jha wrote in the magazine Tehelka. 'The harm it has done is beyond measure.'"

Amen. When you eliminate legitimate paths for money to flow you don't stop the money. You just ensure that it will flow through illegitimate paths. The problem here is not the money, believe it or not. The problem is the concentration of power in one place. The government has too much power. And money will ALWAYS find a way to influence that power.

"At the constituency level, the only alternative was to establish a network of patronage and favor-swapping from individual donors that soon became entrenched."

"At the national level, Jha argued, the ruling Congress party was soon demanding massive kickbacks from business deals, mostly defense and infrastructure contracts, to fund its central command. It is the road that led inexorably to the corruption scandals of the past few years."


And then we have the next problem: Voters are stupid.

"Criminals have other attractions for voters, who tend to favor 'strong men' who can protect their interests in constituencies in which caste divisions are sharpest, said Milan Vaishnav at the University of Pennsylvania."

"'Voters are not ignorant or uninformed,' he wrote. 'They are simply looking for candidates who can best fill a perceived representational vacuum.'"

Great. Vote for criminals because they are "strong." And we wonder why our governments are so corrupt.