Last night, Debra asked what my opinion on certain issues was, since I was dubbed King of Lost Track. Here are her questions:
what is the plan for healthcare overhaul?….And what is your position on the trade deficit, taxes, the debt, rising ocean tides and warming glaciers…Or, closer to (my) home, the rising feral dog and cat problem and the issue of chickens within the city limits
Here are my responses (some tongue-in-cheek, most serious):
*Healthcare – Why change a good thing? Give it back to individuals to decide and get the government out of it, except for the elderly and truly needy. It seems to me health care costs stated skyrocketing when LBJ got Uncle Sam in the insurance business.
*Trade deficit – Go back to the tariff system that worked for the first 150 years of our nation. That was our revenue source until Wilson decided we needed an income tax.
*Which brings us to the next item: taxes – I like the national sales tax idea, proposed most recently by Herman Cain in his presidential run. It seems the only fair way to go, as each individual decides how much tax to pay based on purchases. If a rich person buys a luxury car, he pays more than the single mom buying a small sedan. Of course, there would have to be someone to collect the taxes, and there would have to be an minimum income threshold.
*The debt – I propose an immediate stop to all new spending, and true cuts, not the current system where Congress cuts the increase in spending. Also, get rid of many of the Cabinet level bureaucracies that eat up precious revenue, especially those that overlap other agencies. Along this line, bring all our military home form non-combat areas and close those overseas bases. End the un-winnable wars in the Middle East and bring those soldiers home. Cut the military to necessary levels to defend our borders.
*Rising tides and other ecological issues – Those are all in God’s hands, not ours. The Earth will not be destroyed by anything we do, as God says he is going to burn it all in the end.
*Local issues – I know this sounds cruel, but to get rid of feral animals requires killing a lot of them. Require all pets to be spayed or neutered unless the owners are registered breeders. Finally, chickens are okay in the city limits, as long as they are laying hens and no roosters. Of course, the owners need to be responsible and keep the coop clean.
Interesting WSJ piece about the feminist-professor-lesbian who is considered quite the heretic by the left:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303997604579240022857012920
_______________________________
“If civilization had been left in female hands,” she wrote, “we would still be living in grass huts.” … Ms. Paglia relishes her outsider persona, having previously described herself as an egomaniac and “abrasive, strident and obnoxious.” Talking to her is like a mental CrossFit workout. One moment she’s praising pop star Rihanna (“a true artist”), then blasting ObamaCare (“a monstrosity,” though she voted for the president), global warming (“a religious dogma”), and the idea that all gay people are born gay (“the biggest canard,” yet she herself is a lesbian). … But no subject gets her going more than when I ask if she really sees a connection between society’s attempts to paper over the biological distinction between men and women and the collapse of Western civilization. …
_________________________________
Peter L
1) health care — medical technology, drugs, care, etc has increased, improved and become more expensive since LBJ. Although the current regulated insurance market in the US may be somewhat to blame — after all, the US has health cost than other countries — the government’s role in raising the cost is negligible. And since we have moved on from 1950s health care so to should our payment model. Although I prefer a single payer model, the Swiss model of regulated insurance markets may be a more American style approach.
I am curious however how people can admit the government can provide adequate health care for the elderly and the poor but not anyone else.
An other American issue is the tie between workplace and insurance. By tying work to insurance, you limit initiative (no one will leave work to start on their own) and limit worker mobility (people are afraid to change workplaces). This slows down change and limits flexibility which is one thing capitalism doesn’t like. Ironically the only place I encountered a similar system is in post communist Poland which at the time was still using the Communist approach — no work, no health care.
2) Tariffs – One of the great fallacies of the neo-liberal or Chicago school is that free trade is always good. Less ideological economist (see Ha-Joon Chang, 23 Things You Didn’t Know About Capitalism) point out the obvious, the countries with the most success in developing their economies ignored western advice and used tariffs (the Asian Tigers vs Africa/North America). However, once an economy is developed, free trade and reduced tariffs between developed countries do make sense.
As an income source, tariffs will not suffice. Countries (more accurately their consumers) have become used to cheap Chinese junk, tariffs would destroy the Walmart business model. In time increased transportation costs may do that anyway.
3) Sales Tax — almost all developed countries have a sales tax. its simply easier to collect. In Europe its hidden within the price, and the rate varies according to the product. Luxury or non-necessitates will often have a higher rate or more recently more polluting items will have a higher rate. In order to offset the cost to the poor, most countries offer rebate cheques. If the rate stays the same I view sales taxes as regressive but if it the rate varies according to product or service then its an efficient source of income.
4) Debt — As Cheney points out deficits (and by extension debt) aren’t really important. If debt was important perhaps tax cuts should have waited until it was paid off. In truth, its cash flow that matters and tax cuts impair cash flow as the money stays in corporate coffers (or is given out in bonuses in which the money quickly disappears as conspicuous consumption elsewhere)
However, you are right to suggest that the Defense Dept. should really stick to just defense.
5) Environment — you’re quite fatalistic here but not elsewhere. If you are willing to regulate elsewhere, then regulations here should not be an issue. Secondly, environmental catastrophes usually require gov’t assistance from hurricanes to tornadoes to rising tides. The question really is how can we work now to minimize cost later.
6) Local – Tip O’Neil once said all politics are local. I’m more concerned about raccoons and squirreels ruining my attic and roof. And deer jumping in front of my car on the way to work.
The only politician I can get halfway behind turns out to be a King. That figures. Love the ideas on tariffs, debt and climate change. Unfortunately, Chattanooga is too sqeamish to kill the feral animals—-and apparently not sqeamish enough to allow the chickens. So for now, residents will have to travel outside the limits for fresh eggs….if the feral dogs will let them into the car. :–)
Karen O: The concept of employer-provided insurance was borne of yet another intervention of government into the free market when, during WWII, the government enacted wage and price controls. Since wages are a means of attracting applicants, employers had to offer other perques, and since govt had also tampered with the tax code (as it always does–literally, like every second of the day) and reduced or eliminated taxes on employer-provided insurance, that’s how companies tailored job offers. It’s one aspect of the govt screwing up important stuff the market could otherwise have handled just fine.
to be accurate — wage and price controls were enacted at the request of corporations who were afraid the workers would take advantage of the war to make more money (of course, they themselves were making more money than ever).
also, unions, corporations, and gov’t preferred to attach work and insurance together because the other methods of health care delivery, involving more government, were socialist and unAmerican. Hence, the unions went with the employer model. Thus, the present ideologically driven model is precisely the result of the government staying out of the market, even to the point of not taxing it.
“At the request of corporations,” however accurate that may be, isn’t “free market.” That’s an “ideological” interpretation that says, “if it (some law or tax break or whatever) favors corporations, or was enacted with corporations’ support, it’s typical capitalist abuse.” The government certainly intervened–it did not stay out of the market–when it enacted wage and price controls and favorable taxes on employer-provided insurance. It created an uneven playing field, as it always does when it tries to dial in things that are hopelessly beyond its control to do.
Wandering Views 
Last night, Debra asked what my opinion on certain issues was, since I was dubbed King of Lost Track. Here are her questions:
what is the plan for healthcare overhaul?….And what is your position on the trade deficit, taxes, the debt, rising ocean tides and warming glaciers…Or, closer to (my) home, the rising feral dog and cat problem and the issue of chickens within the city limits
Here are my responses (some tongue-in-cheek, most serious):
*Healthcare – Why change a good thing? Give it back to individuals to decide and get the government out of it, except for the elderly and truly needy. It seems to me health care costs stated skyrocketing when LBJ got Uncle Sam in the insurance business.
*Trade deficit – Go back to the tariff system that worked for the first 150 years of our nation. That was our revenue source until Wilson decided we needed an income tax.
*Which brings us to the next item: taxes – I like the national sales tax idea, proposed most recently by Herman Cain in his presidential run. It seems the only fair way to go, as each individual decides how much tax to pay based on purchases. If a rich person buys a luxury car, he pays more than the single mom buying a small sedan. Of course, there would have to be someone to collect the taxes, and there would have to be an minimum income threshold.
*The debt – I propose an immediate stop to all new spending, and true cuts, not the current system where Congress cuts the increase in spending. Also, get rid of many of the Cabinet level bureaucracies that eat up precious revenue, especially those that overlap other agencies. Along this line, bring all our military home form non-combat areas and close those overseas bases. End the un-winnable wars in the Middle East and bring those soldiers home. Cut the military to necessary levels to defend our borders.
*Rising tides and other ecological issues – Those are all in God’s hands, not ours. The Earth will not be destroyed by anything we do, as God says he is going to burn it all in the end.
*Local issues – I know this sounds cruel, but to get rid of feral animals requires killing a lot of them. Require all pets to be spayed or neutered unless the owners are registered breeders. Finally, chickens are okay in the city limits, as long as they are laying hens and no roosters. Of course, the owners need to be responsible and keep the coop clean.
LikeLike
Interesting WSJ piece about the feminist-professor-lesbian who is considered quite the heretic by the left:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303997604579240022857012920
_______________________________
“If civilization had been left in female hands,” she wrote, “we would still be living in grass huts.” … Ms. Paglia relishes her outsider persona, having previously described herself as an egomaniac and “abrasive, strident and obnoxious.” Talking to her is like a mental CrossFit workout. One moment she’s praising pop star Rihanna (“a true artist”), then blasting ObamaCare (“a monstrosity,” though she voted for the president), global warming (“a religious dogma”), and the idea that all gay people are born gay (“the biggest canard,” yet she herself is a lesbian). … But no subject gets her going more than when I ask if she really sees a connection between society’s attempts to paper over the biological distinction between men and women and the collapse of Western civilization. …
_________________________________
LikeLike
Peter L
1) health care — medical technology, drugs, care, etc has increased, improved and become more expensive since LBJ. Although the current regulated insurance market in the US may be somewhat to blame — after all, the US has health cost than other countries — the government’s role in raising the cost is negligible. And since we have moved on from 1950s health care so to should our payment model. Although I prefer a single payer model, the Swiss model of regulated insurance markets may be a more American style approach.
I am curious however how people can admit the government can provide adequate health care for the elderly and the poor but not anyone else.
An other American issue is the tie between workplace and insurance. By tying work to insurance, you limit initiative (no one will leave work to start on their own) and limit worker mobility (people are afraid to change workplaces). This slows down change and limits flexibility which is one thing capitalism doesn’t like. Ironically the only place I encountered a similar system is in post communist Poland which at the time was still using the Communist approach — no work, no health care.
2) Tariffs – One of the great fallacies of the neo-liberal or Chicago school is that free trade is always good. Less ideological economist (see Ha-Joon Chang, 23 Things You Didn’t Know About Capitalism) point out the obvious, the countries with the most success in developing their economies ignored western advice and used tariffs (the Asian Tigers vs Africa/North America). However, once an economy is developed, free trade and reduced tariffs between developed countries do make sense.
As an income source, tariffs will not suffice. Countries (more accurately their consumers) have become used to cheap Chinese junk, tariffs would destroy the Walmart business model. In time increased transportation costs may do that anyway.
3) Sales Tax — almost all developed countries have a sales tax. its simply easier to collect. In Europe its hidden within the price, and the rate varies according to the product. Luxury or non-necessitates will often have a higher rate or more recently more polluting items will have a higher rate. In order to offset the cost to the poor, most countries offer rebate cheques. If the rate stays the same I view sales taxes as regressive but if it the rate varies according to product or service then its an efficient source of income.
4) Debt — As Cheney points out deficits (and by extension debt) aren’t really important. If debt was important perhaps tax cuts should have waited until it was paid off. In truth, its cash flow that matters and tax cuts impair cash flow as the money stays in corporate coffers (or is given out in bonuses in which the money quickly disappears as conspicuous consumption elsewhere)
However, you are right to suggest that the Defense Dept. should really stick to just defense.
5) Environment — you’re quite fatalistic here but not elsewhere. If you are willing to regulate elsewhere, then regulations here should not be an issue. Secondly, environmental catastrophes usually require gov’t assistance from hurricanes to tornadoes to rising tides. The question really is how can we work now to minimize cost later.
6) Local – Tip O’Neil once said all politics are local. I’m more concerned about raccoons and squirreels ruining my attic and roof. And deer jumping in front of my car on the way to work.
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An other American issue is the tie between workplace and insurance.
Right. And why did this happen in the first place?
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The only politician I can get halfway behind turns out to be a King. That figures. Love the ideas on tariffs, debt and climate change. Unfortunately, Chattanooga is too sqeamish to kill the feral animals—-and apparently not sqeamish enough to allow the chickens. So for now, residents will have to travel outside the limits for fresh eggs….if the feral dogs will let them into the car. :–)
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Solarpancake – I’ll bite. Why did that happen in the first place?
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Karen O: The concept of employer-provided insurance was borne of yet another intervention of government into the free market when, during WWII, the government enacted wage and price controls. Since wages are a means of attracting applicants, employers had to offer other perques, and since govt had also tampered with the tax code (as it always does–literally, like every second of the day) and reduced or eliminated taxes on employer-provided insurance, that’s how companies tailored job offers. It’s one aspect of the govt screwing up important stuff the market could otherwise have handled just fine.
LikeLike
to be accurate — wage and price controls were enacted at the request of corporations who were afraid the workers would take advantage of the war to make more money (of course, they themselves were making more money than ever).
also, unions, corporations, and gov’t preferred to attach work and insurance together because the other methods of health care delivery, involving more government, were socialist and unAmerican. Hence, the unions went with the employer model. Thus, the present ideologically driven model is precisely the result of the government staying out of the market, even to the point of not taxing it.
LikeLike
“At the request of corporations,” however accurate that may be, isn’t “free market.” That’s an “ideological” interpretation that says, “if it (some law or tax break or whatever) favors corporations, or was enacted with corporations’ support, it’s typical capitalist abuse.” The government certainly intervened–it did not stay out of the market–when it enacted wage and price controls and favorable taxes on employer-provided insurance. It created an uneven playing field, as it always does when it tries to dial in things that are hopelessly beyond its control to do.
LikeLike