Indignant Desert Birds

Stay on target

Teddy Roosevelt wanted to get it, but America wasn’t ready for a 3rd term president.

Harry Truman tried to get it, but it was too hard. Instead he integrated the Army.

Lyndon Johnson tried to do it, but it was too hard. Instead he got the country to let black people vote.

Richard Nixon made some noises about doing it, but it was too hard. Instead he engaged in domestic espionage against his political opponents.

Bill Clinton tried to do it, but it was too hard. Instead he fixed the economy and solved the budget deficit.

So now it’s up to Barack Obama. We’ll know in a few hours if he’s the greatest president since the sainted FDR.

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It's a big mack. Get it?

One of the things I haven’t talked about on this blog is that I’m trying to lose weight. Technically, I’m on a diet; what I’m really trying to do is change the way I eat. It’s harder than it seems. Part of this means that when I’m out with friends and they want to go to McDonalds, I need to find something on that menu…

So: last night I ordered a hamburger, medium fries and a medium drink (Total calories: ~680). The woman then suggested I could get a McDouble Meal for less money (total Calories: 770). I said that no, I’d prefer just the regular burger. Oh! Perhaps I mean the 2 cheeseburger? (Total Calories: ~1000).

The weirdest part of the experience is this: the woman taking my order was trying her hardest to give me a positive experience. What I wanted to do was more costly— and less filling– than what she wanted me to do.

This is the result of a bizarre food scheme we have where consumers are looking to maximize not their health, but rather their total caloric intake– for the least amount of money. The net result is that we get fatter. Not only that: because its the poorest of us who are unable to afford healthier food, fat becomes a class issue. Fun times all around.

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We pay into Social Security. Social Security buys Treasury bonds. Congress takes the money from the T-Bills and spends it on.. anything it wants to (the money from the T-bills is counted in revenue like money from any purchaser of T-bills). When bills come due, congress pays off the holders of the bills.

Since the Social Security office is collecting more money than it’s spending, more money is flowing into Congress from the program (through Treasury bills) than is flowing out of Congress to the program (by paying off those Treasury bills). Over the long-term, the payments in and payments out should ballance. Historically, in any given year Social Security has always paid more money into treasury bills than it’s collected by buying treasury bills. The SS projections that have proven the most consistently correct predict that this will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future.

The big problem here is that Medicare is part of the SS program. Medicare is cheaper than any private healthcare program in America, and it’s growth curve is smaller– but that expenditure growth curve is still +10%. So Social Security could well be eaten by Medicare– if we don’t reform the whole American Healthcare system.

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When the economy gets bad, low-cost health care providers start seeing more patients. It seems natural that people still want to prevent cancer, pregnancy, or STDs, but perhaps can’t afford regular doctor visits. Planned Parenthood is under constant attack for it’s efforts at providing women with high-quality/low cost health care, and this year is seeing its contributions from state budget endangered. So, they’re selling gift certficates. because nothing says “I love you” like a free pap smear.

When access to contraception declines abortion rates go up, and decreased ability to test for and treat STDs will certainly cause untold human misery. Naturally, the groups most outraged at the continued existence of an organization which helps people take care of themselves are called “pro life”…

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I was chatting with Harold Goldstein* a couple days ago. He, like many liberals, is sort of terrified that if Obama is successful at getting a liberal agenda passed, there will be a backlash, causing us to lose power.

This may be true. We liberals got our agenda passed in 1964 and “[lost] the south for a generation”. In 1932, we created a whole “New Deal”, which conservatives have been running against for 70 years.

The thing is, most of the Liberal Agenda is pretty popular. We’re offering people Health Care and an end to the war. If we can get just those 2 things, there can’t be a backlash powerful enough to actually matter. The point of “power” is not some mindless holding of the same, but rather it’s the ability to achieve things. Obama has the ability to achieve things that would really make the world a better place.

We should not fear the backlash. We should fear children dying because the richest country on Earth cannot properly allocate resources. If we save lives and lose elections, it’s a small price to pay…

*around my family, we call him “Uncle Harold”, since my father had the good sense to marry his sister a decade or so ago.

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