Universal Health Care Isn’t Worth Our Freedom – WSJ.com

Great article from the WSJ:

Our national conversation about curbing the cost of health care is crippled by the vocabulary in which we conduct it. We must stop talking about “health care” as if it were some kind of collective public service, like fire protection, provided equally to everyone who needs it. No government can provide the same high quality body repair services to everyone. Not all doctors are equally good physicians, and not all sick persons are equally good patients.

Universal Health Care Isn’t Worth Our Freedom – WSJ.com.

Sorry about the lack of updates lately. I’ll be back on the horse shortly.

Welcome to the White House, Barack Obama – WSJ.com

That is what an administration owes the country. But it is not all it owes. There is also the matter of governing. Team Obama is about to learn that it’s easier to campaign than to govern.

In fact, they are already learning it. Last February, Congress passed a stimulus bill, adding $152 billion to the deficit. Mr. Obama called it “deficit spending” and criticized the “disdain for pay-as-you-go budgeting” in Washington. Now he forecasts trillion dollar deficits on his watch. Mr. Obama, the candidate, criticized the “careless and incompetent execution” of the Iraq war. But as president-elect, he decided to retain George W. Bush’s defense secretary and put a Bush adviser in charge of the National Security Council.

via Karl Rove: Welcome to the White House, Barack Obama – WSJ.com.

Comment

Mr. Rove makes many good points, that campaigning is about soft promises, but governing is about hard decisions. I hope, and suspect, that President Obama is up for the challenge, but recent events have poked some holes in the supposed infallability of the Obama camp.

‘Atlas Shrugged’: From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years – WSJ.com

From the WSJ an opinion piece about how we’ve brought the scenarios of Atlas Shrugged to reality:

For the uninitiated, the moral of the story is simply this: Politicians invariably respond to crises — that in most cases they themselves created — by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism.

In the book, these relentless wealth redistributionists and their programs are disparaged as “the looters and their laws.” Every new act of government futility and stupidity carries with it a benevolent-sounding title. These include the “Anti-Greed Act” to redistribute income sounds like Charlie Rangel’s promises soak-the-rich tax bill and the “Equalization of Opportunity Act” to prevent people from starting more than one business to give other people a chance. My personal favorite, the “Anti Dog-Eat-Dog Act,” aims to restrict cut-throat competition between firms and thus slow the wave of business bankruptcies. Why didn’t Hank Paulson think of that?

Comment

While the opinion peice does have a good point, we are entering territory where everyone is going to want a handout of some kind, straight libertarian ideals are not the answer. I personally like libertarian ideals, but the dirty reality of life requires that we forge a middle ground between no government control and total government control.

A hands off economic policy is politically untenable and ideals will quickly be voted out of office in favor of “reform”, no matter the source. It is imperitive that we follow a path of:

1. Pass short-term stimulous to negate some of the social effects of a contracting economy to avoid social unrest.
2. Improve the regulatory framework of troubled industries to promote competition, improve transperancy, and minimize contagion
3. Be patient to allow the mess we’re in to be cleaned up. Certain things will take time to heal and this recession is no different. We must work through our debt and surpluses before invest and manufacturing can begin again.

The Juggle – WSJ.com : “Third-Hand Smoke” – Lazy, Lazy Reporting

Recent headlines have identified a new risk for children: “third-hand smoke.”

Third-hand smoke was described in a new study, published in the latest issue of the journal “Pediatrics,” that focused on the risks of these chemicals on young children.

The Juggle – WSJ.com : A New Risk For Kids: “Third-Hand Smoke”.

Following that link:

The objective of this study was to assess health beliefs of adults regarding thirdhand smoke exposure of children and whether smokers and nonsmokers differ in those beliefs.

It was a damn telephone survey to find beleif about health risks. Nothing about the “dangers of thirdhand smoking.” Absolutely lazy reporting from a WSJ blog.

Trouble at Chuck E. Cheese’s, Again

“The biggest problem is you have a bunch of adults acting like juveniles,” says Town of Brookfield Police Capt. Timothy Imler. “There’s a biker bar down the street, and we rarely get calls there.”

via Calling All Cars: Trouble at Chuck E. Cheese’s, Again – WSJ.com.