Monthly Archives: June 2003

Is there really a Medical Malpractice Insurance Problem?

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There is a lot of interesting discussion going on regarding medical malpractice insurance. Kevin Drum has a lengthy analysis of the data (and links to this data if you want to work with it directly) and Dwight Meredith puts the $4.2 billion annual payout in perspective. Dwight has also provided some insight into eliminating frivolous lawsuits that is worth another read.

Bottom line: there may be a problem but it is not near what it is being made out to be and there are much bigger fish to fry that would have much more significant long term benefits.

Weapons of Mass Hydrogen Production

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I’m not sure why Tim Dunlop had thought it might be safe to trust the president again but this post and the article it references make it pretty clear that trust is not an adjective that sticks well to W. Those two WMD producing vehicles actually produced hydrogen for artillery balloons. Maybe the range of these balloons exceeded the UN restrictions….

Rising Health Care Costs

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US health care costs are going to rise. Costs rise when demand outstrips supply and barring significant changes in treatment or, better yet, some dramatic cultural changes demand for health care will increasingly outstrip supply over the next 50 years.

The Center for Disease Control says that

One in three U.S. children born in 2000 will become diabetic unless many more people start eating less and exercising more, a scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns.

This means our diabetic population increases from 17 million today to 45-50 million by 2050. A tremendous increase in demand!

And, you do not want to be black or hispanic:

The odds are worse for black and Hispanic children: Nearly half of them are likely to develop the disease

For Mexicans the problem is significant whether they are in the US or at home.

More What is Capitalism

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Decnavda discusses some things that ‘liberals’ might do to re-establish their power:

I believe that Americans are attracted to the Republican ideas of self-reliance, enterprise, and opportunity for advancement. One problem is that too many liberals seem to agree that those ARE Republican ideas, and liberalism is framed as the government taking care of people and helping to equalize the outcomes of market forces. This is because most of our intellectuals are watered-down socialists. As a result, we seem to have conceded that Republican capitalism is the true capitalism.
It does not have to be this way. Rather than only taking care of the masses, the government could empower them. Rather than equalize outcomes, we can redistribute wealth to equalize opportunities. Successful past wealth redistribution plans, such as the Homestead Act, the G.I. Bill, and subsidized home mortgages, have given the poor opportunity and capital in form of land, homes, and education.
Liberals should not fight capitalism, we should reclaim it for the masses.

Well, some of this is right. The republican capitalism certainly bears little resemblance to true capitalism. However, none of the proposals above have anything to do with capitalism. Perhaps the last sentence should read something like:

We should reclaim the meaning of classical liberalism and bring capitalism back to the masses.

By the way, if you are at all interested in tax law Decnavda has a lot of good stuff for you.

Oh, and Decnavda does not appear to have any permalinks. The above post is the only on on June 11.