Over at Kos, “Darksyde” writes about the rocket to nowhere. Ignoring the comments about uteri and urine, I pretty much agree — pork is pork from either side of the aisle. I would point out, though that Constellation and Ares were not proposals by George Bush (though I can understand why he’d want to phrase them that way to his audience, to further demonize them). It was all Mike Griffin, and I’m sure that Bush had zero interest in the subject once he hired Mike.
Category Archives: Economics
Decline Is A Choice
…is it Obama’s choice? It would certainly appear to be.
Gene Cernan
…and his alternate reality. And sadly, it’s not just Gene Cernan. Many people who should know better are equally delusional. Though probably, some of them are just lying.
Of course, the media reporting on this subject over the last year (as it is on most subjects) has been abysmal.
Economic Insanity
From the guy who runs Medicare:
In other words, Berwick’s column accidentally teaches us an important lesson. When consumers are in charge and responsible for paying their own bills, markets are very efficient and costs come down. But when government policies cause third-party payer, consumers have little if any incentive to spend money wisely – leading to high costs and inefficiency.
Defenders of the status quo argue that the market for healthcare somehow is different than the market for things such as computers. But here’s a chart (click to enlarge) showing that relative prices are falling in one of the few areas of the healthcare system where consumers spend their own money. And I’ve previously noted that the same thing applies with abortion, where prices have been remarkably stable for decades. Regardless of one’s views on the procedure, it does show that costs don’t rise when people spend their own money.
That’s common sense and basic economics. But it’s not a good description of Obama’s healthcare plan, which is explicitly designed to increase the share of medical care financed by third-party payer.
It’s almost as though they have a hidden agenda to increase the scope of government power.
Still Brewing
Over twenty-five hundred people showed up for a Tucson Tea Party event. It’s still a long way toward election time, but they’ll have to maintain the momentum. Of course, Obama continues to make it easy to do so, on the way to his loss next year.
Space Policy, Part 4
The latest installment of the follies on Capitol Hill.
Radio Warning
I’ll be polluting the airwaves with crazy talk about space policy over at The Space Show this morning, from 9:30 to 11:00 PDT.
The Big Climate Push
On The Lousy Value
…of many college degrees. At Cracked.
I don’t know if this is the next bubble to pop, but pop it will.
Demagoguery
The president is now trying to distract from his own policies by blaming the oil companies for high gas prices, and he wants to increase their taxes, by taking away “subsidies.”
a) Does he really think that increasing oil companies’ costs will reduce gas prices? Apparently the question tied Jay Carney up in verbal knots.
b) Do oil companies get much in the way of “subsidies” that other companies don’t? If he’s talking about things like accelerated depreciation and R&D tax credits, this is helpful to any company, not just an oil company. If he is proposing to take it away from them alone, isn’t he simply punishing a vital industry because it’s making him look bad?
Ramesh Ponnoru makes a good point:
The big energy subsidies, on a per-unit-of-energy basis, are for ethanol, solar, and wind power. Get rid of the oil subsidies — and the “oil subsidies” — and nothing much changes. Get rid of the subsidies for those other energy sources, and those industries disappear. Just ask their lobbyists.
And good riddance, too, if they can’t make it without Uncle Sugar.
[Update mid afternoon]
“The president doesn’t know squat about energy production.” Which, unfortunately, doesn’t distinguish it in any way from most other subjects.