As most have reported the Health Care summit was a bit of a show, with both sides trying to push their agendas and no real bi-partisanship.    This, being the Republicans first time with a national spotlight on their plans, allowed them to stand out.  Even David Gergen recognized this.

In the end, there was one back and forth early on that got some news coverage.   It was the “discussion” between the President and Lamar Alexander.   Mr. Alexander stating that insurance costs would rise 14% and the President stating that they would drop 20%.  Was this a simple disagreement?   You can dig into the details behind the two numbers (FactCheck.org has it here).    And almost all research you do you will bump into this statement in some way, “CBO said well over half of those buying individual policies would get government subsidies that would reduce their costs well below the premiums that would be charged for such policies under current law.”  So does this prove the President’s point?

Only is so far as the raw numbers.   And in this is the teachable moment, “get government subsidies that would reduce their costs.”  Just where did that “government money” come from?   Taxes on others, including Cadillac plans.   This is simply redistribution of wealth, nothing else.   You may agree with it but Paul Ryan was right that they are hiding socialist plans behind capitalist words and using tricks to hide the facts.

No matter how you read the numbers you need to also come away with this simple fact.  They are both talking about insurance costs.  Health care costs are not being reduced.  The cost curve continues to go up.   The only way to control costs of insurance is to control the costs of services.   [Insert typical complaint about corporate profits here.  L. Alexander put it in context... 100% of the profits from all Health Insurance would pay for 2 days of services.] You simply cannot create a edict to limit profits within a specific industry.   Unless you take it over, which is again the single payer model with price controls.

Add to this that the subsidized government plans will continue to be funded from taxes on the private sector and on private health plans.  This will cause the private plans to offer reduced coverage to compete in a unfair market.  This will cause a larger and larger shift towards the public plans, destroying the private industry in just 5-10 years.

What this summit showed clearly is that Single Payer is the goal.  This redistribution is intentional and was on full display during the summit.  Paul Ryan put in well in the Summit that “there really is a difference between us.  We do not think the government should be in control of all this.”     He hits this point head-on on in an MSNBC interview.

You may have heard about the Canadian Premier that decided he wanted a more advanced surgery then his home country was willing to let him have.  He decided to pick the best doctor from the best hospital which happened to be (no shock) in the United States.  ”My Heart, My Health, My Choice”  does not sound anti-freedom Canadian Socialist… it sounds almost defiantly independent; even libertarian.   Sadly it is more likely a typical politician that demands the best for himself so that he might rule you.

Much is being made of this on the right and the left.  Does it prove the Canadian system is flawed?  Does it prove the excesses of the rich?  You can read the original Canadian Press article here and the few more points from Hot Air here.

What is continually missing from these health care conversations is the basic understanding that the procedure is available because of the free market US health care system.   Those that do this in Canada were likely trained by US doctors (maybe even this one) or doctors trained by Dr. Lamelas.    Premier Williams wanted the best care possible and went to the US, this hospital and this doctor by choice.

Exerpt from the Mt Sinai Web Site: http://www.miami-cardiology.com/resources.php
Great advances have been made in minimally invasive valve surgery, and Dr. Joseph Lamelas, chief of cardiac surgery at Mount Sinai, is on the leading edge. Board-certified in cardiac and thoracic surgery, as well as surgical critical care, Dr. Lamelas he pioneered an advanced one-man surgical technique for minimally invasive valve procedures. He teaches this method to surgeons across the United States and around the world.

Dr. Lamelas consistently has had one of the lowest morbidities and mortalities in Florida and the United States. He has completed almost 8,000 cardiac surgeries and more than 800 minimally invasive procedures, making him South Florida’s most experienced surgeon in his area of expertise.

What if the US health care system did not exist?   What if it were socialized and no private payment existed?  What would a non-citizen do?  Even worse..forgive me my Atlas Shrugged moment…What if Dr. Lamelas; like so many from his profession; had decided that the bureaucracy, paper work and law suits were just not worth trying to advance the science and he retired early?   Where would we all be had “John Galt” found Dr. Lamelas before he advanced the surgery and trained 100s of others?   That is the true risk in the socialization of the US system: stifling rapid advancement and ground-breaking research.

I am sure the 8000 surgeries Dr Lamelas performs (800 of these advanced forms) make him and his hospital a tidy sum of money… how dare he make money off advancing the entire practice of medicine and saving 1000s of Americans (and a Canadian or two it seems)…Damn him…

Yesterday…Yahoo!: “unexpected jump in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits”

Today…LA Times: The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell…At the same time, however, employers cut 20,000 jobs, more than the 5,000 economists expected…

From 50 years go…Atlas Shrugged [paper back page 1063] as spoken by John Galt.

“Only when men discovered that nature was a firm, predictable absolute were they able to rely on their knowledge, to choose their course, to plan their future and, slowly, to rise from the cave. Now you have placed modern industry, with its immense complexity of scientific precision, back into the power of unknowable demons-the unpredictable power of the arbitrary whims of hidden, ugly little bureaucrats. A farmer will not invest the effort of one summer if he’s unable to calculate his chances of a harvest. But you expect industrial giants-who plan in terms of decades, invest in terms of generations and undertake ninety-nine-year contracts-to continue to function and produce, not knowing what random caprice in the skull of what random official will descend upon them at what moment to demolish the whole of their effort. Drifters and physical laborers live and plan by the range of a day. The better the mind, the longer the range. A man whose vision extends to a shanty, might continue to build on your quicksands, to grab a fast profit and run. A man who envisions skyscrapers, will not. Nor will he give ten years of unswerving devotion to the task of inventing a new product, when he knows the gangs of entrenched mediocrity are juggling the laws against him, to tie him, restrict him and force him to fail, but should he fight them and struggle and succeed, they will seize his rewards and his invention.”

50 years ago Ayn knew it.  Today the “experts” can’t seem to figure out such a simple concept.    Or is it more likely that they know it and use such stories to keep you confused and in the dark?  Are they they experts or are they trying to convince you that they are the experts?

George Clooney had a telethon to raise money for Haiti. His telethon he organized raised something like 66 million.

George Clooney would have to have that telethon every day for 158 years to raise enough money to pay for Obama’s latest budget proposal.

Just to put it in perspective.

I have talked about the shaky statistics that make up the income gap and median income.   I just ran across an interview with Thomas Sowell regarding his new book; Intellectuals and Society; that ads even more clarity to the point (in part 2).

Part 1 | Part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

His point is that following the pattern of the group gives a false impression of the movement of individuals.   If median income goes down the goal is to convince you that people are losing money.  But in point of fact, if you follow a single individual you will find that they have moved up into higher brackets.   It is statistically more likely for someone in the top 5% to drop down then it is for someone to move up.   Income of that level simply cannot be maintained consistently.

This generally supports my argument that newer and less skilled workers are entering the work force and bring down the averages.  The supporting facts the single individuals move up the brackets (until the top) only ads additional strength.

I believe that Glenn Beck hits on this point in his new book Arguing with Idiots, as well.

Note:  Part 3 is great as well and hits on one of my favorite points.   The intellectual superiority complex.

I was listening to Atlas Shrugged (audio book) yesterday when I had an unexpected and profound response.  Maybe is was the timing, after a long commute, a long work day and the night of the State of the Union.  But an element of the first conversation between Dagney Taggart and the newsstand owner caused me to physically tighten my [...]

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Legislative inaction
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This is an email from last year that was held privately for a while.  I have received enough follow-up that I believed it needed to be posted.
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