Indignant Desert Birds

Throughout the 1990s, attempts were made at raising Fuel efficiency standards. Every time a new bill would go before congress, American automakers would say that, in effect, American jobs would be lost since American companies were not as capable as Japanese or European car companies.

Congress did the dishonorable thing and caved.

Of course, as gas prices have set new records, American auto sales have plummeted. And so factories are closing and workers are being laid off. Executives, on the other hand, the ones who lobbied congress and refused to proactively head off this problem– they’re doing just fine. Even if they are fired, they won’t lose their lifestyle, their houses, and so forth. Their children will still have had the best health care, education, and toys money can buy. Many of these children will think of themselves as “self made”…

Tags: Uncategorized by Punning Pundit
No Comments »

The thing about healthcare is that there are many, many ways of doing it. Ours is about the worst. I mean, maybe not the worst possible, but certainly the worst we’re likely to see and still have a whole ton of very competent doctors. (In order to get worse, you pretty much have to be Cuba.)

How do we improve? Well, you’d want minimum care standards. And a dedicated funding stream. The idea is that it should be paid for by the government so that it’s not paid for by an employer– and so that you don’t lose care if you lose your job. After all, in this country, cancer is the number on cause of bankruptcy.

What would make the system perfect? Well, I’m not wild about the idea of the government running the health care system– I do like the idea of private actors competing for customers. Ezra Klein has more: part 1, part 2, and part 3

Maniakes: I’d love to get your take on this…

Tags: death, human rights by Punning Pundit
2 Comments »