Category Archives: Political Commentary

Business, Economics, Political Commentary

The Insurance Death Spiral

5 Comments

I’m pretty sure this was the plan all along:

So there are penalties for not purchasing insurance. But there’s no serious enforcement mechanism allowing the IRS to make sure those penalties get paid?

Given the importance of the mandate to the health reform project, this doesn’t make much sense. The law was designed to expand the number of individuals with health insurance. But without the ability to enforce the individual mandate, any expansion will likely be significantly smaller than projected.

But remember, if you like your plan, you can keep it! Untilless your insurance company goes out of business…

[Update a few minutes later]

You mean they don’t have to cover pre-existing conditions? More thoughts here and here.

Gee, do you mean that when a multi-kilopage bill is rushed though without anyone actually reading it, there could be screwups? Who would have guessed? Certainly not some of the morons in my comments section, who think that passing bills without reading them is just dandy.

Every day, November is a day closer.

[Update a couple minutes later]

And speaking of November approaching, this isn’t good new for the Dems, though it’s great news for the Republic:

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the health care overhaul signed into law last week costs too much and expands the government’s role in health care too far, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, underscoring an uphill selling job ahead for President Obama and congressional Democrats.

…Supporters “are not only going to have to focus on implementing this kind of major reform,” says Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard. “They’re going to have to spend substantial time convincing people of the concrete benefits of this legislation.”

This is hilarious. The president and the Democrats have spent the last fourteen months telling us how wonderful this plan is, to no avail. Now that it’s going to start to actually bite, they think that they’re going to be able to explain it better, and be more convincing? Especially when they don’t know what’s in it any more than they did before it passed?

And note, this is a Gallup poll, which means it’s “adults.” I haven’t checked Rasmussen yet, but I’m sure that the news for them from “likely voters” is even more grim. For them, that is, not for us.

Political Commentary

Government Health-Care Testing

8 Comments

Will it be as good as Energy Star?

…this week the Government Accountability Office reported on its test of the EPA’s testing.

GAO obtained Energy Star certifications for 15 bogus products, including a gas-powered alarm clock.

Even worse: The GAO attached a feather duster to a space heater, sent the photo to the EPA, and got approval in just 11 days.

Now that’s government service!

I can’t wait. Will they tell me to take the blue pill?

Business, Economics, Humor, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Satire, Science And Society

The Green Pharaoh

10 Comments

See, he was just trying to save the Nile delta. I’m even more amused at the leftist outrage in the comments. But then, leftists, and particularly watermelons, don’t have much of a sense of humor.

[Update a couple minutes later]

I love this comment from Bernstein:

Jon Stewart is funny because of the ways he bugs his eyes out, and otherwise makes funny faces. Can’t get that effect on a blog, I’m afraid.

It’s funny ‘cuz it’s true.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary

Premiums Will Go Up

18 Comments

…and you may not be able to keep your plan. But what would the head of Aetna know?

And I’m sure that this is completely unrelated:

Americans have a pragmatic sort of optimism in adversity, and after ObamaCare’s passage, I figured that would take the form of a “wait and see” attitude. Democrats made a lot of promises about this legislation, and there would be some impulse to wait to see how this bill fulfills or fails them.

Certainly, Democrats in office had hoped for that kind of response, but thus far, they’re not getting it. That may be due to some of the unpleasant details that the media have finally reported. Businesses are having to take big charges on lost tax credits, and promises over pre-existing condition treatment raised expectations to unrealistic heights. Instead of making lives easier, the bill has already made lives more complicated.

The real test will come in Rasmussen and other polling around September. If 54% of people still want it repealed — and that opposition has remained relatively unchanged for the last several months — then Democrats won’t have anywhere to hide.

Wind sowing now. Whirlwind reaping in November.

[Update a while later]

Congressional (dis)approval ratings have approached the levels last seen in late October, 1994. Remember what happened a few days later? And it’s only March…

Economics, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Technology and Society

Asilomar Two

19 Comments

Here’ is the first report I’ve seen on the conference this past week on geoengineering. I would have like to attend, but didn’t have either time or money right now. I was a little disturbed by what seemed to be an absence:

Participants…split into groups representing the two broad kinds of geoengineering: methods which block solar radiation from the sun, like spreading aerosols in the stratosphere, and techniques to remove carbon from the atmosphere, like growing algae blooms at sea.

…A vexing question for participants was the role of commercial companies in this controversial field. A breakout group devoted to the idea of blocking sunlight—by whitening clouds or the ocean surface, for example—couldn’t agree on whether it should propose barring for-profit companies from the enterprise.

Ignoring the issue of the role of private enterprise, what I’m reading seems very terracentric (which isn’t uncommon among the scientific community — I think it was one of the reasons that it there was so much skepticism about Alverez’ dinosaur-extinction theory). After all, if the goal is to block sunlight, the closer to the source you are, the easier the job might be. Maybe there were some space-based solutions discussed, but you can’t figure it out from this report. One of the reasons that I wanted to attend was to provide a perspective that might not otherwise be there, and it looks like my fears were born out.

I’d bet that if you proposed (say) Ehricke-type solettas, or sunshades, you’d be laughed out of the room, largely out of ignorance of space transportation economics. I would have provided a tutorial to explain why it’s foolish to extrapolate costs of current launch systems to future large-scale space access, because I’ll bet that’s exactly what most of them would do (because it’s what most people do now). I’ll look forward to a more detailed report on the conference, though, including a full list of presentations.

[Monday afternoon update]

It should be noted that I’m not advocating geoengineering. I’m just pointing out that for those who do, they shouldn’t exclude space-based solutions because of false preconceptions. It’s sort of like my attitude toward NASA. I wouldn’t weep much if the agency was defunded (other than the personal impacts on my friends who are employees and contractors). But seeing as how that’s unlikely to happen, I’ll continue to lobby to at least have the funds spent sensibly, in terms of actually advancing us in space.

Political Commentary, War Commentary

Bipartisan

8 Comments

Gee, I’m not the only one who thinks that the White House is nuts on the Middle East and Israel.

The letter’s lead signatories were Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD). The letter had only circulated for three days last week before garnering 327 signatures, probably the most bipartisan effort seen on Capitol Hill in this session of Congress. It provides a measure of just how far out of the mainstream the Obama administration has gotten on relations with Israel.

Moreover, they’re entirely correct. Thanks to what amounts to a reversal of 20 years of American policy on settlements in Jerusalem, Obama has given the Palestinians a reason to refuse to come to the table that Israel simply can’t address. Obama has made peace a lot less likely than it was fifteen months ago by throwing his tantrum in such a public manner. Weakening Israel won’t bring peace — it will bring more attacks on Israel as Palestinians begin to believe that the US won’t back its ally any longer.

Jennifer Rubin believes Obama’s fumble was by design, or at least by instinctual hostility towards Israel. With advisers like Samantha Power at the White House, that hostility was known long before Obama got elected. Accidental, latent, or overt, Obama’s hostility towards a key democracy in the most strategic part of the world has raised eyebrows of both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill — perhaps belatedly, but not too late to put some serious pressure for this administration to grow the hell up.

They seem to be particularly impervious to that. As do their defenders, including some commenters here.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Misdirection?

11 Comments

Hey, AP. Searchlight is south of Las Vegas, not north. It’s almost like they want people to not find the place.

[Update a couple minutes later]

I’m saving the screenshot to see if they go back and fix it. Of course, our elite journalists can’t be expected to know the geography of flyover country.

[Update a few minutes later]

The Tea Party express is reporting that their buses are being egged in Searchlight:

Supporters of Senator Harry Reid have just thrown eggs at the Tea Party Express bus caravan – striking at least one of the three buses (the red Tea Party Express bus) with multiple eggs.

About 35 Reid supporters had lined Highway 95 in front of the Nugget Casino in Searchlight where they were attempting a counter-demonstration the tens of thousands of tea party supporters who are gathering for the “Showdown in Searchlight.”

But don’t accuse them of hate or anger! I’m kind of amused that there are only thirty-five Harry Reid supporters in his home town. Not surprised, though.

[Sunday morning update]

“At least dozens” attended. Well, I guess it’s technically true. So would “At least one…”

And as Glenn notes, “at least dozens” watch CNN. And this kind of biased stupidity is one of the reasons.