Who is John Galt?

the real cost of "cash for clunkers"

Remember, it's not just the billions we're paying.  It's the lost wealth of everything that will not come to be as a result of those billions, and the lost wealth of every perfectly driveable car that gets scrapped prematurely in the bargain.

As economic ideas go, this nonsense ranks right up there with paying farmers to burn crops and slaughter livestock.  We should hope this program is not extended much longer.

are you lying to yourself?

How much do you pay for Social Security?  If you're like most people, you probably think you pay 6.2% of your salary.  And, under carefully-chosen definitions of words like "salary," and even "you," you'd be right.

So if you made, say, $50,000 in a year, at the end of the year we'd see that you paid $3100, or 6.2%.  And, of course, as a bonus, we see that your employer has also "contributed" $3100 into Social Security on your behalf.

Now, this thinking actually defies economics.  Economics tells us that employees are paid a value that approximates what they produce, and if you require proof of this, it offers a simple scenario for you to consider:  If employees were worth more money for the employer than they cost, then why wouldn't he hire more employees?  The fact that employers stop hiring at some point indicates that a marginal case exists, beyond which additional employees are a losing proposition.

a perfect fit

So, House liberals don't like the concessions that were made in the Energy and Commerce Committee.  Some are fuming.

Republicans still oppose the bill because it will destroy everything that's good about healthcare in America.

Waxman peeled off only the bare minimum number of Blue Dogs to get the bill past committee -- meaning that they're far from being fully behind this, too.  This is not about winning majorities: it's about reaching a certain critical mass.

But don't worry: just a few tweaks, and a few hundred billion worth of pork (pork makes bills better, right?), and it'll be perfect enough to be your healthcare system.

oh well, as long as you shaved off .1 trillion...

House Energy and Commerce has enough Blue Dogs to vote the healthcare bill out of committee.  One of the compromises reported by Fox News "would cut the cost of the $1 trillion-plus package by $100 billion."  That's a hundred thousand millions out of a million millions plus.  Big savings to you and me.

The good news is an understanding that this won't make it to the House floor until after the August recess.  That means the full vote won't occur till members have had a chance to gauge reactions from their constituents.

Meaning that this would be a really good time to start, well, reacting.

healthcare update

Yes, I pound on healthcare a lot right now.  But you have to remember the implications of giving the government a vested interest in your body.  Notice all the headlines about "obesity taxes" lately?

Sadly, things are not going to get better, even if they do not get as much worse as they could.  This Congress is going to pass something.  This is what we have to look forward to:

• It won't be a free market approach -- it will involve more government.
• It won't make things better -- it will make them worse.
• When things do get worse, it will be the market -- and not the added government -- that will take the blame.

The government's jackboot is on healthcare's throat.  And the fact that it doesn't quite have the political might to swing the axe right now does not mean it will be easing up any.  The situation will continue to worsen, until even a very bad public "reform" looks better than the emasculated remnants of our so-called "private" system.  All we're seeing right now is signs that we haven't quite reached that point yet.

It's not enough to stave this off temporarily.  It has to be turned around.  Rational principles need to be applied to this problem, or the irrational will eventually win.

Republicans need to be very cautious about supporting whatever alternatives arise out of this Congress and this administration.  The only real fix is more free market, and the GOP does not need to be party to the false fixes that will ultimately do more harm than good.  They're going to need credibility.

The best bet for selling real, effective reform in the future is to be the party that can look back and say, "We told you that wouldn't work."

here's an idea

Why don't we just tack on an "end of life counseling" provision to Medicare as it stands now?  Sort of like a "trial balloon."  Let's see how that flies.

rationing: it's the new equality

Obamacare has this great new benefit: "end of life counseling."  Wanna know when that benefit kicks in?

NICE had set a general limit of £30,000, or about $49,000, on the cost of extending life for a year. Sutent, when used for advanced kidney cancer, cost more than that, and research suggested it offered only about six months extra life.

Let me ask you this: Do you really want elections to be punctuated by politicians debating how much a life is worth?

starstruck?

Sgt. James Crowley, of the Cambridge Police Dept., has been invited to drink a beer with Obama and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., at the White House.

The media keeps talking about this like it's going to happen, though I haven't seen where Crowley actually accepted it.  It would be nice if he declined.

Of course, it would also be nice if Crowley could accept this gesture of Obama's without having it turned into a media event -- but why else was he invited?  I can understand the honor of the invitation -- obviously it happens a lot less than once in a lifetime.  But Crowley's been getting credit for acting so exemplary; so professionally.  Will he now allow himself to be used as Obama's PR pawn?

I would feel better if this meeting happened and then we simply heard of it with no details given.  Like Bush might have done it.  Something the Sgt. Crowley I've read about might belong at. 

But I suspect that as it stands we're going to be seeing a few pictures from the meeting -- probably even some footage.  A stunt.  Something Obama and Gates belong at.  And something Sgt. Crowley might not want to attend.

cute

Can't verify that he really said it, but...

I voted for the Democrats because I didn't like the way the Republicans were running the country, which is turning out to be like shooting yourself in the head to stop your headache. -- Jack Mayberry, Comedian

fractured dems

Remember:  In 2006 and 2008, the Blue Dog coalition picked up seats by promising to be more conservative than the Republicans they replaced.

Some on the left interpret this as a liberal mandate, but every Blue Dog knows he only has his seat because the last guy wasn't conservative enough.  Tack too far to the left on this healthcare nonsense, and you will lose your seat next November.

When Pelosi and Waxman demand that these conservative Dems "roll over," they're asking them to betray their own constituents so that a liberal minority can use the Democrat majority to impose its will on a center-right America.

If the Blue Dogs yield, they deserve a lot more than just losing their seats.