May 25, 2009

May Miscellany

At The New Atlantis..."The Road to Rationing- How 'Medicare Plus' will destroy private insurance".

Lots of related critiques of the proposed Obamacare plan are about. Three members of Congress propose an alternative here. And James Capretta lays out some market-based reforms at NRO.

Jeffrey H. Anderson, writing at The Weekly Standard - "Three Strikes for Obamacare"

And David Gibberman looks at government-run health care as it is currently being practiced in Canada and the UK.

David Brooks says the projected cost savings in Obama's healthcare reforms are speculative at best, and since they are supposed to pay for the rest of his ambitious domestic agenda, the plan could "hasten fiscal suicide." (Jen Rubin questions our president's commitment to his new era of responsibility..."I don’t see how we wound up with a fiscal policy that is the equivalent of going to Vegas with the grocery money.")

See also NRO's interview with Sally C. Pipes exploding health care myths.

Capretta and Yuval Levin collaborated on another very good piece in the Standard. And check out Capretta's health care blog at The New Atlantis, called Diagnosis.

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Convinced that his multicultural credentials are in order, Matt Labash sends "postcards from the diversity follies", a business primer on exploiting real or perceived disadvantage, complete with the characteristic Labashian humor.

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An 8-part interview with H.L. Mencken, reported here to be the only recording of Mencken's voice still in existence, on YouTube. (via Cafe Hayek) I simply must throw in this Mencken quote....just because....."I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting."

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A Ph.D. who chooses to make a living as a motorcycle mechanic makes "The Case For Working With Your Hands", at The New York Times Magazine

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Laura Vanderkam on self-employment, at City Journal - "The Promise and Peril of the Freelance Economy".

Posted by dan at May 25, 2009 10:38 PM