Obama: Liar or Ignorant?

The Hill is reporting today on Obama's press conference yesterday in which he was asked repeatedly to explain why having a public health insurance system would be a benefit when compared to the current private options. His response is enlightening.

Why would it drive private insurance out of business? If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality healthcare; if they tell us that they’re offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can’t run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That’s not logical.

Wow. Where to start? First off Mr. Obama, please show me a successful government agency. Secondly, the reason that the government is a threat to private industry that it competes with is that the private industry does not have the taxing power of the government standing behind it. Does anyone believe that the US Post Office would still be in business if it actually had to compete with UPS and FedEx and couldn't get subsidized by the Congress? Would Amtrak still be around if it didn't get subsidies from government?

The reason that a government-backed company can push out a company that provides better service is simply because they can undercut the private companies in price. The only reason they can do that is because they can receive subsidies from an all-powerful taxing force. That is an unfair advantage for any company. I certainly wouldn't want Blue Cross to be able to take money out of my paycheck to make up for losses incurred in its business model and yet this is exactly what will happen with a publicly-financed health insurance option.

This very same thing has happened repeatedly with the post office and the post office is asking for help again. Whenever they get in trouble they just go to Congress and ask them to "appropriate some money" (i.e. steal from taxpayer wallets) to help them out. Do you honestly believe that US Healthcare Inc. wouldn't do the exact same thing?

Either Mr. Obama is completely ignorant of economic facts (something that appears more and more likely) or he is lying to the American people simply to push a personal agenda. I would rather give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he is not a liar.

So This Is What Shepherds Do For Fun

Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans from Too Much Law by Philip K. Howard

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I mostly picked this book up because the title made me tingly all over. Okay, I actually picked it up because I had read a previous book by Mr. Howard called The Death of Common Sense and enjoyed it. In Life Without Lawyers he calls for some bold changes to our overly-regulated and legalistic system in order to return accountability to the people and eliminate the mindless rule-following that has damaged our way of life. Fascinating read. I checked it out from the library and now I'm going to have to buy it because I kept wanting to underline and write notes in it.


View all my reviews.

Refreshing Honesty

Malcolm Gladwell, author of such books as Blink and The Tipping Point, gives his opinion on what is wrong with the U.S. educational system. I like his solution.

Wow.

So a friend of mine told me that I needed to watch this video of jump-roping girls and I immediately thought "No thank you" but he emailed it to me anyway and WOW! He was right, you really need to watch this. I can't imagine the number of hours these girls put into this and I love the fact that they were dedicated enough to do it. So without further ado, here's the video.

Great Video of Drunk Red Sox Fan

I watched this several times and just laughed harder every time. One more reason not to drink, kids.

Just Because You Say You're Not Naive Doesn't Mean You're Not Naive

President Obama, in an address in Prague, announced plans to eliminate nuclear weapons completely. At first I thought this was some kind of hoax or a fake news story from The Onion. But no, it's real. I can't believe that there is any rational person out there who honestly thinks we can put that genie back in the bottle. The knowledge to make nuclear bombs is out. The will to make them exists. Those two things combined make it impossible to turn back that clock.

My favorite part of the story was when he announced that he was not naive:

“I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly –- perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence,” he told an adoring crowd that waved miniature American and Czech flags. “But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, 'Yes, we can.'"

If you have to tell people you're not naive it makes you seem that you are aware of your naivete yet unwilling to give up your delusion. Who honestly believes that Russia, Israel, Great Britain and even the U.S. are going to give up their nuclear weapons? Why would they? They would all suspect that the others are keeping theirs and hiding them. Why is Obama even having this conversation? He can't possibly be that naive. He has to be pandering to the utopianists, right? I don't believe he is dumb enough to think that countries who are worried about others' ability to attack them are going to give up a weapon that provides a significant amount of deterrence. If he did believe the tripe he's spouting then I would be extremely concerned about his capacity as commander-in-chief.

A Logical Bill

The Federal Reserve wields massive monetary power with almost no oversight. Ultimately, they are not responsible to open their books to the Congress and hence to the American people. As a former auditor I can't believe that such a power exists. That is an outrage. Ron Paul has introduced H.R. 1207, a bill that is only a couple paragraphs in length and would give Congress the power to audit the Federal Reserve. I would strongly recommend you contact your representative and ask them to support H.R. 1207.