Dissecting health-care data from Britain, Canada, and elsewhere

Socialized Failure

JOHN C. GOODMAN

The health-care systems of all developed countries face three unrelenting problems: rising costs, inadequate quality, and incomplete access to care. A slew of recent articles, published mainly in medical journals, suggest that the health-care systems of other countries are superior to ours on all these fronts. Yet the articles are at odds with a substantial economic literature.

What follows is a brief review of the evidence. As other writers demonstrate elsewhere in this issue, the American health-care system has plenty of problems. But it is not inferior to other developed countries’ systems — and we should therefore not be looking to these systems, most of which are characterized by heavy government intervention, for inspiration.

Read the whole thing!

WSJ: How ObamaCare Will Affect Your Doctor

[My own primary care doctor says he may not continue to practice which breaks my heart! He is a Diplomat of Internal Medicine from Harvard and does research at UCLA. His specialty training was at UCLA's prestigious Center for Human Nutrition, and he also studied acupuncture.]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Expect longer waits for appointments as physicians get pinched on reimbursements.


By SCOTT GOTTLIEB

Read the whole thing!

VIDEO: Muslim Persecution Of Christians

In 2005, Islamic jihadist beheaded three Christian GIRLS...this is just one incident in a whole movement: Watch video

HAT TIP: Atlas Shrugs

Get ready for one of the most vicious of all vicious cycles

Obamanomics is a disaster, and it couldn’t come at a worse time. Four years ago, the country may have been resilient enough to shake off the worst effects of Obama’s policies, but with our economy already reeling, his taxes will kill any chance at recovery. We will spend years running up massive deficits — which will prompt Obama to impose higher and broader taxes. Get ready for one of the most vicious of all vicious cycles.

HotAir: Martin Feldstein's prediction

WSJ: Tax Increases Could Kill The Recovery

Obama's administration is corrupt

Washington Post reports:The Obama administration is bold. It also is careless regarding constitutional values and is acquiring a tincture of lawlessness.

Going Galt, Chinese style

Confucius said, “When the ruler is correct, his will is put into effect without the need for official orders. When the ruler’s person is not correct, he will not be obeyed no matter how many orders he issues.” Analects XIII.6

HAT TIP: InstaPundit

The question of our time

...will we choose to be free or slaves. Will we protect our freedom from government, or give up our freedom to government. Will we come out of the shadows of Obama and the Social Liberal revolution of 2008, or will a new Iron Curtain rise over the land of the free and the home of the brave.

How the Democratic Party Went from Thomas Jefferson to Karl Marx

Obama betrays America

THIS IS WHAT OBAMA WANTS YOU TO RESPECT. THIS IS ISLAM. THIS IS SHARIAH LAW: WARNING WARNING WARNING! IT IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC. THIS IS SHARIAH LAW. THIS IS ISLAM. THIS IS WHAT THIS NATION'S YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN ARE FIGHTING. WHO IS THE ENEMY HERE?

Why Obama is no patriot

11 well-documented points

Inside baseball

The CIA's Fight With Obama: An Inside Baseball Story Told in a Riverfront Stadium About To Be Wrecked By the Godzilla of Events.

We have never seen an administration that lived more in its heads and less on Planet Earth

By James Lewis

Talking with liberals is frustrating, because you can't just talk about facts. That will only get them all upset, and all they will get out of the experience is never to listen to people like you. Most liberals live in their heads, or in little fluffy white clouds floating right above their scalps and resist efforts to engage them in rational conversation.

Our media are perfect examples. They never learn. They never listen to any other points of view. They know they have nothing to learn. Intellectually they are stuck, stuck, stuck.

(That's why the media are finally going bankrupt, thank goodness. But for years they got away with an endless parade of flagrant nonsense. Some of them still do. It's embarrassing.)

Talking to liberals is very much like doing therapy. The first lesson any psychiatrist learns is that most clients don't listen. They only pretend to listen, and then they never follow any sensible advice. So talking doesn't do the trick. It never does. If talking helped, they wouldn't be there in the first place.

So what do you do?

Find out here

Written by an unknown Pastor's Wife

And it came to pass in the Age of Insanity that the people of the land called America , having lost their morals, their work initiative, and their will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that person known as "The One".

He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, "I am sent to save you. My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my association with evil doers are of no consequence. For I shall save you with Hope and Change. Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who preceded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed."

And the people rejoiced, for even though they knew not what "The One" would do, he had promised that he would bring change, and they proclaimed "Yes We Can".

And "The One" said "We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah!! Change is good!"

Then He said, "We are going to tax the rich fat-cats,"---- And the people said "Sock it to them!" "---- and "Redistribute their wealth."

And then He said, "Redistribution of wealth is good for everybody"

And the people said, "Show us the money!"

And Joe the plumber asked, "Are you kidding me? You're going to steal my money and give it to the deadbeats?"

And "The One" ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe's personal records were hacked, publicized, and ridiculed; though no crime could be found.

One lone reporter asked, "That shouldn't be, isn't that Marxist policy?"

And she was banished from the kingdom!

Then a citizen asked, "With no foreign relations experience and having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with radical terrorists?"

And "The One" said, "Simple. I shall sit with them and talk kindly to them and show them how nice we really are; and they will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah!! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons into free cars for the people!"

Then "The One" said, "I shall give 95% of you lower taxes."

And one, lone voice said, "But 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes."

So "The One" said, "Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah! Show us the money!"

Then "The One" said, "I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell your homes!"

And the people yawned and the already slumping housing market fully collapsed.

And He said, "I shall mandate employer-funded health care for EVERY worker and raise the minimum wage, and lower the white collar wage. And I shall also give every person unlimited healthcare and medicine and even transportation to the free clinics."

And the people said, "Give me some of that!"

Then he said, "I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas."

And the people said, "Where's my rebate check?"

Then "The One" said, "I shall bankrupt the coal industry, and perhaps even the oil industry (Cap & Trade/Carbon Tax) and though electricity rates will skyrocket, we shall soon build wind farms and solar power stations and drive green cars that I shall mandate in Detroit!"

And the people said, "Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don't care for that part about higher electric rates."

So "The One" said, "Not to worry. If your rebate ($10/week) isn't enough to cover your extra expenses ($3,000/year), we shall bail you out. Just sign up with ACORN and your troubles are over!" "Only the fat cats will have to pay."

Then He said, "Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let's grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing..."

And the people said, "Hallelujah!" And they made him King!

And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers; though they sold much less of their products. Others simply gave up and went out of business, and the economy sank like unto a rock dropped from a cliff. The banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.

So "The One" again blamed the prior administration, extended unemployment benefits to a year, bailed out his favorite banks, and then took over the banks and auto industries. "The One" said, "I am the "The One" - The Messiah - and I'm here to save you! We shall just print more money so the government will have enough!" "Surely one trillion dollars will make everyone happy." And immediately the Fed complied and the money presses roared.

And China reconsidered their one trillion dollars of loans to the U.S. and threatened to call in their debts.

Other foreign trading partners said unto "The One", "Wait a minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have to pay more…for everything…as your dollar becomes worth less."

And the people said, "Wait a minute… That is unfair!"

And the world said, "Neither are these other idiotic programs you have embraced.

Lo, you have become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. What factories are not owned by your government are owned by us. Now you shall play by our rules!"

And "The One" said "Americans are arrogant, divisive, and derisive!" "We will listen."

And the people cried out, "Alas, alas! What have we done?"

But yea verily, it was too late. The people eventually set upon "The One" and spat upon him and stoned him, and his name was dung. But the once mighty nation was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or shelter or hope. And the Change that "The One" had given them was as like unto a poison that had destroyed them from within, and like a whirlwind that consumed all that they had built.

And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish, "Give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!"

But it was too late, and the once-glorious "Home of the Brave and Land of the Free" was no more…

[You may think this is a fairy tale, but it's not. It's happening RIGHT NOW, already everything down to the last couple of lines...]

Obama donor turned Obama destroyer

At least some people are waking up from the matrix!

A wealthy Obama donor who turned on the president is launching an attack on Obama over the Air Force One flyover screw-up, linking it to his big spending policies, an assault that may involve radio and TV ads in a preview of what to expect in the 2010 midterm elections.

Read more

Burt Prelutsky rocks

I’m not even a Christian, but I find it bizarre that people who pooh-pooh the idea that Christ raised the dead or walked on water are totally convinced that a guy who’s tossing trillions of dollars into the air is a financial miracle worker. Talk about blind faith!

It makes me wonder if these same people, were they facing personal bankruptcy, would think that the answer to their own financial difficulties would be to give their wife an American Express card and drop her off at Tiffany’s.

Where Liberals Are Hatched

Actual U.S. Unemployment: 15.8%

Washington Post reports

Author of Freedomnomics: THUGS IN THE WHITE HOUSE

By John R. Lott, Jr.
Senior Research Scientist, University of Maryland/Author, Freedomnomics.

So much for any hope that the government would uphold rules and abiding by contracts. Instead, we keep getting examples of something else – that when President Obama fails to persuade firms to follow his wishes, he does not hesitate to use threats of financial destruction.

Read more

U.S. Halts Pilot Program in New York to Detect Biological Attacks

Why?

HAT TIP: Pamela Geller, American Thinker: "Mission Acccomplished?"

OPT OUT

I was, once again, going through that pile of junk in a hall nook (or is it a cranny?) since hubby finally turned his sights on My Stuff as I predicted he would when his own bout of Spring Cleaning Fever abated.

I'm an info junkie and found a precious piece in a July 22, 2007 L.A. Times (not subscribed anymore) article about how to "opt out" of all the junk mail and stuff we are drowning in.

Now, I immediately had a moment of panic when I realized that here was--yet again--another piece of paper I couldn't bear to part with (although, to be really honest, I hadn't used it to opt out of anything because it's been in that pile since 2007).

Voilà! "I shall put it on my blog" came a voice in my head. Then I shall always have access to it until that day that, ceasing to bear my relentless reports of The One's foibles and treasons, the big "G" will erase this blog (G-d forbid).

And then: I shall post to you, my faithful readers, about how I am vigilant about providing you all with great information because I believe in...whatever.

Well, of course, it was for me...but can you use it? If so, just scroll down to this new category right under (for now) the big red-white-blue "OSH*T" logo.

(PS: I actually have used the National Do Not Call Registry and it works like a charm!)

We're bleeeding to death!!!

This should scare the pants off of you!

The Biblical-proportion deficit predictions we’ve been hearing about are based on spending targets, but more importantly, on receipt targets. If spending is more than budgeted, the deficits will be larger, but only if receipts come in as expected. If receipts are greater than expected, then the deficits will be smaller than predicted (that was the Reagan-era phenomenon). If receipts are lower than expected, then the deficit will be larger. If both are off, such as spending being more than budgeted, and receipts are less than predicted, the deficit death spiral will be enormous.

And that is exactly what is happening, at such an accelerated rate that the economy is contracting… for the first time in decades and decades.

See multiple charts and graphs.

Based on this alarming trend, one would expect the OMB and CDO to revise their deficit predictions and for the press to report on it with all the vigor of Chicken Little.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

Hemorrhaging – Especially Uncle Sam

Israel Will Be Thrown Under The Bus

How bad will it get for Israel? Very bad.