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Winning Strategies Do Not Change, Until They Start Costing Something

Posted by Always To The Right on Saturday, November 01, 2008 1:18:58 PM

Malcolm: Expulsion of reporters from O Force One “a cheesy hardball”

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No Such Thing As A Famous People Records Check, But There Is Such A Thing As Obstruction Of Justice

Posted by Always To The Right on Saturday, November 01, 2008 1:10:01 PM

A cover-up in Plumbergate?

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Just Like The Lending Markets, Right?

Posted by Always To The Right on Saturday, November 01, 2008 1:03:18 PM

Government should send “price signals” on energy?

Just in case voters didn’t figure out Barack Obama’s economic instincts towards statism, this interview from 2007 on energy policy should open a few eyes.  During the Democratic primaries, Obama had a lot more openness about his desire for top-down control of the economy, especially when it came to energy.  In order to change the behavior of consumers, Obama argued, the government had to send “price signals” to deter bad decisionmaking . . .

Is that the function of government — to fix prices as a punitive measure to change consumer behavior?  It will be in an Obama administration.  He and a few elites will decide which consumer behaviors are bad, and penalize it with price signals.  That usually means taxes or tariffs that drive the cost upwards.  I’d guess that Obama isn’t celebrating the fact that a gallon of gasoline will likely fall below $2 per gallon sometime this week.

When have we seen government send “price signals to change behavior” before?  Oh, yes — in the lending markets.  When government wanted more loans given to risky borrowers for political purposes, they sent “price signals” to lenders by having Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy up tons of subprime paper, and then mandated their conversion to securities to send “price signals” to investors.  How did those “price signals” work out for taxpayers, consumers, and investors?



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Socialized Medicine

Posted by Always To The Right on Saturday, November 01, 2008 4:06:00 AM
Affordable Health Care

One of the campaign themes this election cycle is "affordable" health care. Shouldn't we ask ourselves whether we want the politicians who brought us the "affordable" housing, that created the current financial debacle, to now deliver us affordable health care? Shouldn't we also ask how things turned out in countries where there is socialized medicine?

 The Vancouver, British Columbia-based Fraser Institute's annual publication, "Waiting Your Turn," reports that Canada's median waiting times from a patient's referral by a general practitioner to treatment by a specialist, depending on the procedure, averages from five to 40 weeks. The wait for diagnostics, such as MRI or CT, ranges between four and 28 weeks.

 It's truly amazing that Americans who are dissatisfied with the current level of socialized medicine in the U.S. are asking for more of what created the problem in the first place. Anyone thinking that an American version of socialized health care will differ from that found in Canada, Britain, Sweden, France and elsewhere are whistling Dixie.
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How Mortgage Crisis Happened: Good Intentions Paved Dire Path

Posted by Always To The Right on Saturday, November 01, 2008 2:03:28 AM

On the eve of what may be the most important election of our time, the financial catastrophe that many believe will most influence Tuesday's vote remains only partially covered by the major media. IBD has run many articles and editorials on the mortgage meltdown, including a 7,500-word history from Web magazine American Thinker on Thursday. This timeline is condensed from that article, written by M. Jay Wells. (Click here to read the full version.) It lays out the essential facts of the crisis, which at its heart is a tale of misguided government intervention rather than a failure of free-market capitalism, as argued by presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Read Full Article

The narrative is of another failed socialist experiment, this time a massive federal effort imperiling the whole U.S. banking industry.

Top recipients of contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since 1989:

• Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.: $165,400.

• Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.: $126,349.

• Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.: $42,350.

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