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Monday, January 24, 2011

Funding Health Care Expansion

When Obama took office and the Democrats went wild over the opportunity to "reform" health care, they really went off the rails.  They became so entrenched with side issues, that they lost sight of their goal: providing health care to the poor.  Suddenly, everything became "insuring the uninsured," rather than "giving healthcare to the poor." In case you didn't notice, there's a big difference; who among us wouldn't defer health insurance costs in lieu of paying - even out of pocket - reasonable health care costs? Had this been a Republican action, every liberal from here to Timbuktu would swear it was a conspiracy involving Cheney and Halliburton to enrich the insurance companies. But this was Democrats, not Repubs, and the insurance companies are certainly poised to be enriched. So now what?

There are lots of ways to skin that cat of providing health care to the poor, and here's one of them:  Make all non-profit hospitals treat the uninsured for free.  

After all, non-profits already operate tax-free, and most of them are flush with cash because of philanthropic donors. Indeed, they have entire departments operating to solicit donations to their operations  And if you think these hospitals are the bottom of the barrel, be informed that none other than Johns Hopkins is a tax-exempt nonprofit.

So if the goal of health care "reform" is to deliver health care, then do it.  Otherwise, stop trying to get everyone else to foot the bill for insurance that the poor can neither afford, not even necessarily want to have to manage.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Tolerance and Virtue

“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.”
- G. K. Chesterton

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

When Judgement is Missing

There are so many things to say about Obama's pick for the new commerce secretary; just a couple of easy ones since I haven't had coffee yet:
  • Obama chose one of the ilk that they seem to hate - executives who make millions and billions while driving their companies into the ground, requiring taxpayer-funded bailouts. Didn't the white house complain about these execs getting the golden parachutes even when they don't perform?
  • Someone from the banking industry that's in part responsible for the economic mess we all are bearing right now.
  • More Chicago politics in and around the White House. It didn't work in the first 2 years, why should it work now?
  • All of it resurrects the notion that Obama doesn't have the experience and in particular, the judgment, to be President.

So there, my quick thought of the day.

Source: Obama May Tap Daley for Top Job - FoxNews.com: "Daley, an executive at JPMorgan Chase, has extensive private sector experience, an attractive profile for a White House trying to counter the notion that the president is antibusiness. Obama aides have been discussing naming an executive to a top job as a way to give the business community more of a voice in the administration.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Monday, January 3, 2011

Politics of Buying a Car

Soon, I will be in the market for a car. I've looked over the specs, prices, and decided on a color. But I never thought I'd have to decide which one to buy based on union tactics. In short, the quote below has pushed me over the edge to to buy non-American for the sole reason that they are unionized manufacturers. See, if I do so, I am then putting money into the unions pockets.

Why don't I like unions? First I'll overlook that the unions nearly brought down the American auto industry single-handedly. Putting this crudely, but in the most accurate way I know possible, It's because they're assholes; nothing but self-interested assholes.

I mean, if a shop is unionized, a worker is forced to join them based on the idea that union collective bargaining benefits all workers. Let me tell you, it doesn't. The worker loses all latitude and freedom in being able to negotiate with his superiors because the unions do it. And if a worker tries, usually management will simply hold up the union contract, point to it, and say, "It says here you get no more."

When I was in a union shop, and also in the union, the quality of my work advanced me to a position and salary where I could not advance any further. A call to the union for a promotion and raise got me nowhere. They told me they were, at that time, in negotiations with my employer for the whole of the workforce and couldn't take on the interests of a single individual. Great. Welcome to Communism.

What did I do? I dashed off a letter to the head of my company explaining my problem. And you know, he gave me a raise. He increased my salary not because of the union, but because he knew I was a dedicated employee and was good at my job. He wanted me to be happy so I would continue to produce the high-quality things which made me proud on a personal level. He did the right thing on his own, because I did the right thing on my own.

Union workers are lazy. Maybe not so much lazy at their jobs (although I've known many, many who were), but they're lazy in dealing with their own self-interest. It's bad to allow someone else to negotiate for you if you are a good employee; you'll never get what you're worth that way. But unionized employees don't seem to want to be bothered with doing their own negotiations, instead paying others - the unions - to do it for them.

There is no more expensive option available to a worker than to "hire" someone else to toot your horn for you. You also lose all your freedom in the workplace, opting for not just one boss in the form of the company, but then union also tells you what to do. Jesus, all I want to do is go to work, do my job as best I can, collect my pay. Drink beer.

So back to cars. I'm not going to support the unions. I'm buying a car from a non-union shop. VW looks pretty good to me right now. They treat their workers right, the workers are happy. And together, the workers and the company make one hell of a product.

As it should be.


United Auto Workers Sets a Strategy on Foreign Car Plants - WSJ.com:
"Mr. King said he will tap the union's strike fund of more than $800 million for the push, calling it the best way to protect his current membership. 'We have, in many ways, pretty deep pockets in terms of what we're willing to spend,' said Mr. King, adding that the union already approved spending $60 million on organizing at its convention in June. 'We have really unlimited resources to devote to this. It's unlike anything that's been seen in the UAW in many, many years.'