The nice part of impressive analyses like these is that they remain enshrined in the internet forever. Check out the quality of character and argument on display.
New map shows how gold-obsessed libertarians are screwing up the rainforest
…
In 2008, after the financial crisis, people of a certain political persuasion (libertarians, Tea Partiers, and Ron Swansonites) started pushing gold as a fail-safe alternative to investing in stock markets or keeping money in the bank.
…
But, hey, protecting an irreplaceable resource like this would probably require government intervention! Better to just let the market take its course.
In other news, this is complete nonsense from Ezra Klein – who is just about as “mainstream” as they come:
The cancellation notices are a feature of the Affordable Care Act, not a bug. The idea was to make insurance coverage more robust — and that means cancelling policies that offer less thorough coverage.
Who thought that was a good idea?
The drafters of the Affordable Care Act! The whole idea of the insurance expansion isn’t to get Americans to purchase anything called “insurance.” It’s to get them to purchase a specific kind of insurance, a plan that is relatively comprehensive and helps protect against financial ruin. If Americans were going to be required to buy a product, the reasoning goes, it should be one that can actually do some good.
Of course, not everyone agrees with this; some contend that shoppers should be able to continue buying less robust insurance policies and have the option of taking on more financial risk
At least they are honest. What they are saying, in bold face, is that what the ACA is all about is forcing people to NOT buy insurance but prepaid medical coverage. The “bug” is that they were trying to sell any of this crap as insurance. So, sorry folks who have high deductible catastrophic plans, which you know, actually are designed to protect you from financial ruin. If protecting people from financial ruin were the purpose of the legislation, then the only thing permitted would be those policies. Instead, you get the opposite. In this respect, I am very much thinking of the ACA in the same way that Mencken thought of democracy. At least for now the government hasn’t made it illegal for me to exercise my contingent plan when this all falls apart – travel to India when I need something serious done for me medically.
In other news … we are, I suppose, supposed to freak out because of … PEAK WINE. We’re doomed.
The thing is, I really doubt anyone who reads such things, or who writes such things, is going to be capable of having their mind swayed. Or of being able to recognize that other POV exist and may actually be valid, even if one doesn’t agree with them.
After having met so many people like her (the author, whom you have to look up to see the rest of her work) I have become convinced that what we are dealing with here is a battle of ideologies. It is no longer about discussing facts or merits of different opinions. These things don’t matter anymore. It’s about ideology and emotion.
I’m not sure if its always been like this, and I had been living in a bubble and just noticed now. Or if it has become more like this in recent years. But it is very disturbing.
Maybe Wintercow is right after all. We are doomed.
Re the other news on ObamaCare:
In 1993, after HillaryCare was defeated, many on the Left blamed Hillary for employing bad political strategy — in particular, for her timing in releasing her grand plan and thereby giving critics time to scrutinize it, and produce the Harry and Louise ads that were instrumental in the bill’s defeat.
So when 2009 rolled around, Democrats were determined not to repeat what they felt was the flaw in HillaryCare — not the idea, but the strategy.
Thus, for months there were the TV cameras trained on Harry Reid’s office door. Inside that office the wise men of the Democrat Caucus met with other wise experts of both sexes, we presume, to cook up a program.
This process evoked images of Moses going to the mountaintop. Or the College of Cardinals electing a Pope. On Christmas Eve it was revealed (sung in The Messiah it’s sung re veal ed), although the imagery was spoiled with Ben Nelson getting his Cornhusker Kickback and Mary (Mary!) Landrieu’s Louisiana Purchase) that Harry Reid had sixty votes.
Staffers were dispatched to finish up the fine print, and voila! the bill was passed so quickly that NO ONE in either body had the opportunity to read the whole thing. Even had they could, the law left HHS much room to change it. After the signing, Joe Biden told the president that this was a big f”””””g deal. Joe was right.
Right now, it turns out that “only” five percent of Americans, millions of them, are going to be dropped from their insurance plans because their chiseling cheap plans do not measure up to what the government deems adequate.
This is like telling someone his Mazda is inadequate because it does not have vibrating seats (the Chiropractor), bucket seats in the back (contraception) or a big astray for the roaches (psychological rehabilitation). So you are forced to buy a Lada equipped with Audi headlights and a Tesla power train, plus the vibrating seats, etc., the automotive equivalent of “better coverage”. Oh, and your Tesla or Leaf may become more expensive to drive, because we are ending coal.
See Holman Jenkins piece today in the Wall Street Journal. I quote:
“Democrats at least are consistent. Back in 1993, during the fight over HillaryCare, Mrs. Clinton explained Democratic reasoning to then-House GOP Leader Denny Hastert. If Americans are allowed too much discretion over how they spend their health-care dollars, Mrs. Clinton said, “We just think people will be too focused on saving money and they won’t get the care for their children and themselves that they need . . .
“The money has to go to the federal government because the federal government will spend that money better.”
Pretty much sums it up, eh?
jb, I also remember her saying, in response to a question about whether businesses might be overburdened with the cost of HillaryCare, she responded by saying something close to this: “I can’t worry about every undercapitalized” business.
This comment revealed to me not just the depth of her understanding of the world, but also the arrogance of the commissar when challenged about next year’s plan for wheat.
We see the same disregard today from others, who argue that a mere five percent are going to be inconvenienced by being dropped by their insurers because their plans do not measure up to government standards.
According to Frank Pallone, congressman from New Jersey, people who bought insurance policies that excluded drug rehab benefits, or fifteen free pills a month for Viagra are just plain stupid hicks who were deceived and tempted by insurance companies.