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Quote:"But all that has now changed. Since the special election in Massachusetts, the White House has clearly realized that the only bipartisanship Barack Obama is likely to achieve is the kind Bill Clinton achieved after 1994: a bipartisanship that eviscerates hope for fundamental liberal change. In response, Obama has stopped compromising with Republicans and began confronting them."
// The buddy-buddy idea of politics simply does not work. Without "clash" important information is lost or ignored, not all the facts get out, and bad legislation follows. Be buddies, outside of the house.
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Quote:"If the Treasury were to fill old bottles with banknotes, bury them at suitable depths in disused coalmines which are then filled up to the surface with town rubbish, and leave it to private enterprise on well-tried principles of laissez-faire to dig the notes up again (the right to do so being obtained, of course, by tendering for leases of the note-bearing territory), there need be no more unemployment and, with the help of the repercussions, the real income of the community, and its capital wealth also, would probably become a good deal greater than it actually is. It would, indeed, be more sensible to build houses and the like; but if there are political and practical difficulties in the way of this, the above would be better than nothing."
// When I first heard that Keynes had promoted this idea, I thought it impossible. It was too stupid to work. Now that King and this article put it into context…I still think it's a pretty stupid idea.
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Quote:"Tolerance and criticism are at the very heart of a free society. They are radical: They “go to the root” of the matter – radical tolerance, radical criticism. But, again, you need both. Tolerance without criticism is insipid; criticism without tolerance is, well, intolerable."
// Via KingB. I think "Radical Tolerance, Radical Criticism" is a good idiom for life in general, especially in a free democracy. The whole article is a good read.
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Quote:"Simple, he got rid of the insurance companies, thereby eliminating a huge amount of overhead, time and paper work, only takes cash payment and makes you sign a waiver essentially saying you won’t sue.
Amazing.
You eliminate three things – insurance companies, collection problems and lawsuits/lawyers – and the cost of a doctor’s visit drops to $38."
// CaptCap notes his doctor's visit, an annual checkup, was cheaper than changing the oil on his car. Encouraging cash only clinics, with GP doctors who handle easy stuff like sniffles, referrals and checkups; could go a long way in reducing costs in healthcare. I'm not sure exactly how you encourage this, but it's clear the monopsony in healthcare has failed us.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on links for 2010-03-11
Marty Andrade 