Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness

We can't get reform with backroom deals

by Rakinder Grover

This post in Mish Shedlog's blog is quite revealing.  Do we think we'll get real change/reform if the government cuts such deals and lines the pockets of the existing players? Liberals like Arianna Huffington are getting quite upset about this. And this is certainly not the free market working.  In a few years after the excitement of "doing something" dies down and when people start to realize that things have not really changed (and likely have gotten worse), see insurance and pharma companies still making profits - they'll blame the free market and capitalists.  The problem is the "reformers", even those with "good intentions", are not working to cause real reform.  That requires breaking the cozy relationship of government and business and they are not going to bite the hand that feeds them.

I find this completely believable, do you?

by Reena Kapoor

The Panel in the WSJ today sent chills down my spine. If you've ever lived in a socialist or communist state and if any important decision of your life was ever in the hands of a bureaucrat - or if you saw the film "Lives of Others" - you will read this and remember that awful feeling. Coming soon to a life near you!

Strong Medicine

by Reena Kapoor

An excellent article How American Health Care Killed my Father in The Atlantic about the true costs -- and causes of the cost -- of health care in this country.  A must read for all on the left and right who want to understand what is wrong with our system so they can support/devise sensible solutions.  While his proposed solutions leave a lot to be desired, the author's ideas for reform would certainly move our current system in the right direction vs. Obama's heavy handed approach.  Of course the chances of such reform even being considered by the current administration are close to none.

Autism - Reconsidering A "Disease"

Tyler Cowen makes an eloquent case of redefining autism from a disease to a health state with mixed blessings. In a poorly titled but cogently argued article Autism as Academic Paradigm, he explains why we may be overly "medicalizing" the autism spectrum. His reasoning goes as follows:

Health Clubbed: Daschle's Parting Gift

by Anurag Wadehra

A friend brought this article by Michael D. Tanner of Cato to my attention: Socialized Medicine on the Installment Plan.

This is truly chilling: without a wisp of debate, the government has brought 10 million more under socialized medicine. Chaos and fear has helped the powerful to pull a fast one on the public. Get ready for medical tourism to take off.

Liberties going up in smoke

by Reena Kapoor

An outrageous ban on smoking in your own apartment -- yes, you heard that right -- by the city of Belmont in the San Francisco Bay Area (where else?) is covered in this segment Just Can't Quit: How far will smoking bans go? by Nick Gillespie of Reason TV. 

The Europeanization of America?

By Anisha Kahai

Insightful piece in the WSJ on what's ahead if (or should I say when?) Obama becomes president. Pete Du Pont predicts that "...Mr. Obama will most likely be our most liberal public policy president since Franklin D. Roosevelt." Here is an excerpt from his article:

Socialism - Thriving in USA!

by Reena Kapoor

It's getting harder to write these blog entries given the state of affairs.  Distracting to say the least!

And now it seems we have bi-partisan consensus that nationalization of industries is a great answer to any economic problem.  An insurance carrier failing? Let's nationalize it and the government can run it.  Health care coverage not covering everyone? Let's get the government (read = tax payers) to pay for everyone. And as if Obama's Marxist ideology and economic illiteracy is not bad enough, now we have the so called "maverick" Republican nominee wanting to "purchase mortgages directly from homeowners and mortgage servicers, and replace them with manageable, fixed-rate mortgages that will keep families in their homes"  in his own words! 

This short editorial McCain, Obama misjudge voter appetite for spending in The Detroit News (sent to me by Shikha Dalmia of Reason) offers a spot-on analysis for why both candidates are so utterly dangerous for America's economic future. 

Both candidates on Wednesday night gave a nod to fiscal discipline and a need for belt-tightening. And both then ignored their own admonitions and ticked off a long list of new spending programs and tax cuts. Voters deserve more responsible policies than they were offered Tuesday night by these two candidates.

I say, reject them both on election day this November!

Implants vs. Ideology

by Reena Kapoor

In this excellent article Second Thoughts on Breasts that I came upon in The American, Amity Shlaes talked about how the FDA reveresed the 14-year ban on silicone implants in 2006 after finding them both "safe and effective".  The media of course downplayed this news but, worse, the assumption was that nothing was lost so no need to look back on what happened. 

There was no apology for the ban which was based on fear mongering (fully supported by the FDA) and big company bashing - anything but science.  But the losses were real. And not just to women many of who were breast cancer survivors and could not avail of this technology, but there was also no compensation to shareholders for the lost equity and billions paid out in law suits and to the thousands of workers who had to be laid off work by Dow as a result of this. Why?

Interestingly, even scientists failed to look at the facts and let misplaced ideology color their viewpoint.  The executive editor of the New England Journal of Medicine Marcia Angell was a key player in giving credence to David Kessler, commissioner of the FDA by publishing his article that laid out the case for the ban. When data began to emerge about the safety of the implants here is what she had to say in her astonishing 1996 manifesto Science on Trial:

Another Misplaced War

by Reena Kapoor

This article by Dr. Jerome Groopman The Thirty Years' War is rather old but should be illuminating for all who think we have "won the war on cancer"; and not just because this is not so given cancer's multiple manifestations but to learn how inappropriate - and actually harmful - the war metaphor has been in this effort. 

Dr. Groopman's comments are highly instructive on how misguided activists get the government involved in their favorite projects, set up vast bureaucracies and invariably cause more harm than good.  We need to learn to beware of such causes, no matter how well meaning, and warm and fuzzy they may seem! 

Caveat: Dr. Groopman does not seem to take too much issue with government spending for science, just in science being directed and led by breaucrats. Nonetheless, a very illuminating read on the history of this effort since the 70's!