Magic Bullets - Part I - Healthcare

What if there really are Magic Bullets?  "Experts" always say, with thoughtful pauses, "Well, of course this is a complex problem we have with (insert problem here) and there are of course no Magic Bullets, but I think with the right mix of policy changes...blah, blah, blah, etc. etc. etc."  You get the idea.  I reject that notion in many areas because I do believe in magic bullets and I can see them working throughout history.  Unfortunately, they can work both good magic and bad. 

Let's take for example the "black-magic" bullet that first caused our Healthcare mess; a freeze on wages during WWII which led companies to provide health insurance as a dodge around the wage freeze.  From that point on, there was an imbalance in the tax treatment between employer provided (tax deductable) and individually owned (fully taxed) health insurance.  In other words, that wage freeze caused a cascade of unintended consequences which has tragically led us to our current mess.  Today only about 5% of the population pays for their own health insurance leaving almost everyone in the US in a situation where someone else foots the bill.  No wonder healthcare is considered an entitlement! 

So what is the magic bullet fix?  Writing in the Wall  Street Journal a couple of  weeks ago, noted economist Martin Feldstein said  that (and I'm paraphrasing), virtually every economist he knows believes that tax changes are the key to bringing down costs.  After all, isn't this ultimately about cost?  If catastrophic insurance was affordable to everyone, everyone would buy it, right?  So the magic bullet is to make the tax changes which would re-establish an individual market for health insurance and once established, that would obviate a government takeover.  This could easily be done by giving individuals the same tax savings as employers and that would mean re-fundable tax credits for those who pay no income tax or are in low brackets.  The effect would be revenue neutral to the government and a true market would emerge for health insurance. 

So why not do it?  The answer is simple; this is not about fixing the problem but rather about political power and permanent electoral majorities forever for the entitlement class, which just happens to be another "black-magic" bullet.         

Defund this War!

"Defund this War!"  Ever hear that one?  In this case I'm referring to the "War on Me" taking place in Washington today.  That's right, I think there is a Coup currently taking place in Washington and it is among other things a war on me and people like me who believe in private enterprise, economic liberty, the US Constitution, and the very political liberty which has set this country apart. 

As citizens we only have one direct weapon against a democratic Coup d'etat and that is our right to vote.  But what if our vote is systematically stolen from us by a government funded voter-fraud machine wholly owned by the Democrat Party?  I'm referring of course to ACORN and organizations like it which have been in the news lately for various other trespasses.  But what of  the billions already in government funding and it's role in delivering filibuster-proof majorities to one party so it can prosecute this war? 

I cannot in good faith fund this un-constitutional use of taxpayer money for blatant and fraudulent political purposes.  That's it, I'm going all tax free.  I'll give up yield, but I'll sleep better.  This is not a simple disagreement with my government.   That happens all the time and I've never avoided a tax at the expense of yield.  This however is an obvious breach-of-contract on the government's part.  I'm supposed to have the right to vote and in return, the government is supposed to honor that vote according to the laws; not negate it by funding it's own self-sustaining vote-fraud machine!  Enough.   Will this cost me some return and isn't this risky?   You bet; but so was the Declaration of Independence and this is even more serious!  I'm de-funding this war and so should you...    

Forget Two Americas. Try Two Universes.

John Edwards (insert laugh track here!) was famous for his Two Americas line but I believe the bigger problem is the Two Universes.  After spending some time with the extended family it occurred to me that our individual media universe is determinant of what information we recieve and without good diverse information, good decision making is impossible.  How we process that information is another matter (through our own filter, Duh!),  but I find the discrepency in what information people are seeing is disturbing in itself.  Most everyone these days has strong opinions, but most of the folks I run into have never heard of the Van Jones story, the Acorn pimp stings, the kids chanting for Obama, The Valerie Jarrett connection to the Chicago Olympic Village, let alone the Acorn connection to subprime mortgages and Obama's connections to Acorn!  And these are folks who read the New York Times daily!  They live in a Universe with an information vacuum and that can't be healthy.      

Dude, Where's My Constitution?

IBDST: Dude, Where's my Constitution? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYcSnomhMLk&feature=related

IBDST about one party rule...

One Party Rule? I love it! For years all I heard was "I hate both parties and they're just the same anyway", or "There's not a dimes worth of difference between the Democrats and Republicans". Well apparently there's like ten trillion dollars worth of difference! All those who babbled on about excessive spending during the Bush years (and I was among them!) have gotten a real schooling as Obama makes just about every other President look like a model of fiscal responsibility. But spending is just part of it. The differences on national security have been another huge wake-up call for the intellectually lazy "dimes-worth" crowd. Still think both parties are the same after Obama ignored the advice of 5 CIA Directors and de-classified the Top-Secret files on terrorist interrogations? For brevity's sake, I'll only mention one more all-encompassing difference that has been highlighted of late; "philosophy". I ask the "dimes-worth" crowd, can you see the difference between how Republicans view your property and how Democrats view your property? How the GOP views the constitution and how the Dems see it? How each party views free markets and the rights of the individual to participate in them? The longer we are a one party country the more damage will be done. The education though will be priceless!