an old program

Thomas Sowell, senior fellow of the Hoover Institution, argues that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is just an old program:

An Old ‘New’ Program

What is older than the idea that some exalted elite know what is good for us better than we know ourselves?

Insurance is an institution for dealing with risks. It is a costly and counterproductive way to pay for things that are not risks […] Your annual checkup does not cost any less because it is covered by insurance.

Sowell also points out that Obamacare was initially supported by the idea to help the minority of people lacking health insurance. But instead of directly helping those people, the new health care policy now affects everyone.

Since there has never been a society of human beings without at least some segment with some problem, this is a formula for a never-ending expansion of government power.

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new amendment

In the Washington Times, Senator Rand Paul suggests a new constitutional amendment:

A Long-Needed Constitutional Amendment

Congress shall make no law applicable to a citizen of the United States that is not equally applicable to Congress. This amendment also contains two provisions that apply that same principle to the executive branch and judicial branch of the federal government.

Moreover he refers to his so-called “Read the Bills” resolution

that would forbid voting on legislation until each bill is posted online and the Senate has been in session for at least one day for each 20 pages.

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shutdown theater

Found a great comment by John Stossel on the current U.S. government shutdown:

Shutdown Theater

Government wants you to play a role in the ‘shutdown’ of the federal government. Your role is to panic.

If the public starts noticing that life goes on as usual without all 3.4 million federal workers, we might get dangerous ideas, like doing without so much government. Politicians don’t want that.

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making thought obsolete

Thomas Sowell, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, on the use of words in politics:

Words That Replace Thought

At neither end of the income scale is a “fair share” defined as a particular number or proportion, or in any other concrete way. It is just a political synonym for “more,” dressed up in moralistic-sounding rhetoric.

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balance the budget

The U.S. faces yet another stalemate because the government ran out of money. Back in 2011, I wrote a comment (link) on this and it turns out things have not changed much after all. Only the numbers may need an update:

With all the fuss about the U.S. debt problem, here’s one proposal: Go back to the spending level of 2009. That year was not austerity. Not by a mile. But going back to that spending level, the budget for 2014 would be balanced instantly.

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find syria

It is a well-known ploy but still telling: John Stossel asks people at Times Square to point at Syria on a blank map (today 9PM ET). Apparently, many have no clue. Do you?

Find Syria

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private charity

Milton Friedman on the single most important side effect of social policies:

One of the things I hold against the welfare system most seriously is that it has destroyed private charitable arrangements which are far more effective, far more compassionate, far more person-to-person in helping people.

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three branches

An interesting answer:

(c) by Eagle Rising

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when welfare makes sense

Michael D. Tanner, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, has a new article arguing that for many people in the US it pays off not to work.

Welfare Can Make More Sense than Work

We shouldn’t blame welfare recipients. By not working, they are simply responding rationally to the incentive systems our public policy-makers have established.

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deficits and debt

Walter E. Williams shared his views on deficits and debt in 1994. Almost twenty years later, the issue is as urgent as ever.

You went to war with us for ‘taxation without representation’.
So how do you feel about it with representation?

One of the things we have to recognize is that there is little private incentive among all of us to downsize government spending.

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