The Sowby Report is changing names and moving to a new URL. Details to come.
July 2008
posted by Sowby23 at 4:32 PM
Thursday
Sunday
The Death of Reaganomics...Only in America
By Scott Sowby
March, 10, 2008
This blog entry is for my friend Bryce Johnson, who is a Communist.
In 1982 Ronald Reagan chopped the highest tax rate from 70 percent to 28 percent. Inflation fell from 13 percent to 3 percent. Incentives for investment, production, work, and risk-taking exploded. Reagan ushered in a period of economic growth and prosperity unparalleled by anything the world had ever seen. The rest of the world has watched with envy the American economic boom of the last 25 years. They are done watching. Reaganomics, the supply side economic model installed with great controversy 25 years ago, is now the global economic model of choice.
Consider:
Everywhere you look (except America), corporate and individual tax rates are falling. In many cases, wealth and death/estate taxes are disappearing altogether. Even Socialist leaders from different parts of the globe are embracing the economic reality that the key to wealth creation and competing in the International marketplace is to keep tax rates low.
Europe, who has long disparaged the supply side model, has seen itself forced to accept its virtues after 20 years of double digit unemployment and painfully slow growth. Germany, who less than 10 years ago prided itself on a 52 percent corporate income tax rate, has slashed its rates time and again. Today, Germany’s rates sit below 20 percent, and Germany has become a mini-Mecca for International investment. Poland’s new government has made public that its number one priority is instituting a flat tax of 15 percent. Singapore and Ireland recently approved legislation to cut tax rates to 13 percent. Countries like Bulgaria, Albania and Kuwait are quickly reaping the rewards for instituting 10 percent flat income tax rates. New converts are being added by the month.
What about our friends from France? They are experiencing nothing short of an economic revolution because they decided to give tax incentives to workers who work longer hours and/or start their own businesses. What a brilliant concept, even for a country that invented the 4 day workweek…rewarding hard work and letting the workers keep more of their money!
In Spain, even anti-American Socialist Prime Minister Zapatero is sounding Reaganesque. His re-election platform rests heavily on his pledge to cut corporate tax rates by ten percentage points and completely abolish both the wealth and death tax. Spain’s wealth tax is among the highest in the world, one that discourages savings and thrift.
For years European leaders decried falling global tax rates because they claimed it fostered “unhealthy tax competition”. That’s right folks…”unhealthy tax competition”. Nowadays, European leaders talk openly about embracing the economic ideas of Reagan and Thatcher, not Nixon and Carter. They understand, unlike American Democrats, that you can’t enjoy a prosperous, self-sustaining economy with high taxes. Perhaps the Europeans learned something when their neighbors to the East, the onetime Soviet satellite nations, who suffered through 50 years of declines in living standards because of suffocating tax policies, embraced capitalism and low taxes.
The surest signs that Reaganomics has become deep rooted in today’s global economy come from two countries on opposite ends of the world with remarkably different histories. Sweden, a Socialist paradise, has completely abolished its estate/death tax because its leaders realized that the tax is economically counterproductive. Even more striking is what has happened in Vietnam, where the leaders of the former Communist nation recently lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent. The reason…"to attract foreign investment”. The result...the economies of Vietnam and many other countries in South East Asia are booming. Three decades after the end of the Vietnam war and we can now clearly see who won. Free will. Opportunity. Capitalism.
As is the case with many of the countries reaping the fruits of low taxes, Russia's 14 percent flat tax has generated substantially more revenues to the government than their old system, which had progressive tax rates reaching above 50 percent. Ireland, with its 13 percent corporate tax rate, collects nearly 4 percent of GDP in corporate revenues. The U.S by contrast, with a 40 percent rate, averages less than 2.5 percent of its GDP in corporate receipts. This puts us well below the International average. Just as the Bush tax cuts on personal income have led to record setting revenues to the government, we would also collect more corporate revenue with a lower corporate tax rate. This phenomenon is called the Laffer curve, and we now find ourselves on the wrong side of it. That’s not funny.
For the last quarter century Reagaomics has created such a plethora of prosperity and wealth that the rest of the world has been left with little choice but to mimic us. Ironically, we are now trying to reverse the low tax, supply side trend. Take a moment to listen our liberal Congress and Senate and you will hear all you can bear about raising income taxes, corporate taxes, hedge fund taxes, dividend taxes, payroll taxes, energy taxes, taxes on taxes on taxes.
The mere threat of this assault on capital and wealth has already taken a marked toll on our economy and has been one of the principal reasons we are now facing a recession. Foreign investment is down sharply and the confidence of outside investors, the same confidence that fuels our economy, is shot. The public threats of Billary and Obama to DOUBLE our 15 percent capital gains tax has sent investment elsewhere. The left in our country snarl that the Bush tax cuts are a ploy to “make the rich, richer”. That these cuts “have given the poorest an even smaller slice of the pie.”
Well how do you like this pie...
A new UN report finds that between 1980 and what is projected out to 2015, the global poverty rate will have been cut in half. To put these numbers in perspective, more than a BILLION people will have emerged victorious from a destitute, miserable existence. This means that the global trend towards Reaganomics, especially in the developing world, has created nothing less than the greatest human triumph in history.
America’s 25 year head start of having among the lowest tax rates in the world has all but vanished. As we speak, the U.S has secured itself the distinction of having the worlds second highest corporate tax rate. Most worrisome is that the political left in our county, who now controls the Congress, Senate, and likely the next Presidency, has put fairness ahead of prosperity. While their platitudes to the poor and afflicted promise a bigger piece of the pie, they have failed to inform them that the pie itself will be much, much smaller. The supply side economic stool, which consists of sound money, tax cuts, and free trade, and upon which we sat triumphantly for 25 years, is being pulled out from under us. And we are falling.
March, 10, 2008
This blog entry is for my friend Bryce Johnson, who is a Communist.
In 1982 Ronald Reagan chopped the highest tax rate from 70 percent to 28 percent. Inflation fell from 13 percent to 3 percent. Incentives for investment, production, work, and risk-taking exploded. Reagan ushered in a period of economic growth and prosperity unparalleled by anything the world had ever seen. The rest of the world has watched with envy the American economic boom of the last 25 years. They are done watching. Reaganomics, the supply side economic model installed with great controversy 25 years ago, is now the global economic model of choice.
Consider:
Everywhere you look (except America), corporate and individual tax rates are falling. In many cases, wealth and death/estate taxes are disappearing altogether. Even Socialist leaders from different parts of the globe are embracing the economic reality that the key to wealth creation and competing in the International marketplace is to keep tax rates low.
Europe, who has long disparaged the supply side model, has seen itself forced to accept its virtues after 20 years of double digit unemployment and painfully slow growth. Germany, who less than 10 years ago prided itself on a 52 percent corporate income tax rate, has slashed its rates time and again. Today, Germany’s rates sit below 20 percent, and Germany has become a mini-Mecca for International investment. Poland’s new government has made public that its number one priority is instituting a flat tax of 15 percent. Singapore and Ireland recently approved legislation to cut tax rates to 13 percent. Countries like Bulgaria, Albania and Kuwait are quickly reaping the rewards for instituting 10 percent flat income tax rates. New converts are being added by the month.
What about our friends from France? They are experiencing nothing short of an economic revolution because they decided to give tax incentives to workers who work longer hours and/or start their own businesses. What a brilliant concept, even for a country that invented the 4 day workweek…rewarding hard work and letting the workers keep more of their money!
In Spain, even anti-American Socialist Prime Minister Zapatero is sounding Reaganesque. His re-election platform rests heavily on his pledge to cut corporate tax rates by ten percentage points and completely abolish both the wealth and death tax. Spain’s wealth tax is among the highest in the world, one that discourages savings and thrift.
For years European leaders decried falling global tax rates because they claimed it fostered “unhealthy tax competition”. That’s right folks…”unhealthy tax competition”. Nowadays, European leaders talk openly about embracing the economic ideas of Reagan and Thatcher, not Nixon and Carter. They understand, unlike American Democrats, that you can’t enjoy a prosperous, self-sustaining economy with high taxes. Perhaps the Europeans learned something when their neighbors to the East, the onetime Soviet satellite nations, who suffered through 50 years of declines in living standards because of suffocating tax policies, embraced capitalism and low taxes.
The surest signs that Reaganomics has become deep rooted in today’s global economy come from two countries on opposite ends of the world with remarkably different histories. Sweden, a Socialist paradise, has completely abolished its estate/death tax because its leaders realized that the tax is economically counterproductive. Even more striking is what has happened in Vietnam, where the leaders of the former Communist nation recently lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent. The reason…"to attract foreign investment”. The result...the economies of Vietnam and many other countries in South East Asia are booming. Three decades after the end of the Vietnam war and we can now clearly see who won. Free will. Opportunity. Capitalism.
As is the case with many of the countries reaping the fruits of low taxes, Russia's 14 percent flat tax has generated substantially more revenues to the government than their old system, which had progressive tax rates reaching above 50 percent. Ireland, with its 13 percent corporate tax rate, collects nearly 4 percent of GDP in corporate revenues. The U.S by contrast, with a 40 percent rate, averages less than 2.5 percent of its GDP in corporate receipts. This puts us well below the International average. Just as the Bush tax cuts on personal income have led to record setting revenues to the government, we would also collect more corporate revenue with a lower corporate tax rate. This phenomenon is called the Laffer curve, and we now find ourselves on the wrong side of it. That’s not funny.
For the last quarter century Reagaomics has created such a plethora of prosperity and wealth that the rest of the world has been left with little choice but to mimic us. Ironically, we are now trying to reverse the low tax, supply side trend. Take a moment to listen our liberal Congress and Senate and you will hear all you can bear about raising income taxes, corporate taxes, hedge fund taxes, dividend taxes, payroll taxes, energy taxes, taxes on taxes on taxes.
The mere threat of this assault on capital and wealth has already taken a marked toll on our economy and has been one of the principal reasons we are now facing a recession. Foreign investment is down sharply and the confidence of outside investors, the same confidence that fuels our economy, is shot. The public threats of Billary and Obama to DOUBLE our 15 percent capital gains tax has sent investment elsewhere. The left in our country snarl that the Bush tax cuts are a ploy to “make the rich, richer”. That these cuts “have given the poorest an even smaller slice of the pie.”
Well how do you like this pie...
A new UN report finds that between 1980 and what is projected out to 2015, the global poverty rate will have been cut in half. To put these numbers in perspective, more than a BILLION people will have emerged victorious from a destitute, miserable existence. This means that the global trend towards Reaganomics, especially in the developing world, has created nothing less than the greatest human triumph in history.
America’s 25 year head start of having among the lowest tax rates in the world has all but vanished. As we speak, the U.S has secured itself the distinction of having the worlds second highest corporate tax rate. Most worrisome is that the political left in our county, who now controls the Congress, Senate, and likely the next Presidency, has put fairness ahead of prosperity. While their platitudes to the poor and afflicted promise a bigger piece of the pie, they have failed to inform them that the pie itself will be much, much smaller. The supply side economic stool, which consists of sound money, tax cuts, and free trade, and upon which we sat triumphantly for 25 years, is being pulled out from under us. And we are falling.
posted by Sowby23 at 6:10 PM
Friday
The Great Firewall of China
Friday, November 9, 2007
By Scott Sowby
The multi-billion dollar Golden Shield is the latest addition to the “Great Firewall of China”. Funded by the Government and instituted as part of its vast Communications Monitoring Program, its purpose is to monitor, manipulate, and block sensitive online content. The government is betting big that the Golden Shield will help contain and manage the exponential growth and increasing savvy of Internet users in China.
I experienced the Golden Shield firsthand during a recent visit to Beijing. The smoke filled Internet Café I chose contained more than a hundred computers, almost all of which were occupied. Before taking my spot, I was required to show two forms of I.D, both of which were photocopied. I was asked to sign a contract stating that I would abide by a complex set of rules. After that, I was ready to see the much vaunted Golden Shield in action.
I started by visiting sites I am familiar with. CNN.com U.S edition was blocked. My Google G-mail account, blocked. A Yahoo search for “Democracy”, blocked. At that point my monitor went blank and a note on the screen said I had been given a 30 second timeout for trying to access sensitive material. The next violation would be one minute, followed by dismissal from the Café. I played the tourist card to the proctor and kept searching. U.S based travel sites, blocked. Gambling sites, blocked. Searches for Tiananmen Square demonstrations, blocked. Sensing my frustration, a Chinese twenty-something sitting next to me offered me a deal. For the equivalent of a dollar he would show me how to hack the system. Within two minutes he had set me up on a secure SSH connection using a circumvention tool, in this case called UltraSurf. Using a proxy server I was able to access anything I wanted without running the risk of a timeout…or worse.
Thousands of Chinese languish in prison because of harmless internet activities. Captured online dissidents, especially those found to be encouraging the values of Democracy are punished swiftly and harshly. By some measures, China has been able to maintain a semblance of online control through the use of brute force. This is aided by the fact that less than one-third of all Chinese have logged on to the Internet, although this number is growing at an exponential clip.
Besides the insurmountable technical challenges of governing and manipulating the online activities of a fifth of humanity, the government is realizing that online censorship has not only fanned the flames of resentment but has also severely hampered its e-commerce capabilities. In China's case, taking billions and possibly trillions of dollars out of an economy that can ill afford to lose it. Chinese leaders recognize that raising incomes is a more effective way of securing power than spying on citizens and jailing dissenters. They have also realized it’s not possible to reconcile these two competing strategies. As a result, they have lost control of “the message”. And as history has taught us time and again, when “the message” can no longer be controlled, those in power are marginalized.
The flood of information made available via the web has given the Chinese common man confidence and power. Every day in China, there are millions of people putting the pieces together and discovering the virtues of freedom via the Internet. Chinese citizens are learning what personal fulfillment signifies and they are quite literally taking down the barriers that impede their search for such. The burgeoning middle class is acutely aware of the true extent of their numbers and the potency those numbers hold. The people are realizing that they can raise their standard of living. They are realizing their unique talents and abilities have value and money making potential. The futility of China’s state-owned enterprises is being exposed. The volatile discontent of the political minorities has finally found a lasting platform. Adding fuel to revolutions fire, Generation Y in China has a markedly lower instinct for obedience and allegiance, a direct reflection of alternatives made visible via the web. This has become a lethal combination for the ruling party.
In downtown Beijing I marveled at an enormous mural of Lebron James that was plastered to the side of an even bigger skyscraper. The words above Lebron’s head as he dunked over a lesser opponent………WE ARE ALL WITNESSES. In that moment it made me appreciate the rarity of recognizing greatness or change when we are in the midst of it. It’s difficult to do, and more often than not, it requires somebody pointing it out to us.
It’s become increasingly popular for “experts” to predict the imminent fall of the Chinese communist regime. It’s been happening since 1950 and each prediction echoes the same basic sentiments….Too many people, too many opinions, too many tools, too much discontent. As the years pass, experts remain baffled as to how and why Communist China seems to stay intact. Perhaps they are looking for the quick and decisive falls that plagued previous dynasties. Or maybe they are waiting for another botched attempt to retake Taiwan. Either way, they have waited too long. The revolution is well underway.....and WE ARE ALL WITNESSES.
By Scott Sowby
The multi-billion dollar Golden Shield is the latest addition to the “Great Firewall of China”. Funded by the Government and instituted as part of its vast Communications Monitoring Program, its purpose is to monitor, manipulate, and block sensitive online content. The government is betting big that the Golden Shield will help contain and manage the exponential growth and increasing savvy of Internet users in China.
I experienced the Golden Shield firsthand during a recent visit to Beijing. The smoke filled Internet Café I chose contained more than a hundred computers, almost all of which were occupied. Before taking my spot, I was required to show two forms of I.D, both of which were photocopied. I was asked to sign a contract stating that I would abide by a complex set of rules. After that, I was ready to see the much vaunted Golden Shield in action.
I started by visiting sites I am familiar with. CNN.com U.S edition was blocked. My Google G-mail account, blocked. A Yahoo search for “Democracy”, blocked. At that point my monitor went blank and a note on the screen said I had been given a 30 second timeout for trying to access sensitive material. The next violation would be one minute, followed by dismissal from the Café. I played the tourist card to the proctor and kept searching. U.S based travel sites, blocked. Gambling sites, blocked. Searches for Tiananmen Square demonstrations, blocked. Sensing my frustration, a Chinese twenty-something sitting next to me offered me a deal. For the equivalent of a dollar he would show me how to hack the system. Within two minutes he had set me up on a secure SSH connection using a circumvention tool, in this case called UltraSurf. Using a proxy server I was able to access anything I wanted without running the risk of a timeout…or worse.
Thousands of Chinese languish in prison because of harmless internet activities. Captured online dissidents, especially those found to be encouraging the values of Democracy are punished swiftly and harshly. By some measures, China has been able to maintain a semblance of online control through the use of brute force. This is aided by the fact that less than one-third of all Chinese have logged on to the Internet, although this number is growing at an exponential clip.
Besides the insurmountable technical challenges of governing and manipulating the online activities of a fifth of humanity, the government is realizing that online censorship has not only fanned the flames of resentment but has also severely hampered its e-commerce capabilities. In China's case, taking billions and possibly trillions of dollars out of an economy that can ill afford to lose it. Chinese leaders recognize that raising incomes is a more effective way of securing power than spying on citizens and jailing dissenters. They have also realized it’s not possible to reconcile these two competing strategies. As a result, they have lost control of “the message”. And as history has taught us time and again, when “the message” can no longer be controlled, those in power are marginalized.
The flood of information made available via the web has given the Chinese common man confidence and power. Every day in China, there are millions of people putting the pieces together and discovering the virtues of freedom via the Internet. Chinese citizens are learning what personal fulfillment signifies and they are quite literally taking down the barriers that impede their search for such. The burgeoning middle class is acutely aware of the true extent of their numbers and the potency those numbers hold. The people are realizing that they can raise their standard of living. They are realizing their unique talents and abilities have value and money making potential. The futility of China’s state-owned enterprises is being exposed. The volatile discontent of the political minorities has finally found a lasting platform. Adding fuel to revolutions fire, Generation Y in China has a markedly lower instinct for obedience and allegiance, a direct reflection of alternatives made visible via the web. This has become a lethal combination for the ruling party.
In downtown Beijing I marveled at an enormous mural of Lebron James that was plastered to the side of an even bigger skyscraper. The words above Lebron’s head as he dunked over a lesser opponent………WE ARE ALL WITNESSES. In that moment it made me appreciate the rarity of recognizing greatness or change when we are in the midst of it. It’s difficult to do, and more often than not, it requires somebody pointing it out to us.
It’s become increasingly popular for “experts” to predict the imminent fall of the Chinese communist regime. It’s been happening since 1950 and each prediction echoes the same basic sentiments….Too many people, too many opinions, too many tools, too much discontent. As the years pass, experts remain baffled as to how and why Communist China seems to stay intact. Perhaps they are looking for the quick and decisive falls that plagued previous dynasties. Or maybe they are waiting for another botched attempt to retake Taiwan. Either way, they have waited too long. The revolution is well underway.....and WE ARE ALL WITNESSES.
posted by Sowby23 at 4:16 PM
Monday
An open letter to Billary Clinton
September 4th, 2007
By Scott Sowby
Mrs. Billary Clinton,
Barring something spectacular, you will win the Democratic nomination for President. By now, most Americans who plan to vote have heard something or another about your much touted “BillaryCare”. From what you have said, BillaryCare will provide comprehensive healthcare to all Americans. Prima facie, it sounds pretty good. But doesn't that break the cardinal rule of a Democratic government? Do you remember? It's the one that says, "No level of government should do what the level of government below can do for itself." At a maximum you should be talking about doing something on a state level such as that effectuated by Governer Romney. At a minimum, you shouldn't be talking. Back to my point: If the stats are correct, you are about to make the day of the 46 million Americans that are currently uninsured; 36 million if you discount for children. Even the most pessimistic models predict that 20% of those people will vote for you specifically because you are about to give them something...for nothing. Suckers. Furthermore, it’s likely that you will find some currently insured low hanging fruit that is willing to pay significantly higher taxes and allow for increased governmental control over their lives.
Since you have revealed nothing more than a skeleton outline of your plan to get BillaryCare up and running, I will have to go with the expert’s numbers and use some basic economic and historical assumptions to fill in the blanks. At a minimum, your plan will cost $200+ billion a year to fund and probably another $300 billion in start-up costs. To control costs, BillaryCare will provide modest salaries to its physicians. This will further reduce already declining incentives for potential physicians to enter the field. According to most estimates, doctor’s average salaries will decrease by about 30 percent under your plan.
Having spent a significant amount of money on your own education, I am surprised that you have forgotten that doctors spend a large chunk of their earnings over the first 10 years of their careers repaying student loans. The math shows that being a physician in the BillaryCare network will provide salaries equal to that of a good car salesmen, except with twice the stress, more hours, and more debt. BillaryCare will ensure that our best medical minds seek greener pastures overseas. Once we have third tier medical personnel with little incentive to excel and innovate, our healthcare system will mimic that of Cuba, and your confidante and friend, Michael “SICKO” Moore, will finally be redeemed.
In 1993 and 2006 you said the same thing, that “this program is not government run...there will be no new bureaucracies”. Brilliant! You have figured out how to restructure the entire healthcare system, regulate doctor’s billings, drug costs, and insurance premiums. All of this without creating new bureaucracies. But wait….I remember you convening with some 500 experts to help formulate your first failed plan back in 1993. And I remember the findings. Shall I remind you? OK, fine. BillaryCare would require the creation of at least 50 new government bureaucracies, controlling nearly two trillion dollars. That's 16% of the GDP.
Okay Billary, let’s assume the worst and pretend you get elected President. How are you going to fund this thing? How do you plan to talk the American public into paying the health care bills of the social slackers? Even The Great Clinton Machine won't be able to go-go gadget $500 billion dollars.
The reality is that even the most exotic combinations of investments and circumstances will barely make a financial dent in what promises to be the most daunting and extensive business integration our country has ever seen. And no offense, but there is absolutely nothing on your resume to prove you have the skills to get it done anyway. Your trial by fire should be with something other than the health of.....us.
Back to funding your plan: A realistic solution would be tax increases. Don’t they fix everything? Repealing the Bush tax cuts will give you about $50-100 billion a year. The problem there is that the Bush tax cuts have led to month after month of record setting tax revenues to the government and an economy that has chummed along at record pace. After that, you could always raise taxes even more to get another $50 billion or so. You’ve probably thought of that one. Throw in other contributions/subsidies for another $25 billion. Then you could use some of your patented “under the table” incentives and earmarks and get your total funding close to $200 billion. George Soros will probably cough up a few billion of his own money just for fun. And because I'm a nice guy, let's throw in another $50 billion because it's out there somewhere. Add it all up and you are still well short of what BillaryCare will require. In the real world when companies can’t finance their operations, they go bankrupt. And in cases of a failed enterprise where there exists a monopoly such as that proposed by BillaryCare, chaos ensues.
Billary, there are astonishingly few instances in the history of the world where government bureaucracies outperform and / or outincentivise the free market. This is especially true in the U.S. where entrepreneurialism and capitalism are the norm, not the exception. It’s easy to look at Cuba or Canada or France and make the argument that their “socialized medicine” works. The problem is, we aren't Cubans or Canadians or French. We don’t want to be Cubans or Canadians, and we especially don't want to be French. Our expectations are different, our needs are different, our culture is infinitely different, and I have yet to meet anybody that has experienced both systems who prefers socialized medicine. I am confident I could say the same for you. To be fair, it’s possible that their opinions are more about excess governmental control in their lives rather than poor health care, but that is exactly the point. People gravitate away from government interference in their lives and towards free will and increased liberties.
A great healthcare system isn’t one that provides care to the maximum amount of people. It’s one that provides the best possible care, from the best possible doctors, for those who are willing to put in a little work. It’s well within any Americans reach to get health insurance if they really want. This isn’t Africa or Mexico or China where for some people it’s simply not possible to get even basic treatments. This is America, the land of capitalism and unlimited opportunities. But you know that, and I know you know that. We also know that your fanciful plan will get you a few million votes from under-uneducated, uninsured people. This could very well swing the election your way. Brilliant!
It’s easy to be a visionary while you are running for the President of the United States. You can talk about healthcare for all. You can court potential voters with ridiculous ideas like $5000 “baby bonds” to the 4 million babies born in the U.S each year (That’s $20 billion btw, or do you prefer Euros?). You could further cater to the Hispanic vote by offering drivers liscences to illegal aliens (me dijeron que ya hiciste eso. De veras?). You can propose a be-all end-all NATO enforced no fly zone over Darfur to end the genocide even though NATO doesn’t work. You can even flip flop on the Iraq war as many times as you deem necessary. But if you are elected and you have to make real choices, tough choices, I hope these aren’t the type you will make.
In October 2006 you said, “We need a uniquely American solution to healthcare”. While it's true that the monetary economics of our current system could use some free market tweaks, the health care itself is as good as it gets. To find your uniquely American solution, let me point you to former American government official, Bert Lance, who in 1977 while campaigning against increased government bureaucracy gave us the greatest wisdom of all…”If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
Although unlikely...and scary...there is still a small part of me that thinks BillaryCare may one day be a reality. Since your plan mimics your other socialist policies of the redistribution of wealth and all things in common, can I ask you just one small favor? Can you make sure we have the same doctor?
Scott
By Scott Sowby
Mrs. Billary Clinton,
Barring something spectacular, you will win the Democratic nomination for President. By now, most Americans who plan to vote have heard something or another about your much touted “BillaryCare”. From what you have said, BillaryCare will provide comprehensive healthcare to all Americans. Prima facie, it sounds pretty good. But doesn't that break the cardinal rule of a Democratic government? Do you remember? It's the one that says, "No level of government should do what the level of government below can do for itself." At a maximum you should be talking about doing something on a state level such as that effectuated by Governer Romney. At a minimum, you shouldn't be talking. Back to my point: If the stats are correct, you are about to make the day of the 46 million Americans that are currently uninsured; 36 million if you discount for children. Even the most pessimistic models predict that 20% of those people will vote for you specifically because you are about to give them something...for nothing. Suckers. Furthermore, it’s likely that you will find some currently insured low hanging fruit that is willing to pay significantly higher taxes and allow for increased governmental control over their lives.
Since you have revealed nothing more than a skeleton outline of your plan to get BillaryCare up and running, I will have to go with the expert’s numbers and use some basic economic and historical assumptions to fill in the blanks. At a minimum, your plan will cost $200+ billion a year to fund and probably another $300 billion in start-up costs. To control costs, BillaryCare will provide modest salaries to its physicians. This will further reduce already declining incentives for potential physicians to enter the field. According to most estimates, doctor’s average salaries will decrease by about 30 percent under your plan.
Having spent a significant amount of money on your own education, I am surprised that you have forgotten that doctors spend a large chunk of their earnings over the first 10 years of their careers repaying student loans. The math shows that being a physician in the BillaryCare network will provide salaries equal to that of a good car salesmen, except with twice the stress, more hours, and more debt. BillaryCare will ensure that our best medical minds seek greener pastures overseas. Once we have third tier medical personnel with little incentive to excel and innovate, our healthcare system will mimic that of Cuba, and your confidante and friend, Michael “SICKO” Moore, will finally be redeemed.
In 1993 and 2006 you said the same thing, that “this program is not government run...there will be no new bureaucracies”. Brilliant! You have figured out how to restructure the entire healthcare system, regulate doctor’s billings, drug costs, and insurance premiums. All of this without creating new bureaucracies. But wait….I remember you convening with some 500 experts to help formulate your first failed plan back in 1993. And I remember the findings. Shall I remind you? OK, fine. BillaryCare would require the creation of at least 50 new government bureaucracies, controlling nearly two trillion dollars. That's 16% of the GDP.
Okay Billary, let’s assume the worst and pretend you get elected President. How are you going to fund this thing? How do you plan to talk the American public into paying the health care bills of the social slackers? Even The Great Clinton Machine won't be able to go-go gadget $500 billion dollars.
The reality is that even the most exotic combinations of investments and circumstances will barely make a financial dent in what promises to be the most daunting and extensive business integration our country has ever seen. And no offense, but there is absolutely nothing on your resume to prove you have the skills to get it done anyway. Your trial by fire should be with something other than the health of.....us.
Back to funding your plan: A realistic solution would be tax increases. Don’t they fix everything? Repealing the Bush tax cuts will give you about $50-100 billion a year. The problem there is that the Bush tax cuts have led to month after month of record setting tax revenues to the government and an economy that has chummed along at record pace. After that, you could always raise taxes even more to get another $50 billion or so. You’ve probably thought of that one. Throw in other contributions/subsidies for another $25 billion. Then you could use some of your patented “under the table” incentives and earmarks and get your total funding close to $200 billion. George Soros will probably cough up a few billion of his own money just for fun. And because I'm a nice guy, let's throw in another $50 billion because it's out there somewhere. Add it all up and you are still well short of what BillaryCare will require. In the real world when companies can’t finance their operations, they go bankrupt. And in cases of a failed enterprise where there exists a monopoly such as that proposed by BillaryCare, chaos ensues.
Billary, there are astonishingly few instances in the history of the world where government bureaucracies outperform and / or outincentivise the free market. This is especially true in the U.S. where entrepreneurialism and capitalism are the norm, not the exception. It’s easy to look at Cuba or Canada or France and make the argument that their “socialized medicine” works. The problem is, we aren't Cubans or Canadians or French. We don’t want to be Cubans or Canadians, and we especially don't want to be French. Our expectations are different, our needs are different, our culture is infinitely different, and I have yet to meet anybody that has experienced both systems who prefers socialized medicine. I am confident I could say the same for you. To be fair, it’s possible that their opinions are more about excess governmental control in their lives rather than poor health care, but that is exactly the point. People gravitate away from government interference in their lives and towards free will and increased liberties.
A great healthcare system isn’t one that provides care to the maximum amount of people. It’s one that provides the best possible care, from the best possible doctors, for those who are willing to put in a little work. It’s well within any Americans reach to get health insurance if they really want. This isn’t Africa or Mexico or China where for some people it’s simply not possible to get even basic treatments. This is America, the land of capitalism and unlimited opportunities. But you know that, and I know you know that. We also know that your fanciful plan will get you a few million votes from under-uneducated, uninsured people. This could very well swing the election your way. Brilliant!
It’s easy to be a visionary while you are running for the President of the United States. You can talk about healthcare for all. You can court potential voters with ridiculous ideas like $5000 “baby bonds” to the 4 million babies born in the U.S each year (That’s $20 billion btw, or do you prefer Euros?). You could further cater to the Hispanic vote by offering drivers liscences to illegal aliens (me dijeron que ya hiciste eso. De veras?). You can propose a be-all end-all NATO enforced no fly zone over Darfur to end the genocide even though NATO doesn’t work. You can even flip flop on the Iraq war as many times as you deem necessary. But if you are elected and you have to make real choices, tough choices, I hope these aren’t the type you will make.
In October 2006 you said, “We need a uniquely American solution to healthcare”. While it's true that the monetary economics of our current system could use some free market tweaks, the health care itself is as good as it gets. To find your uniquely American solution, let me point you to former American government official, Bert Lance, who in 1977 while campaigning against increased government bureaucracy gave us the greatest wisdom of all…”If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
Although unlikely...and scary...there is still a small part of me that thinks BillaryCare may one day be a reality. Since your plan mimics your other socialist policies of the redistribution of wealth and all things in common, can I ask you just one small favor? Can you make sure we have the same doctor?
Scott
posted by Sowby23 at 9:43 PM
Wednesday
Gore-bal Warming
June 3, 2007
By Scott Sowby
The awards circuit has hailed Al Gore as a prophetic hero. History will expose him as a delusionary fraud. While most of the media treats his global warming theory as fact, the fact is that it's not. Carbon dioxide emissions do not fundamentally affect the earth's weather patterns.
Over the last thirty years, carbon dioxide emissions have risen and there has been a slight increase in the Earths temperature. This is as far as the facts go. Unfortunately, these facts have gained traction as a simple case of cause and effect. To curb the warming, according to Mr. Gore and his followers, we must take Draconian measures to lower emissions, even if that takes a toll on our standard of living and greatly increases governmental control over our lives.
As exact as the best scientists and climatologists can figure, the Earth's surface temperature increased one degree Fahrenheit during the 20th century. About half of that increase came before 1940, when carbon emissions were a sliver of what they are today. Temperatures decreased slightly between the mid 1940’s until about 1975, even though carbon emissions were increasing dramatically. In the real world, this would provide absolutely no proof of a cause and effect relationship. But many times humans fall prey to current event hysteria and delusion. Those brave enough to admit that they have recognized the irrationality of Gore-Bal warming have been called “Global warming deniers”, akin to being called a “Holocaust denier”.
Weather patterns have been changing for as long as the earth has existed. The earth has been through hundreds, if not thousands, of freeze-thaw periods. More recently, from A.D. 900-1250, the Earths temperatures were warmer than they are today. This is one of the reasons that Greenland was named……Greenland. Have you taken a look at Greenland lately? From about 1250 to 1800, there was a mini ice-age. Famines throughout the globe, especially in Europe, were caused by the colder weather. Since the 1800’s, the weather has become slightly warmer.
Climatologists are still unable to pinpoint the cause(s) of the Earths ice ages. The same models used to predict Gore-bal warming have been terribly inept at predicting past weather patterns. Up until the late 1970’s, the same media was hootin and hollerin about an impending ice-age. (See time Magazine 1974). Gore’s award winning documentary shows us images of the seas rising by more than twenty feet. This despite the UN’s latest report that has sea level changes over the next 100 years revised downward from 36 to 17 inches. The same documentary puts polar bears on the fast track to extinction. Today’s polar bear population is higher than it’s been in forty years. And for the Gore-y images of all the glaciers melting away……he didn't show the ones that are expanding.
Time and reason will prove the human footprint on global warming to be minimal and inconsequential. As recently as 1975, some experts were convinced that the earth faced imminent mass famine. During the same time, many academics believed in Eugenics, the theory that the human race could be vastly improved if inferior people and those with low IQ’s were forcibly sterilized.
In spite of widespread misconceptions about weather patterns and Al Gore's pursuit of socialist style government regulations, something good may come from all of this. A big push for nuclear power; a relatively cheap, proven, uber-clean, non carbon emitting energy producer. This type of discussion would put us on right track, one towards renewable energy sources not so much for the reduced carbon footprint as for an answer to the rapid depletion of the earth's natural resources, especially with the rise of China and India.
Imagine the enormous amounts of time, money, and energy that are being invested in the unproven, unlikely theory that humans are the catalyst and culprit for global warming. Let’s use those resources to tackle the real issues such as education reform, terrorism, extreme poverty, and disease. The earth may very well continue to warm for the next 10, 100, or 1000 years...but it won't be because of humans.
By Scott Sowby
The awards circuit has hailed Al Gore as a prophetic hero. History will expose him as a delusionary fraud. While most of the media treats his global warming theory as fact, the fact is that it's not. Carbon dioxide emissions do not fundamentally affect the earth's weather patterns.
Over the last thirty years, carbon dioxide emissions have risen and there has been a slight increase in the Earths temperature. This is as far as the facts go. Unfortunately, these facts have gained traction as a simple case of cause and effect. To curb the warming, according to Mr. Gore and his followers, we must take Draconian measures to lower emissions, even if that takes a toll on our standard of living and greatly increases governmental control over our lives.
As exact as the best scientists and climatologists can figure, the Earth's surface temperature increased one degree Fahrenheit during the 20th century. About half of that increase came before 1940, when carbon emissions were a sliver of what they are today. Temperatures decreased slightly between the mid 1940’s until about 1975, even though carbon emissions were increasing dramatically. In the real world, this would provide absolutely no proof of a cause and effect relationship. But many times humans fall prey to current event hysteria and delusion. Those brave enough to admit that they have recognized the irrationality of Gore-Bal warming have been called “Global warming deniers”, akin to being called a “Holocaust denier”.
Weather patterns have been changing for as long as the earth has existed. The earth has been through hundreds, if not thousands, of freeze-thaw periods. More recently, from A.D. 900-1250, the Earths temperatures were warmer than they are today. This is one of the reasons that Greenland was named……Greenland. Have you taken a look at Greenland lately? From about 1250 to 1800, there was a mini ice-age. Famines throughout the globe, especially in Europe, were caused by the colder weather. Since the 1800’s, the weather has become slightly warmer.
Climatologists are still unable to pinpoint the cause(s) of the Earths ice ages. The same models used to predict Gore-bal warming have been terribly inept at predicting past weather patterns. Up until the late 1970’s, the same media was hootin and hollerin about an impending ice-age. (See time Magazine 1974). Gore’s award winning documentary shows us images of the seas rising by more than twenty feet. This despite the UN’s latest report that has sea level changes over the next 100 years revised downward from 36 to 17 inches. The same documentary puts polar bears on the fast track to extinction. Today’s polar bear population is higher than it’s been in forty years. And for the Gore-y images of all the glaciers melting away……he didn't show the ones that are expanding.
Time and reason will prove the human footprint on global warming to be minimal and inconsequential. As recently as 1975, some experts were convinced that the earth faced imminent mass famine. During the same time, many academics believed in Eugenics, the theory that the human race could be vastly improved if inferior people and those with low IQ’s were forcibly sterilized.
In spite of widespread misconceptions about weather patterns and Al Gore's pursuit of socialist style government regulations, something good may come from all of this. A big push for nuclear power; a relatively cheap, proven, uber-clean, non carbon emitting energy producer. This type of discussion would put us on right track, one towards renewable energy sources not so much for the reduced carbon footprint as for an answer to the rapid depletion of the earth's natural resources, especially with the rise of China and India.
Imagine the enormous amounts of time, money, and energy that are being invested in the unproven, unlikely theory that humans are the catalyst and culprit for global warming. Let’s use those resources to tackle the real issues such as education reform, terrorism, extreme poverty, and disease. The earth may very well continue to warm for the next 10, 100, or 1000 years...but it won't be because of humans.
posted by Sowby23 at 12:04 AM
