Saturday, October 26, 2013
Ringing the ObamaCare bell of doom...
Ringing the ObamaCare bell of doom... Megan McArdle is doing it almost daily. Here's her latest...
What the hell is happening to my country?
What the hell is happening to my country? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are now more people receiving welfare because of their low income than there are full time workers.
Contrary to the assertions of some of the more raving liberal loonies, this isn't happening because the U.S. has more and more poor people. In fact, the average income of poor people in the U.S. has been steadily increasing, no matter how you measure it. Only in the U.S. do you see “poor people” with fat bellies, 75 inch flat screen TVs, nice cars, designer clothes, and smartphones. That's not to say the U.S. doesn't have any people who are actually poor – of course we do. But their numbers are declining, not increasing.
So why are so many people getting welfare? Because the “means testing” (the maximum income you can have and still get the welfare) has been rapidly climbing. What we're seeing is income redistribution on a scale that is quickly approaching that of overtly socialist countries. We're on a trajectory to equal the redistributive policies of Europe within a decade or two.
We need us a revolution, folks. At the ballot box, preferably. But if that doesn't work...
Contrary to the assertions of some of the more raving liberal loonies, this isn't happening because the U.S. has more and more poor people. In fact, the average income of poor people in the U.S. has been steadily increasing, no matter how you measure it. Only in the U.S. do you see “poor people” with fat bellies, 75 inch flat screen TVs, nice cars, designer clothes, and smartphones. That's not to say the U.S. doesn't have any people who are actually poor – of course we do. But their numbers are declining, not increasing.
So why are so many people getting welfare? Because the “means testing” (the maximum income you can have and still get the welfare) has been rapidly climbing. What we're seeing is income redistribution on a scale that is quickly approaching that of overtly socialist countries. We're on a trajectory to equal the redistributive policies of Europe within a decade or two.
We need us a revolution, folks. At the ballot box, preferably. But if that doesn't work...
Oh, if only ObamaCare was as good as the DMV!
Oh, if only ObamaCare was as good as the DMV! Mark Steyn's conclusion in his new piece, ObamaCare's Magical Thinkers:
Despite the best efforts of President Obama and doting tweeters in Jersey City, government isn’t groovy. The standard rap on Obamacare is that it’s turned America’s health system into the DMV. If only. I had cause to go to the DMV in Twin Mountain, N.H., the other day. In and out in ten minutes. Modest accommodations, a little down-at-heel, nothing cool about it at all. But it worked just fine. Friendly chap, no complaints. Government can do that at the town level, county level, even (more sparingly) at the state level.Oh, boy. I can hardly wait!
But a national medical regime for 300 million people? Not in a First World country. And, when you’re mad enough to try it, the failure is not the insignificant enrollment numbers, but the vaporization of the existing health plans of 119,000 Pennsylvanians, 160,000 Californians, 300,000 Floridians, 800,000 in that tech tweeter’s New Jersey . . . That’s the magic that happens when you disdain the limits of prosaic, humdrum, just-about-functioning government. Perhaps things will get so bad the coolest president ever will no longer seem quite so hip. But, alas, you’ll have to wait three years for a hip replacement. That’s government health care for you.
The Middle East was enough of a muddle before The One started messing with things...
The Middle East was enough of a muddle before The One started messing with things... Now it's falling apart before our eyes. Michael J. Totten is the best source of solid, first-hand information and clear thinking on the Middle East that I know of. He's got an article in World Affairs on the Saudi-American rupture. A sample:
“I’ve worked in this field for a long time,” says Brooking Institution expert Mike Doran in London’s Telegraph, “and I’ve studied the history. I know of no analogous period. I’ve never seen so many disagreements on so many key fronts all at once. And I’ve never seen such a willingness on the part of the Saudis to publicly express their frustration. Iran is the number one issue — the only issue for Saudi policy makers. When you add up the whole Middle Eastern map — Syria, Iraq, Iran — it looks to the Saudis as if the US is throwing Sunni allies under the bus by trying to cut a deal with Iran and its allies.”Go read the whole thing...
Foreign Policy 101 dictates that you reward your friends and punish your enemies. Attempts to get cute and reverse the traditional formula always lead to disaster. Yet Barack Obama thinks if he stiffs his friends, his enemies will become a little less hostile. That’s not how it works, but the Saudis have figured out what Obama is doing and are acting accordingly.
“They [the Americans] are going to be upset—and we can live with that,” said Mustafa Alani, a Saudi foreign policy analyst. "We are learning from our enemies now how to treat the United States.”
This is what tyranny looks like...
This is what tyranny looks like... The feds (DHS) cobble up a “plausible” reason to raid the home of a reporter, then use that raid to steal confiscate her confidential files – which just happen to contain identifying information on DHS whistleblowers.
The reporter used to work for the Washington Times, and they're going to sue the government on her behalf.
The boot is in our face, folks...
The reporter used to work for the Washington Times, and they're going to sue the government on her behalf.
The boot is in our face, folks...
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