Separation of economy and state

Makes sense to me.

"Patrick Henry did not say "Give me a small rollback in government or give me death." He said: give meliberty. So should we."

Pilot Green Energy Program Looking Green Around the Gills

Austin Energy officials say that times have changed and that the nation's most successful (by volume of sales) green-energy program, which offers the renewable energy only to those who select it, might no longer be the best way to carry out the city's goals. It now costs almost three times more than the standard electricity rate.

Sounds like a good concept - customers who opted in were guaranteed a fixed rate for 10 years. The program started in 2000 and went well up until this year when costs have risen. Now 99 percent of the current offering is unsold.

All they need to do is tax the standard electricity at a 200% rate and the green energy becomes competitive. Duh.

Responding to the president's op-ed.

Medicare - the future of medical coverage?

One doctor's choice.

I have faith, courage, and enthusiasm!

Positive self-talk may actually have opposite effect. Who knew?

If democracy and human rights are high values, then all societies are not morally equal.

President Obama hasn't shown much interest in promoting democracy according to this piece in the Wall Street Journal. I think it's evident not only in his foreign policy and his speeches which are the focus of the article, but also in his governance. He seems to have taken to heart the adage that the most efficient form of government is a benign dictatorship. Congress and the media have shown little interest in balancing or pointing out his power grabs - placing the administration of the Census under direct control of the White House, strong-arming and firing independent Inspectors general to help out political allies. I'm not much of an alarmist, generally, and I expect the pendulum will eventually swing back, but I'm a little nervous about the direction we're heading.

*grin*

franken wins, franken wins, franken wins

sigh. 

I can't imagine anyone's surprised by this. Oh well.

What does it mean when the director of the Congressional Budget Office says:

Under current law, the federal budget is on an unsustainable path—meaning that federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run.

Whatever it means it doesn't seem good. A cynic might think we're just creating a perpetual crisis situation that will require the government to continue to 'fix' things for the foreseeable future (or at least until 2012).

health care

I don't pretend to know how to fix the health care system in the US. I agree that there are issues and they need to be addressed. I fear throwing out the existing system and starting from scratch for a lot of reasons - many of them vague and hard for me to articulate. I don't have a lot of knowledge in this area - although I did work for a health insurance company for a while and we had premature twins who exposed us to some of the incredible expenses that come with the extremes of medical care. We were fortunate enough at the time to be on a health plan that essentially covered everything. Had we chosen a different plan option from my employer our personal expenses likely would have been more significant.

Michael Kinsley's column in the Washington Post captures one of my vaguely uneasy fears:

Statistics on life expectancy or infant mortality are averages. The easiest way to raise your averages -- maybe even the best way, if we're being honest -- is to concentrate on the general level of care and not to squander a lot on long-odds cases. But if the long-odds case is you or a family member, you may well feel differently.

 
Our twins - more accurately, the one who lived for 11 days as opposed to the one who died in utero - was a long-odds case who spent all of his short life in one of the the highest-rent district of the hospital - the neonatal intensive care unit. As his parent I would have been outraged if I'd been told that the odds were such that it didn't make financial sense to treat him.

I've spent a little time with Google tonight and there certainly are statistics to say that England and Canada - two nations with universal coverage - have better longevity rates and better infant mortality rates than we have in the US. Some of the commentary on those statistics, though, suggests that the statistics - as they often do even if they're mathematically correct - fail to encompass the whole story and that there are other factors reflected in those numbers other than just the health care systems of the respective countries.

It is a complex situation that deserves careful, transparent consideration with all parties represented - both private and public. We should not rush this decision to meet any arbitrary deadline.

You might be naive if

this surprises you.

please please please

don't put the government in charge of any more healthcare.

The Massachusetts plan that's being studied as a model for a national plan turns out not to have enough money.

There are good reasons the framers gave very limited powers to government and it's usually a mistake to expand those powers. When the government is in charge politics becomes the primary motivator.

I understand that a lot of people don't like profit as a motive because it seems greedy, but I think politics as a motive is at least equally greedy and considerably less transparent.