Healthcare Reform

This is a super fun subject right now, so I decided to throw in my two cents.

Let me begin by saying that right now the discourse over health care is disgusting. Extremists on one side tell you that you are going to die, and the other says you will be broke. Fear mongering is, at best, unhealthy and morally repugnant.

Now then, what is the debate? Our government is currently discussing health care reform. One of the key components to this reform would be to add a public option to cover the uninsured. Do the uninsured deserve to be covered at all? I hope that if someone were to die because a hospital refused to treat them, on the grounds of it not being in their financial interest to do so, most people would be upset. I think most of us, believe that everyone should have access to some basic health care, and not be left to die if they cannot afford it.

So if we want everyone covered, is the public option a good idea? Rather than pretend to know the future, I will be looking at two examples of a public and private option in our current lives.

1. Police
Security is important. We need a system to enforce laws in order to have a productive and fair society. The police provide some basic protection for everyone, no matter our financial situation. The police are an example of a socialist program. It is a purely government program, and is paid by taxes. In addition to policemen there is a vibrant private sector; security guards, alarms, bodyguards etc. This private option provides additional coverage for those who need it.

2. Education
All children in the United States have access to the public school system. In addition to this Socialist, government-run institution there are private options. Tutors, private schools, additional materials, etc are available to those who are willing to pay an extra cost.

We tend to think that since we have free markets, it means we are a capitalist society. This is mostly true, however we have takes that pay for several socialist, government entities. It is true that in a free market society competition tends to make everyone better off. In reality, this is not always the case. A good example of a time when government intervention can stimulate the economy is a monopoly.

Whether or not you believe that the Education system or Justice system are perfect, I think you have to admit that they do a pretty damn good job. And even if they aren't perfect at least everyone is covered.

Iran

What is happening in Iran?

I hope that this is a question that many people are asking themselves. Iran is a fascinating country that will have a lot of influence on our future. I am going to try to explain a little about what is going on, and hopefully shed some light on the situation.

The Past

Iran was called Persia for a long time. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed the middle east was carved up and divided how we know it today. Iran was ruled by the "Shah" or King until 1979ish when the Ayatollah took over. Ayatollah basically means "Leader" it is often translated as "Supreme Leader", but that is a little strong. The Ayatollah is a religeous leader as well as a political one. The US wasn't very happy with this regime change and we decided it would be in our best interest to fight them. So when Iraq invaded Iran we helped the Iraqis out with weapons, even thought they may have killed up to 100k Kurds living in Iraq. Iran was not a fan of US involvement and we have had our disagreements since. (Most notably the Hostage Crisis and Nuclear Enrichment concerns)

The Present

Iran had their presidential elections recently. Ahmadinejad vs Mousavi (A and M for short) A was president and very well controlled by the Ayatollah. M was his most popular challenger. Polls predicted it would be a very close race, but after counting hand ballots for a few hours A is declared the winner by a 66% majority. Most people seem to belive this a clear indication of fraud. People right and the Government of Iran is trying to quell the uprising.

The Future

Remember that because of protests and uprisings like what are going on now the regime changed hands in 1979. It took around ten years of revolts before the actual change occurred but this is interesting all the same. I hope that the people of Iran realize that now dictator holds power, and that the power is always in the hands of the masses. We may end up with a free and democratic Iran, and we may not only time will tell.

Palin Letterman joke

There is some stuff going around about Letterman and Palin. I will attempt to clarify.

Letterman said "during the game Sarah Palin's daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez. You can see how that would be awkward."

It was a joke. Mr Letterman was not saying that Sarah Palin's daughter was raped. He was not saying that he wants to have sex with the girl. I know that the 14 year old was the one at the game, but the joke obviously referred to the older daughter who was, in fact, knocked up.

I don't expect you to like the joke or find it funny. It is ok if you hate the joke. I hate a LOT of jokes, but it is a joke.

Rick Koerber responds to Indictment

"This indictment was not the most powerful work of the most intelligent people"
-Rick Koerber
While the fancy conference room may not have been the most appropriate place to explain to people that you didn't defraud them out of money, Rick Koerber's message was clear. He will be pleading "Not Guilty" to Federal charges.
Mr Koerber accused several Government officials of misconduct and "conducting a personal vendetta" against him. Mr Koerber appears to believe that government investigators need to have proof of malfeasance before conducting an investigation. Mr Koerber has recorded or is in the possesion of several recordings of officials stating to him or others that the government did not have proof of wrong doing, but didn't like what he was doing.
According to Mr Koerber Government officials communicated suspicion of a Pyramid/Ponzi schemes, before the indictment. This helped cause FranklinSquires collapse in addition to the melting real estate market.
He dismisses the media's obsession with Mark Shurtleff's supposed breakfast meeting stating, "Why a private citizen, asking to meet with an elected representative is ever, in any circumstance, innappropriate is a mystery to me."
Mr Koerber states he is ready to meet the accusations in court, and only time will tell how this will play out.

Government in action (inaction)

It is fascinating to me that severely important topics seem to be shelved until they become a crisis. Healthcare and Social Security are good examples of this. We have been hearing that the healthcare and Social Security costs for quite some time now, but still have yet to see any major changes. The problem with the Congress is that it rewards inaction. It is a very plush and privileged existence to be a Congress person. It's not something that people are willing to risk losing. Congress has an amazing reelection rate. This is much more amazing when you consider its approval rating sunk below 20% within the last year. Congress has an amzing 20% approval and and a 94% re-election rate. To me these numbers are saying, "I hate the job that Congress is doing, but they are there until they die or are arrested." If a congress person wants to advance politically then all of their previous legislation will be brought up against them (this is also why Governers tend to do well. They don't have a voting record). One politician who tried to put through legislation to help prevent child molestation was accused of teaching kindergardners about sex etc. It can become truly nasty. Therefore there is very sstrong incentive to keep your head down, and do as little as possible.

So passing a controversial bill, no matter how beneficial, seems to be an almost impossibility. It is amusing to me that how much people are concerned with one party controlling the House, Senate, and Presidency with a large majority. It amuses me because even though people think that the majority will march us as far to the left as they can, the reality is quite different. We can be petty and ignorant and whine that the difference between a free capitalist society, and a dreadful Stalinist Socialist Regime is a 3% income tax hike. People will and are doing that now. In reality, the Democratic Congress and Senate aren't very willing to make themselves future targets, and while things indeed will change it will be far less dramatic than people who thrive on fear for ratings will have you believe.

Torture

There has been a lot in the news lately about torture. It appears that everyone has split themselves into one of two groups.

1. Torture in ANY form is NEVER acceptable.
2. It is acceptable to water board terrorists.

While most people will just go with their gut reaction on this. I like to think things through. There are two major things to deliberate over here.

1. What is torture?
2. Is torture effective?

If water boarding is torture and it is not effective the easy answer is "don't do it"
If water boarding is not torture and is effect the easy answer is "do it"
If water boarding is not torture and is not effective. "probably shouldn't do it"
If water boarding is torture and is effective "we have a conundrum."

1. People have been saying that water boarding is not torture. I have never experienced it so I am not able to make a personal judgment. When we think about torture the more graphic methods come to mind, someone being cut or physically damaged. I always think of the James Bond movie where they cut out the seat and hit his testicles with a rope. Water boarding is not as physical, per se, so the confusion is understandable. My first inclination was that it is torture. The reason for this is you are doing it, because you trying to extract information. It must be very unpleasant if you believe it will "crack" or "break" someone who is very set in their beliefs. Not willing to go on pure speculation I looked around and researched past occurrences, and water boarding has happened a lot more than I thought. In World War II Japanese soldiers water boarded American soldiers. They were convicted of torture. In the Vietnam War soldiers water boarded North Vietnamese soldiers. They were court-martialed. It seems that all precedence points to water boarding being torture.

2. Is torture effective? This is going to be debated a lot over the next little bit. This question makes me think of Jack Bauer yelling, "Where's the bomb!!??" When is it morally okay to torture? Is it ok to save 1,000,000 lives? 1,000? 10? 1? This, however, IS NOT THE ISSUE. Remember we need to know if it is effective before we BEGIN to be concerned by this. Most evidence points towards torture not being effective. People will lie or give false information to make the pain go away. The question "Should we torture to save X lives?" is irrelevant until we have definitive proof that torture is effective.

So currently I am sitting on some viewpoints.

1. Water boarding is torture. I believe that it causes sufficient mental duress to be defined as torture, and in the past, the United States has agreed with me.

2. Torture is not the most effective questioning method. Torture is not guaranteed to provide useful information, and I believe that if everyone knows that America tortures, it will cause more harm than good. I believe that torturing someone to prevent a nuclear attack is more the subject of Fiction than Non.

It's the Circle of Life

I turn on the news to find one of the more interesting headlines I have seen in years.

"Protesters Teabagging White House."

.......ok, I guess that's one way of showing your displeasure.

All joking aside it is interesting to see the other side protesting now. The most amazing thing to me is how similar it seems. We saw a lot of protests during President Bush as Anti-War etc, and now we have the other side in an Anti-Tax protest. Other than the themes the protests are strikingly similar. It almost makes me wonder if all the protests are done by the same group. The most important thing I guess is that they feel that their opinions are heard. I have a few concerns about the current protests.

1. If you make less than a six figure income your taxes will go down. I can't imagine that the upper class are outside in the rain with signs. Don't they hire people to do that for them? The only explanation is A they make more than 250,000 a year, B they are delusional enough to think they will make that soon, or C they don't understand what they are protesting.

2. Wasn't this the same group of people that said if you don't support the President you can leave the country? If you are going to disagree with the Government that's fine. You have every right to do so. You cannot, however, dismiss another group's arguments as "unpatriotic" simply because they disagree with the current administration, and then disagree yourself a few months later.

3. Isn't the right the party of fiscal responsibility? Isn't the right the party of smaller government? I used to think so. After presiding of amazing deficits and expansions of powers, I think its safe to assume that the small financially responsible government the right invokes is a dream at best and an outright lie at worst. When your expenditures exceed your income you can do one of two things:
A Increase income.
B Decrease expenditures.

That's it. Those are the only options, EVER. Unfortunately, there are few major ways to reduce spending. The largest possible cuts are into Military, Health care, and Education. It is political suicide to touch any of the three. It is misleading and destructive to think that a lot of money is wasted on "pork". A planetarium could be considered "pork" by one group and "downtown revitalization" by the other. The problem is that because "pork spending" is harped on so much even though it is a small percentage. This encourages people's mistrust and dislike of all things related to government. One of the best ways to cut waste would be to switch to a flat tax system, but that probably won't happen. (I am not advocating flat tax, but its potential to reduce waste and simplify taxes is staggering).

So its difficult to cut spending. One of the solutions the current administration is implementing is to repeal the Bush tax cuts. Increasing the top bracket from 36% to 39%. This was the tax level during the Clinton administration. You can dislike it. You can argue with it. You can protest it. You can even "Teabag" the White house. You can do all of these things because of the wonderful and free country you live in.

(although you are protesting wasteful spending by wasting tea????? really??)