How Is This Not Traveling?
I realize there are more important things to argue about, but people are citing this as the danger of early celebration. How is that guy not traveling? He clearly takes three full steps while carrying the ball.
They Tried to Warn Us About “Green” Vehicles Decades Ago
Totally not worth explaining, but Roderick Long tweeted this hilarious clip:
A Rising Tide Lifts All Interventionists
I agree with the substance of his post, but only Steve Landsburg could start a piece like this: “So the Obama administration has released a climate forecast, according to which Miami could be under water by the end of the century. Apparently we’re supposed to be very concerned about that.”
(Here are my thoughts on the Obama Administration’s National Climate Assessment.)
Landsburg is such a cool customer. I’m picturing some nutjob reader bursting into his classroom, taser in hand, expecting Steve to panic. But instead the professor raises an eyebrow and says, “Oh dear, I see someone never learned Gauss’ Law.”
Krugman on VA Health Care as a Model for Reform
I sometimes fancy myself as a sophisticated economist who knows what’s up, wise to all the hijinx and mayhem flowing out of DC. But nope, I am still a little bunny cowering in the corner.
Yesterday I actually hesitated before relating the VA hospital scandal to ObamaCare and socialized medicine more broadly, wondering if that was somehow taking a cheap shot. But thanks to Chris Rossini’s wonderful find, we can see that nope–not a cheap shot at all. Here’s Paul Krugman back in November 2011:
(I’m doing this as a screen shot because I want to get a PNG file I can post on social media.)
This really needs to go viral. This is up there with Krugman’s “Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble” or Yglesias’ announcement to “lay down a marker” on ObamaCare’s rollout success. When the problems coming from ObamaCare and the subsequent overhauls rear their heads–and smug guys like Noah Smith explain it all away with their fancy “models,” telling you common sense is just blind religious faith when it comes to medicine–you keep Krugman’s confident praise of the VA in mind.
With Single Payer, We Can All Get VA-Quality Health Care!
A mainstream summary of the timeline on the developing Veterans Affairs scandal:
The Obama administration is facing a serious scandal in which government officials are alleged to have falsified data to hide how long veterans were waiting to see doctors at VA hospitals…Here is a timeline of events leading up to the current situation, which President Obama on Wednesday called “intolerable” and “disgraceful.”
• Early 2012: Dr. Katherine Mitchell, a Veterans Affairs emergency-room physician, warns Sharon Helman, incoming director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System, that the Phoenix ER is overwhelmed and dangerous. Mitchell now alleges she was told within days by senior administrators that she had deficient communication skills and was transferred out of the ER.
• Later in 2012: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs orders implementation of electronic wait-time tracking and makes improved patient access a top priority…
…
• July 2013: In an e-mail exchange among employees at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix, an employee questions whether administrators are improperly touting their Wildly Important Goals program. “I think it’s unfair to call any of this a success when veterans are waiting six weeks on an electronic waiting list before they’re called to schedule their first PCP (primary-care provider) appointment,” program analyst Damian Reese complains.
…
• October 2013: Dr. Sam Foote, a doctor of internal medicine at the Phoenix VA, files a complaint with the VA Office of Inspector General alleging purported successes in reducing wait times stem from manipulation of data, and that vets are dying while awaiting appointments for medical care.
• December 2013: Foote retires, assuming the role of whistle-blower by meeting with Arizona Republic reporter Dennis Wagner. He details allegations that patients have died while awaiting care at the Phoenix VA and that wait times have been falsified.
• April 9: Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, says during a hearing that dozens of VA hospital patients in Phoenix may have died while awaiting medical care. He says staff investigators have evidence that the Phoenix VA Health Care System keeps two sets of records to conceal prolonged waits for appointments.
…
• May 2: Mitchell goes public with her allegations about mismanagement of the Phoenix VA system and her concerns about wait times, noting that she and a co-worker moved to protect some documents as evidence.
This seems to be a pretty obvious observation, but I haven’t seen many people making it: As the “shocking” revelations unfold about this scandal, keep in mind that this combination of incompetence, callousness, waste, and deception are deployed when government officials take care of the people who go kill for the government, and who provide the ultimate mechanism for keeping it in power. How do you think these government officials will treat sick people who, say, have spent their lives criticizing the U.S. government?
Potpourri
==> Scott Horton praises David Stockman on Stockman’s analysis of central banking and the warfare state. Remember kids, Stockman is our headline speaker at this year’s Night of Clarity!
==> When I first joined IER, I met Robert Bryce (we were attending some of the same briefings etc.). He is a really sharp guy who knows his stuff and has come to a free-market energy position not because of ideology but because of the basic facts. Listen to his interview with Tom Woods.
==> Rob Bradley sent me his (and co-author’s) nuanced take on Gabriel Kolko, who has just died. Rothbard was a big fan of Kolko.
==> Gerry O’Driscoll discusses Hayek on the 115th anniversary of his birth (Hayek’s, not O’Driscoll’s).
==> Speaking of Hayek, Daniel Kuehn taunts the Austrian giant and may have invited bad karma.
==> Especially if you have young kids, you might want to read this description of what drowning actually looks like in the real world.
==> Josiah Neeley talks about John Holdren’s awkward past. It almost makes me forgive Josiah for temporarily blogging at Noah Smith’s site.
==> Can’t remember if I already pushed this: In this post I walk through the basics of the gold standard, fiat money, trade deficits, etc.
==> Be careful if you like to sell pot brownies.
==> Apparently Apple is getting cuddly with Big Brother.
More Links on Capital Debates, Piketty, etc.
==> Nick Rowe back in 2012 had a funny (for an economist) post on the Cambridge Capital Controversy.
==> A guy running the blog “Naked Keynesianism” (and whose avator is a picture of Keynes) teams up with another blogger calling himself “Lord Keynes” to explain why the Austrians are clueless about capital. *shudders* (Remember, the Austrians are the cultists.)
==> In the comments at Nick Rowe’s blog I trade barbs with Kevin Donoghue, who runs the blog “Any Old Bullsh*t.”
==> Tom Woods and I discuss Piketty’s book.
Richard Ebeling Provides a Rare Photo of Mises
Richard gave me permission to post this shot from Facebook. He grabbed this when he was going through the archives of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (formerly the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research) in Vienna. (Click the photo to be able to read Richard’s commentary better.)
I pointed out on Facebook that Mises is the only economist in the group to realize they are being surveilled.
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