Iraq
Yesterday, Josh Marshall notes that Bush did not have any money in the budget for Afghanistan. Probably just about what we can expect from Bush and company in Iraq if they end up mucking up that sandbox.
Yearly Archives: 2003
If you won’t play my way..
In today’s NY Times Patrick Tyler argues that Bush and advisors want to avoid an open break with the Security Council, etc:
But the concept of open-ended inspections is unacceptable to Mr. Bush and could well lead the United States soon to take the step that the president and his advisers � indeed most Americans � would certainly like to avoid: an open break with the Security Council and the formation of a “coalition of the willing” that would divide not only the United Nations, but also Europe and Asia.
Their behavior, though, strikes me as that of folks who will only play if you are in complete sycophantic agreement with them. And, if not, will take their toys and go play by themselves.
Great Photography
Thank you to Sideshow for the pointer to Bill Atkinson’s pictures and further thanks to Making Light who was the source for Sideshow. Really great stuff.
Ready to Read?
My wife mentioned the other night that 8th graders at her junior high school are using some kind of crib notes to
Cost to Provide Insurance
It has been written (I’ll post the link when I run across it again) that it costs government 2-4% for administration and costs private companies 12-14%. I wonder if this is because government processes are more efficient or simply because government insurance administrators just do less then private administrators? For instance, if the government program is a flat rate, anyone can participate program then it would not need staff to assess risk and underwrite policies. Thus, while it costs less to administer the cost to provide for the average individual is probably much higher then on the private side where, modulo gov’t regulation, there is still some small chance that subscribers pay in accordance to their risk.